Bitcoin was invented in 2008 with the publication of a paper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-
Peer Electronic Cash System,” written under the alias of Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto
combined several prior inventions such as b-money and HashCash to create a completely
decentralized electronic cash system that does not rely on a central authority for
currency issuance or settlement and validation of transactions. The key innovation was
to use a distributed computation system (called a “proof-of-work” algorithm) to conduct
a global “election” every 10 minutes, allowing the decentralized network to arrive at
consensus about the state of transactions. This elegantly solves the issue of double-spend
a weakness of digital currency and was addressed by clearing all transactions
through a central clearinghouse.
The bitcoin network started in 2009, based on a reference implementation published
by Nakamoto and since revised by many other programmers. The distributed computation
that provides security and resilience for bitcoin has increased exponentially, and
now exceeds that combined processing capacity of the world’s top super-computers.
Bitcoin’s total market value is estimated at between 5 billion and 10 billion US dollars,
depending on the bitcoin-to-dollar exchange rate. The largest transaction processed so
far by the network was 150 million US dollars, transmitted instantly and processed
without any fees.
Satoshi Nakamoto withdrew from the public in April of 2011, leaving the responsibility
of developing the code and network to a thriving group of volunteers. The identity of
the person or people behind bitcoin is still unknown. However, neither Satoshi Nakamoto
nor anyone else exerts control over the bitcoin system, which operates based on
fully transparent mathematical principles. The invention itself is groundbreaking and
has already spawned new science in the fields of distributed computing, economics, and
econometrics.
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AJÁNLOM AZ OLDALT