Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and a payment system [14] :3 invented by an unidentified programmer, or group of programmers, under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto . [15] Bitcoin was introduced on 31 October 2008 to a cryptography mailing list, [16] and released as open-source software in 2009. [17] There have been various claims and speculation concerning the identity of Nakamoto, none of which are confirmed. [15] The system is peer-to-peer and transactions take place between users directly, without an intermediary. [14] :4 These transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in a public distributed ledger called the blockchain , [18] which uses bitcoin as its unit of account . Since the system works without a central repository or single administrator, the U.S. Treasury categorizes bitcoin as a decentralized virtual currency . [11] Bitcoin is often called the first cryptocurrency, [19] [20] [21] although prior systems existed [note 4] and it is more correctly descr...
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