Bitcoin

(BTC).

Bitcoin is a digital currency that is created, and effectively administered without recourse to a central bank or other central authority.

It was launched in 2009.

Bitcoin is sometimes abbreviated to 'BC', rather than BTC.

Environmental costs & macroeconomic instability

"From 7 September 2021 bitcoin [became] legal tender in El Salvador despite warnings from the IMF and the World Bank citing the potential impact on macroeconomic stability and bitcoin’s environmental costs."

Association of Corporate Treasurers - Update on the Payments landscape - September 2021.

See also

• Altcoin
• Bit
• Blockchain
• Britcoin
• Blockchain Governance Initiative Network (BGIN)
• Centralised finance
• Coin
• Crypto-assets
• Cryptocurrency
• Daisy chain
• Data
• Database
• Decentralised finance (DeFi)
• Digital asset
• Digital currency
• Distributed ledger
• ekrona
• Ether
• Ethereum
• Fintech
• Layer 1 network
• Layer 2 network
• Non-fungible token
• Payments and payment systems
• Platform
• Ripple payment protocol
• Smart contract
• Stablecoin
• SWIFT gpi
• Token
• TradFi

Other resources

• Bitcoin: a primer, Chicago Fed Dec 2013
• Bank of England - Digital currencies