Bitcoin (BTC) is the first known and decentralized cryptocurrency created by an unrevealed person or group called Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009.

The concept of Bitcoin lies in the opportunity for peer–to–peer transactions of digital money with no need for any middle party like banks. These transactions are processed by network nodes and recorded in blockchain – digital and public ledger.

Bitcoins are unable to be printed as FIAT money; they are mined and do not have a physical form. Mining is a process of adding transaction records to the blockchain; or, in simple terms, working–out computationally–difficult problems by сomputer software.

Bitcoin mining is limited; in fact, only 21 million Bitcoins exist. These 21 million can be used for different purposes; the main one stays the same – purchasing things online without any governmental or economical monitoring (Figure 1-1).

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Figure 1-1: Bitcoins in circulation

Source: https://blockchain.info/ru/charts/total–bitcoins?timespan=1year

Other advantages of Bitcoin are:

payment freedom: buy/sell BTC, send, receive or withdraw anywhere at any time;
fee–selection: low fees and a possibility to choose Bitcoin exchange, wallet and fee rates on spending;
no–risk for merchants: no personal information needed to use Bitcoins;
no–inflation: Bitcoin cannot be subjected to inflation.

“Instant transactions, no waiting for checks to clear, no chargebacks (merchants will like this), no account freezes (look out Paypal), no international wire transfer fee, no fees of any kind, no minimum balance, no maximum balance, worldwide access, always open, no waiting for business hours to make transactions, no waiting for an account to be approved before transacting, open an account in a few seconds, as easy as email, no bank account needed, extremely poor people can use it, extremely wealthy people can use it, no printing press, no hyper–inflation, no debt limit votes, no bank bailouts, completely voluntary. This sounds like the best payment system in the world!”

– Trace Mayer J.D., a Leading Monetary Expert on Bitcoin and Gold

Bitcoin is not subjected to inflation and is not controlled or operated by banks. However, the price for BTC depends on the human factors of public supply and demand. Multiplication of cryptocurrency price and circulation supply shows the size of currency (market capitalization). Market Cap is the main metric to compare BTC prices.

Market Cap in 2017 shows dramatic growth of BTC (Figure 1-2).

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Figure 1-2: Bitcoin Charts

Source: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/#charts

Bitcoin gained popularity after the revolution it had caused in the financial world by cryptocurrency market creation. Bitcoin consumers rely on BTC because of its decentralized nature, easy setup, anonymity, transparency, miniscule fees, and fast transactions. BTC wallets are not controlled by the government, so that BTC can be withdrawn and spent with freedom.