# bitcoin

Pronunciation: say "BIT-koyn" US /ˈbɪtˌkɔɪn/, UK /ˈbɪtkɔɪn/

## Proper noun

1. A decentralized digital currency that records transactions on a shared public ledger called a blockchain.
   - Simple: A kind of digital money that works online without banks or governments controlling it.
   - _Investors watched bitcoin climb to record highs during the rally._
   - _The merchant began accepting bitcoin alongside traditional payment cards._

## Noun

2. A single unit of the bitcoin cryptocurrency, used to measure amounts that people hold, trade, or transfer.
   - Simple: A single unit of the digital money called bitcoin.
   - _The early investor held several bitcoins before the price soared._
   - _A single bitcoin was worth only a few cents in the early days._

## Origin

Formed from bit ("binary digit") plus coin, the term was coined by Satoshi Nakamoto (believed to be a pseudonym for one or more people) in the domain name bitcoin.org registered on 18 August 2008 and in the title of the 2008 white paper "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/bitcoin (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).