What is Bitcoin?

The idea of Bitcoin was first outlined in an October 2008 white paper written by Satoshi Nakamoto — a pseudonymous programmer, or a group of programmers — titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System." The first block on the Bitcoin blockchain, called the genesis block, was mined on Jan. 3, 2009 by Nakamoto, who is believed to have mined around 1 million coins in total. To this date, the original coins attributed to Nakamoto remain unspent.

In its early years, Bitcoin was worth very little, and in May 2010, an early miner exchanged a total of 10,000 BTC for a pizza — an astronomically expensive purchase based on today's Bitcoin price but the equivalent of about $25 at the time. Now known as the "Bitcoin Pizza Day," May 22 represents the first widely known commercial transaction using Bitcoin.

After a few years of slow but steady growth, the peak of Bitcoin's mainstream popularity came in late 2017, when Bitcoin saw its highest-ever price of around $20,000 amid major media coverage and a rush of people wanting to invest in Bitcoin.

Today, Bitcoin is trading at around $27,000–$29,000 and is a common inclusion in investment portfolios of institutional and retail investors around the world.