Bitcoin


 * Bitcoin: a VisiCalc waiting for its Lotus, Excel, or what comes after: the eighth type of ambiguity: nonsense currency if unlinked to power.
 * -- Grady Ward

Bitcoin is an "alternative currency" that is generated electronically with no central authority, with a loosely-connected set of network nodes engaged in "mining" coins by being the first to solve difficult mathematical computations, validating transactions involving the "coins" (the process of validating others' transactions is in fact the manner in which coins are "mined", thus incentivizing using one's computer resources to facilitate this process), and storing transactions involving them. This is all accomplished algorithmically. The algorithms are defined such that the rate of coin issuance declines over the years until it tops out at a total money supply of 21 million bitcoins, unlike fiat currencies that can be issued without limit by their issuing authority.

A bitcoin, and its associated transactions, can be represented in various ways, even including actual physical metal coins if you can believe the picture in the Wikipedia article. A binary format is defined in the Bitcoin technical specs, but archived Bitcoin blocks in the "Block Explorer" site are displayed in a JSON-based format (served as text/plain).

The smallest possible unit in a Bitcoin transaction is .00000001 bitcoins, also known as a satoshi. Other subdivisions of the bitcoin are unsettled at the moment, but a unit of 1/1000 of a bitcoin (known as an mbit, or embit, or mBTC) emerged as rising prices made the bitcoin itself unwieldily large.

There have been attempts to use Bitcoin protocols to implement other decentralized services. Twister is an implementation of a Twitter-like service along these lines, and Bitcloud is an attempt to provide all sorts of cloud-based services this way. Some other attempts at competing "digital currencies" have also been launched with similar mechanisms and varying degrees of seriousness, including Dogecoin and Coinye.

The price of a bitcoin has been highly volatile, skyrocketing or collapsing based on current events. Huge fortunes have been made and lost on them. By 2017, the subject is sufficiently mainstream as to be made the center of the plot of a Big Bang Theory sitcom episode (which referred to "new record high" prices of Bitcoin which were greatly surpassed by the time the episode aired).

Data format info

 * Protocol specification

Other specs and definitions

 * Blocks
 * Address
 * Transactions
 * Proposed URI scheme for blockchains

Software

 * Bitcoin software on Sourceforge
 * Bitcoin-Qt client
 * BitcoinAverage API
 * BitcoinMonitor API
 * Mt. Gox source code

Sample files

 * Block Explorer: a Bitcoin archive
 * The "Genesis Block"; first Bitcoin block ever generated
 * Genesis block in some other formats including raw binary

Bitcoin sites

 * Coinbase: a Bitcoin market/online wallet
 * Coinbase API
 * Try Bitcoin
 * The Bitcoin Database

Current and historical prices

 * Bitcoin live price graph (Based on MtGox, and seems not to be updating any more due to its problems)
 * Winkdex
 * Chart of historical Bitcoin prices in terms of gold
 * Crypto-Currency Market Capitalizations

News coverage

 * Government Ban On Bitcoin Would Fail Miserably (2013-01-28)
 * Bitcoin ATM (2013-02-23)
 * Bitcoin value reaches new high against US dollar (that was $32; later in the year it exceeded $1000) (2013-02-28)
 * Hackers steal over $12,000 in bitcoins (2013-03-08)
 * Bitcoin's vast ovvervaluation seems to be caused by usually-illegal price fixing (2013-09-13)
 * Person gets windfall from Bitcoins he forgot he owned; bought for $24 and sold for around $1 million (2013-10-25)
 * A Bitcoin Exchange Holding $4.1 Million For 1,000 Customers Has Simply Vanished (2013-11-12)
 * Sir Richard Branson's Out of This World Plan for Bitcoin (Internet Archive copy) (2013-11-22)
 * James Howells searches for hard drive with £4m-worth of bitcoins stored (2013-11-28)
 * Into the Bitcoin Mines (NY Times) (2013-12-21)
 * Bitcoin Miners Ditch Ghash.io Pool Over Fears of 51% Attack (2014-01-09)
 * 4 New Bitcoin Features Revealed by Core Developer Mike Hearn (2014-01-24)
 * BITCOIN HEIST? Major exchange vanishes, along with millions in digital currency (2014-02-25)
 * Bitcoin virtual currency is on verge of collapse (2014-02-25)
 * The Face Behind Bitcoin (2014-03-06) (but see Mr. Nakamoto's denial that he's the guy Newsweek was looking for)
 * Bitcoin Creator ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ Unmasked–Again? (2014-04-16)
 * Turns Out Nobody Wants To Donate To Politicians With Bitcoin (2014-10-28)
 * Bitbeat column (Wall Street Journal) (last updated 2015-11-09)
 * The Wild Week of Bitcoin (2017-12-01)

Legal issues

 * Bitcoins Seized by DEA (2013-07-09)
 * Chinese government says Bitcoin cannot be used as currency (2013-12-05)
 * Casascius, maker of shiny physical bitcoins, shut down by Treasury Department (2013-12-13)
 * IBM Files Patent to Track Value of Digital Currencies (2013-12-19)
 * EFF Challenges New Jersey Subpoena Issued to MIT Student Bitcoin Developers (2014-02-05)
 * TSA Harasses Traveler After 'Seeing Bitcoin' In His Bag (2014-02-27)
 * IRS says bitcoin will be taxed like property (2014-03-25)
 * Fla. bitcoin case tests money laundering limits (2014-04-09)

Academic papers

 * Paper criticizing Bitcoin (and the concept of decentralized currencies)
 * Paper showing that selfish mining behavior could end up dominating Bitcoin

Commentary

 * My adventure in donating bitcoins to the Internet Archive
 * Open source governance in Bitcoin
 * Anecdote about the wrong way to promote Bitcoins
 * The Bitcoin Network is 0 FLOPS
 * How the Bitcoin protocol actually works
 * Bits of Bitcoin – What To Call Them?
 * Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire
 * Bitcoin Is Evil
 * The Values of Money: Bitcoin, Money, and Datalove, Part One
 * Why Bitcoin is Here to Stay, Whether Governments Like It or Not.
 * Dreams reflected in Bitcoin
 * Could Bitcoin Ever Stabilize Enough To Replace State Currencies? (video)
 * Let's Talk Bitcoin podcast
 * On Bitcoin, Magical Thinking, and Hyper-Capitalist Political Ideology
 * On the Matter of Why Bitcoin Matters
 * 4 Reasons Bitcoin Hoarders Are Screwed
 * Money makers the world go round
 * In Math We Trust: A Reply to Krugman's and Greenspan's Bitcoin Bashing
 * The Doomsday Cult of Bitcoin
 * Gweek Podcast 140: Understanding Bitcoin
 * It's Time For a Hard Bitcoin Fork (2014-06-13)
 * How Bitcoin Actually Works (Ted Nelson; video)
 * Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day
 * Andreas M. Antonopoulos educates Senate of Canada about Bitcoin
 * A Bitcoin for Digital Art
 * After the Bitcoin Gold Rush (The New Republic)

Other links and references

 * Wikipedia article
 * Getting started with Bitcoin
 * Video explains Bitcoin
 * What nobody seems to understand about Bitcoin (Cracked video)
 * Bitcoin survival guide
 * Out in the Open: Teenage Hacker Transforms Web Into One Giant Bitcoin Network
 * MtGox situation crisis strategy draft (internal document regarding their 2014 troubles)
 * Bitcoin anthem mashup (Ali Spagnola)
 * Bitcoin trading visualized
 * A beginner's guide to Bitcoin
 * The Math Behind Bitcoin
 * Bitcoin mining in plain English