What is Bitcoin (BTC)?

Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency, which is still highly correlated with the rest of the crypto market and can move prices of other tokens, including OMI.

Usage:

BTC is down today, and it’s dragging down the rest of the crypto market.

Full Definition:

Bitcoin (ticker symbol: BTC) was created in January of 2009 by an anonymous person/organization calling themselves “Satoshi Nakamoto”.

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital curreny that uses a public ledger, known as a “blockchain”, to record all assets and transactions on the Bitcoin network, in contrast to traditional currencies which are stored on centralized databases.

Bitcoin has grown in notoriety in recent years due to its sky rocketing price (it reached an all-time high of $68,000 in 2021) and also because the proof-of-work consensus mechanism used to secure the network (“mining”) is incredibly energy intensive.

Although bitcoin is often referred to as a “currency”, it is rarely used in transactions due to its volatility and high price. It has come to serve more as a store of value and investment asset, giving it the moniker “digital gold”.

The blockchain and cryptographic technology developed by Bitcoin has spawned many alternative cryptocurrencies and tokens (“alt coins”) including Ethereum, which is a programmable blockchain popular with NFT projects, and OMI, which underpins transactions on the VeVe platform.

Because Bitcoin commands such a large piece of the crypto market, it is often seen as a barometer of cryptocurrencies overall, and movement in its price is correlated with most other crypto assets.