Digital or virtual currencies designed to work as a medium of exchange. They use cryptography to secure and verify transactions as well as to control the creation of new units of a particular cryptocurrency.

The first decentralized digital currency, created in 2009 by an unknown person or group of people under the name Satoshi Nakamoto.

A distributed, immutable ledger that records and verifies transactions across a network of computers. Each block contains a timestamp and a hash of the previous block, creating a chain.

A key feature of cryptocurrencies; no single entity (government, bank, etc.) controls the network. Transactions are verified by a distributed network of computers.

The process of verifying and adding new transactions to the blockchain. Miners use powerful computers to solve complex mathematical problems, earning Bitcoin as a reward.

A cryptographic function that converts data of any size into a fixed-size string of characters. Used to ensure data integrity in blockchain.

Uses a pair of keys: a public key for encrypting messages and a private key for decrypting them. Essential for secure transactions in cryptocurrencies.

A secret code that gives the owner control over their cryptocurrency. Losing the private key means losing access to the funds.

Software or hardware that stores private keys and interacts with the blockchain to send and receive cryptocurrency.

The smallest unit of Bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC).

A consensus mechanism used in Bitcoin to validate transactions and add new blocks to the blockchain. Requires significant computational power.

An event that occurs approximately every four years, reducing the Bitcoin reward for miners by half. This controls the inflation rate of Bitcoin.

The tendency of cryptocurrency prices to fluctuate significantly in short periods.

Self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code.

A unique digital asset representing ownership of something, such as artwork, collectibles, or in-game items. Often built on blockchain technology.

Financial services built on blockchain technology, aiming to remove intermediaries like banks and offer greater transparency and accessibility.

Transaction fees paid to miners or validators to process transactions on a blockchain network.

A platform where users can buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies.

Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering regulations aimed at preventing financial crime in the cryptocurrency industry.

21 million Bitcoin.