Fact File

CRYPTOCURRENCIES,
BITCOIN AND BLOCKCHAIN
TECHNOLOGY

What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a digital currency that’s not
controlled by third-parties, such as banks or
governments. Instead, it works with peer-to-
peer networks and cryptography. You can
acquire Bitcoins by mining them, and these
Bitcoins are sent to servers, known as nodes.
Every ten minutes or so, the Satoshis that
are mined are put together and sent to the
group of miners responsible for the mining in
blocks called blockchains.

What's the importance

of it?
The reason we need Bitcoin is to provide a
fully decentralized global system that is
free of manipulation by third parties, and
can be used in all of the countries by
anyone who wants to use it. It also helps
with other problems such as double-
spending, that is easier to occur with
banks.

Who created and

when
The person who created Bitcoins
was Satoshi Nakamoto, but
nobody knows who they are. The
bitcoins were first introduced in
2008 by a document made by
Satoshi, but it only started to be
used in 2009.

How the blockchain

technology works
Every transaction made with Bitcoin is
announced to the network of miners and
shared between servers (nodes). Every
few minutes, all of the transactions are
collected by the miners and sent to
blocks, which make up the blockchain.

How is Bitcoin mined?

To mine Bitcoins, one needs to use the
computer's hardware to solve complex
mathematical problems. When someone
completes the problem first, they receive
the block and the process restarts.

Do other
cryptocurrencies exist?
Yes, other cryptocurrencies do exist, and a big
reason for that was the problem Bitcoin was able
to solve. When Bitcoin was introduced, it gave a
solution to a problem called "double-spending". In
Layman's terms, double-spending is a grand
technical problem that makes it so the user can
spend a limited amount of money in multiple
situations. In other words, it would be like if they
had unlimited digital money. Solving the problem,
many other cryptocurrencies started to arise, such
as Ethereum or, a more recent one, the Dogecoin.
 Quick Facts
One bitcoin could take from 10
minutes to 30 days to be mined.
Bitcoin prices can change drastically
depending on various factors, such
as supply and demand and
government regulations.
The highest price bitcoin has ever
gotten was $68,789.63, in November
2021.
The first real-world transaction
made with Bitcoin happened in May
22, 2010, and 2 Papa John's pizzas
were bought for 10,000 BTC

References
https://www.newscientist.com/definition/bitcoin/ - How Bitcoin works

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/052014/why-bitcoins-
value-so-volatile.asp#:~:text=Bitcoin's%20price%20fluctuates%20
because%20it,together%20to%20create%20price%20volatility - Why
Bitcoin value changes

https://www.investopedia.com/tech/how-does-bitcoin-mining-work/ -
How Bitcoin mining works

https://www.coinbase.com/pt/price/bitcoin - Bitcoin price

https://money.usnews.com/investing/articles/the-history-of-bitcoin -
First real-world transaction with Bitcoin

https://www.techslang.com/how-long-does-it-take-to-mine-a-
bitcoin/#:~:text=In%20some%20cases%2C%20mining%20just,your%20
hardware%20and%20software%20setup. - How long it takes to mine 1
Bitcoin

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/cryptocurrency/bitcoin-
price-history/ - Highest Bitcoin price

Frederico Briard
Rafael Sysak

Class 213