Bitcoin—an overview
Since its introduction in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin has gained immense popularity and is currently the most successful digital currency in the world, with billions of dollars invested in it. The current market cap at the time of writing for this currency is 168,923,803,898 USD.
Its popularity is also evident from the high number of users and investors, the increasing price of Bitcoin, daily news related to Bitcoin, and the many start-ups and companies that are offering Bitcoin-based online exchanges. It is now also traded as Bitcoin futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).
Interested readers can read more about Bitcoin futures at http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/bitcoin-futures.html.
It is built on decades of research in the field of cryptography, digital cash, and distributed computing. In the following section, a brief history is presented to provide the background required to understand the foundations behind the...