A public settlement ledger
Thousands of independently operated nodes verify the same transaction history. Miners compete to add blocks, while nodes enforce the network's rules and reject invalid changes.
Protocol profile · Bitcoin
Digital scarcity, secured by energy.
Bitcoin is a decentralized monetary network designed to move and preserve value without a central issuer. Its narrow scope is a feature: settlement first, experimentation second.
Predictable issuance
New bitcoin enters circulation through block rewards that halve roughly every four years. The fixed maximum supply is enforced by network consensus, not a company promise.
Durable global value transfer
Bitcoin prioritizes censorship resistance, final settlement, and long-term monetary credibility. The Lightning Network can support smaller, faster payments above the base layer.
Security over flexibility
Proof of work consumes significant energy, base-layer throughput is intentionally limited, and self-custody introduces irreversible responsibility. Its scripting system is less expressive than general-purpose smart-contract networks.
What to verify
Study miner economics, fee-market health, custody choices, network decentralization, and the assumptions behind any yield or wrapped-Bitcoin product.
At a glance