The bitcoin network is a peer-to-peer payment network that operates over a cryptographic protocol. Users receive and send bitcoins, the units of currency, by broadcasting digitally signed messages to the network using bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet software. Transactions are recorded into a distributed, replicated public database known as the blockchain, with consensus attained by a proof-of-work system called mining. Satoshi Nakamoto, the designer of bitcoin claimed that design and coding of bitcoin begun in 2007. The project premiered in ’09 2009 as open source software.
The network requires minimal structure to talk about transactions. An random decentralized network of volunteers is enough. Messages are broadcast over a best effort basis, and nodes can leave and rejoin the network at will. Upon reconnection, a node downloads and verifies new blocks from other nodes to complete its local copy of the blockchain.
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