What is it?

Bitcoin is the very first Cryptocurrency ever “made”.
That is the generally accepted consensus within the Crypto community.

In reality, Bitcoin (BTC) is the first globalized and decentralized coin to be “produced”.

Cryptocurrency dates back from even before the .com-boom from the late 90ies and 00-ies.
The problem with Cryptocurrency back then was it being produced within a centralized authority who kept close eye on value and distribution.

An example of such a coin, pre-dating Bitcoin by a huge margin, is e-gold.

Despite the existing flaws, a small community was created searching for the means to have a decentralized and highly secured method of payment with application for global use.

Many others, due to the “.com bubble”, saw a rising need for the ability of making digital payments which made the community grow.

An extensive and in-depth history can be found in the following article from MoneyCrashers

The excerpt retaken here gives a concise overview of its total history.

“History of Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency existed as a theoretical construct long before the first digital alternative currencies debuted. Early cryptocurrency proponents shared the goal of applying cutting-edge mathematical and computer science principles to solve what they perceived as practical and political shortcomings of “traditional” fiat currencies.

Technical Foundations

Cryptocurrency’s technical foundations date back to the early 1980s, when an American cryptographer named David Chaum invented a “blinding” algorithm that remains central to modern web-based encryption. The algorithm allowed for secure, unalterable information exchanges between parties, laying the groundwork for future electronic currency transfers. This was known as “blinded money.”

By the late 1980s, Chaum enlisted a handful of other cryptocurrency enthusiasts in an attempt to commercialize the concept of blinded money. After relocating to the Netherlands, he founded DigiCash, a for-profit company that produced units of currency based on the blinding algorithm. Unlike Bitcoin and most other modern cryptocurrenncies, DigiCash’s control wasn’t decentralized. Chaum’s company had a monopoly on supply control, similar to central banks’ monopoly on fiat currencies.

DigiCash initially dealt directly with individuals, but the Netherlands’ central bank cried foul and quashed this idea. Faced with an ultimatum, DigiCash agreed to sell only to licensed banks, seriously curtailing its market potential. Microsoft later approached DigiCash about a potentially lucrative partnership that would have permitted early Windows users to make purchases in its currency, but the two companies couldn’t agree on terms, and DigiCash went belly-up in the late 1990s.

Around the same time, an accomplished software engineer named Wei Dai published a white paper on b-money, a virtual currency architecture that included many of the basic components of modern cryptocurrencies, such as complex anonymity protections and decentralization. However, b-money was never deployed as a means of exchange.

Shortly thereafter, a Chaum associate named Nick Szabo developed and released a cryptocurrency called Bit Gold, which was notable for using the blockchain system that underpins most modern cryptocurrencies. Like DigiCash, Bit Gold never gained popular traction and is no longer used as a means of exchange.

Pre-Bitcoin Virtual Currencies

After DigiCash, much of the research and investment in electronic financial transactions shifted to more conventional, though digital, intermediaries, such as PayPal (itself a harbinger of mobile payment technologies that have exploded in popularity over the past 10 years). A handful of DigiCash imitators, such as Russia’s WebMoney, sprang up in other parts of the world.

In the United States, the most notable virtual currency of the late 1990s and 2000s was known as e-gold. e-gold was created and controlled by a Florida-based company of the same name. e-gold, the company, basically functioned as a digital gold buyer. Its customers, or users, sent their old jewelry, trinkets, and coins to e-gold’s warehouse, receiving digital “e-gold” – units of currency denominated in ounces of gold. e-gold users could then trade their holdings with other users, cash out for physical gold, or exchange their e-gold for U.S. dollars.

At its peak in the mid-2000s, e-gold had millions of active accounts and processed billions of dollars in transactions annually. Unfortunately, e-gold’s relatively lax security protocols made it a popular target for hackers and phishing scammers, leaving its users vulnerable to financial loss. And by the mid-2000s, much of e-gold’s transaction activity was legally dubious – its laid-back legal compliance policies made it attractive to money laundering operations and small-scale Ponzi schemes. The platform faced growing legal pressure during the mid- and late-2000s, and finally ceased to operate in 2009.

Bitcoin and the Modern Cryptocurrency Boom

Bitcoin is widely regarded as the first modern cryptocurrency – the first publicly used means of exchange to combine decentralized control, user anonymity, record-keeping via a blockchain, and built-in scarcity. It was first outlined in a 2008 white paper published by Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonymous person or group.

In early 2009, Nakamoto released Bitcoin to the public, and a group of enthusiastic supporters began exchanging and mining the currency. By late 2010, the first of what would eventually be dozens of similar cryptocurrencies – including popular alternatives like Litecoin – began appearing. The first public Bitcoin exchanges appeared around this time as well.

In late 2012, WordPress became the first major merchant to accept payment in Bitcoin. Others, including Newegg.com (an online electronics retailer), Expedia, and Microsoft, followed. Dozens of merchants now view the world’s most popular cryptocurrency as a legitimate payment method. And new cryptocurrency applications take root with impressive frequency – Cryptomaniaks has a great look at the fast-growing world of cryptocurrency sports betting sites here, to take just one example.

Though few cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin are widely accepted for merchant payments, increasingly active exchanges allow holders to exchange them for Bitcoin or fiat currencies – providing critical liquidity and flexibility. Since the late 2010s, big business and institutional investors have closely watched what they call the “crypto space,” too. Facebook’s closely guarded Libra project could be the first true cryptocurrency alternative to fiat currencies, although its growing pains (described nicely in this article from SavingAdvice.com) suggest that true parity remains well in the future.”

Now, in 2020, Bitcoin has long proven itself a valuable asset in many a persons wallet.
It is the actual “mother” of all different Cryptocurrencies currently in existence as all other “modern” coins are either a direct offspring (through forking of the blockchain) or indirect (like Ethereum) who copied and “modified” the block-chain algorithms as developed and used by Bitcoin.

This has given rise to “Bitcoin maximalist”-movement.
While most of this maximalist-ideology is a direct result from market-capitalization (Bitcoin has +/- 65% of the total market value) and politics, technological arguments (as discussed here) are also abound. The recent halving has further solidified the importance of this currency across the entire Cryto-market. This post I made for my followers shows the movements made by “whales” (large holders of Cryptocurrencies whom can influence the market) in the preparation of the nascent halving of 11^th May 2020. It also illustrates a few accounts of Cryptocurrency holders “gearing up” for the halving to further increase their gains. Something rarely or never seen before with other Cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin makes use of “Proof-of-work” verification in order to encrypt sensitive information.
As explained in my book “Binary Gold, Crypto”:

“Proof of work

Is the most known method to establish a consensus.

Hereby the first new block must be generated by a miner (node) on the network and may not contain any mistakes (correct hash, digital signature,…).

A complex puzzle also needs to be solved in relation to the block.

This puzzle is attaching a number (called “nonce”) to the block which enables that the “hash” (or serial number) starts with a set amount of zeroes.

The correct nonce can only be found by using “brute force” (or repeated calculating attempts).

Once a new block has been “found” the procedure will restart by taking into account the information established from this newly generated block.

The disadvantage of this method of establishing consensus is the amount of energy spent by the network in order to attempt to be the first to guess correctly.”

As discussed, and mentioned, in the article “Discussion – The other bitcoin standard” there are limitations set in place which greatly helped the success Bitcoin achieved.

Opinion and analysis:

While I refrain from painting in a distinct corner by adopting terms such as “maximalist” or calling Altcoins “Shitcoins”, I do have a soft spot for Bitcoin and the “Bitcoin maximalist”-movement.

Bitcoin IS the number one coin to have, to use and trade with.

This due to its underlying philosophy and technological abilities.
Even the supposed “limitations” add value to the coin to the extend it is the most reliant Cryptocurrency to fall back on as well as the most secured.

It would be unwise to not have this coin in your wallet.
Whereas I love stable coins like DGX and PAXG, Bitcoin takes up the highest place in my digital wallet as I liken it to real digital gold.

Get bitcoin as your first Cryptocurrency even before all others that I have reviewed.

For more information check out the following websites:

Official website: https://bitcoin.org/en/
Official whitepaper.: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
FAQ: https://bitcoin.org/en/how-it-works
Marketcap: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/

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For the inquiring minds did I develop an extensive course on Cryptocurrency.
Find more about it here: The Ultimate Guide to Cryptocurrency.