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Bitcoin as Money
Four modules on what Satoshi actually built and why the design choices matter.
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The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work.
Satoshi Nakamoto · February 2009
Bitcoin removes that requirement. This site explains how, from first principles and in plain English. Every page of it is free.
Bitcoin, 2008 to nowBlock 968,589· 26m 12s ago
15 Sep 2008 · New York
Lehman Brothers collapses
The fourth-largest investment bank in the United States files the largest bankruptcy in American history. A credit bust becomes a global banking crisis.
What causes boom and bust cycles →3 Oct 2008 · Washington
A $700 billion bailout
The US government is authorised to spend up to $700 billion rescuing its financial system. Private losses become public debt.
Who gets new money first →31 Oct 2008 · A cryptography mailing list
The white paper
Someone calling themselves Satoshi Nakamoto publishes a nine-page design for electronic cash that works without a bank, a mint or any trusted third party.
What “peer-to-peer electronic cash” means →2008 — today · Identity unknown
Satoshi Nakamoto
The author never gave a real name, never showed a face and has never been identified. Bitcoin has no founder to pressure — only rules anyone can check.
Why Bitcoin has no CEO →3 Jan 2009 · 18:15:05 UTC · Block 0
The genesis block
Satoshi mines the first block and writes that morning’s front-page headline from The Times into it: “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”. It proves the date — and records what the old system was doing the day the new one began.
Satoshi’s vision →12 Jan 2009 · Block 170
The first transaction
Hal Finney, a cryptographer who had posted “Running bitcoin” days earlier, receives 10 BTC from Satoshi — the first transfer of bitcoin between two people.
How Bitcoin works →16 Jan 2009 · Harare
A 100 trillion dollar note
Thirteen days after the genesis block, Zimbabwe’s central bank issues a single banknote worth 100 trillion dollars. Bitcoin’s supply is capped at 21 million.
What inflation really is →22 May 2010 · Block 57,043
10,000 BTC for two pizzas
Laszlo Hanyecz pays 10,000 BTC for two pizzas — the first widely known purchase of goods with bitcoin. Priced in bitcoin, a pizza now costs a tiny fraction of that.
Everyday things, priced in bitcoin →15 Aug 2010 · Block 74,638
The overflow bug
A bug lets one transaction create 184 billion bitcoin. A fix ships within five hours, the network abandons the invalid chain, and the coins cease to exist.
The 21 million cap, explained →23 Apr 2011 · Email to Mike Hearn
Satoshi steps away
“I’ve moved on to other things. It’s in good hands with Gavin and everyone.” The creator leaves. The blocks keep coming.
Bitcoin’s uptime since block 0 →28 Nov 2012 · Block 210,000
The first halving
As written in the code since 2009, the reward for a new block falls from 50 to 25 BTC. No committee meets. No vote is taken.
What a halving is →Mar 2013 · Nicosia
Cyprus takes deposits
To rescue its banks, Cyprus imposes a “bail-in”: uninsured deposits over €100,000 at the Bank of Cyprus lose 47.5%, converted into bank shares.
Why self-custody is not optional →28 Feb 2014 · Tokyo
Mt. Gox collapses
The largest bitcoin exchange files for bankruptcy, reporting 850,000 BTC lost. The protocol didn’t fail — trusting a custodian did.
The complete guide to self-custody →29 Jun 2015 · Athens
Greece closes its banks
Banks shut for three weeks and cash withdrawals are capped at €60 a day. A bank balance is only as available as the bank allows.
Who controls the money supply →9 Jul 2016 · Block 420,000
The second halving
The reward falls to 12.5 BTC — on schedule, to the block, with nobody’s permission required.
See the issuance schedule →8 Nov 2016 · New Delhi
India cancels its cash
With four hours’ notice, India withdraws legal-tender status from its ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes — about 86% of the cash in circulation.
Why CBDCs are not Bitcoin →2018 · Layer two
Lightning goes live
The Lightning Network launches on Bitcoin’s main network, settling small payments in seconds and anchoring them to the base chain.
The Lightning Network, explained →11 May 2020 · Blocks 629,999 → 630,000
A headline, again
Twenty seconds before the third halving, a miner writes another bailout headline into a block: “Fed’s Plan Far Exceeds 2008 Rescue”. Then the reward falls from 12.5 to 6.25 BTC.
Why governments print money →7 Sep 2021 · San Salvador
Legal tender
El Salvador becomes the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. It amended the law in 2025 to make merchant acceptance voluntary.
What a Bitcoin standard means →20 Apr 2024 · Block 840,000
The fourth halving
The reward halves again, to 3.125 BTC. 19,687,500 of the 21,000,000 bitcoin that will ever exist have now been issued.
Bitcoin’s stock-to-flow →Today · Block 968,589 · mined 26m 12s ago
Still running
A new block roughly every ten minutes since 3 January 2009, on the same issuance schedule as block 0. Nobody can change it alone.
Start learning — it’s free →The history, block by block
The old system breaks a promiseThe chain keeps its rules
What this is
Bitcoin is a monetary protocol. Not an investment thesis. Not a speculative vehicle. A peer-to-peer electronic cash system designed so that online payments can move directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.
That sentence is the entire design brief. Everything about Bitcoin — the 21 million cap, the proof-of-work, the distributed ledger, the ten-minute blocks — exists to fulfil that requirement.
This site exists to explain what that means, and to help you act on it.
Three numbers that matter
21,000,000
The supply cap
The most bitcoin that can ever exist: 20,999,999.9769, to be exact. Not by policy. By code.
100%
Uptime
Bitcoin’s uptime since block 0, 3 January 2009. No planned outages. No maintenance windows. No weekends. What 100% means
122
Stock-to-flow
Bitcoin's, at block 968,589: every coin in existence over a year of new ones. Gold's is about 60.
The fiat problem
Every currency in history backed by institutional promise rather than mathematical scarcity has eventually been debased. The mechanism is always the same: the authority entrusted to hold the standard finds it more convenient to expand the supply than to maintain it.
This is not a flaw in execution. It is a flaw in design. You cannot fix a system that depends on perpetual trust in institutions by finding better institutions.
Bitcoin does not ask you to trust anyone. It asks you to verify.
New · The Cost of Living, Priced in Sats
There is no cost of living crisis on a Bitcoin standard.
The same weekly shop in the UK, New Zealand and the US, measured twice over ten years. Sourced from official statistics, with the windows that don't flatter Bitcoin shown honestly.
UK weekly shop, 2015 to 2024, in pounds
+24%
The same shop, priced in sats
-99.6%
New · Priced in Bitcoin
Since 2014, a house has cost more in dollars and far less in bitcoin.
The median American home, the S&P 500, a year's income and an hour of work — measured against a unit nobody can print. Official statistics, 2014 to 2025.
The median US home, 2014
540.22 BTC
The same home, 2025
4.07 BTC
−99% in bitcoin over 11 years.
See everything priced in bitcoin →Free courses
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Intermediate4 modules · Free
Bitcoin for Business
A four-module course for business owners on accepting bitcoin, treasury strategy, Lightning integration, and tax compliance.
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Intermediate4 modules · Free
Living on Bitcoin
A four-module course on the practical mechanics of earning, spending, and transacting in bitcoin in daily life.
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“The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust.”
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