₿ Bitcoin Time Chain
The Hardest Money Ever Created.
Decentralized. Scarce. Unstoppable. Bitcoin is the first truly sound money in human history — and no one controls it.
21,000,000 BTC
Supply Cap
Jan 3, 2009
Genesis Block
10 Minutes
Avg Block Time
16+ Years
Years Running
Price Chart
200-Day Moving Average
The most-watched Bitcoin trend indicator. Price above = bull market. Price below = bear market. Institutional traders use this line to separate long-term accumulation zones from distribution.
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Live Signals
Market Pulse
Layer 2
Lightning Network
Bitcoin's second-layer payment protocol enables instant, near-zero-fee transactions by routing payments through a network of bidirectional payment channels — without touching the base chain.
Next Event
Halving Countdown
Every 210,000 blocks — roughly every four years — Bitcoin's block reward is cut in half. Supply issuance drops. Historically, price follows. The next halving reduces the reward from — to — per block.
Historical Halvings
"Bitcoin is a purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash."
— Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin Whitepaper, Oct 31, 2008
What Is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is open-source software that enables direct, permissionless transactions between any two people on earth — without banks, governments, or intermediaries. It runs on a global network of thousands of nodes, each enforcing the same rules. No one can change those rules without consensus. No one can stop it.
The Fundamentals
Absolutely Scarce
There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin. This hard cap is enforced by code, not by a central authority. No inflation. No exceptions. Scarcity by design.
Decentralized
No CEO. No headquarters. No kill switch. Bitcoin is governed by math and consensus — running on thousands of nodes across every continent.
Immutable
Every transaction ever made is recorded permanently on the blockchain. No transaction can be reversed, altered, or erased. The ledger is forever.
Key Numbers
The math that makes Bitcoin unbreakable
The Halving: Scarcity by Design
Every 210,000 blocks — roughly every four years — the reward for mining a new Bitcoin block is cut in half. This is called the Halving. It's programmed into Bitcoin's code and cannot be changed. As supply growth slows, scarcity intensifies.
Fixed supply. Diminishing issuance. Unstoppable scarcity.
Why It Matters
No one can inflate it.
No one can seize it.
No one can shut it down.
No one can change the rules.
October 31, 2008
The Document That Changed Everything
"I've been working on a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party. The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work."
— Satoshi Nakamoto
The Builders
Key People
Bitcoin has no CEO, no headquarters, no marketing team. It was built by cypherpunks, cryptographers, and open-source developers — many of whom remain pseudonymous or unknown.
Satoshi Nakamoto
Creator of Bitcoin
2008 – 2011
Authored the Bitcoin whitepaper in October 2008 and launched the genesis block on January 3, 2009. Solved the double-spend problem without a trusted third party using proof-of-work consensus. Disappeared in 2011, leaving Bitcoin truly leaderless.
"The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work."
Hal Finney
Cryptographer & First Bitcoin Recipient
2009 – 2014
Received the first Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi on January 12, 2009. A cypherpunk and PGP developer who ran the first Bitcoin node outside Satoshi's. Continued contributing to Bitcoin while battling ALS until his death in 2014.
"Bitcoin seems to be a very promising idea."
Adam Back
@adam3usInventor of Hashcash · CEO of Blockstream
1997 – present
Invented Hashcash in 1997 — the proof-of-work system cited directly in the Bitcoin whitepaper. One of only two people Satoshi emailed before publishing. Has been a leading voice for Bitcoin's base-layer conservatism and the Lightning Network.
"If you don't hold your keys, you don't own your bitcoin."
Nick Szabo
Creator of Bit Gold · Smart Contract Pioneer
1990s – present
Designed Bit Gold in 1998 — a direct conceptual precursor to Bitcoin with proof-of-work and a decentralised ledger. Coined the term "smart contracts" in 1994. His work on digital scarcity and trustless systems laid the intellectual foundation for Bitcoin.
"Trusted third parties are security holes."
Len Sassaman
Cypherpunk & Privacy Advocate
1990s – 2011
A prominent cypherpunk and cryptographer who contributed to remailer technology and privacy infrastructure. His work was embedded in the Bitcoin blockchain as a tribute after his death in 2011 — a permanent memorial in the immutable ledger.
Pieter Wuille
@pwuilleBitcoin Core Developer
2011 – present
One of the most prolific Bitcoin Core contributors. Authored Segregated Witness (SegWit), which fixed transaction malleability and doubled effective block capacity. Also co-created the Schnorr/Taproot upgrade, improving privacy and script efficiency.
Bitcoin has thousands of contributors. This list highlights foundational figures — not an exhaustive record.
History
The Bitcoin Time Chain
Every block is a timestamp. Every milestone is permanent. This is the history that cannot be rewritten.
The Whitepaper
Satoshi Nakamoto publishes 'Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' to a cryptography mailing list. Nine pages that changed the world.
Genesis Block
Block #0 is mined. Embedded in the coinbase: 'The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.' A message to the world.
First Transaction
Satoshi sends 10 BTC to Hal Finney — the first peer-to-peer Bitcoin transaction in history.
Bitcoin Pizza Day
Laszlo Hanyecz pays 10,000 BTC for two pizzas — the first real-world commercial transaction. Those coins would be worth hundreds of millions today.
Satoshi Disappears
Satoshi Nakamoto hands over the network alert key and source code repository, then vanishes. Bitcoin becomes truly leaderless.
First Halving
Block reward drops from 50 BTC to 25 BTC at block 210,000. The first programmatic supply cut in history.
$1,000 Milestone
Bitcoin crosses $1,000 for the first time, briefly surpassing the price of an ounce of gold. The world starts paying attention.
Second Halving
Block reward halves again to 12.5 BTC. The supply shock begins to be priced in by a growing global market.
$20,000 ATH
Bitcoin reaches nearly $20,000. Mainstream media goes into a frenzy. Millions of new holders enter the market.
Third Halving
Block reward drops to 6.25 BTC. Institutional interest surges. MicroStrategy, Square, and others begin accumulating.
$69,000 ATH
Bitcoin sets a new all-time high of $69,000. El Salvador becomes the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
Spot ETF Approved
The SEC approves the first US spot Bitcoin ETFs. BlackRock, Fidelity, and others bring Bitcoin to every brokerage account.
Fourth Halving
Block reward halves to 3.125 BTC at block 840,000. Less than 1.5 million BTC remain to ever be mined.
Reference
Bitcoin Glossary
The essential vocabulary. No jargon. No fluff. Just the terms you need to understand Bitcoin.
Reading List
Go Deeper
The essential reading list for anyone serious about Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Whitepaper
Satoshi Nakamoto
The nine-page document that started it all. Required reading.
The Bitcoin Standard
Saifedean Ammous
The definitive economic case for Bitcoin as hard money. Essential for understanding why Bitcoin matters.
Mastering Bitcoin
Andreas M. Antonopoulos
The technical deep-dive. Open source and free online. Understand how Bitcoin actually works under the hood.
Bitcoin.org
Community
The original Bitcoin resource. Wallets, guides, and the whitepaper in 40+ languages.
Lopp.net Resources
Jameson Lopp
The most comprehensive curated list of Bitcoin resources on the internet. Everything from beginner to expert.
21 Lessons
Gigi
What Bitcoin taught me — 21 philosophical, economic, and technical lessons learned from falling down the Bitcoin rabbit hole.
Clark Moody Dashboard
Clark Moody
Real-time Bitcoin network stats: hash rate, difficulty, mempool, fees, and more. The Bloomberg terminal for Bitcoin.
Mempool.space
mempool.space
Visualize the Bitcoin mempool in real time. Track transactions, fees, and block confirmations.
Glassnode
Glassnode
On-chain analytics and market intelligence. Understand what Bitcoin holders are actually doing.