Bitcoin / United States Dollar

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that operates outside the remit of traditional banking systems. Bitcoin can be transferred between transactional parties on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. A public ledger records all bitcoin transactions and copies are held independently on servers around the world. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography. The electronic currency was invented in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto. The currency came into use in 2009 after it was released as open-source software.