What Is Bitcoin? The First Cryptocurrency, Explained

Every other coin is measured against this one. Before you buy anything in this market, understand Bitcoin.

Where Bitcoin came from

Bitcoin was launched in January 2009 by a pseudonymous creator known as Satoshi Nakamoto, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The idea was radical at the time: money that no bank, company or government issues or controls — just software, cryptography and a public ledger shared by thousands of computers.

Satoshi disappeared from public view in 2011 and has never been identified. The network has run continuously ever since, without a CEO, an office or a customer-support line.

The 21 million cap

Bitcoin’s most famous property is fixed supply: the protocol allows a maximum of 21 million BTC, ever. Around 19.8 million have already been mined. No committee can vote to print more.

This is the core of the “digital gold” argument. Whether you find it convincing or not, it’s the property that separates Bitcoin from every currency a central bank manages — and from most other cryptocurrencies, whose supply rules are looser.

How new bitcoin is created: mining and the halving

New BTC enters circulation as a reward to miners — computers that compete to add the next block of transactions to the chain. Roughly every four years, that reward is cut in half in an event called the halving:

Year	Block reward
2009	50 BTC
2012	25 BTC
2016	12.5 BTC
2020	6.25 BTC
2024	3.125 BTC

Each halving slows the rate of new supply. Historically, halvings have preceded major bull markets — though past patterns are never a guarantee of future ones.

What actually drives the price

In practice, Bitcoin’s price moves on a few forces:

• Liquidity cycles. When money is cheap and risk appetite is high, Bitcoin tends to rise; when rates tighten, it falls — often violently.
• Institutional flows. Spot Bitcoin ETFs opened the door for funds and institutions; their inflows and outflows are now a major price driver.
• Halving supply shocks. Less new supply meeting the same demand.
• Narrative and sentiment. Fear and greed move this market faster than fundamentals.

Expect drawdowns of 50–80% during bear markets. That’s not a bug of Bitcoin’s history — it’s the pattern.

Bitcoin vs everything else

A useful mental model: Bitcoin is the reserve asset of the crypto market. Most altcoins are effectively leveraged bets on the same cycle — they rise more than BTC in bull markets and fall harder in bear markets. If you can’t articulate why a specific altcoin should outperform Bitcoin, the default position is Bitcoin.

How to buy Bitcoin on Bitget

1. Create a Bitget account and complete KYC.
2. Deposit funds — see our deposit guide.
3. Open the BTC/USDT spot pair, choose a market or limit order, and start small.

For long-term holdings beyond your trading balance, learn about self-custody first — see our security guide.