Bitcoin is a software-based payment system described by Satoshi Nakamoto[note 1] in 2008,[4] and introduced as open-source software in 2009.[5] Payments are recorded in a public ledger using its own unit of account,[6] which is also called bitcoin.[note 2] Payments work peer-to-peer without a central repository or single administrator, which has led the US Treasury to call bitcoin a decentralized virtual currency.[9] Although its status as a currency is disputed, media reports often refer […]