Bitcoin is the “grandfather” of all cryptos.

It is the original decentralised cryptocurrency that holds  reputable worldwide value today, launched globally 12 years ago on 3rd January 2009.

The decentralised Bitcoin ecosystem — a simple technical explanation

Upon closer inspection, Bitcoin is a collection of concepts and technologies that form the basis of a digital money ecosystem.

These include:

● A decentralised peer-to-peer network of computers called nodes of which there are 10,244 globally (10) (all running the Bitcoin protocol / software called Bitcoin core);

● Control of 50% or more of all nodes is not confined to one operator (dispersed control);

● A public transaction ledger that shows all transfers of bitcoin ownership — debit and credit inputs (the blockchain);

● A decentralised mathematical and deterministic currency issuance mechanism for the total bitcoin supply (distributed mining and the “Proof-of-Work” concept); and 

● A decentralised transaction verification system (transaction script).

The Bitcoin system is based on decentralised trust, thus it relies heavily on cryptographic technologies to secure it, such as:

● Cryptographic hash functions (i.e. SHA-256 and RIPEMD-160); and

● Public Key Cryptography (i.e. ECDSA — the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm).

Article by Sophie Amat: “Gandhi-nomics and decentralisation : a strong foundation for cryptocurrency”

Sophie Amat published this article in ALTCOIN Magazine (Now called InCapital Magazine) on Medium publishing platform. You can read the full article here … https://medium.com/the-capital/gandhinomics-and-decentralisation-a-strong-foundation-for-cryptocurrency-d16ec68cf5d8