Bitcoin Glossary

Clear explanations of the words, technologies, and ideas you will encounter while learning about Bitcoin.

14 terms found

Bitcoin

A decentralised digital monetary network that lets people send and receive value without relying on a central bank or payment company.

A batch of valid Bitcoin transactions that is added to the blockchain by a miner and accepted by network nodes.

A shared, chronological record of confirmed Bitcoin transactions, organised into blocks that are linked together.

An indication that a transaction has been included in a block, with each later block adding another confirmation.

The process by which independently run Bitcoin nodes follow the same rules and converge on the valid blockchain history.

The process of using specialised computing hardware to propose new blocks under Bitcoin's proof-of-work rules.

A computer running Bitcoin software that independently validates transactions and blocks against the network's rules.

Secret cryptographic information that proves control over bitcoin and is used to authorise spending.

Bitcoin's mechanism that requires miners to expend computing work before they can propose a valid block.

The smallest unit of bitcoin. One bitcoin is divisible into 100,000,000 satoshis.

A sequence of words that can restore a Bitcoin wallet and the keys it controls. It is also called a recovery phrase.

Holding bitcoin in a setup where you, rather than an exchange or other provider, control the keys needed to spend it.

A signed instruction that moves bitcoin from one set of addresses to another according to Bitcoin's rules.

Software or a device that helps you manage the keys used to receive and spend bitcoin. It does not hold bitcoin itself.