Bitcoin 101: Your Quick-Start Guide
Read it here👇 or grab the printable PDF.
Bitcoin is digital money.
It’s a unique monetary instrument for the digital age that can be used both like money in your checking and savings accounts or like a commodity, similar to gold.
Bitcoin is digital, global, private, and rules-based. It has a fixed supply cap and anyone, anywhere in the world can use Bitcoin.
â‚¿ is the Bitcoin symbol.
BTC is the abbreviation for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin vs Crypto
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency.
All other cryptocurrencies are not Bitcoin.
Bitcoin has no single point of failure. It has no individual or centralized entity that controls it. Bitcoin is grounded in the real world via the hardware and efforts of node operators and miners who expend time and energy to support the network.
More About Bitcoin
Bitcoin is an open-source, decentralized, global network with various participants from users, holders, and traders to node operators, Bitcoin miners, and exchanges or payment services providers. Invented in 2008 by a pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin officially began in January 2009 and has achieved large scale network effects globally and adoption across various industries.
Getting Exposure
Option 1
Traditional Investment Products
Bitcoin ETFs:
spot, futures, broader industry funds
Publicly-traded companies that hold BTC or who are part of the industry like miners or exchanges
Option 2
Bitcoin the Asset
Brokerages or payment services that offer Bitcoin and crypto buys, sells, and transfers like Fidelity, PayPal, Venmo, or Robinhood
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges like Cash App, River, or Crypto.com
Option 3
Bitcoin in Self-Custody
After buying BTC on a brokerage or exchange, one can send it to a Bitcoin wallet
BTC-only mobile wallets like Muun, BlueWallet or hardware wallets like Bitkey, Ledger, or COLDCARD
Additional options for things like inheritance planning or tax advantaged accounts with services like Casa or Unchained
Considerations
Thought starters on BTC exposure, custody, and security: there are many ways to get exposure to or hold Bitcoin.
Some Bitcoiners apply traditional investment or personal finance principles to their Bitcoin strategy. Not everyone needs to own Bitcoin outright but an important aspect of Bitcoin is that anyone can self custody Bitcoin.
Resources
🎥 The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin
🎧 What Bitcoin Did
What does BlackRock say?
What does Fidelity say?