BITCOIN (BTC)

Bitcoin is currently the most widespread and well-known cryptocurrency. Open source, no one owns or controls it, but anyone can contribute to its development. Bitcoin's advantage comes from the fact that it was the very first cryptocurrency to hit the market. The emergence of the first cryptocurrency created a conceptual and technological foundation that later inspired the development of thousands of projects. It works on a peer-to-peer basis, so it does not go through any bank or exchange, transactions are managed by the network's community, which results in low management costs and easy global use. It has a high-level security algorithm that ensures the security of the wealth stored in Bitcoin. Thanks to the ever-increasing number of accepting locations, Bitcoin allows you to buy any product anywhere in the world. Bitcoin is secured by the SHA-256 algorithm, which is also used by the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) fork and many other cryptocurrencies. It was released on January 3, 2009, by an unknown person (forum name Satoshi Nakamoto). Among its known disadvantages is it's high energy consumption. According to a report, each Bitcoin transaction consumes 1,173 kWh of electricity, which would be enough to power a typical American home for six weeks. Another report calculated that Bitcoin's annual energy demand exceeds the annual hourly energy consumption of Finland with a population of 5.5 million. Miners are highly dependent on renewable energy sources, and Bitcoin's renewable energy usage is estimated to be between 40-75%. Bitcoin is seen by many as a store of value, like gold. This is done in such a way that when someone buys the cryptocurrency, they do not sell it, but hold it for the long term (HODL).