Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a digital assetdesigned to work as a medium of exchangethat uses cryptography to control its creation and management, rather than relying on central authorities.^[1] The presumed pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto integrated many existing ideas from the cypherpunkcommunity when creating bitcoin. Over the course of Bitcoin's history, it has undergone rapid growth to become a significant currency both on and offline - from the mid 2010's onward, some businesses on a global scale began accepting bitcoins in addition to standard currencies.