What Is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is money that lives on the internet. You cannot hold it in your hand like a dollar bill. It is digital, like the coins in a video game, except Bitcoin is real money that grown-ups buy, save, and spend.
Think of it like this: A dollar is paper you keep in your pocket. A Bitcoin is a number you keep on your phone. Both are money. One you can touch, one you cannot.
Regular money needs a bank. Bitcoin lives on your phone, no bank in charge.
What makes it special?
- No bank owns it. With regular money, a bank keeps the score of what you have. With Bitcoin, thousands of computers keep the score together.
- Nobody can make more of it whenever they want. There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins. That is the rule, and no one can change it.
- You can send it anywhere. To a friend across the street or across the world, straight from your phone.
Remember: Bitcoin is just money that lives on the internet, and there is no bank bossing it around. That is the whole big idea.
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