Open Bitcoin’s ledger on your phone and you can read the record all the way back to its first page, dated January 3, 2009. This series starts from that scene and puts gold, bank deposits and Bitcoin side by side to ask each the same question. All six parts are out, and if you are looking at Bitcoin for the first time, this is a good place to start.
Contents · Six parts
- Part 1Bitcoin Is a Public Record of Money. Here’s How It Works
Bitcoin keeps a public record of who sent how much to whom, open to anyone back to its first page in 2009. A plain-language look at how it works.
- Part 2Gold on the Scale, Bitcoin in the Ledger
Any jeweler can weigh and test a gold ring. Anyone can download and check Bitcoin's ledger. How each one shows it's real, and what that checking costs.
- Part 3Who Decides How Much Money There Is
Gold comes from the earth, central banks guide money and credit, and Bitcoin follows an issuance schedule. See how each approach shapes trust.
- Part 4Banks Protect Deposits. Keys Protect Bitcoin.
Banks protect deposits with supervision and insurance. Bitcoin puts control in a key. Who holds that key, and what does keeping it safe involve?
- Part 5Bitcoin Has One Ledger. Countries Set the Rules Around It.
Countries set rules for exchanges, payments, funds, and government holdings. How do those rules relate to Bitcoin’s shared ledger?
- Part 6Where Trust Sits in Gold, Bank Deposits, and Bitcoin
Who records, checks, issues, and protects money? Five questions compare where gold, bank deposits, and Bitcoin place their trust.
At a glance
A deposit alert has a bank's ledger behind it; a gold necklace, a scale. One ordinary day in pictures, and how Bitcoin answers the same questions.
Other series
- What Happens When You Send Bitcoin What happens after you press Send: one payment record’s trip from your phone into Bitcoin’s ledger.
This page is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice. Digital assets are highly volatile, and you could lose some or all of the money you put in.