Bitcoin (BTC) is the world’s first and biggest cryptocurrency, built on an open-source decentralized database technology called Blockchain. It is designed to act as a regular currency system in a decentralized form with no platforms like Banks, governments, or financial institutions to store assets, record, and process transactions. 

Bitcoin was described first 2008 in a whitepaper and made publicly available in January 2009 by an anonymous person, or group of people called Satoshi Nakamoto. The identity of the founder of Bitcoin remains unrevealed.  

Though there were a few similar attempts have been done before Bitcoin to build a digital currency system, Bitcoin stands practically in use and is globally recognized.

Key features 

1. Decentralization: The soul of cryptocurrency is its Decentralized nature, Bitcoin is operated in a peer-to-peer network with no control of any central authority. The network here is maintained by the users (holders) and miners who verify the transactions and get rewarded. 

2. Supply Is Limited: The total supply of bitcoin that will ever exist is 21 million ( 21000000 BTC) and no more than this supply can be altered. Out of this, only nearly 1.5 million (as of 2024 halving) Bitcoins are yet to be mined. 

3. Blockchain Technology: All the Bitcoin transactions run on this decentralized and public database called Blockchain. Once a transaction is registered on this immutable ledger, it cannot be modified. 

4. Peer to Peer: Bitcoin allows users to send or receive directly with each other without the need for a banking server.

5. Mining: When miners with suitable configuration computers are involved in verifying the Bitcoin transactions, they are rewarded with newly minted Bitcoins. 

6. Market Dominance & Volatility: Bitcoin covers more than 50% of dominance in trading when compared to other assets. It moves its price in any direction in short periods, making it a potential investment opportunity and also a risk. 

Bitcoin today is a significant part of the current global financial ecosystem, the asset is used for payments, finance securities, and trading an entity. 

With the emergence of Bitcoin, the rise of DeFi( Decentralized Finance) happened and so did a massive network of different cryptocurrencies.