2140
The year the last new bitcoin is expected to be mined. After that, miners are paid by transaction fees alone.
The glossary
Bitictionary
Bitcoin terms, explained plainly. From 2140 to Whitepaper.
16 terms shown
Block reward
The new bitcoin a miner earns for adding a block to the chain, plus the fees from the transactions inside it.
Cold storage
Keeping your bitcoin keys on a device that never touches the internet, so remote attackers simply cannot reach them.
Difficulty
How hard it is to mine a block. It self-adjusts every 2,016 blocks so blocks keep arriving about every ten minutes.
Full node
A computer that keeps a full copy of the blockchain and checks every rule itself. Ours runs right here in the cafe.
Halving
Every four years the new supply of bitcoin per block is cut in half. It is how the 21 million cap is enforced over time.
Hal Finney
Legendary cryptographer and the first person to receive a bitcoin transaction, sent by Satoshi in January 2009.
Hashrate
The total computing power securing Bitcoin. More hashrate means an attack on the network costs more to attempt.
Lightning Network
A payment layer built on Bitcoin for instant, near-free payments. It is how you pay for your coffee here in sats.
Mempool
The waiting room for transactions. Each node holds its own list of unconfirmed transactions until miners include them in a block.
Proof of Work
Miners spend real energy to earn the right to add a block. That cost is what makes Bitcoin's history practically impossible to rewrite.
Satoshi
Two meanings: Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's anonymous creator, and the smallest unit of bitcoin - 100 million sats per coin.
Michael Saylor
Executive chairman of Strategy, the company famous for putting billions of its treasury into bitcoin and never selling.
Seed phrase
The 12 or 24 words that back up your wallet. Anyone who holds them holds your bitcoin, so write them down and tell no one.
UTXO
Unspent transaction output: a chunk of bitcoin you can spend. Your wallet balance is really a collection of these.
Whitepaper
Satoshi's nine-page paper from 2008 that describes how Bitcoin works. Ours is hand-written across the cafe wall.
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