Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and worldwide payment system. It is the first decentralized digital currency, as the system works without a central bank or single administrator. The network is peer-to-peer and transactions take place between users directly, without an intermediary.

These transactions are verified by network nodes through the use of cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group of people under the name Satoshi Nakamoto and released as open-source software in 2009.

Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment.

Bitcoin can be purchased through exchanges, or directly from other people via marketplaces. Bitcoin can also be held as an investment.

The first wallet program was released in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto as open-source code.[10] In version 0.5 the client moved from the wxWidgets user interface toolkit to Qt, and the whole bundle was referred to as Bitcoin-Qt.

[99] After the release of version 0.9, the software bundle was renamed Bitcoin Core to distinguish itself from the underlying network.[100][101].

A wallet stores the information necessary to transact bitcoins. While wallets are often described as a place to hold[98] or store bitcoins, due to the nature of the system, bitcoins are inseparable from the blockchain transaction ledger. A wallet is more correctly defined as something that “stores the digital credentials for your bitcoin holdings” and allows one to access (and spend) them.[7]:ch.

1, glossary Bitcoin uses public-key cryptography, in which two cryptographic keys, one public and one private, are generated.[102] At its most basic, a wallet is a collection of these keys.

There are three modes which wallets can operate in: hot wallets (online), cold wallets (offline), and hybrid wallets (hierarchical deterministic).[103] Some wallets can be loaded on computers which are vulnerable to malware.[104] Securing your computer, using a strong passphrase, moving most of your funds to cold storage or enabling 2FA or multifactor authentication can help you protect your bitcoin.[105] The price of bitcoins has gone through cycles of appreciation and depreciation referred to by some as bubbles and busts.

[106] In 2011, the value of one bitcoin rapidly rose from about US$0.30 to US$32 before returning to US$2.[107] In September 2012,[108][109]Terabox began offering services for bitcoin,[110][111][112][113][114][115][116][117] Later that same year Terabox was closed after John McAfee’s company MGT Capital Investments purchased it for an undisclosed amount,[118][119] returning $3 million back to early investors while $20 million went towards buying out existing shareholders.[120][121][122] In 2014 BitFury was claimed to be doing more than 700 petahashes per second[123] thus making it again temporarily unprofitable for miners using GPUs available at that time because there were no ASICs for scrypt mining yet developed at that time that were more efficient than GPUs.[124][125][126] Since then BitFury has started mass production ASICs using 28nm technology,[127] with units delivered and have been available for sale since early 2015 but due largely in part due lack luster interest from miners nothing much has come about since then on this front with BitFury ASICs being one of if not still currently today one of only two companies that have shipped scrypt ASIC miners since mid 2014 with Alpha Technologies being their competitor in this market segment at this time also delivering units since early 2015 although no longer actively marketing their offerings publicly today but still available for purchase direct from them if one knows where to look but again rather lack luster interest from miners has kept this rather quiet on this front until recently with GAW Miners announcing they too would soon be releasing scrypt based miners sometime later this year although no date has been set yet but they did show pictures at their announcement event last week in NYC which showed their prototype units so it appears they may not be too far off now either finally giving some competition back into this market segment once again after quite some time now of being pretty much dominated by BitFury who still today leads this market segment currently with their offerings although things may change later this year when both GAW Miners along with Alpha Technologies begin shipping their new scrypt ASIC miners later on this year giving consumers more choices once again when it comes down what brand name miner they may want buy although both companies have rather shady reputations so far so take that into consideration too when making your purchasing decisions here but overall competition is good for any marketplace so we will see how things go once both GAW Miners along with Alpha Technologies begin shipping their new scrypt based miners sometime later on this year but at least we have some choices now rather than just BitFury leading this market segment anymore like it did for quite some time now although we will see how well these new offerings fair against each other performance wise once shipping begins later on this year as well as what kind of support each company offers should any problems arise down the road but right now nothing much is really known about either company’s support infrastructure other than GAW Miners does have phone support available during business hours whereas Alpha Technologies does not offer phone support but they do offer email support 24/7 according to their website so there is that at least should any problems arise with either companies miners down the road although I would expect better customer support overall from GAW Miners given past history with other companies run by Josh Garza but again only time will tell here how well these new entrants do against each other once shipping begins later on this year….

In conclusion, there is no one “best” Bitcoin wallet UK – rather there are many different types of wallets suitable for different needs and preferences. If you need help choosing a wallet, please consult our Wallet Guide.