Bitcoin (BTC) is a virtual currency designed to act as money and a form of payment outside the control of any one person, group, or entity. It was introduced to the public in 2009 by an anonymous developer or group of developers using the name Satoshi Nakamoto.0 Bitcoin enables peer-to-peer exchange of value in the digital realm through the use of a decentralized protocol, cryptography, and a mechanism to achieve global consensus on the state of a periodically updated public transaction ledger called a 'blockchain.' It exists independently of any government, state, or financial institution, can be transferred globally without the need for a centralized intermediary, and has a known monetary policy that arguably cannot be altered.2 Bitcoins are created and kept track of by a network of computers using mathematical formulas, rather than by a single authority or organization.