Bitcoin is one of the hottest topics in 2025, especially with a more crypto-friendly administration in office.

Yet, it's estimated only 2-3% of the world’s population owns Bitcoin.

My guess? Most people don’t understand it well enough to feel comfortable investing their hard-earned money—especially given how volatile it is.

Here is a basic overview of everything you need to know:

Introduction

First, what is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that allows people to send and receive payments without relying on a 3rd party like a bank or the government.

Bitcoin operates on blockchain technology, a digital ledger that records all transactions securely and transparently across a decentralized network of computers (called nodes).

Creator

Bitcoin is widely recognized as the world’s first cryptocurrency. It was introduced in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, a person (or group) whose identity is anonymous. Bitcoin officially launched in 2009 when the first block, known as the Genesis Block, was mined.

Mining

Bitcoin is created through a process called mining, which involves solving complex puzzles. Mining serves two main purposes:

1. Securing the Network – Miners validate and add new transactions to the blockchain.

2. Creating New Bitcoin – As a reward for their work, miners receive newly minted bitcoins.

Blocks are mined roughly every 10 minutes. The exact time can vary depending on a number of factors such as mining difficulty level, which is largely influenced by the number of miners and amount of computing power.

Supply

But Bitcoin can’t be mined forever.

There can only ever be 21 million bitcoin. This is done by design to make Bitcoin scarce and deflationary.

And as of 2024, more than 19 million coins have already been mined. The last Bitcoin is expected to be mined by 2140.

Halving

Roughly every 4 years, the amount of Bitcoin rewarded to miners is cut in half. The event is called, “Halving.”

In November 2012, rewards were cut in half from 50 to 25.

In July 2016, rewards were cut in half from 25 to 12.5.

In May 2020, rewards were cut in half from 12.5 to 6.25.

Most recently in April 2024, rewards were cut in half from 6.25 to 3.125 Bitcoin for every successfully mined block.

Properties

Bitcoin’s unique characteristics make it a good store of value, a big reason why investors like it.

• Durable: Able to survive wear and tear over time

• Salable: Easy to sell for other goods and services whenever the holder wants

• Portable: Easy to move or send from person to person

• Divisible: Can be broken into smaller amounts without losing its value (there are 100,000,000 satoshis (sats) in a bitcoin)

• Scarce: There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin which helps it maintain its value

Storage

Although you can keep Bitcoin on whatever exchange you purchase it on, that’s not advisable. If the exchange goes down or goes out of business, you might have a hard time retrieving your coins. Plus, crypto is not SIPC protected like stocks.

So, how should you store your Bitcoin? Here’s two options:

Hot Wallet

A hot wallet connects to the internet which makes it convenient for quick transaction. The downside is anything that connects to the internet runs the risk of being hacked.

Cold Wallet

A cold wallet is a wallet that remains completely offline, which offers significantly higher security for long-term storage. But the downside is its less accessibility for frequent transactions.

Acceptance

Every day, more and more people are coming around to the idea of a digital currency like Bitcoin.

In January 2024, the first Bitcoin ETF started trading. This paved the way for a wider range of investors to dip their toe in the crypto market. And in just 11 months, $IBIT amassed over $50 billion in assets, setting a record as the fastest-growing ETF in history.

Conclusion

Now you know the basics about Bitcoin. Whether you decide to invest in Bitcoin is up to you. Personally, I see the value in it and don’t foresee it going anywhere anytime soon. So, I’m allocating a portion of my portfolio to it every month by dollar-cost averaging into it.

If you want to learn more on the subject of Bitcoin, two books I recommend are:

1. The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous

2. Broken Money: Why Our Financial System Is Failing Us and How We Can Make It Better by Lyn Alden

Talk soon,

Darrell