Bitcoin price today, BTC to USD live price, marketcap and chart

To check Bitcoin’s price live in the fiat currency of your choice, you can use Crypto.com’s converter feature in the top-right corner of this page. On the flip side, countries like China have moved to heavily clamp down on Bitcoin mining and trading activities. In May 2021, the Chinese government declared that all crypto-related transactions are illegal. This was followed by a heavy crackdown on Bitcoin mining operations, forcing many crypto-related businesses to flee to friendlier regions. Throughout its history, Bitcoin has experienced numerous cycles of growth and decline, and understanding these trends is key to anticipating future market movements. One of the main recent trends is related to the 2024 halving event, during which Bitcoin’s block reward was cut in half.

So, who created Bitcoin?

According to Satoshi, the history of fiat currencies has, however, entailed many breaches of said trust. Because of the variety of technical features it integrates and the way it connects participants from all corners of the globe, Bitcoin is often considered far more than a simple financial asset or monetary unit. It was created by an anonymous programmer, or group of Best uk stocks programmers, under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. The value of Bitcoin has risen steadily since it was first introduced, and it has grown in popularity as well. Its actual value constantly fluctuates because Bitcoin trading is active 24/7. Surprisingly, the anti-crypto stance of the Chinese government has done little to stop the industry.

The most common reason to fork Bitcoin is to upgrade it, and a fork causes a split in the transaction chain. This creates a development structure and an opportunity to experiment without compromising the ‘main’ Bitcoin blockchain. These forks are essentially changes in the protocol of the Bitcoin network and can be implemented for several reasons. However, Bitcoin is a relatively young asset, and its volatility often counts against it as a store of value.

Convert US dollar to Bitcoin

• Unlike with traditional currencies, everyone who can contribute the computational power needed to maintain this network will keep a record of every single Bitcoin transaction.
• The Trump family’s growing presence in the cryptocurrency industry is raising serious ethical concerns.
• MAST introduces a condition allowing the sender and recipient of a transaction to sign off on its settlement together.
• Taproot is a soft fork that bundles together BIP 340, 341 and 342 and aims to improve the scalability, efficiency, and privacy of the blockchain by introducing several new features.

For risk-averse investors, the massive volatility that Bitcoin has historically exhibited can be a severe drawback. These halvings and the predefined nature of Bitcoin’s supply make Bitcoin’s monetary supply almost perfectly transparent. This stands in stark comparison to fiat currency which is simply printed, and increasingly so in recent years, by central bankers across the world.

The price is calculated based on rates on 35 exchanges and is continuously updated every few seconds. With a circulating supply of 19,874,709 Bitcoin, Bitcoin currently has a market cap of $2,071,553,809,210.15, down –% over the past 24 hours. Soft forks, meanwhile, are a change to the protocol that is backward compatible, meaning that the new protocol will be recognized by the old nodes of the system. The original reward of 50 BTC per mined block as of the genesis block has been halved several times to 25, 12.5, and, as of 11 May 2020, to 6.25 BTC.

What Is Bitcoin Halving?

According to data by the University of Cambridge, China is now the second-biggest contributor to Bitcoin’s global hash rate, only behind the United States. Bitcoin is becoming more political by the day, particularly after El Salvador began accepting the currency as legal tender. The country’s president, Nayib Bukele, announced and implemented the decision almost unilaterally, dismissing criticism from his citizens, the Bank of England, the IMF, Vitalik Buterin and many others.

Those who defend Bitcoin also note that the complex validation process creates a more secure transaction system, which justifies the energy usage. A soft fork is a change to the Bitcoin protocol wherein only previously valid blocks/transactions are made invalid. Since old nodes will recognise the new blocks as valid, a soft fork is backward-compatible. This kind of fork requires only a majority of the miners upgrading to enforce the new rules. Mining Bitcoins can be very profitable for miners, depending on the current hash rate and the price of Bitcoin. As of mid-September 2021, the Bitcoin mining reward is capped to 6.25 BTC after the 2020 halving, which is roughly $299,200 in Bitcoin price today.

Support for the GENIUS Act, a proposed bill to regulate the U.S. stablecoin market, is weakening as concerns grow over Trump’s direct financial involvement in crypto ventures. Critics argue that this conflict of interest could compromise the integrity of future crypto legislation. Due to seized assets the U.S. government manages one of the world’s largest bitcoin stashes. The impact of Bitcoin’s price on the global market is significant, as its behavior affects the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. When Bitcoin increases in value, other cryptocurrencies tend to follow this upward trend, which investors and traders leverage fxcm review to maximize profits.

• You can track Bitcoin’s price in real-time and its price history on Crypto.com/Price.
• If you’re trading cryptocurrencies, it’s advisable to check multiple sources before making a buy or sell decision.
• A ledger isn’t a revolutionary concept, but it is required as a record of transactions within a financial system.
• While financial service providers, especially credit card companies, advertise instant transactions, these transactions are only reflected instantly, although they take days to actually settle.

That said, some service providers that accept fiat and send BTC to user wallets may take longer than ten minutes to facilitate transactions. This may be due to waiting for fiat payments to settle, batch processing, or AML (Anti Money Laundering) regulations, among other reasons. Bitcoin’s public distributed ledger, or blockchain, is made up of many ‘blocks’, each contrary to opinion, week appears, ultimately, a long time containing an SHA-256 cryptographic hash of the previous block all the way back to the genesis block mined on Jan 03, 2009. Bitcoin uses cryptography to verify transactions and record them on a blockchain, which is a public distributed ledger. Bitcoin’s price is constantly changing because the crypto market is active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

One of its most important functions is that it is used as a decentralized store of value. In other words, it provides for ownership rights as a physical asset or as a unit of account. Many crypto enthusiasts and economists believe that high-scale adoption of the top currency will lead us to a new modern financial world where transaction amounts will be denominated in smaller units. Another important trend is the growing adoption of Bitcoin in emerging markets. In countries with high inflation rates, such as some in Latin America, Bitcoin has become a popular alternative to preserve the value of money against devaluation. Additionally, regulations in the United States and Europe are playing a determining role.

It has managed to create a global community and give birth to an entirely new industry of millions of enthusiasts who create, invest in, trade and use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in their everyday lives. The emergence of the first cryptocurrency has created a conceptual and technological basis that subsequently inspired the development of thousands of competing projects. The Trump family’s growing presence in the cryptocurrency industry is raising serious ethical concerns. Their aggressive expansion signals a willingness to test boundaries, both regulatory and political. Understanding the Bitcoin to USD price and the factors influencing its value is essential for anyone interested in cryptocurrencies.

What Is Bitcoin (BTC)?

Leaders also discussed the current debate surrounding the coal-to-crypto trend, particularly regarding the number of coal plants in New York and Pennsylvania that are in the process of being repurposed into mining farms. Furthermore, some who defend Bitcoin argue that the gold and banking sector — individually — consume twice the amount of energy as Bitcoin, making the criticism of Bitcoin’s energy consumption a nonstarter. Moreover, the energy consumption of Bitcoin can easily be tracked and traced, which the same cannot be said of the other two sectors.

These include software wallets like the Crypto.com DeFi Wallet and hardware wallets that resemble USB flash drives. The cryptocurrency has been around for a long time, and it’s only getting more popular as time goes on. You can purchase items online and in-store, and even use your Bitcoin to purchase an investment property. One of the biggest advantages of using Bitcoin as an online payment method is its anonymity. You can make purchases without having your identity tied to the transaction at all times.

If you are new to crypto, use the Crypto.com University and our Help Center to learn how to start buying Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies. Aside from congressional hearings, there are private sector crypto initiatives dedicated to solving environmental issues such as the Crypto Climate Accord and Bitcoin Mining Council. In fact, the Crypto Climate Accord proposes a plan to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, And, due to the innovative potential of Bitcoin, it is reasonable to believe that such grand plans may be achieved. If you are new to crypto, use CoinMarketCap’s own educational portal — Alexandria — to learn how to start buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This negative sentiment appears to have been broken, with a number of corporate behemoths buying up Bitcoin since 2020. In particular, business intelligence firm MicroStrategy set the pace after it bought $425 million worth of Bitcoin in August and September 2020.

About Bitcoin

He also told the audience that stablecoins do not threaten the U.S. dollar, which reflects the administration’s broader effort to align with the crypto industry. While the message sounds anti-establishment, the actions tell a different story. On the opening day of the 2025 Bitcoin Conference, Trump Media unveiled a $2.5 billion bitcoin treasury strategy. Just days earlier, World Liberty Financial, a Trump family crypto venture, advanced its own stablecoin initiative. The Trump administration may be centralizing influence over the crypto industry, raising concerns among early Bitcoin supporters about the loss of its politically neutral foundation.

Bitcoin community

While BTC prices may put off newer or first-time investors who tend to think of investments in whole numbers, Bitcoin is in fact highly divisible. Purchasing 1 whole BTC may be difficult for most investors, which is why most trades at current Bitcoin prices are done with far smaller units. These new blocks are formed by a new group of transactions that are accepted by the nodes of the Bitcoin network, added to the network, and then published to all nodes. Rather than requiring central approval and oversight, a majority of computers on the network instead hold sway.

This potential conflict of interest poses a challenge to the credibility of any regulatory framework intended to support a fair and decentralized crypto economy. One of the most defining moments came when Vance addressed the crowd, emphasizing that under President Trump, cryptocurrency now has a strong ally in the White House. His remarks, which were met with loud applause, underscored the Trump administration’s effort to present itself as a champion of digital assets and crypto-friendly policies. What began as a decentralized push for financial sovereignty and libertarian ideals has increasingly become defined by political alignment and elite influence. At the 2025 Bitcoin Conference, at least 18 speakers had direct political connections, including sitting senators, members of Congress, White House officials, plus both Eric and Donald Trump Jr.