Sending money through a banking app and sending bitcoin look almost the same. Underneath, one relies on banks, payment rails, clearing and settlement; the other on nodes, miners and a shared blockchain. Here's how each really works.
A valid Bitcoin transaction still has to be written into a block. Here's how miners build candidate blocks, search for a valid Proof of Work, and how nodes decide which block joins the blockchain.
Bitcoin has no bank checking who's authorized to spend what. Instead, a wallet signs every transaction with a private key, and nodes across the network verify that signature using nothing but math. Here's exactly how that works, step by step.
Follow a Bitcoin transaction step by step, from wallet creation and digital signatures to network verification, block confirmation, and its immutable place on the blockchain.
Explore the complete history of Bitcoin from the 2008 financial crisis to Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper. Discover how blockchain technology changed finance forever.