In 2008, an anonymous idealist published a paper under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto which described a digital currency or online payment system; the system was introduced as open-source software in 2009. Four years later, the value of all bitcoins was in the billions of dollars. Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; the management of transactions and the issuance of bitcoins is carried out collectively... see more