Digital assets
Bitcoin: the asset and the network
Bitcoin is the native asset of its own network. Holding it is not a share, a deposit or a claim on a company. The pages beside this one cover ether, which is a different network and a different asset.
- Asset
- Native coin of the Bitcoin network. No corporate issuer.
- Supply rule
- Protocol cap of 21 million. Subsidy halves every 210,000 blocks.
- Consensus
- Proof of work. Miners order transactions into blocks.
- Control
- A private key signs a spend. An exchange balance is a claim on the firm.
- Unit
- Divisible to one hundred-millionth, called a satoshi.
- Risk
- The price can fall sharply. Lost keys and failed venues are separate risks.
What Bitcoin is
Bitcoin is the native asset of the Bitcoin network. There is no company that issues it, and a holding is not equity, a bond or a bank deposit. The network is the set of computers that store the ledger and accept blocks that follow the protocol. The asset is the unit those rules account for.
People use the same word for the asset and the network. On this page, bitcoin is the asset and Bitcoin is the network. One bitcoin is divisible. The smallest unit in the protocol is one hundred-millionth of a bitcoin, a satoshi. A product that uses the name can still be a fund, a future or a contract with a broker rather than the asset itself.
How a transfer is recorded
Bitcoin tracks unspent outputs rather than a bank-style account balance. A transaction spends earlier outputs and creates new ones. The holder proves control by signing with a private key. Nodes check the signature and check that those outputs have not already been spent. Miners gather valid transactions into a block. Later blocks build on that block.
Each added block is a confirmation. Confirmation is probabilistic: more blocks on top make a reorganisation harder. It is not a receipt a company can cancel. The address you can share is not the private key. This site has no field for a key, a seed phrase or a recovery phrase.
Issuance and the 21 million cap
The protocol caps bitcoin at 21 million. New units enter as a subsidy to the miner who adds a block, together with the fees from the transactions in that block. The subsidy started at 50 bitcoin and halves every 210,000 blocks. Those events are the halvings. The table is the subsidy rule. It is not a price history and it is not a forecast. The calendar date of a future halving depends on how quickly blocks are found.
A cap limits how many units the protocol will create. It does not set a market price, and it does not mean a holder can sell a large balance at the last traded price. Coins that are lost sit inside the cap and are simply unspent.
| Year | Subsidy, bitcoin | What the row is |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 50 | The subsidy the protocol started with. |
| 2012 | 25 | First halving, after 210,000 blocks. |
| 2016 | 12.5 | Second halving. |
| 2020 | 6.25 | Third halving. |
| 2024 | 3.125 | Fourth halving. The next cut follows another 210,000 blocks. |
Proof of work
Miners compete to produce a block that meets a difficulty target. The computation is what makes rewriting recent history expensive. The design uses energy. That cost is part of the security model of this network. Ethereum, since the Merge in September 2022, uses proof of stake instead. Neither design is the better one for every purpose, and this page does not treat energy use as a price forecast.
A majority of mining power could, in theory, rewrite recent blocks. That is a security assumption of proof of work. It is not a method, and it is not something this page describes how to attempt.
Block space and fees
A block holds a limited amount of transaction data. When more transactions compete than a block can include, fees rise. The fee is paid in bitcoin. It is separate from an exchange’s trading commission and from a platform’s withdrawal charge. A quiet hour and a congested hour are different markets for that space.
Keys, exchanges and self-custody
If you hold the keys, you can move the bitcoin, and you can lose it. A forgotten phrase is not reset by a help desk. If an exchange holds the keys, the balance is a claim on that company. The firm can freeze a withdrawal, be hacked, or fail. Moving bitcoin to an address you control changes who can sign. It does not stabilise the price, and a transfer to the wrong address is not reversed by the network.
Self-custody
You sign. You also keep the backup. Loss or disclosure of the key can be final.
Exchange balance
The firm’s ledger shows a balance. You depend on its solvency and its controls until you withdraw.
A product that uses the name
A fund, a note or a CFD may reference bitcoin and still not give you the coins or the keys.
Ways of holding or referencing bitcoin
Self-custody, an exchange balance, an exchange-traded product, a futures contract and a CFD are different claims. Some products hold bitcoin. Some hold futures. Some are only a contract with a provider for a price difference. Availability depends on the country and the legal entity. In the UK the FCA has restricted the sale of crypto-asset derivatives, including CFDs, to retail consumers. That sentence is a UK rule, not permission everywhere else.
You hold the keys to outputs on the Bitcoin network. There is no issuer to call. A mistake in the address or a lost backup is a loss of the asset, not a password reset.
There is no single Bitcoin price
Each venue keeps its own order book. Two exchanges can print different bitcoin prices at the same moment, and the gap can widen when one venue is thin or halted. An average of those prices is not a price you can necessarily deal at. This page does not show a live price, a market capitalisation or a volume.
Risks that belong to different layers
The asset can fall sharply, including toward a price near zero. That is the market. Separately, keys can be lost, a venue can fail, fees can spike, and a chain split can create a different asset that is not bitcoin. A derivative adds leverage and a counterparty. Regulation differs by country and can change. The 21 million cap does not retire any of these.
Market
Price and liquidity. A large headline size is not a bid for your holding.
Operational
Keys, addresses, exchange outages and irreversible transfers.
Wrapper
The fund, the future or the CFD, including who holds the coins and who can close the position.
Bitcoin beside ether
Ether is the native asset of Ethereum, a network built so that contracts can hold and move assets. Bitcoin’s protocol does not play that role. A token issued by a contract on Ethereum is not bitcoin and is not ether. The practical split on the crypto markets page — coin or token — is a description of where the asset sits, not a legal classification.
| Question | Bitcoin | Ether |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The native asset of the Bitcoin network. | The native asset of the Ethereum network. Tokens issued by contracts are separate assets. |
| What the asset pays for | Space in a Bitcoin block, as a transaction fee. | Computation and storage on Ethereum, called gas. |
| Consensus | Proof of work. Miners expend computation to propose blocks. | Proof of stake since the Merge in September 2022. Validators lock ether. |
| Supply rule | A cap of 21 million. The block subsidy halves every 210,000 blocks. | No fixed cap of that kind. New ether is issued to validators. The base fee is burned. |
| Ledger shape | Unspent outputs. A transaction spends old outputs and creates new ones. | Accounts. A transaction changes account balances or calls a contract. |
| Other assets on the chain | The protocol accounts for bitcoin. A fork can create a different asset. | Contracts can issue tokens. Those tokens depend on Ethereum and are not ether. |
Questions before treating the name as the holding
- Am I holding bitcoin, or a product that uses the name?
- Who can sign a transfer today: me, or a company?
- If I withdraw, which network and which address, and can that transfer be reversed? It cannot.
- What fee is the network fee, and what fee is the platform’s?
- If the product is a fund or a note, does it hold coins or futures?
- Is a derivative even permitted for me where I live?
- What happens to an exchange balance if the firm fails? Assume a claim on the firm, not coins sitting in your own wallet.
Working through the list does not make an asset or a provider suitable. It separates the network from the product in front of it.
Questions
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a network that records transfers of its native asset, bitcoin, without a corporate issuer. Holding bitcoin is not a share in a company and not a bank deposit. The market price is what a buyer will pay on a given venue.
Who controls Bitcoin?
No company owns the protocol. People run software that enforces the rules, miners order blocks, and users choose which software to run. That is not the same as a democratic vote, and it does not give a holder a claim on anyone’s assets.
Why is the supply described as limited?
The protocol will create at most 21 million bitcoin. New units arrive as a block subsidy that halves every 210,000 blocks. The cap is a rule about issuance. It is not a floor under the price.
What is a halving?
A halving cuts the new bitcoin paid to the miner of a block by half. It does not cut the balance people already hold, and it does not determine the next market price. Fees continue alongside the subsidy.
What is a satoshi?
A satoshi is one hundred-millionth of a bitcoin, the smallest unit the protocol records. Prices quoted per bitcoin can make a small fraction look like a different asset. It is the same asset in a smaller unit.
How is bitcoin different from a token?
Bitcoin is native to its own network. A token is usually issued by a contract on a network that already exists, such as Ethereum. The token depends on that network. The split is practical, not a legal classification.
Is an exchange balance the same as holding bitcoin?
Not in control. Until you withdraw to an address you can sign for, you generally have a claim on the exchange. That claim can be frozen or caught in an insolvency even when the protocol is operating.
Can a bitcoin transfer be cancelled?
The sender cannot recall a confirmed transfer. Sending to the wrong address, or on the wrong network from a platform, is a common way the asset is lost. Waiting for confirmations reduces the chance of a short reorganisation. It does not add a help desk.
Does Bitcoin use staking?
No. Bitcoin’s block production is proof of work. A programme that talks about staking bitcoin is describing something else: a firm’s product, a different asset, or a derivative. Read which one before treating a quoted rate as income.
What risks sit on top of the price?
Lost keys, exchange failure, fee spikes, chain splits, leverage on a derivative, and rules that differ by country. A large market price does not make those smaller.
Related
Sources and review
Written by: WiT Markets Editorial. Writes and structures WiT Markets pages. Separates a sourced fact from a cell that is Not confirmed.
Review: Editorially reviewed. This is not a qualified specialist review and it is not a legal sign-off.
Last reviewed: . Next review due . The date is an editorial pass. It is not a live check of every third-party fee.
Regulatory and official sources
- Financial Conduct Authority — checked 13 October 2026
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — checked 13 October 2026
- Investor.gov — checked 13 October 2026
- European Commission — crypto-assets and MiCA — checked 15 October 2026
- European Securities and Markets Authority — checked 13 October 2026
- U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission — checked 14 October 2026
Methodology. Editorial policy. Corrections. Report an error.