human
I've been hearing a lot of buzz about bitcoin. What is it and how does it work?
assistant
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that was created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, who remains anonymous to this day. It is decentralized and peer-to-peer, meaning that there is no central authority or bank controlling the currency. Instead, transactions are verified by a network of computers across the world, known as miners. The system is designed so that each miner must solve complex algorithms in order to confirm a transaction, which earns them a reward in bitcoins. As more people join the network, the difficulty of these algorithms increases, making it harder for miners to confirm transactions.