Bitcoin is a software-based online payment system described by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 and introduced as open-source software in 2009.^[Payments are recorded in a public ledger using its own unit of account which is also called bitcoin.Payments work peer-to-peer without a central repository or single administrator, which has led the US Treasury to call bitcoin a decentralized virtual currency.Although its status as a currency is disputed, media reports often refer to bitcoin as a cryptocurrency or digital currency.