Bitcoin

noun

Bit·​coin ˈbit-ˌkȯin 

variants or less commonly bitcoin

: a digital currency created for use in peer-to-peer online transactions

Introduced in 2008 by a person or group using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin is the most prominent of a group of virtual currencies—money that exists mainly as computer code—that have no central issuing authority.

—Carter Dougherty

… Bitcoin … is backed by no government and has a fluctuating value linked in part to a scarcity that is mathematically predetermined.

—Glenn Zorpette

The venture capital industry is beginning to take a good, hard look at a new financial instrument coming out of the bitcoin community—Initial Coin Offerings, or ICOs.

—Richard Kastelein

also, usually bitcoin : a unit of this currency

Commercial space venture Virgin Galactic—which announced on Nov. 22 that it would start accepting bitcoins to reserve a refundable $250,000 seat on a future trip—is just the latest of many businesses that have recently embraced the decentralized virtual payment system. (At press time, 1 bitcoin was worth roughly $879.)

—Time

Examples of Bitcoin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Lummis reintroduced her Bitcoin Act this year, proposing the U.S. buy 1 million bitcoin, around 5% of the total bitcoin supply, over five years through the sale of Fed gold certificates. —Billy Bambrough, Forbes, 22 Mar. 2025

Read More: How Doctors Are Pushing Medical Credit Cards on Patients Schoonover took to dozens of podcasts—many of which focused on Bitcoin or cryptocurrency—to promote CrowdHealth, in search of an audience already thinking of alternatives to current systems. —Alana Semuels, TIME, 20 Mar. 2025

Often found inside convenience stores, Bitcoin ATMs resemble regular ATMs and provide a legitimate and straightforward method to convert cash into cryptocurrency. —Brian New, CBS News, 20 Mar. 2025

In 2022, a Bitcoin mine operated by Marathon Digital opened next to Wolf Hollow. —Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 19 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

bit entry 4 + coin entry 1

First Known Use

2008, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Bitcoin

• adjoin
• benzoin
• conjoin
• enjoin
• fibroin
• rejoin
• sirloin
• subjoin
• coin
• coyne
• groin
• join