Economics

Supply, fees, halvings: bitcoin's money rules.

• The 21 million cap

  Bitcoin's supply cap: there will never be more than 21 million coins.

• The halving

  Every four years, the flow of new bitcoin is cut in half. Permanently.

• Block reward

  What miners earn for sealing a block: brand-new bitcoin plus everyone's fees.

• Fees

  What you pay miners to include your transaction — an open auction for block space.

• Monetary policy

  Bitcoin's money rules are fixed software, not committee decisions.

• "Digital gold"

  The claim that bitcoin does gold's job — scarce, neutral, nobody's liability — but better.

• Store of value

  Money's savings job: holding value across time without asking anyone's permission.

• Unit bias

  The feeling that one whole coin is the unit that counts. It isn't.