Following the 2008 crisis, a person or group of people under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto published technical writings on Bitcoin, an end-to-end electronic payment system. Thus, Bitcoin emerged as a decentralized cryptocurrency protected against third-party interventions. It became publicly available in 2009 and was later referred to as the "1st generation blockchain" as the first successful cryptocurrency.
Thanks to its distributed structure, it quickly rose against the current financial system. While transactions on the Bitcoin network can be tracked, identifying the individuals behind these transactions is impossible. Transactions confirmed on the Bitcoin Blockchain are irreversible and immutable due to its chain structure.
As it cannot be regulated or controlled, Bitcoin's value has risen from zero to thousands of dollars. Following Bitcoin's rise, many other cryptocurrencies were introduced. These are referred to as "alternative coin" or "altcoin". Alternative cryptocurrencies were created with various features at different points to take advantage of competitive advantages, leading to new market types. Differences include maximum supply limit, algorithms, and blockchain subtypes (private/shared, permissioned/permissionless consensus).
The maximum number of Bitcoins that can be produced on the Bitcoin blockchain platform is 21 million. Bitcoin allows end-to-end, address-to-address transfers, with block production time being approximately 10 minutes.
Bitcoin addresses serve as user identities on the platform. They cannot be associated with the person conducting the transaction, and rights to these addresses cannot be claimed if the keys are lost.

Despite various risks, Bitcoin usage offers many advantages. Its resistance to inflation and collapse, simplicity, reliability, and tracelessness (anonymity) are its core benefits. Compared to traditional methods, money transfers are more secure, cheaper, and faster, which is a significant advantage provided by Bitcoin. You can access your Bitcoins worth millions of lira from anywhere you have wallet access. There is no other way to transport such large amounts of money so easily. Transactions and account balances not being known or controlled by any person/persons or government and bank also provide some advantages.

Being untraceable can be advantageous in some situations but also creates disadvantages. It can be used for payments of illegally traded products and for money laundering purposes. Other disadvantages include the small number of experts in this technology, the risk of loss, and the limited number of platforms where spending can be made.

Bitcoin is not tied to any state or central bank. Unlike traditional currencies, it is not backed by any precious metal like gold. It is not a physically minted currency but a system entirely produced virtually, based on a mathematical formula. This formula is public, and anyone can join the system. Every individual joining the Bitcoin mining system helps to strengthen its security.

Mining is essential for the production of Bitcoin and to establish the continuity and security of the blockchain system.
Mining, initially possible with various devices, has led to continuous innovations for more profitability due to increasing competition.
Essentially, mining involves solving cryptographic puzzles to add new blocks to the system. The complexity of these puzzles depends on the computer's processing power and the length of the puzzle. Miners are rewarded with Bitcoin for solving these puzzles and creating blocks.
The increase in the number of miners and the system's allowance of only one block production every 10 minutes make mining a challenging profit-making endeavor. Furthermore, the limited number of Bitcoins also impacts mining negatively but prevents inflation within the Bitcoin currency.

Every transaction you make with Bitcoin is encrypted from start to finish, thanks to its adherence to a specific protocol. All transactions on the encrypted chain are recorded. Except for user errors like losing your wallet information or your computer being hacked, the system has no security flaws.
A system that prevents double-spending of Bitcoin ensures that no fraudulent transactions or transactions without your knowledge occur.
The absence of a central authority and the necessity for transactions to be confirmed through different computers make the Bitcoin system secure.

Bitcoin's price changes solely based on supply and demand since the number of Bitcoins in circulation is limited.
The supply-demand balance is when buyers and sellers mutually agree on a price for a product. This is where Bitcoin's price determination starts; when people start buying Bitcoin - due to the limited amount in circulation - its value begins to increase, and when they start selling, its value begins to decrease.

The easiest way to accept payments with Bitcoin is person-to-person, i.e., address-to-address transfers. This method can be implemented via some smartphone applications. However, there are also commercial applications designed specifically for this purpose, based on scanning QR codes.

They are cryptocurrencies produced as alternatives to Bitcoin.

They were introduced to enable faster transaction confirmations compared to Bitcoin and to develop the world of cryptocurrency, thereby stimulating the digital currency market, i.e., increasing circulation volume.

In the world of digital currencies, Bitcoin is the gold, Litecoin is the silver, and Ethereum is the oil. Litecoin: Transactions are completed faster compared to Bitcoin. Ripple: Ripple is both a payment network and a type of cryptocurrency. Each transaction takes 4 seconds. In Ethereum, this process takes more than 2 minutes, in Bitcoin more than an hour, and traditional transactions can take days. Additionally, Ripple can handle 1500 transactions per minute. Ethereum: A platform that allows developers to create smart contracts. It is the cryptocurrency with the second-largest market cap after Bitcoin. ICOs, i.e., coins collecting pre-market launch interest, predominantly receive donations and requests in Ethereum.

Simply put, Ethereum is a distributed platform based on blockchain technology. Its founder is Vitalik Buterin. ICOs, i.e., coins collecting pre-market launch interest, predominantly receive donations and requests in Ethereum.

Ethereum, like Bitcoin, is a distributed blockchain platform. The main difference between them lies in the capabilities and purposes of use.

Smart contracts are files containing command codes. Hence, Ethereum is also referred to as programmable money. It automates the execution of a transaction when certain conditions are met. If the person you're transferring Bitcoin to knows you and is aware of your Bitcoin address, the transfer between the parties can be traced.