Bitcoin BTC
Rank #1 by market cap
Last 7 days
CM Profile: Bitcoin
Cryptominium Profile. What we have established, measured and written about BTC, and what we have not.
- Measured
- Selling $100,000 on 2 exchange order books lost 0.00% on each, on 9 October 2026.
- Its price, recorded by us every day since 9 August 2026.
- Written, with sources
Read from our own records when this page was made. It describes what we know, and is not a view on whether to hold BTC. How each part is worked out
What changed
Week to 9 OctoberNothing we measure moved much this week: exchange depth on Kraken, trading volume, reported supply and price are all within their usual range.
From our own measurements only, each against the month before. We do not say why a price moves. How this is worked out · Every coin this week
What it actually costs to sell BTC
Selling $100,000 of BTC into each exchange’s resting bids, measured against the mid price:
| Exchange | Lost | Got back | Measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kraken XBT/USD | under 0.01% | $99,999 | 2026-10-09 median of 26 |
| Coinbase BTC/USD | under 0.01% | $99,998 | 2026-10-09 |
Exchange figures need an account there (and KYC, a permitted country, the tokens already deposited), are before trading fees, and are never averaged with the on-chain figure. Binance is not included: it refuses requests from the region our servers are in. How this is measured →
Watch this number instead of remembering it. A free account keeps BTC on a list, records where it stood the day you added it, and emails you if selling it on these exchanges gets materially harder — one message, not a series. The measurement itself stays public; the account is for being told when it moves without you looking.
BTC halving: 79,375 blocks to go
At block 1,050,000 the reward drops from 3.125 to 1.5625 BTC, halving the rate of new supply. Estimated March 2028.
What we’ve written about BTC
-
What a blockchain actually guarantees — and what it does not
· 3 min
Being on a blockchain proves the ledger was not tampered with. It proves nothing about the project, the team, or whether you will be able to sell. -
Why a crypto payment cannot be undone
· 3 min
Card payments can be reversed by someone other than you. Crypto payments cannot. That single difference explains most of the rules, and most of the losses. -
How to read a coin page without fooling yourself
· 4 min
Market cap, supply, volume and distance from the high — what each number honestly tells you, and the far longer list of things none of them tell you.
What Bitcoin is
Bitcoin is a decentralised digital currency launched in 2009 by a person or group writing under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. It runs on a public network of computers that agree on a shared ledger, so a payment can settle without a bank, a payment processor, or a government sitting in the middle.
New bitcoin enters circulation through mining, where computers compete to add the next block of transactions and are paid for doing it. That reward halves roughly every four years, and the total supply is capped at 21 million coins — a limit written into the software rather than set by anyone.
It is worth being clear about what Bitcoin is not. It is not fast: confirmations take minutes. It is not private: every transaction is permanently public. It is not stable: the price moves violently and has fallen more than 70% from a high on several occasions. It is best understood as a settlement network and a scarce digital asset, not a replacement for everyday payments.
What Bitcoin can do
Selling $100,000 on Kraken lost under 0.01% against the mid price, before trading fees. Check your own amount →
Our own measurement · measured 9 October 2026
Bitcoin sits at an address controlled by a key. Whoever holds the key holds the coins, and no company can freeze or move them. If the key is lost, nobody can restore it. What a wallet actually is →
Source: Bitcoin.org FAQ · checked 2 October 2026
Anyone can send bitcoin to any address. A new block arrives about every ten minutes, the fee rises when the network is busy, and a confirmed payment cannot be reversed. Why a payment cannot be undone →
Source: Bitcoin.org FAQ · checked 2 October 2026
Bitcoin pays nothing for being held. New coins go to miners. Any interest offered on bitcoin means handing it to a company or to another system, and getting it back depends on them.
Source: Bitcoin.org FAQ · checked 2 October 2026
Bitcoin's own scripting is limited on purpose: shared-signature wallets and time locks, not general applications. Apps that use bitcoin mostly run on other networks, on a wrapped copy.
Source: Bitcoin developer guide · checked 2 October 2026
The number of new bitcoins halves about every four years and stops at 21 million. Every node enforces the rule, and no company can change it. The halving countdown →
Source: Bitcoin.org FAQ · checked 2 October 2026
Nothing holds bitcoin to a dollar value. Its price is set by what buyers and sellers agree on.
Source: Bitcoin.org FAQ · checked 2 October 2026
Bitcoin itself exists only on its own network. On other chains it appears as a wrapped token: someone holds real bitcoin and issues a token against it.
Source: WBTC · checked 2 October 2026
What a coin can do is not a reason to buy it or to sell it. Each answer names its source and the day we read it; where we could not source one, the row is left out. How these are written · Every coin we have written up
About the asset
Bitcoin has no token contract — it is the native asset of its own chain, not a token issued on someone else's.
Price change
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Bitcoin data synced 2m ago from CoinGecko. Figures shown in USD. This page is market information, not financial advice — and nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell BTC.