When Capitalized, Bitcoin refers to the concept of Bitcoin or the entire Bitcoin network or protocol. When a lowercase “b” is used, it describes bitcoin as a unit of account. e.g., “I paid ten bitcoins today.” — Lowercase bitcoin can also be abbreviated as BTC or XBT.

A bit also referred to as a “satoshi” is a common unit describing the smallest unit of a bitcoin. There are 1,000,000 bits of equal value in one whole Bitcoin. This unit is convenient to adopt when pricing goods and services or tipping others.

Bitcoin addresses are similar to an email or a physical addresses. It is the only information you need to provide in order for someone to pay you with Bitcoin. That said, each address should only be used for a specific single transaction.

The blockchain is a public ledger or record of all Bitcoin transactions. The record is chronological in order. The blockchain is shared (distributed) between all Bitcoin users. The blockchain verifies the permanence of Bitcoin transactions, and that prevents double-spending.

A single block is a record in the blockchain that confirms and contains many transactions. On average, a new block is created or appended to the blockchain every 10 min. This is done through the process of mining Bitcoin.

A “confirmation” refers to a transaction that the network has processed and is highly unlikely to reverse. Transactions get a confirmation when they are included in a block and every subsequent block after that. A single confirmation may be enough to secure a low-value transaction. Three or more confirmations are usually needed to confirm larger amounts.

Cryptography refers to the branch of mathematics that lets us create mathematical proofs. These proofs provide a high level of security. Online banking and eCommerce platforms already use cryptography. Bitcoin uses cryptography to ensure that a user cannot spend funds from another user’s wallet or corrupt the entire blockchain.

Double spending occurs when malicious users try to spend their bitcoins simultaneously with two or more different users. Bitcoin eliminates double spending through the use of mining and by reaching a consensus on the network about which of the two transactions will be confirmed and validated.

The hash rate is a measurement of the processing power of the Bitcoin network. The Bitcoin blockchain solves intensive mathematical operations to secure the network. When the Bitcoin network reaches a hash rate of 10 Th/s, it means the network could make 10 trillion calculations per second.

Bitcoin mining describes the process of making computers do mathematical calculations for the Bitcoin network to confirm bitcoin transactions while increasing security. As a reward, the Bitcoin protocol issues new bitcoin and fees to miners who solve mathematical problems.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) refers to systems that allow individual participants to interact and transact with each other directly and without an intermediary. In the case of Bitcoin, the protocol is built in such a way that each user is broadcasting the transactions of other users. No bank is required as a third party.

A private key in Bitcoin refers to a secret piece of data that proves a user’s right to spend bitcoin from a specific wallet through a cryptographic signature. Private keys must never be shared with others as they allow you to spend bitcoins.