When someone asks this question, it is important to clarify that “a Bitcoin”, the “Bitcoin Protocol”, the “Bitcoin Blockchain” and the “Bitcoin Ticker Symbol (BSV)” are commonly used interchangeably to answer the question, but they are indeed separate and unique things.
The “Bitcoin Protocol” is the set of rules meant to be permanently locked in to govern the flow of data through the client software and the distributed network of nodes (miners or transaction processors) powering the entire system. The Bitcoin Protocol uses digital signatures but is not encrypted.
In its most simple explanation, “a bitcoin” refers to a unit of the Bitcoin digital currency. Bitcoin acts as “electronic cash” that anyone can safely send over a secured distributed network directly to anyone else (peer to peer), without the need of traditional financial intermediaries.
The “Bitcoin Blockchain” acts as a globally distributed ledger that records all Bitcoin transactions in blocks of data that are linked to create a chain (thus, creating a blockchain). New blocks of transactions are added to the ledger by consent of the majority of miners based on a set of rules which were defined in the original Bitcoin white paper. A new block is added to the blockchain, on average, every 10 minutes. The Bitcoin Blockchain is distributed and kept among many mining nodes, so participants in the network do not need to trust just one person or company to have the accurate copy of the ledger. The Bitcoin Blockchain was designed to massively scale with big blocks which can hold high volumes of payment transactions and other forms of data to support enterprise applications.
BSV, which stands for Bitcoin SV (Satoshi Vision), is the new Bitcoin ticker symbol used by exchanges to identify the proper token that represents the original or legacy Bitcoin Protocol as defined by the Bitcoin White Paper written by Satoshi Nakamoto.
Bitcoin SV is much more than just a digital currency to be used for global payments; it is also an immutable global public data ledger that enterprises can use to power blockchain applications that transform their businesses in new and exciting ways. This “Satoshi Vision” was derailed by prior Bitcoin developers who artificially limited the capabilities of Bitcoin’s blockchain in favor of off-chain scaling strategies, but it is finally possible now that the Bitcoin Protocol is being fully restored to its original design.
Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) is the only protocol that can unleash the true power of blockchain technology. By using Bitcoin’s original design described in the white paper and locking down the original Bitcoin Protocol, Bitcoin SV enables application developers and major enterprises to build on top of a stable and regulatory-friendly blockchain much the same way as businesses built for years on top of a stable internet protocol.
