Bitcoin topped a much-awaited threshold of $100,000 in December 2024 before rising to $120,000 in July 2025 as US politicians prepared to debate bills to regulate digital assets.
The incentive to participate in Bitcoin's network is that the first person to validate transactions is rewarded in Bitcoin.
A crypto exchange acts as a brokerage similar to traditional investing, allowing people to transfer traditional money like pounds or dollars in exchange for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.
The process known as mining is controversial due to the incredible amount of energy used as people race to be the first to successfully update the blockchain.
Meme coins face heavy criticism for their speculative nature and the risk involved for investors, often carrying little prospect of accumulating value over time.
The world of cryptocurrencies frequently makes headlines due to rapidly rising and falling values and high-profile heists such as the hacking of Binance.
A spot Bitcoin ETF buys the cryptocurrency directly on the spot at its current price throughout the day.
Unlike traditional currencies, Bitcoin is not controlled by centralised financial institutions.
Binance says it is beginning to recover crypto funds after $6.3bn hack thought to be largest ever Binance is the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, where people can buy, sell and trade digital currencies, like Bitcoin, as well as deposit and withdraw them.
Binance has been hit by what could be the biggest crypto hack ever - here's what we know so far Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, has been hit by what is believed to be the largest crypto hack ever at $6.3bn (£4.7bn).