I asked in the previous article, what exactly is Bitcoin? What are the essential attributes of Bitcoin? My answer is that if all external factors  are removed, Bitcoin is a distributed database. It is a database that cannot be tampered with. This is my first definition of Bitcoin, and it is also the most basic attribute of Bitcoin.When we know that Bitcoin is a database, we continue to think about what Bitcoin is. Perhaps most of us would say that Bitcoin is a currency. Yes, this is our biggest consensus on Bitcoin. Perhaps many governments do not legally recognize Bitcoin as a currency, but Bitcoin is recognized and used by more and more people in the form of currency. Bitcoin's monetary properties have become increasingly clear.

However, my opinion today is that before we define Bitcoin as a currency, there is another clearer definition of Bitcoin, that is, Bitcoin is a ledger. And I need to emphasize that Bitcoin is a ledger first, and a currency second. The ledger is the cause, and the currency is the result. Rather than Bitcoin is a currency first, and then a ledger. The logical relationship between the two is very important. This helps us to further understand the essential attribute of Bitcoin.Bitcoin is above all a database. What is this database used for? It is used for keep accounts. What kind of accounts does it keep? It records the transaction and transfer records of Bitcoin between different people. This is what Bitcoin does. It exists as an exchange equivalent, as a medium of exchange. When we all regard Bitcoin as the general equivalent in our transaction process, it plays the role of currency. Then it is considered a currency. Please note that the logic here is very important. Because Bitcoin assumes the role of bookkeeping, it has the properties of currency, so we can use Bitcoin as a currency in our daily lives.

The currency attribute of Bitcoin is not agreed by governments in the form of laws and regulations, but is determined by the technical characteristics of Bitcoin itself. Regardless of whether the government recognizes it as a currency or the government does not recognize it as a currency, Bitcoin itself has the attributes of currency.Ledgers exist in all aspects of our lives. We all have ledgers for personal wages, shopping, consumption, etc. We have ledgers for trade and settlement between companies, and we also have ledgers for economic activities between countries. Almost all economic behaviors and life behaviors in our human society have accounts. All accounting systems are maintaining our economic order. So who is responsible for keeping the books in my life now? It is a centralized bank that keeps accounts. In other words, centralized banks keep accounts on behalf of the government. This kind of bookkeeping power is controlled by centralized power.

When the government continuously over-issues currency, it will cause continuous inflation, and the wealth of all those who own this legal currency will passively shrink. This is also the biggest injustice facing our human society. And Bitcoin was created to solve this problem.Bitcoin is a public ledger system that records human economic behavior. When we use Bitcoin for transactions and settlements, our transaction information is recorded on the Bitcoin public ledger. This public ledger is completely transparent and anyone can consult the information of this ledger; this ledger is distributed, and no single force can tamper with the information of this ledger; this ledger has a consensus mechanism that allows us to generate it Machine trust; this ledger will always exist and no one can destroy it.

So who is responsible for keeping the Bitcoin ledger? It is a miner of Bitcoin. The essence of Bitcoin mining is bookkeeping. It is the financial bookkeeping right of the digital bit world. As the Bitcoin network continues to strengthen, Bitcoin miners will not only liquidate basic human economic behaviors, but will eventually liquidate most of human core digital assets.When we sort out this relationship, we will truly understand that Bitcoin was invented as a ledger and assumed the function of currency. This is determined by the technical properties of Bitcoin. Regardless of whether the government recognizes it or not, it will play the role of currency. I believe that with the further popularity of Bitcoin, more and more people use Bitcoin as a payment medium, and Bitcoin will eventually become the ultimate ledger for recording all commercial data of human civilization. And then lead mankind into a brand-new human civilization, an advanced human civilization based on mathematical algorithms. This is the greatest wealth that Satoshi brought to mankind through the creation of Bitcoin.

This is my opinion, what about you ?