bitcoin
Americannoun
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bitcoins
plural
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Often Bitcoin the first widely established cryptocurrency, which uses state-of-the-art cryptography, can be issued in any fractional denomination, and has a decentralized distribution system.
Increasing numbers of stores and online businesses accept Bitcoin.
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a single unit of bitcoin, the first widely established cryptocurrency.
The value of a bitcoin has sometimes surpassed the value of an ounce of gold.
Usage
What's the difference between bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and digital currency? See digital currency ( def. ).
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bitcoin
First recorded in 2005–10; bit 3 ( def. ) + coin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Central banks are buying gold on infrastructure that already exists; institutions are buying bitcoin on infrastructure still being built—the same debasement logic, two different stages.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Lower Treasury yields prompted a fall in the dollar and supported a rise in bitcoin, which rose 0.86% to $83,900.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
The dollar weakened against a basket of global currencies, lifting gold and bitcoin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
While Genesis Digital originally focused on bitcoin mining in Kazakhstan, it later pulled back from the central Asian country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Citibank boosted its 12-month bitcoin target price to $113,000 from $82,000 amid renewed concern that large government deficits could erode the value of fiat currencies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Strategy’s holdings represent 4% of the total bitcoins that will ever exist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
But that metric began showing the market was valuing Strategy at a discount to the value of its bitcoins.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
Strategy acquired 4,871 bitcoins for $330 million, despite a $14.46 billion first quarter unrealized loss.
From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026
In fact, it was a remote desktop application that enabled Lam and his conspirators to transfer 4,000 bitcoins to themselves, Stratton said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 24, 2026
The company then used that money to buy 592 bitcoins during the week to Feb. 22, at an average price of $67,286 per token.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 23, 2026
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
