Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and digital payment system invented by Satoshi Nakamoto that allows for peer-to-peer transactions without an intermediary. Transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded on the blockchain, which is an ordered, back-linked list of transaction blocks. The blockchain uses a Merkle tree to efficiently summarize transactions in each block with a digital fingerprint. Bitcoin addresses are generated from a public key hash derived through elliptic curve cryptography from a private key. Hierarchical deterministic wallets allow private keys to be deterministically derived from a seed to back up and restore wallets. Transactions consist of inputs spending outputs from previous transactions and new outputs sending coins to addresses, with scripts defining spending conditions.