Bitcoin – most important technical characteristics

[Phu Juck]

I'm not a coder but as a non-technical person, I'm always open for simplified technical knowledge about Bitcoin.
So, I would like to ask people of very deep knowledge of Bitcoin’s code what you would tell some non-technical people.

What are your 2 most important technical points of Bitcoin, where you would say "it's really important for Bitcoin and people should know it". Important would also mean for Bitcoin from a hacking-resistant point and what is making Bitcoin superior against competing Altcoins?

I could give a few examples but I'm sure, it would be explained much better from really knowledgeable people. People maybe even running a Bitcoin node or people active on GitHub.


As for educational purposes, it would be nice to include in your reply a generalized language, also understandable for non-coders.
So, a simplified but not too oversimplified explanation would be helpful for educational purposes.

Having reasons delivered, why Bitcoin’s tech is very advanced is a very important point in my opinion.


I'm looking forward to read about your reasons, what's your nomination of Bitcoin's most important technical characteristics!
Maybe we can get a nice collection. 

[NotATether]

I'm not a coder but as a non-technical person, I'm always open for simplified technical knowledge about Bitcoin.
So, I would like to ask people of very deep knowledge of Bitcoins code what you would tell some non-technical people.

What are your 2 most important technical points of Bitcoin, where you would say "it's really important for Bitcoin and people should know it". Important would also mean for Bitcoin from a hacking-resistant point and what is making Bitcoin superior against competing Altcoins?

The most important features of Bitcoin are that it's maintained by the largest community of developers out of all the coins, and consequentially it has the largest test suite and debugging infrastructure.

It makes it really easy to pin-point bugs. I can't stress enough how important having test cases is for your project, whatever it may be, whether it's related to crypto or not. It saves you from a lot of future bug-hunting.

[HeRetiK]

Its simplicity. Not in the sense of being trivial, but in the sense of having a very focused feature set.

Also the importance if permissionlessness seems to be either ignored or forgotten by a lot of alts out there, whereas it remains a top priority for Bitcoin.

[n0nce]

One more thing that sets Bitcoin apart is the immense decentralization - in hashpower, full nodes, development and community.
For security, the first two are the most critical.

Most altcoins either don't have node decentralization or / and they have a flawed consensus mechanism (proof of stake) that simply gives the developers total power over the project. This allows them to change rules at will, but also allows authorities to press them to do such things. In Bitcoin, that's simply impossible.
A PoW coin without enough hashpower can be attacked similarly, and as a matter of fact most energy is pumped into Bitcoin PoW, which makes it most secure.

[pooya87]

where you would say "it's really important for Bitcoin and people should know it".

* Bitcoin works, it has been working fine for the past 13 years (all its life) and safely too.
* You don't need any third party (middle man like banks) to send, receive or store your money when you use bitcoin.
* Nobody can restrict who sends you money or to whom you send your money
* You can reach anybody, anywhere at any time in the world.
* The payments can not be reversed like other payment networks which provides a lot of security for merchants

Important would also mean for Bitcoin from a hacking-resistant point

It is nearly impossible to explain about bitcoin security without getting into technical details.

and what is making Bitcoin superior against competing Altcoins?

Bitcoin is innovative and it actually solves a real problem. In comparison almost all the altcoins are copying bitcoin and usually they first  create a fake problem and then try to solve that problem. For example they claim "bitcoin is slow" then they claim to "solve" that problem. In reality they are just creating a pump and dump scheme.

[tromp]

Its simplicity. Not in the sense of being trivial, but in the sense of having a very focused feature set.

There are coins significantly simpler than Bitcoin, e.g. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5309951.0
Bitcoin's script is a huge source of complexity which runs counter to having a focused feature set.

[NotATether]

There are coins significantly simpler than Bitcoin, e.g. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5309951.0
Bitcoin's script is a huge source of complexity and runs counter to having a focused feature set.

To date, nobody has attempted to made a separate Bitcoin Script library (that I know of), so the one in Bitcoin Core is the only reference implementation. It's on my TODO list once my other work settles down.

[Coding Enthusiast]

To date, nobody has attempted to made a separate Bitcoin Script library (that I know of)

Check out my project (Bitcoin.Net) it is a stand alone implementation with an entirely different approach to evaluation and execution of scripts. shortcut.
My other older incomplete project also has kind of a script playground which I never got to fully improve

[HeRetiK]

Its simplicity. Not in the sense of being trivial, but in the sense of having a very focused feature set.

There are coins significantly simpler than Bitcoin, e.g. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5309951.0
Bitcoin's script is a huge source of complexity which runs counter to having a focused feature set.

Of course! There's also a cornucopia of early alts that by the nature of being direct Bitcoin forks share these limitations so this simplicity is by no means unique to Bitcoin. It just seems worth pointing out to a non-technical person that more features does not always equal better, especially since folks tend to get caught up in flashy new coins that may or may not have actual substance.

[math09183]

What are your 2 most important technical points of Bitcoin, where you would say "it's really important for Bitcoin and people should know it". Important would also mean for Bitcoin from a hacking-resistant point and what is making Bitcoin superior against competing Altcoins?

1) Bitcoin is made for normal people, not for criminals, not for drug dealers, not for hackers. Bitcoin does not require any special computer knowledge. If you know how to use computer/mobile phone, you may use Bitcoin.

2) There are no people "responsible" for Bitcoin, there is no "helpdesk" - all is public. There is no single company or bank, which could be hacked and be forced to shut down the whole system.

[PowerGlove]

Considering that OP wants answers that (ideally) are easy for non-technical peeps to digest, I think the following quote (from WO, of all places) is worth leaving here. Like shahzadafzal, I really like the term "public digital payments infrastructure".

Indeed the best explanation of Bitcoin you will ever hear - by Peter Van Valkenburgh, it old ~4 years, but still the best

https://twitter.com/TansuYegen/status/1559175031124631553

Some oral testimony from the beginning:

What is Bitcoin? Bitcoin is the world’s first cryptocurrency and it works because of the world’s first public blockchain network.

What does Bitcoin do? It’s easy. It lets you send and receive "value" to and from anyone in the world.

Why is it revolutionary? Because unlike every other tool for sending value over the internet, it works without the need to trust a middle-man.
The lack of any corporation in between means that bitcoin is the world’s first public digital payments infrastructure. And by public I simply mean open to all and not owned by any single entity.

"Public digital payments infrastructure", I never heard this term before from any one else, brilliantly explained worth watching if you haven't before. You won't regret your 6 minutes.

If you want to see on the Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzxKs-Jd0H4

[BlackHatCoiner]

The magic part of bitcoin is Proof-of-Work. That's the solution to the core of the problem. That's the essence of decentralization and immutability. We no longer need trusted third parties to process transactions, and more crucially: we don't need authorities to be responsible for monetary policy. Proof-of-work is self-authenticating; there's no faith required. People now have the choice to either go with central planning, or follow a neutral, new, liberty standard.

The second part is digital signatures. The fact that you use private and public keys to prove ownership of fortunes still seems mind blowing to me.

[Phu Juck]

Hello, everyone and nice to get so many insightful answers. 

The most important features of Bitcoin are that it's maintained by the largest community of developers out of all the coins, and consequentially it has the largest test suite and debugging infrastructure.

It makes it really easy to pin-point bugs. I can't stress enough how important having test cases is for your project, whatever it may be, whether it's related to crypto or not.

Important point.
Bitcoin has a very reliable coder community, where flaws will be detected early before implementation and no risks are being taken. Many much smaller coins have a very flawed code review process.
A large and educated coder community reviewing code during testing times is indeed an important advantage for Bitcoin.

It saves you from a lot of future bug-hunting.

And luckily, it saves us from possible hacks, when hackers are prevented from detecting flaws faster because all flawes are removed before implementation.
We have seen so many hacks, where a flawed code was exploited and people lost money, like for Altcoin cross chain bridges recently or when Terra Luna failed.
Still, people are buying coins from unreliable coders like Tron from Justin Sun or even weaker DeFi coins like Acala Stablecoin from Web 3.
Unfortunately, some people will only learn after a loss. 

One more thing that sets Bitcoin apart is the immense decentralization - in hashpower, full nodes, development and community.
For security, the first two are the most critical.

Most altcoins either don't have node decentralization or / and they have a flawed consensus mechanism (proof of stake) that simply gives the developers total power over the project. This allows them to change rules at will, but also allows authorities to press them to do such things. In Bitcoin, that's simply impossible.
A PoW coin without enough hashpower can be attacked similarly, and as a matter of fact most energy is pumped into Bitcoin PoW, which makes it most secure.

Yes, some coins are very centralized and have a single point of failure like Solana, when it was down several times or devs have much power like in Binance Coin or Tron.
And DeFi coins can easily print some more coins / tokens into existence.
Bitcoin is having a big advantage here. 

Important would also mean for Bitcoin from a hacking-resistant point

It is nearly impossible to explain about bitcoin security without getting into technical details.

No problem, I have received some very good answers here already. 

The magic part of bitcoin is Proof-of-Work.

Yes, from what Experts have said so far, PoW is very hard or almost impossible to compromise instead of PoS, where more attack vectors can be found.

The second part is digital signatures. The fact that you use private and public keys to prove ownership of fortunes still seems mind blowing to me.

I have run into it recently, when I tried to create a Solana wallet or similar new Altcoins. Altcoin developers are not focussing on security.
Or even MEW is bitching around more and more every time.
Many Altcoins are leaving people vulnerable which is very concerning. 
Bitcoin is better like Electrum for example. It's design is not so nice but Electrum is good tech and recommended by many experts.

Considering that OP wants answers that (ideally) are easy for non-technical peeps to digest, I think the following quote (from WO, of all places) is worth leaving here. Like shahzadafzal, I really like the term "public digital payments infrastructure".

"Public digital payments infrastructure" sounds like a very good explanation for Bitcoin. 

[BlackHatCoiner]

Yes, from what Experts have said so far, PoW is very hard or almost impossible to compromise instead of PoS, where more attack vectors can be found.

To compromise Proof-of-Work, you need to find a way to do the work easier than the rest. That would require to either find a solution to the P vs. NP problem,  or detect some sort of exploit to the SHA256 function.

Altcoin developers are not focussing on security.

Altcoin developers focus on their pockets.

Bitcoin is better like Electrum for example. It's design is not so nice but Electrum is good tech and recommended by many experts.

Note that Electrum has had experienced technical vulnerability as well: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5090097.0. But, that's normal, it's the way progress is made in software.