Bitcoin — How It Works and Why the Supply Is Capped

Bitcoin was designed to move value directly between individuals without a central institution such as a bank. The paper 'Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' was published on 31 October 2008 under the name Satoshi Nakamoto.

The network itself began with the genesis block on 3 January 2009. That block carries the headline of a British newspaper story from that day about bank bailouts, embedded as text — a pointed reference to the financial system it was built alongside.

Total issuance is capped at 21 million coins. New bitcoin is paid as a reward to whoever wins the computational contest to produce a block — and that reward halves roughly every four years (every 210,000 blocks).

The block reward began at 50 BTC and has stepped down through 25, 12.5 and 6.25 to about 3.125 BTC now. The design means new supply shrinks over time by construction, not by anyone's decision.

Taxation of virtual-asset income in Korea takes effect from 1 January 2027, after being postponed twice by bipartisan agreement for a total of three years.

The tax applies to transfer and lending income above 2.5 million won a year, at 22% (20% income tax plus 10% local income tax). Under Article 21(1)27 of the Income Tax Act it is treated as other income taxed separately, so it is not added to your other income — which is why the rate does not change with your salary bracket.