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The Math Behind the Bitcoin
Protocol
Looking under the hood of the bitcoin protocol helps
give insight to the mathematical foundations of the
digital currency.

By Eric Rykwalder ‧ Oct 19, 2014 at 4:38 p.m. ‧ Updated Sep 11, 2021 at 3:45 p.m. ‧

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math behind bitcoin

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One reason bitcoin can be confusing for

beginners is that the technology behind it
redefines the concept of ownership.

To own something in the traditional sense, be it

a house or a sum of money, means either
having personal custody of the thing or
granting custody to a trusted entity such as a
bank.

Bitcoin Protocol
With bitcoin the case is different. Bitcoins
themselves are not stored either centrally or
locally and so no one entity is their custodian.
They exist as records on a distributed ledger
called the block chain, copies of which are
shared by a volunteer network of connected
computers. To “own” a bitcoin simply means
having the ability to transfer control of it to
someone else by creating a record of the
transfer in the block chain. What grants this
ability? Access to an ECDSA private and public
key pair. What does that mean and how does
that secure bitcoin?

Let’s have a look under the hood.

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is short
your feedback. for Elliptic Curve Digital
Signature Algorithm. It’s a process that uses an

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