Bitcoin

Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency on a blockchain. The concept was published October 2008 in a whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto on the Cyberpunk mailing list.

It is using a Proof of Work consensus algorithm and is until now (2021) by far the largest cryptocurrency in market capitalization.

Miners on the Bitcoin blockchain receive a reward (some bitcoins) for creating a new block first.

The reward is halved every 210,000 blocks. That is about once every 4 years

The total amount of bitcoin that can be mined is limited to about 21 million (20,999,999.9769 exactly). After that validators can only be rewarded by transaction fees. This amount will be reached in 2140.