Bitcoin is auditable.

In finance, transparency and accountability often seem like abstract ideals rather than attainable goals. Just consider the Federal Reserve, which has a secret “Doomsday Book” that was just revealed.

One way bitcoin sets itself apart from traditional money is with its transparency and ability to be audited. Bitcoin isn’t just more auditable, it’s perfectly auditable, and an audit can be done by anyone with a computer.

About every 10 minutes, the network produces a new block of transactions and adds it to the ever-growing chain, verifiable by anyone. Every historical bitcoin transaction can be verified, going all the way back to when bitcoin began.

This perfect transparency extends to the amount of bitcoin in circulation, too. Today, there are about 19,569,880.53 bitcoins in existence. Anyone can verify and monitor that number as it increases with each new block as it is mined.

The supply will continue to grow until it reaches the hard limit of about 21 million bitcoins. This stands in sharp contrast to dollars – nobody really knows how many dollars there are in circulation and estimates vary so widely that it’s anyone’s guess.

Moreover, every transaction itself is also viewable by anyone. (Sorry Senator Warren, but bitcoin is pretty much the worst money laundering tool imaginable.) Each transaction and wallet address are openly visible on the blockchain.

Any bitcoin user can prove the existence, history, and amounts of transactions and holdings. In the fiat money system, money flows are concealed. Perhaps that’s why in 2021 only 0.34% of bitcoin transactions are estimated to be illicit, but the amount of money laundered globally is estimated to be between 2 and 5% of global GDP.