The Bitcoin Network is a decentralized, peer-to-peer system of interconnected computers that validates transactions and maintains the blockchain without a central authority. It combines advanced technology with a global community, making it a powerful force in digital currency.
What do we mean when we talk about “The Bitcoin Network”? Technically speaking, we’re describing a P2P web of interlocked computers connected through the Internet. The Bitcoin network is permissionless, any computer can join by running a free and open-source program known as a Bitcoin client. By doing that and downloading a copy of the blockchain, the computer becomes a “full node.”In theory, the Internet is a P2P network, or at least it used to be. Another example is arguably one of Bitcoin’s biggest influences, the .torrent file-sharing network. For a clear and precise definition of P2P, let’s quote Andreas Antonopoulos’ “Mastering Bitcoin”:“The term peer-to-peer, or P2P, means that the computers that participate in the network are peers to each other, that they are all equal, that there are no “special” nodes, and that all nodes share the burden of providing network services. The network nodes interconnect in a mesh network with a “flat” topology. There is no server, no centralized service, and no hierarchy within the network.”One of Bitcoin’s main objectives is decentralization, and “no hierarchy within the network” is crucial to achieving that goal.