Is Bitcoin a network protocol or is it just a concept of an encrypted currency?

Question

Today in technology groups they always say that bitcoin is just a currency, a concept of electronic money. But the problem with such a statement for other people is not considering that bitcoin is a network protocol for electronic money and not just the concept of electronic money. Initially, because, bitcoin is a network protocol, as it implements a number of things like BIPS (Bitcoin Proposals), in this case there is a standardization and therefore the categorization of bitcoin is a network protocol, although people say which is is just a virtual currency.

I read these questions, and I have doubts:

• Is bitcoin a currency?
• Is bitcoin network an asynchronous network or a synchronous network?

My question is:

• Bitcoin a network protocol or is it just a concept of an encrypted currency?

Follow-up questions that may or may not be answered

• Can there be cryptocurrencies without a network?
• Are they different things: network protocol, concept of an encrypted currency?
• what are the characteristics of a network protocol?
• Can these characteristics be applicable to bitcoin?

Answer 1

Bitcoin is many things, primarily

• A monetary unit of measure
• A defined network protocol
• A set of procedures, algorithms etc by which one party can visibly transfer electronic cash to a second party without any need for a trusted third party.
• A set of consensus rules voluntarily applied by all participants and observers which tend to produce global consensus regarding the state of the money supply and thus of control of amounts of money.

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Related:

• What is Bitcoin?
• Is encryption really needed for blockchain to work?

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