According to @alice_und_bob, a purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash enables online payments to be sent directly between parties without a financial institution. Source: @alice_und_bob on X, Aug 14, 2025. This language originates from Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2008 Bitcoin whitepaper, which defines BTC as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system intended to remove intermediaries from transaction validation and settlement. Source: Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, 2008. For traders evaluating BTC, this underscores the asset’s payments utility of direct, bankless settlement as the core functional thesis presented in the whitepaper, rather than dependence on custodial rails. Source: Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, 2008.