Bitcoin is a decentralized peer-to-peer payment and digital money network. There is no middlemen, no central authority. Bitcoin is based on cryptography and is powered by its users. In layman's terms, the bitcoin money itself is made up of a private key(like your email passwords and public key(like your email address) which represents the amount of bitcoin an owner has. Bitcoin is basically internet money which its proponents hope will eventually replace traditional fiat currency like the dollar.
1BTC is 100M satoshi.
Since Satoshi Nakamoto(who left the project in 2010 and remains anonymous) released the first proof concept and initial specifications, a community of developers have been building on and maintaining the Bitcoin core.
AND
Depending on who you ask, bitcoin(BTC) is mainly a store of value like gold and/or a medium of exchange.
Bitcoin 'maximalists'(those who advocate exclusively for bitcoin versus other cryptocurrencies) mostly don't bother about the day's trading price of bitcoin($$). They believe that the durability, decentralization and censorship-resistant features of the BTC network are more important. They also really hate what they derisively call 'shitcoins'(other cryptocurrencies). There are all out crypto 'civil wars' on social media some days. Trollish and brutal sometimes. Do we have to name the 'war lords'?
Just for the sake of narrowing it down to two sides, let me borrow the shitcoin slang for now. Shitcoiners advocate for other cryptocurrencies including Litecoin, Ether, Bitcoin cash etc- some claim they are better, while others claim they are complementary to BTC.
BTC is currently not as widely adopted as its proponents hoped. Main obstacle: transaction capacity on the bitcoin network.
Many developers and entrepreneurs are busy building on top of, and around the Bitcoin network. Latest most popular major project is the Lightning network which among other things, enables faster transactions using bitcoin.
Bitcoin evangelists believe that because of the fixed amount of bitcoin that will eventually be mined into existence, the value of 1BTC will in the future be as high as $100B, making the way for the use of Satoshis in the markets. They also claim that given the features of bitcoin mentioned above, more people alienated from fiat currency will begin to adopt BTC. The mass adoption, they claim, will also be driven by innovations in the bitcoin and blockchain space.
A future when one can
- walk into a mall and conveniently pay with a BTC wallet in their phone or some other device;
- send money directly to friends and family without going through some bank or other payment processors; and
-- pay bills and fees in BTC.
All the above are already happening but the system is not yet developed enough to make it a convenient and hassle-free user experience for 'normies.' or granny down the block.