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‪This article proposes a so-called “factual” method (units issued, governance, functions, distribution, regulation, circulatory sphere, adoption by sovereign states, diffusion to new uses) to determine the nature of bitcoin. It quickly becomes clear that bitcoin is an unclassifiable object (a UO) that does not fit into any pre-established framework (currency, asset, digital gold, property title) and that it boasts an evolutionary character that has already taken it through three stages of aging (birth, growth, adulthood). Configurable at will, bitcoin and its derivatives can be used by human groups for better or for worse. The article outlines three pathways for using cryptocurrencies in the future (financial inclusion, socialization of value, and exit from the uber society).‪