Consumers tend to rely on printed currencies. This is because the US dollar is backed by the Federal Reserve called the US Federal Reserve. In addition to a range of other responsibilities, the Federal Reserve regulates the production of new money and the federal government prosecutes the use of counterfeit money. Even digital payments using US dollars are backed by a central authority. For example, when you make an online purchase using your debit or credit card; this transaction is processed by a payment processing company (such as Mastercard or Visa). In addition to recording transaction history, payment processing companies also verify that transactions are not fraudulent. Failure for verification is one reason your debit or credit card has been suspended. Bitcoin is not regulated by a central authority and is supported by millions of computers around the world called "nodes". This computer network functions the same as the Federal Reserve, Visa and Mastercard but there are a few key differences. Nodes store information about previous transactions and this storage helps the verification of the authenticity of transactions. However, unlike these central authorities, bitcoin nodes are spread all over the world and their transaction data is recorded in a public list that is accessible to everyone.