ELI5 Bitcoin - how does it work, and what is mining?

How does Bitcoin it work? How do I get it? What is the blockchain? What is mining? Why are ASIC and GPU or video cards used instead of a more general purpose CPU?   ... We explain like i'm five!   This episode mentions a shout out to the Unchained Podcast which you can find here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unchained-your-no-hype-resource-for-all-things-crypto/id1123922160   Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community, and specifically the following reddit users whose questions and responses formed the basis of this conversation: concise_pirate, mmessina978, stefanutzu212 & eskelsar   To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Send us an e-mail: [email protected]