BitShares (BTS) is an open-source, blockchain-based platform designed to facilitate high-performance financial operations. It is a decentralized autonomous community that empowers its core utility token (BTS) holders to influence the blockchain's future direction. BitShares seeks to extend the potential of blockchain to all industries that rely on the internet to provide their services. It enables the creation of distributed autonomous companies that provide better quality services at a fraction of the cost incurred by their traditional, centralized counterparts. The BitShares ecosystem employs Delegated Proof of Stake to find efficient solutions to distributed consensus decision making.

BitShares operates using a core utility token (BTS), which is used as the fee to submit transactions over the BitShares Blockchain and for development purposes. BTS token holders have the power to manage and develop the BitShares Blockchain to influence its future. The BitShares Blockchain network is secured by a system that reduces the need for multiple transaction confirmations, ensuring BitShares transactions are processed promptly. Delegates, known as witnesses, are responsible for producing and broadcasting blocks, with numerous safeguards in place to ensure these witnesses act in the best interests of the network.

BitShares supports a wide range of decentralized products. These include a Decentralized Exchange (DEX), User Issued Asset (UIA), Market Pegged Asset (MPA) or Smart Assets (Smart Contracts), Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Liquidity Pools (LP) and Automated Market Maker (AMM), Prediction Market (PM), and Non-Fungible Token (NFT). BitShares Blockchain can be used for issuing and trading company shares, event tickets, digital property, and software and music licenses. It also supports the creation of liquidity pools and the use of automated market makers (AMMs), facilitating the trading of digital assets.

BitShares Blockchain was launched on 13th October 2015, following community efforts since 2013 to build a decentralized blockchain platform capable of processing high-performance financial technologies. It was co-founded by Daniel Larimer, an accomplished software engineer and co-founder of several other blockchain ventures, and Charles Hoskinson, one of the original eight co-founders of Ethereum. As of January 2021, the BitShares core team consists of 17 permanent workers, supported by more than 60 long-term contributors. BitShares was initially supported by community contributions totaling 5,904 BTC, as well as 415,000 ProtoShares (PTS) in 2014.