What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin: Digital Gold

Bitcoin or (BTC) has become one of promising economical concepts of the digital age. The digital asset has overcome extreme controversy surrounding decentralize nature of Bitcoin.

-What is bitcoin?

Bitcoin is digital money used for secure and instant transfer of value anywhere in the world. It is not controlled or issued by any bank or government, but instead it is an open network which is managed by its users. Much in the way email improved communication by making it fast and cheap, bitcoin is an improvement on existing payment methods which were not designed for the internet era.

The value of a bitcoin is not tied or pegged to the value of any other currency. Similar to stocks or property, bitcoin’s value is determined by buying and selling in the open market. A bitcoin’s price changes in real time based on the number of people who want to buy or sell it at a given moment.

Bitcoin is traded for dollars, euros, yen, and other currencies in real time 24 hours a day. Depending on the demand for buying or selling bitcoin, the price can fluctuate from day to day. This is similar to the manner in which the value of a stock or property can go up or down based on supply and demand. Bitcoin’s value can be volatile compared to traditional currencies such as the US dollar because it is still an emerging technology.

-Who created Bitcoin?

An anonymous person(s) that went by the allies Satoshi Nakamoto began working on the Bitcoin concept in 2007. While he/she is on record as living in Japan, it is speculated that Nakamoto may be a collective pseudonym for more than one person. Nakamoto posted an economic concept in the form of a white paper laying out the fundamentals of this digital system.

-How dose Bitcoin Work?

Some terms should be explained to better understand how the system operates. A transaction takes place when one person sends Bitcoin to another person using a digital wall address similar to sending e-mail. The request is logged on a public ledger which is called a “block”, the request is then verified by community that supports and maintains the ledger, these maintainers and accountants are known as “miners.” The miners will collectively verify that the person(s) have the available funds to complete the transaction. This collective ledger makes this exchange concept hack-proof in a sense, the only way this system can be compromised if every computer recording these transactions was compromised. Which as of now that type of technology does not exist currently. Once the block has been confirmed and is complete it is then linked to the “blockchain” The blockchain is the collective of all transactions ever made and is public information. All transactions are broadcast between users and usually begin to be confirmed by the network in the following 10 minutes. This is dramatically faster than current wire transfers.

-Bitcoin Controversy

With how this system operates with the only personal information known between person to person transactions is the Bitcoin wallet address, makes this an opportunity for people with different integrity motivation a way to buy, sell, or trade for illegal goods or services. This created a struggle for many governments to regulate an un-regulatable system. On the brighter side of things Bitcoin has been used to donate to disaster relief, home-less, 3rd world country relives, and much more.

-A brief history of Bitcoin

Satoshi Nakamoto began working on the Bitcoin concept in (2007)

An exchange rate is established (October 5, 2009)

10,000 BTC spent on pizza valued at $25 (May 22, 2010)

Bitcoin value increases tenfold (July 12, 2010)

Financial task force issues warning prevent money laundering and funding of terrorists (October 2010)

Market cap exceeds $1 million USD (November 6, 2010)

Vehicle offered for Bitcoins (February 14, 2011)

TIME publishes article on Bitcoin (April 16, 2011)

Bitcoin app for iPad released (July 20, 2011)

FBI report on Bitcoin leaked (May 9, 2012)

Bitcoin goes to $30USD (February 22, 2013)

Market cap reaches $1 billion (March 28, 2013)

First Bitcoin ATM unveiled (May 2, 2013)

Bitcoin ruled currency by Texas judge (August 6, 2013)

Bitcoin ruled private money in Germany (August 20, 2013)

Bitcoin goes above $1000 (November 19, 2013)

Bitcoin moves more money than Western Union (November 19, 2013)

University of Nicosia in Cyprus becomes first university to accept Bitcoin for tuition. (November 21, 2013)

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic begins accepting Bitcoin for space travel. (November 22, 2013)

Bitcoin Black Friday hosts first annual Black Friday event to highlight deals from merchants and businesses accepting Bitcoin. (November 29, 2013)

Bitcoin valued at $963 (January 1, 2017)

Bitcoin valued at $3000 (Jun 19, 2017)

Sources:
bitcoin.org
historyofbitcoin.org/
Coinbase.com