Internet Coins - An Overview
To cut through some of the confusion surrounding bitcoin, we need to divide it into two components. On the one hand, you've got bitcoin-the-token, a snippet of code that represents ownership of an electronic concept kind of like a virtual IOU. On the other hand, you've got bitcoin-the-protocol, a dispersed network that maintains a ledger of balances of bitcoin-the-token.
The machine enables payments to be sent between users without passing via a central authority, such as a bank or payment gateway. It's made and kept electronically. Bitcoins arent printed, like dollars or euros theyre produced by computers all around the planet, using free software.
It was the very first example of what we today call cryptocurrencies, a growing strength class that shares some characteristics of traditional currencies, with verification based on cryptography.
A pseudonymous software programmer going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto suggested bitcoin in 2008, within an electronic payment method based on mathematical proof. The idea was to produce a means of exchange, independent of any central power, that could be transferred electronically in a secure, verifiable and immutable way.
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Bitcoin can be used to pay for things electronically, if the two parties are willing. In that sense, its similar to conventional dollars, euros, or yen, which can also be traded digitally.
Bitcoins most important characteristic is it is decentralized. No single institution controls the bitcoin network. It's maintained by a group of volunteer coders, and run by an open network of committed computers spread around the world. This brings individuals and groups that are uncomfortable with all the control that banks or government institutions have over their money. .
Bitcoin solves the double spending issue of electronic currencies (in which electronic assets can easily be replicated and re-used) via an ingenious combination of cryptography and economic incentives. In electronic fiat currencies, this function is fulfilled by banks, which gives them control over the traditional system. With bitcoin, the integrity of the transactions is maintained by a distributed and open network, owned by no-one. .
Fiat currencies (dollars, euros, yen, etc.) have an unlimited supply central banks can issue as many as they want, and can try to manipulate a currencys value relative to others. Holders of this currency (and especially citizens with little alternative) keep the cost.
While senders of traditional electronic payments are usually identified (for verification purposes, and to abide by anti-money laundering and other legislation), users of bitcoin in theory operate in semi-anonymity. Since there is no central validator, users do not need to identify themselves when sending bitcoin to another user. When a transaction request is filed, the protocol checks all prior transactions to confirm that the sender has the necessary bitcoin in addition to the ability to send them.
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In practice, every user is identified by the address of his or her wallet. Transactions can, with some effort, be tracked this way. Additionally, law enforcement has developed approaches to identify consumers if necessary.
Additionally, most exchanges are required by legislation to perform identity checks on their clients before they are allowed to buy or sell bitcoin, facilitating another manner that bitcoin utilization can be tracked. Since the network is transparent, the progress of a particular transaction is visible to all.
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This is because there is no central adjudicator that can say ok, return the money. When a transaction is recorded on the network, and if greater than an hour has passed, it is not possible to modify.
While this may disquiet some, it does mean that any transaction on the bitcoin network cannot be tampered with.
The smallest unit over here of a bitcoin is called a satoshi. It's one hundred millionth of a bitcoin (0.00000001) at todays prices, roughly one hundredth of a cent. This may conceivably enable microtransactions that traditional electronic money cannot.
Read to find out how bitcoin transactions are processed and how bitcoins are mined, what it can be utilized for, in addition to how you can purchase, sell and store your bitcoin. We also explain a few alternatives to bitcoin, in addition to how its underlying technology the blockchain functions. .
If you want to know what is Bitcoin, the way you can get it and how it can help you, without floundering into technical details, this guide is for you. It will explain how the system operates, how you can use it to your gain, which scams to avoid. It will also direct you to sources which will enable you to store and use your first pieces of digital currency.