Bitcoin in short

What is a bitcoin?

It is a form of virtual currency or cryptocurrency owned and created electronically. No one controls bitcoin, unlike the so-called fiat currencies such as the euro or the dollar, for example, created by states. Bitcoin is produced by individuals or companies that use computing power to solve mathematical problems; this is called mining. Bitcoin was created in 2009 by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto. No one knows his identity or even whether he is a person or a group of individuals.

Peculiarity of bitcoins

What characterizes bitcoin the most is its decentralization. It is a currency independent of any central authority and electronically transferable at low cost and quickly. To fully understand the difference with fiat currencies, it is necessary to understand the principle of printing money. Currencies, in fact like the euro, the dollar or the yen, are printed by central banks which are not accountable to the population. They can, for example, produce a lot of money to cover their national debt by devaluing their own currency. Such operation isn’t possible with bitcoins, as bitcoin is created digitally by a community of people that anyone can join, and no one in this community can change the bitcoin value.

Bitcoin and blockchain

Transactions made in Bitcoin are recorded in blockchains. Remember that the blockchain is a large ledger shared in a peer-to-peer network. The network is open to everyone, and transactions are visible to all network members but cannot be changed. To create your bitcoin wallet, you don’t need to have your identity verified by a bank; you just need a smartphone and an internet connection because bitcoin is owned under pseudonyms. So it is ideal for shopping on the internet without revealing your identity. But be careful; once the purchase is made, the rollback is impossible!

In the end, know that bitcoin is one of the cryptocurrencies on the market and that there are currently more than 5000 of them. It’s hard to make a choice