The world is evolving, so as people and our commodities, If there is one thing which is evolving along with the human is the currencies. From metal coins to gold, from dollars to tokens, these regular commodities have evolved. In this digital world, a lot has come and some are yet to come to our knowledge, and this cryptocurrency is something that is new in the financial world. Slowly this kind of currency is getting the attention of the general masses an today I am going to talk about cryptocurrencies ( Bitcoins).
There are variety of cryptocurrency , yet I chose to talk about Bitcoins. Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency. It is also the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Bitcoin has triggered the launch of many other cryptocurrencies, referred collectively as altcoins.
Bitcoin or BTC is a decentralized digital currency, powered by a massively distributed network of computers. What this means is that no company, organization, or person is in control of BTC. So, when you own a BTC, no other person has access to your funds; only you can access it.
Bitcoin was created in January 2009. This digital currency follows the ideas put out in a whitepaper by the pseudonymous and unknown Satoshi Nakamoto. The person or group of person’s identity who created BTC remains a mystery.
Bitcoin is a digital or virtual currency; it does not have a physical variant. It is a completely virtual type of money. You can buy products and services with bitcoins. And can be exchanged for both fiat currencies and other digital currencies.
The entire Bitcoin network is built on a shared public ledger known as a blockchain. Every confirmed Bitcoin transaction is incorporated on the blockchain. Blockchain makes it possible for Bitcoin transactions to be traced and verified; this stops people from undoing transactions, making copies, or spending coins they do not own.
Unlike fiat or traditional currencies, Bitcoin is created, traded, stored, and distributed with the use of blockchain. The chronological order and integrity of blockchain are enforced with cryptography. You can read about cryptography here.
New Bitcoins are created by a process called mining. Bitcoin mining is the process of creating new Bitcoins by solving a computationally difficult puzzle. It is the process by which Bitcoins are released into circulation.
Bitcoin mining is carried out by high-powered computers that are capable of solving complex computational math problems. The problems being solved by these high-powered computers cannot be solved by hand as they are so complex.
When transactions are made online or in-store, they are documented by physical receipts, point-of-sale (POS) systems, and banks. Bitcoin miners achieve the same thing when they clump transactions together in “blocks” and add them to the blockchain.
When miners add new blocks to the blockchain, they are rewarded with a few Bitcoins. The amount of new Bitcoin that is released with each mined block is referred to as “block reward.” For every 210,000 blocks, the block reward is halved.
In 2009, the block reward was 50. It was 25 in 2013, 12.5 in 2018, and it was halved to 6.25 in May of 2020. The Bitcoin reward halving will continue until around 2140. At this time, miners will get fees as their rewards.
Some of the benefits of Bitcoins are:
The three major ways by which you can get Bitcoins are:
To store Bitcoins, you need to have a digital wallet. And, there are two kinds of digital wallets, hot wallets,s, and cold wallets. These two wallets are the tools that are commonly used by crypto users to send, receive, and store tokens.
Hot wallet differs from cold wallets in that it is connected to the internet. Because they are connected to the internet, hot wallets tend to be somewhat more vulnerable to theft and hacks than cold wallet storage.
Note: A cold wallet is a physical device that allows you to store your Bitcoin; it lets you download and carry Bitcoins. Before you can download Bitcoins to a cold wallet, you’ll need a hot wallet.
Bitcoins can be used in the following ways:
Bitcoin is a highly volatile asset and so, you need to consider the risks of investing in it. Don’t ever buy more than you can afford to lose.
Some of the advantages of buying or investing in Bitcoins are as follows:
Some of the disadvantages associated with buying or investing in BTC are as follows”
You can buy BTC through any of the following methods:
Like BTC there are many cryptocurrencies that are in a market like ethereum, doge, and ripples which are getting a considerable amount of market share.
