Bitcoin is a digital currency that has been around for a few years now, but it is still taking the world a little while for us to get our head around it. What is a virtual currency? How do I get it? How do I spend it? What happens if someone steals it?
While the day-to-day considerations about Bitcoin are the ones that occupy the minds of consumers, governments and financial regulators have a slightly more complex problem on their hands – how to respond to a new form of currency that could potentially disrupt the world’s financial systems.
In this article we take a look at some of the facts about Bitcoin and hopefully shed some light on some of the things about this currency that you should probably know.
Is Bitcoin the same as money?
Bitcoin is a virtual currency – this means that it exists only in the digital form and is unregulated by any central bank. It is created and used within a virtual community. Bitcoin isn’t the only example of a virtual currency, but so far it has been the most successful cryptocurrency – using cryptography as a security framework.
Bitcoin is similar to money but it is not the same as the traditional form of currency that we have been used to.
Who created Bitcoin?
No one really knows. The name Satoshi Nakamoto was used during the development phase, but this is widely believed to have been the pseudonym of a group of programmers who built the software that created the Bitcoin network and cryptocurrency.
Is Bitcoin legal?
Because of its unregulated nature, Bitcoin understandably makes central banks, governments, and financial regulators fairly nervous. There have been some attempts to control or ban the use of the currency. The concern most often cited is that the anonymous nature of Bitcoin transactions makes it attractive to black market, criminal, or terrorist activity. Taxation is another area of interest for government agencies when considering Bitcoin – due to the anonymous nature of the currency, it would be relatively straightforward to under-report income earned.
Is there an endless supply of Bitcoin?
The Bitcoin currency is mined through a computer transaction process at casinofair.com. There are currently around 12 million Bitcoin in circulation and it is believed that there is a finite limit of 21 million Bitcoin that can be created. This is one of the key differences to traditional currencies whereby central banks can simply authorise the creation of more currency (known as quantitative easing).
Can I buy anything with Bitcoin?
This virtual cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly accepted for goods and services around the world. Online stores and gaming sites have been some of the early adopters, but we are now seeing retailers and service providers in the full range of segments beginning to build the capability to accept Bitcoin as a standard form of payment.
It is probably a little too early to say whether Bitcoin is here to stay, but it does seem to have demonstrated that a form of cryptocurrency is a viable form of global digital currency that has the potential to change the world.
Digital currencies are not protected by the administration like U.S. bank stores are. This implies that digital currency put away online doesn’t have similar assurances as cash in a ledger. In the event that you store your digital money in a computerized wallet gave by an organization, and the organization leaves business or is hacked, the administration will be unable to step and help get your cash back as it would with cash put away in banks or credit associations.
