Assets, Bitcoin

Are There Actual Bitcoin Coins?

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, without a central bank or single administrator, that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries. Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain.

Bitcoin was invented in 2008 by an unknown person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, and started in 2009 when its source code was released as open-source software.

Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services.

NOTE: WARNING: While Bitcoin is a real digital currency, there are no physical coins associated with it. Any website claiming to sell physical “Bitcoin coins” is likely a scam. Be sure to do your research and be wary of any offers that seem too good to be true.

As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment. Bitcoin can be bought on exchanges, or directly from other people via marketplaces.

The first bitcoin transaction took place on January 12, 2009, between Satoshi Nakamoto and Hal Finney, when Nakamoto sent 10 bitcoins to Finney as a test. This was the first time that bitcoins were used in a transaction.

As of May 2018, there are 17 million bitcoins in circulation with a total value of over $140 billion. The popularity of Bitcoin has led to the creation of other digital currencies, such as Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Ethereum.

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