Assets, Bitcoin

What Is Bad About Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a digital asset and a payment system invented by Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public dispersed ledger called a blockchain.

Bitcoin is unique in that there are a finite number of them: 21 million.

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

As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment.

Bitcoin can be used to pay online and in physical stores just like any other form of money. Bitcoins can also be exchanged in physical form such as the Casascius coins, but paying with a mobile phone usually remains more convenient.

Bitcoin balances are stored in a large distributed network, and they cannot be fraudulently altered by anybody. In other words, you have full control over your bitcoins at all times.

Third-party internet services called online wallets offer similar functionality but may be easier to use. In this case, credentials to access funds are stored with the online wallet provider rather than on the user’s hardware.

As of 2014, BTC is the most widely used alternative currency on the market with a total market cap of over $10 billion. BTC has inspired other alternative currencies such as Litecoin, Namecoin and PPCoin.

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