Assets, Bitcoin

What Is Bitcoin in Layman Terms?

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.

NOTE: WARNING: It is important to remember that Bitcoin is not a physical currency like the US Dollar, Euro, or British Pound. Additionally, Bitcoin is a virtual currency that exists only in cyberspace and has no physical existence. As such, it cannot be held in your hand or stored in a bank account or wallet. Furthermore, the value of Bitcoin is highly volatile and unpredictable, so investing in it can be a risky endeavor. Finally, it is important to understand the potential risks associated with using Bitcoin before investing in it.

Bitcoin can be used to pay for things electronically, if both parties are willing. In that sense, it’s like conventional dollars, euros, or yen, which are also traded digitally.

However, bitcoin’s most important characteristic, and the thing that makes it different to conventional money, is that it is decentralized. No single institution or person controls it.

This means that you can send someone a bitcoin without having to go through a bank or other third party. It also means that the system is secure even if not all of its users can be trusted.

Bitcoins are stored in digital wallets and can be used to purchase items from online retailers like Overstock and TigerDirect. They can also be exchanged for other currencies like US dollars on sites like Coinbase and LocalBitcoins.

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