Bitcoin is currently the most popular cryptocurrency. The problem bitcoin
is trying to solve is an important one faced by many people across the world.
Leo Tolstoy said, “money is a new form of slavery.” By controlling money, vast
power is wielded in today’s world. The enormous amount of money in circulation
is primarily controlled by bankers and they wield the powers of inflation and
currency debasing as methods of increasing and controlling product prices throughout
the economy
Centralized and institutional control of currency is the problem bitcoin
is trying to solve. Bitcoin, like many other cryptocurrencies, gives power to
the people using the cryptocurrency as they do not require authorities in a
centralized system to do business and make purchases. By being peer to peer
(P2P) and decentralized it lets people trade without having the rules of the
transaction dictated by third parties. Cryptocurrency enables users to act
anonymously and this removes power traditionally held by financial
institutions.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a form of electronic cash. It 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 blockchain
network without the need for intermediaries..
It is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is
powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen. Bitcoin was the
first practical implementation and is currently the most prominent triple entry
bookkeeping system in existence.
Who Created Bitcoin?
The first Bitcoin specification and proof of concept was published in
2009 by an unknown individual under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto who revealed
little about himself and left the project in late 2010. The Bitcoin community
has since grown exponentially.
Satoshi’s anonymity often raises unjustified concerns because of a
misunderstanding of Bitcoin’s open-source nature. Everyone has access to all of
the source code all of the time and any developer can review or modify the software
code. As such, the identity of Bitcoin’s inventor is probably as relevant today
as the identity of the person who invented paper.
Who Is Involved In Bitcoin?
Over 1 Billion dollars of investment into Bitcoin and blockchain
companies has taken place resulting in thousands of companies and hundreds of
thousands of individuals involved from around the world.
Who Controls The Bitcoin Network?
Nobody owns the Bitcoin network much like no one owns the technology
behind email or the Internet. Bitcoin transactions are verified by Bitcoin
miners which has an entire industry and Bitcoin cloud mining options. While
developers are improving the software they cannot force a change in the Bitcoin
protocol because all users are free to choose what software and version they
use.
In order to stay compatible with each other, all users need to use
software complying with the same rules. Bitcoin can only work correctly with a
complete consensus among all users. Therefore, all users and developers have a
strong incentive to protect this consensus.
How Does Bitcoin Work?
From a user perspective, Bitcoin is nothing more than a mobile app or
computer program that provides a personal Bitcoin wallet and enables a user to
send and receive bitcoins.
Behind the scenes, the Bitcoin network is sharing a massive public ledger
called the “block chain”. This ledger contains every transaction ever processed
which enables a user’s computer to verify the validity of each transaction. The
authenticity of each transaction is protected by digital signatures
corresponding to the sending addresses therefore allowing all users to have
full control over sending bitcoins.
Thus, there is no fraud, no charge-backs and no identifying information
that could be compromised resulting in identity theft. To learn more about
Bitcoin, you can consult the original Bitcoin whitepaper, read through the
extremely thorough Frequently Asked Questions, listen to a Bitcoin podcast or
read the latest Bitcoin news.
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