Bitcoin isn’t something you can define as a trend anymore, even if you live in complete isolation, you’ve probably heard of it and all the craziness and complexity that comes with it. It seems to be that either nobody understands it or there are many people who pretend to understand it.
Since a single bitcoin is worth $51000 (most of the time) the mania it inspires is justified, so let’s take a peek at what is under its hood. It is a crypto or a virtual currency i.e., means, it does not exist in a physical form as something you can touch like gold or fabrics, it is more similar to the computer files on your pc. All the records and transactions are recorded in a public ledger that is called a blockchain. Bitcoin has a big use case in online payments as it keeps both side of the bargain that is, helping to be completely anonymous while being on a public record so that it is fully transparent as well. Bitcoin is not controlled by the government or banks, so corruption and politics don’t really affect and is really suitable for people who don’t really trust the people in power.
How do you even get bitcoin? It’s quite easy in fact you can just buy directly from many different crypto exchanges (ex. Coinbase, Binance, etc.) using your own currency or trading it from a different cryptocurrency as a means exchange. You could sell something to let people pay you with it or the most difficult one use your computer to get it for "free", I mean it isn’t actually free, as if you started trying right now it would take many months or even years before you could even get a half bitcoin and your electricity bill would definitely outmatch it as the process consumes a ton of power, this process is called mining and basically is a verification method before something goes on the bitcoin’s ledger and it involves solving a hard math problem which your computers are surprisingly good at, if you solve the problem you get some bitcoin as a reward.
Is bitcoin even legal? The elaboration of this is quite complex and involves politics and changes from country to country so in brief; Yes, Bitcoin is legal. Many countries even recognize it as a legal tender as well.
Why is it worth anything at all? Well because it is considered as a store of value like the way gold and diamonds retain their value. Bitcoin also does not have an infinite supply; it is limited to only 21 million units by its protocol and since it is not owned by any company or country its price discovery is completely in the hands of the end users.
Are there other crypto -currencies as well? Yes, bitcoin was the first major one and still is at the heart of the crypto community, but it has unlocked full field of different players who focus on different aspects ex Cardona (ADA) for energy efficiency, Monero for enhanced privacy, etc.
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