What Is Bitcoin?
How this digital currency works and why it's so controversial
by Paul Gil
Updated on March 09, 2020
Cryptocurrency
What Are Bitcoins?
Tweet
Share
Email
Bitcoin is a virtual currency that gained recognition after its price-per-coin rose above $13,000 in early 2018. The cryptocurrency (one of many) is at the center of a complex intersection of privacy, banking regulations, and technological innovation. Today, some retailers accept bitcoin, while in other jurisdictions, bitcoin is illegal.
Cryptocurrency Defined
Cryptocurrencies are lines of computer code that hold monetary value. These lines of code are created by electricity and high-performance computers.
Cryptocurrency is also known as digital currency. It's a form of digital money created by mathematical computations and policed by millions of computers (called miners) on the same network. Physically, there's nothing to hold, although crypto can be exchanged for cash.
An illustration of how cryptocurrency works
Lifewire / Vin Ganapathy
Crypto comes from the word cryptography, which is the process used to protect the transactions that send the lines of code for purchases. Cryptography also controls the creation of new coins. Hundreds of coin types now dot the crypto markets, but only a handful have the potential to become a viable investment.
Governments have no control over the creation of cryptocurrencies, which is what initially made them so popular. Most cryptocurrencies begin with a market cap in mind, which means that their production decreases over time. This is similar to the physical monetary production of coins; production ends at a certain point and the coins become more valuable in the future.
What Are Bitcoins?
Bitcoin was the first popular cryptocurrency. No one knows who created it — most cryptocurrencies are designed for maximum anonymity — but bitcoins first appeared in 2009 from a developer reportedly named Satoshi Nakamoto. He has since disappeared and left behind a bitcoin fortune.
Because bitcoin was the first major cryptocurrency, all digital currencies created since then are called altcoins, or alternative coins. Litecoin, Peercoin, Feathercoin, Ethereum, and hundreds of other coins are all altcoins because they are not bitcoin.
One of the advantages of bitcoin is that it can be stored offline on local hardware, such as a secure hard drive. This process is called cold storage, and it protects the currency from being stolen by others. When the currency is stored on the internet somewhere, which is referred to as hot storage, there is a risk of it being stolen.
On the flip side, if a person loses access to the hardware that contains the bitcoins, the currency is gone forever. It's estimated that as much as $30 billion in bitcoins has been lost or misplaced by miners and investors.
Why Bitcoin Is so Controversial
Various events turned bitcoin into a media sensation.
From 2011 to 2013, criminal traders made bitcoins famous by buying them in batches of millions of dollars so they could move money outside of the eyes of law enforcement and tax collectors. Subsequently, the value of bitcoins skyrocketed.
Illegal financial transaction
krisanapong detraphiphat / Getty Images
Scams, too, are very real in the cryptocurrency world. Naive and savvy investors alike can lose hundreds or thousands of dollars to scams.
Bitcoins and altcoins are controversial because they take the power of issuing money away from central banks and give it to the general public. Bitcoin accounts cannot be frozen or examined by tax inspectors, and middleman banks are unnecessary for bitcoins to move. Law enforcement officials and bankers see bitcoins as similar to gold nuggets in the wild west — beyond the control of police and financial institutions.
криптовалют ethereum asset that people demand, not for its direct utility, but for its ability to be valuable in the future.tether кошелек миксер bitcoin security bitcoin
купить ethereum
bitcoin links арбитраж bitcoin bitcoin multiplier ethereum pos bitcoin goldmine bitcoin основатель connect bitcoin mine ethereum bitcoin donate ethereum stats ethereum покупка cryptocurrency faucet pump bitcoin nanopool monero bitcoin crash bitcoin список miner bitcoin bitcoin crash таблица bitcoin
bitcoin fpga tether rx470 monero ethereum bitcoin cran bitcoin аналитика bitcoin coin
ethereum стоимость вики bitcoin цена bitcoin
перспектива bitcoin блог bitcoin ethereum 1070 get bitcoin ethereum node bitcoin hosting linux ethereum bitcoin уязвимости mikrotik bitcoin яндекс bitcoin bitcoin оплата monero minergate
bitcoin coingecko
bitcoin roll p2pool ethereum ethereum это jaxx monero bitcoin прогнозы bitcoin fpga торги bitcoin bitcoin mempool abc bitcoin ethereum claymore доходность ethereum
ethereum 1070 bitcoin india bitcoin casino bitcoin mastercard bitcoin продам обвал ethereum bitcoin phoenix difficulty bitcoin
bitcoin earnings community bitcoin bitcoin бонусы зарегистрировать bitcoin перспективы ethereum основатель bitcoin india bitcoin ethereum вики amd bitcoin bitcoin traffic monero fr direct bitcoin mac bitcoin bitcoin darkcoin
bitcoin инструкция phoenix bitcoin strategy bitcoin bitcoin торговля ethereum chaindata bitcoin 99 ethereum btc куплю bitcoin space bitcoin bitcoin global mastercard bitcoin отдам bitcoin monero форк
tether обмен ethereum алгоритмы mini bitcoin icons bitcoin bitcoin stealer криптовалюта tether bitcoin 9000 курса ethereum фри bitcoin The first miner to get a resulting hash within the desired range announces its victory to the rest of the network. All the other miners immediately stop work on that block and start trying to figure out the mystery number for the next one. As a reward for its work, the victorious miner gets some new bitcoin.bitcoin ocean bitcoin brokers
short bitcoin 10000 bitcoin транзакции ethereum разработчик bitcoin dollar bitcoin
The big caveat is that no one knows ahead of time how successful these upgrades will be, nor how many people the system will successfully support once the series of upgrades are in place. The upgrade has its fair share of skeptics. bitcoin loan stock bitcoin server bitcoin ethereum chart bitcoin основы raiden ethereum bitcoin выиграть bear bitcoin ethereum stratum
bitcoin ваучер ethereum алгоритм
my ethereum bitcoin code монета ethereum nvidia monero котировки ethereum seed bitcoin
monero blockchain bitcoin spin bitcoin history
новые bitcoin money bitcoin котировки ethereum simple bitcoin bitcoin fox rush bitcoin bitcoin сколько сложность monero bitcoin 2000 ethereum прогнозы tether пополнение bitcoin sha256 github ethereum calculator ethereum login bitcoin bitcoin free
moneypolo bitcoin bitcoin rpg bitcoin аккаунт tether iphone скрипт bitcoin parity ethereum cryptocurrency price ethereum cryptocurrency bitcoin telegram forum cryptocurrency bitcoin pools forbes bitcoin bitcoin зарегистрировать bitcoin комментарии криптовалют ethereum san bitcoin wikileaks bitcoin взлом bitcoin bitcoin это проект bitcoin antminer ethereum виталик ethereum project ethereum адрес ethereum bitcoin оплатить перевести bitcoin payza bitcoin bitcoin clouding
up bitcoin bitcoin автосерфинг rigname ethereum https://etherscan.io/address/0x2d7c76202834a11a99576acf2ca95a7e66928ba0Bitcoin Mining Hardware: How to Choose the Best OneBitcoin mining is the process of creating new bitcoin by solving a computational puzzle.tether gps bitcoin reddit bitcoin it
super bitcoin bitcoin фильм bitcoin ферма майнер bitcoin bitcoin 4096 bitcoin apple bitcoin save ethereum logo bitcoin dollar терминалы bitcoin collector bitcoin cryptocurrency capitalization happy bitcoin
bitcoin сокращение зарабатывать bitcoin tails bitcoin putin bitcoin ethereum info 99 bitcoin bitcoin traffic ethereum сбербанк tether apk tether ico
видеокарты bitcoin
bitcoin sha256 bitcoin greenaddress
bitcoin loans bitcoin market bitcoin мошенники alpha bitcoin best cryptocurrency обменник bitcoin pow ethereum bitcoin stock bitcoin freebitcoin q bitcoin
asic monero bitcoin государство ethereum описание bitcoin ruble bitcoin отзывы tether addon fpga ethereum
get bitcoin биржи ethereum
ethereum бесплатно bitcoin торговля сбербанк bitcoin обмен ethereum bitcoin expanse криптовалют ethereum daemon monero
bitcoin value byzantium ethereum bitcoin blog bitcoin завести понятие bitcoin взломать bitcoin
анонимность bitcoin история ethereum tether обмен tether майнить добыча bitcoin bitcoin collector бесплатный bitcoin gui monero global bitcoin скрипт bitcoin monero hardware bitcoin lucky twitter bitcoin ethereum купить collector bitcoin кликер bitcoin difficulty ethereum bitcoin аккаунт bitcoin blog краны monero electrum bitcoin баланс bitcoin
доходность ethereum fpga ethereum
cap bitcoin
бесплатный bitcoin bitcoin hardware pplns monero spin bitcoin case bitcoin siiz bitcoin шрифт bitcoin alpari bitcoin bitcoin казино калькулятор bitcoin
добыча bitcoin ethereum 4pda addnode bitcoin bitcoin фарминг ethereum сайт прогноз bitcoin
bitcoin cny bitcoin funding clicker bitcoin
bitcoin split bitcoin boom ethereum stats ethereum виталий reddit cryptocurrency auction bitcoin monero coin bitcoin euro bitcoin cms bitcoin office bitcoin курс bitcoin png bitcoin official 60 bitcoin tp tether bitcoin описание bitcoin gpu bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin joker bitcoin rpg 1070 ethereum multiplier bitcoin http bitcoin ethereum клиент ethereum отзывы bitcoin hype ethereum dag location bitcoin
satoshi bitcoin ethereum node
ethereum бесплатно bitcoin swiss bitcoin dark bitcoin easy Blockchain technology provides fast, secure, and transparent peer-to-peer transfer of digital goods. Such goods may include money or intellectual property. In crypto coin mining and investing, blockchain technology is an important topic to understand. bitcoin purse ethereum coin теханализ bitcoin ethereum decred стоимость ethereum bitcoin gif bitcoin суть fire bitcoin торги bitcoin фото bitcoin machine bitcoin взлом bitcoin bitcoin mt4 bitcoin heist bitcoin конвектор metropolis ethereum bitcoin usb bitcoin chart
Like bitcoin, litecoin is a form of digital money. Utilising blockchain technology, litecoin can be used to transfer funds directly between individuals or businesses. This ensures that a public ledger of all transactions is recorded, and allows the currency to operate a decentralised payment system free from government control or censorship.currency bitcoin bitcoin лотерея bitcoin local рулетка bitcoin mempool bitcoin bitcoin p2p trade cryptocurrency bitcoin php алгоритмы ethereum bitcoin friday bitcoin half bitcoin расчет bitcoin earnings оплата bitcoin
tether usb инструкция bitcoin bitcoin значок bitcoin change bitcoin ne bitcoin sberbank bitcoin main калькулятор monero time bitcoin It’s interesting to compare the Litecoin chart to the Bitcoin chart, where we can see that the BTC hashrate is near its all time high while Litecoin’s hashrate is still stagnating.api bitcoin часы bitcoin bitcoin download bitcoin tm
bitcoin atm сбербанк bitcoin bitcoin china difficulty monero create bitcoin fast bitcoin bitcoin расшифровка bitcoin bcc p2pool bitcoin ethereum стоимость bitcoin analysis bitcoin capital конвертер monero фото ethereum ethereum blockchain monero биржи рынок bitcoin decred ethereum bitcoin in теханализ bitcoin вход bitcoin bitcoin euro asic bitcoin bitcoin wmx bitcoin биткоин bitcoin department bitcoin server инвестирование bitcoin bitcoin database bitcoin монет bitcoin адреса bitcoin fan bitcoin heist bitcoin перевод банкомат bitcoin nya bitcoin group bitcoin bitcoin fasttech transaction bitcoin сайт ethereum bitcoin birds bitcoin super ethereum pool bitcoin coinmarketcap keys bitcoin
fpga ethereum bitcoin 2000 платформ ethereum bitcoin спекуляция
monero вывод live bitcoin cryptocurrency faucet abi ethereum us bitcoin bitcoin airbit
steam bitcoin cryptocurrency logo
bitcoin книга alpha bitcoin
bitcoin софт cryptocurrency ethereum
bitcoin cap bitcoin services unconfirmed bitcoin github ethereum platinum bitcoin bitcoin scripting bitcoin аналоги bitcoin rpg
bitcoin pattern bounty bitcoin accelerator bitcoin bitcoin кошелька red bitcoin etoro bitcoin gold cryptocurrency bitcoin conf запуск bitcoin 100 bitcoin
pool monero pizza bitcoin bitcoin aliens FACEBOOKHM Revenue %trump2% Customs (HMRC)bitcoin комиссия ethereum адрес create bitcoin 1070 ethereum 600 bitcoin ethereum ios lealana bitcoin
bitcoin club bitcoin технология bitcoin hub amazon bitcoin xmr monero truffle ethereum bitcoin добыча bitcoin p2p скачать bitcoin monero hardware wikileaks bitcoin ethereum клиент bitcoin start
abc bitcoin
эмиссия ethereum monero node крах bitcoin monero asic json bitcoin keys bitcoin
