Bitcoin is a digital currency that isn’t controlled by a central authority such as a government or bank. Bitcoin is 9 years old, but it’s the oldest and most highly valued cryptocurrency out there. It’s currently a frequent point of discussion among investors, entrepreneurs, stock traders, and anyone.
So, let’s take a look at the 10 things you need to know about bitcoin.
1. Origin of Bitcoin
The origins of bitcoin trace back to 2008, when its creator, who went by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, published a proof of concept for Bitcoin. The proof was then published to a cryptocurrency mailing list in 2009. Nakamoto left the project in 2010 and disappeared, but other developers picked up the work.
2. Supply
Bitcoin's supply is limited to 21 million - a number that is expected to be reached around the year 2140 And now it has 16.9 million circulating supply
Instead, there are exactly 21,000,000 coins.
3. Transparent Transactions
The unique thing about Bitcoin is that it is completely transparent. Anyone can see the bitcoin transaction but Not with personal data. but instead with transactions and amount. Everything is able to be seen on the block chain and it’s this complete openness that instills a lot of trust and security amongst the Bitcoin community.
4. You can mine bitcoins.
with 12.5 new ones released roughly every 10 minutes via a process called "mining", in which a global network of computers competes to solve complex algorithms in reward for the new bitcoins.
Mining bitcoins is a term that actually means you’re using a computer program to solve mathematical problems to verify various transactions around the world. Bitcoin miners then get paid a certain number of bitcoins for solving those problems.
5. irreversible transaction
Once transacting has taken place, it cannot be reversed unless you tell the person you sent the bitcoin to, to reverse the bitcoin.
6. Little Fees
If you want to send money to a friend in South Africa and you were in the United Kingdom, you’d likely have to pay bank transfer fees, currency conversion fees, and more. Additionally, your friend may have to wait a few days before the money is available. With bitcoins, there are little transaction fees and the money is available almost instantly!
7. uses digital wallets.
Much like when you log into your online bank account and see your balance, you also have a bitcoin wallet that is established when you sign up. This wallet is like a physical wallet, but much more secure. If you lose it, it’s lost forever; however, it’s impossible for people to take money from your wallet without you giving it to them. Additionally, if you know a bitcoin address you can see how many bitcoins they have. But if you don’t have private keys there is know way to gain access to someone’s bitcoins.
8. Payment Gateway
There is a variety of merchants who accept bitcoins as payment for items, both online stores and physical stores. Popular online stores who accept bitcoins include Newegg, Overstock, Dell, Expedia, Newegg, Dish and more.
9. Buy and Sell Anywhere
Unlike the stock market, which is only open during business hours Monday-Friday, cryptocurrencies can be traded any time of the day or night, which makes them attractive to investors. If you see the price of Ethereum surging overnight, you can buy it right then. However, with the stock market, it’s not as simple to buy during off hours.
If you want to buy bitcoin, you do not need to buy a whole btc. Bitcoin's smallest unit is a Satoshi, named after the elusive creator of the cryptocurrency, Satoshi Nakamoto. One Satoshi is one hundred-millionth of a bitcoin, making it worth around $0.0002 at current exchange rates.
10. Security
cryptocurrencies’ value is dictated by their demand Because of this, there’s no security that an investment’s value will be retained.