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There are several terms associated with Bitcoin. To understand the entire concept, we need to understand refer several websites. In this post, we will see Bitcoin details in brief.
What is Bitcoin
Basically, Bitcoin is a currency in digital format. Bitcoins can be created and stored electronically. There are no authorities that can control Bitcoins. Normal currencies like Dollars, pounds and rupees are printed on paper or in coins format. But, Bitcoins are not printed in any physical format. Bitcoins are created by people like you and me and these days by organizations who are using high end computers. These high-end computers are using certain software to solve mathematical problems.
Who Created Bitcoin
As we saw, Bitcoin is cryptocurrency in digital format. This currency is created by unknown programmer or a group of coders; with name as Satoshi Nakamoto. Originally Bitcoin was introduced as open source software in year 2009. The original idea behind creation of Bitcoin was to have a currency independent of any controlling authority that can be transferred electronically.
Can you produce unlimited Bitcoins?
No. There is a practice – the regulations that make bitcoin operate – reported that only 21 Million Bitcoins can be produced by Miners. Like normal currencies can be divided, I mean 1 dollar can be divided into 100 cents, similarly one Bitcoin can be divided into smaller parts; the smallest part is one hundred millionth of a bitcoin which is named as “Satoshi”.
Bitcoin Properties
Bitcoin is distributed: As I mentioned above, Bitcoin is not controlled by single controller. Computers that do mining of bitcoins and controls the transactions becomes the part of Bitcoin network. Such type of machines or computers work together. So, it’s basically a network of computers. If a part of network or machine goes offline, the money flow continues.
Quick and Easy Setup: If you want to open bank account then it’s time-consuming process. You need to submit various documents to setup your bank account. However, setting up Bitcoin address is quick and easy. Nobody will ask you any questions and you can join completely free of cost.
Bitcoins storage is unsigned
Users can have multiple Bitcoin addresses. These addresses are not linked to your identity like your name, address or any personal credentials. If Bitcoins are stored at public address then anyone on the network can guess the number of Bitcoins at that address. But it is not possible to tell that these Bitcoins are belongs to you. People normally do the Bitcoin transactions using different addresses. They even don’t transfer bulk number of Bitcoins from a single address. This makes Bitcoin transaction activity more anonymous.
Bitcoin Transaction Fees
When you transfer the currency from your normal bank accounts, banks normally charge administration or handling charges of around 10-15 dollars. This is not a case with Bitcoin transactions. Bitcoin transaction fees are very low.
Fast Transactions:
You can send and receive Bitcoins anytime and from anywhere. When Bitcoin network processes the transfer, the transaction gets completed in minutes. You don’t have to wait for hours to get the transaction done.
Bitcoins transaction cannot be reverted
Once you initiate Bitcoin transfer and if transaction is completed, there is no way to get your Bitcoins back. The only way to get Bitcoins is when the recipient returns those Bitcoins to you.
Brief details about Bitcoin Mining
Our normal bank currency is printed. That is how physical currencies are produced. Bitcoin is digital currency and is not printed in physical format. High end computers running special software compete and do the Bitcoin mining.
People are transferring bitcoins among each other over the bitcoin network all the time. Unless somebody keeps a record of of these transactions, no-one would be able to find the person identity about who and how much has paid. The bitcoin network checks with this by assembling all the transactions created throughout a collection amount into a listing. This listing is called as a block. It’s the miner’s responsibility to verify those transactions, and note them into a book of account.
Ok, so here was brief details about Bitcoin. You might be interested to know about how to buy Bitcoins. Let’s see what are the way by which you can buy Bitcoins.
How to buy Bitcoins
You can buy Bitcoins from various Bitcoin exchange web portals. You can even buy them from other people from bitcoin marketplace. You can buy Bitcoins using your credit or debit cards, wire transfer or some other cryptocurrencies. But this depend on the location where you live and from where you are buying these Bitcoins. We normally use credit card and debit card to buy items online. But when you buy Bitcoin using credit or debit card, it becomes difficult to card provider bank to figure out what item is purchased and most of the cases these transactions will get cancelled. So, it is a clever idea not to use credit or debit card for purchasing Bitcoins.
In USA and UK, companies like Coinbase and Circle provides facility to buy Bitcoins using credit cards.
I hope this article is helpful for you to get basic understanding about Bitcoin. Thanks.