The History Of Bitcoin

In 2009 by developer Satoshi Nakamoto, which may or may not have been his real name developed a cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin. For more about this see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

Bitcoin system payments are recorded in a public ledger using its own unit of account, which is also called bitcoin.

The payments are instituted peer-to-peer without a central repository, or a single administrator. This has led the US Treasury to call Bitcoin a decentralized virtual currency.

The status of Bitcoin as a currency is disputed, though media reports often refer to Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency or digital currency.

How Is Bitcoin Created And Used?

Bitcoins are created as a reward for payment processing work. To do this users can offer their computing power to verify and record payments into the public ledger.

This process is called Bitcoin mining. Individuals or companies engage in Bitcoin mining in exchange for transaction fees and the newly created bitcoins.

In addition to mining, bitcoins can be obtained in exchange for fiat money, products, and services.

Users of Bitcoin can send and receive them electronically for an optional transaction fee. This is done using wallet software on a personal computer, mobile device, or a web application.

The market for using Bitcoin as a form of payment has seen tremendous growth. Merchants have an incentive to accept the digital currency because fees are lower than those typically imposed by credit card processors.

Commercial use of Bitcoin is currently small compared to its use by speculators. This has fueled price volatility, and the price of a “Bitcoin” went from under $2000 mid summer of 2017 to over $4,500 in early October of 2017.

Many speculators such as myself see the price of bitcoin rising dramatically although in the meantime there may be major market fluctuations leading to another downturn before it surges again.

Keeping all of this in mind Bitcoin should still be a part of your investment portfolio as well as a method of making payments in both the virtual and real world.