Back To Articles

Guardian of the Digital Realm: Bitcoin

Written by John Doe on January 20, 2025

#Code#Currency#Tech
Article Image

Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonymous person or team who outlined the technology in a 2008 white paper. It’s an appealingly simple concept: bitcoin is digital money that allows for secure peer-to-peer transactions on the internet.

Unlike services like Venmo and PayPal, which rely on the traditional financial system for permission to transfer money and on existing debit/credit accounts, bitcoin is decentralized: any two people, anywhere in the world, can send bitcoin to each other without the involvement of a bank, government, or other institution.

Every transaction involving Bitcoin is tracked on the blockchain, which is similar to a bank’s ledger, or log of customers’ funds going in and out of the bank. In simple terms, it’s a record of every transaction ever made using bitcoin.

Unlike a bank’s ledger, the Bitcoin blockchain is distributed across the entire network. No company, country, or third party is in control of it; and anyone can become part of that network.

There will only ever be 21 million bitcoin. This is digital money that cannot be inflated or manipulated in any way.

It isn’t necessary to buy an entire bitcoin: you can buy just a fraction of one if that’s all you want or need.

1. FAQ

What is BTC?

BTC is the abbreviation for bitcoin.

Is Bitcoin cryptocurrency?

Yes, bitcoin is the first widely adopted cryptocurrency, which is just another way of saying digital money.

Is there a simple bitcoin definition?

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency used for encrypted, peer-to-peer transactions without needing a central bank

What’s the price of bitcoin?

The current price of Bitcoin can be found on Coinbase’s website.

Is Bitcoin an investment opportunity?

Like any other asset, you can make money by buying BTC low and selling high, or lose money in the inverse scenario.

At what price did Bitcoin start?

One BTC was valued at a fraction of a U.S. penny in early 2010. During the first quarter of 2011, it exceeded a dollar. In late 2017, its value skyrocketed, topping out at close to $20,000, and Bitcoin ended up topping $64,899 in November 2021. You can track the price of bitcoin here.

2. Data Encryption

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency used for encrypted, peer-to-peer transactions without needing a central bank

3. The History

Since Bitcoin’s creation, thousands of new cryptocurrencies have been launched, but bitcoin (abbreviated as BTC) remains the largest by market capitalization and trading volume.

4. Dependnt of Goals

Depending on your goals, bitcoin can function as

5. Key Question

How does bitcoin have value?

Essentially the same way a traditional currency does – because it’s proven itself to be a viable and convenient way to store value, which means it can easily be traded for goods, services, or other assets. It’s scarce, secure, portable (compared to, say, gold), and easily divisible, allowing transactions of all sizes.

6. How to Get Bitcoin

How to get Bitcoin The easiest way to buy bitcoin is to purchase it through an online exchange like Coinbase. Coinbase makes it easy to buy, sell, send, receive, and store bitcoin without needing to hold it yourself using something called public and private keys.

7. Outside of online exchange

However, if you choose to buy and store bitcoin outside of an online exchange, here’s how that works.

Each person who joins the bitcoin network is issued a public key, which is a long string of letters and numbers that you can think of like an email address, and a private key, which is equivalent to a password.

When you buy bitcoin—or send/receive it—you get a public key, which you can think of as a key that unlocks a virtual vault and gives you access to your money.

Anyone can send bitcoin to you via your public key, but only the holder of the private key can access the bitcoin in the “virtual vault” once it’s been sent.

There are many ways to store bitcoin both online and off. The simplest solution is a virtual wallet.

If you want to transfer money from your wallet to a bank account after selling your bitcoin, the Coinbase app makes it as easy as transferring funds from one bank to another. Similar to conventional bank transfers or ATM withdrawals, exchanges like Coinbase set a daily limit, and it may take between a few days and a week for the transaction to be completed.

8. Bitcoin is simple

It’s simple: Transactions using BTC aren’t that different from those using a credit or debit card, but instead of being asked to enter card info, you’ll simply be entering the payment amount and the vendor’s public key (similar to an email address) via a wallet app. (When transacting in person using smartphones or tablets, often a QR code will pop up to simplify the process – when you scan the code, your wallet app will automatically enter the pertinent information.)

It’s private: One of the benefits of paying with bitcoin is that doing so limits the amount of personal information you need to provide. The only time you need to share your name and address is if you’re purchasing physical goods that need to be shipped.

It’s flexible: As to what you should do with your bitcoin, that depends completely on your personal interests. Here are some ideas:

You can sell it for cash using an exchange or a Bitcoin ATM.

You can spend it online or in brick-and-mortar retailers as you would any other currency by using a Bitcoin debit card.

You can hold on to some or all of it as part of your investment and savings strategy.

You might choose to that is close to your heart (check out).

And if you have a serious budget and unfulfilled astronaut dreams? Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic happily accepts BTC in exchange for the opportunity to blast off on one of its forthcoming space-tourism missions.