What is Bitcoin?

We live in a digital era. We can watch TV shows wherever we want to with smartphones, and we can buy things on the internet with ease. There is even money, which is intangible but can be used to trade something. It is called Bitcoin. Do you know exactly what Bitcoin is and how we can get it?

taken from Pixabay

Bitcoin is a currency which exists only in digital form. There are two ways you can obtain Bitcoins. You can buy them with using cash or you can 'mine' them using computers. By solving a mathematical problem, you can mine Bitcoins and release them into circulation, but it is really hard for ordinary people to mine them with normal PC.

Although the total number of Bitcoins is finite, they can get split into more small units to increase an amount of circulation. It is now known that the last Bitcoins will be mined in about 20 years or so.

There is a "private key" to transfer Bitcoins. Bitcoin payments can be possible only by transferring the private key between owners who have digital wallets. The key makes Bitcoins impossible to forge, and also it means transactions can be made absolutely anonymously. That attribute has built a shady reputation for Bitcoin - they were used on the Silk Road online black market to trade some drugs, a ransom, or money laundering etc.

Advocates say that Bitcoin will be one of mainstream options though it is not supported by a government or banks. There is a serious flaw in Bitcoin, however. It is too volatile. The currency value of one Bitcoin was $12 in December 2012; a year later its worth skyrocketed to $1200 per Bitcoin and recently it is worth nearly $2000 because of the virus 'ransomware'. But it is plummeting now. It is too changeable. 

Nowadays, Bitcoin is misused as a means of trading drugs or money laundering, but it also considered as a target to be invested. Also there are other kinds of electronic money, like Ethereum or Litecoin. Therefore, the digital cash is not an unusual concept anymore as we live in a digital era.