What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a new currency created in 2009 by an anonymous person nicknamed Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions are done with this currency without the mediation of any bank or financial institution! Bitcoin can be used to book hotels at Expedia, buy furniture from Overstock and buy Xbox games. But most of the fuss over the currency is about the profits that traders make buying and selling the currency. The price of Bitcoin reached thousands of dollars in 2017 and has continued to rise since then.

What is the use of bitcoin?

Bitcoin can be used to purchase goods anonymously. When you pay for a commodity with Bitcoin, no one can track this financial transaction and reach you as the buyer or recipient of the money as the seller. In addition, international payments using this currency are easy and cheap, because Bitcoin is not dependent on any country and the cumbersome regulations of governments do not affect transactions made in this currency. Small businesses' interest in bitcoin may be because trading with it does not have costs such as the fee for receiving money from the customer with a credit card. Some people buy bitcoin only as an investment and hope that its value will increase and thus they will get rich.

How to get bitcoins?

The first method: buying from foreign exchange markets

Simultaneously with the advent of bitcoin, markets were created that allow people to buy and sell bitcoins using different currencies. Coinbase, Bitstamp, and Bitfinex are examples of these markets. Of course, security in bitcoin exchanges has always been one of the concerns of traders: in 2016, with the hacking of Bitfinex, bitcoins worth tens of millions of dollars were stolen.

The second method: currency transfer

Individuals can send bitcoins to each other using apps installed on their mobile phones or computers. This is like sending money digitally.

Method 3: Extract bitcoins

Each bitcoin is generated or "extracted" by high-volume computer processing to solve complex mathematical puzzles. So anyone can extract bitcoins this way and own this computer currency. Currently, in the world, one person manages to get 12.5 bitcoins every 10 minutes as a reward for computer processing.

A wallet to hold bitcoins

Bitcoins are stored in a "digital wallet", software that you can install on your computer and use to take care of your bitcoins. A wallet is a virtual bank account that allows users to send or receive bitcoins, pay for goods, or save money. Unlike bank accounts, bitcoin wallets are not insured by any authority.

Anonymity in Bitcoin transactions

Although each bitcoin transaction is recorded in a public file, the names of buyers and sellers are never specified - in bitcoin transactions, only the wallet ID of the parties to the transaction is recorded. This feature keeps Bitcoin users' transactions private, but at the same time makes it possible for anyone to buy and sell anything easily and without supervision. That's why bitcoin has become a popular currency for buying drugs online or engaging in other illegal activities.