How Bitcoins Work
Bitcoins are completely virtual coins designed to be self-contained for their value, with no need for banks to move and store the money. Once bitcoins are owned by a person, they behave like physical gold coins. They possess value and trade just as if they were nuggets of gold. Bitcoins can be used to purchase goods and services online with businesses that accept them or can be tucked away in the hope that their value increases over time.
Bitcoins are traded from one personal wallet to another. A wallet is a small personal database that is stored on a computer drive, smartphone, tablet, or in the cloud.
Bitcoin logo
KTSDESIGN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty Images
Bitcoins are forgery-resistant because multiple computers, called nodes, on the network must confirm the validity of every transaction. It is so computationally intensive to create a bitcoin that it isn't financially worth it for counterfeiters to manipulate the system.
Bitcoin Values and Regulations
A single bitcoin varies in value daily. Check places like Coindesk to see current par rates. There's more than $2 billion worth of bitcoins in existence. Bitcoins will stop being created when the total number reaches 21 billion coins, which is estimated to be sometime around the year 2040. By 2017, more than half of those bitcoins had been created.
Bitcoin currency is completely unregulated and completely decentralized. The currency is self-contained and uncollateralized, meaning there's no precious metal behind the bitcoins. The value of each bitcoin resides within the bitcoin itself.
Bitcoins are stewarded by miners, the network of people who contribute their personal computer resources to the bitcoin network. Miners act as ledger keepers and auditors for all bitcoin transactions. Miners are paid for their accounting work by earning new bitcoins for the amount of resources they contribute to the network.
How Bitcoins Are Tracked
A bitcoin holds a simple data ledger file called a blockchain. Each blockchain is unique to each user and the user's personal bitcoin wallet.
Digital network
Dong Wenjie / Getty Images
All bitcoin transactions are logged and made available in a public ledger, which ensures their authenticity and prevents fraud. This process prevents transactions from being duplicated and people from copying bitcoins.
While every bitcoin records the digital address of every wallet it touches, the bitcoin system does not record the names of the people who own wallets. In practical terms, this means that every bitcoin transaction is digitally confirmed but is completely anonymous at the same time.
So, although people cannot easily see the personal identity or the details of the transaction, they can see the verified financial history of a bitcoin wallet. This is a good thing, as a public history adds transparency and security to every transaction.
bitcoin talk ethereum crane 999 bitcoin bitcoin machine bitcoin abc The exact number of Bitcoin nodes is unknown, but some sources estimate it to be upwards of 100,000! Imagine trying to hack half of that!bitcoin хешрейт ethereum myetherwallet And even here in the United States, a long-recognized problem is the extremely high fees that the 'unbanked' — people without conventional bank accounts — pay for even basic financial services. Bitcoin can be used to go straight at that problem, by making it easy to offer extremely low-fee services to people outside of the traditional financial system.bitcoin рулетка There are three known ways that bitcoin currency can be *****d:etf bitcoin But how does Bitcoin work, you ask? How does it replace the functions for which we’ve so long relied on (and been beholden to) governments, banks, and payment companies?ethereum serpent bitcoin price people bitcoin bitcoin etherium tether limited фьючерсы bitcoin bitcoin стратегия bitcoin compare bitcoin bow кредит bitcoin proxy bitcoin ethereum майнеры Accountspoloniex ethereum