Did you know there were digital currencies for people to buy and trade things electronically? Let me introduce you to the digital currency known as, bitcoin. This currency is held electronically and unlike most normal currencies, it is not controlled by one central authority. It allows peer-to-peer trades, allowing people to have online transactions that don’t involve governments or banks. There are many questions users still have for the bitcoin network, so let me start by covering the basics.
You might be asking yourself, who created it? Bitcoin was created in 2009 by an unknown person using the alias, ‘Satoshi Nakamoto.’ In the bitcoin world there is no need to reveal your real name. Names of buyers and sellers are never exposed, only their wallet ID’s. Because transactions are kept private, buyers and sellers are able to buy or sell anything without easily tracing it back to them.
How is bitcoin currency printed and stored? Nobody actually physically prints the currency. It 
is unaccountable to the population and it makes its own rules. Actually, anyone can join the bitcoin community and help create the digital currency. Transactions are sent to and from electronic bitcoin wallets, which acts as a virtual bank account and are digitally signed for security. They are also stored in this “digital wallet”, the cloud or on a user’s computer.
Do any businesses accept bitcoin as payment? As a matter of fact yes, Overstock.com, WordPress and Reddit are among bigger companies that accept it. Also in larger cities some restaurants and food carts are accepting the currency as well. Any purchase less than the cost of a full bitcoin is shown in decimals. This is comparable to making change for a dollar, except each bitcoin value is worth hundreds of dollars. Some small businesses are using this as a means of marketing and also as another stable currency.
I am only skimming the bitcoin surface. Nobody knows what the future holds for the digital currency and there are some negatives. Governments have concerns regarding the taxation and their lack of control over the currency. There is also worry about no buyer protection, risk of unknown technical flaws and no valuation guarantee, to name a few. Bitcoin may be important to you because the new viruses spreading throughout the internet (Cryptowall and Cryptolocker) are calling for bitcoin currency to unlock files.
To learn more about how bitcoin works and how it can affect you, sign up today for a free security audit!
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