Bitcoin a type of cryptocurrency has been around for quite some time now. Let’s go through some details on bitcoin evolution and use. In the year 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto a programmer first created bitcoin. Initially, it was not very much accepted or popular among common people. However, after few years the popularity and demand for bitcoin went very high. People have a misconception that bitcoins are the very first cryptocurrency known but this is not true. Various other cryptocurrencies evolved before bitcoin but fortunately, bitcoin earned immense popularity. Bitcoin works on peer to peer network and is an accepted form of payment among different retailers. Another interesting fact about bitcoin is that its security is not governed by the government bodies, instead; it is guaranteed by the cryptographic algorithms. With time bitcoin has a successful e-commerce payment option and it has the potential to replace the prevailing money transfer methods.
Types of currencies
Broadly currencies can be bifurcated into three categories, digital currency, cryptocurrency and virtual currency. Often people get confused among these three types. These three currency variants are interconnected but there is a very subtle difference between them. Let’s take a look at the difference:
Virtual Currency:
In the year 2012, the European Central Bank declared that virtual currency is an unregulated form of digital currency which is controlled solely by its developers. This type of currency is mainly accepted by the virtual community. An interesting fact about virtual curry is that although it operates on similar grounds as the traditional currency it does not have similar attributes.
Digital Currency:
This currency is a type of virtual currency which is both created and stores electronically. Some digital currencies are cryptocurrency but not all.
Cryptocurrency:
This currency is a subset of digital currency but the security of this currency is governed by cryptography. This makes it very safe and extremely difficult to counterfeit. An important point to note is that this currency variant is not issued by any bank or centralised authority.
Bitcoins became immensely popular because of two reasons. First, it is a highly secured form of cryptocurrency and secondly, it is a uniform payment option. This means it does not differentiate between dollar, ruble, rupees etc. every country make use of bitcoin as bitcoin. Experts suggest that the primary concept behind bitcoin is that bitcoin is a financial system that is not only used by the common people but is also designed and controlled by the common people. This system is not dominated by any particular body instead everyone has equal power.
Bitcoin transaction websites
Considering the increasing popularity and use of bitcoin for making transactions, more and more websites have started introducing bitcoin as a successful payment option. There is various bitcoin evolution website that gives a clear idea about the bitcoin in detail and also provides information on its implementation.
Ways of Acquiring Bitcoins
Purchase online – One can buy or sell their bitcoin on registered websites commonly known as the bitcoin exchange. Bitcoins can be purchased used currencies of any nation. Point to be noted that the price of bitcoin is not static, it changes every day or every hour. Hence, the purchase or selling rate is decided on a prevailing day.
Transfer from one individual to another – Individuals can transfer their bitcoins through various mediums like mobile phones, laptops or any online platform. It is as simple as transferring cash amount. The only difference is instead of cash, virtual currencies are transferred.
Mining – The entire bitcoin network is properly secured by few people know as miners. These miners get rewarded for every successful and verified transaction they make. Before recording the transaction in the ledger sheet, it is deeply verified. Miners closely compete with each other for mining bitcoins. This is done through special hardware and software, this is the reason miners invest a lot of money in purchasing the latest hardware. These days a new concept of cloud mining is also very much in trend. For cloud mining, miners invest in third party website and these websites offer them the required hardware as well as infrastructure.
Storing and saving bitcoins
Bitcoins are mainly stores only in digital wallets. These wallets are present either in the laptop or in the cloud. A Digital wallet is nothing but a virtual account in which people can save their bitcoins, just like money is saved in a bank account. Transfer or use of bitcoins be aimed easy using these digital wallets and they are completely secured.
Types of wallets
Wallets in laptops – The majority of people prefer to save their digital wallets only on their laptops or computer systems. The reason behind this is the wallet remain secure from any other network exposure and hacking. Just like the two phases of coins, there are disadvantages associated with saving wallet on laptops. Bitcoins save on laptops cannot be used always used while travelling or when away from the laptop. This restricts the use of bitcoin.
Wallet in the cloud – One of the major advantages of saving a wallet in the cloud is that it can be accessed from any location or device. One can use bitcoin without any restriction on place or device. The disadvantage is that the wallet gets exposed to other networks and hackers.
