Bitcoin is an electronic peer-to-peer currency used to make online transactions with no central authority or banks. Its decentralized nature means that it is not influenced or manipulated by any institution; instead, its value relies on market forces and the people’s will.
Advantages of participating in Bitcoin
Decentralized Peer-to-Peer
Because the Bitcoin network runs on a computer distributed among many users, there is no central server that can be hacked and have all the users’ information stolen. The only thing to hack is any user’s personal computer; even if they can hack the user’s information, nothing inside can help them hack other users’ computers because Bitcoin accounts are anonymous. All Bitcoins are accounted for on a public ledger.
No Chargebacks
Chargeback refers to a situation in which the buyer of an item contacts their bank or payment processor requesting a refund for goods they did not receive from the seller. The seller then has to prove that the goods were delivered and that the buyer accepted them. If a chargeback occurs, the bank will debit the seller’s account and give them money back.
No liens
If you owe someone a large sum of money for an item, they can get a lien on your property to ensure that they will be paid. However, since Bitcoin users never have to give out personal information, there is no way for anyone to get an item or service using Bitcoin and then put a lien on anything to have that Bitcoin repaid because they do not have any personal information on the person they bought the item from. Therefore, no bank or government authority can come after your Bitcoins if you don’t pay back the person you bought something from because nothing is tying the Bitcoins to you.
No governments
Governments often create new laws to regulate how their citizens transact with each other. They can put up barriers that prevent people from doing certain things to try and control how their financial system operates. Since Bitcoin operates outside of the government’s control, they can’t put up any barrier that would prevent investors from buying Bitcoins in the first place or preventing traders from selling Bitcoins on the open market.
No inflationary spiral
Inflation results in prices rising, and people will hold on to their currency because they don’t want it to lose its value while waiting to spend it. This leads to other people wanting to spend their money before theirs loses its value as well, which causes more and more people to hold on to their money until, eventually, so much money is being held by people that the economy does not have enough transactions occurring for there to be enough money circulating for everyone.
No fraud
The most common type of fraud with Bitcoin is chargebacks. Since the person you buy something from does not have an account that ties to your credit card, it can be difficult for you to take legal action against someone attempting a chargeback. This means that if someone is attempting to scam you, they will have plenty of time to find the person who did not receive their item so they can file a chargeback and try and get that person’s Bitcoins back from them. An alternative would be for one person to use multiple different identities for the scammer to be able to chargeback on multiple people.
Services offered in Bitcoin:
Bitcoin Trading
Bitcoin trading is conducted through online exchanges such as Mt. Gox, BTC-e, and Coinbase. The prices you see on these exchanges generally represent the price of Bitcoins in USD and can be used to convert Bitcoins into other currencies such as USD or Euros.
Bitcoin Mining
Bitcoin Mining involves using specialized hardware to solve math problems, essential to verify transactions on the network and add new blocks of data onto the blockchain, a public ledger. The Bitcoin network compensates miners with Bitcoins in exchange for their work. Each time a new block is added to the blockchain, a specific number of Bitcoins are released.
Bitcoin Exchanges
Bitcoin exchanges are companies that allow people to buy and sell different amounts of Bitcoin on their platform to make a profit off of the spread between what they pay people when they sell them Bitcoin and what they receive when someone buys Bitcoins from them. Large exchanges like Mt. Gox and Coinbase specialize in trading Bitcoin, and some exchanges focus on specific countries or states, such as BTC.sx, which only operates in the United Kingdom.
Bitcoin ATMs
There are many locations where you can exchange cash for Bitcoin through machines that look like regular ATMs. These machines allow people to make exchanges anonymously, even if they do not have a bank account or credit card, by using cash to buy Bitcoins. These machines can connect with online exchanges and deposit the USD that you put into your account on their site so that you can start buying Bitcoins once you have provided them with your account information.
Bitcoin Debit Cards
A Bitcoin debit card allows you to load up a card with Bitcoins so that you can make purchases just as you would by using a regular credit or debit card. This allows people who do not have a bank account or a credit card access to the same spending power that others rely on to make purchases.
Bitcoin immediate bitcoin review allows almost anyone with an internet connection to transact with others anywhere in the world without going through a bank or government, which is why the government has been trying so hard to prevent people from using this currency. Although they are currently doing nothing but fighting Bitcoin, in theory, they are helping the economy by attempting to take power away from governments and putting it back into the hands of the average citizen. Bitcoin is a significant alternative currency that people who use it should invest in and support.
