What Is Bitcoin and Is It a Good Investment?

Bitcoin (BTC) is a new kind of digital currency-with cryptographic keys-that is decentralized to a network of computers used by users and miners around the world and is not controlled by a single organization or government. It is the first digital cryptocurrency that has gained the public’s attention and is accepted by a growing number of merchants. Like other currencies, users can use the digital currency to buy goods and services online as well as in some physical stores that accept it as a form of payment. Currency traders can also trade Bitcoins in Bitcoin exchanges.

There are several major differences between Bitcoin and traditional currencies (e.g. U.S. dollar):

  1. Bitcoin does not have a centralized authority or clearing house (e.g. government, central bank, MasterCard or Visa network). The peer-to-peer payment network is managed by users and miners around the world. The currency is anonymously transferred directly between users through the internet without going through a clearing house. This means that transaction fees are much lower.
  2. Bitcoin is created through a process called “Bitcoin mining”. Miners around the world use mining software and computers to solve complex bitcoin algorithms and to approve Bitcoin transactions. They are awarded with transaction fees and new Bitcoins generated from solving Bitcoin algorithms.
  3. There is a limited amount of Bitcoins in circulation. According to Blockchain, there were about 12.1 million in circulation as of Dec. 20, 2013. The difficulty to mine Bitcoins (solve algorithms) becomes harder as more Bitcoins are generated, and the maximum amount in
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The Wild West Crypto Show Continues

Here is a question that comes up often: How do I choose which crypto currency to invest in – aren’t they all the same?

There is no doubt that Bitcoin has captured the lion’s share of the crypto currency (CC) market, and that is largely due to its FAME. This phenomenon is much like what is happening in national politics around the world, where a candidate captures the majority of votes based on FAME, rather than any proven abilities or qualifications to govern a nation. Bitcoin is the pioneer in this market space and continues to garner almost all of the market headlines. This FAME does not mean that it is perfect for the job, and it is fairly well known that Bitcoin has limitations and problems that need to be resolved, however, there is disagreement in the Bitcoin world on how best to resolve the problems. As the problems fester, there is ongoing opportunity for developers to initiate new coins that address particular situations, and thus distinguish themselves from the approximately 1300 other coins in this market space. Let’s look at two Bitcoin rivals and explore how they differ from Bitcoin, and from each other:

Ethereum (ETH) – The Ethereum coin is known as ETHER. The main difference from Bitcoin is that Ethereum uses “smart contracts” which are account holding objects on the Ethereum blockchain. Smart Contracts are defined by their creators and they can interact with other contracts, make decisions, store data, and send ETHER to others. The … Read more

Mommy, Where Do Bitcoins Come From? Bitcoin Mining Explained

“Mommy, where do Bitcoins come from?” Well, you see, when a shiny young Bitcoin catches the eyes of an ambitious miner, and because they love each other very much…

Wait, that’s obviously too difficult to solve here. Besides, my whole goal is to keep things simple. Anyway, Bitcoins are made by solving complex math problems. This is done by a powerful machine that is built to solve these math problems. This process is called mining. People who own these machines to make money mining Bitcoins are called miners. When a batch of problems is solved it becomes known as a block. Blocks are verified by other users and once they are verified, they get added to what is called the block chain. This chain continues to grow with a new block being added to it roughly every 10 minutes. This chain is really just a master ledger that will continue to grow and never end.

The very powerful machines that mine zap a lot of power and drive up the miner’s monthly utility bill. The reason it takes so much power is the genius of the mathematics involved. It requires the mining machine to perform complex cryptographic algorithms. Once a math problem is solved by the machine, a block of coins is birthed. Every time 210,000 blocks have been created, the reward to the miner is halved. It takes 4 years to accomplish this. So it’s kind of like a Bitcoin Olympics. Currently the block reward is 12 Bitcoins (on … Read more

Bull Market Early or Bear Market Trap?

For virtual currency investors, the more important question is whether this round of currency price rises is a restart of the bull market or a bear market trap.

Yesterday evening, Bitcoin experienced a soaring price in just one hour. The price rose from the violence of about 6,800 U.S. dollars to a maximum of 8,100 U.S. dollars. It rose by nearly 20% during the day. Under the leadership of Bitcoin, other virtual currencies also ushered in a strong rebound, with single currency gains even exceeding 50%. Faced with the collective warming of the virtual currency market, many investors shouted that “the bull market is back.”

According to data from the CoinMarketCap website, Bitcoin’s market value increased by nearly 20 billion U.S. dollars within a day, and the entire virtual currency market also experienced general market growth. There was no “seeking” effect. According to the daily transaction volume of Bitcoin exceeding 9 billion U.S. dollars, there should be billions of incremental funds entering the market yesterday, instead of stock funds.

In fact, in the time of the booming of Bitcoin, Bitfinex, a digital currency trading platform, also recorded a number of large purchases. With the increase in buying Bitcoins, many shorts were forced to close their positions, further expanding the market’s upward trend. For this phenomenon, Nick Kirk, data director of Cypher Capital, also expressed his approval. At the same time, he also believes that this sharp rebound is more likely to be the response to the release of early regulatory … Read more

Bitcoin Vs Goldcoin

Bitcoin… Monetary Nirvana?

If you don’t know what Bitcoin is, do a bit of research on the internet, and you will get plenty… but the short story is that Bitcoin was created as a medium of exchange, without a central bank or bank of issue being involved. Furthermore, Bitcoin transactions are supposed to be private, that is anonymous. Most interestingly, Bitcoins have no real world existence; they exist only in computer software, as a kind of virtual reality.

The general idea is that Bitcoins are ‘mined’… interesting term here… by solving an increasingly difficult mathematical formula -more difficult as more Bitcoins are ‘mined’ into existence; again interesting- on a computer. Once created, the new Bitcoin is put into an electronic ‘wallet’. It is then possible to trade real goods or Fiat currency for Bitcoins… and vice versa. Furthermore, as there is no central issuer of Bitcoins, it is all highly distributed, thus resistant to being ‘managed’ by authority.

Naturally proponents of Bitcoin, those who benefit from the growth of Bitcoin, insist rather loudly that ‘for sure, Bitcoin is money’… and not only that, but ‘it is the best money ever, the money of the future’, etc… Well, the proponents of Fiat shout just as loudly that paper currency is money… and we all know that Fiat paper is not money by any means, as it lacks the most important attributes of real money. The question then is does Bitcoin even qualify as money… never mind it being the money of … Read more

Should Bitcoin Replace Currency of Central Banks?

Distinction between Bitcoin and Currency of Central Banks

What is the difference between central bank authorized currency and Bitcoin? The bearer of central bank authorized currency can merely tender it for exchange of goods and services. The holder of Bitcoins cannot tender it because it’s a virtual currency not authorized by a central bank. However, Bitcoin holders may be able to transfer Bitcoins to another account of a Bitcoin member in exchange of goods and services and even central bank authorized currencies.

Inflation will bring down the real value of bank currency. Short term fluctuation in demand and supply of bank currency in money markets effects change in borrowing cost. However, the face value remains the same. In case of Bitcoin, its face value and real value both changes. We have recently witnessed the split of Bitcoin. This is something like split of share in the stock market. Companies sometimes split a stock into two or five or ten depending upon the market value. This will increase the volume of transactions. Therefore, while the intrinsic value of a currency decreases over a period of time, the intrinsic value of Bitcoin increases as demand for the coins increases. Consequently, hoarding of Bitcoins automatically enables a person to make a profit. Besides, the initial holders of Bitcoins will have a huge advantage over other Bitcoin holders who entered the market later. In that sense, Bitcoin behaves like an asset whose value increases and decreases as is evidenced by its price volatility.

When … Read more