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What is bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a digital currency or cryptocurrency that has gained a lot of space in the financial market in recent years. Bitcoin is money just like the euro, dollar or yen. The difference is that bitcoin is completely digital, which is perfect for online transactions, because it is secure, cheap, fast and anonymous.
Bitcoin is a digital currency that allows sending and receiving money without governmental or territorial limitations. What differentiates bitcoin from the monetary system is that it is decentralized. This means that there is no control of any agency in its transactions (neither Central Banks nor governments). This guarantees its transparency and independence.
It was the first virtual currency created in 2009 developed by Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin has stood out for its high valuation power. Bitcoin is a virtual currency and therefore only exists in the virtual universe. It is not issued and regulated by any government or Central Bank, being decentralization one of its main characteristics.
In addition, all its transactions are recorded in “blockchain”, a large system of online and encrypted data, which brings more security to financial transactions. There are two ways to obtain Bitcoins: buying them in exchange houses (platforms specialized in the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies) or by mining bitcoins.
Bitcoin (BTC)
How does Bitcoin work?
For most people Bitcoin is nothing more than a software that allows the user to exchange Bitcoins with other people in the world. However, the functioning of a bitcoin is composed of 2 main elements. First they are created by mining and then exchanged between bitcoin wallets.
Creation of bitcoin
The Bitcoins are created by mining, with computers that solve equations, thanks to Blockchain technology. Each Bitcoin created has a unique code that identifies it. A Bitcoin is created approximately every 10 minutes and only approximately 21 million Bitcoins will exist.
Bitcoin transactions
Bitcoin transactions consist of recording incoming and outgoing coins within the bitcoin wallet. Bitcoin transaction records are stored in blocks. Every 10 minutes a new block appears that should store the new transactions that take place on the network. This new block is connected to the previous one, forming a chain of mutually dependent blocks. Thus, the information is inserted into a block that is linked to the previous block of other transactions already recorded. This is a very important moment that guarantees the entire security of the process.
| # | Coin | Price | Marketcap | Volume (24h) | Supply | Change (24H) | Price Graph (7D) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Bitcoin BTC | $ 27,816.45 | $ 537.08 B | $ 14.99 B | 19.33 M BTC | 0.14% | ||
| 2 |  Ethereum ETH | $ 1,766.69 | $ 212.61 B | $ 7.93 B | 120.46 M ETH | 0.17% | ||
| 3 |  Tether USDT | $ 1.01 | $ 79.61 B | $ 23.96 B | 79.02 B USDT | 0.04% | ||
| 4 |  BNB BNB | $ 326.19 | $ 51.47 B | $ 590.22 M | 157.90 M BNB | 0.10% | ||
| 5 |  USD Coin USDC | $ 1.01 | $ 34.13 B | $ 3.58 B | 33.92 B USDC | 0.14% | ||
| 6 |  XRP XRP | $ 0.455165 | $ 23.03 B | $ 2.31 B | 50.95 B XRP | 5.03% | ||
| 7 |  Cardano ADA | $ 0.358748 | $ 12.57 B | $ 273.06 M | 35.05 B ADA | 1.14% | ||
| 8 |  Dogecoin DOGE | $ 0.075392 | $ 10.46 B | $ 423.94 M | 138.67 B DOGE | 1.07% | ||
| 9 |  Lido Staked Ether STETH | $ 1,752.38 | $ 10.33 B | $ 26.10 M | 5.87 M STETH | 0.67% | ||
| 10 |  Polygon MATIC | $ 1.09 | $ 9.92 B | $ 357.06 M | 9.08 B MATIC | 1.87% | ||
| 11 |  Binance USD BUSD | $ 1.01 | $ 8.07 B | $ 3.48 B | 8.02 B BUSD | 0.13% | ||
| 12 |  Solana SOL | $ 20.86 | $ 7.99 B | $ 361.75 M | 383.90 M SOL | 0.08% | ||
| 13 |  Polkadot DOT | $ 6.03 | $ 7.32 B | $ 143.63 M | 1.22 B DOT | 1.21% | ||
| 14 |  Litecoin LTC | $ 94.11 | $ 6.82 B | $ 671.71 M | 72.56 M LTC | 0.90% | ||
| 15 |  Shiba Inu SHIB | $ 0.000011 | $ 6.27 B | $ 168.93 M | 589.36 T SHIB | 0.66% | ||
| 16 |  TRON TRX | $ 0.065081 | $ 5.93 B | $ 365.32 M | 91.11 B TRX | 0.56% | ||
| 17 |  Avalanche AVAX | $ 17.13 | $ 5.58 B | $ 200.42 M | 325.76 M AVAX | 0.34% | ||
| 18 |  Dai DAI | $ 1.00 | $ 5.26 B | $ 87.43 M | 5.24 B DAI | 0.02% | ||
| 19 |  Uniswap UNI | $ 5.79 | $ 4.36 B | $ 65.66 M | 753.77 M UNI | 1.96% | ||
| 20 |  Wrapped Bitcoin WBTC | $ 27,814.45 | $ 4.18 B | $ 93.11 M | 150.15 K WBTC | 0.03% | ||
| 21 |  Chainlink LINK | $ 7.20 | $ 3.54 B | $ 232.46 M | 491.60 M LINK | 1.18% | ||
| 22 |  Cosmos Hub ATOM | $ 11.30 | $ 3.30 B | $ 103.37 M | 292.59 M ATOM | 0.18% | ||
| 23 |  LEO Token LEO | $ 3.39 | $ 3.15 B | $ 659.44 K | 931.01 M LEO | 0.50% | ||
| 24 |  Toncoin TON | $ 2.11 | $ 3.13 B | $ 23.28 M | 1.47 B TON | 0.38% | ||
| 25 |  Monero XMR | $ 165.20 | $ 2.99 B | $ 113.56 M | 18.15 M XMR | 0.62% |
Advantages of using Bitcoins
Bitcoin is not owned by anyone
Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin, but he did not want to register it or become the owner of the technology, and currently his true identity is not even known. The absence of an owner makes Bitcoin universal. In fact, politicians and regulators in major developed countries have no one to pursue or curb the growth of Bitcoin. This lack of an owner for Bitcoin forces the community to find a consensus to develop bitcoin technology. Bitcoin is therefore a democracy in which all users have equal weight.
You do not need permission to participate
Bitcoin is a system open to everyone. Anyone can choose to participate in the Bitcoin blockchain. No special permission is required. To do so, you simply download Bitcoin, whose source code is open. Once Bitcoin is installed on your computer, you can become a node in the network and participate in the validation of Bitcoin transactions. You become a miner and can try to get part of the reward given to miners who validate a transaction block.
Bitcoin is encrypted
Bitcoin uses two encryption algorithms (SHA-256 and RIPEMD160) to protect and anonymize transactions. Bitcoin wallets are also encrypted, as are their private keys ("password" that gives access to Bitcoins). The only way to steal Bitcoins inside a wallet would be to break this encryption, by discovering the private key. However, no one has succeeded. It is estimated that it would take a computer billions of years to break Bitcoin encryption. Because of this, Bitcoin cannot be stolen directly from a wallet.
Bitcoin is decentralized
When you buy Bitcoins, they are really yours. You can use them however you want, because no one can stop you from making transactions on the blockchain. The decentralization of Bitcoin allows you to enjoy your Bitcoins the way you want. When any change is made to the network, the protocol, it must be done with a simple majority consensus of all participants in the network (bitcoin miners, ecosystem participants and developers). If this consensus is not reached, any change will be rejected and the network will follow the path that was jointly chosen. Therefore, no one person or group of people can cause radical changes to bitcoin. No government can disable the Bitcoin network, because there are more than 10,000 computers distributed all over the world. That is why it is so difficult to ban or censor Bitcoin. The technology is beyond the reach of any state intervention.
Bitcoin is safer than physical money
Bitcoin has been in operation for over 10 years and has never been hacked. The Bitcoin network is extremely robust and the system is distributed to more than 10,000 computers worldwide, each of which runs a copy of the entire Bitcoin transaction log on the network. For this there is a large decentralized network through which all Bitcoin transfers pass: "blockchain". All transactions are stored in the network, but without the parties' information being made public. Moreover, it cannot be erased, let alone altered. In this way, it is guaranteed that a person can only spend a given Bitcoin once, for example. The level of security provided by Bitcoin is much higher than that of traditional banks. In traditional banking systems there are only a few central servers and all transactions are hidden from the public, while in bitcoin there are millions of computers monitoring transactions.
Bitcoin is transparent
Bitcoin is based on the blockchain and the Bitcoin source code is open, which makes all processes occurring in Bitcoin fully verifiable by anyone. All Bitcoin transactions are freely accessible on the blockchain. All this allows Bitcoin users to have full confidence in the system they are using.
How to use Bitcoins?
With the popularization of cryptocurrencies, it is now possible to use Bitcoins to buy products in online and physical stores and contract services.
1. Create an account in exchange
The exchanger is like an exchange office where you can exchange physical money for bitcoins. To use their services, you first have to register. Creating the account is as simple as creating an email account.
Create an account now2. Make the deposit
Once you have your account validated, you can start using it. To do this, you must deposit the amount you want to invest in the purchase of Bitcoins. The deposit is made through common payments, such as credit card or paypal, among others.
3. Credit confirmation
The deposited amount must be confirmed first. As soon as it enters your exchange account, it can already be used for the purchase of Bitcoins or any other cryptocurrency.
4. Invest in bitcoin
With the credit in your account, you can start investing in bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. The process is as simple as choosing the cryptocurrency and the amount you want.
How are Bitcoin transactions made?
When you buy Bitcoin or you buy in a shop using bitcoins, the transfer of bitcoins goes through a few steps to ensure the transfer of bitcoins from one account to another, in a totally secure and public way, maintaining the anonymity of the sender and receiver of bitcoins.
1. Registration
Each Bitcoin created has a unique code. It is an encrypted file that can only be decoded by a receiver who has the key to decode the information. This process is known as private key encryption.
2. Anonymity
Each private key can generate different addresses (addresses) from an encrypted process. It is these encrypted addresses that will be recorded as the source and destination of the value. This ensures that no one other than the sender and receiver knows the identity of the person carrying out the transaction.
3. Officialization
For the transaction to be legitimate, it needs to be officialized, which happens when it is integrated into the blockchain. Data blocks are structured every 10 minutes, on average. Transactions that are not yet included remain pending, until a new block is formed. Transactions become official when they are included in the blockchain.
4. Immutability
And what guarantee do you have that the transaction will not be changed later? This protection can only be guaranteed if the transactions are immutable. And that is exactly what happens at the end of the processing of a blockchain. As soon as a block is structured, it receives a kind of protocol, called a hash that prevents the transfer data from being modified or altered.
What are the advantages of investing in Bitcoin?
Secure bitcoin investments
Bitcoin is considered one of the safest digital currencies to invest in, due to a few main reasons. It has a huge value, being the most valuable cryptocurrency and has worldwide recognition and established adoption.
Encryption makes the currency secure and impenetrable. You are more likely to be struck by lightning twice than someone who has access to your bitcoin wallet.
The transfer service provides liquidity and continuous access to funds anywhere in the world.
It is more than likely that the value of bitcoin will increase only due to a scarce and fixed supply.
Bitcoin has been around since 2009 and 17 million of these coins have been mined by using computers to solve algorithmic hashes. Miners, or the people who use these computers to solve these advanced math-based equations, are compensated for protecting the network by validating transactions and preventing security breaches within the network. It is estimated that the Bitcoin network consumes 1% of the entire energy consumption of the world’s population.
Continued adoption among merchants, financial institutions and the general public has allowed Bitcoin to maintain a significant amount of value and it is estimated that this value will steadily rise.
The technology is improving rapidly. Not only are developers working on technological improvements that make the digital currency simpler and easier to use, but the entire ecosystem as a whole is creating applications and a better way to make bitcoin more adoptable and easier to understand.
The fact that the digital currency is more secure than any other currency in the world offers investors the opportunity to secure a position in an asset that is poised to increase in value several times over, something you don’t see every day.
What influences the price of Bitcoin?
Factors that change the price of bitcoin
Technological innovations
Everything that is innovation in technology that emerges in the world of Bitcoin positively affects its price. After all, this resource is one of the pillars of the cryptocurrency world. So the more this world gets stronger and proves that it is ready for challenges, the higher its price will be.
Influence of the media
The media is also capable of influencing the price of Bitcoin. After all, it is what communicates everything that happens in the world. The media can help boost bitcoin's popularity, as well as attract more investors to bitcoin platforms and resources.
Government regulations
The idea of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies itself is to create a certain independence from governments. However, the regulations that a government may apply to Bitcoin can have an impact on the value of the currency. If the measures are favorable, its price will rise, otherwise it may fall.
Law of Supply and Demand
Like stocks, the price of Bitcoin is influenced by the law of supply and demand. as more people become interested in this investment, its value increases. On the supply side, the issuance of Bitcoins is restricted and limited to a total circulation of up to 21 million units of virtual currency. Thus, unlike national currencies, which can be issued by the government permanently, causing their devaluation, in the case of Bitcoin everyone already knows what will be its maximum number in the market. Still, the law of supply and demand holds. When there are many takers for an asset with a limited supply, its value goes up. When there is more supply to sell than buyers, its price falls.
It is worth mentioning that the absence of intermediaries in transactions has made cryptocurrencies an excellent way to lower the costs of buying and selling transactions, with fewer fees and commissions, which is mainly responsible for the increase in transactions made in conventional currencies.
