If you’re here, you’ve heard of Bitcoin. It has been one of the biggest frequent news headlines over the last 12 months – as a get rich quickly scheme, the end of finance, the birth of truly international currency, as the end of the world, or as a technology which has improved the world. But what’s Bitcoin?
In short, you can say Bitcoin may be the first decentralised system of money useful for online transactions, but it is going to be useful to dig a bit deeper.
We all know, generally, what ‘money’ is and what it really is used for. The most significant issue that witnessed in money use before Bitcoin pertains to it being centralised and controlled by a single entity – the centralised bank operating system. Bitcoin was invented in 2008/2009 by an unknown creator who goes by the pseudonym ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ to create decentralisation to money on a worldwide scale. mining is that the currency can be traded across international lines without difficulty or fees, the checks and balances will be distributed over the entire globe (instead of just on the ledgers of private corporations or governments), and money would are more democratic and equally accessible to all.
How did Bitcoin start?
The idea of Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency in general, was started in 2009 by Satoshi, an unknown researcher. The reason for its invention was to solve the issue of centralisation in the use of money which relied on banks and computers, an issue that lots of computer scientists weren’t pleased with. Achieving decentralisation has been attempted because the late 90s without success, so when Satoshi published a paper in 2008 providing a remedy, it was overwhelmingly welcomed. Today, Bitcoin has become a familiar currency for internet users and has given rise to thousands of ‘altcoins’ (non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies).
How is Bitcoin made?
Bitcoin is made through a process called mining. Exactly like paper money is manufactured through printing, and gold is mined from the ground, Bitcoin is created by ‘mining’. Mining involves solving of complex mathematical problems regarding blocks using computers and adding them to a public ledger. When it began, a simple CPU (like that in your home computer) was all one had a need to mine, however, the amount of difficulty has increased significantly and today you will need specialised hardware, including high end Graphics Processing Unit (GPUs), to extract Bitcoin.
How do I invest?
First, you will need to open an account with a trading platform and create a wallet; you can find some examples by searching Google for ‘Bitcoin trading platform’ – they often have names involving ‘coin’, or ‘market’. After joining one of these platforms, you go through the assets, and then select crypto to select your desired currencies. There are a lot of indicators on every platform which are quite important, and you should make sure to observe them before investing.
Simply buy and hold
While mining may be the surest and, in a way, simplest solution to earn Bitcoin, there is an excessive amount of hustle involved, and the expense of electricity and specialised computer hardware makes it inaccessible to most of us. To avoid all this, make it possible for yourself, directly input the amount you want from your own bank and click “buy’, then relax watching as your investment increases based on the price change. This is called exchanging and occurs on many exchanges platforms available today, having the ability to trade between a variety of fiat currencies (USD, AUD, GBP, etc) and different crypto coins (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc).
Trading Bitcoin
If you are familiar with stocks, bonds, or Forex exchanges, then you will understand crypto-trading easily. There are Bitcoin brokers like e-social trading, FXTM markets.com, and many others that you can choose from. The platforms offer you Bitcoin-fiat or fiat-Bitcoin currency pairs, example BTC-USD means trading Bitcoins for U.S. Dollars. Keep your eyes on the price changes to get the perfect pair in accordance with price changes; the platforms provide price among other indicators to provide you with proper trading tips.
Bitcoin as Shares
There are also organisations set up to allow you to buy shares in companies that spend money on Bitcoin – these businesses do the trunk and forth trading, and you just invest in them, and await your monthly benefits. These companies simply pool digital money from different investors and invest on their behalf.
Why should you invest in Bitcoin?
As you can see, investing in Bitcoin demands which you have some basic knowledge of the currency, as explained above. As with all investments, it involves risk! The question of if to get depends entirely on the individual. However, if I were to provide advice, I would advise in favor of investing in Bitcoin with a reason that, Bitcoin keeps growing – although there has been one significant boom and bust period, it really is highly likely that Cryptocurrencies as a whole will continue to increase in value over the next a decade. Bitcoin is the biggest, and most well known, of all current cryptocurrencies, so is an excellent place to begin, and the safest bet, currently. Although volatile for a while, I suspect you will find that Bitcoin trading is more profitable than most other ventures.