Unless you have been living under a rock I can guarantee that you have heard the word ‘Bitcoin’!!
So, What is Bitcoin?
“Bitcoin is considered to be the beginning of something great: a currency without a government, something necessary and imperative.”
Bitcoin is a crypto money/ currency and worldwide payment system. It is the first decentralized digital currency as the system works without a central bank. The difference between real money and the bitcoin is that Bitcoin is just a bit of data whereas the money we use is a piece of paper. They are stored in digital wallets.
How to get bitcoin and how the bitcoin network works?
For getting bitcoin you must mine, it’s like searching for gold, but, in digital way because it’s not a physical money, it’s a digital currency. Mining is important and integral part of bitcoin that ensures fairness while keeping the bitcoin network safe, stable and secure. Actually, in case of bitcoin: mining means solving the mathematical problems.
Someone is mining bitcoin, means that he/she is solving mathematical problems using a machine. When the mathematical problem is solved the miner is rewarded by bitcoin. When you send and receive bitcoin, your transactions are recorded in a ‘Block Chain’.
Block Chain is network where you are known by a cryptographic hash (Alphanumeric string), which means that you do not have to show your identity in order to do something with bitcoin.
As the process looks simple, it’s way harder to get it because it’s getting rarer. The more the bitcoin is found, number of bitcoin users are increased and the problems to be solved will get harder and harder. It requires very powerful computer to mine a single bitcoin. Though it needs powerful system, bitcoin was mined first time by using 55 years old IBM pc.
Then people started using the latest CPU’s. Later they started using GPU’s which were made for gaming.
Now In 2018, People use special computer which uses ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) chips in order to mine bitcoin for getting more profit. Since mining uses more power, it will reduce the life of the chips if you are using low end chips. The more powerful the cards, more will be the profit.
You might think of mining bitcoins in your laptop, please forget it. I tried it once the results were not at all worth it and all you will do is wear out your CPU/ GPU.
Nowadays, people also practice pool mining. In pool mining, a group of people work together for solving the mathematical problem and when it is solved the members are rewarded with proportionate amount of bitcoin according to their work.
Where can you use bitcoin?
Since bitcoin is a cypto currency, you can exchange it for real money. It’s way more expensive than real money. According to 2017 data one bitcoin equals to 9385.92 US$ and rapidly increasing. It’s price keeps on changing.
Bitcoin doesn’t reveal the identity of the user, so many people use this currency for buying and selling illegal things like drugs, military grade items and confidential information. This is also one of the main reason that Bitcoin is banned is many contries like Nepal, SriLanka etc.
Future of bitcoin: It is stated that there are around 21 million bitcoins in the world, out of which 12 million have already been mined. I think it’s value will increase more and more due to it’s privacy and craze of people on bitcoins. Everybody wants to have their hands-on bitcoin.
You might also be the one to get it. If so, you might also be one of the lucky one.
As, writing of the post the value of bitcoin is 8400$ + which fell down from 19000$.
PS : Unlike other posts, I didn’t write this one. The complete credit goes to a Computer Engineer and a very enthusiastic programmer - “Subodh Ghimire”.
Be sure to follow him on instagram : subodhghimire99