Cryptocurrency is not going anywhere, and, in fact, the use of it is expanding daily. Bitcoin is one of the most popular types of this form of money, used everywhere from Australia to America.
You probably have heard by now how easy it is to use Bitcoin, and that it is much safer than putting your personal financial information on the internet for anyone to find. But there is so much more to this amazing currency of tomorrow, and the more you learn, the more you will want to use it.
For instance, did you know that the creator of this amazing cryptocurrency, Satoshi Nakamoto, actually does not exist? This is actually a fictitious name used by the inventor to keep his privacy. As of 2017, the Department of Homeland Security was rumored to have tracked him down through a technique called stylometry, and he is thought to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $7 billion, but again, these are unconfirmed rumors.
There is a lot more about bitcoin that may interest you where that came from!
8 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Bitcoin
Bitcoins are created in limited quantities.
Bitcoin mining is the process in which bitcoins are digitally generated, but this is set on a pre-defined schedule limiting how many can be created. The mining process gets more difficult the higher the number of bitcoins in existence.
There can only be 21 million BTC, and that number is quickly approaching, and no government or single entity has control of this currency, so it can’t be extended, but this limit is set to expire in 2140, so if you can wait that long, you may be able to get more after they are sold out.
Bitcoin addresses cannot be hacked.
They can’t. It’s that simple. A bitcoin address is an extensive string of 34 alphanumeric characters, which can’t be duplicated. This makes it impossible to determine who the recipient is, which, while making your transactions secure, also has aided those looking to make illegal transactions.
Once you make the transaction with bitcoin, it is not reversible.
Once you make the transaction, it follows a set of chains that cannot be traced back. While this is great for security purposes, it also means it can’t be traced back to return to you.
Your bitcoin money is actually stored in a wallet.
In this case, it’s called a bitcoin wallet. Similar to how you store your money in an online bank account, your bitcoins are stored in this highly secure storage wallet. Only you have the methods to access the wallet, making it impossible for anyone else to use your bitcoins unless you give them the access to it.
Some places allow you to buy bitcoin with your credit card.
Many bitcoin exchanges do not allow you to purchase this currency instantly via credit cards or PayPal. However, there are a few online businesses that allow secured lending instantly through both of these methods, allowing you access to your bitcoins in just a few minutes. You can check out the details of this process by visiting xCoins.io or the few other sites that have this feature.
Bitcoin transactions can be sent through texts.
Unlike bank transactions, which require secure networks that are owned by that particular institution, bitcoins are moved through simple instructions to the network.
Because of this simplicity, you can send your bitcoins through email and texts, and if you want to encode it, you can even turn it into a picture or a series of smiley faces. This ease of hiding your transaction makes bitcoin impossible to eliminate.
Bitcoin and blockchain are part and parcel, not opposites.
Blockchain and bitcoin are inseparable, but many people think that they are different rival technologies. All bitcoin transactions are stored in a ledger known as blockchain. Miners add new blocks every ten minutes or so and it is impossible to trace the blocks back to their origins.
Currently, Chinese mining pools are in control of the network’s collective hash rate, controlling more than 70%. This is the speed at which a computer completes an operation in the Bitcoin code.
You can actually even access the file of blockchain, which is over 120 GB, by downloading it or opening it on sites like blockchain.info.
However, alternate coins, or “altcoins,” do exist and they each have their own form of blockchains. In addition to the financial use of cryptocurrencies, research is currently being done to determine the ability to use them for things like health records and registries.
Bitcoin financial facts are incredible.
Undisputable facts, like 1% of the bitcoin community actually is responsible for controlling 99% of the world’s wealth, makes it undeniable that bitcoin is going to be a major player in tomorrow’s currency.
Bitcoin transaction fees have gone up 12.89% since March of 2015, and 69% of all of the world’s banks are experimenting with blockchain. The value of bitcoin has increased exponentially since its major inception in 2010, multiplying 879,999 times from 2010 to 2017.
If you are looking for proof that bitcoins are secure, consider the fact that currently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation owns 1.5% of the world’s bitcoins.
If You Want to Protect Your Finances, Turn to Bitcoin
Bitcoin is monitored by strict, untraceable security measures. Companies like Dell, Microsoft, and Expedia accept bitcoins, and as of 2014, there were over 82,000 businesses that allow transactions to be conducted in this method. You can even gamble online with bitcoins, and one person is known to have won over $4 million in this currency in 2013.
You can receive bitcoins through over 1300 ATMs worldwide and conduct your transactions through the internet in a method that you can trust to be safe.
Purchasing bitcoins used to be a daunting task, but more and more bitcoin resellers are popping up each year. Make sure you are using a reputable business, and begin your secure bitcoin transactions today so you are ready for tomorrow.