BitCoin

BitCoin, BTC for short, is the world’s first cryptocurrency created with open-source P2P software. BTC was officially launched on January 3, 2009 after the concept was initially put forward by Satoshi Nakamoto on November 1, 2008.

It has been a decade since the first block of BitCoin was created. Over the years, BTC’s price has skyrocketed to USD 9,496 dollars from USD 0.0025 dollars, a 3.79 million-fold increase. On December 17, 2017, BitCoin’s market value reached a record high of USD 326.5 billion, at a price of USD 19,565.5 dollars each. The increase was up by a factor of 7.83 million times.

Different from most currencies, BitCoin does not rely on a specific central issuer, but uses a distributed database which spreads across the entire P2P network node to identify and record all the trading behaviors. It employs cryptographic design to ensure the safety of circulation in each link. The decentralization of P2P and the algorithm can ensure that the currency cannot be manipulated by massively producing Bitcoin. Cryptographic-based design guarantees that Bitcoin can only be transferred or paid by actual owners and the currency ownership and circulation transactions are totally anonymous.

The biggest difference between Bitcoin and other virtual currencies is that its total amount is limited and extremely scarce, so there is no need to worry about inflation. The total number of BTC will be permanently limited to 21 million. From the date of release, blocks produced a 50-BitCoin reward for each block every 10 minutes. But the reward per block halves every 4 years, meaning the reward would be 25 BitCoins 4 years later, and 12.5 BitCoins 8 years later and so on. The new coins belong to those who create them.

At present, people can buy BTC with real money, or they can be the miners. A miner attempts to come up with a 64-digit hexadecimal number (called a “hash”) through solving a complex computational math problem while competing against other miners. If a hash is created, a miner will be rewarded 12.5 BitCoins.

BTC is a virtual currency with a cap in total quantity. But it can be exchanged into most of the real currencies in the world. You can also shop for virtual goods with BitCoins, such as gaming clothing, accessories, and gadgets. Also, if it is acceptable to the seller, you can practically use BitCoin for all shopping, including physical goods. Bitcoin exchange platforms have undertaken most of the exchange function, “BitCoin for cash” or “cash for BitCoin”. The world’s largest BTC trading platforms are Binance, OKEx, and Huobi.