You may be familiar with the Paypal-style online payment system. Now you need to know about Bitcoin, a digital medium of exchange that is currently hip on the internet and is expected to grow rapidly in the future. Since most of the tutorials about Bitcoin on the internet are only friendly for those who are nerds, here I will explain for those of you who feel a little layman:

How is bitcoin different from other online payment systems?

The circulation of bitcoin (BTC) is not regulated by a central server or a particular central bank. This means that this medium of exchange is free from the intervention of any government or politician in the world, and its future “destinies” are the bitcoin users themselves.

Bitcoin “money” will be created automatically by a special algorithm, and will be distributed every 10 minutes in a “package” system (usually worth 25 BTC). The money that a person has earned can only be used by that person himself, and that person can only use it once

How can you get bitcoins?

There are three ways. Most bitcoin users earn “money” by providing services online. The types of services themselves can vary: they can be “nerdy” – such as creating code or programs – to regular jobs such as content writing or translation. The types of services that are currently needed can be seen in various online forums, such as Reddit.

You can also buy it with ordinary rupiah. For sites that will serve your rupiah exchange with bitcoin, you can see the Bitcoin Indonesia site.

The last way is to “mine” bitcoins. In essence, “mining” is hunting for free bitcoin packages with special software. Although it sounds easy, the costs are high and there is no guarantee that you will actually get the "mining". In the past, you could still "mine" using a regular CPU. Now, more and more people are fighting to become miners and in order to "win" this contest, you must have an ASIC machine, which in Indonesia is sold for up to 25 million rupiah.

Miners usually work in groups called pools. This is because Bitcoins are distributed in large value packages and it is almost impossible to get them by mining alone.

What can you buy with bitcoin?

There are lots of things, from everything sold at the Bitcoin Store (digital cameras, watches, to guitars) to odd things sold on online black market sites like Silk Road. You can also use bitcoin in the real world. In some cities in Indonesia, for example, you can pay for hotels, buy clothes at FO, or eat at restaurants with bitcoin. For details, you can check on Coinmap.

I'm interested in trying bitcoin. Are there things I should pay attention to before actually trying it?

You should note that the value of bitcoin can still change drastically from day to day. Apart from being unregulated by the government, bitcoin users are still few compared to conventional means of exchange, so even a small amount of use will affect the overall value. Time is not as exciting as now, for example, 1 BTC is only valued at 13 US Dollars. Today, 1 BTC is equivalent to 420 Dollars. It certainly can still fall or skyrocket suddenly.

Also note that bitcoin may just be a temporary trend. Nobody knows, not even the people who initiated bitcoin themselves, what the future of this digital currency tool will be.