Bitcoin for beginners:
Introduction:
Cryptocurrencies don’t stop growing and are attracting everyone's attention by registering valuations that generate a lot of profit for their investors.
If you are a beginner in this world and want to know it better, in this guide Canaltech provides basic information about what Bitcoin is, how encrypted transactions work and how to start investing in the most famous digital currency in the world.
What is Bitcoin?
It’s a technology that seeks to develop an entirely digital currency.
As a platform, it is basically a network of computers connected through the internet that allows for secure information transactions between any points without intermediaries, such as companies or banks, being necessary.
This is also the concept of peer-to-peer connection, or P2P, which links one point to another without going through a central server.
What is Blockchain?
It’s a kind of accounting book that records all transactions that take place on the bitcoin network.
It records all bitcoin movements that have been generated since the appearance of the currency, always recording where the values came from and where they went.
It is a public record and is constantly evolving, in chronological order, with all transactions that are confirmed being added to it.
Anyone can have access, just enter the site.
Despite recording the details of all transactions made in the world, the blockchain only records the public key of the issuing and receiving wallets, not having any data that identifies the people or companies involved in the transaction.
Bitcoin Features as a Platform
1. Distributed system: There is no centralization of currency control, but a community formed by the users of the cryptocurrency that regulates it, providing the support and development necessary for its full functioning.
Throughout history, we have always resorted to centralized controls over our possessions, such as banks and governments.
The idea of breaking away from centralized control comes from the need to avoid some of the disadvantages that this model creates, such as the insecurity that banks may present, the fees charged for storing or transmitting amounts, or the exclusion of some individuals who wish to invest and not they receive access to credit for not meeting the requirements of the banks.
2. Speed: When you receive a payment in your checking account at a bank for money that originates in another checking account of another bank, the amounts take up to 72 hours to be available in your account.
With bitcoin transactions, the transfer of values is as immediate as the internet allows it to be.
3. Availability: You can make transactions 24 hours a day, seven days a week, anywhere in the world, as long as you are connected to the internet, without the need to go to a branch.
4. Irreversible Transactions: It is not possible to reverse the amounts once they are transmitted.
5. Ease of international transactions: For people who transfer money out of the country frequently, such as those who have families in other nations, the use of bitcoin allows you to avoid the abusive fees that international money transfer services charge, like Western Union.
Bitcoin characteristics as currency:
1. Possibility of anonymity: In cash transactions, there is no record of payments and no need for identification.
With credit card payments, there are records and there is a need to identify which parties are involved in the exchange of values.
With bitcoins, the blockchain records all exchanges, but, due to encryption, you can choose whether there will be the identification of the parties involved, and you can use masks to protect your identity if you wish.
2. Scheduled shortage: There is a pre-set maximum limit of bitcoin units that can coexist at the same time: 21 million units.
3. Castability and Divisibility: Bitcoin units can be divided into smaller fractions, up to 0.00000001 bitcoin.
4. Impossibility of withholding by governments: In countries with an unstable economy, withholding of particular amounts by governments may occur.
5. Free market: As there is no agency responsible for controlling the cryptocurrency, its exchange value, ie, how much bitcoin is worth compared to other currencies for payment of products and services, is dictated by investor demand.
Thus, the value of each unit, that is how much bitcoin is worth compared to other currencies for payments for products and services is dictated by investor demand.
In this way, the value of each bitcoin unit is determined by the law of demand and supply.
2. Difficulty of counterfeiting: Unlike organic coins, that is, the physical money we are used to handling, digital coins are practically impossible to counterfeit, since they have the most advanced encryption technologies used , including by military intelligence, attested by several open security tests.
3. The Double Spending Problem: So that you can't duplicate the data and create more bitcoins out of thin air, the network is configured to actually interpret ownership of the values, not the data itself.
Once the values are transmitted to another person, it is impossible for the issuer to access that data again, as he no longer owns it.
How to start using bitcoins?
The first step is to create a bitcoin wallet: When creating a wallet, you will receive two keys. The first one is a public key that will serve as the address of your wallet and should be passed on to anyone who wants to make a payment in bitcoins.
The second key is a private key that must be kept secret, as it is the access to spend the bitcoins that are associated with that wallet.
It is also important to point out that in the use of virtual wallets. If you forget the password entered when opening the wallet, your bitcoins will be lost forever.
After that, your wallet is already available for use, either for receiving or sending amounts.
You will receive a message in the registered email containing the ID of your digital wallet, which will serve as your identification to receive amounts in bitcoins.
Don't forget to configure the 2-step verification, which is available in the "Settings" menu, under the "Security" tab.
With it, your transactions will only be carried out after entering your password and the permission made through a token sent by the app to your smartphone.
How to get bitcoins?
1. Buying live from users who already have bitcoins: It's called a face-to-face transaction because you'll need to meet a person who has bitcoins and, armed with your gadgets, make the exchange.
The person sends the amount of bitcoins traded to his digital wallet and you hand him the money referring to the trade.
There are several virtual platforms dedicated to indicating bitcoin holders that are interested in buying and selling cryptocurrencies in this way.
2. Receiving bitcoins as payment for services rendered: As the latest rises in cryptocurrency have catapulted its value into the sky, it may be easier to seek out freelance or similar projects in exchange for the money.
3. Buy bitcoins directly from exchanges: Exchanges are exchange houses specializing in cryptocurrencies.
4. Receive your salary in bitcoins: Some companies already offer payment of their employees' salary, wholly or in part, in bitcoins. Wagepoint and Bitpay companies offer services to help entrepreneurs interested in paying their service providers with cryptocurrency.
How is it possible to spend bitcoins?
Currency has been increasingly accepted for payment for goods and services.
The CoinMap site is an ally when it comes to pointing out which establishments accept payments in bitcoins.
What is a bitcoin transaction like?
With a digital wallet created, just find the public key and give it to the person who will send the values in bitcoins.
The sender will enter the recipient's public key and tell the application what bitcoin value to transfer.
The issuer only has to confirm the shipment and that's it, the transaction is done. The amount is available to the recipient almost instantly and the transaction will be recorded on the blockchain.
Bitcoin Mining
For the cryptocurrency system to work, it is necessary to maintain a network of computers interconnected by the Internet to process and validate transactions in the decentralized bitcoin network.
The name given to this action of providing its machinery to add processing power to the bitcoin network is mining.
You've probably heard that mining bitcoins and other digital currencies requires powerful machinery and generates heat while using a lot of energy.
And it is precisely for these reasons that it is not advisable for anyone to mine cryptocurrencies alone.
There are large digital coin farms, and the system was developed with collective mining in mind.
But, after all, what is the advantage of mining bitcoins?
Earlier we said that the maximum limit of bitcoin units is 21 million, right?
This limit is still far from being reached. Currently, there are just under 17 million bitcoin units in the world. Every 10 minutes, a packet of 12.5 units of new bitcoins is released.
This package is given to the team of miners that can quickly process encryptions of digital currency transactions, adding processing power to the bitcoin network.
To better understand the dynamics of new bitcoin unit packages and how they are given to miners, we suggest reading this article.
You can also follow the Blockchain graph to see how many bitcoin units there are currently in the world.
My links:
Follow me on Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/mmMf5AG…
Follow me on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@Gameplays4You:8
Follow me on Rumble: https://rumble.com/register/J2podcast/
Use my Referral link on Rollercoin: https://rollercoin.com/?r=kusmgh54
Happy day/night to you dear reader!