What is Bitcoin: Simple Definition of Bitcoin

Bitcoin

What is Bitcoin?

In a simple definition of Bitcoin, is a form of digital currency, created and held electrically. No one controls it, Bitcoins aren't printed, like dollars or euros they're produced by people, and increasingly businesses, running computers all around the world, using software that solves mathematical problems. It's the first example of a growing category of money known as Cryptocurrency.

WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT FROM NORMAL CURRENCIES?

Bitcoin can be used to buy things electronically. In that sense, it's like conventional dollars, euros, or yen, which are also traded digitally.
However, bitcoin's most important characteristic and the thing that make it different from conventional money is that it is decentralized. No single institution controls the Bitcoin network. This puts some people at ease because it means that a large bank can't control their money.

WHO CREATED BITCOIN?

In 2008, during the global economic crisis, also known as  The Sub-prime, a software developer called Satoshi Nakamoto proposed bitcoin, which was an electronic payment system based on mathematical proof. The idea was to produce a currency independent of any central authority, transferable electronically, more or less instantly, with a very low transaction fee.
On October 31, 2008, the Bitcoin idea was introduced with the release of a whitepaper titled Bitcoin, A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, written by Satoshi.
It's worth noting that Satoshi Nakamoto is believed to be a pseudonym and the true identity of the Bitcoin inventor remains unknown to this day. Although some people claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, none of them has provided sufficient evidence.
In its first two years of existence, Bitcoin had almost no monetary value. Nevertheless, it soon created strong and active communities of people who continuously improve the original code.
In 2010, Satoshi left the development of Bitcoin, and their last known communication was an email from April 2011.
In the following years, however, the community became bigger and stronger, as more and more improvements and use cases for Bitcoin started to take shape.

WHO PRINTS BITCOIN?

No one. This Currency isn't physically printed in the shadows by a central bank, unaccountable to the population, and making its own rules. Those banks can simply produce more money to cover the national debt, thus devaluing their currCurr. Instead, Bitcoin is created digitally, by a community of people that anyone can join.
Bitcoins are 'mined', using computing power in a distributed network. This network also processes transactions made with the virtual currency, effectively making bitcoin its own payment network.

SO YOU CAN'T CHURN OUT UNLIMITED BITCOINS?

That's right. The Bitcoin protocol- the rules that make Bitcoins can ever be created by miners.

However, these coins can be divisible amount is one hundred millionth of a Bitcoin and is called a 'satoshi', after the founder of bitcoin.

WHAT IS BITCOIN BASED ON?

Conventional currency has been based on gold or silver. Theoretically, you know that if you handed over a dollar at the bank, you could get some gold back (although this didn't actually work in practice). 
However, bitcoin isn't based on gold; it's based on mathematics. Around the world, people are using software programs that follow a mathematical formula to produce Bitcoins. 

The mathematical formula is freely available so that anyone can check it. The software is also open-source, meaning that anyone can look at it to make sure that it does what it is supposed to.

BEHIND THE SCENES: BITCOIN'S BLOCKCHAIN

The Bitcoin protocol is built on blockchain technology. The blockchain represents a digital ledger that includes all of the transactions in Bitcoin's history and is divided into blocks.
Bitcoin's blockchain derives its strength from the nodes which are scattered throughout the world. Anyone can create a node and help to preserve the blockchain.
Therefore it's said that Bitcoin is decentralized - no single entity, be it a bank, a company or a government, and co-opt the network. Hence, Bitcoin can't be shut down.

Blockchain

BITCOIN CREATION: WHAT IS BITCOIN MINING?

The process which makes the functioning of the Bitcoin network possible, while also creating new coins, is called mining. It's the beating heart of the Bitcoin network.
When Samson wants to send Bitcoin to Peter, he creates a transaction and signs it with his private key and then broadcasts it to the network. Here come the miners.
Basically, the miners are the ones who validate and verify transactions, put them into the next blocks, and broadcast. This is where the word comes from - It's essentially a chain of blocks "Blockchain".

WHEN WAS THE FIRST BITCOIN MINED?

On January 3rd, 2009, the first Bitcoin was mined to the world. Also known by "block number 0" or the Genesis block. The block carried a reward of 50 Bitcoins for the miners.

WHAT IS THE MINER'S REWARD?

There are two types of rewards that miners earn - the first is transaction fees for validating transactions, and the second is the block reward.
The miner who manages to solve the aforementioned cryptographic problem receives a block reward, which is the second type of miner's reward.
As of writing these lines, every block has a reward of 12.5 bitcoins. According to the Bitcoin protocol, every four years there is a halving event, at which time the reward is cut in half. After the halving of mid-2020, the reward will become 6.25 bitcoins per block until the next halving event.

SO WHY ISN'T EVERYONE MINING?

Well, mining involves solving difficult mathematical cryptographic problems, based on the hash algorithm (the solution is the proof-of-work that gets added to the new block).
In the early years of Bitcoin, a personal computer could produce enough power to mine Bitcoin. But in these days, as competition grew, only huge mining companies such as Bitcoin could take part in mining Bitcoin.
It's worth noting that Bitcoin's protocol only allows the creation of 21 million coins. Once this number is reached somewhere around the year 2140, no new bitcoins will be created, and miners will only be compensated with transaction fees.

Professional mining gear

HOW TO BUY BITCOIN?

The simple and easiest way to get Bitcoin is by buying online or at local Bitcoin ATMs that are located around the world. The most important thing is to buy only from a well-known provider.
Contact Enat DigitalBiz to buy Bitcoin

HOW AND WHERE TO STORE BITCOIN?

Just as regular coins are stored in your wallet, Bitcoins are also stored in a dedicated digital wallet. Each wallet has its public digital address, to which coins can be received.
The address is a string of numbers and English letters about 30 characters long. There is no cost to create a new wallet, or a limit on the number of wallets you can have. There are several types of digital wallets, which differ mainly in their security level.

IS IT SAFE TO SEND BITCOIN?

A Bitcoin transaction is a digitally signed order and hence, securely encrypted. The transaction is signed by the outgoing wallet and gets broadcast to the internet, and then gets listed on the block explorer.

WHERE CAN I TRACK MY BITCOIN TRANSACTION?

The block explorer is a public ledger that keeps a live log of all bitcoin transactions. The blockchain of Bitcoin is transparent, remember? The ledger is divided into blocks, each block contains many log commands, and once the block is closed, the actual transaction takes place.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO SEND BITCOIN?

Usually, it takes an average of about 10 minutes to close a block and confirm a Bitcoin transaction. This varies and is subject to network traffic.

WHAT IS THE COST TO SEND BITCOIN?

The only cost of a Bitcoin transaction from one place to another (doesn't matter the physical distance) is the transaction fee, which is added to each order and paid to the miner for his work to close the block.
Relative to the means of money transfers, the cost of transferring Bitcoin is significantly cheaper. The fee is not fixed, and most of the digital wallets automatically calculate the minimum necessary fee.
The higher the fee, the faster the transfer will be (i.e., Your transaction will be handled by the miner, who prefers to take the higher fee transaction cost (fee) is even less than $1 for most of the transaction.

WHAT IS THE MINIMUM BITCOIN ONE CAN BUY OR SEND?

Bitcoin has eight numbers after the decimal. The smallest amount is 0.00000001 Bitcoin, and this unit of measurement is called one Satoshi. It is better not to send such a small amount because the transaction fee will be higher than the amount sent.

BITCOIN USAGE: WHO ACCEPTS BITCOIN? WHAT CAN I BUY WITH BITCOIN?

Today more and more business industries are adopting Bitcoin as a valid payment method. Bitcoin's daily use as money is still not as common as the traditional currency (FIAT), but your Bitcoin account can be linked directly to VISA debit cards (side note: you should check regarding the taxation in such case).

THE POPULAR MOST EXPENSIVE PIZZA?

During the summer of 2010, when many had doubted the concept of Bitcoin, one of the early adopters named Laszlo Henitz tried very hard and succeeded in ordering pizza and paid for it with Bitcoin.
In those days, Bitcoin was worth nothing (cents), and to order two family pizzas worth $ 30, Laszlo paid 10,000 Bitcoins!  what was later considered as the first-ever purchase in Bitcoin also became the world's most expensive pizza. 10,000 Bitcoins worth today more than 500 million USD.
The following has to have been the most expensive pizza trays:

The most expensive pizza. Bought for 10,000 Bitcoin.

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