Bitcoin is the world’s first successful decentralized cryptocurrency. It is designed to act as a form of money and payment system.
How Does BTC Work?
BTC is built on blockchain technology, which is a distributed public ledger (a digital record of transactions) enforced by a distributed network of computers. All transactions occur independently on the blockchain network. The tasks to manage and maintain BTC occur across the distributed network of computers. Because of this, there is no need for the authority of a central bank.
What is Bitcoin (BTC) used for?
1. No intermediaries: Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, allowing for peer-to-peer transactions without the need for intermediaries. This enables users to store, transfer and receive value in a decentralized and secure manner without the risk of funds being frozen and seized by third parties.
2. Store of Value: Bitcoin has been used as a store of value, with some people treating it as a form of digital gold. Bitcoin’s scarcity and decentralized nature make it attractive as a hedge against traditional fiat currencies and inflation.
3. Payment Method: Bitcoin can be used as a payment method for goods and services, with merchants accepting it as a form of payment. This enables merchants to receive payments from anywhere in the world, with fast and low-cost transactions.
5. Remittances: Bitcoin can be used to transfer funds to friends and family living in different countries, offering a cost-effective and efficient alternative to traditional methods of remittances. Furthermore, the use of BTC eliminates the need for multiple currency conversions, reducing the risk of exchange rate fluctuations and ensuring that the recipient receives the full amount intended.
5. Investment: Bitcoin can be bought and held as an investment. The only problem is that it is quite a risky investment, with many people considering it a speculative investment due to its price volatility.
History of Bitcoin (BTC)
BTC was founded by an unknown person or group under the name Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. Bitcoin (BTC) was founded by an unknown person or group under the name Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008
Pros and Cons of Bitcoin (BTC)
Pros
Decentralized: In the traditional banking system, a bank can decide to freeze your account and seize your assets at any moment. Your identity is also tied to any transaction you make with your bank card. As long as you hold your crypto on a decentralized exchange (DEX) or hardware wallet, it cannot be seized because it is in your custody.
No middleman: Bitcoin eliminates the need for middlemen by using decentralized, peer-to-peer networks to facilitate transactions. These networks use distributed nodes to verify transactions, without the need for a central authority or intermediary.
Faster, cheaper transactions: Thanks to their blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin enable users to make local and global money transfers much quicker than using a bank. Transferring Bitcoin is also a lot cheaper than bank transfers.
Opportunities for big gains from investments: The crypto market cap (total value) has skyrocketed over the past decade, with its quickest growth in 2021 when it reached $3 trillion. It is predicted that Bitcoin will be worth over $100,000 by 2030.
Cons
Not completely anonymous: A big claim of cryptocurrency is that it is anonymous, so transactions cannot be traced back to your identity. Unfortunately, this is not accurate. Crypto is actually pseudonymous. Your crypto transactions are documented on a public ledger, so it is possible for anyone to trace the trail of the transactions back to you.
Prone to hackers: Because of the earning potential that comes from holding coins like Bitcoin, crypto wallets and exchanges are often targeted by cybercriminals who want a piece of the pie.
Volatility: It’s very common to suffer financial losses with cryptocurrency because they do not have a stable price. For example, you could buy a crypto coin at $61978 one day only for the price to drop to $40123 the next day.
Lack of user protection: Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, so there is no way to reverse or cancel a transaction once it has been completed.
Where To Buy Bitcoin (BTC)
You can trade Bitcoin on major crypto exchange platforms. You are able to buy, sell or use the token for trading on both centralized and decentralized exchanges.
Centralized exchanges:
1. Binance
2. Coinbase
3. Huobi Global
Decentralized exchanges:
1. Uniswap
2. Crypto.com
3. Pancakeswap
Before buying cryptocurrency, it is important for users to know the risks involved. Because centralized exchanges hold your private keys, you are at risk of losing access to your assets if there is a hack. Holding your cryptocurrency in your own hardware crypto wallet is recommended, but you put yourself at risk of losing your assets forever if you lose your private key or are targeted by hackers unknowingly. In any case, it’s important to do your research before investing in any crypto project; this article is for guidance only and should not be seen as investment advice.
BTC ratings
BTC Supply
Current supply: 19,277,818 BTC
Max supply: 21,000,000 BTC
BTC Liquidity
Rating: High
Bitcoin is the most liquid cryptocurrency as there are many established, trusted exchanges where it can be traded. It has many trading pairs and is on most exchanges.
BTC Developer Engagement
Rating: Low
Bitcoin has fairly active developer engagement. Its developer community is open to anyone to contribute via the Bitcoin GitHub repository. The Bitcoin website also lists active developer communities and core contributors.
BTC Network Speed
Rating: Slow
Transaction Time: 1 to 1.5 hours
BTC Disbursement
Rating: High
Bitcoin is fairly distributed across wallets. As of November 2022, there were 85 million unique bitcoin addresses.
