Bitcoin (BTC), a cryptocurrency, is a type of digital currency which was introduced in 2009 by pseudonymous developer "Satoshi Nakamoto". Since then 12 million bitcoins have come into existence with a current market cap of around 8 billion USD [1]. The algorithm is designed as to allow only 21 million BTC to come into existence ever. Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network [2]. Bitcoin is not the first attempt. But none have managed before to take off so dramatically and with such wide adoption to achieve escape velocity. The questions which are important now are how the bitcoin managed this success in such a short time? How it will try to transform in coming years? And finally, how it has affected various national economies worldwide? Needless to say, all other crypto currencies like Litecoin, PPCoin etc., are based on BTC with slight modifications and follow similar analysis. As the novelty of the BTCs is not underestimated, so should not be the capability of the core people who have put their faith in it. The 21st century has seen many examples of aggressive internet activism leading to a revolution in real life. The rapid growth of bitcoins should be attributed to this phenomenon also apart from the obvious utilities of BTCs which are in itself innovative and robust simultaneously. It is not unknown that there are anarcho-technologists all across the world – people who distrust government authority and believe in the power of distributed networks and open-source software. The timing of BTCs in 2009 just after 2008 financial crisis adds weight to that distrust and propagates the idea of BTC... ... middle of paper ... ... mind is that at present, it is a wild horse. The next wave of entrepreneurs, investors, and general public, who would like to ride on it, needs a bit more civilized one. Works Cited 1. http://bitcoinwatch.com/ 2. http://bitcoin.org/en/ 3. http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2013/11/12/winklevoss-twins-say-bitcoin-market-to-hit-400b-urge-regulators-not-to-push-innovation-to-china/ 4. http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/29/chamath-palihapitiya-owns-5-million-in-bitcoins-wants-to-own-10-15-million/ 5. http://www.technologyreview.com/view/520376/emtech-mit-2013-media-roundup/ 6. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/02/silk-road-fbi_n_4030750.html 7. http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf 8. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/08/hackers-steal-1m-from-bitcoin-tradefortress-site 9. Ibid. 7 10. http://www.coindesk.com/information/is-bitcoin-legal/
money.In the line “To be made of it !” Gioia uses a hyperbole by referring to rich people as being
To fully understand Bitcoin, you need to have a basic understanding about how traditional currency works. Currencies like the dollar bill and the Euro are backed by a central bank. This central bank is controlled by one or more countries. The dollar, for instance, is backed by the US government through the Federal Reserve System. The only reason people have faith in the US dollar is because it is backed by the US government. Consumers therefore, have faith not in the physical currency itself, but in the government behind it. The only value in currency is the faith we place in the country controlling it. The controlling government has complete control over the currency it backs. For example, every dollar bill is marked with a specific ID number. This allows the government the ability to track the bank note through the global market...
Picture an innocent looking online marketplace, similar to those in which you shop for discounted books on Amazon or cheap surfboards on eBay, except you have the option to purchase marijuana, acid, fake passports and licenses, hacking services and potentially the ability to “order a hit” on someone, this my friends, is the Silk Road and it does have a captain. He goes by the alias of “Dread Pirate Roberts,” he’s pocketed $80 million in commissions, and he is the operator of one of the most notorious online black markets which accumulated $1.2 billion in total sales with its nearly one million customers. Shortened to DPR, Ross William was the operator of the site Silk Road, until he was eventually arrested at the beginning of October this year, with the fully operational website and assets summing $4 million being seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Being named after the historical network of trades routes that allowed the integration of cultures spanning from Europe to Asia, Silk Road was home to trade of all sorts of contraband by allowing goods and services to be traded illegally, basically operating outside the formal economy. [1][2]
The topic that I’m going to write about in this paper will be on the electronic currency released in 2009 known as Bitcoins. Bitcoins is a type of currency that entails computer software to be used with one person exchanging with another person for a different kind of trading option such as the US dollar, products or services. There is a fourth reason why Bitcoins can be exchanged which is done when a person is mining, that occurs when a participant acts as a mediator for transactions whereas mediator approves and documents. Bitcoins is one of the largest and first electronic currencies ever created by any developer including the makers Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoins doesn’t meet the characteristic guidelines to be considered an actual type of currency, though the US Treasury recognizes it as a type of decentralized currency in that no person or organization including governments oversees the transaction of Bitcoins.
Imagine a world where there are no banks or even a need for wallets. This may sound like a nice freedom at first until illegal activities sky rocket; including the drug and sex trade. The economy will crash and millions of people will be left high and dry with a worthless currency. This type of chaos will not only devastate the United States but will also be seen world wide. With the way technology has been advancing this could be a very plausible future, thanks to Bitcoins. Bitcoins are a new form of digital currency in which the consumer uses and stores all of their money on a computer. This allows for quick trade, not only within your own country but others as well (Ethley par. 2-4). Although there may seem to be great benefits that Bitcoins offer, they are actually more damaging then beneficial. Bitcoin use will have a huge negative effect on the economy, they are filled with security issues, and support criminal activity due to their anonymous nature.
The coins made in gold, silver and bronze were traded during Roman Empire and the shortage of coins created a barrier for money circulation. However with the establishment of paper money, a sophisticated banking, global clearing system and electronic money, the global financial system evolved with a worldwide framework of legal agreements. In the Global Financial market, foreign currencies issued by the world, countries are traded by the buyers and sellers using currency exchange rates. Now a day, it is very common practices of companies in one country to raise capital in a foreign country by listing their stocks on major foreign exchanges given the growth of equity markets are becoming more globalized (SNHU, 2015).
Bitcoin is a form of digital currency that is similar to physical cash stored in a digital form. It is the first fully implemented cryptocurrency protocol utilizing an open source peer-to-peer payment system. As a transfer protocol, it fundamentally functions as a money transfer medium that sends bitcoins from user to user without the need of a third-party intermediary and the system is protected by peer-reviewed cryptographic algorithms. This cryptographic digital currency simultaneously provides users a method to exchange money for free or a nominal fee, which is mutually beneficial for retailers and consumers. The main concern is that it can be used for illegal activities such as the purchase of drugs, weapons and other illegal goods. Albeit true, the concern also exists with all other forms of regulated currency, such as cash and wire transfers. Anonymity is one of the greatest Bitcoin perks, however, nothing is as untraceable as cash. It is the solution to the leading economic and security issues that have left everyone vulnerable, particularly in the wake after the Target security breach in which hackers stole unencrypted credit card and debit card data for 40 million customers’ as well as their pins over the span of two weeks before it was detected. In addition, these hackers were also able to obtain the names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of 70 million customers (Andreesen 6). If Bitcoin were to be used as the standard form of payment, the transaction data does not identify the purchaser’s identity and all information is encrypted. It is the most secure payment method and is a more secure future. Bitcoin is a technologically innovative soluti...
...ny people trusted paper currency, so the Chinese had to get a new economy system. Silver was one of the best choice.
The block chain is really important to preventing double-spending. Let's say a bad guy pays you five bitcoins for your favorite pokemon game. Then, let's say Satoshi finds a block, which has a lot of stuff in it, including a record saying you got 5 bitcoins from the bad guy. Now, here is where the bad guy gets to work. He's going to start from the block just before Satoshi's new block and then look for the next one. He's going to include everyone else's trade (which we can call a transaction) except for the one saying he paid you, and instead put in one saying he paid someone else those bitcoins. (He would probably send them to an extra address he has). If he has a really fast computer, he might be lucky enough to do it and make his branch
Further, there exist other elements that characterized Bitcoin and crypto currency. These are; there is lack of regulatory management and oversight. This mean that the currency has got what is known as anonymity which results from shortage of oversight. In this case, it means that once the currency is in the market, government and legal roles fail thus putting the crypto currency out of the currency market. The crypto currency litter the black market due to lack of this regulatory.
Bitcoin is a digital currency, similar to cash due to the fact it is instant, however, is not managed or controlled by a central government or organization. Instead, the network is run on thousands of independent user’s computers. None of these computers have more control over the network than any other computer. The network that Bitcoin was founded upon is based on 40 years of research in cryptography and over 20 years of research in cryptocurrencies by thousands of researchers around the world. Bitcoin answered what was thought to be an unsolvable math problem known as the Byzantine Generals Problem.
From the picture, recent years the value of bitcoin has begun to skyrocket, from 2010 to 2017, it increased by more than 80,000 times. There is some analyzation about the reason of sharply rise.
But Bitcoin (capitalized as a concept, lowercased when referring to units of the currency, according to American Banker) is another animal entirely. It is the first and most famous of a large and growing family of so-called “cryptocurrencies.” Others include Litecoin, Feathercoin, Songcoin (“designed for The Music Industry”), Auroracoin (Iceland only) and Dogecoin (“the fun cryptocurrency”)—but Bitcoin is by far the largest. Its origin is traced to a 2008 paper written by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. Newsweek recently claimed to have located the real one, but he promptly denied it, so the whole thing remains quite mysterious.
The invention of money is perhaps one of the greatest achievements of human civilization. From the very beginning of society, people have used money to circumvent the difficulties of bartering and to foster trade and commerce. Since then, money has come a long way. No longer do we need to rely on silver coins, cocoa beans, or even anything of intrinsic value to conduct our business; today, we use paper currency, which is convenient and easy to carry around. But slowly, we are moving into the digital age of money, an age in which less of our money is actually tangible and more of it is just data on a computer server. To some, this prospect may seem daunting. However, given the major advantages of electronic money over outmoded paper counterpart, society as a whole should embrace the upcoming era of digital money.
I believe trade and transaction of crypto-currencies should be encouraged on a local, national and global level. Although they have suffered major setbacks in the global economy, I maintain that crypto-currencies have a positive future and that they will undoubtedly affect the worlds economy.