At its core, Bitcoin is just another digital currency like many others that have emerged since the internet became mainstream back in the 1990s. What makes Bitcoin different, unlike all other currencies which are based on physical materials such as gold or silver, Bitcoin itself is ‘mined’ by computers solving certain problems.
The currency itself cannot be touched, tasted, or held but it does exist as a series of computer codes.
Bitcoin is not issued or controlled by any single government or organization but instead relies on peer-to-peer networking along with complex mathematical algorithms for its existence.
Bitcoins are ‘mined’ using computational power in a distributed network and this process results in new coins being added to the Bitcoin system which can then be spent online for various goods and services just like normal money would be used today.
The value of bitcoins has steadily risen since their introduction back in 2009 when they were valued at just fractions of cents each, however, over the past year, the values have seen huge rises especially during December 2013 where for a brief time they reached an all-time high of $1,200 per coin before settling back down to just above $500.
For most people though, the details of how Bitcoin works and the risks involved with trading them on exchanges just isn’t worth bothering within our opinion. It can be complicated enough just buying them online without having to worry about any of these secondary issues.
How do I purchase Bitcoins?
You can easily purchase your first bitcoin from a registered exchange such as those available online today with real cash and then transfer them into your personal wallet.
The best method would be to purchase a small amount first as an experiment to see how it all works before investing larger sums of money. Different exchanges will allow you to pay for your bitcoins using different types of currency such as US Dollars, Euros, or Pounds Sterling so find one that offers the type of currency you need.
You may also want to investigate what other digital currencies the exchange also trades in as some offer dozens of different currencies and others just a handful. If you can use more than one currency then that could save you time transferring between them if you ever had to head back out into the market again at some point.
This post was originally published on 15, December 2021, but according to new information stuff, this post is updated frequently.
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