What Is Bitcoin, and How Does it Work?

 What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin (₿) is a cryptocurrency invented in 2008 by an unknown person.Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, without a central bank or single administrator that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries. Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain.

Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies. Research produced by the University of Cambridge estimated that in 2017, there were 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.

 

How you can buy Bitcoin?

If you're willing to assume the risk associated with owning bitcoin, there is an increasing number of digital currency exchanges like Coinmama, CEX, Kraken and Coinbase  the largest and most established of them where you can buy, sell and store bitcoins.

Getting started is about as complicated as setting up a Paypal account. With Coinbase, for example, you can use your bank (or Paypal account) to make a deposit into a virtual wallet, of which there are many to choose from. Once your account is funded, which usually takes a few days, you can then exchange traditional currency for bitcoin.