What is Bitcoin?

Many people still believe Bitcoin to be very complicated when in fact it's a lot more simple and intuitive after spending some time to read about the inner working of Bitcoin and all the great opportunities that it holds on a global scale.

Most people usually try to explain Bitcoin by comparing it to something specific people already know, but this often creates more confusion. Bitcoin might seem like a new technology that just entered the market but in fact, it has been around since 31 October 2008, and was created by Satoshi Nakamoto and published to a cryptography mailing list in a research paper called "Bitcoin". A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Nakamoto implemented Bitcoin as open source and released in January 2009.

Although it is still in its early stages of wide adoption, this new technology is unlike anything we have seen before, so to find a better way to think of it is a combination of a few different things that we are already used to:

Firstly, it allows us to move money easily, Bitcoin functions as a payment system, similar to how bank transfers or credit cards work, only better!

Secondly, Bitcoin is in some way similar to gold; hence many people referring to Bitcoin as "digital gold" or "Gold 2.0". Think of it as using gold for money, except it is easy to use and easy to carry around.

Thirdly, Bitcoin is very similar to the internet where no single person or entity controls it, so anyone can use it as they wish. This provides many new and unique characteristics that "Gold 1.0" does not have; where the gold is controlled by single entities.

As you can see, the above three characteristics also reinforce each other, so they are all interwoven.

I will try and explain more in the next coming posts where I will explain each point in detail.