We’ve talked about Bitcoin before, but the cryptocurrency has come a long way since we first described it. If you’re curious about it, or you’re not sure what the fuss is all about, this video is a great introduction.
Put simply, Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin and Dogecoin) is a decentralised digital currency, where a network of users keep a collective transaction ledger publicly so everyone is on the same page about who owns which bitcoins and where they’re moving. Bitcoin “miners” verify the encryption keys that go along with those transactions and receive new bitcoins in the process for all of the work, energy and time required to validate those keys.
There’s more to the world of Bitcoin, of course, and other cryptocurrencies are at the stage now where they’re easier to mine and participate in, if you’re interested, but they do have a long way to go before they’re accepted and broadly used by the public. Even if some internet retailers and websites are happy to accept it, a number of governments and major banks are waffling over whether they even consider cryptocurrencies real money. For more on the topic, make sure to read our primer on Bitcoin, and check out the Mashable link below.
Everything You Need to Know About Bitcoin in 2 Minutes [Mashable]
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