Bitcoin is digital currency. You can use bitcoin to transfer/ receive funds anywhere across the world in a few minutes. You can also use Bitcoin as speculative investment just like other speculative investments like shares and gold. It is a P2P (peer to peer) currency, which means that it is de-centralised and no single authority can control it, which makes it a currency that would not be prone to hyperinflation.
Some of the main features of bitcoin are:
1. Instant transfer of funds
2. Peer to peer, which means that there would be no processing fees
3. Payments can be made worldwide
4. Can be used to purchase physical commodities as well
Bitcoin is a digital/ crypto currency which is decentralised and is based on open source and is generated through a process called mining. It is a peer to peer electronic cash system. It was developed by an anonymous developer who has named himself ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’.
Bitcoin processing is secured by servers called Bitcoin miners, where servers communicate over a network on an internet based application and confirm transactions and add them to a ledger. The mining process involves running software that performs complex mathematical equations for which you're rewarded a very small portion of a Bitcoin. Statistics state that by 2140, the numbers of bitcoins in circulation would be zero as bitcoin would have reached the maximum threshold of 21 million by then. Each bitcoin is subdivided to 8 decimal places and the smaller units are called satoshis.
Bitcoin can be stored on your computer or phone wallets or on an online wallet. To have a wallet on your system, all you need is some disk space. In cases of online wallets, they would take care of disk space and keep your bitcoins safe.
Wallets can be defined as a free bank where you have your money deposited and kept safe.
In cases of online wallets you may be charged a small fee as they would be responsible for keeping your bitcoins safe.
To create a wallet on your system, please refer to the below link:
http://bitcoin.org
To create online wallets, please refer the below link:
http://blockchain.info