The number of currencies in the world is simply amazing, an ordinary person has never even heard of many. However, news about cryptocurrencies from time to time is leaked to the media, why the interest involuntarily awakens and I want to know what bitcoin is and why such passions flare up around them. Either trying to ban this currency, then, on the contrary, commercial banks express serious interest. Why did someone need to invent a new currency and how does it differ from the usual euro, dollars or rubles?
Cryptocurrencies conquer the Internet
The main feature of any real currency, as a monetary unit, is its centralization, attachment to a country, bank, organization. It is centralization that leads to the fact that the amount in any currency can be influenced from the outside. Tax and judicial authorities, banks, various state organizations - all of them, one way or another, can interfere in the process of money flow.
Anonymity in the world of money is very arbitrary, perhaps that is why the idea of cryptocurrencies that do not have an acute attachment to reality turned out to be so tenacious. At the moment, the exchange of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has enormous volumes, people invest quite real money in other banknotes that do not have material embodiment, notes or coins.
Familiarity with cryptocurrencies is easiest to start with the question of what bitcoin is, how to use it, and whether it is worth contacting money that cannot be felt and hidden under the pillow. True, a huge number of people who pay close attention to cryptocurrencies are already significant evidence of the seriousness of this phenomenon.
What is bitcoin: idea and embodiment
Bitcoins themselves appeared in 2008. The creator was a man under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, and there is still debate about the real identity of this person. Perhaps this is a group of people who have created one of the best cryptocurrencies of our time.
The development of bitcoin was probably based on the principles created back in 1983 as electronic cash protocols. David Chaum and Stefan Brands anticipated the emergence of cryptocurrencies, among which the best are bitcoins. Soon after the advent of the appearance of bitcoin, numerous forks appeared - the so-called branches, or altcoins (alternative coins). These are other cryptocurrencies that use similar protocols with their own characteristics. Some of them got quite impressive popularity, they have their fans and critics. However, it is precisely the Bitcoin wallet that can be considered the most fundamental among the programs developed for altcoins.
The attractiveness of bitcoin, as well as other cryptocurrencies, is due to their emphasized independence from any government and any country. In the eyes of idealists, this is a kind of "gold standard" of an independent currency, but in practice, ideals are more down to earth.
The planned limitedness of bitcoins is also interesting. In this type of money inflation is impossible due to the increase in the "paper mass" of money. According to the algorithm, the total number of bitcoins is 21,000,000 units and cannot be exceeded. Each year, the number of bitcoins issued is reduced. Thus, all of them will be mined by 2033 and redistributed between owners by the method of sale. Perhaps it is precisely the increased demand with limited supply that will contribute to a stable increase in the value of bitcoin.
Popularization and growth of bitcoin
Like any other strange novelty, a newborn cryptocurrency cost almost nothing.Nobody really knew what Bitcoin was, few could predict the benefits or calculate the benefits of such an acquisition. So it is not surprising that the world's first bitcoin was sold for only three cents. The growth in the cost of bitcoin was not so slow, in just a couple of years it increased by about 33 times - there are few currencies in the world that can boast such a rise in price. At the moment, the cost of one bitcoin ranges from 410-420 US dollars, and this is not the limit. There was already a period when they gave $ 900 for one bitcoin. Some analysts claim that soon the cost will increase to a thousand dollars.
After the media started talking about Bitcoin, even people extremely far from the Internet became interested in cryptocurrencies. Mostly people are interested in the investment attractiveness of this type. electronic money the opportunity to earn or even get rich. In this regard, more and more people are interested in the reliability of bitcoins and how to mine them.
Bitcoin Security
Given that the best minds worked on the protocols of this cryptocurrency, it would be strange to learn about vulnerabilities. In fact, the Bitcoin system has been repeatedly tried to crack. In a way, this is a kind of Everest for hackers - the stronger the protection of the system, the more you want to overcome it. However, no one has yet succeeded in fully hacking. The maximum that we managed to find is a small mistake, which allowed us to create a huge number of phantom bitcoins that were not provided with the work done in a short time. However, this vulnerability was quickly closed, erroneous blocks were destroyed and the number of bitcoins was brought to the planned volume without phantoms.
However, if the system itself is stable enough, security is seriously affected by the user. Even an encrypted bitcoin wallet can be opened with fraudulent methods. To do this, various viruses that steal passwords are used, and here the reverse side of absolute anonymity comes into force. A person who uses bitcoins for their own anonymity suddenly realizes that the scammers are also completely anonymous, and he will not be able to return their money under any circumstances. Transactions in bitcoin currency can only be traced, however, neither canceling nor calling the fraudster to account is possible. Why do not numerous users give up this type of electronic money? Probably, the positive qualities still outweigh the possible negative.
For security reasons, it is often recommended that you carefully encrypt all information regarding access to your bitcoin wallet. The so-called cold storage method gives good results, in which the wallet is always located on a computer that does not have an Internet connection. It is difficult to judge how effective this is, because for any transaction you have to connect to the network, and then attackers can try to intercept the password using a banal keylogger - a program that steals keys at the moment they are entered on the keyboard. Thus, the security of bitcoins is not much different from standard security measures on the Internet - a good antivirus will protect against viruses, including those aimed at your wallets.
Production methods
Where does this electronic currency come from? In fact, these are data blocks that are the fruit of the work of the so-called miners, that is, miners. At the dawn of its history, bitcoins could be obtained on a relatively ordinary computer by creating information blocks, but now specially assembled “farms” of highly productive ASIC processors are used for this. “Handicraft” mining methods no longer bring significant profit that would be worth the energy spent on the process.
Bitcoins can also be bought by paying for them the corresponding amount at the current rate.To do this, you can use numerous electronic currency exchanges or exchange offices on the Internet, and the acquired cryptocurrency will go to your bitcoin wallet. This is a special program that is installed on your computer; in addition, you can open your wallet online using a special service.
Finally, Internet money can be obtained for free by performing certain manipulations, or selling goods and services for cryptocurrency. And yet, how to earn bitcoins, which way is better? Let's consider in more detail.
How to make money on mining?
By and large, this is the most profitable bitcoin earnings of all these methods. However, there are some peculiarities with which it can be very difficult for a newcomer to deal with. First of all, as already mentioned, an ordinary computer can no longer perform all the necessary steps for mining - there is not enough power. Buying additional processors is a financial investment, in order to justify them, you need to clearly imagine the mechanism for creating new blocks, the result of which will be new arrivals to your bitcoin wallet.
At the moment, there is such a service as “cloud mining”. The service usually offers to buy capacities that will work for your benefit with the payment of dividends. Unfortunately, many scammers graze on this field, who gladly accept payments, but are in no hurry to transfer money to customers. About cloud mining, the old statement is true: do not invest more than you are ready to lose at any time. Even if the project seems reliable, it can disappear at any time.
Is it profitable to buy bitcoins?
If you take into account the history of the development of cryptocurrency, then you can trace the fluctuation of the course over the past time. People who at one time started a bitcoin wallet out of curiosity and bought a few coins at a cheap price have now earned substantial profits. Even currency traders try to make money on this, but that one has its own difficulties. According to statistics, fluctuations in the exchange rate of the bitcoin currency are almost unpredictable, they lend themselves poorly to analytics. In just one night, the cost of bitcoin can collapse in half or, on the contrary, increase in price by the same amount. One can only guess which side of the barricade you will be at the time of the price change. Basically, purchases and sales aimed at making a profit in the Bitcoin-dollar currency pair obey a simple business rule: buy, while cheap, sell more expensive.
Some analysts believe that in the near future, bitcoins will become so popular that the price will rise several times. If we consider their forecast to be probable, then it would be beneficial to invest good funds in bitcoin currency, so that after a rise in price, you will receive a profit significantly exceeding any other. However, no one is safe from a sudden drop in prices, as has happened more than once.
Satoshi Harvest
If you do not have money to buy a solid amount of bitcoins and there is no way to collect a powerful mining farm, this does not mean that you can not join the world of cryptocurrency owners. Any student can direct their attention to the easiest way to get bitcoins - collecting satoshi. This is a rather controversial method of enrichment, and there are good reasons for this.
To check how beneficial the collection of Satoshi is, it is enough to spend one hour and determine how much you have collected, and then predict the likelihood of enrichment. The prognosis in the vast majority of cases is disappointing. On the other hand, this method allows you to gain valuable experience in using cryptocurrency, gives you the skills to use a wallet. It is always better to train in free ways, and collecting Satoshi does not require any financial investments.
What are satoshi? Just as the ruble is divided into pennies, and the dollar into cents, bitcoin has its own small bargaining chip. These are Satoshi, the smallest bitcoin unit of 0.00000001 BTC.You can collect them around the clock, online a huge number of resources that provide such an opportunity to replenish your Bitcoin wallet. Bitcoin is called such resources by taps.
What are bitcoin faucets?
A standard crane offers to do simple manipulations and gives a reward - a certain amount of satoshi, an average of 50-300 coins. Some taps offer less, you should not spend time on them, others keep users, from time to time giving an increased bonus - 500-1000 satoshi. To withdraw earned money to your wallet, you usually need to accumulate a minimum amount, from 10,000 to 25,000. Some sites kindly post additional information and the Bitcoin exchange rate, motivating the user to log in and collect coins more often.
If the minimum amount is not required, then the satoshi go to an intermediate resource that collects the minimum and then sends it to the wallet. This is done so as not to increase the number of small transactions between wallets that load the system.
What do Bitcoin faucets themselves earn on? In the vast majority of cases, this is a collaboration with Google AdSense. Users see contextual ads and get their satoshi. In bitcoins, this is an extremely small part of the earnings, in order to collect at least one, it takes several months, and this with a successful set of circumstances and if collected almost around the clock. Each user independently determines the appropriateness of this type of earnings. It is unlikely to get rich, but it may be enough to pay for mobile communications.
However, almost anyone can open their own bitcoin faucet, then the chances of good earnings increase significantly. The only problem is the Google AdSense contextual advertising system rules. There are frequent cases when cranes are closed due to low profits from showing ads or because of a ban from Google received by the too persistent owner of the crane. Some analysts do not exclude the possibility of an imminent change in the Google AdSense rules related to the prohibition of placing ad units on bitcoin faucets.
How to cash bitcoin?
The most important question that worries users is how to cash out earned cryptocurrency. To convert bitcoin into rubles, you can use the services of numerous exchange offices on the Internet. It is possible to exchange with the withdrawal to a bank card and for almost any electronic money.
In search of a more favorable rate, it is better to turn to popular exchanges where users exchange applications for the sale or purchase of cryptocurrency. On exchanges, there is the opportunity to cash out your Bitcoin investments at a good price. But what should not be done is to try to sell bitcoins to unfamiliar people, even if they give an honest word that they will send you rubles immediately after receiving your transfer. This is a very old but still working fraudulent scheme. We should not forget that the Bitcoin transfer system is absolutely anonymous, and if you are deceived, then there is nothing you can do about it - neither withdraw the transfer, nor punish the deceivers. In this case, there is only one way to protect yourself from fraudsters: you should not trust random acquaintances, even if they make a favorable impression in communication.