Bitcoin: Evolution, Features and Advantages

Bitcoins experienced tremendous growth in 2017. World leading retailers such as Dell, PayPal, Microsoft and Expedia accept bitcoins as a means of payment. Publications are always publishing bitcoin news and forums discussing this cryptocurrency and how its traded. This has resulted in a lot of media and investor attention. This article, therefore, tries to explain to the readers what bitcoins are, how to buy them, their features, how they work and their advantages.

Bitcoins emerged following the 2008 financial crash where banks were accused of mishandling clients’ funds, duping them and charging abnormally high fees. This prompted innovators to think of a way of solving the issue so that it would not happen again in the future. As a result, bitcoin pioneers thought of creating a currency that would put the transacting parties only in charge of their finances by eliminating middlemen, cancelling interest fees and ensuring that transactions are transparent. Bitcoin was therefore invented to facilitate the efficient transfer of money between two parties with no intermediary in-between at a cheaper cost and higher speed. Since their creation in 2009, bitcoins have grown tremendously. During the launch in 2009, bitcoins were worth a few cents, but as of January 2018, a single bitcoin was trading at about

This currency is decentralized as there exists no central controlling body. Unlike normal currencies, bitcoins don’t exist physically. They are used to transfer funds between two parties at a smaller fee. They are created through a procedure referred to as mining where people use computers to solve very complex mathematical problems. Bitcoins came into existence in early 2009 by a mysterious figure only known as Satoshi Nakamoto. Nobody knows who this person, group of persons or organization is. With no middle men and excess fees, bitcoins can be used globally to make