What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin (BTC) is a digital currency designed to perform decentralized transactions outside the control of any person, organization, or government, thus eliminating the need for third-party involvement in financial transactions.

Satoshi Nakamoto is believed to be the creator of Bitcoin. However, little is known about his identity. At the moment, a group of developers is working on the cryptocurrency. The control of the Bitcoin network is delegated to its users who vote when it comes to making important decisions.

How does Bitcoin work?

Unlike fiat currencies or gold, Bitcoin does not have a physical form. Instead, a distributed ledger system known as a blockchain shows how many coins are held on accounts and where they are transferred.

In contrast to the banking system, the data in the ledger is decentralized and shared among all the participants of the network who store Bitcoin. This principle ensures the security of the blockchain: to change information in one of the blocks, you need to change it for all Bitcoin users which is physically impossible.

Unlike national currencies, Bitcoin is not issued by any state. New coins are generated through a process of servicing the needs of the network.

The information about any Bitcoin transaction needs to be recorded on all computers linked to the blockchain. This requires a complex computational process. Members of the network get newly emerging tokens as a reward for using computing power.

The process of computation and creation of new coins is called mining while the mechanism of gaining a reward for the work done is known as the proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm.

How to trade Bitcoin?

Bitcoin trading does not differ much from currency trading. You can gain access to BTC through specialized crypto exchanges as well as through forex brokers. When choosing to trade with a broker, you get several undeniable benefits:

• Safety. Take advantage of working with time-tested and proven brokers.
• No need to open a crypto wallet. Being your intermediary in trading cryptocurrencies, the broker takes care of all technical aspects.
• A single trading platform allows you to trade both forex and crypto, all in one place.
• Leverage is a good way to start off with a small initial deposit.

Find out more about the current Bitcoin price in the Analysis section of this page.