What is bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a digital currency. It is open-source and decentralized which means it isn’t owned by any government, or controlled by any bank.
Nothing can be hidden/manipulated due to how transactions are verified on a sort of global spreadsheet called the “Blockchain” (trying to keep things super simple but if you want to read the ins-and outs you can find the full “bitcoin white paper” which goes into depth in how transactions are confirmed and “minded”) in which 1000s of computers verify each purchase transaction and bitcoin send on the network.
This means that essentially this spreadsheet is duplicated and synced live all around the world by 1000s of people – similar to a peer-to-peer system which has no focused centralization to control (or manipulate) it.
You can send bitcoin from your computer, tablet, smart phone or other device, to anyone, anywhere in the world, day or night.
The transaction fees are either 0% or a tiny fraction compared to the cost of a credit card payment or a bank transfer (especially internationally). And the time taken is dramatically reduced – on average, a transaction completes in 20-30 minutes (once it has been verified)
