BITCOIN FOR DUMMIES CHEAT SHEET
From Bitcoin For Dummies
Bitcoin has gotten a lot of press, and not all of it good. So is it Internet money, an alternative currency, a parallel financial system, a new way of life? The answer is yes, it’s all of those things and more. Start by finding out the basics of what it is, where it came from, what it does. You can buy bitcoins just like you can buy ice cream and concert tickets. But you can’t really keep them under your mattress or in your piggy bank — or your regular bank account, for that matter. In fact, you had better pay some extra attention to securing your bitcoins once you get some. Bitcoins don’t come from any gothic-columned mint, but from a complicated digital calculating process known colorfully as mining.
BITCOIN BASICS
Bitcoin is an alternative type of payment system that is sometimes mentioned in the media. Is it “Internet” or “digital” money? Is it a way to conduct business outside the mainstream financial infrastructure? Is it a new way of life that could transform multiple aspects of society in the future? The answer is yes.
Origins: Bitcoin was created by developer Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008.
Purpose: Bitcoin provides a viable decentralized alternative to the current mainstream financial infrastructure.
Method: Bitcoin enables spending with full transparency through a publicly available ledger known as the blockchain.
Security: A bitcoin transaction involves both a public key, which is generally known to everyone, and a private key known only to the bitcoin user. No coins can be spent without knowing the private key.
