Bittcoin - What is
Like most Internet users, have made purchases and payments via the Internet. I'm not a voracious buyer, but the number of times resorted to this shift is significant. The medium I use to make the payment is PayPal. Or, when the seller is reliable, pay directly by credit card. As until today never had any problems, keep acting like this and don't give much attention to alternative payment methods.
For some time I have heard here in "Bitcoin". As "coin" in English means currency and the term "bit" is commonly used to indicate something relating to computers, I figured it was a new form of virtual payment in which didn't get in cash or something. And as the subject is not simply the interest stirred me dropped it.
The point is that, although the size of my ignorance is infinite (the more I learn the more I realize its enormity), I don't like not knowing whatever it is. So I took it to an article about the Bitcoin fell on my hands and decided to take a look. And you have no idea how I was surprised with what I found.
Well, considering that, as I assume, more and more will be discussed in Bitcoin, I decided to share with you this newly acquired knowledge. So, get to work. Starting at the beginning, as it should be.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is no longer one of the available forms of payment. Even a "method of payment". Bitcoin is a coin.
A virtual currency, of course, but a coin – and in this context the term "coin" is not used in the same meaning of "piece of metal circular format ... etc". But, is employed when it is said that the real, the American dollar, the yuan, the weight, are coins. Simply put: Bitcoin is what we usually call "money", "smackaroo", "caraminguá" or any other of the more than 100 names listed in the Houaiss.
So Bitcoin is money – at least for those who transacts with him-and is becoming increasingly popular. So you can, for example, convert to Bitcoins amounts expressed in us dollars since known your quote. To illustrate: yesterday, January 1, 2014, the quotation of the bitcoin (whose symbol is BTC) opened the BTC 1 = US $ 757.58 and ranged from a minimum of 1 BTC = $ 750.53 and a maximum of 1 BTC = $ 774.26
And who determines this variation?
No one. The fluctuation in the price of the Bitcoin obeys strictly the law of supply and demand. Certain institutions (the "Bitcoin Exchanges" that, somehow, work as virtual banks; we will discuss them later) calculate this quotation and disseminate over time. Want to know the exact value now, that is, by the time you're reading these lines badly drawn? Well, stop playback and visit the site of one of these institutions, for example the CoinDesk, and see for yourself (good technique and common sense don't recommend an author suggest the reader to stop reading your text, but in this case I'm sure you will come back).
But, after all, what is a coin? What is money?
Money is something that can be exchanged for goods, services, foreign currency (which in turn are also "money"), used as payment in various financial transactions and is widely accepted, at least by those who use it.
For example: in ancient Rome legionaries were paid with certain amounts of salt – hence the origin of the term "salary"-and this salt was exchanged for goods and services. IE: salt was money. To me it doesn't seem that the salt is the ideal currency. I, at least, hardly accepted currency anything that was soluble in water. But at a time when the Roman army conquered Europe the salt was rare, hard to get and extremely useful, hence its great value. In addition, other conditions that a good currency must meet: was easily recognizable, hard to fake, transferable between people, transportable, divisible and fungible. I'm going to save the query to the dictionary because I ended up being forced to do it and not worth duplicating efforts. The Houaiss: Fungible (adj) – to be replaced by something else of the same kind, quality, quantity and value.
And the bitcoin also meets them all.
But not only this. Accumulate coins is a means of storing wealth (see the famous vault of Uncle Scrooge), since it can be exchanged at any time for just about any thing or service (it is said that Mr. Olacyr de Moraes, a gentleman of a certain age, wide possessions and extreme good taste that is usually seen surrounded by stunning young with him demonstrate great intimacy, when asked by one of the journalists "provocative" if I thought those beautiful girls really liked him replied: "I don't know, I never asked"; and he added: "when I go to a nice restaurant and as a rump that I like, don't ask if the cow like me"; I can't guarantee this truth,Mr. Olacyr demonstrates an elegance that would prevent resorting to this image so raw, but being true illustrates well what I meant with "virtually any thing or service" from above).
To be used with the goal of accumulating wealth, the coin must meet other requirements: must have a stable supply, be durable, easy to be protected from foreign friends and maintain a stable value.
These conditions are fulfilled by the Bitcoin, except maybe last; but, after all, the prices of the other "official" coins can also oscillate (we will come back to this point) and not really entesourá them ceases to be a means of storing wealth.
Finally, there are still some features presented by calling "cash": belongs to who the door (it's in your Pocket? So is his), does not maintain any type of record about the identity of the owner, is easy to store anonymously, however difficult or impossible to restore in case of loss or theft. All of them also submitted by Bitcoin.
Therefore, so far all conditions presented as necessary for something to be used as currency have been answered not only by the Bitcoin as for all other official currencies of different countries.
Soon, responding to the question from above: the Bitcoin is a coin, since it meets all the conditions that must be fulfilled by other official coins.
Despite all this, the Bitcoin presents some additional features that provide some significant advantages over other currencies. All arising from the fact of being the Bitcoin a criptomoeda (anglicization of "criptocurrency").
First let's see what is a criptomoeda, then what are the consequences of its use.
A criptomoeda is an instrument of Exchange, to the bearer (which does not identify the owner) created based on digital encryption.
And how to understand the concepts of cryptography and digital encryption is essential in order to understand how the whole system works, let's leave that Bitcoin to the next column.
Until then
