What is Bitcoin
+It was introduced as open-source software by pseudonymous developer SATOSHI NAKAMOTO that uses cryptography to control the creation and transfer of money
+Bitcoin is the simplest way to exchange money at very low cost.
+It is a zero trust consensus network that enables a new payment system and completely digital money.
+It is the first decentralised peer to peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen.
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Origins: Bitcoin was created by developer Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008.
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Purpose: Bitcoin provides a viable decentralized alternative to the current mainstream financial infrastructure.
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Method: Bitcoin enables spending with full transparency through a publicly available ledger known as the blockchain.
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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.
●It can be anonymous: This is what makes cryptocurrency unique.
●It is volatile. This mean's it's prices always go up and down sharply.
●It is peer to peer: This means that It is from one person to another.
●Bitcoin has extremely low transaction rate.
●It is irreversible (No change backs).
●It is decentralised.
●No government control on Bitcoin, it's basically a peer to peer trade.
●It is transparent: The transaction of Bitcoin is always transparent, anyone can look at the blockchain ledger and see every single bitcoin transaction that has ever occured.
●Bitcoin is equal to a fiat currency like the USD, GBP or EUR,NGN e.t.c. But Bitcoin is only digital.
●It is trusted: Because Bitcoin has been vetted by people for over 9 years, it is trusted and people have place a high trust on the protocol.
●It is easy to buy and sell: Moving Bitcoin from one person to another is just like a click as if you are sending a personal mail.
●Protection from inflation.
●Bitcoin is not printable or regulated by central bank like other currencies are, and there cannot be counterfeited.
Storing Bitcoin
Bitcoin is stored in wallets. The wallets hold the public and private keys of your bitcoin that's embedded in the blockchain. You can store your bitcoin in wallets such as coinbase, exodus, coinomi and blockchain.info. A hardware wallet can also store bitcoin. This reduced the risk of being hacked. Nano Ledger S and Keep Key are good examples of hardware wallets.
Mining Bitcoins
Bitcoin mining is accomplished with very fast computers solving complex equations, not with picks and shovels. It’s how bitcoins are created. Without bitcoin miners, no transactions could be processed, and no confirmations could be given to validate your bitcoins were genuine. And of course no new coins could be brought into circulation, because no rewards would be given. You can't mind bitcoin as an individual. Bitcoin mining requires ASIC machines with very high processing power. So the best way is to buy and keep or trade.
Units Of Bitcoin
The smallest unit of the bitcoin cryptocurrency. Satoshi is named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of the protocol used in block chains and the bitcoin cryptocurrency. The satoshi represents one hundred millionth of a bitcoin. Small denominations make bitcoin transactions easier to conduct transactions with. The general unit structure of bitcoins has 1 bitcoin (BTC) equivalent to 1,000 millibitcoins (mBTC), 1,000,000 microbitcoins (μBTC), or 100,000,000 satoshis. While the exact figure is unknown, it is estimated that Satoshi Nakamoto may possess 1 million bitcoins, equivalent to 100,000,000,000,000 satoshi.