This post is an addition to @forexbrokr Bitcoin guides.
He has already written some basic info about What is Bitcoin. Please do checkout this post for Bitcoin basics.
Now that you know basics of Bitcoin, you must have knowledge about what are the pros and cons of Bitcoin.
Pros
Lets start by the positive aspects of Bitcoin.
1. Blockchain Technology
Bitcoin uses the blockchain Technology and every transaction is recorded in a block. Once a block is created, there is no way to edit if modify the record. This makes it impossible to hack currency.
2. Quick Transactions
Bitcoin is a P2P currency which means there is no third person involved in transactions. Every 10 minutes, a block is created. This can generate 4.6 transactions per second. You can transfer Bitcoin to anyone sitting in any part of the world.
3. Decentralised Currency
Bitcoin being a decentralised currency, has many benefits like a person is the sole owner of his Bitcoins. There are no government restrictions involved. Nobody specific company or person controls it. It is like being your own boss.
4. Secure Transactions
When it comes to security, this is everyone’s priority. Bitcoin is very safe and unhackable. Even your keys are just random numbers which cannot be memorised. These characteristics makes it so secured. Transaction ID’s are also random numbers as addresses. These are anonymous transactions so we don’t know who sent to whom.
5. Mobile payments
There are various wallets available on mobile devices and they make it easy to do a transaction sitting anywhere with a mobile device using internet.
6. Huge profits
This is a unique benefit of crypto currency as its value increases with time. For example, if anyone bought 1 Bitcoin when it was worth 1 USD, he would have 36k USD as of today. Many people became Millionaires with Bitcoin.
Cons
Here are some negatives of using Bitcoin.
1. Bitcoin used in Dark web
You may have heard about dark web. It is a place where we don’t want to go. There are various illegal trades happen here. As Bitcoin has anonymous transactions, there are various reports that it us used kn illegal activities of buying illegal things.
2. Decentralised currency
You may ask how it can be a cons? But wait, when decentralisation comes in, there are no third party involved and it means you can’t do anything about the frauds or a mistaken transaction as once a coin is sent, it will never be coming back.
3. High Volatile currency
We have seen this in the past and seeing it now, Bitcoin’s value can go to the moon and suddenly dig a whole and fall into it.
In the recent events, Bitcoin is again at 36K USD and it went above 60K last month. So investing in Bitcoin is very very risky.
4. Online Frauds
As Bitcoin gained popularity, many scams and frauds happened. Many people lost their Bitcoins and lost their hard earned money.
5. Dependant on Internet
Bitcoin transactions are done on the internet. So without internet, we have no value of our coins present in our wallets.
Conclusion
Bitcoin is here for the past 12 years. There are positives and negatives of every technology. It depends upon users to adapt this technology or not.
We should see the pros and cons of everything and decide by ourselves how to use it.