Member-only story
Bitcoin is digital cash that runs on blockchain.
It is peer to peer and decentralised. You also do not need permission from any authority to send or receive it.
To obtain Bitcoin, a person has to buy it from another. They can also receive it as a gift. Or if they have the resources, they can mine it by solving complex mathematical puzzles using high powered computers. In the process they validate transactions in the blockchain and earn fees for this.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $39,000. In 2021, it reached an all time high of $69,000. At the beginning of the pandemic just two years earlier it was trading at $7000. Any person that bought it then and earlier is operating on exponential profits!
The technology is revolutionary and has taken money and how we perceive and transact with it to another level.
Critisism
There are several criticisms leveled at Bitcoin though.
One, they say the mining process has detrimental consequences to the environment due to its huge consumption of power. This is because its proof of work concensus mechanism that involves solving complex mathematical puzzles to validate transactions and receive new coins requires many highly powered computers working together.
