What is Bitcoin?

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"The Good Wife" Airs "Bitcoin for Dummies" TV Episode, December 19, 2011: $4.22.
Investors expected the bitcoin-themed TV episode to push bitcoin to new heights. 9.45 million viewers tuned in to the episode, which featured a manhunt for the creator of bitcoin. Unfortunately for hodlers, few viewers bought into the hype and the price remained stagnant.
Mt. Gox Hacked for First Time, June 19, 2011: $17.77.
An auditor working for Mt. Gox hacked the exchange by downloading a copy of the user database containing insecure hashed passwords. Using admin-level privileges, the auditor placed a huge number of sell orders on the exchange, causing the price to plummet to just $0.01 per bitcoin. Mt. Gox spotted the issue, then halted trading for seven days while they reversed the trades and secured their systems. Over 4,019 bitcoins were stolen from 600 compromised wallets.
Gawker Publishes Article About Silk Road, June 1, 2011: $16.88.
Gawker writer Adrian Chen published an article called, "The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable." The controversial article described how you could purchase drugs, assassins, and virtually anything on Silk Road in exchange for bitcoin. The heavily-trafficked article caused the price of bitcoin to surge from $9.21 to $17.61. Within a week of publication, bitcoin peaked at a price of $31.
Three New Bitcoin Exchanges Open to Accept Fiat Currencies, March 27, 2011: $0.72.
In March, an exchange called Britcoin was launched, allowing users to trade bitcoin directly with the British Pound (GBP) for the first time. Soon after, a Brazil-based exchange followed suit, launching a service for Brazilian Real (BRL) and USD trading with bitcoin. On April 5, Bitmarket.eu launched, allowing users to trade bitcoin with the Euro (EUR) for the first time. These three exchanges opened the floodgates for millions of new bitcoin users.
Bitcoin Price Hits Parity with the US Dollar, February 9, 2011: $1.
At just two years old, Bitcoin was worth the same amount as the US Dollar on the Mt. Gox Exchange, officially achieving parity with the world's largest fiat currency for the first time in history. As news of USD parity hit various media outlets, the price rose even further as the public jumped on board.
Bitcoin Protocol Bug Causes Hard Fork, August 15, 2010: $0.07.
Due to a computer number processing error, an anonymous person created a fraudulent bitcoin transaction that generated trillions of bitcoins - almost 99 thousand more than what can exist in the system. The oddity was quickly spotted by bitcoin developers and a fix was made within hours.
Mt. Gox Opens for Business, July 18, 2010: $0.06.
Mt. Gox was launched on July 18 by programmer Jed McCaleb, previously known for creating the p2p network eDonkey in 2000. The infrastructure for the bitcoin exchange was based on McCaleb's previous, failed project for a Magic: The Gathering Online card exchange platform (MTGOX). Within 3 years, Mt. Gox would grow to become the largest bitcoin exchange on the internet. McCaleb sold the exchange to Mark Karpeles on March 6, 2011.
Bitcoin Featured in Slashdot Article, July 11, 2010: $0.08.
The release of bitcoin 0.3 was featured on the website Slashdot.org, a popular news and technology website. The tech-savvy readers became interested in bitcoin, driving up the price of bitcoin 10x from $0.008 to $0.08 in just five days.
Two Pizzas Are First Material Item Purchased Using Bitcoin, May 22, 2010: $0.0025.
A Bitcointalk forum user named Laszlo paid 10,000 BTC in exchange for two pizzas worth approximately $25. The pizzas were ordered and paid for by another Bitcointalk forum user, Jercos. It's the first known trade of bitcoin for a real, material item.
The First Bitcoin-to-Fiat Exchange Occurs, October 12, 2009: $0.001.
Using PayPal, New Liberty Standard purchased 5,050 BTC from a user named Sirius for $5.02 USD, which equates to an exchange rate of roughly $0.001 per BTC. It's the first known trade involving bitcoin and fiat currency.
New Liberty Standard Publishes First Bitcoin Exchange Rate, October 5, 2009: $0.0008.
New Liberty Standard launched a bitcoin exchange service with an initial exchange rate of 1,309.03 BTC to 1 USD, or about $0.0008 per 1 BTC. New Liberty Standard calculated this exchange rate based on the cost of electricity consumed by a computer to mine a single bitcoin at the time.
First Bitcoin Transaction from Satoshi to Hal Finney, January 12, 2009: $0.
The first bitcoin transaction in history took place on January 12 when Satoshi Nakamoto transferred 10 bitcoins to developer and cryptography activist Hal Finney. Hal Finney famously tweeted about the interaction, and also later joked that he never paid Satoshi back.
Genesis Block Established, January 3, 2009: $0.
The first bitcoin block, the Genesis Block, was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto, officially launching the bitcoin blockchain.
Truth About Bitcoin: A Legitimate Future Against All Odds and Arguments About Its Value.
With big names of industry having wildly different opinions about the validity and futures of Bitcoin, it can be hard to know what to believe and trust.
Warren Buffet has called Bitcoin "a delusion," while younger entrepreneur Elon Musk calls it "Brilliant" (an effect it appears to be having on a lot of the younger entrepreneurs).
January 3 rd , 2019 was the 10 year anniversary of Bitcoin. Now that it's been around for a decade, where does it stand? Will the price go up or down? Maybe neither? Does Bitcoin have a future?
As Blockchain makes new advances, could this lead to mass adoption of the tech? Can Bitcoin remain the king of cryptocurrencies?
The best way to tackle futures of Bitcoin is to take apart the arguments, one by one.
Bitcoin is a Waste of Energy.
"uses as much CO2 a year as 1 million transatlantic flights. In November, the power consumed by the entire bitcoin network was estimated to be higher than that of the Republic of Ireland. It's on pace to use just over 42TWh of electricity in a year, placing it ahead of New Zealand and Hungary and just behind Peru."
While ending with: "We need to take it seriously as a climate threat."
This is true. Even China has gone so far as to threaten banning bitcoin to offset negative environment effects (April 2019).
The comparison to the 1 million transatlantic flights is completely correct, with flights serving a utilitarian purpose that we of course won't try to stop any time soon. However, the comparison disregards that huge amount of added pollution that large airliners create by using oil as their fuel source- something a digital token of course doesn't deal with.
Mining is the true energy monster of Bitcoin's Blockchain tech. Mining is necessary to secure pieces of bitcoin. It keeps your coin valuable, helps prevent your digital wallet from being hacked, and makes it a safer all around digital asset. The truth is, bitcoin mining also serves a purpose for the user and for the asset itself. It is vital to the purpose and value of Bitcoin.
Fiat moneys (USD, the pound, Euro, Yen etc) also have a system of operations and security that uses considerable energies to maintain- the banking system. The comparison they made overlooks the realities of modern tradition banking and just how much electricity it uses.
Kelly-Pitou, technology researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, had this to say:
"...banking alone consumes an estimated 100 terawatts. This is a little bit more than three times the energy Bitcoin mining consumes."
Banks have online and physical branches, offices, and ATMs- all of which consume energy. The big difference between the two is banks are centralized to a limited amount of locations and bitcoin mining is decentralized, relying on small computer arrays.
What's more is it generalizes power usage while disregarding the country to country difference of energy consumption. For example, Iceland relies on nearly 100 percent renewable energies and is a hub for bitcoin mining- making it not a threat to environmental concerns. China, on the other hand, still relies heavily on fossil fuels (despite trying to lead green energy innovation because of high amounts of population in their country) for electricity. Bitcoin being mined heavily in China would be a massive environmental concern. To get even more in the weeds, Bitcoin mining companies are responsible for most of the mining and they actually flock to places where they can get energy cheap, including places with a surplus of energy that cannot be saved or otherwise sold and that INCLUDES China which always produces a massive surplus (there is something to be said about the energy consumption of a small percentage of small computer networks or single ones in a population base that's big the way China's is, however).
Its effects on consumption relating to environment should be looked at based on region and not be painted with a wide sweeping brush when it can't possibly all fall under the same umbrella.
The Bubble Market: Bitcoin Obituaries.
Charlie Munger has said "Bitcoin is worthless, artificial gold." and the media has repeatedly likened it to the tulip mania. For 10 years, bitcoin has been portrayed by big media names as a bubble about to pop for good and have pronounced bitcoin dead more than 30 times.
Every system improvement to Bitcoin has been decried and denounced, every burst bubble has been 'the end,' every increase in price won't last, and no matter how many times it bounces back- it's still not taken seriously.
Now it's been a decade, is it still fair to call it a bubble? Or is there more stable mechanisms behind the price? People love to ask and know 'will bitcoin ever die'?
To start with, all new markets start volatile. Every new technology and asset class has experienced a similar rise and fall cycle. Take the internet for example, the dotcom era saw company shares rise by 1000% like it was normal before it all came tumbling down. Yet we are still using the internet more than ever. Such a useful new technology is hard to overlook just because it suffers a bust.
The argument is: that is what digital assets and the Blockchain tech they are responsible for will be.
Stocks also experienced similar boom and bust cycles in their early days. The first were invented in the 1500s and they were rough. There was no regulation, volatile price changes, scams, and they were sold at coffee shops instead of stock exchanges. Bitcoin has seen volatility, massive price changes, scams, and before exchanges started popping up, there was a peer-to-peer marketplace on localbitcoins.com.
After the 2008 financial crisis, we all became aware that real estate was not the safe investment the majority thought it was (according to Business Insider- "Between 2006 and 2014, nearly 10 million homeowners in America saw foreclosure sale of their own homes," with then of thousands becoming entirely homeless as a result).

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Stocks have existed more than 400 years, dotcom companies for more than 40, and Bitcoin for only 10 (with a majority of the cryptocurrency market being even younger). It's extraordinarily volatile right now but that could be because it's young. It's entirely possible that it will settle.
It starts as a volatile novelty and it slowly becomes more and more a part of our daily lives.
Wealthy Market Manipulations.
The Independent September 2018: "Bitcoin price Crash. ' Manipulative Whales' cause Cryptocurrency Market Meltdown!"



While this was mostly sensationalism meant to scare people and ultimately hurt the futures of Bitcoin, it is partially true. Even today, 85% of coin is only in 1% of digital wallets.
However, it is important to do your own research and understand things for yourself instead of solely listening to sensationalist journalism. If someone did, the first thing you would see is that a majority of them are not actually owned by 'whales' but by exchanges.
On top of this, many wallets used to hold most of the Bitcoin by 'whales' are cold wallets- wallets that hold the digital currency disconnected from any servers. Major exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, and others do this.
Chainalysis, a company specializing in analysing Bitcoin Blockchain, found:
"the actual threat that all whales pose to cryptocurrency economy is relatively low. If they sold off their entire holdings, it would be effectively a $3.9 billion sale at current prices. That's not even 10% of the current total market capitalization of Bitcoin."
The reason singular large whales cannot manipulate prices as significantly as you would assume is because the cold wallets held by exchanges diminish their impact.
Bitcoin Is Slow.
It's true, unequivocally. Processing Bitcoin takes an average of 10 minutes while big name card payments like Visa and MasterCard work in seconds.
For now, Bitcoin cannot be a reliable, widely used for of payment. For now.
Remember internet in the late 80s? It had an Ethernet hook up, took up phone lines, and took close to 10 minutes to load. Bitcoin has only been around as a company for 10 years, give it some time. It may not be able to handle quick transactions now but the technology is still learning and it can easily get there.
Think about how far the internet has come since then, even after the dotcom crash.
Criminal Activity and Phishing.
According to Forbes, there are scams where hackers email their victims requesting BTC payments by blackmailing them with sensitive information. Bitcoin was used on the Silk Road in the dark web, it's been a prime way for phishers to get money, and what's worse is it's nearly impossible to track.
But the truth? Cash is still the king of the game.
Illegal activity and cash (or coin if you're going back in the past) has always been the king. If you want to get something done, nothing moves mountains like laying down cash.
Lilita Infante, Special Agent for the DEA, went on record to talk about the realities of BTC transactions for illegal things, saying "illegal activity has shrunk to about 10 percent." She is a part of a 10 person Cyber Investigate Task Force team whose focus is crypto-related illegal activity on the dark web and works in conjunction with the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
It not only is at just 10% but the number is actually falling. Sciencemag wrote a full report on how governments are developing techniques for tracking criminal activity in the Blockchain and learning how to trace bitcoin payments back to the criminal that made them. BTC was a popular form of payment for a few years because it was anonymous, there were no regulations or protections, and no one knew how to tackle such a new technology yet. All of those things are no longer true or changing.
Using Bitcoin Is Not Easy.
While it is possible to pay for things with Bitcoin, with some regions and countries being more readily available for the option, it is still quite difficult.
On the one hand, a journalist from Business Insider spent a day trying to do just that and failed abysmally. On the other hand, a book was written by someone who spent a year traveling and living off of 1 bitcoin, using pieces of it as payment called "Stolen Wallets."
New payment adoptions take time. Credit cards took almost 20 years for mass adoption and they've been a daily part of our lives for decades now. As Bitcoin becomes more popular, it will become easier to use.
Will Bitcoin Be A Real Currency.
There are significant limitations to Bitcoin and hurdles that would have to be overcome before it could be a daily use payment. Some may not ever happen.
That same journalist from Business Insider tried to accomplish the same goal using a gold bar. We all know there is great value in gold but trying to pay for anything with it was found to be impossible (at least they were able to find 2 places that took BTC as payment).
Gold is currently considered a 'store value'- an "asset that can be saved, retrieved, and exchanged at a later time, and be predictably useful when retrieved." Bitcoin has been able to be saved, retrieved, and exchanged for 10 years now, and despite the bubble and bust market it suffers from, the price keeps going up when you look at long term maps of value between its start and now.
Bitcoin could become the digital version of Gold.
It's Hard To Use: But is Bitcoin Really That Difficult?
Brand new technologies are often not user friendly because they are so new. Remember all the steps it took to make an email decades ago? It required plugging in and unplugging things several times, sending away for a CD to download AOL, and a long amount of time. Bitcoin requires complicated strings of information to be copy and pasted, setting up a wallet, remembering seed phrases, it's not easy for most of us. Especially as something we are not used to doing.
But what if Bitcoin is like early email.
It's also entirely possible that its difficulty boosts its value. For example, gold is not easy to own. You have to find a specialty shop to buy investments in it, store it somewhere like a bank vault or personal safe, and keep track of any codes/passwords and keys it may require to access.
The difficulty of Bitcoin may help it retain its value if it never gets easier to use and especially if it becomes a store value like gold.
The Truth About Bitcoin's Price and Future USD Value:
Criticism of Bitcoin is not always justified and it takes your own keen research to see that. There is a lot of assumptions made when guessing where Bitcoin will go and the truth is, no one actually knows.
Not everything makes it through its trial phase of popularity. But Blockchain is one of the most promising technologies of the 21 st century and the century only just began. The tech is still in its infancy and although we are finding new adaptions for it in our current way of doing things, it could usher in an entirely new way including with cryptocurrencies.
Like with all things, we must give it time. Maybe Bitcoin won't remain King of Cryptocurrencies. But it's been 10 years, 350+ obituaries later, and a massive burst market bubble and it's still here, rising in value steadily over the mark of time.

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The Best Bitcoin Exchanges.
Best Bitcoin Exchanges to Trade & Buy Bitcoin, Altcoins & Cryptocurrency 2019.
When it comes to finding the best bitcoin exchange things are not all that easy. Many of the best bitcoin exchanges to buy bitcoin are only recently online. This means that they have had little time to get the word out about their services and products. Most people coming to this page will be asking how to buy bitcoin online through a secure means. Well, here is a good starting point.
One of the first things to consider when searching for the best bitcoin exchange is; how safe are both the website and server. A trustworthy bitcoin exchange providing transparent data about coins in cold storage (more on this later). It is also a good to look for available currency pairs: example looking to trade bitcoin for USD, Euros, or other fiat currencies. The location usually gives an idea of what is on offer. However, the largest bitcoin exchanges usually have many options for buying bitcoin with government issued currency and altcoins.
Best Bitcoin Exchanges to Trade & Buy Bitcoin Cryptocurrency 2019 list.
Award-winning Cryptocurrency trading platform.
11 payment methods, including PayPal.
FCA & Cysec regulated.
Award-winning Cryptocurrency trading platform.

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Top 10 Best Bitcoin Exchanges to Buy & Trade Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency 2019 list.
Although you should always do your own research before investing, the above table is the best bitcoin exchanges to buy bitcoin online. If you are new to cryptocurrency exchanges then check out our exchange finder section which breaks down all exchanges by different criteria. We rank exchanges by the following criteria:
We rank the exchanges first and fore-mostly by their security measures and how trust worthy they are considered to be. User feedback is essential for us to create a rounded view of each exchange, make sure to give your input on exchanges you regularly use and those that you have tried and discarded immediately.
We also look at the exchanges accessibility is terms of user experience, how they can buy bitcoin, be it with credit card, paypal or other forms of payment. Be sure to bookmark this page for future reference.
For a list of all the exchanges we have reviewed, see the exchanges page.
How to buy bitcoin using this list of Bitcoin exchanges?
This list should be used as a guide, make sure to read our reviews on each exchange and ultimately make your own decision. All exchanges have their pros and cons, and you should make sure that the exchange you choose is suitable for you.
Hopefully the list of best bitcoin exchanges and cryptocurrency exchanges above will be of good use when buying and trading bitcoins. Each outstanding site should have detailed instructions. From here, one can easily figure out how to buy bitcoin with credit card, paypal, cash, bank transfers. Once you have got some coins check out the list of available wallets.
What is the top crypto exchange site to buy bitcoin in the above list?
It's a tough question in my opinion. Each will have an upside compared to others. Check a few out and look up on forums to see what users are saying about the service provided, and which they think are the best Crypto Exchanges to buy bitcoin easily. Localbitcoins.com is a really cool crypto exchange p2p bitcoin exchange for beginners wanting to buy for their first time. The service is all over the world, meaning you can use euros, pounds, yen, Australian dollars, Swiss francs, Canadian dollars, krona, rubles, lira, rupees and so on.
If you pay by physical cash then you get to meet the person in real life. Alternatively you can do a fast bank transfer and the site will hold your coins in escrow for you once it goes through. Obviously there are more simple ways to start using a crypto exchanges and bitcoin exchange and buy altcoins. Some like to buy with paypal, but not many leading bitcoin exchanges accept this because of charge backs.
Having used localbitcoins myself, I found it a great way to sell bitcoins. Especially if you are trying to shift a lot, you can wait for the price you want and slowly sell, I found that despite the charge I got on average a better price than other exchanges.
Which are the largest exchanges to buy cryptocurrency?
Generally the biggest bitcoin exchanges to buy cryptocurrency will be toward the top of the above list. For example eToro, Bitfinex, Coinbase Pro (GDAX), Bitstamp, Coinbase (also the best usd bitcoin exchange) all represent large volume proportions. Daily volume varies, and therefore the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange vary each day. Go to bitcoinity for a good list of all the best bitcoin exchange site to buy cryptocurrency and their proportional volumes. Some find this handy for arbitrage between markets.
What about the best cryptocurrency exchange?
Sadly, with the demise of Cryptsy there is a need for a new major first-rate cryptocurrency and Bitcoin exchange (aka altcoins). Having many medium-sized cryptocurrency exchange bitcoin sites is a better situation than having one large amazing option. Binance has now replaced Poloniex as the largest most amazing option to exchange bitcoin. Its platform is functional enough to have attracted tens of millions of new customer every month.
Things feel smooth when using Binance. All big and small trading pairs are offered and it is now possible to do cryptocurrency margin trading on major altcoins. This is a cool feature, but use it with caution as leveraged trading has a certain risk factor. Keep in mind that some of the best bitcoin exchange sites also do altcoins. Yobit, Bittrex, Cryptopia and Changelly, are great options worth checking out. Some even offer short selling on major coins.
You may also like to check the coin rankings & market capitalizations on coinkapp - which has a splendid comparisons list of the top cryptocurrencies. Alternatively, coinmarketcap offers a rather simplified list.
The best place to buy bitcoin securely.
This is an important question to ask when choosing the best place to buy bitcoin. Yes, putting the words trustworthy bitcoin exchange and the best place to buy bitcoin in the same sentence seems like an oxymoron, especially when remembering the shiny days of MtGox (aka Empty-Gox). While the bitcoin protocol has never been hacked, many peripheral businesses have. Perhaps the best question to ask would be: which are the least secure bitcoin exchanges. Generally, those listed here are optimum and of good standing, but please proceed with caution. Remember never to leave more btc online than you can afford to loose.
A sample of some reviews below, or view our full cryptocurrency exchanges reviews!
Below are pros and cons of some of the most popular exchanges on the market.
eToro.com.
eToro was one of the first CFD providers to offer cryptocurrencies on their platform. With an extremely easy to use interface, it is a huge attraction for beginners who are looking to invest in crypto for the first time. Buying crypto as a CFD is different to buying and owning the actual cryptocurrency, but does it really matter? We take a look at eToro in more detail.
Increased liqu >Cons.
Currently offers 14 cryptocurrencies You don't own the underlying asset.
* 76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment product. No EU investor protection. Your capital is at risk.

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Coinbase.com.
Coinbase Update: Coinbase buy and sell orders resolved but performance still 'degraded'. Coinbase combine an attractive interface, a great site to get bitcoins with a debit card, and an insured online wallet for your digital currency. Over 30,000,000 users are signed up, including 75,000 merchants, and 15000 developer apps. Works well for European, and American customers. It started with just bitcoin trading but has now expended to include Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum & Litecoin. I've also written a comprehensive Coinbase review for more detail.
The most user-friendly and trusted platform, currently has 200 million page-views per month Lots of long-time customers Online wallet with insurance.
Slightly more work needed when verifying account.
Binance.com.
Binance Update: Binance offers $250,000 reward for details that lead to arrest of hackers. The China-based cryptocurrency exchange began live trading in July 2017, so is fairly new to the crypto exchange world. However it has proven itself thus far to its clients, with its robust charting software and both basic and advanced interfaces attracting novice and expert traders. We've written an in depth analysis of Binance.
Low fees on t