Bitcoin - The First Five Questions

Erik Voorhees recently received five questions from a radio host, and he thought his five questions were very apt – these are emblematic of the questions most people ask.
It seemed appropriate and useful to make these answers public. Every journalist and curious observer should perhaps read this before pursuing Bitcoin further. Read the five Bitcoin questions here.

Bitcoin Prepaid Debit Card proposed by BitInstant

Last August, BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem announced that his company would be releasing a new product: a Bitcoin prepaid Debit Card. The product is scheduled to come out in six to eight weeks, and would cost $10, although Shrem announced that the first thousand cards would be given out for free. The concept of a Bitcoin card is nothing new; they have existed in some form for months.
Read the full article about the proposed Bitcoin prepaid debit card here in Bitcoin Magazine.

A Business Primer on the Bitcoin Ecosystem

This article is an excellent primer on the new financial technology known as “Bitcoin.” 

It describes the utility of the system, the types of companies and individuals who use it, and some of the risks and opportunities presented. 

"Bitcoin" is a growing financial software tool comprised of both a payment network (written as "Bitcoin") and a currency used within that network (written as "bitcoins"). Bitcoin is both free-to-use and open-source, with no central controlling party. Bitcoin is not a company nor organization. It is best thought of as a technology protocol, like VoIP or HTTP. Read the full article here:

A Business Primer on the Bitcoin Ecosystem   Written By Erik Voorhees, 29 June 2012 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14454595/Bitcoin%20Business%20Primer%20-%20Erik%20Voorhees.pdf
Bitcoin Useful Links

Bitcoin Wallet Options

"The question of 'How to store your Bitcoins' is one of the most important decisions for a Bitcoin user to make.

While Bitcoin allows you a great amount of freedom and control over your money, with that control comes responsibility, and the possibility of catastrophic losses if you are not careful. If you choose to maintain full control of your bitcoins yourself, there is no one to stop you from doing something stupid, and there is no one to cover for your mistakes. There is no Bitcoin corporation to call and try to convince that you are the legitimate owner of your address so they can give you your keys back."
Online Wallets ** Desktop Clients ** Mobile Wallets

Read the full article from Bitcoin Magazine here.

Understanding Bitcoin | Opinion - Al Jazeera

"Bitcoin is at the forefront of 'hacktivism', giving its users a free alternative to contemporary financial mechanisms."
Read this excellent and informative article here, written by Nicolás Mendoza, a scholar, artist and researcher in global media from The University of Melbourne and a member of the P2P Foundation.
Understanding Bitcoin - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Bitcoin: How it works | Report from the FBI

Bitcoin has now grown so popular that it warranted its own FBI reoprt. The report titled “Bitcoin Virtual Currency: Unique Features Present Distinct Challenges for Deterring Illicit Activity,” (.pdf) was published on April 24 2012  and is marked 'For Official Use Only' (not actually classified), but was leaked to the internet this week. The report is also an excellent primer on, and explanation of, Bitcoin - How it Works!

The FBI sees the anonymous Bitcoin payment network/protocol as an alarming haven for money laundering and other criminal activity — including as a tool for hackers to rip off fellow Bitcoin users. But is it? Bitcoin is the first digital crypto-currency issued and managed by a peer-to-peer transaction network, ie, us.
Read the full article from Wired.com here.

Bitcoin - The Libertarian Introduction

Written by Erik Voorhees - April 11, 2012

Full article here:

Bitcoin Primer - What it is, how it's used, and why you should care.

Originally published in Freedom's Phoenix Magazine - April 13, 2012

Republish, copy, and distribute at will.

What is Bitcoin?

BitCoin

Bitcoin is revolutionary...a state-of-the-art, peer-to-peer (p2p) digital cryptocurrency with no central authority to issue new money or keep track of transactions. Each and every Bitcoin owner is effectively acting as their own bank...
Watch the short video on the right (or click www.weusecoins.com) under Video Bytes>> to see how it works and read the Introduction to Bitcoin to learn more. The full story of Bitcoin is well set out in the 'Wired' magazine article published in late 2011.

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency alternative to the existing and accepted government controlled printed and electronic bank money - ie. fiat money. Instead, the tasks of issuing new money (bitcoins) and verifying transactions is managed collectively by the p2p network.

Bitcoin can therefore be said to be a potentially disruptive technology to the status quo of, inter alia, bank, credit card and PayPal money transfers, as it does not require a high (overhead) cost banking network in which to operate. (Neither does Bitcoin require the payment of any/excessive bank bonuses to any members of its global network!)
(note: Bitcoins are impossible to inflate, like governments can do, by printing or creating additional electronic fiat money.)

Bitcoins are digital tokens accepted by individuals and companies as an alternative to money in exchange for the supply of goods and services.

Bitcoin enables instant payments from person to person to anyone anywhere in the world (using advanced p2p cryptographic* technology) on the internet with no central authority and without going through a bank or clearing house. Issuing Bitcoin money and managing Bitcoin transactions* are carried out collectively by the p2p network.
(*Bitcoin verifies transactions with state-of-the-art encryption that is used in military and government applications. Bitcoin is an extraordinary and important cryptographic innovation. It is the first system where a digital currency cannot be double spent. That means that your bitcoins can be duplicated perfectly any number of times, but they cannot be spent more than one transaction at a time between two people.)

Bitcoins are (almost) as anonymous as cash and impossible to chargeback. In fact, the use of Bitcoin to make online payments is like being able to spend 'cash' on the internet.

Use of the Bitcoin network is generally free, except for a tiny voluntary fee you can pay to speed up transaction processing. Find out more about how it works here and also here.

Bitcoin is also the name of the open source software which allows the universal use of this digital currency. Some background is in an interview in 2011 with two of the Bitcoin developers (bitcoin.org) in the two video clips below:

Bitcoin Champions and Proselytizers/Proselytisers

                 
                            You can also watch the full 65 minute video here

With Bitcoin's future growth and its potential universal adoption, many interesting and revolutionary possibilities begin to emerge - lower or zero inflation, instant and much lower cost (local and international) money transfers, freedom to spend at will without government interference to name but a few.

So.to learn and understand more about the 'money' revolution that is Bitcoin, explore the links on the left hand side under "Helpful Bytes" and those links on the right under "Expert Bytes."  Also read here.

When you are ready to buy and use bitcoins then you can get started with Bitcoin here.

EARN BITCOINS HERE