It is a digital currency or cryptocurrency created in 2009 by a software developer named Satoshi Nakamoto, thus starting an electronic payment system based on mathematical tests. Using decentralized technology to make secure payments and money storage without the need for banks.
New technologies will always have the great capacity to originate passionate debates both at the business, economic, social and political levels. At the same time, they can confuse the vast majority of the population, one of the most obvious examples is cryptocurrencies and particularly Bitcoin. Today that term has become a constant source of interest and intrigue since it was first introduced to the market a few years ago. Clearly, at around $ 4000 USD per unit, it makes many want to know more and more about it. What is it? How can it be obtained or where was it born? Will it be the currency of the future and is it necessary to buy it? All these questions are constant and then we will solve all the doubts about it.
Bitcoin is capable of operating on an always active platform protecting the identity of the person, that is, the name of those involved in the transactions is completely anonymous. The idea was to produce a currency independent of any central authority, transferable electronically, more or less instantaneously, with very low transaction fees or even in certain cases, nonexistent.
In simpler words, they are completely virtual currencies designed to be "self-contained" in value, without the need for banks to move, supervise, direct or store money. No institution controls the bitcoin network, this puts some people at ease because it means that a large bank cannot control their money. It was announced in an email circular as a way to free money in a way similar to the way the Internet made information free.
Meaning of the Bitcoin symbol
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The symbol "₿" has always been used to represent the currency, which was introduced by its creator Satoshi Nakamoto in its first versions. Today it is the quintessential symbol for graphing cryptocurrencies. It was incorporated into the Unicode "U + 20BF" standard. Similarly, it is usually abbreviated as "BTC" for identification in various places, however, some are using the use of the abbreviation "XBT" as it adapts to the international currency standard ISO 4217. The letter "X" is an indication that is made to coins that do not have a fully legal course in a country, the two cases par excellence are gold (XAU) and silver (XAG).
Historical price of Bitcoin.
Its value has risen and fallen since the first time it entered the market, in its first years of creation it was practically unknown, so it had no value in the international market, but among the few crypto enthusiasts. The first bitcoin transaction is said to have been the indirect purchase of two pizzas for a total of 10,000 BTC. Even in 2010 the bitcoin protocol was violated, creating more than 185 billion coins, however, these transactions were detected and later eliminated, that has been the only error that the network has had since its history, they obviously improved security and the software after that error.
It was not until 2011 that bitcoin began to have a value equal to one US dollar, this, due to the creation of other cryptocurrencies, a term used for digital currencies. However, in the following years its value increased notably thanks to its popularity and constant use in electronic transactions carried out through the internet, already in 2013 it had a value of $ 266 USD for each bitcoin and ended that year in a value of $ 800 USD.
In the following years its value gradually increased, presenting various falls at certain times, in which the world economy reacted to different social and demographic events, but always in constant growth. Already at the beginning of the year 2017 its value was more than $ 2000 USD for each coin and currently it is already close to the price of $ 8000 USD per unit. That is why you must always remember that its value varies daily. For this type of query there are thus various monitor pages in which its value depends on the supply and demand that exists at the time, as well as the movement of markets and stock exchanges in the world.
Possible Competitors.
Due to the great advantages in transaction privacy demonstrated by digital currencies, many of them have been created, reaching more than 1100 cryptocurrencies around the world today, each one of them having its own value in dollars and a relative value in BTC. Currently, bitcoin is the one with the highest value in the market and therefore it is used as a reference to calculate the value of other cryptocurrencies.
However, there is a constant race between some of them trying to catch up with Bitcoin and thus overcome it, one of the most famous that exists is Ethereum, positioning itself as the second most reliable in the entire market. In theory, it is an improved version of Bitcoin and overcomes the limitations of its programming language, providing certain unique characteristics that the previous one does not have. Its value, like that of all cryptocurrencies, has varied over the years, currently it has a price of $ 300 for each coin, it is represented by the abbreviation ETH.
Another cryptocurrency that has a high value in the market and competes hard with Bitcoin and Ethereum is the “ Dash ” currency. In general, when the first one suffers a drop, the others rise, many economists worldwide maintain the hypothesis that it will be very difficult for any other to dethrone bitcoin.
Is it advisable to invest in Bitcoin?
The system is protected against fraud and theft through an independent and decentralized installation, in addition, the transactions are completely anonymous, facilitating more privacy between users. It has also given great returns to some investors, with the price jumping from a few dollars in early 2013 to more than $ 1,000 in November. After a few years of level, its dollar price shot up again and has peaked at around $ 4,200, making many people who invested when its price was very low a millionaire.
At present it is recommended to invest in this currency, thanks to the fluctuations in the price, it is appropriate to sell when its value falls and is accessible. And expect it to increase as time passes, however, the appearance of other cryptocurrencies also plays a fundamental role in the economy, so it is also advisable to invest in them.
The result of the Hard Fork.
When it comes to blockchain technology, a hard fork is a radical change in the protocol that makes previously invalid blocks, or transactions, valid (or vice versa), and as such requires that all nodes or users update to the latest version of the protocol software. In other words, it is a permanent divergence from the previous version of the blockchain, and nodes running earlier versions will no longer be accepted by the most recent update.
This essentially creates a fork in the blockchain, a path that follows the new improved blockchain, and a path that continues along the old one. Generally, after a short period of time, those on the old chain will realize that their version of the blockchain is out of date or irrelevant, so they should quickly update to the latest version.
What is it for?
It can be implemented to correct important security risks found in previous versions of the software, add new functionality, or reverse transactions. A hard fork involves splitting the path of a chain blocked by the invalidation of transactions confirmed by nodes that have not been updated to the new version of the protocol software.
One of the most emblematic cases of its use was after the DAO hacking. In that case the Ethereum community, almost unanimously, voted in favor of a hard fork to reverse the transactions that generated tens of millions of dollars in digital currency by an anonymous hacker. The hard fork also allowed DAO token holders to get their Ether funds returned.
Another use of the Hard Fork.
In the same way, it can be used to create other individual cryptocurrencies but that come from a large one, it can be said that they would be as independent small groups. For example, Bitcoin has already made some hard forks creating other small cryptocurrencies, they are Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold.
They generally break away from the main blockchain to launch an individual project with an improved protocol. Recently , Bitcoin is expected to have another hard fork in the next few days, with a new cryptocurrency entering the market in mid-November. This will be led by Jack Liao, the CEO of Hong Kong-based mining firm LightningASIC.
