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What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency created by an unknown person(s) named Satoshi Nakamoto.  No central authority or bank controls it.  Instead, it uses peer-to-peer technology called blockchain in which transactions are managed by a collective network of miners.

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Since nobody controls Bitcoin, everyone can take part.  The technology is open-sourced and public.  Bitcoin was created with the intent to become a better substitute to the current fiat monetary system.  Read the original Bitcoin Whitepaper.

What is Bitcoin? (WeUseCoins)

Terminology

Decentralized: The removal of a centralized authority.

 

Blockchain: The technology underlying Bitcoin, which acts as a public ledger using digital signatures and cryptography to store unalterable transaction records.  

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Miners: Utilize computer power to solve complex mathematical problems to verify and log each transaction in the block, hence the word blockchain. .  In turn, they are rewarded in Bitcoin as incentive to continue to mine and uphold the network..

 

Fiat currency: Legal tender issued and controlled by a government body, but is not backed by a physical commodity.

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