Bitcoin is a new currency created in 2009 by an unknown person using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
Bitcoin is a digital currency.
Bitcoin was created as a means for people to send money over the internet.
A cryptocurrency or crypto is a digital currency, and you might think of it as a digital dollar or digital rupees, because, unlike paper money, it uses an online ledger for transactions.
A digital currency operates without central control but aims to provide an alternative payment system similar to traditional currencies.
It operates without central oversight from banks or governments.
Instead, it depends on peer-to-peer technology and cryptographic methods.
Bitcoin can be used for various purposes, such as booking hotels on Expedia, buying gear on Overstock, and purchasing Xbox games.
However, there are many advertisements about becoming rich by trading Bitcoin. The price of Bitcoin surged to thousands in 2017.
Is Bitcoin Safe or Not?
The cryptography behind Bitcoin is based on the SHA-256 algorithm designed by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States. With more possible combinations (estimated between (10^{78}) and (10^{82})) than atoms in the universe (around (10^{256})), it is virtually impossible to crack (not possible to crash).
There have been several high-profile cases where Bitcoin transactions were hacked and funds stolen, but these services always store digital currencies on behalf of their customers. In these cases, the hack targeted the website, not the Bitcoin network itself.
A real issue is that Bitcoin operates without central authority. As a result, there is no help for anyone who makes mistakes while performing transactions with their money.
If you accidentally send Bitcoin to the wrong person or lose your password, there is no way to recover it.
Of course, the eventual arrival of practical quantum computing could potentially break everything. Most cryptographic calculations rely on mathematics that is currently very difficult for classical computers, but quantum computers operate very differently and could potentially execute such tasks in a fraction of a second.
