Our previous blog article covered a broad view of cryptocurrency and related blockchain technology explained in some detail.
👀 In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the cryptocurrency that started it all – Bitcoin. If you’ve heard a lot about Bitcoin news but haven’t been sure where to start, here is our brief guide to get you on the path to understanding what exactly Bitcoin is.
🌰 BITCOIN IN A NUTSHELL
👉Bitcoin (ticker abbreviation: BTC, sign: ₿) was the first, and most valuable, entrant in the emerging class of assets known as cryptocurrencies. It was initially designed to act as an alternative form of money, currency or payment outside the control of any one person, group or entity.
This basic principle was the goal to eliminate the need for any third-party involvement in financial transactions.💫 This decentralization feature is a common trait among many of the cryptocurrencies that have followed Bitcoin.
Bitcoin’s value is similar to that of precious metals– scarcity. There is only a finite supply. Both are limited in quantity and have select use cases.Bitcoin's digital provenance and popularity has seen it adopted as a form of payment 💰 and currency for many companies and online payment systems (such as Microsoft, NewEgg and PayPal).
Another interesting property of Bitcoin is its attribute of being much more divisible than fiat currencies💵. One bitcoin can be divided into up to eight decimal places, with constituent units called satoshis. Most fiat currencies can only be divided into two decimal places for everyday use.
₿ If you own Bitcoin, you can use a cryptocurrency wallet to send smaller portions of that Bitcoin (fractional amounts) as payment for goods or services.
Bitcoin was initially designed and released as a peer-to-peer payment method 💱. However, its use cases are growing due to its increasing value and competition from other blockchains and cryptocurrencies.
📜 BITCOIN HISTORY
Bitcoin was conceived and developed in 2009 after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, and was the first cryptocurrency to be created. 👤 The secretive identity of its founder, Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym for one or more anonymous individuals who developed Bitcoin and are responsible for authoring the whitepaper) has yet to have their identity confirmed. This only adds to the folklore of Bitcoin and the legend of its creation.
🥇It has since become the most well-known cryptocurrency in the world.
BITCOIN TOKENOMICS
There is a finite amount of bitcoin (the plural of bitcoin can be either “bitcoin” or “bitcoins”. In total, there is a finite amount of 21 million bitcoin. Currently, there are over 19 million bitcoin in circulation, which is roughly 91% of the overall supply in circulation. The current market capitalization of Bitcoin is approximately USD$416 billion.
Nearly 4 million bitcoin are estimated to be lost forever. Many private keys held in self-storage are often accidentally discarded, overwritten by other files, or lost after being sent to a wrong address. Each lost bitcoin increases the value of remaining bitcoin in the network.
⛏️New blocks of Bitcoin are created or unlocked by Bitcoin miners who use complex cryptography processing systems to generate transactions and are rewarded with Bitcoin as a result. This energy-intensive process is known as Bitcoin mining and we intend to cover it in more detail in a future blog article.
💲 BITCOIN PRICE
When Bitcoin first launched, it had a nominal value of $0 and for its first few years of trading (2013-2017), it fluctuated in value between USD$68 (~HK$527) and USD$1,100 (~HK$8,500). As Bitcoin’s popularity soared in 2017, it reached an initial peak in late 2017 of ~USD$19,500 (~HK$152,280). Its next price peak in late 2021 is Bitcoin’s all time high price of ~USD$67,500 (~HK$525,120).
👉 HOW TO EARN BITCOIN WITH BLOOM
📲.The Bloom shopper rewards app allows you to earn Bitcoin and other crypto with every purchase make on your Visa card 💳.
🦉 All you need to do is download the Bloom app, register an account, link your Visa card and shop anywhere using your credit or debit card.
💳 You will earn Bloom Coins by simply using your Visa card. The more you use your card, the more Bloom Coins you will earn.
💰 The Bloom Coins you earn can be spent within the app 🎁 and converted into Bitcoin!
🆓 Converting cryptocurrencies on Bloom is free of charge and has no gas fees.
The information provided on this website does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice and you should not treat any of the website's content as such. Bloom does not recommend that any cryptocurrency or NFTs should be bought, sold, or held by you. Do conduct your own due diligence and consult your financial advisor before making any investment decisions.