Bitcoin The Electronic Currency of the Future
Currencies / Fiat Currency Nov 24, 2010 - 11:42 AM GMT What is Bitcoin?
Cryptography expert Satoshi Nakamoto[1] has created the first completely decentralized, anonymous, electronic currency, called Bitcoin. Bitcoins are divisible digital tokens that can be exchanged across the internet or stored on disk. Bitcoin differs greatly from traditional government issued fiat currency and regulated banking in several important aspects:
- Bitcoins have no central issuer, whereas fiat currency is issued at will by a central bank. Currently, Bitcoins are slowly being issued in a decentralized manner, but eventually new issuance will forever halt.
- Bitcoin transactions are private and anonymous, whereas current law allows only licensed financial institutions to conduct wire transactions within the banking system. With Bitcoin, no third party can spy on overall transactions.
- Bitcoin ownership is safe, so confiscation is nearly impossible.
Bitcoin also differs from gold in important ways. Gold has the advantage of thousands of years of historical precedent as money, as well as having a physical form. Unlike any “soft” currency, gold lasts forever. The only disadvantage of gold is that ownership cannot be transferred electronically (or with paper certificates) without requiring a central repository. The unfortunate fate of both E-Gold and the Liberty Dollar is evidence of the fact that any centralization of a currency system is vulnerable to outside monitoring, tampering or outright confiscation. With Bitcoin “there is no central database for police to raid and no way for your Bitcoins to be stolen”[2] at the institutional level.
How do I use Bitcoin?
This article continues in an exclusive only for Market Oracle readers, FREE Access to Robert Prechter's recent 10 Page The Elliott Wave Theorist Letter:
Topics Covered include :
- EWT Overview of the Markets and Economy
- The Next Market Disaster
- Staying Safe
- The Electronic Currency of the Future
- Gold and Silver Update
- Is the Bond Market a Bubble?
It's not too late, but the doors to financial safety really are closing shut. Learn what you need to know now. You're a few clicks away from your free 10-page issue of Bob Prechter’s Elliott Wave Theorist.
Download Prechter's FREE 10-Page Market Letter. Hurry! Access expires December 6.
About the Publisher, Elliott Wave International
Founded in 1979 by Robert R. Prechter Jr., Elliott Wave International (EWI) is the world's largest market forecasting firm. Its staff of full-time analysts provides 24-hour-a-day market analysis to institutional and private around the world.
© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.