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Bitcoin FAQ – For Beginner

You’ve probably been hearing a lot about Bitcoin recently and are wondering what’s the big deal? Most of your questions should be answered by the resources below but if you have additional questions feel free to ask them in the comments.

Some great introductions for new users are My first bitcoinBitcoin explained and ELI5 Bitcoin. Also, the following videos are a good starting point for understanding how bitcoin works and a little about its long term potential:

Also have to give mention to Lopp.net, the Princeton crypto series and James D’Angelo’s Bitcoin 101 Blackboard series. Some excellent writing on Bitcoin’s value proposition and future can be found at the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute. Bitcoin statistics can be found herehere and here. Developer resources can be found herehere and here. Peer-reviewed research papers can be found here. Potential upcoming protocol improvements here. Scaling resources here. The number of times Bitcoin was declared dead by the media can be found here (LOL!), and of course Satoshi Nakamoto’s whitepaper that started it all! 🙂

Key properties of bitcoin

  • Limited Supply – There will only ever be 21,000,000 bitcoins created and they are issued in a predictable fashion, you can view the inflation schedule here. Once they are all issued Bitcoin will be truly deflationary. The halving countdown can be found here.
  • Open source – Bitcoin code is fully auditable. You can read the source code yourself here.
  • Accountable – The public ledger is transparent, all transactions are seen by everyone.
  • Decentralized – Bitcoin is globally distributed across thousands of nodes with no single point of failure and as such can’t be shut down similar to how Bittorrent works.
  • Censorship resistant – No one can prevent you from interacting with the bitcoin network and no one can censor, alter or block transactions that they disagree with, see Operation Chokepoint.
  • Push system – There are no chargebacks in bitcoin because only the person who owns the address where the bitcoins reside has the authority to move them.
  • Low fee scaling – On chain transaction fees depend on network demand and how much priority you wish to assign to the transaction. Most wallets calculate on chain fees automatically but you can view current fees here. On chain fees have risen recently due to network demand however instant micropayments are on the way via the Lightning Network, a second layer scaling solution currently rolling out on the Bitcoin mainnet. You can even run a node on a Raspberry Pi 🙂
  • Borderless – No country can stop it from going in/out, even in areas currently unserved by traditional banking as the ledger is globally distributed.
  • Trustless – Bitcoin solved the Byzantine’s Generals Problem which means nobody needs to trust anybody for it to work.
  • Pseudonymous – No need to expose personal information when purchasing with cash or transacting.
  • Secure – Encrypted cryptographically and can’t be brute forced or confiscated with proper key management such as hardware wallets.
  • Programmable – Individual units of bitcoin can be programmed to transfer based on certain criteria being met
  • Nearly instant – From a few seconds to a few minutes depending on need for confirmations. After a few confirmations transactions are irreversible.
  • Peer-to-peer – No intermediaries with a cut, no need for trusted third parties.
  • Portable – Bitcoins are digital so they are easier to move than cash or gold. They can even be transported by simply remembering a string of words for wallet recovery.
  • Scalable – Each bitcoin is divisible down to 8 decimals allowing it to grow in value while still accommodating micro-transactions.
  • Designed Money – Bitcoin was created to fit all the fundamental properties of money better than gold or fiat

Where can I buy bitcoins?

Bitcoin.orgBuyBitcoinWorldwide.com and Howtobuybitcoin.io are helpful sites for beginners. You can buy or sell any amount of bitcoin and there are several easy methods to purchase bitcoin with cash, credit card or bank transfer. Some of the more popular resources are below, also, check out the bitcoinity exchange resources for a larger list of options for purchases.

Here is a listing of local ATMs. If you would like your paycheck automatically converted to bitcoin use Bitwage.

Note: Bitcoins are valued at whatever market price people are willing to pay for them in balancing act of supply vs demand. Unlike traditional markets, bitcoin markets operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Preev is a useful site that that shows how much various denominations of bitcoin are worth in different currencies. Alternatively you can just Google “1 bitcoin in (your local currency)”.

Securing your bitcoins

With bitcoin you can “Be your own bank” and personally secure your bitcoins OR you can use third party companies aka “Bitcoin banks” which will hold the bitcoins for you.

  • If you prefer to “Be your own bank” and have direct control over your coins without having to use a trusted third party, there are many software wallet options here. If you want easy and secure storage without having to learn computer security best practices, then a hardware wallet such as the Trezor or Ledger is recommended. A more advanced option is to secure them yourself using paper wallets generated offline. Some popular mobile and desktop wallet options are listed below and most are cross platform.
Android iOs Desktop
Samouari BreadWallet Electrum

Another interesting use case for physical storage/transfer is the Opendime. Opendime is a small USB stick that allows you to spend Bitcoin by physically passing it along so it’s anonymous and tangible like cash.

  • If you prefer to let third party “Bitcoin banks” manage your coins, try Gemini but be aware you may not be in control of your private keys in which case you would have to ask permission to access your funds and be exposed to third party risk.

Note: For increased security, use Two Factor Authentication (2FA) everywhere it is offered, including email!

2FA requires a second confirmation code to access your account, usually from a text message or app, making it much harder for thieves to gain access. Google Authenticator and Authy are the two most popular 2FA services, download links are below. Make sure you create backups of your 2FA codes.

Google Auth Authy
Android Android
iOS iOS

Where can I spend bitcoins?

Check out spendabit or bitcoin directory for some good options, some of the more commons ones are listed below.

Store Product
Gyft Gift cards for hundreds of retailers including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Whole Foods, CVS, Lowes, Home Depot, iTunes, Best Buy, Sears, Kohls, eBay, GameStop, etc.
SteamHumbleBundleGames Planetitch.iog2gand kinguin For when you need to get your game on
Microsoft Xbox games, phone apps and software
SpendabitOverstockThe Bitcoin Directory and BazaarBay Retail shopping with millions of results
ShakePay Generate one time use Visa cards in seconds
NewEgg and Dell For all your electronics needs
Bitwa.laCoinbillsPiixpayBitbill.euByllsCoins.phBitrefillLivingRoomofSatoshiHyphen.toCoinsfer, More #1#2 Bill payment
MenufyTakeawayThuisbezorgd NLPizza For Coins Takeout delivered to your door!
ExpediaCheapairLotDestiniaBTCTripAbitskySkyToursFluege the Travel category on Gyft and 9flats For when you need to get away
BitHost VPS service
CryptostormMullvad, and PIA VPN services
NamecheapPorkbun For new domain name registration
Stampnik Discounted USPS Priority, Express, First-Class mail postage
Reddit Gold Premium membership which can be gifted to others

Coinmap and AirBitz are helpful to find local businesses accepting bitcoins. A good resource for UK residents is at wheretospendbitcoins.co.uk.

There are also lots of charities which accept bitcoin donations, such as WikipediaUnited WayACLU and the EFF. You can find a longer list here.

Merchant Resources

There are several benefits to accepting bitcoin as a payment option if you are a merchant;

  • 1-3% savings over credit cards or PayPal.
  • No chargebacks (final settlement in 10 minutes as opposed to 3+ months).
  • Accept business from a global customer base.
  • Increased privacy.
  • Convert 100% of the sale to the currency of your choice for deposit to your account, or choose to keep a percentage of the sale in bitcoin if you wish to begin accumulating it.

If you are interested in accepting bitcoin as a payment method, there are several options available;

Can I mine bitcoin?

Mining bitcoins can be a fun learning experience, but be aware that you will most likely operate at a loss. Newcomers are often advised to stay away from mining unless they are only interested in it as a hobby similar to folding at home. If you want to learn more about mining you can read more here. Still have mining questions? The crew at /r/BitcoinMining would be happy to help you out.

If you want to contribute to the bitcoin network by hosting the blockchain and propagating transactions you can run a full node using this setup guideBitseed is an easy option for getting set up. You can view the global node distribution here.

Earning bitcoins

Just like any other form of money, you can also earn bitcoins by being paid to do a job.

You can also earn bitcoins by participating as a market maker on JoinMarket by allowing users to perform CoinJoin transactions with your bitcoins for a small fee (requires you to already have some bitcoins)

Bitcoin Projects

The following is a short list of ongoing projects that might be worth taking a look at if you are interested in current development in the bitcoin space.

Project Description
Lightning NetworkAmiko Pay, and Strawpay Payment channels for network scaling
BlockstreamRootstock and Drivechain Sidechains
21, Inc. Open source library for the machine payable web
ShapeShift.io Trade between bitcoins and altcoins easily
Open TransactionsCounterpartyOmniOpen AssetsSymbiont and Chain Financial asset platforms
Hivemind and Augur Prediction markets
Mediachain Decentralized media library
Tierion and Factom Records & Titles on the blockchain
BitMarketsDropZoneBeaver and Open Bazaar Decentralized markets
Samourai and Dark Wallet – abandoned Privacy-enhancing wallets
JoinMarket CoinJoin implementation (Increase privacy and/or Earn interest on bitcoin holdings)
Coinffeine and Bisq Decentralized bitcoin exchanges
Keybase and Bitrated Identity & Reputation management
Telehash Mesh networking
JoyStream BitTorrent client with paid seeding
MORPHiS Decentralized, encrypted internet
Storj and Sia Decentralized file storage
Streamium Pay in real time for on-demand services
Abra Global P2P money transmitter network
bitSIM PIN secure hardware token between SIM & Phone
Identifi Decentralized address book w/ ratings system
BitGo Multisig bitcoin API
Bitcore Open source Bitcoin javascript library
Insight Open source blockchain API
Leet Kill your friends and take their money 😉

Bitcoin Units

One Bitcoin is quite large (hundreds of £/$/€) so people often deal in smaller units. The most common subunits are listed below:

Unit Symbol Value Info
millibitcoin mBTC 1,000 per bitcoin SI unit for milli i.e. millilitre (mL) or millimetre (mm)
microbitcoin μBTC 1,000,000 per bitcoin SI unit for micro i.e microlitre (μL) or micrometre (μm)
bit bit 1,000,000 per bitcoin Colloquial “slang” term for microbitcoin
satoshi sat 100,000,000 per bitcoin Smallest unit in bitcoin, named after the inventor

For example, assuming an arbitrary exchange rate of $10000 for one Bitcoin, a $10 meal would equal:

  • 0.001 BTC
  • 1 mBTC
  • 1,000 bits

For more information check out the Bitcoin units wiki.

Source : by BinaryResult ( Reddit )