Bitcoin and It's Working
In 2008, a cryptocurrency was invented by an unknown group or individual under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. The utilization of this currency started one year later, in 2009, after releasing its implication as Open-source software. Bitcoin is first of its type. In Open-source software under a license, source code was provided, and the group or person having copyright allows others to use, analyze, alter or share software.
What is crypto-currency?
An online asset or can be called a digital investment, which is made to act as a means of interchange. These coins are not physical in nature. In this how much amount or how many coins a person owns is saved in the ledger, which is in the cyber database. To protect records related to transfers, confirm the transfer of ownership of coins, and check the making of additional cash, strong cryptography is used. Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. And all other crypto-currencies, tokens, and any other type of digital asset are categorized under Altcoins, alternative coins. The newcomers made cryptocurrencies tried to eradicate problems with previous ones and add features according to the customers' requirements. Thus creating fair competition in the digital market. The cryptocurrency is not under the control of any government. And hence, companies or government affect their functioning in any way.
Structure and outline of Bitcoin
Unit of Bitcoin and their relation.
Bitcoin is the unit of the bitcoin system. ₿ is the Unicode symbol of bitcoin. In the bitcoin system, a small amount is represented in mBTC (millibitcoin) and sat (satoshi). One satoshi is equivalent to one hundred millionth of a bitcoin and One millibitcoin is equal to one-thousandth of bitcoin.
Transitions and its fees
It has one or more inputs as well as outputs. When bitcoin is sent through website, the sender mentioned the receivers' name and the amount to be sent. As it provides the facility of multiple outputs, bitcoin can be sent to more than many people in one transaction. Transaction fees are optional, but extra benefits can be provided based on paid transactional fees. The unit of measuring this fee is sat/b.
Wallet
The vital information regarding bitcoin and its transactions are saved in Wallet. A wallet is a collection of keys, one public and one private.
- Full client- These are the most trustworthy and secured. In this, there was no requirement of an external party.
- Lightweight Clients- For sending and getting transactions without a copy of the whole blockchain, they consult Full Client. However, it is not entirely trustworthy.
- Online wallet- Internet service of third-party. Like Lightweight Client, it can't be trusted blindly; one must be careful too.
There is a feature of a physical Wallet too. This is a printout of a private key on paper. Hardware Wallet and Token Coins are some other forms of physical Wallet.
Blockchain
This is a ledger that has a record of transactions regarding Bitcoin. It is a public ledger. As clear from the name, it is a chain of blocks. Every block is related to the previous one. A web of communicating nodes maintains the blockchain.
Mining
It is a service of record keeping. Mining is done by the utilization of the processing power of the computer. The blockchains are kept continuous, complete, and unchangeable.
How is bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency different from the traditional currency?
Opposite to the banking systems and government systems and digital currency, there is a decentralization of the control in crypto-currency. Unlike traditional currency, the maintenance of crypto-currency is done through scattered consensus. Neither it requires a central authority, nor has it.
The most significant difference is in its supply. Traditional, fiat money has an unlimited supply. But unlike fiat currency, the cryptocurrency has a limit when the collection is concerned. For instance, Bitcoin is capped at 21 million. That means that it will ever be provided is 21 million. Both have some pros and cons. It seems like Bitcoin is far better than fiat currency but it still needs lots of evolution to remove fiat coin.
Conclusion
It took bitcoin some time to become this well structured and systematic without any central control. And its evolution was quite fast. Within a short time, bitcoin gained popularity, and many other cryptocurrency, popularly known as altcoins that include tokens and other cryptocurrencies and other digital asset forms in the market.
