Digital Gold

Digital Gold details the beginnings of Bitcoin, including how it was developed, why it’s early years were such a struggle, the many people that contributed to its rise, and how it’s changed our world so far and why it will continue doing so for a long time.

In January of 2009, an anonymous internet user under the name Satoshi Nakamoto had an idea that would change the world forever– a digital currency called Bitcoin.

Aside from being a completely digital form of money, it also differs from cash in many other ways. One of these is that anyone can get involved by downloading the open-source code. Unlike many other classic software programs, the open-source code means anyone can look at the code, and even make improvements.

Another difference with Bitcoin is that there isn’t a centralized authority. National economies can do things like create more money at will or freeze bank accounts, meaning they have real control of your money. With Bitcoin, there is an established amount of currency that no one person has control of.

Further, unlike a bank account where transactions are secret, Bitcoin has a communal database called the blockchain that everyone can see. This way, everyone can see every transaction as well as every Bitcoin in existence and who has them.

But while your transactions aren’t private like a bank account, you do have the potential to be completely anonymous. There is no limit on how many accounts, or wallets a user can have, and no form of identification or even name is needed to create one, just an email address.

With bank accounts, you need a PIN to protect your account, but there is no need for this with Bitcoin. Bitcoin takes advantage of its robust public-key cryptography, making it impossible for even the most powerful supercomputers to crack.

Public-key cryptography has two parts: private and public. The public part allows it to be published on the blockchain for everyone to see, but only the users involved in the transaction can access the funds.

The people of Argentina know that their government’s financial experiments don’t work. This has meant financial crisis and severe inflation followed by failed attempts to fix the problems. This laid the path for Bitcoin to enter the scene. Bitcoin broke down many of the restrictions the Argentine government imposed to control the Argentine peso’s value. When exchange rates for the US dollar were placed artificially high, PayPal transactions were banned and those who spoke against these rules were fined. Anyone who wanted to purchase something from overseas would deal with long delays. People found if they used Bitcoin, they didn’t have to deal with these extended delays. It also helped protect…