Bitcoin redefines traditional currency as digital alternative
For many people, the first time they saw or heard the term “Bitcoin,” it was on the pages of the business section or on CNBC or Fox Business as analysts reported that large quantities of the digital currency went missing. While there are only around 200,000 registered Bitcoin addresses with at least one bitcoin, what made the news of this relatively underused digital currency grab headlines is that the disappearance of these bitcoins represented a loss of around $460 million. Bitcoin was the first “cryptocurrency,” created in 2009 as an all-digital form of money that can be spent between individuals using a peer-to-peer public ledger that keeps track of all transactions. While many other forms of digital currency have come since Bitcoin was unveiled, including the Canadian government-backed MintChip, Bitcoin has remained the most widely used cryptocurrency. “You assign your computer to do some hard math problems in its spare time and when it’s done, you’ve mined one bitcoin.
