Bitcoin - Bitcoin Journalist for Zealy Campaign

Bitcoin Journalist

MISSION 🎯
Write a post on Leo Finance of at least 1,500 words about Bitcoin.
The topic can be anything related to the Bitcoin blockchain, community, tokenomics, mining… anything related to Bitcoin!

Bitcoin Story Time

Bitcon was launched in January of 2009. It is hard to believe it has been around for over 14 years now.
How did I learn about Bitcoin? I use to be a faithful watch a morning news show here in Canada. The weather person, and sometimes news person on the show was into financial and computers. One day back in 2010 I believe he mentioned that their was a new digital currency on the go called Bitcoin.
Now to give you some history or why this peaked my interest. I have been online, trying to make some money, for a long time. I don’t know how many of you remember e-gold.
“e-gold was a digital gold currency operated by Gold & Silver Reserve Inc. (G&SR) that allowed users to open an account on their web site denominated in grams of gold, or other precious metals, and that let users make instant transfers of value ("spends") to other e-gold accounts. The e-gold system was launched in 1996 and had grown to five million accounts by 2009, when transfers were suspended due to legal issues. At its peak in 2006, e-gold was processing more than US$2 billion worth of transactions per year, on a monetary base of US$71 million worth of gold (about 3.5 metric tons). e-gold Ltd. was incorporated in Nevis, Saint Kitts and Nevis with operations conducted out of Florida, USA.souorce. You can keep reading to see that e-gold was shut down by the USA government.

I was big into e-gold and websites that used it and even ran some of my own. So as it got shut down and I heard about Bitcoin I jumped for joy. I ran to my desktop and downloaded the wallet and thought I was mining. I was not. Lol. Lesson learned was to due your learning. I did not know I had to get the minning software at the same time. I was in early enough that I might have been able to mine from my desk top at that time but I blew the mission. But to say the least, if with that down fall, I was on the road to cryto changing my life.

Back to Bitcoin.

I found this article The History of Bitcoin, the First Cryptocurrency
that I will be quoting as it contains a lot of great history and information about Bitcoin.

How Bitcoin Started

“Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency created and is now the most valuable and well-known. It was first launched in January 2009 by a computer programmer or group of programmers under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, whose actual identity has never been verified.

A 2008 white paper by Bitcoin's mysterious creator originally revealed the blockchain system that would be the backbone of the cryptocurrency market. A blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions that is replicated and distributed across a network of computer systems to secure information.”

“Bitcoin Core Concepts

Block.

A block is a group of Bitcoin transactions over a certain period of time. The transactions are verified by "miners," who are rewarded for verifying the transactions with newly created BTC.

Bitcoin units.

Each Bitcoin is divisible to eight decimal places. A millibitcoin (mBTC) is 1/1,000th of a Bitcoin. The smallest unit is a satoshi (sat), which is 1/100,000,000th of a Bitcoin.

Transaction.

A computer directive styled as "payer X sends Y Bitcoin to receiver Z."

Blockchain.

Each transaction forms an unbroken link on the chain. This transparent, public chain is what allows Bitcoin to exist and be usable. All blocks of transactions are linked to previous blocks of transactions, forming the etymology for the word "blockchain."

Mining.

Independent individuals or groups complete intensive and costly computer calculations to create a block.

Block hash.

Mining activities incorporate a record-keeping service that keeps the blockchain consistent, complete and unalterable. The hashes validate available Bitcoin and serve as a means of uniformly rewarding the miners.

Blockchain address.

A sequence of 25 to 34 alphanumeric characters. This is the information that is given to other parties so they know where to send the coins. They are considered pseudonymous because, while the blockchain itself is public, the address shields personally identifiable information. Cryptocurrency exchanges may be required by law to collect personally identifiable information, but each transaction can be associated with a different Bitcoin address to maintain privacy.

Wallet.

Any individual or entity wishing to exchange Bitcoin (and not store them on an exchange, in someone else's custody) must create a digital collection of the credentials, known as a wallet, necessary to transact coins.

Full clients.

This is a wallet that includes a full copy of the entire blockchain. This is the safest form of storage other than offline or "cold storage," but it requires substantial digital space.

Lightweight clients.

This is a wallet that includes a more limited version of the blockchain in order to enable it to be portable on devices, such as a smartphone. Since the entire blockchain is not available, a party using a lightweight wallet must trust intermediaries who have full wallets.

Keys.

These are the credentials stored in the wallet. Like a safe-deposit box, there are two keys necessary for each transaction.

Public.

This is the technology necessary to encrypt and decrypt transactions. It is "one way," meaning that it easily unlocks transactions, but it can't be used to reverse the transaction. This key enables the blockchain to be uninterrupted.

Private.

This is the passcode that transacting parties initiate so that the transaction is unique to themselves. To spend Bitcoin, one must know their own private key and digitally sign the transaction. The party's signature is verified by the public key without revealing the private key.

If the party "loses" its key, the Bitcoin is unrecognizable, inaccessible by anyone, and therefore worthless. According to Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics company, roughly 20% of Bitcoins have been forgone by parties who lost the private key. Additionally, if the private key is revealed in a security breach, it is possible for the value of Bitcoins to be stolen. In 2022, cryptocurrency investors lost a record $3.8 billion to hackers.

Cold Storage.

Private keys are stored offline to help avoid losing them or exposing them to a security breach.”

I believe that all that quoted information should give you a great education on Bitcoin.

What else can I say about Bitcon?
Countries Where Bitcoin Is Legal and Illegal.

Here is some information from Investopedia.

The United States

“The U.S. Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued guidance on Bitcoin since 2013. The Treasury has defined Bitcoin as a convertible currency with an equivalent value in real currency or one that can act as a substitute for it.

Under current U.S. laws, any entity that administers or exchanges Bitcoin, such as cryptocurrency exchanges and payment processors, falls under the definition of a money services business (MSB). As such, an MSB is subject to the Bank Secrecy Act and must register with the U.S. Treasury and file reports on transactions over $10,000.

Additionally, the U.S. Treasury and FinCEN have created strategies and are assisting in legislative processes to develop regulations, along with establishing national priorities for cryptocurrency tracking and reporting.”

The European Union

The European Union re”cognizes Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as crypto-assets. It is not illegal to use Bitcoin within the EU; however, the European Banking Authority, the currency regulatory authority in the union, has stated that crypto-asset activities are outside of its control and continues to warn the public and businesses of the risks of cryptocurrency.

In 2020, the European Commission finalized a proposal for legislation to regulate crypto-assets, which many agencies have endorsed within the union. It was amended over the following two years, and in October 2022, a final compromised edition was sent to the EC for a vote. On April 20, 2023 the European Parliament passed the Markets in Cryptoassets (MiCA) Regulation. MiCA regulates services related to cryptoassets and stablecoins, and it will be enacted by early 2025.

The legislation does not govern security tokens or non-fungible tokens. It is intended to keep financial regulatory frameworks from fragmenting and level the financial playing field across the EU. The commission also wants to ensure the public has access to and can safely use cryptocurrency.”

Canada

Canada ma”intains a generally bitcoin-friendly stance like its southern neighbor, the U.S. Bitcoin is viewed as a commodity by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for income tax purposes. Any income from a transaction using Bitcoin is considered business income or a capital gain and must be reported as such.

Canada considers cryptocurrency exchanges to be money service businesses. This brings them under the purview of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (Canada's version of AML/CFT laws). As a result, cryptocurrency exchanges must register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), report suspicious transactions, abide by compliance plans, and even keep certain records.”

Australia

“Like Canada, the Australian Taxation Office considers Bitcoin a financial asset with value that can be taxed when specific events occur. For example, if you trade, exchange, sell, gift, convert it to fiat currency, or use Bitcoin for purchases, you trigger a capital gains tax. You're also required to keep records of any transactions you make using Bitcoin for tax purposes.”

France

“France has implemented regulations for cryptocurrencies and crypto assets as identified by the Monetary and Financial Code (MFC). The government has defined digital assets as utility tokens, payment tokens, and security tokens. The MFC does not regulate non-fungible tokens.

Digital asset services are also regulated under the code, which encompasses businesses that purchase or sell digital assets, provide exchange services, act on behalf of others, or offer advice.”

I hope you got an education about Bitcoin. Sorry about the massive quoting but I use it to learn myself and I hope you learn also.

Bradley

Posted Using LeoFinance Alpha