The value of each bitcoin is currently around $ 90 or 70 euros. A year ago, each worth less than five dollars. On Thursday, for the first time, the total value of all these virtual currencies in circulation exceeded one billion dollars.The idea of virtual money is not new. This is the way many systems that allow buy credits with real money and then use those credits to buy goods or services. There are games on Facebook that allow buy virtual money, for example. The innovation of bitcoins, which were launched in 2009, is that there is no central body responsible for the money - not even a company.
The system relies on peer-to-peer (where computers are connected directly to each other, in a decentralized way). The value of money (ie, the price that can be purchased with conventional currencies like the euro and dollar) is stored in files that exist in the network itself, as with the owners of the funds and transaction history. Emissions Rates are made periodically and automatically pre-programmed, without human intervention.The coin has been used in online markets for drugs and weapons, but there are also legal services that accept this type of payment. The reputed hosting service for Wordpress blogs is one of them. Last month, the site reedit, popular mainly in the U.S. and where users aggregate and discuss content they find online, began accepting bitcoins paid for their functionality. In the United States, at least, one or another coffee that accept bitcoins and, in Canada, some people put a house on sale for $ 405,000 Canadians, or alternatively, 5750 bitcoins.
The bitcoins can be bought and sold on websites created for this purpose, whose operation is not very different systems of investment in the stock. The user places orders to buy or sell, setting the price because they're willing to sell or buy, and expects the system to execute the order.There is always a riskThe comparison between the current value and the value of a year ago gives clues about the valuation of bitcoins. But do not tell the whole story: the numbers tend to fluctuate a lot and buy Bitcoins can be a risky investment.
Moreover, there have been attempts to get bitcoins computer fraud.In recent days, the bitcoins provoked an avalanche of media attention, with several media outlets to notice the high value which the currency reached. Some argue that the euro zone crisis and loss of confidence in the banking system, particularly after the announcement of the rate on deposits in Cyprus are attracting people to the virtual currency.In April last year, Reuters had interviewed a Greek merchant who claimed not to resort to banks and that, instead, wore bitcoins. The phenomenon tends to generate a cycle: the more the media talk of bitcoins, more interested in raising money and more potential users arise, which turns out to arouse the attention of the media more and more services available to accept this form of payment .
In 2011, an article on the subject, the Nobel Prize in Economics Paul Krugman argued that the system of bitcoins as well as its recovery, fomented raising these currencies and not promoted spending. If prices were to be measured in bitcoins, he noted, the economy was in deflation.Earn CoinsThe distribution of new currency by the network is a very complex process. The system "creates" coins every ten minutes, but they must be "discovered" and, in theory, anyone can connect to the network and try to do it.Tour simplified form, the process of "discovery" involves having specific software to solve a kind of complicated mathematical problems. At first computer to find the solution, is given a reward in bitcoins. The difficulty of the problems is adjusted according to the network's ability to "discover" coins, to ensure that the introduction of coins in the system will be kept constant.
This mode of operation makes it necessary to invest resources to get coins and whoever invests more resources whoever can get the most often. Solve problems involves the use of processing power that is not available on the computers commonly used in everyday life. Means still a considerable expenditure of electric power and a certain amount of time, which depends on the technical capabilities.The various "mining" of bitcoins (is the term for network nodes that attempt to solve mathematical problems) so invest resources (time, processing power) in the competition for a scarce commodity. The operation is more similar to mine precious metals than the currency issue by a central bank.
The system is designed so that the value of the rewards given to decrease by half every four years. Moreover, the "issue" will stop when they are in circulation 21 million bitcoins, what if the network remains in operation, held in 2140.The process was invented by someone using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. In November 2008, an online forum Nakamoto published a document with the typical structure of a scientific article in which he described the process. The system began operating in January next year. Sometime in 2010, Nakamoto walked away and left the process take its course creation.
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