There is a new kid on the block with disruptive potential to change the face of money—quite literally! and send financial markets into an unprecedented tizzy. It has shaken the foundations of Wall Street and managed to grab the attention of every major business in the world. If you’ve not guessed it yet, well, it goes by the name, Bitcoin, which is what has come to be called a cryptocurrency.
As you might have heard (or perhaps, not), today one Bitcoin is worth almost $7200 and, according to some estimates, there are nearly 17 million Bitcoins out there right now. Go ahead and do the math. That’s a lot of money! You bet. So then, what exactly is a Bitcoin and its coinbase login process? And, why is there such a hue and cry about it? Why are financial analysts and investors reading about it as though their lives depended on it? Not sure? Well, read on to find out…
Hello World!
Bitcoin is an alternative financial system that serves the purposes of both currencies and banks. We have all got accustomed to money in the form of paper bills with its value printed on it. Every country prints its own currency and has banks where its citizens deposit their money in their own private accounts. These banks are recognized by governments which officially recognize the money stored as equity.
The tradeoff in this system was that the bank and the government could keep an eye on the transactions of their citizenry; had the power (even though it’s illegal) to freeze their account and suspend all transactions. Most of us use a credit or debit card and, as you may have noticed, there is Visa or MasterCard printed on it.