The first time I heard about Bitcoin back in 2016, I understood that it is a digital currency that does not depend on any government or company, that its price is highly volatile and it is possible to earn a lot of money or at least that was what I wanted to understand at that moment. I thought that the industry had already exploded and it was too late to join, I went on with my life without paying more attention to it, ignoring what was happening with Bitcoin. Later I regretted not having entered on time because I was wrong.
When I decided to pay attention to Bitcoin again in the middle of 2020, I finally understood these points that I share with you so that the same thing does not happen to you and you understand that it is never too late to enter this industry.
Is limited
Bitcoin is scheduled so that there are only 21,000,000 BTC in all of history, making it a very rare commodity. Now consider that at the time of writing this article, more than 90% of the bitcoins have already been mined, which means that there are very few left to be issued but you do not have to worry since the last bitcoin is expected to be mined until 2140 .
But, how is it possible that there are still Bitcoins to mine if they exist since 2009 and that experts clarify that there are more than 100 years left to finish mining them? That has to do with the next point.
Mining and the “Halving”
In a nutshell, mining is the process in which "miners" put their hardware and electrical power at the service of the Bitcoin network to validate transactions and secure the network, in return, the network compensates them with new bitcoins.
However, every 210,000 blocks are mined, (approximately every 4 years) the reward for miners is halved, making it increasingly scarce. This event can mean many things for bitcoin and its value, however I leave that to your discretion.
Ideal characteristics to be a medium of exchange
Money as we know it today meets certain characteristics that make it useful in our daily lives, below I will tell you some of them and how bitcoin meets them and even improves them.
Divisible: Just as our coins have cents, bitcoin has satoshis, which are the minimum measure of a Bitcoin. Each Bitcoin can be divided into 100,000,000 satoshis, that means that to enter the world of bitcoin you do not have to have a complete unit, you can start from minimum amounts but believe me, once you start you will only want more and more.
Transportable: Every time I think of this concept I imagine the huge armored value vans that transport money or other goods and on the other hand I think of how easy it is to send bitcoin from a phone or computer thanks to blockchain technology. But how can you take your bitcoins with you wherever you go? Well, very easy, you just have to have access to your wallet and internet connection.
Durable: Money has to be durable to be able to be stored and retain its value, this is something that metals do very well and as for bitcoin, as it is a 100% digital asset as long as computers exist, bitcoin will exist.
Incorruptible: The coins and bills that we use every day have security elements that make them very difficult to counterfeit but could ensure that most of us have come across a fake bill, on the other hand, there can be no fake bitcoins, not much least someone can modify the network to credit funds illegitimately, thanks to blockchain technology and the work of miners, concepts that we will review below.
The power of blockchain
If you've heard of bitcoin, you've probably also heard of blockchain, the technology that makes bitcoin work. To simplify it, blockchain is a database that has all transactions documented, ensuring transparency, security and decentralization. Once the information is written on the blockchain, it is extremely difficult (almost impossible) to alter, which makes each transaction very secure and therefore your money too. This database is not controlled by a company or government, it is maintained thanks to miners and nodes that are all over the world supporting security and validating transactions.
It's never too late
If I learned something after the last bull run (stage when prices go up) it is that no one who has known how to wait long enough has lost money with bitcoin, so it does not matter if you are reading this in 2022 or in 2052 it is not too late to buy a few satoshis and explore the ecosystem.
Bonus fact:
Bitcoin (with a capital B) refers to the Blockchain.
bitcoin (with a lowercase b) refers to cryptocurrency.