What is Bitcoin

Bitcoin explanation

Bitcoin is a new form of money: revolutionary, decentralized, neutral and voluntary. Bitcoins are digital money and you can use them just like Euros or Dollars. You can use it to buy goods, make payments among yourself, receive them in exchange for a service, speculate with them or exchange them for money.These are just a few applications of the countless possibilities that Bitcoin offers.

Bitcoin is what they call a "cryptocurrency" it is a digital decentralized currency whose price fluctuates on the open market. In contrast to the systems we now pay with, such as credit cards, bitcoin is extremely suitable for use on the Internet

Bitcoins can be sent:
– Directly from person to person
– At extremely low transaction costs
– Within seconds
– Anonymous
– Easily to a bitcoin address
– Via the internet
– Without the intervention of a bank or other body

Decentralised

Bitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency in the history of mankind.The real revolutionary thing about Bitcoin is that there is no central authority or regulator like a central bank that turns the knobs. The issuance of new bitcoins and the control of transactions are regulated by the Bitcoin network itself. The Bitcoin network consists of people like you and me who have chosen to run the bitcoin software (miners). This bitcoin software connects to each other via the internet, creating a worldwide payment network without a central authority or node (blockchain).

Money in the cloud

Bitcoin can be seen as money in the cloud, you can access it anytime and anywhere and payments are fast and secure. Because it is in the cloud, Bitcoin, just like the internet, does not take countries and borders into account. Another good comparison for Bitcoin is to see it as digital cash, just like with cash, the bitcoins are really yours, payments go directly from person to person. Bitcoin transactions are also irreversible and have a high degree of anonymity. You do not even have to know or trust the counterparty to make a bitcoin transaction, the network serves as an intermediary and ensures that there can be no cheating.

Easy to spend, easy to accept

Spending bitcoins is no more than scanning a QR code and pressing a button on your computer or smartphone. With bitcoin, just like with cash, you do a so-called "push" transaction, you send the money instead of the money being debited from you. No longer do you have to fill in unnecessary personal details and no longer do you have to give all kinds of agencies access to your bank account.

Accepting bitcoins is actually just as simple, all you need is a bitcoin address where people can pay you. And if you do not feel like receiving bitcoins, you can automatically convert them into euros by using a payment provider. It's fast, simple and cheap, with no conditions or subscription fees.

Where can you spend bitcoins?

Bitcoins are accepted in more and more places, in the Netherlands you can already order your food with bitcoins at thuisbezorgd.nl or book a hotel at Expedia. We are not there yet but the list is growing every day, maybe it is a nice idea for your company? Check bitcoinspot.nl for a comprehensive overview of all the places where you can pay with your bitcoins and for free "we accept bitcoin" window stickers and advice on how to accept bitcoins.

Why use bitcoins?

Bitcoins are versatile in their application and there are many different reasons to use bitcoins. Reasons may include:
– Transactions are instant, no more waiting 2 days for an international transfer.
– Low transaction fees, whether you transfer 0.1 or 1 million bitcoins.
– No purchase fraud or "chargebacks" due to irreversible transactions.
– No entry or subscription fees.
– No conditions or restrictions.
– Independence from governments/borders/countries/censorship/restrictions.
– High degree of anonymity.
– Possibility to transfer very small amounts (micropayments)
– Possibility of diversification from euro/dollar.
– No banks.

Where do bitcoins come from?

Bitcoins are made by the Bitcoin network itself. To earn bitcoins, you can join the Bitcoin network and use the computing power of your computer (or special hardware) to verify and store bitcoin transactions. If you choose this, you immediately participate in a kind of lottery that you can win once every 10 minutes. If you are the winner you get 25 bitcoins and then the lottery starts again and everyone has a chance again. This process is also called mining. In this way, the bitcoins are evenly distributed in the network. Every 10 minutes, 25 bitcoins are added and in a few years that will be halved to 12.5 etc until finally 21 million bitcoins will be in circulation.

Can you also buy bitcoins?

Not everyone has the opportunity to do mining so you can also buy them in many places. The easiest way is to buy them through a so-called exchange office, these buy bitcoins and sell them back to the user with a small surcharge. With these intermediaries you can often pay with PayPal or bank transfer, which makes purchasing easy.
Another way is to buy them through a so-called exchange. An exchange does not buy or sell bitcoins but brings bitcoin providers and buyers into contact with each other. Check bitcoinspot.nl for more information about buying and selling and for an overview of exchange offices and exchanges.

How is the bitcoin price determined?

The price of Bitcoin is not determined by a central authority. Bitcoins are sold and traded in many different places and each place has its own in and selling price. There is an average price that is obtained by taking the average of all large so-called exchanges and exchange offices. The current rate is always displayed on our homepage.