1. bitcoin baby-steps
A short guide to understanding bitcoin.
Congratulations, you've arrived in the future!
In this new world, enabled by the global Internet, Banks have lost their importance and our new money flows unencumbered from party to party with virtually zero fees. No Visa skimming 3% off every transaction, no money in your savings account gathering dust collecting nearly zero interest, no Western Union charging $10 to send a $30 international remittance payment, and no money printing by the Fed or other central body to devalue your hard earned pay. You've got Bitcoin, a 21st century technology that is the culmination of 40 years of cryptographic and computer networking R&D. A fully Internet-centric global currency that rewards saving, as it is naturally deflationary.
Because you are your own bank now there is a little more responsibility than managing your traditional online banking account, but really not much more.
Instead of a login and password to your banking website, you'll now have a "seed phrase" which is a list of 12 words that “logs you into” your personal corner of the Bitcoin blockchain. Keep these words safe and your Bitcoin bank account will be safe. (You’ll get them when you set up your first bitcoin wallet.)
Virtually 100% of the time someone has lost their Bitcoin it is because they were tricked into revealing their seed phrase. Obviously you should never share your seed phrase just as you would never share your login/pass to your banking website.
So if you ever receive a text message or email or phone call or someone taps you on the shoulder (lol) asking for your seed phrase or any other information, just act as you would if someone asked for your bank login/pass. Don't share it, no matter how legitimate the requestor looks.
Probably the easiest and best thing to do to put your mind at ease when entering this new bitcoin world is to create a fresh email account that you only use for bitcoin. That way you can safely separate your day to day online life from your money. You won’t be mixing up your social media world with the various apps and websites that work with Bitcoin. (This is actually good advice that makes sense even with traditional online banking.)
So you'll buy Bitcoin on a website called an Exchange (swanbitcoin.com for example). Use your new email address as your login and you'll need a unique password just as you would on any website.
After turning some dollars into Bitcoin you'll be able to send them from the Exchange to your own personal place on the Bitcoin blockchain where it will safely be stored and validated by tens of thousands of Bitcoin nodes around the world. All you ever need to access it are your twelve secret words (the seed phrase). Even if your computer breaks or you lose your phone, you’ll be able to use your seed phrase to access your funds on a new device.
Bitcoin is never stored in your computer. It is never stored in your phone. Even if you can see your Bitcoin balance using a Bitcoin Wallet program on your computer or your phone, your Bitcoin always lives in the Blockchain itself. Similarly, just because you can see your Bank of America balance in your web browser or BoA app on your phone, it doesn’t mean that those funds are in your browser or phone. The blockchain is just your new bank and it lives on the Internet. The blockchain is simply a database that is shared peer-to-peer, authenticated on many thousands of computers around the world, collectively confirming ownership of over 1 Trillion USD worth of Bitcoin. There is no CEO or help desk, instead there are millions of smart people around the world that have already had the same questions you have and all the answers can be googled.
So, hopefully now you can see that you are part of something big!
Bitcoin takes the control of money out of the hands of a minority of elites, and puts that control back into the hands of you and me, us, we, the people. And while it is the people’s currency, what is most critically important about Bitcoin is that it cannot be altered by the whims of people. It is deliberately and intentionally set in its ways, immune to the latest political hot topic or fad. The faulty machine known as Man has been removed from the loop. Bitcoin’s inflation rate cannot be altered to appease politicians or banksters. The rules by which Bitcoin works are hard-coded, and Bitcoin users understand that Bitcoin’s decentralization and security are precisely what make it so valuable to the world as a truly border-less and nation-less currency. Also, there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin. This too is hardcoded. And this true scarcity is what makes Bitcoin the only crypto worth having.
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