.jpg)
There are not that many people nowadays who don’t know what Bitcoin is. After all, it’s currently one of the highest value assets anyone can get their hands on – it not only provides a high return on investment but also great utility as a borderless decentralized digital currency.
Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, which operates without the oversight of banks and governments. It holds the distinction of being the first-ever cryptocurrency, launched in 2009. In the words of its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin was created to allow
“online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution”
Today, the entire cryptocurrency market is worth around $1 trillion, with Bitcoin representing around 45% of the market. While it began life as a payments network, Bitcoin has evolved into an investment asset. Most holders consider BTC a store of value, and it’s often referred to as “digital gold.”
One of the easiest ways to buy bitcoin is to use special exchange services. Exchangers allow you to buy and sell many popular cryptocurrencies for fiat currencies. You can pay for the operation in various ways, such as electronic payment systems, bank cards, and cash through ATMs.All you need is a created wallet for your Bitcoins. By the way, we have already talked about how to choose the right cryptocurrency wallet for your purposes.
Bitcoin transactions are verified by crypto miners via a proof-of-work consensus mechanism. Proof of work is a validation process that uses a group of miners to validate each block in the blockchain. For Bitcoin, this process usually takes up to 10 minutes. That’s much slower than many competing cryptocurrencies, to say nothing of conventional payments networks. Still, Bitcoin is accepted as a form of payment by some retailers and merchants, such as Microsoft, Overstock and Whole Foods, to name a few. You can buy BTC on several different crypto exchanges. Here are a few exchanges where you can exchange U.S. dollars for BTC:
In addition, if you use a credit card to buy cryptocurrency, it generally will count as a cash advance and be subject to a higher interest rate than you pay on regular charges. Moreover, taking on debt to buy volatile investments is extremely risky. It’s generally advisable to pay for cryptocurrency purchases with cash, or with another crypto you own.
