Quickly find the answers to commonly asked questions.
Bitcoin is the world's first widely adopted cryptocurrency — it allows for secure
and seamless peer-to-peer transactions on the internet.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto are revolutionizing how we invest, bank, and use
money. Learn more in this beginner's guide.
To really grasp how bitcoin works, it helps to start at the beginning. The question
of who created bitcoin is a fascinating one, because a decade after inventing the
technology—and despite a lot of digging by journalists and members of the crypto
community—its creator remains anonymous.
Unlike credit card networks like Visa and payment processors like Paypal, bitcoin is
not owned by an individual or company. Bitcoin is the world’s first completely open
payment network which anyone with an internet connection can participate in. Bitcoin
was designed to be used on the internet, and doesn’t depend on banks or private
companies to process transactions.
One of the benefits of paying with bitcoin is that doing so limits the amount of
personal information you need to provide. The only time you need to share your name
and address is if you’re purchasing physical goods that need to be shipped.
Every transaction on the Bitcoin network is published publicly, without exception
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are powered by a technology called the
blockchain.
Ethereum is the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap after Bitcoin. It is
also a decentralized computing platform that can run a wide variety of applications
— including the...
As to what you should do with your bitcoin, that depends completely on your personal
interests. Here are some ideas:You can sell it for cash using an exchange or a
Bitcoin ATM.
You can send it across the planet as easily as you can pay with cash in the physical
world. It isn't closed on weekends, doesn’t charge you a fee to access your money,
and doesn't impose any arbitrary limits.
Due to the cryptographic nature of the Bitcoin network, bitcoin payments are
fundamentally more secure than standard debit/credit card transactions