Bitcoin: We're Learning Together

If you're like me, then you know Bitcoin exists and that it is valuable and profitable with the right amount of money and time put into it...anddd that's about it.

So I have a small investment portfolio on Public. What I love about the Public platform specifically is the access to other investors. It's social media but for investing. Many investors and financial advisors share their thoughts and opinions every day about what is happening in the market. Public shares any announcement about companies and alerts you the companies you invested in are taking a serious plunge or going upwards due to these announcements. Public also allows people from companies to conduct a podcast-like interaction with people to talk about their companies.

That's how I ended up listening to 3 of Ark Invests analysts talk about what exactly Bitcoin is.

What is Ark Invest?

Ark Invest is a company that takes an active role in finding investments in the future of innovative sectors. They invest in AI, blockchain tech, robotics, energy storage and DNA sequencing. They were founded in 2014 and adopted an open research plan to facilitate quicker growth in the previously mentioned sectors. Every financial advisor I have come across says get stock in one of their sectors if not all of them.

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Now on to the conversation. This was my very first real introduction to Bitcoin. The guys from Ark Invest spoke in simple terms which I am ridiculously grateful for. My beginner ears could actually keep up with what was being said and this is what I came away with:

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a digital currency that operates on the idea of consensual trust. It is made of three components: the nodes, the miners, and the developers. The three together create a network where people can create a digital wallet.

Nodes: They run the transactions. They are the computers that take the programs and connect them to the network

Miners: They find the bitcoin to create new blockchains.

Developers: They make sure the programs are updated and bug-free.

Why start learning about Bitcoin?

Currently, there are 180 different currencies in the world right now. This is due to whatever structure a country took to trade goods and services within itself. However, when looking outside that country, the most requested currency is the dollar because it currently holds the most value. The thing is that when a lower-valued currency needs to change to the dollar, then the person with the lower valued currency will spend more money. Bitcoin can eliminate that since its value is the same no matter who holds it and where they are located. Also, Bitcoin is resisted to seizure from the government and banks since it is decentralized.

What is the market cap?

Today the market cap for Bitcoin is $700 billion. However, trends show that Bitcoin will reach $10 trillion in the next 5 years, which is the current market cap for gold.

Why: Bitcoin is transferable, divisible, and easily verified

What can cause Bitcoin to fail?

When banks start using it. Bitcoin doesn't need banks to be successful but banks offer more people access to it. If they do choose to use it, which they most likely are going to do, then banks can potentially control Bitcoin. There's no regulation so if banks eat up a decent share of the 21 million Bitcoins then the accepted idea behind Bitcoin will become void.

Everyday Key Terms

Network: the different types of cryptocurrency like Ethereum and Bitcoin

Blockchain: a messaging system that stores all the transactions

Consensus: the set of rules the nodes use to validate a transaction, every node follows these rules and it serves as proof of expended computes

On-Chain Data: discloses information that determines the health of a blockchain - nodes such as coinmetric and glassnode make seeing these blockchains possible

Hashrate: security of the blockchain - the more computes in a network the safer it is

Proof of Work: the more hashrates the more consensus

Proof of Stake: the more bitcoin the more consensus

Public Ledger: maintains the identities of everyone who has touch that blockchain - also maintained by the nodes

51% Attack: when miners control the majority of consensus

Double Spend: when a 51% attack happens a miner can reverse transactions making them able to buy two things for the price of one - they don't get the bitcoin back; they just erase the first transaction from the ledger so that they can use the same bitcoin for the same transaction

Cold Storage: most secure way to store your private key - if you lose your key then you lose access to your Bitcoin so people who are heavily invested in Bitcoin opt to keep their keys instead of using third party parties like Coinbase

Bitcoin Cash or Bitcoin Core or Bitcoin Gold?

Bitcoin Core. It's bigger making it more accessible, simple as that.

What to learn more?

Twitter. Follow people who are investing and sharing information about Bitcoin. The advice was to get into their entire thought process by turning on their notifications. See what they like, see what they retweet, and you will find that's one of the easiest ways to get a glimpse at the things you don't know or need to learn.

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Thank you and if you are interested in investing on Public, get $70 to use for a stock of your choice by clicking on the above link!