Nobody owns the Bitcoin network much like no one owns the technology behind email. Bitcoin is controlled by all Bitcoin users around the world. It is fully decentralized & an alternative to centralized banking. It was created in 2009 by an anonymous programmer, Satoshi Nakamoto, according to the original manifesto & release of the Blockchain technology behind it. He/They still remain anonymous & a mystery, but are widely believed to be a decentralized individual/group & not “The Man” like some fear.

The original Bitcoin manifesto: https://www.bitcoin.com/bitcoin.pdf

Another great article explaining the bitcoin revolution: Click Here!

Yes. Perhaps more secure then institutional banks at this point. All transactions and Bitcoins issued into existence can be transparently consulted in real-time by anyone. All payments can be made without reliance on a third party and the whole system is protected by heavily peer-reviewed cryptographic algorithms like those used for online banking. No organization or individual can control Bitcoin, and the network remains secure even if not all of its users can be trusted.

Essentially, a technology behind it, the Blockchain (created by the creator of Bitcoin in 2009), runs using millions of computers to verify transactions running complicated algorithms. A hacker would have to hack millions of computers simultaneously.

You should never expect to get rich with Bitcoin or any emerging technology. It is always important to be wary of anything that sounds too good to be true or disobeys basic economic rules. Bitcoin is a growing space of innovation and there are business opportunities that also include risks. There is no guarantee that Bitcoin will continue to grow even though it has developed at a very fast rate so far. Investing time and resources on anything related to Bitcoin requires entrepreneurship.

There are various ways to make money with Bitcoin such as mining, speculation or running new businesses. All of these methods are competitive and there is no guarantee of profit. It is up to each individual to make a proper evaluation of the costs and the risks involved in any such project.

Payment freedom – It is possible to send and receive Bitcoins anywhere in the world at any time. No bank holidays. No borders. No bureaucracy. Bitcoin allows its users to be in full control of their money.

Choose your own fees – There is no fee to receive bitcoins, and many wallets let you control how large a fee to pay when spending. Higher fees can encourage faster confirmation of your transactions. Fees are unrelated to the amount transferred, so it’s possible to send 100,000 bitcoins for the same fee it costs to send 1 bitcoin. Additionally, merchant processors exist to assist merchants in processing transactions, converting bitcoins to fiat currency and depositing funds directly into merchants’ bank accounts daily. As these services are based on Bitcoin, they can be offered for much lower fees than with PayPal or credit card networks.

Fewer risks for merchants – Bitcoin transactions are secure, irreversible, and do not contain customers’ sensitive or personal information. This protects merchants from losses caused by fraud or fraudulent chargebacks, and there is no need for PCI compliance. Merchants can easily expand to new markets where either credit cards are not available or fraud rates are unacceptably high. The net results are lower fees, larger markets, and fewer administrative costs.

Security and control – Bitcoin users are in full control of their transactions; it is impossible for merchants to force unwanted or unnoticed charges as can happen with other payment methods. Bitcoin payments can be made without personal information tied to the transaction. This offers strong protection against identity theft. Bitcoin users can also protect their money with backup and encryption.

Transparent and neutral – All information concerning the Bitcoin money supply itself is readily available on the block chain for anybody to verify and use in real-time. No individual or organization can control or manipulate the Bitcoin protocol because it is cryptographically secure. This allows the core of Bitcoin to be trusted for being completely neutral, transparent and predictable.

Exchanges/Wallets are terms for online decentralized banking sites to buy/sell/store your crypto currency. The main ones are Gemini, Coinbase & Kraken. There are many others. Open a bitcoin wallet/ exchange & buy your first Bitcoin (exciting, huh!)

http://www.exchange.gemini.com Or http://www.CoinBase.com

Which one to choose? I prefer Gemini Exchange as they have way better customer service.

**For those who are in Hawaii, due to recent state regulations around Bitcoin you will need to use this wallet to purchase Bitcoin: www.uphold.com or http://www.bitpay.com (good to have also, get your BitPay Visa card!).

If you want to avoid high fees buying bitcoin and you are a hawaii resident you need to do a work around by using Uphold. Uphold is an internet bank you fund with your current bank account. Then using your uphold account you can buy bitcoin at better rates. This takes days but you will save from more expensive rates on Xcoins.io (a last resort for those in a rush, but you’ll pay the cost!).

Other resources: https://hawaiibitcoin.org/ www.Hawaiibitcoin.biz

Although Bitcoin was the first created crypto currency, there are currently over 1,000 coins. Really, the top 10 are anything taken seriously at this point. Bitcoin is the leader for a reason: it is the Mother crypto coin & now has 100,000 of locations worldwide where it can be spent (stores, bars, gas stations) as well as ATM’s for Bitcoin around the Globe. As of December 2017 there are 1,800 ATM’s installed worldwide.

You can track it here: https://coinatmradar.com/charts/

How many places accept Bitcoin for payment? Its growing too fast to really say…

• Bitcoin Accepted 260,000 Stores Summer
• Worlds Top 10 Bitcoin Friendly Countries
• 2017 Top List of Big Companies that Accept Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies

I think not. Bitcoin is getting more and more attention, and more people are learning about it and getting into it exponentially at this point. It is expected to reach the mainstream public in the next few years, pushing it from a $200 billion industry to a trillion dollar industry, perhaps surpassing gold (currently at $8trillion market). Currently only 20 million people are using Bitcoin…its FAR from being in a bubble.

The Fortune 500 companies (many who at first disregarded & bad-mouthed Bitcoin) are now one by one hopping on board! All of this pushes its value up even more, we think that eventually everyone will be using it to pay for everything. The future of fiat (regular) currency is a matter of some debate, with many bitcoiners predicting its demise. In the here and now, what’s indisputable is that physical cash is on the way out. In an era of contactless payments, administered by card, smartphone, and smartwatch, coins and notes are an inconvenience. The price will then most likely double or triple next year as it has this year.

How is bitcoin a bubble when these 3 MAJOR things are about to happen in the next few months? On top of that there are 6 BILLION humans who don’t have bank accounts that could prospert from easy access to accounts on their phones, regardless of their remote locations & no access to physical banks.

CME’s planned bitcoin futures will attempt to rein in big price swings
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/11/08/cmes-planned-bitcoin-futures-will-attempt-to-rein-in-big-price-swings.html

CBOE President: Bitcoin ETFs Will Follow Futures Products
https://www.coindesk.com/cboe-president-bitcoin-etfs-will-follow-futures-products/amp/

Amazon just bought three domain names related to cryptocurrency:
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/11/01/amazon-buys-crypto-domains-bitcoin-ethereum.html