By: Brendan Goldberg Professor Elaine Wenderholm Introduction to Information Science

What is Bitcoin?  A cryptocurrency created in 2009  Comparable to PayPal without the need for credit card from bank account and can be used at stores that are not online (i.e coffee shops, clothing stores)  Usable on phones, computers, tablets etc.  Easy to use yet complex in design

What are the risks?  On of the first questions most people would ask is what are the risks.  Bitcoin is a online cryptocurrency therefore there is the risk of hackers taking your account  Developers from the beginning knew this risk and have taken steps to decrease the chance of Bitcoin theft with the creation of the Block Chain

What is the Block Chain  Each block chain is made up of blocks which in turn are made up of hash codes  Hash Codes are like Social Security numbers, where there are no two similar ones  Each transaction is stored with its own hash code  Problem for hackers is every transaction is re-traceable that has been made because of the Block Chain

The Legal Spiel  In the United States, Bitcoin is considered a legal form of currency  This allows other businesses to use Bitcoin without the government hammering down on them  For users, theft is therefore illegal and is apart of the criminal system

How to get into Bitcoin  Go online and search for Bitcoin wallets  A Bitcoin wallet is like a bank account that gives you the ability to make transactions and add more “money” to it…but it’s not that simple to retrieve bitcoins  To get bitcoins, users must go data mining with a decently powerful computer  Data mining consists of the computer (and you) solving complex transaction algorithms  Once the “code is cracked” you can retrieve whatever bitcoins are for the taking in the transaction algorithm

Advantages vs PayPal and other bank accounts  Much easier to set up  Interface is less complex  No credit card, so credit is not affected  Backed up by a community of people eager to help new users  Can be accessible anywhere  No need to set up multiple accounts for different benefits from different companies

Disadvantages  Not as popular as commercial currencies meaning:  Not many companies will accept Bitcoin (yet)  Next door neighbor might look at you funny (not a big deal)  Support might not be as useful if a new issue has come up because not enough time yet to handle all possible issues

The Reality  Bitcoin is worth trying for people that are curious what the 21 st Century has in store for them  The advantages seem to outweigh the disadvantages  The US legal system is starting to get a hang of the potential dangers that can come about and has the ability to change what is needed as far as they can go