1. By: Brendan Goldberg Professor Elaine Wenderholm Introduction to Information Science

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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