Does Bitcoin Make Good Sense?

Bitcoin is on the rise as a digital currency used worldwide. It is a type of money controlled and stored entirely by computers spread across the Internet. More people and more businesses are starting to utilize it.

Unlike a plain U.S. dollar or Euro, bitcoin is also a form of payment system sort of like Paypal or a credit card network.

You can hold on to it, spend it or trade it. It can be moved around cheaply and easily almost like sending an email.

Bitcoin allows you to create transactions without revealing your identity. Yet the system operates in plain public view.

Anyone can view these transactions which are recorded online. This transparency can drive a new trust in the economy. It even resulted in the downfall of an illegal drug ring, discovered shuffling funds utilizing bitcoin and shut down by the U.S. Government.

In many ways bitcoin is more than just a currency. It's a re-engineering of international finance. It can dissolve barriers between countries and frees currency from the control of federal governments. However it still relies on the U.S. dollar for its value.

The technology behind this is interesting to say the least. Bitcoin is controlled by open source software. It operates according to the laws of mathematics, and by the people who collectively oversee this software. The software runs on thousands of machines worldwide, but it can be changed. Changes can only occur however when the majority of those overseeing the software agree to it.

The bitcoin software system was built by computer programmers around five years ago and released onto the Internet. It was designed to run across a large network of machines called bitcoin miners. Anyone on earth could operate one of these machines.