Bitcoin, chances are you’ll have come across the word one way or another through various medium. Either through news outlet where commentary reports about Bitcoin were mentioned, or within your social network where friends and family mentioned and/or discussed about it. While everyone has a take on what Bitcoin is, but its still somewhat challenging to explain Bitcoin in layman’s term for the average Joe. I experienced the same too, whenever I’m asked by family and friends, what is Bitcoin, what does it do? How does Bitcoin has any value? Those are all legitimate questions, and through this article I look to answering all those questions.


What is BTCitcoin?

Bitcoin, is a cryptocurrency(token) powered by blockchain technology, through permissionless peer-to-peer network, thereby forming the Bitcoin Network. Bitcoin is often used by the community as a store of value due that has similar properties as gold.

Verifiable:  Bitcoin operates on the blockchain network which essentially is an open ledger that allows for anyone to verify its entry.

Fungible: Fungibility is the ability of a good or asset to be interchanged with other individual goods or assets of the same type. Thus 1 unit of Bitcoin is the same as another unit of Bitcoin. This is the same for Gold and Fiat currencies(paper money), as there is no difference between 1 unit of gold/money to another unit, thus making exchange/trade simple.

Portability: Bitcoin is a digital asset that can be transferred across borders seamlessly, but requires a lot more effort and security to move large amount of gold or money across distances.

Durable: An item that must be able to withstand repeated usage. This is true for Gold and Money where it can be used repeatedly which almost zero repercussion. While Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer, decentralized form of digital asset, thus it is as durable as the internet. Which was created as a fail-safe, global network with no ‘single point of failure’. If one part goes down, data takes another route and nothing is lost.