Hi everyone, I've been working on this project for a while and now it's finally ready. Nowadays, more and more people are adopting cryptocurrencies because of their returns or tech, so I thought it would be educational to post everyday a quite short and intuitive summary about a single coin, starting from the most capitalized ones. Hope you enjoy this format :)

What is it?

Bitcoin is a virtual currency, which means it is not printed like normal paper money, but instead is created, distributed and exchanged in a completely virtual way, through computers, and peer to peer technology. Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym used by the inventor of this electronic money. Satoshi publishes the first white papers on bitcoin and the underlying technology, the blockchain, in 2008-2009. However, it takes the cue for its creation by Wei Dai, who had already started working on a technology for the generation of a virtual currency some time before. Bitcoin is therefore the first cryptocurrency created and marketed. Its symbol is ฿, but BTC or XBT is also used in the markets.

How does it work?

Bitcoins are completely virtual currencies designed to be autonomous in terms of their value, without central banks influencing it. Bitcoins have value and are traded between parties. You can use your Bitcoins to buy goods and services online or you can put them away and hope their value will increase over the years. Bitcoins are traded from one personal wallet to another. A wallet is a small personal database that can be stored on a computer, smartphone, tablet or in the cloud. Bitcoins cannot be counterfeited. It is so computationally intensive and difficult to create a Bitcoin that it is not economically viable for counterfeiters to manipulate the system (51% attack). Bitcoin varies in value every day and it's extremely volatile (as every crypto). Bitcoins will cease to be created when the total number reaches 21 million coins, which is estimated to be around 2140. Bitcoin cryptocurrency is completely unregulated and decentralized. The currency itself is autonomous and not collateralised, which means that there is no precious metal on which to anchor the value of the virtual currency. The value of each Bitcoin resides in the Bitcoin itself.

Where to store it?

The first step is to download a software that can support the file wallet. There are many choices that can be made in this regard, each suited to the needs of the account opening. Once you have chosen the file, the rest of the procedure will be very simple. Each step will be guided by the instructions given by the system, which will help from the choice of the password and the private and public keys to the purchase of the first bitcoins. Once you have your wallet you can receive and make payments with bitcoins and carry out the operations granted. If you want more security, you should choose a hardware wallet (or cold wallet). It's a portable key to access your crypto assets safely from anywhere.

Pros&Cons

*DISCLAIMER* These lists are subjective, it depends from person to person

Pros

1. Freedom of payment: it is possible to transfer bitcoins at any time from all over the world, without limitations, bureaucracies or external controls.
2. Customizable payment commissions: there are no commissions for receiving bitcoins, while for the payment you can choose which commission to apply based on the payment confirmation speed you want to obtain.
3. Less risk for merchants: transactions made via bitcoin do not contain personal information, thus allowing more open trade with other markets and reducing the dangers of fraud or identity theft.
4. Transparency: each transaction is available and can be consulted on the Bitcoin network, protected and secure, so as to leave a trace of each transaction that has taken place, without the personal information of the parties involved.

Cons

1. Still not worldwide accepted: Cryptocurrency are still in an early phase of their cycle, so not everyone is willing to accept them
2. From 7 TPS to 27 TPS: Bitcoin blockchain is not the fastest one, but Lightning network's update has the purpose to speed up transactions and will probably fix Bitcoin scalability problem