Coin Citadel (CCTL)

[Captainandy]

#CCTL: Seriously Pennyland is in the cards...:-}GO Kevin

Should CCTL put together a winning Company...WOW


Bitcoin is one of the only WORLD WIDE ways of transferring wealth across borders that is independent of FIAT currencies...!

Bits and Pieces: The Digital World of Bitcoin Currency

http://www.heritage.org/government-regulation/report/bits-and-pieces-the-digital-world-bitcoin-currency

Bitcoin is an electronic currency that is neither issued by a government nor backed by a physical commodity. Bitcoin’s underlying technology allows users to transfer funds in an electronic payments network. Ultimately, the technology could have effects far beyond purchases of goods by, for example, improving processes that rely on time-stamped electronic records, such as digital passports or even stock trades. A key aspect of this technology is the blockchain, a publicly available database that records every bitcoin transaction, and many digital currencies now use some version of it.

The blockchain is maintained by a decentralized computer network rather than by a central authority. A bitcoin transaction is not final until it is included in the blockchain, and no bitcoins exist outside the blockchain. This complete record is distinct from government-issued fiat currency transactions, for which there are no such records.[1] Bitcoin’s process of authenticating each new transaction that is added to the blockchain, commonly referred to as mining, also creates new bitcoins. Every four years, the number of bitcoins produced is halved, until as many as 21 million bitcoins have been created. After those bitcoins have been created, which is expected to occur about 2041, mining will only authenticate transactions. The first bitcoin was created in 2009, and there were approximately 14.1 million bitcoins as of May 2014, as computed at the website bitcoincharts.com.

Bitcoin is still in the early stages of development, but bitcoins are already accepted as payment for goods and services by well-known companies, such as Dell, Papa John’s, and Overstock.com, as well as many other vendors. Bitcoin transactions are still a small part of the global economy, and it is difficult to imagine Bitcoin replacing an established national currency, such as the U.S. dollar, as long as the Federal Reserve acts as a moderately good steward of the national currency. Nonetheless, the privately produced cryptocurrency Bitcoin is one example of a market innovation that allows people to choose their own mediums of exchange. Congress should prevent barriers that single out Bitcoin development and impede people from using their preferred medium of exchange.

What Is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a privately issued electronic irredeemable currency. Bitcoin is not issued by any government nor backed by any physical commodity. Bitcoin’s underlying technology makes it possible to use bitcoins on an electronic payments network. One key part of this technology is the blockchain, and many digital currencies now use some version of it. The concepts discussed in this Backgrounder apply equally to Bitcoin and any similar digital currency based on a blockchain.

Bitcoins are digital and might be thought of as bits that represent money, but they are very different from, for example, a digital Microsoft Word file. Word bits represent a document that can be altered, copied, and sent to any number of people. Anyone who attaches a Word file to an e-mail can still send the original Word file to someone else or use it otherwise. Once a bitcoin is transferred to another person, the original owner can no longer send it to anyone else or use it for any purpose. One of the key reasons why Bitcoin became the first successful privately issued digital currency is precisely because individual bitcoins cannot be copied and re-used even though no central authority is running it.

If users could re-spend the same bitcoins—that is, “double spend” them—bitcoins would be useless as money. An infinite number of bitcoins could be created at virtually no cost and the value of bitcoins would be zero. Bitcoin’s underlying technology avoids this problem by using a decentralized peer-to-peer computer network rather than a centralized authority to verify transactions. This decentralized network effectively maintains a database ledger that authenticates all bitcoin transactions.

The ledger is referred to as the blockchain, and all bitcoin transactions are checked against the blockchain to ensure that there is no double spending. This authentication process on the network allows people to make direct digital currency transactions with each other without relying on a third-party intermediary, such as a bank or PayPal. The authentication process is referred to as mining, and it also creates new bitcoins at a pre-determined rate.[2] People who make their computer resources available for authenticating the blockchain, referred to as bitcoin miners, are rewarded with some combination of new bitcoins and transaction fees.[3] Transactions are verified by miners working to solve a computer resource-intensive computational problem built into the underlying Bitcoin protocol.[4]

This mining process is designed to produce fewer bitcoins as time goes on, and no more than 21 million bitcoins will be created. This maximum number is expected to be reached by approximately 2041. It is easy to verify the exact number of bitcoins in existence at any moment, which ensures that the production of bitcoins follows this schedule. The use of resources to create new bitcoins mimics the extraction of a precious metal from the earth, which accounts for the use of the term “mining.”[5] After the maximum number of bitcoins has been created, transaction fees higher than current fees will compensate miners, who are not employed by Bitcoin, for the resources used to authenticate transactions.[6]

http://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/~/media/infographics/2015/09/bg3047/bg3047_text-box1-600.jpg