Bitcoin

About

Bitcoin^[1] is a virtual crypto-currency regulated by a peer-to-peer network that creates a time-stamped register yielding chains of valid transactions. Unlike other digital currency systems or credit payments, Bitcoins are treated like cash and transactions cannot be reversed.

History

The need for a digital currency based in cryptography^[2] was discussed in two separate academic papers published in 1993 by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University^[6] and the University of Southern California.^[7] Five years later, the idea was introduced to the the Cypherpunks^[3] mailing list^[4] by cryptography advocate Wei Dai, who suggested a system in which the currency would be both regulated and created through crowdsourced cryptography, thus eliminating the risk of double-spending altogether.

Proposition

On November 1st, 2008, a person or group of people under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto^[8] distributed a paper^[9]solidifying this idea into a proposal for something called “Bitcoin” via the Cryptography Mailing List.^[10] The first blockchain was generated on or before January 3rd, 2009, as its Genesis Block^[11], or first block, references the title of an article^[12] published that day in the UK newspaper The Times about a physical bank bailout. The announcement of the system and its open source client was posted on the Cryptography Mailing List^[13] on January 9th. This post also stated that the total circulation would consist of 21 million coins, made available in increments over the course of 16 years.

Exchange Market

On July 18th, 2010, the exchange market Mt. Gox^[19] launched, allowing people to buy and sell Bitcoins as well as providing software for merchants to accept Bitcoins as payment on their online storefronts. The site also offers a live ticker of Bitcoin exchange rates (shown below). They claim to facilitate more than 80% of all Bitcoin trading as of March 2013.^[20]

Mining

Bitcoins are generated through a process known as “mining,”^[22]^[26] which adds transaction records to Bitcoin’s public register known as a block chain.^[23] The chain exists as a record of Bitcoins spent in actual monetary value and to bar attempts from double-spending, or spending previously used coins. The process is meant be challenging, requiring a piece of data known as a proof of work^[24] that has an ever-changing very low probability^[25] for getting the hash for each transaction correct on the first try. The actual act of mining can be completed by dozens of different programs^[27] for multiple operating systems, including Android. A ledger of the most recent blocks is provided by BlockExplorer.^[25] A handful of miners have shared their mining hardware setups made from both desktops (shown below, left) and mobile phones (shown below, right) on YouTube.

Regulation

On March 18th, 2013, the United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a clarification^[28] to the regulation regarding virtual currencies. Though the statement does not explicitly address Bitcoin, it stipulates that businesses that exchange American dollars for digital currencies qualify as Money Services Businesses (MSBs) and should thus be subject to federal regulations and must comply with money laundering laws.^[29] However, users of the currency, or people who mine the currency for themselves, do not qualify as an MSB.

Reception

As of March 2013, Bitcoin users and miners congregate on Reddit^[14] and the Bitcoin Talk Forums^[15], among numerous other smaller groups. There is also a Wiki^[21] and the online publication Bitcoin Magazine^[18] that gathers information about the currency and keeps track of its exchange rates. Since 2011, Bitcoin conferences have been held annually^[16] throughout Europe, with the first US conference scheduled for May 2013.^[18]

Thefts

Since Bitcoin transactions cannot be reversed, if Bitcoins are stolen from a user’s digital wallet, they cannot be replaced. One of the earliest Bitcoin robberies occurred in June 2011, when a user known as Allinvain reported^[30]25,000 Bitcoins (approximately $467,000 at the time) stolen from his account. It was later believed to have been caused by a Trojan virus^[31] that would hack into unencrypted wallets and forcefully carry out the transfers. between 2012^[32] and 2013,^[33] there have been several reports of large sums of Bitcoins stolen from exchange sites, leading some enthusiasts to suggest offline storage of Bitcoin codes, either on encrypted hard drives that are not connected to the Internet or by physically writing them down. Bitcoin owner Charlie Shrem^[41] has a ring with an engraving of his codes (shown below, left) to protect his investment and entreprenuer Mike Caldwell^[35] has minted more than $2.5 billion in physical Bitcoins (shown below, right).

Usage

As of March 2013, a number of online businesses and non-profit organizations^[43] accept Bitcoins, most notably Wordpress,^[44]4chan,^[44]Wikileaks,^[38]Reddit^[39] and OkCupid.^[40] Additionally, the Internet Archive has offered their employees an option to receive a portion of their paychecks in Bitcoins.^[41] There are also a handful of Bitcoin casinos^[42] where players will bet anywhere from ฿66,000 to ฿1,787,470 per hand, depending on the site.

Silk Road

Bitcoins are the only currency accepted on Silk Road, an online black market that can only be accessed via The Onion Router (TOR). Though the site launched in February 2011, the site did not recieve mainstream attention until Gawker^[37] published an expose on it in June of that year. Silk Road allows people to buy a number of items including drugs, apparel, books, digital goods, drug paraphernalia, erotica and forgeries. In July 2012, it was estimated^[36] that more than 1.2 million dollars US in sales were being generated monthly by the site.