What are Bitcoins?

Bitcoins are a new currency making a huge impact. BitCoins are an electronic currency that has no bank and allows anonymous ,low cost transactions.

I was listening to  two beers with steve where he interviewed Brian Newgen (a bit coins expert) from Dublin Ireland. What makes Bitcoins different to other currencies is

• They are are a finite amount in circulation and rules that limit thier distribution (so no systemic inflation),
• There are no central banks therefore very low transaction costs
• All transactions are 100% anonymous

How are Bitcoins created?

The Coins out there are either mined or bought form other people who have Bitcoins. (Mining involves downloading some software and letting it run and your computer “mines”. Mining Bitcoins is processor intensive and now really requires specialist computer (high speed) equipment.   However you can also buy them from a number of market places. It is important to understand when you buy bit coins you are actually buying from someone else who has them – not from a bank. Some place you can go to include https://mtgox.com/ or another good looking site is MR Bitcoin

What can I buy with Bitcoins?

There are a number of vendors that take bit coin (although its not huge). You can buy bitcoins from https://mtgox.com/ or another good looking site is MR Bitcoin

In my next post I explain how I bought my first bitcoin and some of the challenges I had and what I leart in the process.