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What is Bitcoin????


Source: Coindesk.com

That's Right, I'm Back!

        I know it's been a while, and I'm sure that you were just pining for the familiar sight of a fresh new LorenzoRamble. I am happy to announce that LorenzoRambles is coming back for "another season" if you could call it that. Really what I mean by that is I have been putting off writing another LorenzoRamble for so long that I guess that the only excuse I can make is that I was preparing for another season. Anyway while I was gone apparently my view count has grown to over 2,000 views. Which to me seems crazy as there aren't even that many LorenzoRambles, but I guess people actually like reading them. In the future I am even thinking about creating a fun Patreon Support page, so stay tuned. Alright, back to your regularly scheduled entertainment. 

Money, Money, Money 

It's all over the news, on social media, and you probably have heard people talking about it. But what really is Bitcoin. Well I'm here to tell you its just money. OK, OK, it's more than that. It is what is called an alternative cryptocurrency. The goal of Bitcoin is to make a decentralized currency. What that really means is that it isn't run by any government or single person. Bitcoin isn't a physical currency. And each coin is stored as a token in a digital wallet that can be transferred from person to person as payment. Of course you can also convert Bitcoin to American dollars, or the local currency of your choice. Many of you reading right now are probably "smelling" an investment opportunity, and you'd be right. Ironically one of the most popular uses of Bitcoin right now is as an investment, not a real currency (however that is changing). 


Source: boxcryptor.com

 Well who makes 'em? 

Bitcoins have to be "mined" to be released. When trying to find information about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (yes, there are others, more on that later), you will get hit with vague answers. Such as "to get coins, computers will have to solve math problems to earn coins for the owner of the computer." Yeah.... real helpful, random math problems definitely makes sense.  NO. It isn't random at all, what is really happening is that the computers "doing the math" are really just keeping track of the transactions (or transfers) of money throughout the bitcoin network. Coins aren't awarded until a "block" is solved. A block is really just like having one page of a record book, or ledger completed. In the beginning the good ole nerd boys just mined away with their regular home computers. But as time went on Bitcoins grew harder and harder to earn, and this creates artificial growth, meaning that, in theory should the difficulty increase the value of the currency. At this point it is almost impossible for one person to solve a block and get rewarded, (at the time of writing) 12.5 Bitcoins, for a solved block. Bitcoin mining is either done in pools, in which all of the members work together to solve the block, and share the reward, or is done by large companies with expensive computers that are purpose built for mining. Over time Bitcoin goes through, "halving" phases which means that for every block solved, the reward is half of what it was before, again to try and make Bitcoin more valuable over time. 


Source: Coindesk.com (a "mining" farm)


  There's more....

Now there are at least hundreds of alternative cryptocurrencies out there, each trying to address problems with Bitcoin, or to fill a certain niche. Some of them are made so that they cannot be taken advantage of by large companies, others are made purely for investment. But the biggest and most valuable of course is Bitcoin.... for now.

Lorenzo's Opinion 

Did you really think that I would let you go without my opinion? Don't invest large amounts of money. That's pretty much my advice in a nutshell. As cool of an idea as bitcoin and other "alt-coins"  they aren't very stable as a means of investment, and aren't widely accepted to really be used as a convenient currency. So while I think the concept is cool, it's really not for me. But if you have a thing for really volatile investments, then Bitcoin, and other Cryptos are your guy. If you want to learn more about Cryptos, there is a link here. If you want to check out what each coin is currently worth, go here.

TidBit 

I know, I know, the part you've been waiting for.

In UK, man caught driving over 130 mph to get his first McDonald's burger since lockdown

Are they sure he wasn't a starving American in disguise. Although apparently the whole world is secretly fond of American fast food. (By the way, this is from a little while ago, but I couldn't resist this.)

 

 

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