Section 1: General Information
Security in Bitcoin has become a revolution for all cash systems. The focus of bitcoin is to be a virtual currency that is between two people or also known as peer-to-peer (the owner of the money and the receiver of the money). This form of electronic payment is purely based on secure proof because it does not involve itself within any formal financial institutions to manage the funds. The purpose of the Security in Bitcoin is because it enables users from business-to-customer, customer-to-business and peer-to-peer, to be able to make online and offline purchases from anywhere. As there is no formal financial institutions that are in control of the payments that are made by users, there is no control on that money that is going out. Bitcoin also features pseudonym accounts and there are no direct fees on each transaction that is made by users. This type of technology is a form of security issue as the rising concerns of users security becomes a demanding topic. Bitcoins anonymous users can cause a feeling of mistrust from many users as there is no form of control as to who is behind the transaction that is being made. The reliability of the Bitcoin as a source of money transfer is questioned because of the many services that do host Bitcoin leading to the recent events of them being targeted by fraudsters. As this is the case, the barrier for Bitcoin can be broken down at any time as there is no real secure process that is involved when being a user of this system.
Section 2: Technical and Historical Information
Bitcoin had made its mark on the world in 2009 when it’s founder, Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym), posted to a secured mailing list, a presentation of “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”. This gave a run down of how Bitcoin worked and the purpose of this new Electronic cash system that would somehow take over the money system. From here, 2008 was the year that this mysterious cash system became a live service as the domain had been created and posted on the web for the whole world to begin experimenting with. January 2009 was the year that Bitcoin was formally introduced to the mining sector of cash systems. It has never been suggestions about the origin of Bitcoin as it one of the world’s biggest mystery. Not only is the beginning of this service a secret but so is the founder, which relates back to the key value for the service. Privacy for each individual user on Bitcoin is part of this key value. The purpose of Bitcoin could of been an idea formed by simple entertainment for the founder, or to create a change in the way we use money, producing an ease without the complications and interference of formal financial institutions.
Here’s a timeline of Bitcoin’s progress through out the years:
1998-2009: There were many services that were created before Bitcoin had come into place. These services almost replicated Bitcoin but they were never successfully formulated for it to be used by users.
2008: The anonymous presentation of “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” was posted onto the secret mailing list.
2009: Bitcoin becomes a legacy and is introduced into the world of electronic cash systems
2010: Bitcoin has its first value. A user of Bitcoin traded 10,000 units for two pizzas, which today would have a value of $100 million.
2011: Competitors for Bitcoin begin to emerge everywhere, wavering the rising impact of Bitcoin.
2013: The price of Bitcoin had gradually increased to $1,000 but slowly began its decrease , causing a loss for anybody who invested any money into the service
2014: As Bitcoins attraction began to rise once again, it became the prime victim of scams and theft, leading to a loss of coins worth $450 million at this time.
2017: The growth of Bitcoin began to once again increase, placing it’s title once again at the top of cash systems. In 2017, Bitcoin had reached $10,000 and to this day, continues to grow.
Bitcoin’s technological components involve the use of cryptocurrency and data security to maintain a functioning service for all of their users. Cryptocurrency is a digital currency which uses a platform to exchange. In bitcoin’s case, they employ cryptocurrency for the collection and exchange of virtual coins for an object. Data security needs to be placed in order for these exchanges to smoothly run without any complications including the loss of data, coins, theft or scam to anyone of the two users who are pursuing the exchange. Cryptocurrency’s relevant form of hardware includes a hardware wallet which allows to check and confirm transactions that are made to a user. It also protects confidential data of each user from being leaked or accessed from users who have no permission to access this personal data.
Section 3: Impact of Technology
Many resources identify that the future of blockchain will potentially create a change for many companies around the world and with bitcoin’s recent uprise and growth, it seems it will begin a change in the way we handle and use our money within a business and around the world. As claimed The Bitcoin Big Bang (Kelly, The Bitcoin Big Bang, 2015), it has begun a revolution that will continue and evolve today’s society in the future. Although bitcoin is too small to create a major impact on money exchange, it will definitely create a major impact on the way society understands money exchange. The simpler it gets for users, the more it will be heard about and eventually users will turn to electronic cash systems to trade up items instead of physical money exchange. User’s today are always looking for an easy scape of doing important tasks and now that money exchange has become easier to use, from the comfort of one’s home, it will reach a point where users will turn to bitcoin instead of formal financial institutions who have control of the money that is going out. Bitcoin itself has produced a major impact on the way business’ run and the functioning of larger societies. It is an easy tool that anybody of any age can use which is what majority of business’ are looking out for. Mentioned above is the little impact that bitcoin has over the money exchange system, making it a non disruptive technology because it is not causing much harm to the already existing physical money exchange service. It is though, an emerging technology as we are only just seeing the beginning of it’s features. In future, bitcoin can possibly become the feature that users rely on to do more than just exchange coins for items.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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