Emily asked me the question everyone’s been too afraid to ask: “What is a Bitcoin and why would I want to have a Bitcoin and not a dollar?”
Fair question. Especially when you’re seeing all over the news, your teenagers are talking about meme coins, and Venmo asking if you want to send crypto instead of dollars. This isn’t some fringe internet thing anymore. It’s everywhere, and if you don’t understand it, you’re going to get left behind. Let’s break this down.
First, you need to understand what gives anything value. Why is gold worth something? Why is a Picasso worth millions? Because someone is willing to pay for it. That’s it. Value is just a collective agreement.
Our U.S. dollar is backed by gold stored in Fort Knox. That’s why people refer to something secure as “Fort Knox” …it’s where the government keeps massive amounts of gold to back our currency. This physical backing is why the dollar is one of the preferred currencies worldwide.
Bitcoin is sort of a digital gold. That’s the simplest explanation, but it goes deeper.
Cryptocurrency is the umbrella term for digital currency. Bitcoin is the kingpin cryptocurrency – the biggest, most established, most valuable. There are thousands of other cryptocurrencies (Ethereum, XRP, and yes, meme coins like the Mr. Beast coin Brady’s invested in), but Bitcoin is the gold standard.
Here’s what makes Bitcoin revolutionary: It was created as a digital asset completely outside the banking system. You can transfer it instantly to anyone in the world, anonymously, without any bank or government intermediary. It’s tracked on a digital ledger, but you can move it freely as long as you have a crypto wallet.
There’s a fixed supply. Only 21 million Bitcoin will ever exist. This scarcity is built into the system, which is part of what gives it value. You can’t just print more Bitcoin like the government can print more dollars. This is part of the concept that I just can’t overlook. This could play a major role in its ability to work as a hedge against inflation in the future.
The creator goes by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Nobody knows his real identity. He owns more Bitcoin than anyone, and he’s never revealed himself. There are even theories …some involving Jeffrey Epstein funding the startup – but the truth is we don’t know. That mystery is part of what makes Bitcoin fascinating and slightly terrifying.
Why Bitcoin has a sketchy reputation: The anonymous transfer capability made it popular for black market dealings. Ransomware attacks demand payment in Bitcoin. Criminal enterprises use it because it’s hard to trace. That’s the dark side.
But that same efficiency is exactly why it’s valuable. Think about how archaic our monetary system is…physical dollar bills, coins, checks that take days to clear. Cryptocurrency is simply a more efficient way for currency to move.
Right now, Bitcoin is crashing. It peaked at $126,000 per coin and dropped to around $62,000 as I’m writing this. Part of that is the Epstein connection surfacing in recently released files. Part of it is large institutions deleveraging their positions. These are real market forces affecting real money.
If you’re just learning about crypto and want to get involved without getting destroyed, here’s the practical approach:
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