您可能最近听说过比特币这个词，可能是在(Bitcoin)网上(Internet)冲浪时、从朋友那里或在报纸上的某处读到比特币。(Bitcoins)那么什么是比特币(Bitcoin)，它们是如何运作的呢？谁是比特币(Bitcoin)矿工或什么是比特币(Bitcoin)挖矿？比特币(Bitcoin)投资市场如何？这篇文章试图简要地触及这些问题。
什么是比特币
对于那些不了解比特币(Bitcoin)的人来说，它是一种电子货币——与任何国家的货币无关或依赖。比特币(Bitcoin)( BTC ) 是一种数字货币，在 2008 年由化名开发者中本聪 ( Satoshi Nakamoto ) 的论文中首次描述，他称其为匿名的点对点电子支付系统。它使用区块链技术。
使这种加密货币(Cryptocurrency)更加不稳定的原因是，与印刷的硬币和纸币不同，它没有物理实体来支持它。例如，在许多国家，纸币的印制只达到该国可兑换黄金（或任何其他贵重）金属总量的一定比例。显示的图像仅用于表示目的；比特币不是实物。
比特币挖矿(Bitcoin Mining)：需要专用(Dedicated) 资源(Resources)
比特币(Bitcoin)可以在必要时创建。也就是说，它们在处理器和存储方面都得到了无形计算机资源的支持。用于保护比特币交易的加密方法采用了繁重且冗长的加密，因此会消耗大量的计算机资源。说使用比特币或其部分发起的交易取决于服务器（或称为比特币矿工）的数量和这些服务器的计算能力，这并没有错。
阅读(Read)：最佳比特币钱包(Best Bitcoin Wallets)。
比特币挖矿(Bitcoin Mining)：需要专用的高端软件(Hi-End Software)
与已经用于交易的比特币相比，新的比特币相对容易处理。(Bitcoin)每笔交易都会为比特币添加大量与先前交易相关的散列等。每笔新交易都需要矿工首先解码硬币，然后将更大的序列附加到比特币。因此，它变得更重。
考虑到它是黄金，假设每次比特币矿工（服务器）收到一个金块（例如目的）并对其进行解码时，它还会为其添加另一层镀金——从而使其更重到服务器无法处理的程度重量。比特币(Bitcoins)也从这个阶段过去了，在这一点上——它们变得太大——初始数据被删除，最后的数据被保留以考虑之前成功的交易，然后在此基础上工作。
这里的目的是将比特币的“重量”保持在一个特定的单位之下，这样它就不会使从事采矿的软件崩溃。随便定义比特币挖矿的过程，就是了解比特币是否真实，即是否被合法使用的过程——通过解码之前的交易并与日志进行比较，看是否匹配。如果他们不这样做，很可能是 1）服务器错过了在上一次成功交易时广播的日志报告，或者 2）同一个比特币一次被用于两个不同的交易——换句话说，试图侵入比特币挖矿.
以上所有都需要复杂的软件。这些都是开源软件(open-source software)——唯一的要求是每个比特币挖掘服务器都应该有兼容的软件来解码之前的交易，验证它并创建一个新的、长的散列来完成当前的交易。我在这里使用了“long”这个词，因为在某些情况下，两个或多个矿工可能会同时创建哈希并将其广播到日志中。在这种情况下，考虑具有较长散列的硬币——具有较短散列的硬币被丢弃。这意味着交易通过，只有小散列被丢弃。
阅读(Read)：适用于 Windows PC 的免费比特币挖掘软件(Free Bitcoin mining software for Windows PC)。
比特币矿工(Bitcoin Miner)：激励措施是什么？
你可能会问我对管理TOR 网络(TOR network)的人的激励措施。除了对保护用户隐私的一点点满足外，他们什么也得不到。但在这种情况下，使用的系统资源非常低。如果您将计算机用作TOR节点，您的计算机不会变慢。它只会接收一个数据包并将其转发到TOR网络中的另一个节点。就这样。
来到比特币挖矿，需要特殊的软件和大量的计算资源。只要有新的比特币产生，比特币矿工就会得到很好的激励来解码和记录交易。在某些情况下，发起交易的人（用户）也会为矿工增加交易费用。任何高于交易价值的东西都由比特币矿工保留。这个到阶段好。
可以生成的比特币数量和生成比特币的速率是有限制的。它每四年减半，到 2140 年结束。截至目前，每十分钟就有 25 个新比特币出现。四年后，它将是 12.5，四年后又是 6.25，依此类推。这是他们根据当前的协议和技术计算出来的。2100 万是将被开采的比特币(Bitcoins)的最大数量。目前，只有 1700 万比特币(Bitcoins)存在。
因此，对矿工的唯一激励是他们开采的数量加上交易费用（如果有的话）。再次考虑到这一点，您只能开采和出售至该矿所拥有的任何东西。在您开采完完整的矿山后，您赚钱的唯一方法就是利用黄金价格的波动。
这就是为什么我说如果你是日内交易者，你可以快速获利。比特币的价格波动很大，取决于几个因素，如果她或他了解它是如何运作的，他或她就可以赚到很多钱。不幸的是，与其他股票一样，您无法创建可预测的图表来触发买卖警报。一些证券交易所也合并了比特币交易所，因此您可能会在您的计算机上获得一个代码，当比特币的价值略微上涨时会向您发出警报。这个比特币价值监控软件可能由比特币交易所提供，或者您必须创建一个自定义软件。这很容易——您只需操纵现有的代码并在添加任何其他货币时添加比特币。
阅读(Read)：比特币、莱特币、狗狗币——比较加密货币。
比特币投资(Bitcoin Investment)：可能的障碍
目前，一些实体正在接受比特币作为交易商品的有效货币。据少数报道，此类实体大多为赌点和非法贩毒实体。维基解密(Wikileaks)等一些知名机构也接受比特币，这样贡献者就可以保持匿名。除非发件人留下听起来相似的原始地址的踪迹，否则任何机构都无法跟踪发件人。
迄今为止，很少有比特币交易所将比特币转换为真实货币，最近的一项法律规定此类比特币交易所负责注册和征税。这种趋势可以增长——创造容易的转换以及大量的税收来阻止比特币交易。如果有充分的理由证明大多数比特币用户是出于非法原因这样做的，那么任何国家的比特币交易所都可能会在短时间内完全关闭。
阅读(Read)： 如何在浏览器中访问区块链域(How to access Blockchain Domains in a Browser)。
结论
考虑在内：
- 如果您打算投资比特币(Bitcoins)，请仅投资您可以承受损失的金额。比特币(Bitcoins)提供高风险、高回报。
- 目前，Biycouins 没有真正的内在价值。这都是对未来可能价值的猜测。
- 只有 1000 人拥有大约 40% 的比特币——这就(Bitcoins –)开启了各种可能性。
- 随着网络中的比特币越来越多，矿工的收入将越来越少，
- BTC的价值可能会随着用户数量的增加而下降，并且
- 法律可以随时更改，反对将比特币兑换成(Bitcoins)真实货币，
我会说，如果你想在它还处于全盛时期的时候尝试并赚钱，那就要小心了。无论您做什么，用比特币(Bitcoins)交易或用它们购买物品，保持安全！如果你属于日内交易者，是的——你继续玩吧！但如果您正在寻找长期投资，您可能需要等待一段时间。
我已经从文章中删除了几个与比特币相关的术语，以用易于理解的单词替换它们。有关其工作原理以及可能的危险和好处的完整详细信息，请访问bitcoin.org。
What is Bitcoin, the Digital Currency
You may have heard the term Bitcoin recently, maybe while surfing the Internet, from a friend or read about Bitcoins somewhere in the newspapers. So what is Bitcoin and how do they work? Who is a Bitcoin miner or what is Bitcoin mining? How is the Bitcoin investment market? This post tries to touch upon these questions in brief.
What is Bitcoin
For those who do not know about Bitcoin, it is an electronic currency – not related or dependent on the currency of any country. Bitcoin (BTC) is a digital currency first described in a 2008 paper by pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto, who called it an anonymous, peer-to-peer, electronic payments system. It uses Blockchain Technology.
What makes this Cryptocurrency more volatile is that, unlike printed coins and bills, there is no physical entity to back it. For example, in many countries, bills are printed only up to a certain ratio of total exchangeable gold (or any other precious) metal available in that country. The image displayed is just for representation purposes; Bitcoins are not physical.
Bitcoin Mining: Needs Dedicated Resources
Bitcoin can be created as and when necessary. That said, they are backed up by intangible computer resources in terms of both processor and storage. The method of encryption used to secure bitcoin transactions employs heavy and lengthier encryptions and thus consumes considerable computer resources. It would not be wrong to say a transaction initiated using bitcoin or parts thereof depend upon the number of servers (or bitcoin miner as they are called) and the computing capacity of these servers.
Read: Best Bitcoin Wallets.
Bitcoin Mining: Needs Dedicated Hi-End Software
A new Bitcoin is relatively easy to handle compared to bitcoins that were already used for transactions. Each transaction adds a good amount of hashing, etc., related to previous transactions, to the bitcoin. Each new transaction would require the miners to first decode the coin and then append a larger sequence to the bitcoin. Thus, it becomes heavier.
Considering it gold, assume that each time a bitcoin miner (server) receives a gold block (for example purpose) and decodes it, it also adds another layer of gold plating to it – thus making it heavier to an extent where the servers cannot handle the weight. Bitcoins too pass from the phase and at this point – where they become too large – the initial data is erased, and the last ones are kept to consider the previous successful transactions and then to work based on that.
The aim here is to keep the “weight” of bitcoins under a specific unit so that it does not crash the software engaged in mining. To casually define the bitcoin mining process, it is the process of understanding whether the bitcoin is genuine, i.e., being used legally – by decoding the previous transaction and comparing it to the log to see if they match. If they don’t, chances are 1) either the server missed the log report broadcasted upon previous successful transaction or 2) the same bitcoin is being used for two different transactions at a time – in other words, an attempt to hack into bitcoin mining.
All the above requires complex software. These are all open-source software – the only requirement is that each of the bitcoin mining servers should have compatible software to decode the previous transaction, validate it and create a new, long hash for completing the current transaction. I used the word “long” here as in some cases, two or more miners may create hashes at the same time and broadcast it to logs. In this case, the coin having a longer hash is considered – the one with the shorter hash is discarded. It means that the transaction goes through and only the small hash is discarded.
Read: Free Bitcoin mining software for Windows PC.
Bitcoin Miner: What Are The Incentives?
You may ask me about the incentives for people managing the TOR network. They do not get anything except a little satisfaction towards contributing to user privacy. But in that case, the system resources used are pretty low. If you use your computer as a TOR node, your computer will not slow down. It will simply receive a packet and forward it to another node in the TOR network. That’s all.
Coming to bitcoin mining, special software and a good amount of computing resources are required. As long as there are new bitcoins being generated, the bitcoin miners get a good incentive for decoding and logging the transaction. In some cases, the people (users) who initiate transactions, also add transaction fees for the miners. Anything above the transaction value is kept by the bitcoin miner. This is good until a stage.
There is a limit to the number of bitcoins that can be generated and to the rate of bitcoins generation. It halves every four-year and ends at 2140. As of now, every ten minutes see 25 new bitcoins. Four years later, it will be 12.5, and again four years later it will be 6.25, and so on. This is something they’ve calculated based on the current protocol and technology. 21 million is the maximum number of Bitcoins that will be mined. Currently, there are only 17 million Bitcoins in existence.
Thus, the only incentive for miners is the amount they mine plus the transaction fee if any. Considering this with gold again, you can mine and sell only up to whatever the mine holds. After you extract the complete mine, the only way you can make money is by using the fluctuations in the gold rates.
That is why I said if you are a day trader, you can go for some quick profits. The rate of bitcoin is highly volatile dependent on several factors, and one can make good money if she or he understands how it works. Unfortunately, like with other stocks, you cannot create a predictable graph that will trigger an alarm to buy and sell. Some stock exchanges have incorporated bitcoin exchange as well so you might get a ticker on your computer that alarms you when the value of bitcoin goes up a little. This bitcoin value monitoring software may be provided by the bitcoin exchange, or you’ll have to create a custom one. It is easy – you just manipulate existing tickers and add bitcoin to it as you add any other currency.
Read: Bitcoin vs Litecoin vs Dogecoin – Cryptocurrency compared.
Bitcoin Investment: Possible Hurdles
Right now, some entities are accepting bitcoins as valid currency to trade their goods. According to a few reports, most of such entities are gambling points and illegal drug selling entities. Some reputed institutions such as Wikileaks also accept bitcoins so that contributors can stay anonymous. There is no way any agency can track the sender unless the sender leaves a trail of similar-sounding origin addresses.
As of date, there are few bitcoin exchanges that convert bitcoins into real currency and a recent law has made such bitcoin exchanges accountable for registration and taxation. This trend can grow – creating easy conversion as well as a good amount of taxation to discourage trading in bitcoins. If there are sufficient reasons to prove that a majority of bitcoin users are doing it for illegal reasons, such bitcoin exchanges may completely be closed in any country at short notice.
Read: How to access Blockchain Domains in a Browser.
Conclusion
Taking into account:
- If you are planning to invest in Bitcoins, invest only that amount that you can afford to lose. Bitcoins offer high risks, high-returns.
- Currently, Biycouins have no real intrinsic value. It’s all speculation about possible future value.
- Just 1000 people own around 40% of the Bitcoins – and that opens up various possibilities.
- The miners will earn less and less as more bitcoins are in the network,
- The value of BTC ‘may’ go down as the number of users increase, and
- That the laws can change anytime against the exchange of Bitcoins into real currency,
I would say be careful if you want to experiment and make some money while it is still in its heyday. Whatever you do, trade in Bitcoins or use them to buy items, stay safe! If you fall into the category of day traders, yes – you go ahead and play! But if you are looking for long-term investments, you may want to wait and watch for a while.
I’ve eliminated several Bitcoin-related terms from the article to replace them with easily comprehensible words. For full details of how it works and possible dangers plus benefits, visit bitcoin.org.
