Bitcoin: A Beginner's Guide

Bitcoin is your off-ramp from the corrupt political system and protection from financial collapse. This book by bestselling author Benjamin Hart explains how Bitcoin works, why it's secure, and why Bitcoin makes sense for a portion of a well-diversified portfolio.\nBitcoin was created by a pseudonymous computer scientist named Satoshi Nakamoto as a way to send money securely over the internet. We still don't know who Satoshi Nakamoto is or was. He might have been one person or a group of software engineers and cryptographers who had been working together and sharing information on this project for decades. Not knowing who invented Bitcoin remains one of the world's most intriguing mysteries.\nThe first use of Bitcoin to purchase a commercial product occurred on May 22, 2010. A computer programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz bought two Papa John's pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins. On that day, the value of one bitcoin was about one-third of one penny. Today, it will cost you more than $20,000 to buy a single bitcoin. You can also buy a small fraction of a bitcoin.\nBitcoin's two most important properties are: There will never be more than 21 million bitcoins. What makes Bitcoin different from all other cryptocurrencies is it's the most decentralized. "Decentralized" means no one owns or controls Bitcoin. There is no agent between you and who you are transacting with, no intermediary, no central authority – no bank, no credit card company, no government agency.\nAll transactions are directly peer-to-peer. No bank, no government agency can freeze your Bitcoin account or seize your money. Bitcoin is governed by math and algorithmic protocols, not by people. So Bitcoin can never fall victim to political corruption.\nThe big problem Bitcoin solves is debasement of the money. In 1971, when the U.S. dollar left the gold standard, one ounce of gold cost $35. Today, one ounce of gold costs $1,700. This means the dollar has lost 98% of its value since 1971 because of all the money printing by the U.S. Federal Reserve.\nBitcoin is your off-ramp from corrupt fiat money printing by government. If all Hell breaks loose, and we have political and economic system collapse, Bitcoin allows you to carry your life savings with you on your phone, or in your head if you can remember a code, so you can quickly move to where civilization might still exist.\nContents: What is Bitcoin? The Big Problem Bitcoin Solves How Bitcoin Began What is Money? The Mechanics of Bitcoin How Bitcoin Fixes Corrupt Fiat Money Printing Is Bitcoin a Good Investment? Is Bitcoin Secure? Does Bitcoin Make Criminal Activity Easier? What Makes Bitcoin Valuable? Why Does Bitcoin Have to Be Mined? Is Bitcoin Too Difficult to Change? What About Ethereum and Other Crypto Assets? The Strange Case of Do Kwon Bitcoin's Structure Is What Makes It Work Won't Better Technology Replace Bitcoin? How the 19th Century Austrian School of Economics Provides the Framework for Bitcoin Why Much of the World Wants to Get Out from Under the U.S. Dollar But Aren't Rogue Regimes Using Bitcoin to Escape U.S. Sanctions? Bitcoin is Your Defense Against Big Tech's Emerging Push-Button Totalitarianism Bitcoin is an Extension of the American Idea How to Start Using Bitcoin