Bitcoin: Rise Of Digital Currency & How It Affects You [Infographic]

About a month ago, I wrote an article that explored the possibilities of a global digital currency. It could be a decentralized digital currency system that operates on an open-source software maintained by a community of developers. Since most global exchanges exist now without trading paper money, it really makes sense to move from a paper money system to a digital currency system. It would be yet another way advances in technology could make our lives more streamlined.

Bitcoin, a system like what I’ve described which was created in 2009, has been surrounded by controversy over the past few years. Now known by some as the “digital currency that could,” it seems Bitcoin is once again gaining momentum.

The way Bitcoin works is easy. It allows anyone to send anyone any amount of money, anytime, anywhere over the Internet. People get confused by the name “Bitcoin” because in reality, there are no actual coins involved in this system. Instead, a public ledger keeps track of everything. All you have to do to use this type of global digital currency is install the software and then purchase “coins.” Of course I’m oversimplifying it, but it’s a brilliant system. According to Scientific American, “A person who owns Bitcoins really just owns a cryptographic key used to access a specific account.”

More and more merchants have started to accept Bitcoin as a form of digital currency for payments. WordPress and reddit are just two examples. I thought this infographic called Bitcoin 101: The Digital Currency Revolution by Online Accounting Degrees provides an informative introduction to Bitcoin for anyone interested in learning more about it. Like this infographic says, Bitcoin “is an active and thriving market that could revolutionize the economy, not just of the world, but of your own financial well being. It’s definitely worth further investigation and investment.”