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I've been using bitcoins as an option on my business - an alternative to Paypal. Sadly, not many people are familiar and pay with it, but I do wish it would catch on.
The concept is neat, it's an online cypto currency with a real time (Decent volume) exchange to USD and many other major currencies.
Google it and check it out. There are some merchant solutions available as well. If this would just catch on, we could say goodbye to Pay-fu**ing-pal, and merchant services in general.
I looked it up but it does not make sense to me. Crypto-currency? Long block chain (more than 140.000 blocks)? Peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority, so is it regulated?
No.. it's not regulated. Basically it's a currency that is separate from any government or controlling entity. Think of it like gold in that way... except it's artificial and easily transferred electronically.
It's all based on mathematics which are over my head, but I've had limited use of it with success. The "money" is stored in a file on your computer or webbank, flash disk, whatever - and is accessed with a bitcoins application. As long as you keep your wallet file safe and secure you're good. (You can even print the wallet file, and there is a such thing as hard bitcoin currency with the wallet file saved withen electronically) When you sent money to someone's bitcoin hash address, it is deduced from your balance and added to theirs... and the effect is transferred throughout the entire network so all users' systems are aware of the transfer and it cannot be reversed/undone/hacked. But, because there is no registration, there is no way you can be traced, your account seized, etc. It's basically like cash except it can be send to people electronically with no type of central system in place to collect fees or interfere.
When I say cash, I mean a foreign cash. It's not USD. But it can be easily exchanged at anytime, and thus far the exchange rate remains solid, with a lot of volume.
so how would I get actual cash in hand, USD?
You can convert your Bitcoins to US dollars at
[url]www.mtgox.com[/url]
Mt Gox currently trades the most volume of Bitcoins and the Bitcoin / US Dollar market is the most active although other currencies are available.
Why is Bitcoin better than PayPal?
1) your account can NOT be frozen
2) there are NO chargebacks, once you get paid that's it. The only way for the money to go back is for you to send it back.
Exactly, thank you. If we can just get more people to accept it, it would grow.
It all seems to abstract and anonymous for me. If something goes wrong, which happens, there is no record of anything including me. And to have to go to a different website to convert your Bitcoins to US dollars at whatever rate they decide just sounds so shady. When and how do I actually get MY money in MY hand????