Crypto Academy Season 3 Beginners' Course - Homework Post for Task 3: Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies, Public chains

WHAT IS BITCOIN AND WHAT WAS THE AIM BEHIND BITCOIN INVENTION? IS CRYPTOCURRENCY GOOD FOR A BUSINESS TO ACCEPT AS PAYMENT? WHY?

WHAT IS BITCOIN AND WHAT WAS THE AIM BEHIND BITCOIN INVENTION?Bitcoin is considered to be the first cryptocurrency that is used to make transaction for the payment of goods and services. Bitcoin was founded in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi Nakamoto is considered to be the anonymous bitcoin founder. The first Bitcoin block came into existence in January 2009 when Satoshi Nakamoto conducted the first transaction and that transaction gave rise to the bitcoin Genesis block. Bitcoin is a digital currency used in a decentralized system. Bitcoin runs on a platform called blockchain technology.

The objective of inventing bitcoin was to provide an alternative payment of goods and services digitally that will work in decentralized system. The decentralized system is essential because it eliminates all loop holes experienced in systems that uses centralized system like the financial system.

Consider for example, the financial system where the banks serve as the third party, it means that all transactions must pass through the bank, you pay high commissions for your transactions, at times you cannot access your funds due to system downtimes experienced as a result of technical challenges or outages. You also experience delays in performing transaction because you need authorization from the bank. The decentralized system takes care of all these setbacks.
That is why Bitcoin was invented to be used in decentralized system to fix these challenges experienced in a centralized system as an alternative form of payment.

IS CRYPTOCURRENCY GOOD FOR A BUSINESS TO ACCEPT AS PAYMENT? WHY?It will be good for a business to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment. There are a lot of good reasons why a company should do that:

• A company that accepts cryptocurrency will definitely record increase in the number of customers coming in on its platform for business. By accepting cryptocurrency, companies open their doors to international buyers for whom their products and services where once inaccessible and this will increase their customer base.
• Companies accepting cryptocurrency offers their customers an additional way to pay while providing a level of protection for their information.
• A company accepting cryptocurrency for business will have lower transaction fees. The absence of a central intermediary will dramatically reduce the transaction fees.
• One advantage of using cryptocurrency for payment is its efficiency and ease of transaction. For a company that accepts it as a form of payment, the transaction between the company and her customers will be more efficient as there will be no delay of any sort, and you know that fast transactions help streamline a company's cash flow.
• A company that accepts cryptocurrency as payment can choose to exchange one currency into another through exchange platforms. By doing that, the company will have a distributed investment, whether the company chooses to make it medium term or long term.

CONCLUSIONAccepting cryptocurrency as alternative source of payment is actually a welcome development. I can also say that the invention has impacted on peoples' lives positively. Some people had made a fortune out of it. And many more are also getting exposed to it.

I am grateful to professor @stream4u