bitcoin

In November 1, 2008, a man named Satoshi Nakamoto posted a research paper to an obscure cryptography listserv describing his design for a new digital currency that he called bitcoin.Bitcoin is an experimental, decentralized digital currency that enables instant payments to anyone, anywhere in the world.Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority: managing transactions and issuing money are carried out collectively by the network. In many ways, bitcoins function essentially like any other currency, and are accepted as payment by a growing number of merchants, both online and in the real world. But they are generated at a predetermined rate by an open-source computer program, which was set in motion in January of 2009. Nakamoto himself mined the first 50 bitcoins— which came to be called the genesis block—on January 3, 2009. For a year or so, his creation remained the province of a tiny group of early adopters.
But slowly, word of bitcoin spread beyond the insular world of cryptography.
It has won accolades from some of digital currency’s greatest minds. Wei
Dai, inventor of b-money, calls it “very significant”; Nick Szabo, who created bit gold, hails bitcoin as “a great contribution to the world”; and Hal Finney, the eminent cryptographer behind RPOW, says it’s “potentially world- changing.” The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocate for digital privacy, eventually started accepting donations in the alternative currency.
Later new players joined The small band of early bitcoine. Gavin Andresen, a coder in New England, bought 10,000 bitcoins for $50 and created a site called the Bitcoin Faucet, where he gave them away for the hell of it. Laszlo
Hanyecz, a Florida programmer, conducted what bitcoiners think of as the first real-world bitcoin transaction, paying 10,000 bitcoins to get two pizzas delivered from Papa John’s. (He sent the bitcoins to a volunteer in England, who then called in a credit card order transatlantically.) A farmer in
Massachusetts named David Forster began accepting bitcoins as payment for alpaca socks.
Through 2009 and early 2010, bitcoins had no value at all, and for the first six months after they started trading in April 2010, the value of one bitcoin stayed below 14 cents. Then, as the currency gained viral traction in summer 2010, rising demand for a limited supply caused the price on online exchanges to start moving. By early November, it surged to 36 cents before settling down to around 29 cents. In February 2011, it rose again and was mentioned on Slashdot for achieving “dollar parity”; it hit $1.06 before settling in at roughly 87 cents.
As a top manager adopting a new technology , is an adventure . especially when the creator of the new currency is not known, and his identity is kept secrete . as a manager things has to be totally Claire to me. However , to make such a decision is not easy, because others managers can take the opportunity and make their business growth , it’s very important as a first step to talk to the owner and keep him informed of the new currency and show him all advantages and disadvantages. For example explain him that accepting new currency can expand our business and we can add new customer , but also warned him about deaf risks.
Some economists have responded positively to Bitcoin, including François R. Velde, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve in Chicago, , writes in his paper “Bitcoin: A primer” that bitcoin is a “remarkable conceptual and technical achievement, which may well be used by existing financial institutions.” who described it as "an elegant solution to the problem of creating a digital currency."[103] Economists Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong have found fault with Bitcoin asking questions why bitcoins should be a reasonably stable store of value or whether there is a floor on their value.

Government Accountability Office report that said the use of virtual currencies could lead to lost tax revenue.