Bitcoin is a decentralised digital currency, meaning it does not belong to any government, nor is it regulated by any institution. In recent years, Bitcoin has become increasingly popular and been coined “digital gold”, because it shares similar properties; scarcity, portability, durability, divisibility, and difficulty to counterfeit. Bitcoin can also be used as an investment vehicle with a limited supply. It increased in value from less than US$1 per bitcoin to over US$6,000 per bitcoin throughout 2017.
In Bitcoin, a block is a group of transactions from a particular time frame. Each new block depends on the preceding ones as they are stacked on top of each other. Thus, a chain of blocks is created, giving the term "blockchain" its meaning.
The previous blocks become immutable each time a new block is introduced. This guarantees each block becomes more secure over time, and also illustrates how Bitcoin technology alters the way money is exchanged in the banking and financial sectors.
To achieve network consensus, the Bitcoin protocol uses a Proof-of-Work (PoW) method based on the SHA-256d algorithm. The network's target block time is 10 minutes, and there are 21 million tokens available at a token emission rate declining. An algorithm updates the network's block difficulty based on the previous 2016 block times to prevent fluctuations in the block time.
The Lightning Network, a second-layer infrastructure for payment channels, and Segregated Witness, a soft-fork to increase the number of transactions on a block, have both been supported by the Bitcoin Protocol as solutions to network scalability, because the block size limit is restricted at 1 megabyte.
Bitcoin is the world's first and largest decentralised cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalisation, and ensures all transactions are accurate. The blockchain keeps a record of every action, and nothing is missed from the network. Any user in the system has access to the complete record after an activity is time-stamped, logged, and saved in one of the information blocks.
The Bitcoin whitepaper was published anonymously in 2008 by a pseudonymous person or team named Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin is an open-source project with global development communities and more than 600 contributors on GitHub, as of the time of writing.
Bitcoin is available to buy from Clanz' digital currency exchange, with some of the lowest industry fees. Clanz offers investors and traders a secure, simple way to buy or trade Bitcoin.
You can hold your Bitcoin in your Clanz wallet as a long-term investment, exchange it for Australian dollars or another cryptocurrency, or send it to another Bitcoin wallet.
Yes, you can buy a fraction of a Bitcoin. 1 Bitcoin can be divided into 0.00000001 BTC. The smallest unit of Bitcoin currency currently recorded on the blockchain is known as a Satoshi. With Clanz, you can purchase Bitcoin for as little as A$1.
Practising safe investing to minimise risk is crucial when buying Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency. The first step to safely buy cryptos is to choose a safe digital currency exchange like Clanz. We’re a licenced Digital Currency Exchange with AUSTRAC (DCE100639664-001), and hold an Australian Financial Services Licence (518031). For more information, visit clanz.com/security
Bitcoin has a floating exchange rate, which means its price is determined by supply and demand. Since Bitcoin is a globally traded asset, its price will vary depending on order books, volume, exchange rates, and service charges of each Bitcoin exchange.
© Clanz 2022, All Rights Reserved. PayFar Pty Ltd, ABN 31 638 408 349, trading as Clanz is a digital currency exchange provider (DCE) registered with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC). PayFar Pty Ltd is a corporate authorised representative of Point Capital Group Pty Ltd (ABN 41 625 931 900) who holds Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) 518031. Before engaging in crypto trading and/or using Clanz Follow-Trading features, you should consider your personal objectives, financial situation, and capacity to sustain significant loss. Clanz does not provide any investment advice. Clanz does not warrant the performance, ongoing participation, or profile disclosures of the traders participating as Leaders (traders you can copy). Clanz Follow-Trading is dependent on your decisions to copy certain traders and your consideration of and acceptance of the risk of incurring loss.