It's a distributed ledger though. So yes it's public to view it, but in order to update or make changes to that ledger (send a transaction) you need cumulative approval from a bunch of independently owned and operated computers around the world to check and verify that your transaction is legit (ie... Has the mathematical signatures necessary to prove ownership of the sending account).
It's not actually used as currency for daily transactions. It's a fraudulent store of value
It's value lies in the fact that nobody can control it, gate-keep, halt, or reverse transactions on the ledger. Anyone can create a new bitcoin account without needing to register or provide ID, and nobody can stop them from using the network.
That feature is valuable enough to create a consistent userbase willing to spend money on it, which is what gives it monetary value. And from there speculation adds more value of course, and there's gonna be ups and downs in the price for sure due to the specualtion.
and is worthless in a crisis.
Actually it's EXTREMELY valuable in a crisis. When Venezuela had their hyperinflation crisis Venezuelans were all over the internet begging strangers to send them $20 in Bitcoin because they can't get USD into the country, and food sellers didn't want to take their dogshit native currency with a plummeting value.
Next, another thing that makes it EXTREMELY valuable in a crisis is the fact that bitcoin can be smuggled in your mind with zero physical evidence, and nothing that can be seized from you.
All you gotta do is set up a wallet, transfer funds to it, and memorize your 12 word seed phrase. Then you can cross any check point or border in the world with nothing but the shirt on your back and still have access to your funds as soon as you acquire a computer on the other side.
How do you open a wallet without ID or verification? I tried a few years ago and couldn't ever figure it out, just got looped back to the big exchanges that wanted a picture of you and your ID.
Those are the on/off ramps, since they deal in Fiat currency they are centralized. IE.... Binance, Coinbase, Crypto.com
when they are holding your crypto you don't actually own crypto. you own a credit with that company. it's only when you withdraw your crypto to your own wallet that you control that you actually own it.
That's how so many people lost their money when FTX collapsed. they left their crypto with the exchange and when the company collapsed their funds were lost.
Once you get crypto in your own wallet there a bunch of different wallet apps you can use and setting up a new account is as simple as a few clicks and generating a new address.
You can even swap and trade crypto through various decentralized exchanges. it's when you go to change it back to USD that you'll have to deal with an institution again.
It's a distributed ledger though. So yes it's public to view it, but in order to update or make changes to that ledger (send a transaction) you need cumulative approval from a bunch of independently owned and operated computers around the world to check and verify that your transaction is legit (ie... Has the mathematical signatures necessary to prove ownership of the sending account).
It's value lies in the fact that nobody can control it, gate-keep, halt, or reverse transactions on the ledger. Anyone can create a new bitcoin account without needing to register or provide ID, and nobody can stop them from using the network.
That feature is valuable enough to create a consistent userbase willing to spend money on it, which is what gives it monetary value. And from there speculation adds more value of course, and there's gonna be ups and downs in the price for sure due to the specualtion.
Actually it's EXTREMELY valuable in a crisis. When Venezuela had their hyperinflation crisis Venezuelans were all over the internet begging strangers to send them $20 in Bitcoin because they can't get USD into the country, and food sellers didn't want to take their dogshit native currency with a plummeting value.
Next, another thing that makes it EXTREMELY valuable in a crisis is the fact that bitcoin can be smuggled in your mind with zero physical evidence, and nothing that can be seized from you.
All you gotta do is set up a wallet, transfer funds to it, and memorize your 12 word seed phrase. Then you can cross any check point or border in the world with nothing but the shirt on your back and still have access to your funds as soon as you acquire a computer on the other side.
How do you open a wallet without ID or verification? I tried a few years ago and couldn't ever figure it out, just got looped back to the big exchanges that wanted a picture of you and your ID.
Those are the on/off ramps, since they deal in Fiat currency they are centralized. IE.... Binance, Coinbase, Crypto.com
when they are holding your crypto you don't actually own crypto. you own a credit with that company. it's only when you withdraw your crypto to your own wallet that you control that you actually own it.
That's how so many people lost their money when FTX collapsed. they left their crypto with the exchange and when the company collapsed their funds were lost.
Once you get crypto in your own wallet there a bunch of different wallet apps you can use and setting up a new account is as simple as a few clicks and generating a new address.
You can even swap and trade crypto through various decentralized exchanges. it's when you go to change it back to USD that you'll have to deal with an institution again.