Bitcoin Wiki - User contributions [en]

Myths

2017-09-07T11:13:47Z

OrangeBitcoin:

Let's clear up some common Bitcoin misconceptions.

== Bitcoin is just like all other digital currencies; nothing new ==

Nearly all other digital currencies are centrally controlled. This means that:
* They can be printed at the subjective whims of the controllers
* They can be destroyed by attacking the central point of control
* Arbitrary rules can be imposed upon their users by the controllers

Being decentralized, Bitcoin solves all of these problems.

== Bitcoins don't solve any problems that fiat currency and/or gold doesn't solve ==

Unlike gold, bitcoins are:
* Easy to transfer
* Easy to secure
* Easy to verify
* Easy to granulate

Unlike fiat currencies, bitcoins are:
* Predictable and limited in [[Controlled_Currency_Supply|supply]]
* Not controlled by a central authority (such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve The United States Federal Reserve])
* Not debt-based

Unlike electronic fiat currency systems, bitcoins are:
* Potentially anonymous
* Freeze-proof
* Faster to transfer
* Cheaper to transfer

== Miners, developers or some other entity could change Bitcoin's properties to benefit themselves ==

Bitcoin's properties cannot be illegitimately changed as long as most of bitcoin's [[economic majority|economy]] uses [[full node]] wallets. Transactions are irreversible and uncensorable as long as [[Majority_attack|no single coalition of miners has more than 50% hash power]] and the transactions have an [[Confirmation#How_Many_Confirmations_Is_Enough|appropriate number of confirmations]].

Bitcoin requires certain properties to be enforced for it to be a good form of money, for example:

# Nobody ever created money out of nothing (except for [[Mining|miners]], and only according to a [[Controlled supply|well-defined schedule]]).
# Nobody ever spent coins without knowing their [[private key]].
# Nobody spent the same coin twice
# Nobody violated any of the other tricky rules that are needed to make the system work ([[difficulty]], [[proof of work]], DoS protection, ...).

These rules ''define'' bitcoin. A [[full node]] is software that verifies the rules of bitcoin. Any transaction which breaks these rules is not a valid bitcoin transaction and would be rejected in the same way that a careful goldsmith rejects fool's gold.

Full node wallets should be used by any intermediate bitcoin user or above and especially [[Why_Your_Business_Should_Use_a_Full_Node_to_Accept_Bitcoin|bitcoin businesses]]. Therefore anybody attempting to create bitcoins with invalid properties will find themselves being rejected by any trading partners. Note that lightweight wallets and web wallets do not have the low-trust benefits of full node wallets. Lightweight (SPV) wallets will blindly trust the miners, meaning if 51% of miners printed infinite coins or spent the same coin twice then lightweight wallet users would happily accept these fake bitcoins as payment. Web wallets blindly trust the web server which could display anything at all.

[[Mining|Miners]] are required to choose between multiple ''valid'' transaction histories. A coalition of more than 50% of miner power is able to (at great expense to themselves) [[Majority_attack|rewrite transaction history]], so miner decentralization is necessary to keep transactions irreversible. Miners burn a lot of electrical power in the mining process so they must constantly be trading their bitcoin income in order to pay bills. This makes miners utterly dependent on the bitcoin economy at large and therefore gives them a strong incentive to mine ''valid'' bitcoin blocks that full nodes will accept as payment.

Influential figures in the community (such as developers, politicians or investors) may try to use their influence to convince people to download and run modified full node software which changes bitcoin's properties in illegitimate ways. This is unlikely to succeed as long as counterarguments can freely spread through the media, internet forums and chatrooms. Many bitcoin users do not follow the bitcoin forums on a regular basis or even speak English. All appeals to run alternative software should be looked at critically for whether the individual agrees with the changes being proposed. Full node software should always be open source so any programmer can examine the changes for themselves. Because of the co-ordination problem, there is usually a strong incentive to stick with the status quo.

See also: [[Full_node#Economic_strength]]
See also this blog post: [http://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/who-controls-bitcoin/ Who Controls Bitcoin?]

== Bitcoin is backed by processing power ==

It is not correct to say that Bitcoin is "backed by" processing power. A currency being "backed" means that it is pegged to something else via a central party at a certain exchange rate yet you cannot exchange bitcoins for the computing power that was used to create them. Bitcoin is in this sense not backed by anything. It is a currency in its own right. Just as gold is not backed by anything, the same applies to Bitcoin.

The Bitcoin currency is ''created'' via processing power, and the integrity of the block chain is ''protected'' by the existence of a network of powerful computing nodes from certain [[Weaknesses#Attacker_has_a_lot_of_computing_power|attacks]].

== Bitcoins are worthless because they aren't backed by anything ==

One could argue that gold isn't backed by anything either. Bitcoins have properties resulting from the system's design that allows them to be subjectively valued by individuals. This valuation is demonstrated when individuals freely exchange for or with bitcoins. Please refer to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjective_theory_of_value Subjective Theory of Value].

See also: the "[[#Bitcoin_is_backed_by_processing_power|Bitcoin is backed by processing power]]" myth.

== The value of bitcoins are based on how much electricity and computing power it takes to mine them ==

This statement is an attempt to apply to Bitcoin the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_theory_of_value labor theory of value], which is generally accepted as false. Just because something takes X resources to create does not mean that the resulting product will be worth X. It can be worth more, or less, depending on the utility thereof to its users.

In fact the causality is the reverse of that (this applies to the labor theory of value in general). The cost to mine bitcoins is based on how much they are worth. If bitcoins go up in value, more people will mine (because [[Mining|mining]] is profitable), thus [[difficulty]] will go up, thus the cost of mining will go up. The inverse happens if bitcoins go down in value. These effects balance out to cause mining to always cost an amount proportional to the value of bitcoins it produces<ref>[https://www.bitcoinmining.com Bitcoin Mining]</ref>.

== Bitcoin has no intrinsic value (unlike some other things) ==

This is simply not true. Each bitcoin gives the holder the ability to embed a large number of short in-transaction messages in a globally distributed and timestamped permanent data store, namely the bitcoin blockchain. There is no other similar datastore which is so widely distributed. There is a tradeoff between the exact number of messages and how quickly they can be embedded. But as of December 2013, it's fair to say that one bitcoin allows around 1000 such messages to be embedded, each within about 10 minutes of being sent, since a fee of 0.001 BTC is enough to get transactions confirmed quickly. This message embedding certainly has intrinsic value since it can be used to prove ownership of a document at a certain time, by including a one-way hash of that document in a transaction. Considering that electronic notarization services charge something like $10/document, this would give an intrinsic value of around $10,000 per bitcoin.

While some other tangible commodities do have intrinsic value, that value is generally much less than its trading price. Consider for example that gold, if it were not used as an inflation-proof store of value, but rather only for its industrial uses, would certainly not be worth what it is today, since the industrial requirements for gold are far smaller than the available supply thereof.

In any event, while historically intrinsic value, as well as other attributes like divisibility, fungibility, scarcity, durability, helped establish certain commodities as mediums of exchange, it is certainly not a prerequisite. While bitcoins are accused of lacking 'intrinsic value' in this sense, they make up for it in spades by possessing the other qualities necessary to make it a good medium of exchange, equal to or better than [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_money commodity money].

Another way to think about this is to consider the value of bitcoin the global network, rather than each bitcoin in isolation. The value of an individual telephone is derived from the network it is connected to. If there was no phone network, a telephone would be useless. Similarly the value of an individual bitcoin derives from the global network of bitcoin-enabled merchants, exchanges, wallets, etc... Just like a phone is necessary to transmit vocal information through the network, a bitcoin is necessary to transmit economic information through the network.

Value is ultimately determined by what people are willing to trade for - by supply and demand.

== Bitcoin is illegal because it's not legal tender ==
In March 2013, the U.S. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Crimes_Enforcement_Network Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] issues a new set of guidelines on "de-centralized virtual currency", clearly targeting Bitcoin. Under the new guidelines, "a user of virtual currency is not a Money Services Businesses (MSB) under FinCEN's regulations and therefore is not subject to MSB registration, reporting, and record keeping regulations." <ref>[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/us-regulator-bitcoin-exchanges-must-comply-with-money-laundering-laws/ US regulator: Bitcoin exchanges must comply with money-laundering laws | Ars Technica]</ref> [[Mining|Miners]], when mining bitcoins for their own personal use, aren't required to register as a MSB or Money Transmitter. <ref>[http://fincen.gov/news_room/rp/rulings/html/FIN-2014-R001.html Application of FinCEN’s Regulations to Virtual Currency Mining Operations | Fincen]</ref>

In general, there are a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_currency number of currencies] in existence that are not official government-backed currencies. A currency is, after all, nothing more than a convenient unit of account. While national laws may vary from country to country, and you should certainly check the laws of your jurisdiction, in general trading in any commodity, including digital currency like Bitcoin, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares BerkShares], game currencies like WoW gold, or Linden dollars, is not illegal.

== Bitcoin is a form of domestic terrorism because it only harms the economic stability of the USA and its currency ==

According to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_terrorism#United_States the definition of terrorism in the United States], you need to do violent activities to be considered a terrorist for legal purposes. Recent off-the-cuff remarks by politicians have no basis in law or fact.

Also, Bitcoin isn't domestic to the US or any other country. It's a worldwide community, as can be seen in this [https://bitnodes.21.co/nodes/live-map/ map of Bitcoin nodes].

== Bitcoin will only enable tax evaders which will lead to the eventual downfall of civilization ==

Cash transactions hold the same level of anonymity but are still taxed successfully. It is up to you to follow the applicable state laws in your home country, or face the consequences.

While it may be easy to transfer bitcoins anonymously, ''spending'' them anonymously on tangibles is just as hard as spending any other kind of money anonymously. Tax evaders are often caught because their lifestyle and assets are inconsistent with their reported income, and not necessarily because government is able to follow their money.

== Bitcoins can be printed/minted by anyone and are therefore worthless ==

Bitcoins are not printed/minted. Instead, [[Blocks]] are computed by miners and for their efforts they are awarded a specific amount of bitcoins and transaction fees paid by others. See [[Mining]] for more information on how this process works.

== Bitcoins are worthless because they're based on unproven cryptography ==

SHA256 and [[ECDSA]] which are used in Bitcoin are well-known industry standard algorithms. SHA256 is endorsed and used by the US Government and is standardized (FIPS180-3 Secure Hash Standard). If you believe that these algorithms are untrustworthy then you should not trust Bitcoin, credit card transactions or any type of electronic bank transfer. Bitcoin has a sound basis in well understood cryptography.

== Early adopters are unfairly rewarded ==

Early adopters are rewarded for taking the higher risk with their time and money. The capital invested in bitcoin at each stage of its life invigorated the community and helped the currency to reach subsequent milestones. Arguing that early adopters do not deserve to profit from this is akin to saying that early investors in a company, or people who buy stock at a company IPO (Initial Public Offering), are unfairly rewarded.

This argument also depends on bitcoin early adopters using bitcoins to store rather than transfer value. The daily trade on the exchanges (as of Jan 2012) indicates that smaller transactions are becoming the norm, indicating trade rather than investment. In more pragmatic terms, "fairness" is an arbitrary concept that is improbable to be agreed upon by a large population. Establishing "fairness" is no goal of Bitcoin, as this would be impossible.

Looking forwards, considering the amount of publicity bitcoin received as of April 2013, there can be no reasonable grounds for complaint for people who did not invest at that time, and then see the value (possibly) rising drastically higher.

By starting to mine or acquire bitcoins today, you too can become an early adopter.

== 21 million coins isn't enough; doesn't scale ==

One Bitcoin is divisible down to eight decimal places. There are really 2,099,999,997,690,000 (just over 2 quadrillion) maximum possible atomic units in the bitcoin system.

The value of "1 BTC" represents 100,000,000 of these. In other words, each bitcoin is divisible by up to 10<sup>8</sup>.

As the value of the unit of 1 BTC grew too large to be useful for day to day transactions, people started dealing in smaller [[Units|units]], such as milli-bitcoins (mBTC) or micro-bitcoins (μBTC).

== Bitcoins are stored in wallet files, just copy the wallet file to get more coins! ==

No, your wallet contains your secret keys, giving you the rights to spend your bitcoins. Think of it like having bank details stored in a file. If you give your bank details (or bitcoin wallet) to someone else, that doesn't double the amount of money in your account. You can spend your money or they can spend your money, but not both.

== Lost coins can't be replaced and this is bad ==

Bitcoins are divisible to 0.00000001, so there being fewer bitcoins remaining is not a problem for the currency itself. If you lose your coins, indirectly all other coins are worth more due to the reduced supply. Consider it a donation to all other bitcoin users.

A related question is: Why don't we have a mechanism to replace lost coins? The answer is that it is impossible to distinguish between a 'lost' coin and one that is simply sitting unused in someone's wallet. And for amounts that are provably destroyed or lost, there is no census that this is a bad thing and something that should be re-circulated.

== It's a giant ponzi scheme ==
In a [[Wikipedia:Ponzi_scheme|Ponzi Scheme]], the founders persuade investors that they’ll profit. Bitcoin does not make such a guarantee. There is no central entity, just individuals building an economy.

A Ponzi scheme is a zero sum game. In a ponzi scheme, early adopters can only profit at the expense of late adopters, and the late adopters always lose. Bitcoin can have a win-win outcome. Earlier adopters profit from the rise in value as Bitcoin becomes better understood and in turn demanded by the public at large. All adopters benefit from the usefulness of a reliable and widely-accepted decentralized peer-to-peer currency.<ref name=Jeff_Tucker>cf. {{cite news | author-link = Wikipedia:Jeffrey_Tucker | url = http://libertarianstandard.com/2013/12/01/ponzi-logic-debunking-gary-north/ | title = Ponzi Logic: Debunking Gary North | last = Tucker | first = Jeffrey | date = 1 December 2013 | work = The Libertarian Standard | accessdate = 2015-04-11}}</ref>

It is also important to note that [[Satoshi Nakamoto]], creator of bitcoin, has never spent a bitcoin (other than giving them away when they were worthless) which we can verify by checking the blockchain.

== Finite coins plus lost coins means deflationary spiral ==
As deflationary forces may apply, economic factors such as hoarding are offset by human factors that may lessen the chances that a [[Deflationary spiral]] will occur.

== Bitcoin can't work because there is no way to control inflation ==

Inflation is simply a rise of prices over time, which is generally the result of the devaluing of a currency. This is a function of supply and demand. Given the fact that the supply of bitcoins is fixed at a certain amount, unlike fiat money, the only way for inflation to get out of control is for demand to disappear. Temporary inflation is possible with a rapid adoption of Fractional Reserve Banking but will stabilize once a substantial number of the 21 million "hard" bitcoins are stored as reserves by banks.

Given the fact that Bitcoin is a distributed system of currency, if demand were to decrease to almost nothing, the currency would be doomed anyway.

The key point here is that Bitcoin as a currency can't be inflated by any single person or entity, like a government, as there's no way to increase supply past a certain amount.

Indeed, the most likely scenario, as Bitcoin becomes more popular and demand increases, is for the currency to increase in value, or deflate, until demand stabilizes.

== The Bitcoin community consists of anarchist/conspiracy theorist/gold standard 'weenies' ==

The members of the community vary in their ideological stances. While it may have been started by ideological enthusiasts, Bitcoin now speaks to a large number of regular pragmatic folk, who simply see its potential for reducing the costs and friction of global e-commerce.

== Anyone with enough computing power can take over the network ==

CONFIRMED, see [[Weaknesses]].

That said, as the network grows, it becomes harder and harder for a single entity to do so. Already the Bitcoin network's computing power is quite ahead of the world's fastest supercomputers, together.

What an attacker can do once the network is taken over is quite limited. Under no circumstances could an attacker create counterfeit coins, fake transactions, or take anybody else's money. An attacker's capabilities are limited to taking back their own money that they very recently spent, and preventing other people's transactions from receiving confirmations. Such an attack would be very costly in resources, and for such meager benefits there is little rational economic incentive to do such a thing.

Furthermore, this attack scenario would only be feasible for as long as it was actively underway. As soon as the attack stopped, the network would resume normal operation.

== Bitcoin violates governmental regulations ==

There is no known governmental regulation which disallows the use of Bitcoin.

See also: the "[[#Bitcoins_are_illegal_because_they.27re_not_legal_tender|Bitcoins are illegal because they're not legal tender]]" myth.

== Fractional reserve banking is not possible ==

It is possible. See the main article, [[Fractional Reserve Banking and Bitcoin]]

== After 21 million coins are mined, no one will generate new blocks ==

When operating costs can't be covered by the block creation bounty, which will happen some time before the total amount of BTC is reached, miners will earn some profit from [[transaction fees]]. However unlike the block reward, there is [http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/876/how-much-will-transaction-fees-eventually-be/895#895 no coupling between transaction fees and the need for security], so there is less of a guarantee that the amount of [[Mining|mining]] being performed will be sufficient to maintain the network's security.

== Bitcoin has no built-in chargeback mechanism and this is bad ==

Bitcoin base-layer transactions are [[Irreversible Transactions|final and irreversible by design]], but consumer protection can still built into bitcoin in other layers on top. The most practical way of doing this is [[Multisignature|multisig]] escrow. For example when trading over-the-counter, [[Secure_Trading#Use_an_Escrow_Service|using an escrow]] is essential protection.

It's worth noting that virtually all successful consumer-facing bitcoin businesses do indeed already implement some kind of consumer protection; Routine escrow was used by Localbitcoins, Silk Road and the bitcoin ebay-site Bitmit. Others such as online bitcoin casinos rely on their long-standing reputation, while others such as Coinbase.com rely on the legal and regulatory system.

The bitcoin method of routinely using escrow has benefits over competitors like credit cards. The security of credit cards is not very good which results in higher costs overall and the possibility of payments being reversed for months afterwards. By contrast when bitcoins have been released to the seller from escrow, they cannot be reversed as the coins are truely in the seller's possession. The requirement to use real-life names for credit cards and PayPal also excludes unbanked people and those from countries with less developed financial infrastructure. There are also downsides like bitcoin is not yet as widely accepted as credit cards and is not a front for providing lines of credit.

== Quantum computers would break Bitcoin's security ==

While ECDSA is indeed not secure under quantum computing, quantum computers don't yet exist and probably won't for a while.
The DWAVE system often written about in the press is, even if all their claims are true, not a quantum computer of a kind that could be used for cryptography.
Bitcoin's security, when used properly with a new address on each transaction, depends on more than just ECDSA: Cryptographic hashes are much stronger than ECDSA under QC.
Bitcoin's security was designed to be upgraded in a forward compatible way and could be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography upgraded] if this were considered an imminent threat.

See the implications of quantum computers on public key cryptography here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer#Potential

The ''risk'' of quantum computers is also there for financial institutions, like banks, because they heavily rely on cryptography when doing transactions.

== Bitcoin makes self-sufficient artificial intelligence possible ==
[[StorJ]]<ref>[http://garzikrants.blogspot.com/2013/01/storj-and-bitcoin-autonomous-agents.html StorJ And Bitcoin Autonomous Agents]</ref>, a theorized autonomous agent which utilizes humans to build itself and issues autonomous payments for improvement work done, is not a conscious entity. Whatever AI is possible, is not going to be magically more possible simply because it could incentivize human behaviour with pseudonymous Bitcoin payments.

== [[Mining|Bitcoin mining]] is a waste of energy and harmful for ecology ==
No more so than the wastefulness of mining gold out of the ground, melting it down and shaping it into bars, and then putting it back underground again. Not to mention the building of big fancy buildings, the waste of energy printing and minting all the various fiat currencies, the transportation thereof in armored cars by no less than two security guards for each who could probably be doing something more productive, etc.

As far as mediums of exchange go, Bitcoin is actually quite economical of resources, compared to others.

'''Economic Argument 1'''

[[Mining|Bitcoin mining]] is a highly competitive, dynamic, almost [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_market perfect], market. Mining rigs can be set up and dismantled almost anywhere in the world with relative ease. Thus, market forces are constantly pushing mining activity to ''places'' and ''times'' where the marginal price of electricity is low or zero. These electricity products are cheap for a reason. Often, it’s because the electricity is difficult (and wasteful) to transport, difficult to store, or because there is low demand and high supply. Using electricity in this way is a lot less wasteful than simply plugging a mining rig into the mains indiscriminately.

For example, Iceland produces an excess of cheap electricity from renewable sources, but it has no way of exporting electricity because of its remote location. It is conceivable that at some point in future Bitcoin mining will only be profitable in places like Iceland, and unprofitable in places like central Europe, where electricity comes mostly from nuclear and fossil sources.

Market forces could even push mining into innovative solutions that have an effective electricity consumption of ''zero''. Mining always produces heat equivalent to the energy consumed - for example, 1000 watts of mining equipment produces the same amount of heat as a 1000 watt heating element used in an electric space heater, hot tub, water heater, or similar appliance. Someone already in a willing position to incur the cost of electricity for its heat value alone could run mining equipment specially designed to mine bitcoins while capturing and utilizing the heat produced, without incurring any energy costs beyond what they already intended to spend on heating.

(Note that this is just an example; mining will not always produce heat equivalent to the energy consumed because some energy is inevitably released as electromagnetic radiation, among others.)

'''Economic Argument 2'''

When the environmental costs of mining are considered, they need to be weighed up against the benefits. If you question Bitcoin on the grounds that it consumes electricity, then you should also ask questions like this: Will Bitcoin promote economic growth by freeing up trade? Will this speed up the rate of technological innovation? Will this lead to faster development of green technologies? Will Bitcoin enable new, border crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid smart grid] technologies? …

Dismissal of Bitcoin because of its costs, while ignoring its benefits, is a dishonest argument. In fact, any environmental argument of this type is dishonest, not just pertaining to Bitcoin. Along similar lines, it could be argued that wind turbines are bad for the environment because making the steel structure consumes energy.

'''Ratio of Capital Costs versus Electrical Costs'''

The BFL Jalapeno hashes at 5.5 Gh/s using 30W. That device consumes about $40 per year in electricity (using U.S. residential average of about $0.15 per kWh.) But the device costs over $300 including shipping. Thus, just about a quarter of all costs over a two-year useful life goes to electricity. This compares to GPUs where more than 90% of costs over a two-year life went to electricity. Even more efficient designs can be expected in the future.

== Shopkeepers can't seriously set prices in bitcoins because of the volatile exchange rate ==

The assumption is that bitcoins must be sold immediately to cover operating expenses. If the shopkeeper's back-end expenses were transacted in bitcoins as well, then the exchange rate would be irrelevant. Larger adoption of Bitcoin would make prices [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_%28economics%29 sticky]. Future volatility is expected to decrease, as the size and depth of the market grows.

In the meantime, many merchants simply regularly pull the latest market rates from the exchanges and automatically update the prices on their websites. Also you might be able to buy a put option in order to sell at a fixed rate for a given amount of time. This would protect you from drops in price and simplify your operations for that time period.

== Like Flooz and e-gold, bitcoins serve as opportunities for criminals and will be shut down ==

* Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, and cash all serve as opportunities for criminals as well, but society keeps them around due to their recognized net benefit.
* Hopefully Bitcoin will grow to the point where no single organization can disrupt the network, or would be better served by helping it.
* Terrorists fly aircraft into buildings, but the governments have not yet abolished consumer air travel. Obviously the public good outweighs the possible bad in their opinion.
* Criminal law differs between jurisdictions.

== Bitcoins will be shut down by the government just like Liberty Dollars were ==

Liberty Dollars started as a commercial venture to establish an alternative US currency, including physical banknotes and coins, backed by precious metals. This, in and of itself, is not illegal. They were prosecuted under counterfeiting laws because the silver coins allegedly resembled US currency.

Bitcoins do not resemble the currency of the US or of any other nation in any way, shape, or form. The word "dollar" is not attached to them in any way. The "$" symbol is not used in any way.

Bitcoins have no representational similarity whatsoever to US dollars.

Of course, actually 'shutting down' Liberty Dollars was as easy as arresting the head of the company and seizing the offices and the precious metals used as backing. The decentralized Bitcoin, with no leader, no servers, no office, and no tangible asset backing, does not have the same vulnerability.

== Bitcoin is not decentralized because the developers can dictate the software's behavior ==

The Bitcoin protocol was originally defined by Bitcoin's inventor, [[Satoshi Nakamoto]], and this protocol has now been widely accepted as the standard by the community of miners and users.

Though the developers of the original Bitcoin client still exert influence over the Bitcoin community, their power to arbitrarily modify the protocol is very limited. Since the release of Bitcoin v0.3, changes to the protocol have been minor and always in agreement with community consensus.

Protocol modifications, such as increasing the block award from 25 to 50 BTC, are not compatible with clients already running in the network. If the developers were to release a new client that the majority of miners perceives as corrupt, or in violation of the project’s aims, that client would simply not catch on, and the few users who do try to use it would find that their transactions get rejected by the network.

There are also other [[:Category:Clients|Bitcoin clients made by other developers]] that adhere to the Bitcoin protocol. As more developers create alternative clients, less power will lie with the developers of the original Bitcoin client.

== Bitcoin is a pyramid scheme ==

Bitcoin is nearly opposite of a [[Wikipedia:Pyramid_scheme|pyramid scheme]] in a mathematical sense. Because Bitcoins are algorithmically made scarce, no exponential benefit is derived from introducing new users to use of it. There is a quantitative benefit in having additional interest or demand, but this is in no way exponential.<ref name="Jeff_Tucker" />

== Bitcoin was hacked ==

In the history of Bitcoin, there has never been an attack on the [[block chain]] that resulted in stolen money from a confirmed output. Neither has there ever been a reported theft resulting directly from a vulnerability in the [[Original Bitcoin client|original Bitcoin client]], or a vulnerability in the protocol. Bitcoin is secured by standard cryptographic functions. These functions have been peer reviewed by cryptography experts and are considered unlikely to be breakable in the foreseeable future.

It is safe to say that the currency itself has never been 'hacked'. However, several major ''websites'' using the currency have been hacked, often resulting in high profile Bitcoin heists. These heists are misreported in some media as hacks on Bitcoin itself. An analogy: Just because someone stole US dollars from a supermarket till, doesn’t mean that the US dollar as a currency has been 'hacked'.

Most bitcoin thefts are the result of inadequate [[Securing your wallet|wallet security]]. In response to the wave of thefts in 2011 and 2012, the community has developed risk-mitigating measures such as [[Wallet_encryption|wallet encryption]], support for [[BIP_0011|multiple signatures]], [[How_to_set_up_a_secure_offline_savings_wallet|offline wallets]], [[Paper_wallet|paper wallets]], and [[Hardware_wallet|hardware wallets]]. As these measures gain adoption by merchants and users, the number of thefts drop.

==References==
<references/>

[[de:Mythen]]
[[ru:Мифы о биткоине]]

Help:Introduction

2017-09-07T10:23:57Z

OrangeBitcoin:

The purpose of this page is to provide a general overview of the Bitcoin system and economy.

==Basic Concepts==

===Currency===

Alice wants to buy the [http://www.grasshillalpacas.com/alpacaproductsforbitcoinoffer.html Alpaca socks] which Bob has for sale. In return, she must provide something of equal value to Bob. The most efficient way to do this is by using a medium of exchange that Bob accepts which would be classified as currency. Currency makes trade easier by eliminating the need for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coincidence_of_wants coincidence of wants] required in other systems of trade such as barter. Currency adoption and acceptance can be global, national, or in some cases local or community-based.

===Banks===

Alice need not provide currency to Bob in-person. She may instead transfer this value by first entrusting her currency to a bank who promises to store and protect Alice's currency notes. The bank gives Alice a written promise (called a "bank statement") that entitles her to withdraw the same number of currency bills that she deposited. Since the money is still Alice's, she is entitled to do with it whatever she pleases, and the bank (like most banks), for a small fee, will do Alice the service of passing on the currency bills to Bob on her behalf. This is done by Alice's bank by giving the dollar bills to Bob's bank and informing them that the money is for Bob, who will then see the amount the next time he checks his balance or receives his bank statement.

Since banks have many customers, and bank employees require money for doing the job of talking to people and signing documents, banks in recent times have been using machines such as ATMs and web servers that do the job of interacting with customers instead of paid bank employees. The task of these machines is to learn what each customer wants to do with their money and, to the extent that it is possible, act on what the customer wants (for example, ATMs can hand out cash). Customers can always know how much money they have in their accounts, and they are confident that the numbers they see in their bank statements and on their computer screens accurately reflect the number of dollars that they can get from the bank on demand. They can be so sure of this that they can accept those numbers in the same way they accept paper banknotes (this is similar to the way people started accepting paper dollars when they had been accepting gold or silver).

Such a system has several disadvantages:
* It is costly. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_funds_transfer EFTs] in Europe can cost 25 euros. Credit transactions can cost several percent of the transaction.
* It is slow. Checking and low cost wire services take days to complete.
* In most cases, it cannot be anonymous.
* Accounts can be frozen, or their balance partially or wholly confiscated.
* Banks and other payment processors like PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard may refuse to process payments for certain legal entities.

Bitcoin is a system of owning and voluntarily transferring amounts of so-called ''bitcoins'', in a manner similar to an on-line banking, but pseudonymously and without reliance on a central authority to maintain account balances. If bitcoins are valuable, it is because they are useful and limited in supply.

==Bitcoin Basics==

===Creation of coins===

The creation of coins must be limited for the currency to have any value.

New coins are slowly [[Mining|mined]] into existence by following a mutually agreed-upon set of rules. A user [[Mining|mining]] bitcoins is running a software program that searches for a solution to a very difficult math problem the difficulty of which is precisely known. This difficulty is automatically adjusted on a predictable schedule so that the number of solutions found globally for a given unit of time is constant: the global system aims for 6 per hour. When a solution is found, the user may tell everyone of the existence of this newly found solution along with other information packaged together in what is called a "[[Block|block]]". The solution itself is a [[Proof of work| proof-of-work]] or PoW. It is hard to find, but easy to verify.

Blocks create 12.5 new bitcoins at present [October 2016]. This amount, known as the block reward, is an incentive for people to perform the computation work required for generating blocks. Roughly every 4 years, the number of bitcoins that can be "mined" in a block reduces by 50%. Originally the block reward was 50 bitcoins; it halved in November 2012; it then halved again in July 2016. Any block that is created by a malicious user that does not follow this rule (or any other rules) will be rejected by everyone else. In the end, no more than 21 million bitcoins will ever exist.

Because the block reward will decrease over the long term, miners will some day instead pay for their hardware and electricity costs by collecting [[Transaction_fee|transaction fees]]. The sender of money may voluntarily pay a small transaction fee which will be kept by whoever finds the next block. Paying this fee will encourage miners to include the transaction in a block more quickly.

===Sending payments===

To guarantee that a third-party, let's call her Eve, cannot spend other people's bitcoins by creating transactions in their names, Bitcoin uses [[Wikipedia:Public-key_cryptography|public key cryptography]] to make and verify digital signatures. In this system, each person, such as Alice or Bob, has one or more addresses each with an associated pair of public and private keys that they may hold in a [[Wallet|wallet]]. Only the user with the private key can sign a transaction to give some of their bitcoins to somebody else, but anyone can validate the signature using that user’s public key.

Suppose Alice wants to send a bitcoin to Bob.
* Bob sends his address to Alice.
* Alice adds Bob’s address and the amount of bitcoins to transfer to a message: a 'transaction' message.
* Alice signs the transaction with her private key, and announces her public key for signature verification.
* Alice broadcasts the transaction on the Bitcoin network for all to see.

(Only the first two steps require human action. The rest is done by the Bitcoin client software.)

Looking at this transaction from the outside, anyone who knows that these addresses belong to Alice and Bob can see that Alice has agreed to transfer the amount to Bob, because nobody else has Alice's private key. Alice would be foolish to give her private key to other people, as this would allow them to sign transactions in her name, removing funds from her control.

Later on, when Bob wishes to transfer the same bitcoins to Charley, he will do the same thing:
* Charlie sends Bob his address.
* Bob adds Charlie's address and the amount of bitcoins to transfer to a message: a 'transaction' message.
* Bob signs the transaction with his private key, and announces his public key for signature verification.
* Bob broadcasts the transaction on the Bitcoin network for all to see.

Only Bob can do this because only he has the private key that can create a valid signature for the transaction.

Eve cannot change whose coins these are by replacing Bob’s address with her address, because Alice signed the transfer to Bob using her own private key, which is kept secret from Eve, and instructing that the coins which were hers now belong to Bob. So, if Charlie accepts that the original coin was in the hands of Alice, he will also accept the fact that this coin was later passed to Bob, and now Bob is passing this same coin to him.

===Preventing [[double-spending]]===

The process described above does not prevent Alice from using the same bitcoins in more than one transaction. The following process does; this is the primary innovation behind Bitcoin.

* Details about the [[Transactions|transaction]] are [[Network|sent and forwarded]] to all or as many other computers as possible.
* A constantly growing chain of [[Blocks|blocks]] that contains a record of all transactions is collectively maintained by all computers (each has a full copy).
* To be accepted in the chain, transaction blocks must be valid and must include [[proof of work]] (one block generated by the network every 10 minutes).
* Blocks are chained in a way so that, if any one is modified, all following blocks will have to be recomputed.
* When multiple valid continuations to this chain appear, only the longest such branch is accepted and it is then extended further.

When Bob sees that his transaction has been included in a block, which has been made part of the single longest and fastest-growing block chain (extended with significant computational effort), he can be confident that the transaction by Alice has been accepted by the computers in the network and is permanently recorded, preventing Alice from creating a second transaction with the same coin. In order for Alice to thwart this system and double-spend her coins, she would need to muster more computing power than all other Bitcoin users combined.

===Anonymity===

When it comes to the Bitcoin network itself, there are no "accounts" to set up, and no e-mail addresses, user-names or passwords are required to hold or spend bitcoins. Each balance is simply associated with an address and its public-private key pair. The money "belongs" to anyone who has the private key and can sign transactions with it. Moreover, those keys do not have to be registered anywhere in advance, as they are only used when required for a transaction. Transacting parties do not need to know each other's identity in the same way that a store owner does not know a cash-paying customer's name.

A [[Address|Bitcoin address]] mathematically corresponds to a public key and looks like this:

:1PHYrmdJ22MKbJevpb3MBNpVckjZHt89hz

Each person can have many such addresses, each with its own balance, which makes it very difficult to know which person owns what amount. In order to protect his [[Anonymity|privacy]], Bob can generate a new public-private key pair for each individual receiving transaction and the Bitcoin software encourages this behavior by default. Continuing the example from above, when Charlie receives the bitcoins from Bob, Charlie will not be able to identify who owned the bitcoins before Bob.

===Capitalization / Nomenclature===

Since Bitcoin is both a currency and a protocol, capitalization can be confusing. Accepted practice is to use ''Bitcoin'' (singular with an upper case letter B) to label the protocol, software, and community, and ''bitcoins'' (with a lower case b) to label units of the currency.

==Where to see and explore==

You can directly explore the system in action by visiting [https://btc.com/ BTC.com], [https://www.biteasy.com/ Biteasy.com], [http://blockchain.info/ Blockchain.info], [http://btc.blockr.io/ Blokr.io Bitcoin Block Explorer] or [http://blockexplorer.com/ Bitcoin Block Explorer].
The site shows you the latest blocks in the block chain. The [[Block_chain|block chain]] contains the agreed history of all transactions that took place in the system.
Note how many blocks were generated in the last hour, which on average will be 6. Also notice the number of transactions and the total amount transferred in the last hour (last time I checked it was about 64 and 15K).
This should give you an indication of how active the system is.

Next, navigate to one of these blocks.
The block's [[hash]] begins with a run of zeros. This is what made creating the block so difficult; a hash that begins with many zeros is much more difficult to find than a hash with few or no zeros. The computer that generated this block had to try many ''Nonce'' values (also listed on the block's page) until it found one that generated this run of zeros.
Next, see the line titled ''Previous block''. Each block contains the hash of the block that came before it. This is what forms the chain of blocks.
Now take a look at all the transactions the block contains. The first transaction is the income earned by the computer that generated this block. It includes a fixed amount of coins created out of "thin air" and possibly a fee collected from other transactions in the same block.

Drill down into any of the transactions and you will see how it is made up of one or more amounts coming in and out.
Having more than one incoming and outgoing amount in a transaction enables the system to join and break amounts in any possible way, allowing for any fractional amount needed. Each incoming amount is a past transaction (which you can also view) from someone's address, and each outgoing amount is addressed to someone and will be part of a future transaction (which you can also navigate down into if it has already taken place.)

Finally, you can follow any of the [[Address|addresses]] links and see what public information is available for them.

To get an impression of the amount of activity on the Bitcoin network, you might like to visit the monitoring websites [[Bitcoin Monitor]] and [[Bitcoin Watch]]. The first shows a real-time visualization of events on the Bitcoin network, and the second lists general statistics on the amount and size of recent transactions.

===How many people use Bitcoin?===

This is quite a difficult question to answer accurately. One approach is to count how many bitcoin clients connected to the network in the last 24 hours. We can do this because some clients transmit their addresses to the other members of the network periodically. In September 2011, this method suggested that there were about {{formatnum:60000}} users.

In October 2014, according to [http://www.coindesk.com/state-of-bitcoin-q3-2014-report-maturing-ecosystem-price-pressure/ Coindesk report] there were more than 7.5 million bitcoin wallets.

In October 2016, according to [http://Blockchain.info blockchain.info] user counts based on Blockchain wallet, there are about 8.8 mln registered Bitcoin users on its platform. [https://cointelegraph.com/news/counting-them-all-how-to-figure-out-actual-number-of-bitcoin-users Cointelegraph report]

==See Also==
* [http://bitcoinhelp.net Bitcoin Help] — the simple guide to Bitcoin.
* Learn the entire history of Bitcoin in the interactive timeline at [http://historyofbitcoin.org History of Bitcoin].
* [https://www.weusecoins.com What Is Bitcoin?]
* [https://www.bitcoinmining.com What Is Bitcoin Mining?]

[[zh-cn:简介]]

[[de:Einführung]]
[[fr:Introduction]]

Coinbase (business)

2017-09-07T09:49:36Z

OrangeBitcoin:

:''Not to be confused with the [[coinbase]] parameter.''
{{infobox company|name=Coinbase, Inc.|image=[[File:Coinbase.png]]
|industry=[[eWallet]], [[exchange]]
|founder=[[Brian Armstrong]], [[Fred Ehrsam]]
|foundation=June 20, 2012
|location=San Francisco, CA, United States
|assets={{increase}} 366,492 BTC (2015) /<br/>{{increase}} $105 million USD (2015)
|twitter=coinbase
|facebook=Coinbase
|
|website=[https://www.coinbase.com/ coinbase.com]}}'''Coinbase''' is a hosted web-based [[eWallet]] used for sending, receiving, and storing bitcoin, ethereum, and litecoin. Users can also connect a U.S. based bank account to buy and sell cryptocurrency via bank transfer.

The service aims to be the easiest way to get started with digital currency, modeled to provide an experience familiar to those who are comfortable using PayPal.

==Transactions==

===Buy Bitcoin===

Coinbase allows users to purchase a digital currency by directly transferring money from a bank account. Although the exchange rate is locked in at the time of order placement, the digital currency is not released for four business days. Verified users are allowed to create instant-purchases, which credits the digital currency to their account before the bank transfer clears.

Linking a bank account can be done using Instant Account Verification (by providing your bank account credentials) or through a Challenge Deposit method which takes 2-3 business days to complete. The bank verification process is very similar to the relevant procedure at PayPal.

===Sell Bitcoin===

Proceeds from selling a digital currency are sent as a direct ACH transfer to a linked bank account. The price is locked upon executing the sell and the funds arrive in the bank account in 2-3 business days.

===Send Money===

This feature provides the ability to send a digital currency to both email and digital currency wallet addresses. The amount of cryptocurrency sent can be determined by entering a value in either USD (converted to a digital currency based on the current exchange rate) or the digital currency. If digital currency is sent to an email address not currently registered with Coinbase, an account will automatically be created and a message will be sent to that email address prompting the user to verify the account and claim the digital currency.

===Request Money===

This feature provides the ability to request funds (denominated in either USD or a digital currency) through an invoice which is sent by email.

===Exchange===

On January 26, 2015 Coinbase announced via a blog post <ref>[http://blog.coinbase.com/post/109202118547/coinbase-launches-first-regulated-bitcoin-exchange Coinbase Launches First Regulated Bitcoin Exchange in the U.S.]</ref> they were launching a United States based and US regulated bitcoin exchange. The exchange located at [https://exchange.coinbase.com/ https://exchange.coinbase.com/] allows users from select US states and territories begin trading using an order book on the Coinbase website.

==Merchant Tools==

[https://developers.coinbase.com/docs/merchants/payment-buttons Payment buttons] make it easy to accept bitcoin on any website by copying and pasting a few lines of code.

[https://developers.coinbase.com/docs/merchants/payment-pages Payment pages] allow merchants to accept bitcoin with a hosted checkout page on coinbase.com.

[https://developers.coinbase.com/docs/merchants/callbacks Callbacks] allow for instant payment notifications to a merchant's website.

[https://developers.coinbase.com/docs/merchants/payouts Payouts] allow merchants to cash out bitcoin on a daily basis through a USD transfer to a linked bank account without exchange rate risk.

Coinbase also offers an [https://developers.coinbase.com/docs/wallet API] for custom applications or merchant integrations.

==Fees==

There are no fees for sending, receiving, or storing bitcoin.

The fee for buying or selling bitcoin with a bank transfer is a fixed 1% + $0.15. This fee is waived on automatic sell orders made using their merchant instant-exchange functionality.

==History==

The service was announced on June 29, 2012 and received seed funding from Paul Graham after going through the startup incubator Y-Combinator<ref>[http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=90779.0 Coinbase - Funded by Paul Graham]</ref>.

On October 26, 2012, the service launched its method to buy and sell bitcoins using a linked bank account<ref>[http://blog.coinbase.com/post/34357253898/you-can-now-buy-and-sell-bitcoin-by-connecting-any-u-s You Can Now Buy And Sell Bitcoin By Connecting Any U.S. Bank Account]</ref>.

On December 5, 2012, Coinbase launched its Merchant Tools<ref>[http://coinbase.com/post/37274999622/how-to-accept-bitcoin-on-your-website How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website]</ref>.

On May 7, 2013, Coinbase announced that it had received five million dollars in funding led by the venture capital firm Union Square Ventures. It was the largest funding round to date for a bitcoin company<ref>[http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2013/05/07/coinbase-nabs-5m-in-biggest-funding-for-bitcoin-startup/ Coinbase Nabs $5M in Biggest Funding for Bitcoin Startup]</ref>.

On July 11, 2013, Coinbase launched instant buys for fully verified users<ref>[http://blog.coinbase.com/post/55203204550/instant-bitcoin-purchases-at-coinbase Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase]</ref>.

On December 12, 2013, Coinbase announced Series B funding of $25 million dollars led by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. It is the largest round of funding received by a bitcoin company<ref>[http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/12/12/bitcoin-wallet-coinbase-deposits-25-million-from-andreessen-horowitz/ Bitcoin's Biggest Investment]</ref>.

On February 27, 2014, Coinbase announced that 1 Million consumer wallet accounts have been opened on their platform <ref>[http://blog.coinbase.com/post/78016535692/a-major-coinbase-milestone-1-million-consumer-wallets 1 Million Consumer Wallets]</ref>.

On May 7, 2014, Coinbase announced that they acquired the content-sharing platform Kippt. <ref>[http://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-boosts-team-acquisition-kippt-developers/ Coinbase Boosts Team with Acquisition of Kippt Developers]</ref>

On August 18, 2014, Coinbase announced that they acquired the block explorer company Blockr.io. <ref>[http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/18/coinbase-acquires-blockchain-explore-blockr-io/ Coinbase Acquires Blockchain Explorer Blockr.io]</ref>

On January 26, 2015, Coinbase launched [[Coinbase Exchange]] - First Regulated Bitcoin Exchange in the U.S. <ref>[http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/25/coinbase-us-bitcoin-exchange/ Coinbase Is Opening The First Regulated Bitcoin Exchange In The U.S.]</ref>

On July 21, 2016, Coinbase added support for Ethereum <ref>[https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-adds-support-for-ethereum-b8046cf486d0 Coinbase adds support for Ethereum]</ref>

On May 3, 2017, Coinbase added support for Litecoin <ref>[https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-adds-support-for-litecoin-720ab0aa3281 Coinbase adds support for Litecoin]</ref>

==See Also==

* [[Buying bitcoins]]
* [[Selling bitcoins]]
*[[Coinbase Exchange]]

==External Links==

* [http://www.Coinbase.com Coinbase.com] website

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:EWallets]]
[[Category:Wallets]]
[[Category:Exchanges]]
[[Category:Shopping Cart Interfaces]]
[[Category:Services]]
[[Category:Frontends]]
[[Category:Clients]]
[[Category:Mobile]]
[[Category:Payment Processors]]

[https://www.weusecoins.com/coinbase-review/ Coinbase Review]

Coinbase (business)

2017-09-07T09:09:25Z

OrangeBitcoin:

:''Not to be confused with the [[coinbase]] parameter.''
{{infobox company|name=Coinbase, Inc.|image=[[File:Coinbase.png]]
|industry=[[eWallet]], [[exchange]]
|founder=[[Brian Armstrong]], [[Fred Ehrsam]]
|foundation=June 20, 2012
|location=San Francisco, CA, United States
|assets={{increase}} 366,492 BTC (2015) /<br/>{{increase}} $105 million USD (2015)
|twitter=coinbase
|facebook=Coinbase
|
|website=[https://www.coinbase.com/ coinbase.com]}}'''Coinbase''' is a hosted web-based [[eWallet]] used for sending, receiving, and storing bitcoin, ethereum, and litecoin. Users can also connect a U.S. based bank account to buy and sell cryptocurrency via bank transfer.

The service aims to be the easiest way to get started with digital currency, modeled to provide an experience familiar to those who are comfortable using PayPal.

==Transactions==

===Buy Bitcoin===

Coinbase allows users to purchase a digital currency by directly transferring money from a bank account. Although the exchange rate is locked in at the time of order placement, the digital currency is not released for four business days. Verified users are allowed to create instant-purchases, which credits the digital currency to their account before the bank transfer clears.

Linking a bank account can be done using Instant Account Verification (by providing your bank account credentials) or through a Challenge Deposit method which takes 2-3 business days to complete. The bank verification process is very similar to the relevant procedure at PayPal.

===Sell Bitcoin===

Proceeds from selling a digital currency are sent as a direct ACH transfer to a linked bank account. The price is locked upon executing the sell and the funds arrive in the bank account in 2-3 business days.

===Send Money===

This feature provides the ability to send a digital currency to both email and digital currency wallet addresses. The amount of cryptocurrency sent can be determined by entering a value in either USD (converted to a digital currency based on the current exchange rate) or the digital currency. If digital currency is sent to an email address not currently registered with Coinbase, an account will automatically be created and a message will be sent to that email address prompting the user to verify the account and claim the digital currency.

===Request Money===

This feature provides the ability to request funds (denominated in either USD or a digital currency) through an invoice which is sent by email.

===Exchange===

On January 26, 2015 Coinbase announced via a blog post <ref>[http://blog.coinbase.com/post/109202118547/coinbase-launches-first-regulated-bitcoin-exchange Coinbase Launches First Regulated Bitcoin Exchange in the U.S.]</ref> they were launching a United States based and US regulated bitcoin exchange. The exchange located at [https://exchange.coinbase.com/ https://exchange.coinbase.com/] allows users from select US states and territories begin trading using an order book on the Coinbase website.

==Merchant Tools==

[https://developers.coinbase.com/docs/merchants/payment-buttons Payment buttons] make it easy to accept bitcoin on any website by copying and pasting a few lines of code.

[https://developers.coinbase.com/docs/merchants/payment-pages Payment pages] allow merchants to accept bitcoin with a hosted checkout page on coinbase.com.

[https://developers.coinbase.com/docs/merchants/callbacks Callbacks] allow for instant payment notifications to a merchant's website.

[https://developers.coinbase.com/docs/merchants/payouts Payouts] allow merchants to cash out bitcoin on a daily basis through a USD transfer to a linked bank account without exchange rate risk.

Coinbase also offers an [https://developers.coinbase.com/docs/wallet API] for custom applications or merchant integrations.

==Fees==

There are no fees for sending, receiving, or storing bitcoin.

The fee for buying or selling bitcoin with a bank transfer is a fixed 1% + $0.15. This fee is waived on automatic sell orders made using their merchant instant-exchange functionality.

==History==

The service was announced on June 29, 2012 and received seed funding from Paul Graham after going through the startup incubator Y-Combinator<ref>[http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=90779.0 Coinbase - Funded by Paul Graham]</ref>.

On October 26, 2012, the service launched its method to buy and sell bitcoins using a linked bank account<ref>[http://blog.coinbase.com/post/34357253898/you-can-now-buy-and-sell-bitcoin-by-connecting-any-u-s You Can Now Buy And Sell Bitcoin By Connecting Any U.S. Bank Account]</ref>.

On December 5, 2012, Coinbase launched its Merchant Tools<ref>[http://coinbase.com/post/37274999622/how-to-accept-bitcoin-on-your-website How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website]</ref>.

On May 7, 2013, Coinbase announced that it had received five million dollars in funding led by the venture capital firm Union Square Ventures. It was the largest funding round to date for a bitcoin company<ref>[http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2013/05/07/coinbase-nabs-5m-in-biggest-funding-for-bitcoin-startup/ Coinbase Nabs $5M in Biggest Funding for Bitcoin Startup]</ref>.

On July 11, 2013, Coinbase launched instant buys for fully verified users<ref>[http://blog.coinbase.com/post/55203204550/instant-bitcoin-purchases-at-coinbase Instant Bitcoin Purchases at Coinbase]</ref>.

On December 12, 2013, Coinbase announced Series B funding of $25 million dollars led by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. It is the largest round of funding received by a bitcoin company<ref>[http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/12/12/bitcoin-wallet-coinbase-deposits-25-million-from-andreessen-horowitz/ Bitcoin's Biggest Investment]</ref>.

On February 27, 2014, Coinbase announced that 1 Million consumer wallet accounts have been opened on their platform <ref>[http://blog.coinbase.com/post/78016535692/a-major-coinbase-milestone-1-million-consumer-wallets 1 Million Consumer Wallets]</ref>.

On May 7, 2014, Coinbase announced that they acquired the content-sharing platform Kippt. <ref>[http://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-boosts-team-acquisition-kippt-developers/ Coinbase Boosts Team with Acquisition of Kippt Developers]</ref>

On August 18, 2014, Coinbase announced that they acquired the block explorer company Blockr.io. <ref>[http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/18/coinbase-acquires-blockchain-explore-blockr-io/ Coinbase Acquires Blockchain Explorer Blockr.io]</ref>

On January 26, 2015, Coinbase launched [[Coinbase Exchange]] - First Regulated Bitcoin Exchange in the U.S. <ref>[http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/25/coinbase-us-bitcoin-exchange/]</ref>

On July 21, 2016, Coinbase added support for for Ethereum <ref>[https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-adds-support-for-ethereum-b8046cf486d0]</ref>

On May 3, 2017, Coinbase added support for for Litecoin <ref>[https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-adds-support-for-litecoin-720ab0aa3281]</ref>

==See Also==

* [[Buying bitcoins]]
* [[Selling bitcoins]]
*[[Coinbase Exchange]]

==External Links==

* [http://www.Coinbase.com Coinbase.com] website

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:EWallets]]
[[Category:Wallets]]
[[Category:Exchanges]]
[[Category:Shopping Cart Interfaces]]
[[Category:Services]]
[[Category:Frontends]]
[[Category:Clients]]
[[Category:Mobile]]
[[Category:Payment Processors]]

[https://www.weusecoins.com/coinbase-review/ Coinbase Review]