#Introduction
- Banks have made the exchange of currency their business. But the digital age has ushered in a new way of banking, disrupting the institutions that have controlled the industry for hundreds of years.It’s the internet of banking, developed by private citizens for private citizens.While innovation in the industry is most commonly linked to Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, it’s the underlying technology, blockchain, that might produce the biggest waves.“Blockchain presents an opportunity to bring disparate things together and allow secure, nonrefutable records of transactions to be done anywhere you need them to be done — quickly, securely and with little chance of fraud,” said Andrew Dare, architect of financial services innovation at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise in Halifax, U.K. “Therein lies the true value of the technology.”
- Many people know it as the technology behind Bitcoin, but blockchain’s potential uses extend far beyond digital currencies. Its admirers include Bill Gates and Richard Branson, and banks and insurers are falling over one another to be the first to work out how to use it.
- Currently, most people use a trusted middleman such as a bank to make a transaction. But blockchain allows consumers and suppliers to connect directly, removing the need for a third party.Using cryptography to keep exchanges secure, blockchain provides a decentralized database, or “digital ledger”, of transactions that everyone on the network can see. This network is essentially a chain of computers that must all approve an exchange before it can be verified and recorded.
- The technology can work for almost every type of transaction involving value, including money, goods and property. Its potential uses are almost limitless: from collecting taxes to enabling migrants to send money back to family in countries where banking is difficult. Blockchain could also help to reduce fraud because every transaction would be recorded and distributed on a public ledger for anyone to see.
- We discovered the procedure of buying and using bitcoins. We found that there are many platforms where one can buy bitcoins such as Coinbase, Zebpay, Unicoin, localBitcoins etc. One can buy bitcoins from either exchanges, or directly from other people via marketplaces.
- One can pay for them in a variety of ways, ranging from hard cash to credit and debit cards to wire transfers, or even with other cryptocurrencies, depending on who you are buying them from and where you live. In India, Zebpay is preferred.
- Coinbase is the most popular bitcoin client. The first step is to sign up for a Coinbase account. This will give you a secure place to store your bitcoin, and easy payment methods to convert your local currency into or out of bitcoin.
- After you sign up, connect your bank account. You'll need to complete some verification steps before you can use the account. Once the verification steps are complete, you can start a purchase.