I am writing this article after reading a blog post by Mark Andresson highlighting the important points and giving it my view. Bitcoin is the first practical solution to a longstanding problem in computer science called the Byzantine Generals Problem (BGP). More generally, the B.G.P. poses the question of how to establish trust between otherwise unrelated parties over an untrusted network like the Internet. Trust is a value that neither a company nor an individual can afford to lose, hence in this digital world, it's very important for internet companies to maintain trust. Bitcoin solves this issue by its decentralization framework. We can also now see interesting use-cases like giving loans to people without any bank in between through Decentralized Autonomous Organizations called DAOs.
Coming back, Bitcoin is an Internet-wide distributed ledger. You buy into the ledger by purchasing one of a fixed number of slots. Bitcoin is a digital bearer instrument. It is a way to exchange money or assets between parties with no pre-existing trust. The Bitcoin “coins” themselves are simply slots in the ledger, in some ways to seats on a stock exchange, except much more broadly applicable to real-world transactions. Put value in, transfer it, the recipient gets value out, no authorization required, and in many cases, no fees. Banks generally charge hefty fees for international transactions and for some domestic ones so through bitcoin we can solve the fee problem too.
If we think about our favourite products across the globe which are not available in our country, the most likely reason is payments. Through the use of bitcoin, we may get access to some of the best products around the globe. Some people assume that bitcoin can be used for illegal purposes but it's bullshit but much like email, which is quite traceable, Bitcoin is pseudonymous, not anonymous.
Further, every transaction in the Bitcoin network is tracked and logged forever in the Bitcoin blockchain, or permanent record, available for all to see. As a result, Bitcoin is considerably easier for law enforcement to trace than cash, gold or diamonds
Another fascinating use case for Bitcoin is micropayments, or ultrasmall payments which can be used for accessing only a particular part and not the whole thing. If you ever wanted to watch only a particular netflix episode or chapter in a book, this can become possible through bitcoin. Yes, you have heard it right, many such things are possible using bitcoin.
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