43 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
43 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
# Analogies to help understand bitcoin
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## Bitcoin is like digital money
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This is the most obivious analogy. Bitcoin is a form of value that can is
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identified by its digital properties.
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## Bitcoin is like digital gold
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Another often used analogy. Bitcoin is used as a store of value. It is
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scarce. It is expensive to produce. It is a commodity, what is Bitcoin isn't
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determined by a law or by a contractual arrangement.
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## Bitcoin is like the brain
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Similarly as a brain consists of cells, Bitcoin consists of nodes (computers).
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The functionality of the brain isn't located in any single cell, but in the
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cells working together. Each node contains the exact copy of a consensus, like
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each cell contains a DNA. Bitcoin's nodes also work together to form Bitcoin.
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## Bitcoin is like a central bank
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Just like central bank has a ledger recording how much money is created, how
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much there is in each account and how it is transferred between the accounts,
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Bitcoin also has a record of these events. The main difference is that a
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central bank is, well, centralized, having a formal group of people making
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decisions, Bitcoin is decentralized and there is no such group of people.
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## Bitcoin is like the internet
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Internet allows people to connect their computers together and exchange
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information. Bitcoin allows people to connect their computers and exchange
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value.
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## Bitcoin is like an auditor
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Bitcoin has thousands and tens of thousands of computer verifying all the times
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that the records are adhering to the rules.
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## Bitcoin is like the economy
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