Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that you can buy, sell and exchange directly, without an intermediary like a bank. Bitcoinβs creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, originally described the need for βan electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust.β Each and every Bitcoin transaction thatβs ever been made exists on a public ledger accessible to everyone, making transactions hard to reverse and difficult to fake. Thatβs by design: Core to their decentralized nature, Bitcoins arenβt backed by the government or any issuing institution, and thereβs nothing to guarantee their value besides the proof baked in the heart of the system. βThe reason why itβs worth money is simply because we, as people, decided it has valueβsame as gold,β says Anton Mozgovoy, co-founder & CEO of digital financial service company Holyheld.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened lower on Friday and then bounced back and forth across the unchanged line, finally finishing mixed and little changed.The Dow added 33.18 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 34,798.00, while the NASDAQ eased 4.54 points or 0.03 percent to close at 15,047.70 and the S&P 500 rose 6.50 points or 0.15 percent to end at 4,455.48. For the week, the Dow rose 0.6 percent, the NASDAQ added 0.1 percent and the S&P gained 0.5 percent.The lackluster performance on Wall Street came on uncertainty about the outlook for the markets following recent volatility.
