One uses of bitcoin is to transfer money, Bitcoin is more efficient and cheaper way to transfer money across borders, and several remittance startups make use of this feature. Bitcoin’s cost and speed advantages, though, are being eroded as traditional channels improve (and the network’s fees continue to increase), and liquidity remains a problem in many countries.
Also, a number of large and small retailers accept the cryptocurrency as a form of payment, although reports suggest that demand for this function is not high.
when you hear about bitcoin “mining,” you envisage coins being dug out of the ground. Bitcoin mining is similar to gold mining in that the bitcoins exist in the protocol’s design (just as the gold exists underground), but they haven’t been brought out into the light yet (just as the gold hasn’t yet been dug up). The bitcoin protocol stipulates that 21 million bitcoins will exist at some point. What “miners” do is bring them out into the light, a few at a time.
They get to do this as a reward for creating blocks of validated transactions and including them in the blockchain.
Source:
https://www.coindesk.com/information/why-use-bitcoin/Crypto investors are seeing red this week. Bitcoin plunged to two-month lows on Thursday, dipping below $9,000 for the first time since November. At the time of writing, Bitcoin had bounced back up to the $9,200 level, down from weekly highs just above $12,000. This week has seen coins across the board in the red — a sign that investors are jumping ship to fiat currencies this time instead of swapping into altcoins as we’ve seen in the recent past. At the time of writing, the total cryptocurrency market cap weighed in at $459 billion, down from January highs around $830 billion. It’s a contraction to be sure, but not a low for the last 30 days (that low came on January 18).
Cryptocurrency die-hards expecting the price to bounce back, even partially, will see these tanking numbers as the perfect entry point for getting in low and maximizing gains. Late speculators who got in during the mass crypto hysteria of the holiday season aren’t likely to have such steady hands, a factor that’s likely contributing to the slide.
Source :
https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/01/why-is-bitcoins-price-down/
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Source:
https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/new-wine-in-an-old-bottle-modi-government-schemes-go-beyond-ribbon-cutting-they-are-meant-to-produce-results/-------------------------------------- Will update later -----------------------------------------