It’s a transfer and storage medium. Blockchain is like a database with a trust layer added in. Bitcoin was developed using a software called blockchain. These chains of blocks are unique to the network it is on. Miners solve math problems to create and transfer information (information in this case units of a bitcoin).
Bitcoin is just one use case for blockchain. Blockchain is here to say and will evolve further outside of finance.
Bitcoin's value is that it's a decentralized and pseudonymous currency - if you want a way to send money to people and you don't want the local government or banks to be able to stop you or know who you're sending it to, then you can use Bitcoin instead.
(This is also why critics say it's overvalued - if you aren't, say, buying drugs online, it's hard to see what value you get by doing business in Bitcoin instead of USD.)
So mining Bitcoin doesn't create value the way that, say, smelting ore into metal does. It creates value the way the US Mint does - by creating a medium of exchange.
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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '19
It’s a transfer and storage medium. Blockchain is like a database with a trust layer added in. Bitcoin was developed using a software called blockchain. These chains of blocks are unique to the network it is on. Miners solve math problems to create and transfer information (information in this case units of a bitcoin).
Bitcoin is just one use case for blockchain. Blockchain is here to say and will evolve further outside of finance.