Bitcoin: Virtual currency in the real world
Imagine being there the first day paper money was used. Handing the man at the ox cart a piece of paper in exchange for a sack of grain must have drawn some strange glares. But a new era was born. It favored the convenience of carrying folded pieces of paper over pieces of gold or silver. It required trust in a centralized system to monitor the rise and fall of the perceived value in that paper.
Fast forward more than one thousand years. There is a new system in place that requires no pieces of paper, and no centralized system of control. And it most certainly draws some glares.
Bitcoin is a virtual currency created in 2009 that operates outside of any national monetary system. Far from being "unreal," Bitcoin may be the first step toward a world currency.
"The biggest obstacle is that people don't know about it," said Mike Moceri, 23, a Drexel Law student who is spending the summer in Lemoyne. "It seems like this arcane technology thing that is incredibly complicated and that you have to be a computer scientist to get."
Moceri is a modern day prospector. His computer, a suped-up custom PC he bought partially with Bitcoins, constantly runs a program that is free to download. That program works through complicated algorithms 24-7, the reward for which is the unlocking of Bitcoins. Those Bitcoins can be spent to purchase goods and services on websites that accept them as currency.
"Bitcoin is really a gold for the 21st century," Moceri told CBS
21 News. "It's absolutely secure, it's absolutely stable and it's absolutely decentralized - all of the qualities that you want to see in a successful currency in the digital age."
Fast forward more than one thousand years. There is a new system in place that requires no pieces of paper, and no centralized system of control. And it most certainly draws some glares.
Bitcoin is a virtual currency created in 2009 that operates outside of any national monetary system. Far from being "unreal," Bitcoin may be the first step toward a world currency.
"The biggest obstacle is that people don't know about it," said Mike Moceri, 23, a Drexel Law student who is spending the summer in Lemoyne. "It seems like this arcane technology thing that is incredibly complicated and that you have to be a computer scientist to get."
Moceri is a modern day prospector. His computer, a suped-up custom PC he bought partially with Bitcoins, constantly runs a program that is free to download. That program works through complicated algorithms 24-7, the reward for which is the unlocking of Bitcoins. Those Bitcoins can be spent to purchase goods and services on websites that accept them as currency.
"Bitcoin is really a gold for the 21st century," Moceri told CBS
21 News. "It's absolutely secure, it's absolutely stable and it's absolutely decentralized - all of the qualities that you want to see in a successful currency in the digital age."
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