What is Bitcoin? Bitcoin is digital money that enables transfers, transactions and purchases from peer-to-peer throughout international online trading websites such as Bitstamp and ICBIT. The Bitcoin system operates independently of a central bank. They are distinguished from other currencies due to the fact that they are not printed like dollars and are produced around the world using computer software by miners.

1. Bitcoins : A dangerous
one-of-a-kind system?
What is Bitcoin? Bitcoin is digital money that enables transfers, transactions and
purchases from peer-to-peer throughout international online trading websites such as
Bitstamp and ICBIT. The Bitcoin system operates independently of a central bank. They
are distinguished from other currencies due to the fact that they are not printed like
dollars and are produced around the world using computer software by miners.
Miners : Contributors who run the
network by executing the
transactions.
Bitcoin market
The Bitcoins were established in
2009 and the exchange rate was
0.001USD/ 1 Bitcoin. The current
ICBIT : Oldest online Bitcoin
price is approximately 350 USD. The
market.
Bitcoin market is extremely volatile,
in the past year the price ranged
Bitstamp : Based in United
from $100 to $1,240 USD. The
Kingdom, it is the second largest
unpredictability of the stock price is
Bitcoin exchange company.
due to many factors such as large
holders of the currency, security breaches, bad press, and inflation and tax
rates. The Bitcoin exchange website, ICBIT, has a futures market which makes
trading more interesting for investors.

2. Futures
The chart on the right indicates Bitcoin
futures price. It demonstrates a futures
contango curve; meaning investors are
expecting the futures price to increase in
the next few months.
Benefits
There are many advantages when using Bitcoins. First of all, consumers are
protected against identity theft and can make anonymous payments and trades.
This means that the users personal information cannot be tracked. In addition,
the transaction fees for sending and receiving payments are very low. The
consumer has the right to determine the amount of the fee, however, a higher
fee will result in a faster transaction. Furthermore, Bitcoins are efficient in
everyday life. Large amounts are easy to carry around on a phone or memory
stick, which is not recommended with paper bills. Also, there is no bank
interruption delay, which means your money is accessible at any time.
Risks
As mentioned above, the volatility of the Bitcoin market results in high risk
trades. The Bitcoin system is still too new to the financial world and is not yet
stable. Regarding untraceable transactions, crimes are most likely to occur
because the government has no control over Bitcoin exchanges. These crimes
include buying and selling drugs and other illegal substances. Additionally,
Bitcoin agreements are irreversible meaning once the transaction is complete;
there is no going back. Also, no transaction is guaranteed. Consumers need to
be cautious when dealing with unknown parties. There is a fluctuation price risk
for small investors concerning the decisions made by large holders.
Bitcoin’s destiny
Bitcoin
has
made
a
lot
of
progress
since
their
establishment
in
2009.
Recently,
there
has
been
an
increase
of
companies
accepting
Bitcoin
as
a
payment
method
and

3. most
of
them
are
online
e-­‐commerce
websites.
There
are
an
increasing
number
of
consumers
who
are
interested
in
the
Bitcoin
network
seeing
as
it
opens
doors
to
many
possibilities.
However,
the
system
has
a
reputation
of
not
being
trustworthy
when
it
comes
to
technical
flaws,
exchanges
and
security.
Their
lifetime
is
unclear
as
it
is
still
an
experimental
concept.
Either
way,
Bitcoin
will
never
replace
cold
hard
cash.
References
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-­‐pros-­‐cons-­‐consumers-­‐merchants-­‐140041526.html
https://bitcoin.org/en/getting-­‐started
https://orderbook.net/trade
http://www.coindesk.com/price/
Club
des
Marchants
Bleu
et
Or
Équipe
Bitcoin
Renée
d’Entremont,
Étudiante
B.A.A
concentration
Finance
Gabrielle
Surette,
Étudiante
B.A.A.
concentration
Finance