Introducing BitCoin

Bitcoin is a virtual currency, designed to allow people to buy and sell without centralized control by banks or governments, and it allows for pseudonymous transactions which aren’t tied to a real identity. Bitcoin, an open-source project created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, is the world’s first distributed and anonymous digital currency.

As a currency, Bitcoin is revolutionary for a few reasons:

• Artificial currency inflation is impossible with Bitcoin. In most countries, a central bank controls the money supply, and sometimes it may decide to inject more money into an economy. A central bank does this essentially by printing more money. More cash in the system, however, means that the cash you already hold will be worth less. By contrast, because Bitcoin has no central authority, no one can decide to increase the money supply.
• Cash has features like anonymity and eminent portability, but also comes with the downside that you have to physically move it from place to place to use it. Credit cards and other trust-based electronic currencies can be used instantly over any distance, but you have to attach your real identity to the purchase. Bitcoins combine the advantages of the two methods. Using Bitcoins, I can buy a racy t-shirt from Tibet and computer time from China without either merchant knowing who I am, or my bank knowing what I bought. This is useful not just for those purchasing questionable items (the downside of anonymous currency flows), but also for those who don’t want merchants, banks, or card companies to be able to build up detailed profiles of their life, likes, and habits.

What do you think of this new currency? Do you think it has a place in the world Kenya?

PS In just a few weeks, the value of one Bitcoin has risen rapidly to $22 for 1 Bitcoin. This probably means that if you buy a Bitcoin today, you may have much more tomorrow.

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