Ten News Explains Bitcoin 🤑
Bethany Van Delft 0:06
Money, money, money, money! Oh boy, Ryan, what are you doing to the wall?
Ryan Willard 0:14
Hey, Bethany. I'm mining for bitcoin, wanna help?
Bethany Van Delft 0:16
No, no, no, Ryan that is not the way you mine for Bitcoin, put the shovel down and back away. Is it the future of money or is it a scam? Today the Ten News explains Bitcoin. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Thursday, April 14th and this is the Ten News.
Various Voices 0:44
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:52
So, what is cryptocurrency? And will it make you rich? Ten News correspondent Lizabanks Campagna is here to break down the digital currency phenomenon.
LizaBanks Campagna 1:03
Hey tenors. So you might have heard the term cryptocurrency in the news and the past year or so. And maybe some other terms that go along with it that are hard to understand like Bitcoin, the blockchain or NF T's aka non-fungible tokens. Have no fear. I'm here to tell you all about cryptocurrency so that you can school your parents next time you hear them asking, What even is a Bitcoin? Let's start from the beginning. Bitcoin is a digital currency that was invented by a person named Satoshi Nakamoto, whose identity is a real-life mystery. Nobody knows who Satoshi is. Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym for the real person or group of people who created Bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto could be anyone in the world that could be a computer coder in Silicon Valley. That could be an athlete living a secret double life. It could be Elon Musk, or maybe even a robot that can you Nakamoto used math and computer science to create Bitcoin on the blockchain, which we'll get to later, and made it open information which is how it became popular. Open information means Nakamoto made the code and information you need to understand and use Bitcoin available and free for anyone in the world to use without legal or social restrictions. The idea of cryptocurrency had been circulating on the internet for a while, but Nakamoto was the first person or super robot to actually do it. So what is Bitcoin? Bitcoin is basically a type of currency think the US dollar that unlike the US dollar is not controlled by a bank or government. Bitcoin is an online currency, and only online so you'll never be able to hold a Bitcoin in your hand or have Bitcoin stashed in your wallet or your pocket. Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin for people that don't live in places that have credit cards or have access to banks and other parts of the world money is tricky and complicated, because the currency for wherever they are, may not have the same value, say as a currency in a place like the United States where the country is stable, and the banks are backed by a very large federal government. But Bitcoin is a universally accepted currency anywhere in the world, but only online. Bitcoin is also super safe. People like using Bitcoin because it's a secure way to send money without anyone interfering. There are over 10,000 different types of cryptocurrencies that people can buy and trade, but bitcoin is the most popular one. So how is Bitcoin created through a process called mining? What does that mean? Crypto miners are basically just computers without like the screen or the monitor that are constantly on and running and solving equations to randomly generate the string of random numbers and letters to equate to a Bitcoin. It's basically like the math version of a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, it seems like it's completely out of thin air. A lot of times when you hear people talk about Bitcoin, you might hear the word decentralized. Bitcoin is decentralized finance, which means that unlike every other type of currency, it's not regulated or controlled by a bank or a government. Now, this might sound scary, but a lot of people actually love this about crypto, because it means that they have total control over their finances. The way the banking system works now is that every time you put your money into a savings account, or your parents swipe their credit card, whatever bank they use, gets a teeny tiny percentage of that because the transaction goes through them. Think about it like this. If your best friend set up a lemonade stand and you wanted to go buy some with your loans, you would have to give the money to your parents who would then give it to your friend before they took a small fee for taking care of the transaction. With cryptocurrency, you could just go over to your best friend's lemonade stand and buy lemonade yourself without having to go through the middlemen of your parents, banks, and credit cards or like your parents in this scenario. And cryptocurrency is the option that lets you handle the buying yourself. If it doesn't make sense, that's okay. Crypto is confusing because it kind of turns the whole financial system upside down and makes us rethink the way we view money. cryptocurrency is a new invention that's an advancement in tech analogy like the iPhone or the internet. When it first came along, people were skeptical, but it ended up making our lives a lot better. And while it seemed kind of weird at first, we can't imagine a world without the iPhone or the internet. So here's the funny thing, Bitcoin became super popular and exploded in value and currently, one bitcoin is worth $42,000. Holy moly. So now that Bitcoin is so valuable, it probably will never be a currency that people use to buy things. But for all the reasons that Bitcoin is awesome that we talked about other types of cryptocurrency have popped up that can be used to buy things. You can still buy Bitcoin or percentages of a Bitcoin but now most people buy bitcoin as an investment. Some believe it can be valued at over $100,000 One day. Currently, there are around 10,000 different types of cryptocurrencies out there, which means there are more types of crypto coins than there are paper currencies in the entire world. Okay, I know that's a lot and you will have lots of questions, but have no fear. I will be back to explain more awesomeness with cryptocurrencies and cover the blockchain mining and try to uncover what even is a nonfungible token. If there's anything crypto-related, that you're curious about, shoot us a message and let us know what's on your mind in the crypto-sphere.
Bethany Van Delft 6:23
Thank you so much for explaining the lies of banks. So wow, there are a lot of cryptocurrencies out there. And most of them like Bitcoin are legitimate. But anytime people buy things online, they have to be careful of scams. A scam is a way of getting money by Lion and a group of people in 2016 created a fake cryptocurrency called one coin, they were running what's called a pyramid scheme. A pyramid scheme is an investment scheme. There are few people at the top of the pyramid making all the money off of everyone lower down on the pyramid. The people at the bottom of the pyramid often lose a lot of their hard-earned money this way. Okay, that's bad. Scams aren't just something to be careful of with cryptocurrencies, anything digital that costs money could be a scam. scammers have set up shop on video game platforms like Roblox fortnight and FIFA, as well as on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Because it's easier for criminals to hide online. Consumers have to be more careful with digital purchases. Whether you're investing in digital currency or buying a new skin for your fortnight character. Hey, Tessa-tess, got any facts about money?
Tessa Flannery 7:40
You know it, Bethany. The first coins were minted or made 2,500 years ago, and the first paper money was used in China 1,000 years ago. Humans have been using the money for as long as we've been doing math. I guess that makes "cents".
Bethany Van Delft 8:00
Very punny, Tessa. And nowhere to give us the news rundown is our head writer Ryan Willard.
Ryan Willard 8:15
Ketani brown Jackson has been confirmed to serve on the US Supreme Court. On February 25, President Biden nominated her to become the 116th Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court and on April 7th, she was confirmed by the Senate. Justice Jackson will be the first black woman ever to serve on the US Supreme Court and will replace Justice Stephen Breyer. Nintendo was building a new research and development building. The new building will be next door to their headquarters in Kyoto, Japan, and will be roughly the size of two football fields. We don't know what the new research and development facility will hold. But we do know that this means Nintendo will continue to make things that we want to play. Baskin Robbins is getting a makeover. The 77-year-old beloved ice cream chain is going through some changes. Those changes will include a brand new logo, employee uniforms, and packaging and their online store will sell bucket hats and bicycles among other things. And of course, there will be new ice cream flavors unveiled yummy, yummy in my tummy ice cream and cake and cake. The icing on the cake. The icing on the cake. That's your rundown. Back to you, Bethany.
Bethany Van Delft 9:31
Up next, it's time for...
Various Voices 9:34
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 9:38
Trivia on the Ten. You might know that money is printed at the US Mint, which has a couple of locations. But, do you know which game prints more fake money in one year than all the governments in the entire world? Is it a) The Game of Life b) monopoly or c) Pay Day? Did you guess it? The answer is b) monopoly. Monopoly is so popular that Hasbro prints more Monopoly money than all the real money that all the governments in the whole world print combined. That's a lot of moolah. And that's our show. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is passing go and collecting $200 and includes Tracey crooks, Pete Musto, Ryan Willard, Adam Barnard, and Tessa Flannery. LizaBanks Campagna contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle, and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft and thanks for listening to the Ten News. Now I'm gonna go help Ryan clean up that mess. Ryan, did you pick the shovel back up? Oh my goodness, no crypto allowance for you this week. That's it.
