Bitcoin is considered an efficient way of transferring money over the Internet, and it is also the first cryptocurrency developed in order to eventually replace other traditional currencies that are still governed by financial institutions. In comparison, Bitcoin is the first digital cryptocurrency that operates entirely on a decentralized and peer-to-peer blockchain technology, which isn’t maintained by anyone else except for its users. Today there is a huge number of investors that want to get BTC, and in this article, we provide an overview of the various ways that were available for investors in the past compared to the options we have in obtaining Bitcoin now.
Bitcoin Mining and Bitcoinmarket.com
In the beginning, mainly through Bitcoin mining was possible for supporters of Bitcoin to get BTC. Bitcoin Mining involved verifying blocks of transactions in the network, and thanks to mining new BTC, enters the blockchain network. At first, mining was very accessible because there weren’t many people on the network, and miners worked using a personal computer to obtain block rewards (the block rewards are the main incentives for miners).
Otherwise, you could have made an exchange of your funds for BTC on forums, but this was not a very safe way of getting BTC. At the time, there weren’t dedicated crypto online exchange platforms. Actually, the first online exchange platform was created in 2010, and it was called Bitcoinmarket.com.
It was developed in response to the lack of options when it came to trading and also because there was not a consensus regarding the price of Bitcoin. Although the site had a lot of technical problems and didn’t survive, it was a great step in the right direction.
Online Trading Sites and Mining Pools
The popularity of Bitcoin grew, and other cryptocurrencies entered the crypto market, while a lot of new exchange sites were launched. So, today there is actually a lot of exchange platforms where you can invest in BTC as an individual investor or retail investor. A site that uses cutting-edge AI technology is bitcoin digital. This platform is RSA encrypted end has reputable brokers. What’s more, the platform is very beginner-friendly,
On the other hand, mining grew a lot more competitive because there is a huge number of miners today, which means mining is increasingly more difficult. So, you can’t mind on your own with your personal computer and get a block reward as others did in the past. Actually, you have the best chances of getting BTC through mining by joining a mining pool or a mining farm. In mining pools, the miners join resources in order to get the block rewards, while mining farms successfully mine at a large scale use special mining equipment.
Another factor that made mining costly today is Bitcoin Halving. According to the Bitcoin protocol, this event occurs roughly after four years or when 210,000 BTC are mined. Each event reduces the block reward, and each subsequent halving decreased the available supply of BTC. This is another reason why there are a lot more mining pools and farms, but also, this is one of the factors that has triggered the bullish cycle of Bitcoin in 2020. In fact, the price of Bitcoin has topped $50,000 in February 2021.
Summary
Today we have a lot more accessible options it comes to investing in BTC. Not only can we trade on exchange platforms, but we can also join mining pools. Also, the incentive of investing in Bitcoin is growing every day as Bitcoin’s price is increasing. Additionally, there are a lot of offline and online businesses that accept BTC payments and support the adoption of cryptocurrencies.
