A single bitcoin is expensive, almost $80,000 CAD. However, a bitcoin is not like a house where you cannot buy a fraction of a house. Bitcoin is 

, meaning it is very easy to break a bitcoin down into its smaller parts. A dollar is made up of 100 smaller parts, called cents. 

Each bitcoin is made up of 100,000,000 smaller parts, called a satoshi or a ‘sat’

. So while a whole bitcoin is very expensive and not something the majority of people can go out and buy, 

Bitcoin can be sent anywhere in the world - easily and inexpensively!

Have you ever tried sending your friend to another country for $50? If you have then you know it's really hard, time consuming and expensive! Government money isn’t designed to travel outside of the government’s jurisdiction. 

Bitcoin is as easy to send to your next door neighbour as it is to send it to your uncle halfway around the world. Both recipients will be equally as easy and inexpensive to send the bitcoin to.  Think of bitcoin like combining the concept of email and gold into a single thing. You get internet gold, or what we call bitcoin. 

A third of the people on earth cannot open a bank account, but everyone can access a bitcoin wallet

Banks need to make money off of customers to justify providing banking services. If you aren’t profitable enough for a bank, then you’re unable to participate in the digital economy. Banks used to be the only way to transfer money around the world, but now bitcoin provides an alternative option for everyone, even those who could never have a bank account. Bitcoin wallets are free, anyone with a phone can use bitcoin. 

Bitcoin and bitcoin wallets are unhackable

Bitcoin's security is two fold. Bitcoin wallets and transactions are encrypted, meaning hacking a bitcoin wallet or transaction is impossible. A bitcoin wallet has never been hacked, a wallet cannot be hacked. Furthermore, if a rogue person attempted to steal bitcoin or change the rules to print free bitcoin for themselves, their attempt would fail due to the rigorous system of monitoring within bitcoin. Thousands of bitcoin computers constantly check to ensure everyone follows the rules. Since it is difficult and slow for computers to add transactions to the bitcoin network, yet fast and inexpensive to check and validate new transactions, it is very easy to police the network. 

Invalid transactions or actions are instantly communicated and rejected wholly by the network. The same is true for valid transactions, but they are approved by everyone. In the Bitcoin network, the truth spreads quickly, and malice is slow, expensive – essentially impossible to pull off. Bitcoin's self-defense mechanism is impermeable, which explains why the Bitcoin network's value has exceeded 1 trillion dollars, yet it has never experienced a hack. 

Bitcoin is special because it is an unstoppable, unhackable network.

Inflation of government money: natural phenomenon or intentional design?

 an inflation rate of 2%, meaning money loses 2% of its value annually. In recent years, we’ve seen massive amounts of money printing and inflation far above 2%. With the government intentionally devaluing the money you get paid in, you should look outside of your local currency when it comes to saving for the future. 

The total number of bitcoins is fixed at 21,000,000. Meaning if you buy a fraction of a bitcoin today, no one and no government will be able to print more bitcoin, meaning your bitcoin preserves its value. 

Aside from being the most useful global money, bitcoin’s stable and fixed supply means bitcoin is also the best money at preserving value over time. 

Bitcoin is the best money and the best online communications network. Bitcoin is the best way to transfer value from the present to the future, anywhere in the world. 

Here are a few key terms to get familiarized with as you begin your bitcoin journey. 

: Software that stores your private keys, allowing you to control your bitcoins
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: Secret code that gives you control over your bitcoins
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: Your Bitcoin "account number" for receiving funds
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: A group of transactions added to the blockchain approximately every 10 minutes
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: An event occurring roughly every four years where the new bitcoin issuance rate is cut in half

As with many new things, bitcoin has a learning curve. That’s okay! Here is how to get started and comfortable using bitcoin:



Step 1 - Learn: Understand the basics of Bitcoin, game theory and economics

Step 2 - Set up: Start with self custody hot wallet. Make sure to back it up!

Step 3 - Buy bitcoin: Use a bitcoin platform that sends bitcoin directly to your personal bitcoin wallet, like Bitcoin Well

Step 4 - Use bitcoin: Start with small transactions to understand the process

Sign up for Bitcoin Well and start buying bitcoin today

If you are new to bitcoin and want to learn more about the what and why of bitcoin, this is the educational trough for you!

Bitcoin 101: What you need to know

Konrad Fitzpatrick