Education
Przez Sophie Nicolas
22.12.2020
As Bitcoin continues its bull run, you may be seeing all the hype about it online and wondering what it is all about. That’s why we’ve made this article with all the questions you might be too scared to ask about Bitcoin.
Well, first of all, there is no question too obvious when it comes to crypto. In fact, we have our Bitpanda Academy that goes back to the very basics of what Bitcoin is and where it comes from! Crypto is still young and we are all learning together, that’s why we’ve made this article with all the questions you might be too scared to ask about Bitcoin. So let’s jump right into it!
What determines the Bitcoin price is not as complicated as you may think. Simply put, it is simply supply and demand. When people buy more Bitcoin on exchanges such as Bitpanda Pro, the price of Bitcoin will climb higher because people are wanting more Bitcoin and are therefore willing to pay more.
The price of Bitcoin goes down when the demand for Bitcoin decreases. This could be due to a range of things such as general uncertainty or bad news related to Bitcoin. If more people wanted to sell Bitcoin rather than buy it, there would be greater supply than demand and the price would fall.
You may hear investors refer to the Bitcoin and the crypto market as very volatile. A volatile market means that the price of an asset fluctuates sharply and without warning signs in a short period of time. One minute it’s up, one minute it’s down - much like a roller coaster! While it can be scary when you bought higher and your assets suddenly went down a lot, it can also go up again as fast.
In fact, currently (December 2020) Bitcoin is hovering around the same price as it had during the last all-time-high in December 2017. Keep in mind that you should invest responsibly, even if you are fully aware of the volatile nature of Bitcoin.
A volatile market could mean that as volatility increases (the price suddenly sky rockets within days) the potential to earn money back on your investment also increases! On the other hand, it could go the other way (where the price suddenly crashes) so higher volatility means higher risk. Obviously, all of this only matters to you when you plan to sell and cash out. This is where the term “hodl” comes from, which originates back to a typo of the word “hold” and means nothing less than to sit out extreme volatility and relax.
Buying a stock basically means that you own a small share of a company. If you buy Bitcoin from Bitpanda, that doesn’t mean that you own a share of an actual company. Instead, you own a share of the bitcoins that are in existence. If you want to compare Bitcoin to a more traditional asset, then you should go with gold. In fact, more and more investors and industry insiders refer to Bitcoin as “digital gold” or “gold 2.0” because it shares quite a lot of characteristics with gold. But Bitcoin is also more than that, because it’s not only a store of value, but also a fully decentralised payment network and therefore something like digital cash.
Yes, of course. While Bitcoin is more and more seen as “digital gold” you can also spend it on goods and services, or send it to friends and family. And of course, you could sell your Bitcoin holdings for fiat currency (like e.g. euro). Or you could also trade Bitcoin for BEST (Bitpanda’s Ecosystem Token) or any of the other 50 digital currencies on Bitpanda. The choice is entirely up to you as an investor.
Bitcoin is not a physical coin that you can safeguard under lock and key. Bitcoin is and always will be entirely online and stored in something called a wallet (a digital one of course). Similar to the way you keep cash or cards in your physical wallet, your broker or exchange will give you a digital wallet. Alternatively, you can also create your own Bitcoin wallet, where you know your private keys that you should not, under any circumstances, give to anyone. Learn more about a crypto wallet in our Bitpanda Academy lesson.
“Blockchain” can be a difficult concept to comprehend. Basically, a blockchain is a decentralised tamper proof database that acts as a public ledger where all transactions are held for everyone to see. It is not controlled by a single company or government but runs on many computers around the world. This is where all the magic happens. Have a look at our Bitpanda academy lesson where we really take a deep dive into the basics of blockchain. As a regular investor, you don’t have to worry too much about it, but it’s still interesting to learn how it works.
Like what you see?
Head over to Bitpanda to start trading Bitcoin and over 50 other digital assets!
Bitpanda GmbH ve grup şirketleri (Bitpanda) Türk Parasının Kıymetini’nin Korunması Hakkında 32 sayılı Karar’ın 2/b maddesine göre Türkiye’de yerleşik sayılan hiçbir kişiye yönelik olarak 6362 sayılı Sermaye Piyasası Kanunu başta olmak üzere Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devleti mevzuatı hükümleri gereği Türkiye’de faaliyet izni gerektiren hiçbir sermaye piyasası faaliyetine dair hizmet sunmamaktadır. Şayet Bitpanda’nın yabancı sermaye piyasalarında vermiş olduğu hizmetlerden Türkiye’de yerleşik kişilerin faydalandığı tespit edilecek olursa tüm zararları kullanıcıya ait olmak üzere bu hizmetler ivedilikle sona erdirilecektir.
W celu optymalizacji naszych usług używamy plików cookie. Dowiedz się więcej
Zbierane informacje wykorzystujemy w naszej działalności w całej UE. Cookie settings[1]
Jak sama nazwa wskazuje, pewne pliki cookie na naszej stronie są niezbędne. Są niezbędne do zapamiętania Twoich ustawień przy korzystaniu z Bitpandy (np. ustawienia dot. prywatności lub języka), aby chronić platformę przed atakami lub choćby po to, aby wystarczyło się raz zalogować. Możesz je odrzucić, zablokować lub usunąć, ale wpłynie to znacząco na Twoje wrażenia przy korzystaniu z tej witryny, a nawet uniemożliwi użytkowanie pewnych naszych usług.
Takich plików cookie i podobnych technologii używamy do zbierania informacji, w czasie gdy użytkownicy przeglądają naszą witrynę, aby dowiedzieć się więcej o tym, jak jest używana, i odpowiednio ulepszać nasze usługi. Służą także do pomiaru ogólnej wydajności naszej witryny. Dane, jakie one generują, wykorzystujemy w sposób zbiorczy i anonimowy. Zablokowanie tych plików cookie i narzędzi nie wpływa na działanie naszych usług, ale znacznie utrudnia nam dalsze doskonalenie wrażenia ich użytkowników.
Te pliki cookie służą do eksponowania związanych z platformą Bitpanda reklam. Narzędzia do tego zwykle dostarczają strony trzecie. Z pomocą tych plików cookie i takich narzędzi stron trzecich możemy na przykład zapewnić, że nie widzisz tej samej reklamy więcej niż raz i że reklamy są dostosowane do Twoich zainteresowań. Możemy również wykorzystywać te technologie do pomiaru skuteczności naszych kampanii marketingowych. Zablokowanie tych plików cookie i podobnych technologii zasadniczo nie wpływa na działanie naszych usług. Prosimy jednak pamiętać, że chociaż nadal będziesz widzieć reklamy Bitpandy na stronach internetowych, nie będą one już spersonalizowane.