By now, you've probably heard all about Bitcoins. But what are they? And are people actually striking it rich "mining" these things? Today, we'll find out with a first-hand look into the world of this crypto-currency, straight from a Bitcoin miner.

I suppose the best place to start is in the beginning...

Satoshi Nakamoto, The Phantom

In 2009, a scientist calling himself Satoshi Nakamoto published an eight-page paper entitled Bitcoin: A Peer-To-Peer Electronic Cash System, along with working proof-of-concept source code. There was nothing unusual about this, except for the simple fact that there is no Satoshi Nakamoto. Stunningly, the author of a scientific paper had used a pseudonym.

The paper itself was not particularly revolutionary either; it built upon previous attempts at crypto-currencies, such as b-money and Hashcash. Satoshi’s true innovation was combining several known concepts like peer-to-peer networking and secure hashes with inventions of his own, namely a clever incentive system for the participants and an anti-inflation mechanism.

Silk Road and Illegal Drugs

Being an anonymous crypto-currency, Bitcoins (BTC) were soon adopted for payments on Silk Road, an online marketplace for illegal drugs. Silk Road lives inside TOR (The Onion Router) and sports a transaction feedback system similar to the one used by eBay, allowing customers to avoid dishonest sellers. It is unfortunate that Bitcoins are still stigmatized as being linked to Silk Road, and overzealous politicians have used this coincidental connection to call for a ban of the cyber currency. While it is a well-known fact that most dollar bills in circulation have traces of cocaine on them, nobody in their right mind would use this fact as pretext to stigmatize U.S. currency.

Source: www.tomshardware.com