By Gillian McGoldrick
Editor-in-Chief and Entertainment Editor

By Gillian McGoldrick
Editor-in-Chief and
Entertainment Editor

The familiar sound of change jingling around in a pocket is no longer necessary with a new form of cash that is gaining popularity. The Bitcoin is a form of internet currency that can exchange money internationally in less than ten minutes.

The Bitcoin began in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, whom left the project in late 2010 but the Bitcoin community has kept it running ever since. It initially gained its hype from users of the website Reddit, but slowly turned into a popular new source for international trade and purchases. Some popular purchases made by Bitcoin customers are video games, gifts, merchandise, or even alpaca socks.

To purchase a Bitcoin, the customer must open a virtual wallet on the Bitcoin server, Coinbase. After an account has been made and the amount of desired Bitcoins has been purchased, the coins are kept safe in the virtual wallet until the customer wants to use them.

Once a purchase is to be made, the customer must send over the amount of Bitcoins required for the purchase to the “Bitcoin Miner,” which is the person that will authorize the purchase. Once approved by the Miner, the customer will be able to receive their new purchase, no matter where the customer and Miner live.

The most interesting part of the Bitcoin is that after the customer sets up a PayPal account, the purchase is anonymous and peer-to-peer. Each purchase is made with no middleman getting in the way with unnecessary processing fees. “Bitcoin is open-source; its design is public, nobody owns or controls Bitcoin and everyone can take part,” according to the official website’s policy statement.

Because the Bitcoin does not have a centralized bank and each purchase is anonymous, many black markets such as “the Silk Lane” have been established for selling illegal things such as drugs. “The black market sites are what have led to the media portraying Bitcoins as a negative rather than a positive,” Junior and Bitcoin user, Hoyt Holper said.

The idea of an “internet currency” is something that could be very innovative for the modern world. The internet is something most all people have in common. But international governments seem to refuse to discuss the Bitcoin and its potential to be anything but a site for buying illegal drugs.

As of Feb. 12, 1 BTC is at the equivalent to 660 USD. To find out more information about how to get involved with Bitcoin, visit www.bitcoin.org.