How Bitcoin works
Opportunities and barriers to bitcoin adoption: http://bloom.bg/1y5DWlp Bitcoin is more than a digital currency. It’s an open-sourced technology platform where people with technical knowledge can easily create financial applications built for digital commerce. The promise of that technology has ramifications for the payments business, one in which Visa and MasterCard control 87% of global credit- and debit-card transactions and earn hefty fees to process those payments. Merchants that have embraced bitcoin have done so for a number of reasons, including lower transaction costs, global reach, easier online experience, a developer community ready to innovate and enhanced security compared with traditional credit card networks. Yet wider acceptance of bitcoin is not guaranteed: A lack of public understanding, more competition and regulatory uncertainty may prevent bitcoin and other virtual currencies from disrupting the payments business.
