Speaker 1: Bitcoin one oh one. I'm Rich Demiro and this is
Speaker 1: Rich on Tech Daily. Okay, how many times have you
Speaker 1: heard someone talk about bitcoin, cryptocurrency or blockchain. These buzzwords
Speaker 1: are being thrown around like everyone knows what they mean,
Speaker 1: but do they really. I figured, you know, what it is, time,
Speaker 1: with so many people investing in this stuff and talking
Speaker 1: about it, to get a little bit more information about it.
Speaker 2: So I talked to Alan Goren.
Speaker 1: He's a financial technology entrepreneur based in Los Angeles. He
Speaker 1: also hosts one of the biggest cryptocurrency investment events every year.
Speaker 1: It's called the Crypto invest Summit. And he told me
Speaker 1: point blank, the average person does not understand And he said,
Speaker 1: the average person who's a bitcoin millionaire probably doesn't understand
Speaker 1: bitcoin for the most part, which is kind of crazy
Speaker 1: because people have made money on this stuff.
Speaker 2: He's all into this stuff.
Speaker 1: He even got his wife to write a book on
Speaker 1: it called Bitcoin for Babies, which is really cute. It's
Speaker 1: available on Amazon. But let's start with the basics. Cryptocurrency.
Speaker 1: This is a new type of digital money that basically
Speaker 1: uses complex math equations instead of bank records to verify transactions.
Speaker 1: And Goren says there's over fifteen hundred different types of
Speaker 1: cryptocurrencies and they all do different things. Now, of course
Speaker 1: we've all heard of bitcoin. That's the most widely known,
Speaker 1: so it's super popular. And he said the reason why
Speaker 1: it's most popular is because it was the first major cryptocurrency.
Speaker 1: It got the most adoption, and it was really revolutionary
Speaker 1: in what it did. Now, like cash, cryptocurrency is anonymous,
Speaker 1: but there's a big difference. Unlike cash, cryptocurrency is independent
Speaker 1: of all banks or government.
Speaker 2: So basically, this is the crazy part.
Speaker 1: Every single little piece of cryptocurrency carries its own record
Speaker 1: of everywhere it's ever been exchanged.
Speaker 2: Yes, that record gets pretty big. And the reason why Goren.
Speaker 1: Says that this is special is because it is called trustless.
Speaker 2: That means you don't have to have a middleman.
Speaker 1: So, if you think about it, the way that you
Speaker 1: normally send money is from bank to bank. The bank says, yes,
Speaker 1: we have this money, we approve it, and the other
Speaker 1: bank says, okay, we've received this money, and we acknowledge
Speaker 1: that this all happens within the currency itself, which is
Speaker 1: pretty amazing when you think about it. So what is
Speaker 1: the biggest thing holding bitcoin back? Well, it is slow
Speaker 1: transaction time. Think about it right now, Every transaction must
Speaker 1: be approved, and it's approved through these computers, a worldwide
Speaker 1: network of peer to peer computers. They call these things minors,
Speaker 1: and anyone can really sign up to be a minor.
Speaker 1: They do all the work and if you solve one
Speaker 1: of these transactions, you're rewarded with a little bitcoin for yourself.
Speaker 1: So you have a lot of people doing this and
Speaker 1: that's how the system propagates.
Speaker 2: That's how the system.
Speaker 1: Actually works because there's always someone out there that wants
Speaker 1: to say, Hey, I want a little tiny piece of
Speaker 1: the money here, so I'm going to solve these transactions
Speaker 1: and that's what really powers the entire system. So why
Speaker 1: are investors going wild over all these new currencies like
Speaker 1: Bitcoin and similar currencies you've heard about, cryptocurrencies like.
Speaker 2: Light coin and ethereum.
Speaker 1: Well, Goren says, there are lots and lots of very
Speaker 1: valuable tools being built on them, and that is what
Speaker 1: the value is all about.
Speaker 2: So where can you spend this money? If you buy
Speaker 2: some bitcoin?
Speaker 1: I actually bought twenty five dollars worth of bitcoin through
Speaker 1: an app called square Cash. It made it really easy,
Speaker 1: but spending bitcoin, it could be a little bit tough
Speaker 1: for the average person. Right now, just a handful of businesses,
Speaker 1: big businesses accept it as a payment type. You're not
Speaker 1: going to find it as a checkout option on Amazon,
Speaker 1: but overstock dot Com is one of the pioneers and
Speaker 1: accepting it, and there's a whole bunch of other companies
Speaker 1: as well. Coinbase is one of the popular websites for
Speaker 1: buying bitcoin. That's probably the most popular, the one that
Speaker 1: you hear over and over. They have a whole list
Speaker 1: of companies where you can spend it as well. But
Speaker 1: if you've been keeping up on the bitcoin news, you
Speaker 1: know that the price fluctuates wildly. So the twenty five
Speaker 1: dollars that I put in there as of today is
Speaker 1: up to twenty eight, but it was down to eighteen just.
Speaker 2: A week ago, so it is pretty crazy.
Speaker 1: It's like an investment, so if you're gonna put money
Speaker 1: on this, you need to understand what you're getting into
Speaker 1: before you plunk down your cash.
Speaker 2: All right, If you want to learn.
Speaker 1: More about bitcoin, you can find some resources and links
Speaker 1: on my website.
Speaker 2: Just go to rich on tech dot tv.
Speaker 1: Hopefully I help you understand a little bit more about
Speaker 1: this emerging currency. It is very interesting and very unique.
Speaker 1: I'm rich Demiro rich on tech.
Speaker 2: I'll talk to you next time.