What is the prospect of Bitcoin?

Recently, the ransomware "Eternal Blue" swept the world. The attacker claimed that in order to unlock the computer controlled by the virus, it is necessary to pay the equivalent of 3 to 6 dollars in bitcoin. Therefore, this virus is also called "Bitcoin virus" by some media.

"Criminals also want to have a very safe and convenient trading tool that doesn't go through any state agency." Xiao Lei, a financial columnist, told the Beijing News reporter that Bitcoin was "favored" by hackers because of its anonymity and difficult traceability.

This incident has once again brought Bitcoin into people's field of vision.

On January 3rd, 29, the world's first batch of bitcoins were dug up, and this digital currency designed by a man code named "Satoshi Nakamoto" was officially born. Earlier this year, Bitcoin just celebrated its eighth birthday.

in the past eight years, bitcoin has developed from an initial niche product, from production and trading to storage and application, forming a fairly complete industrial chain. Some people think that it can solve the shortcomings of the current society in many fields, such as inflation, and "can make human society better."

Some people think that Bitcoin does not have the essential attribute of becoming a currency, and it has potential risks and core defects. The law has not kept pace with its "barbaric growth", which is a "grey" new world that has not yet fully established order.

"Digging" Bitcoin

A year ago, Sun Chunyu, a man in his early thirties, proposed to his girlfriend who had been in love for many years. He used an unusual romantic way to put the marriage proposal "Will you marry me? Would you like to marry me? ) "carved into the bitcoin blockchain.

In the currency circle, Sun Chunyu has a more widely known screen name-Sun Xiaoxiao. He is in charge of mining business in a bitcoin startup company, and manages four or five mines in Sichuan and Xinjiang to ensure the normal operation of the mines and continuously and steadily dig out bitcoin.

unlike most currencies, bitcoin has the characteristics of "decentralization", and it can be obtained by anyone through a specific 64-bit operation without relying on the issuance of monetary institutions such as the central bank. Simply put, "mining" is like solving a complex math problem with a computer. Every time you get a qualified answer, the Bitcoin network will generate a certain amount of bitcoin as a reward.

The ordinary computer can't support this kind of high-intensity operation, and it is replaced by a special computer (that is, the mining machine) with amazing computing power. Whoever has strong computing power (that is, computing power) is likely to get more bitcoin.

according to Satoshi Nakamoto's design, the total amount of bitcoin is fixed within 21 million. The difficulty of calculation will continue to rise, and the reward will continue to decrease. "It's like digging a gold mine", Sun Xiao's novel. Therefore, the process of obtaining bitcoin is vividly called "mining", and the participants in mining are "miners".

every time a bitcoin is dug up, miners can record what they want to write in the bitcoin blockchain. Sun Xiaoxiao's colleagues often play this interesting trick. They have written poems, funny jokes and even the words in "Three-body", "We have had a happy life". Sun Xiaoxiao's marriage proposal was also completed.

Sun Xiao's novel, at present, the mining machines all over the world can complete 2.4 trillion calculations per second, which is equivalent to the sum of the amount of sand on a 5-kilometer island in Fiona Fang, and it is still rising. The computing power that Sun Xiaoxiao is in charge of accounts for about 6% of the computing power of the whole network. That is to say, for every 1 new bitcoins generated by the bitcoin network, about 6 of them are dug by his team.

Sun Xiaoxiao's company can dig about 1 bitcoins every day. As of press time, one bitcoin is worth about 17, yuan. Sun Xiao's novels, if calculated in RMB, the profit rate of their mining last year was above 2%. In the past, when there were not so many people digging, the number would be higher.

of course, not all mines can make money. A mine operator once posted a post about his sad past: whether to find cheap electricity, whether to maintain the stable operation of the mining machine, and whether to find a venue with suitable rent all affect the cost of operating a mine. If you are unlucky enough to catch up with the decline in the price of money, losing money will become a high probability event.

According to the Global Bitcoin Development Research Report 214-216, at present, more than 75% of the global computing power is concentrated in China. This report was jointly published by Internet Finance Laboratory of Tsinghua University Wudaokou Finance College and Huobi.com..

data show that the global mines currently consume more than 6, kwh per hour and more than 5.2 billion kwh per year. Some people question that the high-speed operation of mining machines consumes a lot of electricity all the year round, but it is a waste of resources to produce "an illusory thing".

But Sun Xiaoxiao denied that "electricity costs". Sun Xiao's novel, China abandoned 5 billion kwh of electricity in 215. Their mines are in Tibet and Sichuan, which solved many local water and electricity abandonment. "It was solved locally and converted into bitcoin, and even the money for laying the power grid was saved."

in his eyes, bitcoin is like a large-scale decentralized social experiment. He believes that Bitcoin can make the whole government smaller and cleaner. "Bitcoin system is transparent and traceable". If the whole social transaction system adopts Bitcoin, "corrupt officials dare not accept money".

Li Jian, a columnist of Bitcoin, told the reporter that Bitcoin has actually established a decentralized global payment system. Compared with the cost of transfer in banking systems or payment systems around the world, the energy consumption of Bitcoin is not too large.

in the currency circle, tax issues are also more sensitive. Because there is no explicit provision in the law, there is no need to pay taxes for digging a large number of "expensive" bitcoins in various mines. Wu Gang, the founder of a bitcoin company, said frankly that at present, the tax authorities can only collect taxes on other means of production, such as mining machines and electricity, and there is no relevant regulation on the produced bitcoin.