--- title: Where Did Bitcoin Come From? - CCSalesPro description:   Have you heard a lot of buzz about bitcoin?  In December 2017 I was advised to sell my whole business and begin trading bitcoin since it was much more profitable.  At that time one bitcoin was worth about $17,500.  However, today that same bitcoin is at $8,100!  It lost about a third of its […] --- [Blog ](https://www.ccsalespro.com/blog) # [Where Did Bitcoin Come From? - CCSalesPro](https://www.ccsalespro.com/blog/where-did-bitcoin-come-from) Written by [James Shepherd](https://www.ccsalespro.com/blog/author/james-shepherd) | Apr 24, 2018 11:22:19 AM   ***Have you heard a lot of buzz about bitcoin?***  In December 2017 I was advised to sell my whole business and begin trading bitcoin since it was much more profitable.  ***At that time one bitcoin was worth about $17,500.  However, today that same bitcoin is at $8,100!***  It lost about a third of its value in either forty-eight or twenty-four hours.  The U.S. currency might have 10% fluctuation over the course of a year.  This bitcoin plunge was ridiculous!  ***Understanding terms and technology determines our actions.  In this episode get some insight into bitcoin and blockchain.  Learn basics of how banks function in our society today. *** To understand bitcoin, knowing the function of banks in our society is necessary.  ***Banks are lending institutions, but there are other types of institutions which do lending exclusively.***  Banks are not necessary for lending.  Initially banks were for the purpose of getting cash.  Over the course of time, checks became popular.  Then credit cards became available.  ***Now the majority of transactions are digital.  Money is being digitally moved from place to place through the bank.***  Thus, the bank is actually a trusted, secure ledger.  The following types of transactions take place billions of times a day:  “This dollar belongs to Joe.  This dollar belongs to Susan.  Susan wants to pay one dollar to Joe, so now Susan doesn’t have this dollar.  Joe has two dollars; Susan has zero.”  ***There must be a trusted ledger to keep track of all these transactions!***  If I use my card to pay the restaurant, I can feel confident the money is taken from my account.  And the restaurant owner can trust the money to eventually get to his account.  ***That trust is vitally important!*** The philosophy presented by bitcoin was, “If we didn’t need a central ledger, money could be moved for free.  Banks charge interchange rates and other fees.  ***We will create a ledger system omitting the need for the central bank ledger.”  Thus, the blockchain technology was created.***  Blockchain is awesome.  But understand bitcoin and blockchain are two totally different things.  ***Bitcoin is built on top of blockchain. *** Compare this to the internet.  ***Consider how much internet is a part of our culture and society.  It’s no longer a fad but an integral part of life for most of us. *** However, if someone builds a website on the internet, it won’t necessarily be a huge success just because internet is doing well.  The website is built on top of a core technology.  So, the website must also be good to be successful.  ***In spite of millions of new people being on the internet every day, a bad website will fail.***  This is comparable to the blockchain situation. ***In an effort to explain blockchain in a few sentences, please understand this is a massive over-simplification!  ***Basically, blockchain engages millions of ledgers on many different computers and servers rather than a central, trusted ledger.  ***Transactions will be processed by virtue of so many ledgers watching and checking each other.***  Some banks are even using blockchain to reduce their costs.  Although blockchain seems here to stay, bitcoin is not necessarily. ***Bitcoin was born from the desire to not only reduce costs or compete with banks but to eliminate them.***  The fundamental idea was to terminate government involvement with currency.  ***And while doing that to create cryptocurrency which no one can track.***  Anticipation was that people would love it because there is no cost.***  *** *I hope this gives you some insight into bitcoin and blockchain.**  Don’t miss the next episode to discover why bitcoin is such a mess now.  ***Understanding terms and technology determines our actions. ***Read previous post:  [No Traffic Jams on the Extra Mile](https://www.ccsalespro.com/no-traffic-jams-extra-mile/)*** > [No Traffic Jams on the Extra Mile](https://www.ccsalespro.com/no-traffic-jams-extra-mile/) ***Read next post:  [Why Is Bitcoin Such a Mess?](https://www.ccsalespro.com/why-is-bitcoin-such-a-mess/)*** > [Why Is Bitcoin Such a Mess?](https://www.ccsalespro.com/why-is-bitcoin-such-a-mess/) [View full post](https://www.ccsalespro.com/blog/where-did-bitcoin-come-from) ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "James Shepherd" }, "dateModified" : "2023-05-04T17:23:57.160Z", "datePublished" : "2018-04-24T11:22:19Z", "headline" : "Where Did Bitcoin Come From?", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 1024, "url" : "https://23985695.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/23985695/Imported_Blog_Media/where_did_bitcoin_come_from-01-1024x1024.jpg", "width" : 1024 }, "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://www.ccsalespro.com/blog/where-did-bitcoin-come-from", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 60, "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png", "width" : 60 }, "name" : "Blog" } } ```