Note: There is not physical bitcoin, it is only a digital thing that exists in the cyber world.
Should we accept bitcoin for AI Art Projects?
Let us know, via email or on social.
How do you get a bitcoin?
Truly there is only one way, since a Bitcoin is made up currency by tech nerds.
Bitcoin Mining
Bitcoin mining means using powerful computers to solve complex math problems and earn Bitcoin as a reward.
1. Bitcoin Mining ⛏️ (The Source of New Bitcoins)
- Miners use powerful computers to solve complex math problems.
- When a miner solves a problem, they get rewarded with new bitcoins.
- This process also verifies Bitcoin transactions and adds them to the blockchain (a public ledger).
- Every 10 minutes, a new “block” of transactions is added, and miners get a reward.
💰 Bitcoin Block Reward (How New Bitcoins Are Created)
- In 2009, miners earned 50 BTC per block.
- This reward halves every 4 years (known as the “halving”):
- 2012: 25 BTC per block
- 2016: 12.5 BTC per block
- 2020: 6.25 BTC per block
- 2024 (upcoming halving): 3.125 BTC per block
Only 21 million bitcoins will ever exist. This limit makes Bitcoin scarce, like digital gold.
2. Bitcoin’s Code (The Fixed Supply Limit)
Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009.
- The Bitcoin protocol ensures that only 21 million BTC will ever exist.
- Over 19.6 million BTC have already been mined (as of 2024).
- The last Bitcoin will be mined around 2140.
So, to answer the question, someone who got a reward in the form of a bitcoin would need to give you one. This can be done as a pay for service or transfer as gift. But must be made to a valid crypto wallet that manages the bitcoin’s validation as real.
So how is that you can buy bitcoin?
This is because someone(and exchange) has accumulated a large quantity and offers them for sell in the form of exchange of a different currency like that of a USD currency or other country’s currency. For example, one is saying I will pay 100.00 USD for .0003 of a bitcoin. That bitcoin piece will be stored in your crypto wallet and can be used like real physical currency like a USD if a seller of goods and/or services is willing to accept your bitcoin(or fraction of a bitcoin).
That is to say as of 2025 1 bitcoin is worth 87K USD, so most people cannot buy a bitcoin, but they can by a fraction of one.
Bitcoin is Divisible into Small Units
- The smallest unit of Bitcoin is called a Satoshi (Sat).
- 1 Bitcoin (BTC) = 100,000,000 Satoshis (100 million Sats).
- This means you can buy as little as $1 worth of Bitcoin, depending on the exchange you use.
Who made money off of Bitcoin or other forms of crypto currency?
That would be early adopters of bitcoin, those who built up a wallet when bitcoin were not worth even 1 USD. So someone who had 40 bitcoins and after many years kept them and now want to exchange them to real money would get approx 87K per BTC. So really only those that get in early and buy crypto currency before it worth anything will make a lot of money if the crypto currency becomes popular and people think it is worth something. And, supply and demand take over.
Is Crypto like a credit card?
No, credit card make money of of interest of borrowed “invisible money”. A bank issue you a credit line of money(really unless regulated they don’t even have to have the physical money) they then lend it to you in a form of a credit card and you basically can use the “invisible money” for goods and service at a high premium in the form of interests. The longer someone doesn’t pay the borrowed money(in the form of credit card) the more they keep paying interests on the same borrowed money. Even if you pay in 30 days, the bank may still charge a minimum fee or interest for the minimum time of a cycle(30 days). So yes if you borrow 1000USD on credit and don’t pay it down in 30 days you continue to repay interest on the original balance each month. That is why if you borrowed 1000 USD you could end up pay 1000 plus another 600 to several thousands on interests if you only pay the min. The big catch to banks toss in, is if you are late they charge a fee and they can up the interest rate from the original agreed amount, thus allow the back to make even more money of your line of credit.
Even though no physical money every transfer between the bank and the credit card holder you have to consider this is a finite amount of minted currency in the US alone. So if a back has 100k customer and they all have say 10k credit line, do you think the back has 1 billion dollars in their vault just to cover all that money? In most case they may, but is there room for them to not actually have it and in turn they too offer a form of payment digitally only. Did they have the currency or do their books just show they moved some digital amounts around. This is why regulations are in place.
Crypto currency has no check and balance, it us user based and “encryption based by all the users in an open ledger”.
