The best investment in bitcoin? Take the time to look into it

Those who know little about the topic have mainly two questions: what is bitcoin and is it a good idea to invest money on it. To answer these questions, however, we should solve another small matter: what is the technology that allows Bitcoin, or other cryptocurrencies, to exist? The answer, currently, is only one: the blockchain. You may look up  the more formal definition on Wikipedia, while we leave to Prof. Massimo Sala (University of Trento), one of our seminar‘s speakers, the most immediate one: “The blockchain is a blackboard in which everyone can see and write, where no one can delete or change what is written“. Basically a useful system to ensure data integrity.

So imagine a situation where we have to give a check to buy a car. To do this, we need 3 players: a seller, a buyer and a bank that guarantees its value and validity. In the case of the blockchain, we need only two: buyer and seller. The bank is no longer needed since what makes checks valid is the trust generated by the community of participants. If you join the blockchain, you can read and verify the writings left on the “blackboard”, so that each transaction is guaranteed by a trust system generated by peers. Cryptography is what keeps together the links in the chain, ensuring security to the database that is generated.

The blockchain system allows for several projects to be implemented – some of them are already in place – that provide for the cancellation of intermediary institutions (e.g. digital identity, insurance contracts, real estate contracts). But cryptocurrencies, and in particular Bitcoin, are the driving force behind this technology. We talked about it with Alessandro Olivo, young co-founder of inbitcoin and an old enthusiast of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. You will find a few questions in the video below. Anmong others, we asked him what is the best investment in Bitcoin, and his answer was: “look into it and get to know it“. On the one hand, we were disappointed not to have a ready investment solution, on the other we bring home the awareness that knowledge, as always, remains the only investment