Transferring digital funds has become easier by the day with the growing technology available today. In this age where transactions and communication are done at rapid speed, currency transactions must also follow suit. Bitcoin transactions are generally faster than bank transfers and international wire transfers, from instantaneous to an average of 10 minutes.

Credit card transactions may also be immediate but using cards comes with a charge fee. Merchants, and sometimes consumers, usually have to pay a fee whenever a credit or debit card is used to perform a purchase. However, using bitcoin decreases those fees as the transactions are processed by competing computers and not by a financial company.

Once bitcoins are sent, there is no method to retrieve them unless the recipient agrees. This is a great method in preventing scams and frauds in which people perform purchases then ask for a chargeback.

Using bitcoin instead of credit cards also safeguards payment and private information. Most online purchases run a risk of having the card’s information stolen as you have to provide the full card details. Bitcoin uses the combination of your public and private keys to sign a transaction, therefore certifying that the transaction came from you.

Bitcoin is a relatively private currency. Transactions are transparent in terms of everyone being able to see where the fund comes from, where it goes and how much a particular bitcoin address holds in transactions. However, the holder of the address remains private and unknown.

Normal currency can be printed and injected into the economy by the government, which can cause the value of the currency to decrease. However, unlike normal currency, bitcoin was designed with a maximum amount when the system was created. This means that the number of bitcoins remains constant thus preventing inflation or monetary meltdown.

While you can buy bitcoins on the open market, you can also produce bitcoins and increase your funds. Bitcoins can be created through mining, which is a process of solving complex mathematical problems using computers that run bitcoin software. Learn more about mining here