Bitcoin currency symbol

Just as in the Great Depression, the 2008 financial crisis resulted in renewed interest in community currencies. With the value of the dollar falling and the stability of the entire financial system in question, many local communities sought to protect themselves against inflation and economic uncertainty.

That’s when Bitcoin came along to take the alternative currency world by storm. Independent of any central authority and based upon a cryptographic protocol that ensures the currency cannot be counterfeited or inflated, Bitcoin became one of the fastest-growing alternative currencies in history. For Bitcoin, the local community is the whole world.

Bitcoin is a system which uses 21 milllion secure mathematical tokens as currency. The tokens are released into circulation in exchange for “work” done by participants’ computers in a peer-to-peer network. The program requires users to “sign over” bitcoins when using them in transactions, which prevents the bitcoins from being spent more than once at a time.

Bitcoin offers virtually all of the benefits of an effective currency. It is infinitely divisible, meaning one can trade in any fractional denomination of a bitcoin. Its scarcity is guaranteed in that only 21 million units can ever exist. It is impossible to counterfeit due to the cryptographic stamping protocol.

“I think it’s fantastic, ” said longtime Federal Reserve critic and former Congressman Ron Paul, speaking about not only Bitcoin but other alternative currencies as well. “When government money fails, the market will try to replace it. You know, in times when government have had runaway inflation or after war, they’ll use almost anything for money, just so it’s a commodity, something that has better value than what the government provides for us.”

Mulligan Mint has added an additional benefit to the digital currency concept – intrinsic value. Celebrating the achievements of Bitcoin, the mint has released the “Bitcoin Coin, ” a one ounce silver coin designed by Adam Kokesh. The coin features the Bitcoin currency symbol on one side with a computer circuit board background. The reverse side is stamped with an operational Q2 code that can be scanned with a smartphone, taking the user to the M2 factory store.