What Bitcoin unit look like in real life

[Cyber_Alien]

Since I'm new to this development, I'd seen information about the new digital currency (Bitcoin) online as I tried to learn more about it. There are countless articles on blockchain technology and the idea of mining on Google. Google searches return a ton of articles discussing the blockchain system and the idea of mining. However, I've discovered that none truly respond to the query "What is Bitcoin?"
I can produce a one-pound bill for a friend to grasp and inspect if they were to ask me, "What is a pound?" When he inquires about what a bitcoin is, what can I provide for them to review? Is there a list of figures I can print out and use as my reference? Alternatively, should I point to an entry on a public ledger and say, "There! That shows my bitcoin history!"

Basically, I'm curious to know what a bitcoin or any cryptocurrency unit looks like in real life.

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[NeuroticFish]

Basically, I'm curious to know what a bitcoin or any cryptocurrency unit looks like in real life.

I guess that you've managed to miss the part telling that Bitcoin is a virtual currency. It has no tangible form.

It's somehow similar to your money as long as you use it only in bank transfers and credit card, no ATM, not paper bills.
Or it's somehow similar with a thought or idea. Or, somehow similar to the music at the radio.

You can use software to find out how much you own, but it has no physical shape.

[Z-tight]

BTC is a virtual currency, it is not physical and it has no look in real life. BTC is a virtual currency that can be sent and received online through computers or mobile devices. BTC is a decentralized currency created by Satoshi to be a second option to fiat currency, though it works differently from fiat as it can't be printed, but 'mined', mining doesn't mean miners excavate physical BTC, miners validate BTC transactions and put them in new blocks, this process is called mining because in that process the successful miner is rewarded with new BTC's, that is how new coins are made.

Is there a list of figures I can print out and use as my reference? Alternatively, should I point to an entry on a public ledger and say, "There! That shows my bitcoin history!"

One point of using BTC is for privacy and pseudonymity, it does not make any sense to use it while looking for a way to expose your BTC balance and history to the public, or to connect it to your real life person. The links below are great to get you started:

https://learnmeabitcoin.com/
https://bitcoin.org/en/how-it-works
https://www.lopp.net/bitcoin-information/getting-started.html
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page

[Snowshow]

Bitcoin is an illusion created via numbers and word(BTC). It doesn't really exist. Here you have all explained: https://youtu.be/4rWmOq0o1hM

[Plaguedeath]

It looks like ghost, obviously you're know the appearance of ghost isn't? yes, none.

Bitcoin is none if we look in the real life because it's intangible asset, there's no way to look the appearance. You could think Bitcoin is fake and the number is just generate randomly which mean there's no security at all. This is why you need to learn about the technical thing to know this, especially if you've learn about cryptography and interested with computer technology.

[Ayers]

As others have said, it is a virtual currency so you cannot expect it to be able to touch it like the British pound. But is that important? I think the important thing we need to care about is value. You should be more concerned with the real value it can bring you than the tangible form. Although it is a virtual property, it cannot be touched, but the value it brings to you, no other property can get you.
If 13 years ago you owned 1 bitcoin for $1, now with 1 bitcoin, you would have $17,000, but if 13 years ago you held 1 pound, it would still be worth 1 pound.

[348Judah]

" When he inquires about what a bitcoin is, what can I provide for them to review? Is there a list of figures I can print out and use as my reference? Alternatively, should I point to an entry on a public ledger and say, "There! That shows my bitcoin history!"

You're truly indeed a newbie and have no idea about what bitcoin is, but it's also a pity for you to have toil the whole internet yet have nothing tangible to hold on to about having an understanding of what bitcoin is, let me provide you with an answer abit here, bitcoin is the first and only decentralized digital currency invented by Satoshi Nakamoto to help us have lesser cross boarder transactions fee, security, privacy trust and freedom in handling our finance, all that is needed is for you to either buy it, exchange it, mine it or be gifted and you choose a desirable wallet to use in having your bitcoin onbthe blockchain, now since it's an acceptable digital currency you don't need na physical representation to convince people about it, it works by p2p network and that's the trust we had in it.

[suzanne5223]

Google searches return a ton of articles discussing the blockchain system and the idea of mining. However, I've discovered that none truly respond to the query

The use of search engines like Google will only feed you with a lot of possible junk articles which are full of false information. This forum alone is enough for you to learn and understand what BTC is truly is.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is an innovative digital currency created to introduce the world to a new level of financial and investment possibilities while giving them the needed liberation.

I can produce a one-pound bill for a friend to grasp and inspect if they were to ask me, "What is a pound?" When he inquires about what a bitcoin is, what can I provide for them to review? Is there a list of figures I can print out and use as my reference? Alternatively, should I point to an entry on a public ledger and say, "There! That shows my bitcoin history!"

Basically, I'm curious to know what a bitcoin or any cryptocurrency unit looks like in real life.

You cant print BTC like the government print fiat, to generate a new BTC you'll have to mine BTC and BTC mining executes 3 different important jobs on the BTC network which are securing the network, making transactions go through, and generating new BTC. However, you need to show your wallet ledger or balance to anyone before teaching about BTC if you show your wallet history you're exposing yourself to physical and online attacks.

[franky1]

1btc is not stored in a tx, block or blockchain data as '1btc' at raw data format
a bitcoin (1btc) is an allotment of 100,000,000 units of sats
(gold is a bunch of atoms too)

inside a transaction at raw data level converted to human readable numbers
everything in bitcoin network and transactions is measured in sat numbers then divided to its btc representations

so then looking at a tx of 1btc. in binary.. which is the true real world state it sits physically on a hard drive in:

101111101011110000100000000

so 1btc physically looks like  101111101011110000100000000

or if you were to use a microscope looking at a hard drive platter , at an angle of its horizon

 _   _ _ _ _ _    _   _ _ _ _            _                    
| |_|            |_| |_|         |_ _ _ _| |_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

as for referencing it on the bitcoin blockchain. in human readable form

you can reference your txid you received 1btc from where its output to your address shows the 100,000,000 at raw tx data level

or even more human translated form on any blockchain explorer/wallet showing you your transaction receipt in btc allotment amount
..

by the way.
gold is just a bunch of atoms too
..

i suspect the topic creator is actually snowshow using yet another alt account. trying to play dumb to introduce himself as an idiot yet again to then try pushing his "bitcoin does not exist " troll game.

[dansus021]

All people above already telling you and that is the fact, but if you still curious there is dozen of the fake form on internet

here we go you can buy it on ebay   ( but this only for merchandise)


also can be the form of paper like this , but this one can the real one that contain bitcoin in it (but you still need internet to do the transaction unless you pay same amount as what the seller ask for)

[Kakmakr]

Can I ask you a question to answer your question?

How will you show your friends what their money looks like in their Bank account or their Credit card? .... I will show them the digital representation of my Bank balance on my Banking App.... or I will draw a Bank statement from my Bank. 

Now the difference with Bitcoin is this.... there is no centralized Bank..... but rather a decentralized "database" if I can call it that... with the transaction history of all bitcoin transfers that were ever made. Your bitcoins and your transaction history can be drawn from this Blockchain database, with Blockchain explorers. (it consists of a combination of letters and numbers.. like your Bank statement)

This explanation is over simplified to explain it to newbies. 

[Artemis3]

It exists in the cloud though. But this cloud is not run by a company in an specific country, but by everybody who runs a node and the miners. In the end its independent and can't be changed on a whim by a small group, State or private group of entities. Which is why people are learning of its true value by word of mouth alone, not by institutional claims who just want you to use their services.

You don't need exchanges for Bitcoin, get paid and pay with bitcoin, close the circle and achieve true freedom. It will look like numbers in a screen, but those numbers are unique, thanks to math.

[Smartprofit]

Since I'm new to this development, I'd seen information about the new digital currency (Bitcoin) online as I tried to learn more about it. There are countless articles on blockchain technology and the idea of mining on Google. Google searches return a ton of articles discussing the blockchain system and the idea of mining. However, I've discovered that none truly respond to the query "What is Bitcoin?"
I can produce a one-pound bill for a friend to grasp and inspect if they were to ask me, "What is a pound?" When he inquires about what a bitcoin is, what can I provide for them to review? Is there a list of figures I can print out and use as my reference? Alternatively, should I point to an entry on a public ledger and say, "There! That shows my bitcoin history!"

Basically, I'm curious to know what a bitcoin or any cryptocurrency unit looks like in real life.

Let me try to tell you what Bitcoin looks like in the real world. 

Imagine that it is now the year 2100.  Happy tanned man relaxing on his own tropical island.  Next to him is a happy tanned (very beautiful) girl.  They are absolutely alone on the island, so they are completely naked and dressed only in tan.  The man is not only not wearing clothes, he also does not have a wallet with banknotes, plastic cards and a smartphone. 

More precisely, he has a smartphone, but most of the time he lies in a drawer in a beautiful castle built in the center of the island. 

Despite the fact that the man does not have a wallet or devices, he constantly carries all his money with him.  These are the 12 English words he learned by heart that serve as the seed for the bitcoin wallet. 

In the year 2100, the US dollar and other fiat currencies are no more, and bitcoin has become a universally accepted means of payment...

This is what bitcoin looks like in the real world!

[Snowshow]

1btc is not stored in a tx, block or blockchain data as '1btc' at raw data format
a bitcoin (1btc) is an allotment of 100,000,000 units of sats
(gold is a bunch of atoms too)

inside a transaction at raw data level converted to human readable numbers
everything in bitcoin network and transactions is measured in sat numbers then divided to its btc representations

so then looking at a tx of 1btc. in binary.. which is the true real world state it sits physically on a hard drive in:

101111101011110000100000000

so 1btc physically looks like  101111101011110000100000000

or if you were to use a microscope looking at a hard drive platter , at an angle of its horizon

 _   _ _ _ _ _    _   _ _ _ _            _                    
| |_|            |_| |_|         |_ _ _ _| |_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

as for referencing it on the bitcoin blockchain. in human readable form

you can reference your txid you received 1btc from where its output to your address shows the 100,000,000 at raw tx data level

or even more human translated form on any blockchain explorer/wallet showing you your transaction receipt in btc allotment amount
..

by the way.
gold is just a bunch of atoms too
..

i suspect the topic creator is actually snowshow using yet another alt account. trying to play dumb to introduce himself as an idiot yet again to then try pushing his "bitcoin does not exist " troll game.

Bravo. .... Now watch this: "101111101011110000100000000". I just created 1 BTC. For free. And you people are paying $17K for that? Hilarious.

Now you. Try to create 1 dollar. Dollar is an instrument of debtors liability that they need to for their loan repayments. Because dollars are issued as loans and withdrawn as loan repayments. Try to create just 1 such instrument by writing digits.

P.S. Yeah, everyone who asks critical question about btc is me. Hahaha.

[Agbe]

Since I'm new to this development, I'd seen information about the new digital currency (Bitcoin) online as I tried to learn more about it. There are countless articles on blockchain technology and the idea of mining on Google. Google searches return a ton of articles discussing the blockchain system and the idea of mining. However, I've discovered that none truly respond to the query "What is Bitcoin?"
I can produce a one-pound bill for a friend to grasp and inspect if they were to ask me, "What is a pound?" When he inquires about what a bitcoin is, what can I provide for them to review? Is there a list of figures I can print out and use as my reference? Alternatively, should I point to an entry on a public ledger and say, "There! That shows my bitcoin history!"

Basically, I'm curious to know what a bitcoin or any cryptocurrency unit looks like in real life.

Bitcoin is only for digital use and not for physical use. And the unit of bitcoin can be measured as binary unit. Bitcoin can not be printed and if bitcoin is printed then bitcoin will lost it's value and it will become centralized system. So there best way to use and keep bitcoin is for digitalization.
BTC is counted from 101010101 or 010101010 and that is how the unit is measured.

[Cyber_Alien]

i suspect the topic creator is actually snowshow using yet another alt account. trying to play dumb to introduce himself as an idiot yet again to then try pushing his "bitcoin does not exist " troll game.

I'm not snowshow or whatever his name is. I'm simply a rookie trying to understand more about blockchain technology and the concept that led to the creation of bitcoin.
Please feel free to respond if you have enough knowledge to do so. No knowledge is wasted because we are constantly learning new things.

[franky1]

Bravo. .... Now watch this: "101111101011110000100000000". I just created 1 BTC. For free. And you people are paying $17K for that? Hilarious.

no you did not

firstly someone just saying the word or writing the word "bitcoin" "btc" or quoting the binary in a forum, did not create new bitcoin

bitcoin is on the bitcoin network. its secured that way it never leaves the network. and  its fundamental rules restrict how its created.

to create new coin within the many rules also involves mining which has a real world cost. meaning acquiring new coin comes at a real world cost of electric and hardware.. yep its called proof of work

if its not confirmed on the bitcoin blockchain.. its not bitcoin

if you want to cry about a low low value coin that is made too cheap but sold for too much.. look at the PoS coins, forks. side chains and subnetworks of things pretending to be bitcoin.. and aim your "valueless" arguments at those.. or coins where the inventor just creates a trillion coins in 10 seconds at no computational, electric significant cost (ICO-premine)

Now you. Try to create 1 dollar. Dollar is an instrument of debtors liability that they need to for their loan repayments. Because dollars are issued as loans and withdrawn as loan repayments. Try to create just 1 such instrument by writing digits.

P.S. Yeah, everyone who asks critical question about btc is me. Hahaha.

dollar or bitcoin is not created by saying words on a forum. as explained

if i want to create $1000 new dollars. i would go to a bank and ask for $1000 loan
. that is how i would create $1000 new dollar. by my agreement with a bank to create $1000 for me. and in exchange i will slowly pay them back $1000+interest

its easier to create $1000 than it is to create new bitcoin. and at the end cost of creation of bitcoin vs dollar.
bitcoin has a good functional deflation system that makes the recipient better off over time for receiving bitcoin, where as in dollar they are worse off from receiving dollar

I can produce a one-pound bill for a friend to grasp and inspect if they were to ask me, "What is a pound?"

with fiat. its paper not silver..  that paper USED TO represent backing to physical asset. such as a £5 (5 pound) bank note WAS centuries ago representative as a coupon that allowed the bearer(holder) to swap that coupon(promissory note) for five metric pounds(lb) of sterling silver

however the banks broke their own rules and changed the rules.
now bank notes are representative of other rules, where value is measured at things like minimum wage, tax rules wher someone has to pass around these fiat amounts to pay X min wage or y% tax which keeps them in circulations and valued to certain known amounts of other things.

similarly in the cryptocurrency industry. there are sidechains. where they too 'print' coins at no value. which are not real bitcoin. but representational 'promises' of pegging to a bitcoin. but note they are not bitcoin. nor is a bank note silver.

..
bank notes are not property of people. bank notes are patented products of banks and owned by banks and simply licenced/permitted to be held(bearer)(possessed) by people but not owned. this means the bank can take bank notes out of circulation or seize bank notes off people

bitcoin has no central owner. no one owns the bitcoin system, the public-private key mechanism proves ownership of who has control and custody of the coin allotted to an address.

there are other networks which have bad mechanisms that can remove coins from someones custody

[Lucius]

i suspect the topic creator is actually snowshow using yet another alt account. trying to play dumb to introduce himself as an idiot yet again to then try pushing his "bitcoin does not exist " troll game.

I'm not snowshow or whatever his name is. I'm simply a rookie trying to understand more about blockchain technology and the concept that led to the creation of bitcoin.

It seems to me that the theory about the alt account could be correct, and the reason is very simple - either you don't know how to use a search engine, or you can't understand what you're reading. And in addition to that, we also have a Beginners&Help board where beginners like you usually ask questions like this.

Please feel free to respond if you have enough knowledge to do so. No knowledge is wasted because we are constantly learning new things.

I can only advise you to read the Bitcoin White Paper, which has been translated into many languages, hardly anyone can explain what Bitcoin is better than the person who invented it.

[Snowshow]

Bravo. .... Now watch this: "101111101011110000100000000". I just created 1 BTC. For free. And you people are paying $17K for that? Hilarious.

Now you. Try to create 1 dollar. Dollar is an instrument of debtors liability that they need to for their loan repayments. Because dollars are issued as loans and withdrawn as loan repayments. Try to create just 1 such instrument by writing digits.

P.S. Yeah, everyone who asks critical question about btc is me. Hahaha.

no you did not

firstly someone just saying the word or writing the word "bitcoin" "btc" or quoting the binary in a forum, did not create new bitcoin

bitcoin is on the bitcoin network. its secured that way it never leaves the network. and  its fundamental rules restrict how its created.

to create new coin within the many rules also involves mining which has a real world cost. meaning acquiring new coin comes at a real world cost of electric and hardware.. yep its called proof of work

if its not confirmed on the bitcoin blockchain.. its not bitcoin

if you want to cry about a low low value coin that is made too cheap but sold for too much.. look at the PoS coins, forks. side chains and subnetworks of things pretending to be bitcoin.. and aim your "valueless" arguments at those.. or coins where the inventor just crates a trillion coins in 10 seconds at no computational, electric significant cost (ICO-premine)

I can produce a one-pound bill for a friend to grasp and inspect if they were to ask me, "What is a pound?"

with fiat. its paper not silver..  that paper USED TO represent backing to physical asset. such as a £5 (5 pound) bank note WAS centuries ago representative as a coupon that allowed the bearer(holder) to swap that coupon(promissory note) for five metric pounds(lb) of sterling silver

however the banks broke their own rules and changed the rules.
now bank notes are representative of other rules, where value is measured at things like minimum wage, tax rules wher someone has to pass around these fiat amounts to pay X min wage or y% tax which keeps them in circulations and valued to certain known amounts of other things.

similarly in the cryptocurrency industry. there are sidechains. where they too 'print' coins at no value. which are not real bitcoin. but representational 'promises' of peging to a bitcoin. but note they are not bitcoin. nor is a bank note silver.

..
bank notes are not property of people. bank notes are patented products of banks and owned by banks and simply licenced/permitted to be held(bearer)(possessed) by people but not owned. this means the bank can take bank notes out of circulation or seize bank notes off people

bitcoin has no central owner. no one owns the bitcoin system, the public-private key mechanism proves ownership of who has control and custody of the coin allotted to an address.

there are other networks which have bad mechanisms that can remove coins from someones custody

Yes I did. You said that 1 btc is this: "101111101011110000100000000".

I created exactly that.

Saying that "101111101011110000100000000" is on the bitcoin network is denial of reality given I just produced it here on the forum. Without someone's rules. Without mining. Without POW. Without confirmation. I created ""101111101011110000100000000". In an instant.

So, why are you people buying or mining something that everyone can create in an instant?

It's interesting how you ignored my challenge on dollar. Try to create 1 dollar, i.e. 1 instrument of debtors liability in an instant. You can't. That's the point. Everyone can create digits. But not dollars. That's why Bitcoin is a joke. Joke taken seriously.

[franky1]

showing
101111101011110000100000000

or showing


on a forum. is not how value is made

because in both cases they are just displays and explanations of discussion.. not actually part of the value system

if i showed you a picture of a banana on this forum. does not mean you can eat it from the forum
..
if you cannot tell the difference of a discussion forum vs a payment system, then you need to take some time to do some research

learn the rules and functions of the payment system and work within those rules of that payment system to then create new value.

EG
going to a loan shark and asking for a loan. is not creating new money. its borrowing someone elses already created money.
if you want to create new money you have to go to a bank that has the facility to do so.

learn the difference. not all loans create new money

talking about dollars in any discussion platform does not create new dollars.