What is Bitcoin?

Introduction

Bitcoin is a digital currency
Bitcoin came to life in January 2009
The creation and transfer of Bitcoin is based on a cryptographic protocol
All Bitcoin transactions are recorded in a public ledger called the block chain
Bitcoins are transferred through a peer to peer network
You can store your Bitcoins in a digital wallet
Mining is the process by which new Bitcoins are created
The number of Bitcoin is limited to 21.0 million
Each Bitcoin has 8 decimals which means that in total there are 2.1 × 1015 or 2.1 quadrillion currency units
Until today about 11.5 million Bitcoins have been mined

More about the Bitcoin wallet

Your Bitcoin wallet is the place where you store your Bitcoins
Be careful with your wallet - it's where your money is
You can either have a Bitcoin wallet installed locally on your computer or smartphone - choose one of these
You can also use an online wallet such as the one from xapo.com
There are also ways to create paper wallets but this requires more technological insight. I will post more links here later
Generally it's good to have your money distributed over more than one place - but don't forget to keep track of where your Bitcoins are!

Advantages of Bitcoin as a currency

Fast money transfer
Very low cost money transfer
Frictionless international money transfer
No charge-backs
No double spending
No money printing possible