Very basic tips and guide on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is the category that virtual currencies and assets belong in, such as bitcoin. Other large cryptocurrencies are Litecoin, Ethereum, and many more.

A few things that define a typical cryptocurrency, are these traits;
-Somewhat anonymous (Which helped bitcoin gain traction. Great for illegal internet deals and transactions)
-Decentralized – meaning that the currency isn’t actively controlled by the maker or an organization. The cryptocurrency isn’t able to be manipulated or controlled or altered by any one person.
-Built on “blockchain”, a mathematical concept that makes it impossible for anyone to “hack” bitcoin or inflate it. There are only around 21 million bitcoins in existence and that can never be changed, unless people move to a new network (unlikely). The blockchain is a very abstract concept and it’s not something that can really be understood or explained easily, but it’s basically a concept of using math and proof to make the network unbreachable.

Bitcoin is acquired through mining, as are many other cryptocurrencies. To create bitcoin, you would not go to the owner (Nobody even knows his true identity of who created bitcoin) and simply buy it. There is something called “mining” which is a system in which people use their computers to process the bitcoin network. Mining keeps the network alive, and allows transactions to go through by using the power of their computer to mathematically prove and verify the transaction, and alter the blockchain’s “library” to add the transaction. Mining is only practical on extremely ppowerful machines.

Incentive for mining is a transaction fee. Whenever a computer or machine successfully solves something, or helps confirm a transaction, a transaction fee is deducted from that transaction and given to the miner. Also, bitcoins can be created, or “mined” during this process. These are the two incentives for miners.
The other way to acquire bitcoin is very simple. Bitcoin can be purchased from an exchange website just as easily as exchanging USD for Euros. These bitcoins aren’t “Created” though, they have already been existed and are just being traded.
Bitcoins are stored and traded through “wallets” and addresses. There are many different bitcoin wallets where bitcoin can be stored. Each wallet comes with an address. These addresses are very simple. To request bitcoin, give the sender your address and they simply enter it and how much bitcoin they wish to send. It’s as simple as house addresses.
As of December 2017, investing in bitcoin is a very uncertain market. Earlier, I would guarantee that investing in Ethereum or Bitcoin would be profit, but in this month, the market is quite unstable. I would not advise to invest, nor would I say not to. That choice is to be made after doing a decent amount of research.