It's a kind of made-up digital currency, and while the dollar and other non-metal-backed paper currencies are also kind of abstract, it's easier to trust them when you can go down the street and hand some to the guy behind the counter and get a sandwich.Maddy wrote:"Inadequate" is when, like me, you don't even know what Bitcoin is.
There are some businesses out there accepting bitcoin as payment, including PointedStick's once-upon-a-time 3D printing business, so he probably knows most about it than most of us, from experience.
Also, the UK's Royal Mint lets you buy gold with it according to that 2nd article I linked. I haven't looked at the official page that closely, but it looks interesting: http://www.royalmint.com/rmg
Like with gold and foreign currencies, the price relative to the dollar changes.
I saw a program about & read about people who tried to do a transaction and the recipient merely took the bitcoin without delivering the goods. I'll stick with credit cards and having numerous agencies track when and where I shop.
How is a new bitcoin created? Well, that's complicated.