What is bitcoin

I Lead in.  

1.    What is Bitcoin and how does it differ from traditional currencies?

2.    What are the benefits and risks associated with using Bitcoin as a form of payment?

 

 II Match the words to their definitions. Use four words in your sentences.

1.	asset	A.	to accept enthusiastically
2.	to embrace	B.	to cause difficulty over a period of time
3.	volatility	C.	a brief speech that outlines the idea of a product, service, or project
4.	to plague	D.	an article that describes a theory behind a new piece of technology
5.	sure bet	E.	able to share resources directly without the need for a centralized authority
6.	to conceive	F.	a valuable resource such as property, stocks, or cash
7.	white paper	G.	to imagine
8.	elevator pitch	H.	something that is sure to take place
9.	peer-to-peer	I.	tendency to change rapidly and unpredictably

 

III Watch the video and fill in the gaps with the words from the list. There are words you don’t need to use.

 

virtual currency; value; gold; financial crisis; peer-to-peer; financial oasis; volatility; digital wallet; anonymous individual; major companies; mainstream; elevator pitches; digital bank; anonymous payment; banks

Bitcoin is the talk of the financial world. From its shadowy beginnings as a 1) ________ powering crime on the internet, to an asset some are calling a serious competitor to 2) ________, bitcoin’s journey has been quite the roller coaster.  

In 2021, 3) ________such as Tesla and  Mastercard started to embrace cryptocurrencies, pushing them further on the path towards 4) ________adoption. But with regulators taking a closer look at crypto, and 5) ________continuing to plague the market, it’s not a sure bet. So, what’s next for bitcoin?

Bitcoin was first conceived during the global 6) ________of 2008. It was proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto, an 7) ________, or group of individuals, in a  white paper. In the world of crypto, white papers have become synonymous with 8) ________, where developers try to convince people to care about their new coin.

Ryan Token, anyone?

In bitcoin’s white paper, Nakamoto envisaged the cryptocurrency as a “9) ________version of electronic cash.” 10) ________would be exchanged from one person to another without the involvement of middlemen like 11) ________.

And instead of depositing or withdrawing your money at the bank like you would with physical cash, with bitcoin you could effectively be your own bank by storing it in a 12) ________.  

 

IV Match the words and numbers in the list to make facts about bitcoins. Watch the video and check your answers.

 

$9,000;      $68,000;   blockchain;    purchasing power;     inflation;   2021;

celebrities;    2020;       investors;     governments;      distributed network

 

1.    Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are  underpinned by what's known as the ________.

2.    It is a modern-day ledger in digital form maintained by a ________of computers around the world.

3.    Unlike traditional currencies, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies don’t have the backing of ________.

4.    Cryptocurrencies are worth whatever ________are willing to pay for them.

5.    At the start of ___, bitcoin was trading at a price of over ________. 

6.    By mid-November ________, the cryptocurrency reached an all-time high above ____.

7.    There’s lots of ________supporting cryptocurrency  now.

8.    Big names are getting behind bitcoin in the hopes of protecting themselves against ________.

9.    Governments have deployed unprecedented stimulus to tackle the coronavirus crisis, and there are fears the trend is weakening the ________of sovereign currencies like the US dollar.

 

V Match the words to their definitions. Use two words in your sentences.

1.	bull case	A.	to produce a coin for the government
2.	scarce	B.	public meeting of supporters
3.	to mint	C.	not easy to get
4.	safe haven	D.	to fall suddenly
5.	rally	E.	place of security
6.	to plunge	F.	an optimistic outlook for a particular investment, asset, or market

 

VI Watch the video and choose the correct option to complete the sentences.

1.  Key to the bitcoin bull case is the idea that there’s a _____ of the number of bitcoins in circulation.

a)  unlimited number                b) fixed price                        c)  scarce supply

2.  A rule written in the original bitcoin code means that only _____ of currency will be minted in total.

a)   1 million units                 b)   21 million units               c)  1 million units

3.  Some investors call bitcoins  “____.”

a)  digital gold                     b)  already old              c) digital haven

4.  Physical gold has a limited supply and is often viewed as a “safe haven” away from global ______.

a)    economic growth                b) economic uncertainty      c)  fiscal policy

5.  Other cryptocurrencies include _____, ripple, _____, _____ and dogecoin.

a)    ethereum,  cardano, solana

b) Ethernet, cardinal, solo

 c) ethyl, cardio, solo 

6.  What makes the latest bitcoin  boom different from previous crypto market rallies is the involvement from large ____.

a) large institutional investors

 b) national governments

c)  digital stock exchanges

7.  Established _____ firms like Jump Trading and Jane Street are also jumping into the market.

a)   global marketplaces    b)  hight street banks    c)  Wall Street firms

8.  In late 2017 and early 2018, bitcoin and  other digital currencies ____ to  huge levels before _______ sharply.

a)  plunged, grow         b)  soared,  plunging       c) fluctuate, plunging

9.  According to experts, that’s because the market then was largely fuelled by _______.  

a)   amateurs and speculators                   

b) governments and regulators

c)  criminals

10.      Today, crypto investors believe the market has ______.

a)  staled                       b) matured                                c) endured

11.      Large institutional funds and even ____ buy up bitcoin.

a)  politician                   b)  collaborations                       c) corporations

12.      Elon Musk's electric car maker purchased ______ of the cryptocurrency in February 2021.

a)    $1.5 billion                    b) $1.5 million                    c)  $1.5 thousand 

13.      Coinbase is a crypto _______.

a)   currency                    b)  exchange                               c) regulator

 

VII Match the words to their definitions. Use five words in your sentences.

1.	legal tender	A.	the extent to which a product gains popularity
2.	traction	B.	money which is official country’s currency
3.	fluctuation	C.	possible to find the origin of something
4.	darknet	D.	a large amount of something that is illegal
5.	traceable	E.	producing a lot of money
6.	to morph	F.	a private and anonymous network that can only be accessed through specific software, configurations, or authorization
7.	lucrative	G.	to commit a harmful action
8.	ransomware	H.	irregular rising and falling in number
9.	to perpetrate	I.	a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid
10.	haul	J.	to undergo gradual transformation

 

VIII Watch the video and choose the correct option to complete the sentences.

An exchange-traded fund is a basket of financial secured/securities/securely that tracks certain assets, like an index or a sector. They can be traded on stock exchanges, just like a share in a company. In 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission gave the green light to the first U.S. bitcoin-linked ETF. And bitcoin bulls hope there will be more ETFs backing/tracks/tracking the cryptocurrency in the future.

There's even a country where bitcoin is considered legal attention/legal retention/ legal tender, with El Salvador enacting a law requiring businesses to accept  bitcoin as payment in September 2021. Experts say such moves will pave the way for further acceptance/accepts/acceptably of cryptocurrencies. The first ever real-world bitcoin transaction/fraction/transacted was   believed to have happened in 2010 when a Florida-based man exchanged some for two prizes/completes/pizzas. But despite all the traction bitcoin has gained, there are still some big hurdles it needs to overcome. For one, bitcoin remains incredibly volatility/violated/volatile. It's been known to increase or decrease over 10% in a single day. And critics argue these enormous price fluctuations have made bitcoin less effective as a means of paid/payment/payable. Another big use of bitcoin in its infancy was crime.

Tom told me more. “Most people associated bitcoin with the Silk Road, which was a darknet marketplace/marketable/marketed where you could buy drugs or hacking tools or  you know, fake IDs. And so we looked for a solution to that problem. And what we realized was that, you know, Bitcoin is actually highly traceable/tractable/tracings. And that you can identify transactions associated with criminal activity.”

Over the years, bitcoin’s refutable/reputation/reputable has morphed from a protest against the financial establishment to an investment that’s increasingly being embraced by Wall Street. And the portion of crypto that's being used for illegally/ illegal/legal activity appears to be on the decline, with data showing only 0.15% of bitcoin  transactions in 2021 were related to crime.

 Still, with bitcoin prices at historic highs, it's become a much more lucrative asset for criminality/criminally/criminals to exploit. In May 2021, hackers attacked a U.S. oil pipeline system in a ransomware attack that took the critically/criticize/critical energy infrastructure offline.

So last year, a new ransomware group called DarkSide emerged. And they perpetrated one particularly high-profile attack against a company called Colonial Pipeline, which is responsible for much of the fuel transport infrastructure/restructure/instructor on the East Coast of the United States. And so, this attack basically crippled that company, and meant that people couldn’t fuelled/refuel/prepay their cars.

Colonial paid DarkSide, the hacking group behind the attack, nearly $5 million in  bitcoin to restore recess/access/accept to its systems. But they weren't completely successful. A month later, U.S. authorities seized $2.3 million of the haul, after locating one of DarkSide's virtual currency wallets/warrant/fillets.

 

IX Watch the video. Complete the sentences with the words you hear.

 

Meanwhile, there are also concerns about  bitcoin's impact on the 1) _____. Mining the cryptocurrency is an 2) _____intensive process  that requires powerful purpose-built machines.  In a single year, the bitcoin network can use as much as 120 terawatt-hours of 3) _____. For context, that's on par with entire 4) _____such as Norway and Ukraine.  It's also close to the gold industry's energy needs.

So what's next for bitcoin? Well, if one thing is clear, it doesn't look like the world's biggest 5) _____  ______is going anywhere anytime soon.

X Are the sentences true (T) or false (F)? Watch all the videos again. Correct the false statements.

 1.  Bitcoin was first conceived  in 2018. 

2.  Bitcoin was proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto, an American programmer, in a  sales pitch at a conference.  

3.  In bitcoin’s white paper  the cryptocurrency was described as a “peer-to-peer version of electronic cash.”   

4.  To exchange bitcoins a person needs the involvement of middlemen like  banks.  

5.  With bitcoin you could effectively be your own bank by storing it in a digital wallet.    6.  Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies don’t have the backing of governments.  

7.  There’s lots of celebrities supporting bitcoins now.  

8.  Big names are getting behind bitcoin in the hopes of protecting themselves against government regulations in banking sector.    

9.  Cryptocurrencies are worth whatever algorithms predict could be paid for them.  

10.  The number of bitcoins in circulation is unlimited.  

11.  A rule written in the international financial regulations  means that only 21 million units of currency will be minted in total.  

12.  Even corporations like Tesla are no longer buying up bitcoin.  

13.  Bitcoin is not considered a legal tender.

14.  Real-world bitcoin transactions  were never possible.  

15.  In 2010 a Florida-based man exchanged some bitcoins for two pizzas.  

16.  Bitcoin remains incredibly volatile.  

17.  Bitcoin is actually highly traceable if regulators are able to locate users’ virtual currency wallets.  .

18.  Bitcoin is environmentally friendly.  

19.  Mining the cryptocurrency requires powerful purpose-built machines.  

20.  In a single week, the bitcoin network can use as much as 120 terawatt-hours of electricity.  

 XI Vocabulary focus. Study the words using flashcards, check your understanding, practise spelling new words. Play matching vocabulary game and solve the crossword puzzle. Take a test to check your knowledge.    

  XII OVER TO YOU. Get ready to discuss the characteristics of bitcoin with other students. Use the questions below to organize your ideas:

1.    What are the current trends and developments in the world of bitcoins, and how might they impact the future of this digital currency?

2.    What are the potential advantages and disadvantages of investing in bitcoins as a business strategy, both in the short term and the long term?

3.    How might regulatory changes, such as increased government oversight or crackdowns on illicit activities, affect the use and value of bitcoins in the business world?

How can businesses ensure that they are making informed decisions about bitcoins, and what resources are available for staying up to date on this rapidly evolving topic?