The community supporting bitcoin has long tried to avoid a so-called "hard fork" splitting the currency in two. On Tuesday, it happened anyhow. The idea behind the change is to speed up transactions and, consequently, mainstream acceptance -- but even an early adopter community like the bitcoin one can be conservative about its money.
Bitcoin transactions are validated as more currency is "mined" by computers solving certain mathematical problems. To be validated by the decentralized network of bitcoin miners, the transactions are bundled in "blocks."
Read Full Article »