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Sacramento Kings First To Accept Bitcoin, But What Is It?

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The Sacramento Kings has the tech world buzzing as the team will start accepting Bitcoin as a payment method.

But what is Bitcoin?

It's a virtual currency that can be obtained by either purchasing already existing bitcoins, or allowing a network to use your computer to solve a mathematical problem in a process called mining. The faster your computer, the more bitcoins you will gather.

You can hold onto the virtual currency, hoping it increases in value, or spend it with the retailers who accept it.

There's a limit on how many bitcoins can be mined in the life of the currency, creating a set scarcity later in the currency's life.

The value of a bitcoin can fluctuate rapidly. When Bitcoin was first introduced in 2009, one bitcoin was worth $16. It's now worth $850, down from more than $1,000 earlier this month.

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