Changes

As with cash transactions, a bitcoin transaction is final and irrevocable.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/the-last-straw-for-bitcoin-1059608-1.html|title=The Last Straw for Bitcoin|last=Straus|first=Ryan|date=5 June 2013|publisher=American Banker|accessdate=30 October 2014|quote=Yet those dealing in bitcoins are now themselves considered financial institutions. To survive, these businesses will have to do more than "de-anonymize" their operations. They will also have to cope with the loss of Bitcoin's most fundamental characteristic: irrevocability.}}</ref>  Although bitcoin transactions are linked to specific accounts, those accounts do not have to be identified with the real names of their owners.  So, bitcoin provides its users with more privacy than comes with using credit cards or electronic bank transfers. However, the text ''Financial Cryptography and Data Security'' states that "Although the relation between Bitcoin accounts and civil identities of their owners is a priori unknown, Bitcoin transactions are not anonymous. A simple abstraction for Bitcoin is to think of it as a public distributed ledger that records all transactions between valid Bitcoin accounts."<ref name="Smith">{{cite book|title=Financial Cryptography and Data Security|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aVTFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|accessdate=30 October 2014|publisher=Springer|isbn=9783662447741|page=19|author=Rainer Böhme, Michael Brenner, Tyler Moore and Matthew Smith|date=7 March 2014|}}</ref> In addition, the transaction costs for bitcoin transfers is much lower than the typical transaction cost of credit card purchases.

As with cash transactions, a bitcoin transaction is final and irrevocable.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/the-last-straw-for-bitcoin-1059608-1.html|title=The Last Straw for Bitcoin|last=Straus|first=Ryan|date=5 June 2013|publisher=American Banker|accessdate=30 October 2014|quote=Yet those dealing in bitcoins are now themselves considered financial institutions. To survive, these businesses will have to do more than "de-anonymize" their operations. They will also have to cope with the loss of Bitcoin's most fundamental characteristic: irrevocability.}}</ref>  Although bitcoin transactions are linked to specific accounts, those accounts do not have to be identified with the real names of their owners.  So, bitcoin provides its users with more privacy than comes with using credit cards or electronic bank transfers. However, the text ''Financial Cryptography and Data Security'' states that "Although the relation between Bitcoin accounts and civil identities of their owners is a priori unknown, Bitcoin transactions are not anonymous. A simple abstraction for Bitcoin is to think of it as a public distributed ledger that records all transactions between valid Bitcoin accounts."<ref name="Smith">{{cite book|title=Financial Cryptography and Data Security|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aVTFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA19|accessdate=30 October 2014|publisher=Springer|isbn=9783662447741|page=19|author=Rainer Böhme, Michael Brenner, Tyler Moore and Matthew Smith|date=7 March 2014|}}</ref> In addition, the transaction costs for bitcoin transfers is much lower than the typical transaction cost of credit card purchases.

==Uses==

==Uses==