Can I buy a fraction or do I have to buy a whole Bitcoin? And what are NFTs good for other than owning pictures and videos? And can we use blockchains to move non-crypto currencies? Here are the answers to some of the most asked questions about crypto.
No, you don’t have to buy a whole Bitcoin. In fact, most individual investors, or the so-called retail investors, hold fractions of Bitcoin, as most people can’t afford to own a whole Bitcoin. Just like cents to dollars, and filses to dirhams, Bitcoin has its own subdivision called a satoshi, named after the founder of Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto, and each satoshi equals 0.000000001 BTC, or in other words, each Bitcoin contains 100 million satoshis. The same thing applies to most cryptocurrencies, even though their subdivisions don’t always have cool names, like gweis for Ethereum and drops for XRP.
Non-fungible tokens are being mainly used as proof of ownership of digital art, which has been a pressing issue for a while given how easy it is to copy digital artworks, compared to their physical counterparts. But NFTs can go beyond that and have real-world use cases like loyalty points, voting, and ticketing. For example, a company could issue NFTs that can be redeemed for discounts or special offers. In fact, some companies did already, and one of them goes by the name Starbucks.
But even the ownership of physical assets can be represented by NFTs. For example, an automotive company could issue NFTs that represent the ownership of a specific model of a car, making it hard to sell a stolen car without the approval of the owner.
Yes and no. Blockchains can only be used to transfer cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins that have a fixed value equal to the value of fiat (cash) currencies. So if you’re hoping to turn your cryptocurrencies to cash or transfer fiat currencies (like USD and AED) on a blockchain network, this is not possible. But, you can always use a central exchange – like BitOasis – to sell your cryptocurrencies for your favorite fiat currency and withdraw the amount to your bank account. Want to try it? Go to your USD, AED, or SAR wallet and press Withdraw. You can also go the other way around, by depositing cash in your BitOasis wallets and buying tens of cryptocurrencies available on Lite and Pro.