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We Dig Into Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies

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By now you’ve probably heard of Bitcoin. It’s a global cryptocurrency and digital payment system. It’s considered the world’s first decentralized digital currency, because the system works without a central repository or single administrator. It operates as a peer-to-peer system, with transactions happening directly between users, with all transactions being recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. And, while it's not entirely clear who exactly invented it, hundreds of thousands of merchants and vendors around the world accept bitcoin as payment. So what on earth does all of that mean? We’re joined by a man who’s been investing in Bitcoin for about 4 years to try to demystify this cutting edge, yet difficult to understand digital currency.

Rachel Iacovone is a reporter and associate producer of Gulf Coast Live for WGCU News. Rachel came to WGCU as an intern in 2016, during the presidential race. She went on to cover Florida Gulf Coast University students at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Capitol Hill and Southwest Floridians in attendance at the following day's Women's March on Washington.Rachel was first contacted by WGCU when she was managing editor of FGCU's student-run media group, Eagle News. She helped take Eagle News from a weekly newspaper to a daily online publication with TV and radio branches within two years, winning the 2016 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award for Best Use of Multimedia in a cross-platform series she led for National Coming Out Day. She also won the Mark of Excellence Award for Feature Writing for her five-month coverage of an FGCU student's transition from male to female.As a WGCU reporter, she produced the first radio story in WGCU's Curious Gulf Coast project, which answered the question: Does SWFL Have More Cases of Pediatric Cancer?Rachel graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelor's degree in journalism.