If you have a wallet with bitcoins in it, you can send it to anybody anywhere in the world who accepts it, you don't need an exchange to make that happen. (Here's a site that allows you to buy Amazon cards, effectively allowing you to purchase anything on Amazon. https://www.cryptorefills.com/blog/buy-amazon-gift-cards-with-bitcoin/ I have not tried this site myself and do not endorse it!)
Exchanges are like the bank -- you put your money in there and they tell you that it's there, but you don't really know for sure (absent vigorous audits). If everybody showed up at once to pull their cash out of the bank, lots of people wouldn't be able to get any. (This is why it's illegal to start a bank run and why we have FDIC insurance)
Bitcoin itself is more like cash that's in your wallet. You know that it's there because you can see it in your wallet and/or on the blockchain. You don't need to trust anybody. The major difference is that you can send that 'cash' anywhere in the world - without permissions - to anybody who wants it.
As for the value, it's a completely free market of supply/demand. As more people understand bitcoin, they buy in and the price goes up. (and/or the dollar gets printed into oblivion and the price goes up)
You buy an autographed coffee mug from me for .15 btc.
When you create your transaction, your 1 btc will be split into two groups: .15 for me, .85 for you. The .15 is sent to my receiving wallet. The .85 'change' is sent to a newly created wallet (B) under your control.
This works for any size transaction - you don't need a whole bitcoin to make a purchase. If you only have .0003 btc and buy something for .0001, you'll get 'new' wallet containing your .0002 change.
Yep! And if you want to pay for something that you don't have enough for in one wallet, you can use multiple wallets to pool up the btc for the purchase!
I see dedicated BTC ATMs around for cash withdrawals from crypto wallet.
If you have a wallet with bitcoins in it, you can send it to anybody anywhere in the world who accepts it, you don't need an exchange to make that happen. (Here's a site that allows you to buy Amazon cards, effectively allowing you to purchase anything on Amazon. https://www.cryptorefills.com/blog/buy-amazon-gift-cards-with-bitcoin/ I have not tried this site myself and do not endorse it!)
Exchanges are like the bank -- you put your money in there and they tell you that it's there, but you don't really know for sure (absent vigorous audits). If everybody showed up at once to pull their cash out of the bank, lots of people wouldn't be able to get any. (This is why it's illegal to start a bank run and why we have FDIC insurance)
Bitcoin itself is more like cash that's in your wallet. You know that it's there because you can see it in your wallet and/or on the blockchain. You don't need to trust anybody. The major difference is that you can send that 'cash' anywhere in the world - without permissions - to anybody who wants it.
As for the value, it's a completely free market of supply/demand. As more people understand bitcoin, they buy in and the price goes up. (and/or the dollar gets printed into oblivion and the price goes up)
Let's say you have 1 btc in your wallet (A).
You buy an autographed coffee mug from me for .15 btc.
When you create your transaction, your 1 btc will be split into two groups: .15 for me, .85 for you. The .15 is sent to my receiving wallet. The .85 'change' is sent to a newly created wallet (B) under your control.
This works for any size transaction - you don't need a whole bitcoin to make a purchase. If you only have .0003 btc and buy something for .0001, you'll get 'new' wallet containing your .0002 change.
Did that help?
Yep! And if you want to pay for something that you don't have enough for in one wallet, you can use multiple wallets to pool up the btc for the purchase!