Bitcoin has the potential to completely revolutionize how we think about and use currency (Flickr/Zach Copley)

Essentially, bitcoin is a digital currency that is transferred from person to person without having to go through a bank or clearing house first, thus handily eliminating any fees that a bank might assign to the transfer.

They are traded anonymously and are valid around the world, making it the first currency that can be used in any country, at least via the Internet. In addition, the code that bitcoin uses is open source, so anyone with an understanding of coding can review it to ensure there are no loopholes or that they aren’t being exploited. For bitcoin, transparency, freedom and anonymity are it’s three biggest assets. 

While bitcoins can be used for buying simple things like books and computer games, they are, as a result of the protection the currency provides the individual, often used for much more sinister dealings.

The Silk Road was the most publicized example before it was shut down earlier this year when the FBI nabbed the man who was running the website after he made a normal wire transfer via a bank using his real name. Many believe that had he avoided that mistake the government would have been unable to track him down.

On the Silk Road, you could buy anything from psychedelic drugs to the occasional weapon to marijuana and just about anything else you could imagine. With that website gone, however, there are still plenty other less known sites left to take its place. 

In the deep web, areas of the Internet not crawled by search engines and thus impossible to access unless you know a specific url, it is possible to find sites for hit men, arms trading, forged passports and much worse. All of the money transfers for these dealings are performed with bitcoin so as to keep both the sender and the service provider totally anonymous. 

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin Cashes In As Its First ATM Opens In Vancouver

Bitcoin does have it’s advantages for normal, everyday uses, however, and in a major step towards making the currency mainstream the first ever bitcoin ATM opened up in a Vancouver, Canada coffee shop Tuesday morning. 

The value of a single bitcoin has swelled tremendously this year, from a low of $13 in January to a high of $266 in April as more individuals and business have adopted the currency as a result of their simplicity and ease of use for buying and selling products online. 

One man in from Norway managed to hit the jackpot we all dream about when he forgot about the original investment in $27 worth of bitcoins he had made a few years ago. When he rediscovered his account earlier this year the value of his holdings had risen to more than $850,000. He promptly used his newfound wealth to buy a luxury condominium in one of Oslo's nicest areas.

Robocoin, the company that manufactures the bitcoin ATMs has plans to be all over Canada by the end of 2014 as the company looks to take advantage of a high percentage of bitcoin users in a totally unregulated environment. 

“I think it’s definitely going mainstream,” said Bitcoiniacs co-founder Mitchell Demeter. “I think as things progress, and the infrastructure is built, it will become easier for people to buy and sell, and so more people will start using it.”

“It’s been said that we’re at the stage where email was in 1992,” he said. “Is it risky? Sure. But look at how the Internet and email changed the world.”

READ MORE: from Reuters

Reach Executive Producer Christopher Coppock by email.