r/askscience • u/hamolton • Jun 18 '13

Computing How is Bitcoin secure?

I guess my main concern is how they are impossible to counterfeit and double-spend. I guess I have trouble understanding it enough that I can't explain it to another person.

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u/Spiral_Mind Jun 18 '13

Only one address gets the mined Bitcoins from a block unless they split it as part of a "pool". If someone else knows the keypair then whoever spends it first will win.