On the plus side, we finally have an argument in favor of this ATMB question.
Let’s try this.
Every US dollar of paper currency has a unique serial number on it. We all agree with that. We also have $1 bills and $100 bills. Each with different serial numbers. And two people can happily exchange piles of bills with equal total value: two $5s for one $10, etc. No bills or serial numbers are created or destroyed when we do this. No bills are torn in half. People can also exchange some number of bills for a haircut or a hamburger. And the barber or cook can exchange the bills they got for whatever they want. Whether that’s more supplies for their shop or stuff for themselves or their family.
Now pretend we all don’t have checks or credit cards or pennies or quarters or any of that crap. All we have is paper dollars. So far this is a bog standard cash-only economy.
In this world every transaction is in paper money with serial numbers and every savings account or wallet is simply a pile of paper currency inside a locked box or a pocket.
The fundamental unit of currency in this world is the $1 bill with its serial number attached. It can be aggregated by trading a bunch of $1 bills for, say, a $20bill. Which can in turn be disaggregated by trading the $20 for a $10, a $5, and 5 $1s. And we can buy & sell stuff for any number of whole dollars we want. Which can be paid for by any combination of bills that add up to the right number of dollars. And every bill we use has a unique serial number right there on the face.
Note that in this world the money is not anonymous. Each bill is identifiable and unique. But whose pocket any given bill is in is a secret. Which is sorta opposite from our real world where I have no idea which dollars are in my checking account. But me, my bank, and the authorities all know (or can know) what my total is right now.
Bitcoin is exactly like this all-paper-currency system. Bitcoin are actually individually identifiable down to the 100 millionth part. You can make change with them just like you can make change from the $20 bearing serial number 12345 using $1 bills with serial numbers 2345, 3456, and 6789.
A Bitcoin “wallet” is nothing but a publicly maintained list of which specific serial numbers you own. Where the connection between “you” the Bitcoin owner and “you” the flesh and blood human is a secret.
Here’s how buying and selling work.
If you go to the Springfield Quickie Mart to buy a Big Slurp and pull out $1 bills with serial numbers 2345 and 3456 and give them to Apu, then those numbers are no longer in your wallet. Instead they’re in his. And you get to keep the Big Slurp.
If you go to the Springfield Quickie Mart (who now takes Bitcoin) to buy a Big Slurp and pull out Bitcoin snippets with serial numbers 2345 and 3456 and give them to Apu, then those numbers are no longer in your wallet. Instead they’re in his. And you get to keep the Big Slurp.
This is only complicated if you (OP) make it complicated.
The Kwik-E-Mart sells Squishees. What kind of misinformation are you trying to spread, here?
You can tell I’m not all that proficient on my Simpsons lore. It’s been a few years. :o