If you go What: Coin-orado, 24-hour bitcoin-related hackathon When: 7 p.m. Friday to 7 p.m. Saturday Where: Zayo Group, 1805 29th St., Suite 2050, Boulder Cost: Free More info: coin-orado.com or on.fb.me/1qEBVd8 Etc.: For more information about Bitcoin Club at CU-Boulder, visit colorado.edu/studentgroups/bitcoin. For a list of Boulder businesses currently accepting bitcoin, visit coinmap.org.

A new student-run club at the University of Colorado is hoping to help demystify the software-based online payment system and currency known as bitcoin.

The aptly named Bitcoin Club started this semester to create a “bitcoin culture” on the Boulder campus and in the community at large, said co-founder Broc Kanaday. Though the technology has been around for a little more than five years, it’s still unknown in many circles.

“Boulder is very entrepreneurial and has a tech-minded culture and it’s perfect for this technology,” he said. “A lot of the ideals of bitcoin really align with a lot of the ideals of people in this city.”

Through a series of community workshops, meetings and competitions, Kanaday said he and the club’s roughly 10 members want to clear up some of the misconceptions about bitcoin, which may be preventing more people from using the system and currency.

He understands why people might be confused — bitcoin is an intimidating concept because there’s almost nothing to compare it to, Kanaday said.

The simplest way to explain bitcoin is that it’s a decentralized, digital currency and payment network, Kanaday said. Within the system, a unit of bitcoin can be used to buy and sell internationally.

A public ledger tracks all transactions, which ensures that no one makes bitcoin copies and that no one double spends the same bitcoin.

What’s more interesting to Kanaday is the system itself, which was created in 2008 by an anonymous person or group of people. It’s global, has almost no transaction fees and can be used by individuals who don’t have access to traditional banks.

There’s no one person or group in charge; bitcoin is managed collectively by the public.

Bitcoin Club has a similar attitude, said co-founder Ian Ker-Seymer.

“Our philosophy is not to have leaders, but it’s a community, it’s decentralized,” he said. “No one person is deciding where the club goes.”

There are some disadvantages to bitcoin. As a young currency, it’s volatile. There’s little buyer protection and there could be unforeseen technical challenges ahead.

But perhaps one of the largest drawbacks is that it’s not widely accepted.

According to the website Coinmap.org, which maps companies that accept bitcoin, eight Boulder businesses currently accept the currency, including Trep Cafe at CU’s Leeds School of Business.

Kanaday and others hope to change that by exposing more people to the advantages of a digital currency. This weekend, the club is hosting “Coin-orado,” a 24-hour hackathon aimed at getting teams to come up with new technologies or applications relating to bitcoin or some of its core principles, like decentralization.

Business owner Greg Stanton, who tutors high school and college students in math, has watched similar bitcoin clubs pop up around the country on university campuses.

His company Higher Math Help began accepting the digital currency this summer, and he’s hoping CU’s Bitcoin Club will help get the word out to more people.

As a merchant, he doesn’t lose any money to a company like PayPal with bitcoin. He tries to pass on those savings to his tutoring clients, and offers lower rates for bitcoin payments.

So far, though, clients have been slow to catch on.

“It’s this whole new paradigm, really, and it’s taken a lot of time for people to start understanding it,” he said. “As awareness grows, especially among university student bodies, I expect that will change.”

Sarah Kuta: 303-473-1106, kutas@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/sarahkuta