Bradley Cooper, who is the Technology Editor at Networld Media Group, takes a dive into the cryptocurrency and offers a high-level view of the market.

To the mainstream population, virtual currency remains a great mystery. Virtual currency is a tool of the informed and an arcane secret to the uninformed. This division between the tech savvy and the mainstream audience has yet to be bridged by any virtual currency entrepreneur. However, education remains the great bridge builder in this situation. The problem is crafting a simple guide to bitcoin that is easy to understand and allows users to clearly understand the steps to getting started with bitcoin.

First users simply need to understand the basic nature of bitcoin. "The easiest way to define bitcoin is money for the mobile age," Michael Vogel, CEO of Netcoins said. "Bitcoin is both a payment platform and a monetary system."

The second concept every user needs to understand is that because of bitcoin’s decentralized nature, there is no authority that controls bitcoin. As previous articles on Virtual Currency Today have mentioned, this can be both a blessing and a curse.

"Although bitcoin can seem quite complex to a beginner, the good news that bitcoin is easy to use," Vogel said. "All you need to get started is an electronic wallet in which to store your bitcoin." According to Vogel, Bitcoin.org is an excellent resource for all new bitcoin users.

On the Bitcoin Foundation’s website bitcoin.org, users can find links to all the various wallets, including Bitcoin Core and Hive. Bitcoin.org also supplies options for users who want to store their wallet on their desktop or on their mobile device. All the user needs to do is install the wallet and they are good to go.

Although some websites give you the option to store your wallet on their site, bitcoin experts discourage this practice. "Using a bitcoin website to store your wallet is more convenient and easier to deal with, but with this method the bitcoins of the person are vulnerable to whatever happens to that website," Joanan Hernandez, founder of augmented reality company Mollejuo AR Studio, said.

Chad Mourning, co-founder of Affine Technologies, spoke about the importance of choosing a strong password for your bitcoin wallet. There is no limit to your password’s length; however, there is also no reset feature for your password. That means you need to choose something that is both easy to remember and complex.

After the user receives the bitcoin, they can then choose a bitcoin exchange. According to the coindesk glossary, a bitcoin exchange acts as the intermediary that can convert your traditional currency into bitcoin or vice versa.

However, there is one feature that can be difficult or onerous for new users, buying bitcoins. Vogel talked about how the process of purchasing bitcoins from exchanges can be a complex process. "Online exchanges generally require users to have their identity validated, which usually means submitting copies of your passport and bank statements," Vogel said. "This validation can take up to a week in some cases."

"Then you must fund your account with fiat currency - in many cases this means having to wait a few more days for a Western Union wire transfer to go through," Vogel said. "All of this is time consuming and risky, because you're now putting trust in a third party in order to buy bitcoin." In essence, you have to send money to bitcoin exchanges who convert your money into bitcoins. This can be potentially risky because you need to find a trustworthy bitcoin exchange.

However, there are new options that can make this process much easier and safer. One of these is Bitcoin ATMs. These allow users to simply go to an ATM at a retail location, enter their money and store it on their wallets.

Netcoins is working with retailers to adopt bitcoin ATMs. "Our company, Netcoins, is helping to simplify the process of buying bitcoin by providing software to retail stores that turns any device (tablet, PC) into a bitcoin ATM," Vogel said. "Netcoins handles all bitcoin inventory and order delivery to customers over email or SMS."

The next major concept new users need to understand is how to stay secure while using virtual currency. First, they need to understand the permanence of virtual currency transactions. "I would say that it's important for newbies to experiment with small amounts of Bitcoin to start. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, so you don't want to accidentally send Bitcoin to the wrong address," Vogel said.

"There are techniques such as multi-signature wallets, paper wallet backups, cold storage, and many other ways to ensure the security of your wallets," Vogel said. According to the Bitcoin Foundation, cold storage involves storing your wallet in an offline location such as on a USB drive.

The Bitcoin Foundation also mentions that users should regularly back up their wallets in a variety of locations such as a USB drive or CD. In addition, users should protect their wallets with strong passwords to decrease the risk of hackers stealing their wallets.

For any user who wants to start with bitcoin, there are a few issues they must consider. Because of the volatile nature of bitcoin and the many options for exchanges, every user needs to do his or her homework before jumping in.