Bitcoin is a new online technology designed as a currency to enable anonymous transactions over the Internet with little or no fees. Bitcoin mining involves pooling together the resources of computers over a network to solve mathematical problems that, theoretically, generate bitcoins as a reward. The software supporting the system is open source, so it has already spawned a number of alternative forms of the technology, such as Ripple, Litecoin and Colored Coins.
Coinye West, however, might be the first to be modeled after, and take its name from, a celebrity. “We chose Kanye because of his trendsetting abilities and his originality,” the developers of the currency said via email. They declined to identify themselves due to the collaborative and “decentralized” nature of the currency.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2083...lternative-for-normal-folk.html#tk.nl_pcwbest