Cryptocurrency – Concept, History, Benefits, Features, Types & more
Last Updated Date: Nov 16, 2022Are you planning to trade in Cryptocurrency like Bitcoin? Then you are on the right page as we have got your back. In this guide, you can find all the information with regards to digital currency.
It is a good idea to learn about cryptocurrencies before investing in them. Might you be wondering about entering the Cryptocurrency market or no?
Then let us tell you one thing, it indeed makes sense now because the market is transparent now than ever before.
Lets have a detailed understanding of Crypto Currency now.
About Cryptocurrency
The Cryptocurrency journey is quite challenging as per the historical records, but it is incredible now.
For instance, once upon a time, Bitcoin was a worthless investment, but back in 2017, it touched the price of $20,000. Just a few years ago, it was a joke, but tables have turned around big time now.
Some people just turn off the topic of Cryptocurrency while others feel that it is a technology fad, and they choose to ignore it.
While a few people also think that thanks to technological developments that Cryptocurrency will change the world for something better.
And some even believe it is a dangerous trend which is surely going to waste energy.
But before you dive deep into it, you must know what is Cryptocurrency all about and how it is showing such a significant impact in no time.
Well, usually, everyone takes a tangible piece of currency when they step out. But that’s not the case anymore.
If you want to step out, you can take Cryptocurrency with you as a digital asset and exchange it.
During transactions, the crypto part comes from the use of Cryptography. It is mainly in relation to security and verification purposes.
When it comes to using Cryptocurrency in exchange for fiat currency, the owners really don’t have to rely on banks, especially for facilitating a transaction.
Hence they can avoid paying some fees, especially with transactions.
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Basics of Cryptocurrency
Ideally, Cryptocurrency transactions are successful with the help of Blockchain technology.
These Blockchains are specially designed for decentralized commerce, and all the computers connected must confirm the transaction before proceeding ahead.
The main idea behind this is to create a successful and safe transaction before they proceed forward. It might also mean that you need to wait for some time before moving.
Some users complain of waiting for a long time.
The only reason why it takes so much time is that these transactions are put in a block, and then the computer networks start solving some mathematical problem that is complex.
The other networks see the solution once the computer solves it. You can say that the answer is correct if the entire network agrees to it. Hence to complete the transaction, the chain adds the block.
If there are several transactions in one block, then it is quite difficult to edit them. It is mainly because the network is continuously reconfirming the Blockchain while going towards the latest block.
Additionally, here you will also notice one suspicious edit, which is on the transaction of the league.
Blockchain is the big reason why Cryptocurrency has become a big name, and thanks to its versatility that there are a plethora of cryptocurrencies out there.
Besides banks, cryptocurrencies seem to have a significant impact on other industries also. The decentralization part of cryptocurrencies is safer as such, and there is nothing to stress about.
A few companies are planning to start with cryptocurrencies, while others are yet to.
History of Cryptocurrency
Before Bitcoin, there were other cryptocurrencies just like Bitcoins, but they failed to get prominence. Prior to cryptocurrency concepts, B-gold and B-currency were significantly used.
Back in 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin into the world. You can say Bitcoin is the first identity of Cryptocurrency. As of now, we don’t know who Satoshi Nakamoto is like he is a group or individual.
Well, in the same year, the Bitcoin was accessible to people and allowing people to mine here and creating the Bitcoin Blockchain for the first time.
For the first time back in 2010, people could actually use bitcoins as actual currency. No doubt the value was not that great for Bitcoins, but gradually we can say that it is gaining some popularity.
What is Cryptocurrency?
In simple terms, you can say Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that allows you to buy goods and services. To secure online transactions, it uses an online ledger featuring strong cryptography.
Some of the interest in these unregulated currencies is to trade mainly only for profit. At times, speculators end up driving prices towards the sky.
You can say that it is a type of payment you can make in exchange for the goods and services. Today the majority of the companies choose to issue the same, and they are ideally known as tokens.
Customers can use it only to buy the goods and services that the company is offering. To assess the good or service, you need to exchange the real currency for Cryptocurrency.
Blockchain is the technology that drives the transactions. The best part here is that it is decentralized and spread across a lot of networks, which makes it easy for transaction recording.
Security is the most attractive part of this technology. Cryptography mainly secures the digital currency, and it makes it next to impossible to counterfeit.
Additionally, no government body issues Cryptocurrency. Hence they are immune to government interference.
Ideally, Cryptocurrencies allow for secure payments online, and you can see them in virtual tokens. You can see them as ledger entries that are internal to the system.
Crypto is all about different algorithms and cryptographic methods that safeguard various entities, including public-private key pairs.
Some experts also claim that Cryptocurrency is an internet-based exchange that uses blockchain technology to have some transparency and decentralization.
Additionally, the business is relatively immune to traditional government ways and domination. Today the majority of the people know Cryptocurrency globally.
You can say that the concept behind Cryptocurrency is pretty abstract. A few people even today are quite confused about what makes Cryptocurrency so valuable and efficient means of storing it.
Sometimes people also refer to it as altcoins, which is short for alternative coins. No doubt, one of the most famous Cryptocurrencies is Bitcoins, but there are a plethora of new comers to the market.
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Understand about Blockchain
All of us by now know that one of the most appealing parts of Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, is Blockchain.
It helps in keeping all the transactions, and hence they offer a structure of the ledger, which is ideally pretty secure, and the entire network gives a node to it.
All the nodes verify every new block before giving it any considerations, and then it is impossible to forge any transactions even in the future.
Some experts say that Blockchain is quite useful for online voting and crowdfunding.
Hence some huge organizations like JP Morgan use it to minimize the transaction costs by streamlining the payment process.
But the main catch here is that Cryptocurrencies are mainly virtual and don’t have any central database, so it is quite possible that data gets wiped out.
It happens due to the destruction of the hard drive, or you don’t have the backup copy of the private key. Hence the good part here is that no central authority has access to your personal information.
Cryptocurrency and Fiat Money
Once upon a time, the ancient people used the barter system. Hence someone who wanted to buy some goods must look for someone who is willing to buy their goods.
But it needs to be in exact of the goods they are looking for. You can say it is a double coincidence of wants.
For instance, a farmer is planning to buy clothes; then, he needs to trade his wheat for the same. To complete the trade, he needs to find a seller who is in need of grain.
People got the solution to these problems with the innovation of fiat money. But during that time, some people wondered how a piece of paper could be equal to or more valuable than goods.
Cryptocurrency does something similar to this to fiat money. Ideally, it aims to create a store of value that allows users to pay only for goods and other currencies.
You can say fiat currencies are liquid to each other if you feel Cryptocurrency is liquid to fiat money. But some people are still in dilemma that why does Cryptocurrency hold so much of value?
Well, you can read ahead and get some surprising facts.
Benefits of Investing in Cryptocurrency
The best part about Cryptocurrencies is that the claim in making the fund transfer easy between two parties.
Above all, it is direct as you don’t need any reliable third party, unlike credit cards or bank transfers.
Instead, public keys and private keys secure these transactions. Also, some different types of incentive systems are available.
In contemporary terms, you can say a user’s wallet or account address has a public key. The owner only knows the private key, and they use it to sign in transactions.
You can say there are minimum fees for fund transfers so users can easily avoid steep fees that banks usually charge.
Drawbacks of Investing in Cryptocurrency
Ideally, Cryptocurrencies are mainly used by people for illegal activities, including money laundering and tax evasion.
But people who support Cryptocurrency say that there are benefits of privacy available here. Well, you can tell a few Cryptocurrencies are entirely private than others.
For example, you can say Bitcoin is the wrong choice for conducting illegal transactions because forensic experts can catch hold of these criminals.
Additionally, the market prices for cryptocurrencies mainly depend on the demand and supply, and the exchange rates also fluctuate widely.
Additionally, the design of Cryptocurrency itself holds a lot of scarcity. Well, in the past few years, Bitcoin has seen a lot of collapses and surges in value.
Hence, economists say that Cryptocurrencies are a speculative bubble or short live fad.
The main issue is that Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, don’t have any material goods. But at the same time, the cost of producing Bitcoin requires a lot of energy.
Cryptocurrency blockchains are entirely secure, but other elements of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. But they are not immune to hacking for sure.
As per historical records, several online exchanges have seen hacking and theft.
Hence, many people see the potential advantages in cryptocurrencies include the possibility of seeing the value against inflation.
Blockchain and Technology
Almost everyone in the network comes to know about the transaction immediately. But only after a specific amount of time the transaction gets some confirmation.
In cryptocurrencies, confirmation is a critical concept. Hence you can say Blockchain is all about proof. If the verification is pending, then the transaction is mostly forged.
After the transaction gets confirmation, you can say it is in stone. You can’t reverse it as it is a part of an immutable record of historical transactions you can Blockchain.
Only some miners are allowed to confirm transactions. In the network, they can take trades, stamp them legit, and then it is spread to the network.
When the miner confirms the transactions, you can get a nod to integrate it into its database. Then it becomes a part of the Blockchain.
The reward for miners is the token of the Cryptocurrency.
What is Cryptocurrency Mining?
You can say everyone can be a miner. The miner doesn’t have the authority to delegate this task as it is decentralized.
To prevent one ruling party from abusing it, Cryptocurrency needs some type of mechanism. If someone spreads transactions that are forged, then the system breaks immediately.
Features of Cryptocurrency
Here are the list of characteristics or features of Cryptocurrency –
Irreversible
You can’t reverse a transaction after confirmation. When it comes to nobody, it means nobody, including your bank, President of the States, not Satoshi, not the miner.
Hence when you send money, you send it, and no one can help you if you end up sending money to any hacker.
Pseudonymous
Both the accounts and the transactions have no connectivity to anyone in the real world. At some so called address, you will receive some bitcoins featuring at least 30 characters.
You can indeed identify the transaction but can’t connect with the identity of real-world users for sure.
Global and Quick
In this network, you can see the transactions quite quickly, and they get confirmation also quickly.
As they take place globally, computers play a crucial role here, and your physical location doesn’t matter at all.
Secure
In a public key, cryptocurrency funds are locked. The private key owner can only send the Cryptocurrency.
The magic of numbers makes it next to impossible to break the scheme. As compared to fort Knox, Cryptocurrency is way secure.
Value of Cryptocurrency
One thing is quite clear that any type of currency is valuable as long it has some or other kind of store value. It becomes more valuable when more and more people accept it.
Above all, the more acceptance, the more stability you can expect. Hence both fiat money and cryptocurrencies solve the coincidence of wants issue.
Additionally, Cryptocurrency uses blockchain technology. The new concepts promise a lot of security, and it also allows for the verification of transactions.
Above all, the best part about cryptocurrencies is that it is divisible infinitely.
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How does Blockchain Support Cryptocurrency?
The voluntary miners most likely support the Blockchain network. Ideally, you can say miners are nothing but computer systems which are only used in specific networks.
Hence, you can say mining is the act of verifying, securing, and encrypting transactions in all blocks.
Almost all the miners have the ledge, which includes all the records, including the past and present transactions taking place in the network.
Each transaction is checked against millions of copies of the ledger if someone even tries to steal coins from another wallet.
On fraudulent transactions, all legitimate copies of the transactions will say invalid transactions.
What are Cryptocurrency Wallets?
They can be anything from software apps or hardware wallets. Basically, the wallets act as a mini version of the miners basically in the sense of recording the transaction.
Besides storing the value of your coins, they also tell you how many coins you have in total.
The wallet verifies the transaction against the mining networks of the ledgers when you deposit the bitcoins.
It is because it is essential to tell the network that bitcoins are now in your possession. All the wallets resemble hash codes as both software and hardware have such addresses.
Basically, you can say that it is a massive string of numbers and alphabets. It would be best if you used them to deposit coins in your wallet.
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Cryptocurrency – Conclusion
Hence after knowing so much about Cryptocurrency, one thing is for sure that the tool is not only entirely speculative but also volatile.
The market for cryptocurrencies is both quick and wild as we see new cryptocurrencies coming and going every day.
No doubt, needs are dirty, but at the same time, one thing is for sure that the cryptocurrencies are not going out of trend anytime soon.
Against the devaluation of the national currency, people all over the globe are planning to buy Cryptocurrencies. Majorly in Asia, we see a massive market for Cryptocurrency emerging.
Well, many banks and governments now realize that once Cryptocurrencies emerge, they will not have much control.
Step by step, the digital currency is most likely to change the world. Hence you can invest in the decentralized structure and become a part of the trend.
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