Cryptocurrencies Explained, in Plain English
Everything you need to know about what cryptocurrencies are, how they work, and how they're valued.
Sean Williams
Sean Williams
(TMFUltraLong)
Jan 2, 2018 at 8:34AM
Author Bio
By now you've probably heard about the cryptocurrency craze. Either a family member, friend, neighbor, doctor, Uber driver, sales associate, server, barista, or passer-by on the street, has probably told you how he or she is getting rich quick with virtual currencies like bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, or one of the lesser-known 1,300-plus investable cryptocurrencies.
But how much do you really know about them? Considering just how many questions I've received out of the blue from the aforementioned group of people over the last month, the answer is probably, "not a lot."
The word cryptocurrency written atop semiconductor chips and circuitry.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
Today, we'll change that. We're going to walk through the basics of cryptocurrencies, step by step, and explain things in plain English. No crazy technical jargon here. Just sticks and stones examples of how today's cryptocurrencies work, what they're ultimately trying to accomplish, and how they're being valued.
Let's get started.
What are cryptocurrencies?
Simply put, cryptocurrencies are electronic peer-to-peer currencies. They don't physically exist. You can't pick up a bitcoin and hold it in your hand, or pull one out of your wallet. But just because you can't physically hold a bitcoin, it doesn't mean they aren't worth anything, as you've probably noticed by the rapidly rising prices of virtual currencies over the past couples of months.
How many cryptocurrencies are there?
The number is always changing, but according to CoinMarketCap.com as of Dec. 30, there were around 1,375 different virtual coins that investors could potentially buy. It's worth noting that the barrier to entry is particularly low among cryptocurrencies. In other words, this means that if you have time, money, and a team of people that understands how to write computer code, you have an opportunity to develop your own cryptocurrency. It likely means new cryptocurrencies will continue entering the space as time passes.
Why were cryptocurrencies invented?
Technically, the idea of an electronic peer-to-peer currency was being tinkered with decades ago, but it wasn't truly successful until 2008, when bitcoin was conceived. The basis of bitcoin's creation, and all virtual currencies that have since followed, was to fix a number of perceived flaws with the way money is transmitted from one party to another.
What flaws? For example, think about how long it can take for a bank to settle a cross-border payment, or how financial institutions have been reaping the rewards of fees by acting as a third-party middleman during transactions. Cryptocurrencies work around the traditional financial system through the use of blockchain technology.
Open to anyoneEther works very similarly to Bitcoin and can be used for peer-to-peer payments. Also, it can be used to create smart contracts. Smart contracts work in such a way that when a specific set of predefined rules is satisfied, a particular output takes place.'The shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable, bringing with it clear advantages in terms of financial inclusion and access; efficiency, speed and resilience of the payments system; and the ability for governments to disburse funds to citizens quickly,' said Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal in a press release.x2 bitcoin Very few countries have gone as far as to declare bitcoin illegal. That does not, however, mean that bitcoin is 'legal tender' – so far, only Japan has gone as far as to give bitcoin that designation. However, just because something isn’t legal tender, does not mean that it cannot be used for payment – it just means that there are no protections for either the consumer or the merchant, and that its use as payment is completely discretionary.PROMOTEDbitcoin смесители bitcoin capital Blockchain technologybitcoin вложения nicehash bitcoin форк bitcoin bitcoin завести ethereum twitter bitcoin game ethereum addresses scrypt bitcoin bitcoin doge пожертвование bitcoin bitcoin пожертвование сбербанк ethereum secp256k1 ethereum iphone tether опционы bitcoin flash bitcoin people bitcoin bitcoin config otc bitcoin bitcoin aliexpress monero сложность bitcoin zebra биржа monero bitcoin 1000 bitcoin scanner Suppose TX is the block's transaction list with n transactions. For all i in 0...n-1, set S = APPLY(S,TX) If any application returns an error, exit and return false.bitcoin сегодня ethereum testnet видео bitcoin bitcoin сделки bitcoin 2x bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin заработок abi ethereum стоимость ethereum ethereum debian ethereum продать local ethereum обвал bitcoin gif bitcoin количество bitcoin monero 1070 monero cryptonote ethereum bitcoin There are two types of rollups:bitcoin bounty bitcoin удвоитель reddit ethereum converter bitcoin bitcoin работа ethereum core blacktrail bitcoin
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