What’s cryptocurrency?
Similar to a digital currency, cryptocurrencies are. It can be used to pay for drinks with friends, purchase that new pair of socks you’ve had your eye on, or reserve flights and lodging for your upcoming vacation. Since cryptocurrencies are digital, they can be sent to friends and family all around the world.
Like bank transactions or PayPal, I assume.
Not really, I guess. It’s much more captivating!
Traditional internet payment gateways, as you can see, are held by businesses. They keep your money in trust for you, and you must ask them to transfer it when you want to use it.
Why do they call it cryptocurrency?
Cryptography and money are combined to get the word cryptocurrency. By using cryptography, we can ensure that no one else can use our money by using sophisticated arithmetic to secure it.
So, this enchanted internet money is anonymous and uses cryptography to protect the network. But why should you worry when you already have apps for paying customers?
Who invented Bitcoin?
Amazingly, no one can claim to have created Bitcoin. Only their screen name, Satoshi Nakamoto, is used to identify them. If you believe some of the wackier theories, Satoshi could be an individual, a team of programmers, a time-traveling alien, or a covert government agency.
In 2008, Satoshi released a 9-page document on the operation of the Bitcoin system. In 2009, the software itself was released a few months later.
Numerous additional cryptocurrencies were built on the foundation of Bitcoin. While some were built using the same technologies, others adopted a radically different strategy. Okay, but how do cryptocurrencies differ from one another?
It would take us weeks only to compile a list of all the various cryptocurrencies. Some are quicker than others, while others are more programmable, secure, and private.
In the world of cryptocurrencies, there’s a slogan that goes: “Do Your Own Research” (or DYOR). We assure you that we don’t say that to be impolite. Simply said, it indicates you shouldn’t accept information from a single source as fact.
Be sure to conduct your research before committing money to a particular project.
