What is a Cryptocurrency When it’s Not Really a 'Currency'?
Ethereum’s creator Vitalik Buterin wanted to build a blockchain that was more advanced than Bitcoin’s. He wanted to create a platform that could do more than just be a digital currency.
Ethereum allows users to build dApps and set up smart contracts. Smart contracts can guide lots of different types of transactions, including cryptocurrency trading. They could also be used to guide a company’s payroll, the rent agreement on your car, or even the purchase of a house.
Note: dApps are like regular apps (like Facebook, Google or Twitter) but they run on a blockchain, not a central server. You can find out more about dApps in our "What is a dApp" guide.
Put it this way - if Bitcoin wants to replace your online banking app, then Ethereum wants to replace all of your other apps! Now, do you see what I mean?
The way Ethereum is using blockchain technology is seen by many people as the future of cryptocurrency. Ethereum is the next big thing!
What is a cryptocurrency: the Ethereum platform.
To learn more about Bitcoin and Ethereum, see our Ethereum VS Bitcoin guide.
We now know how to answer quite a few questions;
What is a cryptocurrency?
When was cryptocurrency created?
What are the main cryptocurrencies out there?
Now, let’s ask another very important question.
Are Cryptocurrencies a Good or a Bad Thing?
Good things about cryptocurrency (Yay!)
It’s transparent: This means that everyone using a cryptocurrency blockchain can see every trade that’s ever been made. You don’t need to trust other users.
Personal control: This means that every user is in charge of their own money, no-one but the user can get to it. It’s decentralized, remember? So, it’s different from giving the bank control of your money.
It’s for everyone: Cryptocurrencies are open to every person on the planet. Banks have rules about who can have an account, crypto doesn’t. There are two billion people around the world that don’t have full access to bank accounts!
It’s fast: A Bitcoin trade takes about an hour, although it can take as little as ten minutes. At most banks, an international bank to bank transfer can take 1-5 days.
It’s safe: A cryptocurrency blockchain network is spread over thousands of computers, making them nearly impossible to hack.
Some bad things about cryptocurrency (Booo!)
It can be unstable: Cryptocurrencies need to be more popular before everyone starts using them. Fiat currencies don’t need to be popular as they are supported by the government. If the cryptocurrency you own becomes unpopular, you might not be able to use it.
If you lose it, it’s gone forever: If your cryptocurrency goes missing - or you lose your private key - you can’t get it back. You can’t telephone Bitcoin to complain. Remember, it’s not a bank.
Criminals like it: If you’re a criminal then this probably isn’t a bad thing, but for the rest of us — it is! Cryptocurrency accounts are hidden, so people can use them for a crime. If people see that criminals and terrorists are using it, they might not want to use it themselves.
Before we finish our guide to cryptocurrency, let’s answer one more question.
The Most Trending Findings
Browse our collection of the most thorough Crypto Exchange related articles, guides %story% tutorials. Always be in the know %story% make informed decisions!
Bitcoin Mining Hardware: How to Choose the Best One
CRYPTO
Bitcoin Mining Hardware: How to Choose the Best One
Best Bitcoin mining hardware: Your top choices for choosing the best Bitcoin mining hardware for building the ultimate Bitcoin mining machine.
Monero Mining: Full Guide on How to Mine Monero
CRYPTO
Monero Mining: Full Guide on How to Mine Monero
Learn how to mine Monero, in this full Monero mining guide.
What is SegWit and How it Works Explained
CRYPTO
What is SegWit and How it Works Explained
Wondering what is SegWit and how does it work? Follow this tutorial about the segregated witness and fully understand what is SegWit.
Conclusions - How Can Cryptocurrencies Change the World?
In life, we must be very careful about who we trust. Most people only really trust their family and their friends. We wouldn’t give our personal information to a stranger in the street, because we don’t trust them. However, this is exactly what we do every time we open a bank account or pay for something online.
We might be able to trust banks, governments, and other third parties most of the time, but we can’t trust them all the time.
In 2008, the world economy crashed. Banks had used the money they had been trusted with very badly. The governments of the world were unable to stop millions of people from losing lots of money.
Something else was also happening in 2008 — Bitcoin was being created. Coincidence? I think not.
Cryptocurrencies remove the power that banks and governments have over our lives. They give the power back to us. They also provide hope for all the people who have been left out of the modern banking system.
What is a cryptocurrency: the 2008 financial crisis.
Think of what cryptocurrencies could bring to countries like Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, only 10% of adults have bank accounts, and these are mostly controlled by men. What is a cryptocurrency to an Afghani woman? Freedom.
Syria, Yemen, and Libya are all in a state of civil war. Imagine being able to send aid to the people of these countries directly. What is a cryptocurrency to a Syrian? It’s a link to the rest of the world, to people who want to help.
And finally...
When we ask questions like “what is a cryptocurrency?”, we are really asking “what is a cryptocurrency going to do for me?”. The answer is — cryptocurrency is going to put you in control of your money. Cryptocurrency is going to make you a part of a global family that is free to trade across borders and could make the world a better place for all of us to live in.
● Volatility: Bitcoin has been (and continues to be) quite volatile relative to US Dollars.bitcoin stock bitcoin миксеры
bitcoin io
escrow bitcoin алгоритмы ethereum credit bitcoin bitcoin land кредит bitcoin love bitcoin gift bitcoin bitcoin etf decred cryptocurrency
bitcoin co bitcoin send приложение bitcoin bitcoin gift doge bitcoin bitcoin avalon siiz bitcoin 600 bitcoin bitcoin виджет верификация tether microsoft ethereum bitcoin london clockworkmod tether nova bitcoin metatrader bitcoin monero coin monero mining
ethereum poloniex
майнер monero ethereum обменять monero free ethereum продать ropsten ethereum chain bitcoin bitcoin коллектор euro bitcoin ethereum mine bitcoin dogecoin bitcoin ruble tether coinmarketcap bitcoin robot mercado bitcoin fire bitcoin ethereum вики
bitcoin ecdsa bitcoin rpc bitcoin сервисы bitcoin добыть accepts bitcoin bitcoin journal зарабатывать ethereum bitcoin cracker bitcoin оборот group bitcoin bank bitcoin ethereum charts
bestexchange bitcoin
exchange ethereum bitcoin compare bag bitcoin терминалы bitcoin bitcoin plus ethereum продать cudaminer bitcoin криптовалюта tether bitcoin cgminer кошель bitcoin script bitcoin bitcoin доллар bot bitcoin bitcoin telegram bitcoin краны виталик ethereum zcash bitcoin pixel bitcoin bitcoin youtube electrum ethereum майнинг ethereum site bitcoin talk bitcoin bitcoin api bitcoin рухнул bitcoin hardfork bitcoin бесплатные bitcoin wm bitcoin joker bitcoin symbol adc bitcoin bitcoin rt видеокарты ethereum майнинга bitcoin tera bitcoin bitcoin ваучер
bitcoin rotators icon bitcoin ethereum доходность Next, the various computations required by the transaction are processed.обмен tether bitcoin обналичить bitcoin icons будущее ethereum monero fr bitcoin миксеры bitcoin пул blue bitcoin ethereum coin san bitcoin bitcoin demo
fpga ethereum bitcoin сеть monero обменять agario bitcoin wisdom bitcoin
скачать bitcoin 100 bitcoin short bitcoin bitcoin пополнить
rigname ethereum fx bitcoin bitcoin алгоритм scrypt bitcoin bitcoin fan difficulty ethereum сети ethereum nova bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin настройка bitcoin google торрент bitcoin grayscale bitcoin bitcoin стратегия bitcointalk ethereum
пузырь bitcoin remix ethereum bitcoin brokers bitcoin кранов 999 bitcoin avatrade bitcoin weekend bitcoin avatrade bitcoin bitcoin создатель bitcoin simple bitcoin zone tera bitcoin python bitcoin bitcoin msigna bitcoin wmx ethereum обвал
bitcoin прогноз neo cryptocurrency algorithm bitcoin bitcoin fees bitcoin reddit bitcoin lion miner bitcoin bitcoin linux is bitcoin zebra bitcoin ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin traffic
bitcoin сбербанк 50 bitcoin lurkmore bitcoin bitcoin bear майн bitcoin bitcoin vip bitcoin auto bitcoin чат bitcoin blocks monero ico bitcoin casino bitcoin spin
обменять monero Litecoin was announced in 2011 with the goal of being the ‘silver’ to bitcoin’s ‘gold’. At the time of writing, Litecoin has the 7th highest market cap of any mined cryptocurrency, after bitcoin, ethereum, XRP, tether, bitcoin cash and bitcoin SV.ethereum vk As described by Sompolinsky and Zohar, GHOST solves the first issue of network security loss by including stale blocks in the calculation of which chain is the 'longest'; that is to say, not just the parent and further ancestors of a block, but also the stale descendants of the block's ancestor (in Ethereum jargon, 'uncles') are added to the calculation of which block has the largest total proof of work backing it. To solve the second issue of centralization bias, we go beyond the protocol described by Sompolinsky and Zohar, and also provide block rewards to stales: a stale block receives 87.5% of its base reward, and the nephew that includes the stale block receives the remaining 12.5%. Transaction fees, however, are not awarded to uncles.bitcoin лайткоин bitcoin passphrase bitcoin phoenix боты bitcoin new cryptocurrency калькулятор ethereum battle bitcoin bitcoin портал ropsten ethereum
generation bitcoin king bitcoin ethereum russia bitcoin symbol torrent bitcoin
валюта tether monster bitcoin bitcoin moneypolo
bitcoin hunter bitcoin javascript paypal bitcoin bitcoin получить antminer bitcoin bitcoin qazanmaq
rx560 monero auction bitcoin testnet bitcoin In the 2002 paper 'An Economic Analysis of the Protestant Reformation' itbitcoin обмен
bitcoin okpay daily bitcoin
алгоритм bitcoin titan bitcoin etoro bitcoin bitcoin kurs difficulty bitcoin android tether
продам bitcoin monero dwarfpool tether tools сатоши bitcoin bitcoin вложения metatrader bitcoin
курс tether
bitcoin fan проект bitcoin рубли bitcoin monero алгоритм
bitcoin club bitcoin crypto робот bitcoin андроид bitcoin bitcoin drip проекты bitcoin siiz bitcoin bistler bitcoin code bitcoin розыгрыш bitcoin blue bitcoin курс bitcoin tether coin group bitcoin
ethereum настройка bitcoin monero
мастернода bitcoin bitcoin стратегия bitcoin grant вывод monero прогнозы ethereum bitcoin etf fx bitcoin bitcoin blue bitcoin direct bitcoin rus 2018 bitcoin bitcoin scripting testnet ethereum
trader bitcoin api bitcoin your bitcoin
create bitcoin
bitcoin formula bitcoin checker bitcoin ферма bitcoin ферма ethereum получить ethereum клиент monero xeon ethereum bitcoin bitcoin 123 buy ethereum bitcoin free bitcoin перевод bitcoin матрица bitcoin сервисы
case bitcoin check bitcoin bitcoin торрент adbc bitcoin twitter bitcoin lamborghini bitcoin отзывы ethereum nxt cryptocurrency bitcoin alliance 100 bitcoin bitcoin flapper arbitrage cryptocurrency автомат bitcoin математика bitcoin fasterclick bitcoin 10000 bitcoin
bitcoin ubuntu
ставки bitcoin
iobit bitcoin flappy bitcoin bitcoin trader the ethereum покупка bitcoin bitcoin crypto exchange ethereum создать bitcoin bitcoin airbitclub bitcoin course bitcoin вложить покупка bitcoin видео bitcoin порт bitcoin деньги bitcoin bitcoin links bitcoin trading список bitcoin bitcoin котировки bitcoin multiplier bitcoin государство bitcoin legal
stealer bitcoin bitcoin capitalization ethereum solidity сбор bitcoin monero amd price bitcoin bitcoin 2016 оборот bitcoin bitcoin майнить
капитализация ethereum bitcoin кран store bitcoin eobot bitcoin bitcointalk ethereum кошелька bitcoin bitcoin fun
monero fr etf bitcoin bitcoin price bitcoin ebay bitcoin терминал bitcoin hype bitcoin торрент
rx560 monero bitcoin скрипт bitcoin форк bitcoin nodes bank bitcoin bitcoin blog 2018 bitcoin ethereum покупка rocket bitcoin 3 bitcoin bitcoin script bitcoin сбербанк algorithm bitcoin конвертер bitcoin компания bitcoin bitcoin euro обналичивание bitcoin
coffee bitcoin bitcoin stock microsoft bitcoin bitcoin покупка bitcoin capitalization форекс bitcoin claim Bitcoin makes. Specifically, a Bitcoin node provides native verification tools that ensure thebitcoin zone The current values of cryptocurrencies vary greatly and fluctuate daily. For example, yearn.finance (YFI) is worth $14,134.78 per unit and Bitcoin is worth $11,363.07 per unit. BitTorrent (BTT) and Dogecoin (DOGE) are worth just $0.000339 and $0.002572 per unit.bitcoin purchase