What is Cryptocurrency?

Recently, cryptocurrency has seen an uproar in popularity in the media and social media platforms. Big names, like Elon Musk, continuously endorse cryptocurrencies and push for their advancements. Although cryptocurrency has been around since about 2009, most of the world does not understand what it is or how it works.  How do you acquire cryptocurrency and how does it even hold a real world value?  

 

What is it?

A cryptocurrency is a form of virtual monetary value that can be used like any ordinary currency.  It can act as payment for goods and services, stored in wallets, and invested into.  There are multiple forms of cryptocurrency today.  The most popular and mainstream crypto is Bitcoin.  Others include Litecoin and Ethereum.  A cryptocurrency was even founded based on the popular “Doge” meme called Dogecoin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Companies and people worldwide support crypto more and more because they believe it is the currency of the future.  It removes the need for central banks and creates a more secure payment processing environment through a system called blockchain.

How Do I Acquire It?

There are multiple ways to purchase or earn the different types of cryptocurrency.  The easiest and simple way is to purchase it as you would any other good.  Platforms such as Coinbase, Voyager, and Robinhood (the list goes on) allow you to transfer money from your bank into whatever cryptocurrency you choose.  You can also purchase cryptocurrencies and store them into a personal crypto wallet.  This wallet acts the same way as your physical wallet; however, in virtual form.  Be careful!  You do not want to lose or forget the credentials to access your wallet, or else your cryptocurrency can be lost forever.  For example, Stefan Thomas owns a bitcoin wallet worth $220 Million.  Although, security protocols will encrypt his drive and the Bitcoin wallet lost forever, if he can not login successfully within his next two attempts.

You can also set up machines that “mine” and earn you cryptocurrencies.  Let’s use Bitcoin for an example.  When you set up a system to mine Bitcoin, you are simply setting up an auditing device to check the authenticity and calculating hashes of Bitcoin transactions through blockchain.  You earn a set amount of bitcoin when a “block” or 1 megabyte of Bitcoin transactions is verified.  Some members of our Cyber Protection Group team set up their own Bitcoin miners.  However, most cryptocurrencies have a cap.  For example, only 21 million Bitcoins mined and put into circulation.  Once that cap is reached, no more bitcoins can be mined.

 

Going Into the Future

As we see more popularity gain traction, the value of cryptocurrency will continue to rise.  It shows great investment potential for the future.  Additionally, more and more organizations will begin to accept different forms of cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.  Even though cryptocurrency might not be widely accepted like physical currency for many years, cryptocurrency is definitely the currency of the future.