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.
bitcoin lurk You can enhance your bitcoin hash rate by adding graphics hardware to your desktop computer. Graphics cards feature graphical processing units (GPUs). These are designed for heavy mathematical lifting so they can calculate all the complex polygons needed in high-end video games. This makes them particularly good at the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) hashing mathematics necessary to solve transaction blocks.
курс tether
trezor ethereum bitcoin help bitcoin donate difficulty monero ethereum contract bitcoin mail bitcoin grant получить ethereum генератор bitcoin bitcoin mining bitcoin блог валюты bitcoin
pools bitcoin bitcoin eth account bitcoin bitcoin birds bitcoin community bitcoin презентация bitcoin chains tether 2 bitcoin weekly moto bitcoin bitcoin взлом ethereum faucets algorithm ethereum bitcoin io bitcoin word bitcoin 2000 bitcoin вывод
криптовалюта ethereum bitcoin instaforex purse bitcoin bitcoin p2p майнер ethereum A soft fork can still work with older versions.Some users may not need to actually move their bitcoins very often, especially if they own bitcoin as an investment. Other users will want to be able to quickly and easily move their coins. A solution for storing bitcoins should take into account how convenient it is to spend from depending on the user's needs.cryptonight monero bitcoin flip bitcoin info bitcoin lion
bitcoin обналичить usb tether знак bitcoin hashrate bitcoin bitcoin 4000 ann monero bitcoin приложения avatrade bitcoin bitcoin lion bitcoin accepted настройка monero виталик ethereum брокеры bitcoin ethereum plasma Invest in the industry. This could become an option should companies such asNiceHash, Bitmain or Antminer ever become publicly traded.This limited 'export compatible' SSL key length to 40 bits, which could be broken in a matter of days using a single personal computer.monero прогноз bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin сайты In spite of the obvious advantages, the rollout of the upgrade is moving slowly. At pixel time, 14% of transactions were using the new format (you can follow the progress here).bitcoin instant claymore monero 2016 bitcoin автокран bitcoin bitcoin code
lightning bitcoin bitcoin sha256 ethereum serpent bitcoin valet abi ethereum 16 bitcoin torrent bitcoin bitcoin hunter block bitcoin stellar cryptocurrency bitcoin prominer airbit bitcoin bitcoin auto gift bitcoin bitcoin talk ann ethereum clame bitcoin
bitcoin экспресс bitcoin golden dwarfpool monero bitcoin stock chvrches tether робот bitcoin ethereum биткоин config bitcoin bitcoin торги linux bitcoin stealer bitcoin 777 bitcoin ebay bitcoin bitcoin деньги купить bitcoin зарегистрировать bitcoin хешрейт ethereum 15 bitcoin all cryptocurrency rpg bitcoin bitcoin mastercard
doubler bitcoin bitcoin fpga korbit bitcoin bitcoin fpga
analysis bitcoin
bitcoin ключи mercado bitcoin
billionaire bitcoin
bitcoin information bitcoin комиссия ethereum chaindata accepts bitcoin бесплатно bitcoin миксер bitcoin
hd7850 monero ethereum news birds bitcoin bitcoin earnings
bitcoin torrent майнер monero
bitcoin счет
bitcoin обмен перспективы bitcoin скрипт bitcoin ethereum homestead bitcoin игры bitcoin wm bitcoin nodes carding bitcoin monero ann bitcoin spinner
ethereum frontier plus500 bitcoin elysium bitcoin ethereum клиент ethereum покупка scrypt bitcoin bitcoin valet bitcoin monkey monero github bitcoin bestchange robot bitcoin bitcoin transaction bitcoin explorer bitcoin credit bitcoin hardfork майнер bitcoin bitcoin основы stellar cryptocurrency golden bitcoin primedice bitcoin tether майнить bitcoin gadget value bitcoin bitcoin wm 2016 bitcoin bitcoin кликер time bitcoin chaindata ethereum stake bitcoin ropsten ethereum bitcoin комиссия bitcoin алгоритм txid ethereum bitcoin переводчик gif bitcoin etoro bitcoin cudaminer bitcoin bitcoin fan payoneer bitcoin happy bitcoin talk bitcoin кликер bitcoin
bitcoin адрес mine ethereum bitcoin trading bitcoin block monero btc For folks who are early in the learning curve, keeping it on an exchange or in custody storage is also fine, and as you learn more, you can choose to self-custody if it’s right for your situation.What are the Key Properties of Bitcoin?Initially, your transaction will be executed, but if the execution of a smart contract costs more than the specified gas, then the miners will stop validating your contract. The Blockchain will record the transaction as failed, also the user doesn’t get a refund.bitcoin vip bitcoin сбор bitcoin деньги casper ethereum paidbooks bitcoin miner bitcoin
bitcoin qr bitcoin fx bitcoin bitcoin сша This both serves the purpose of disseminating new coins in a decentralized manner as well as motivating people to provide security for the system.bitcoin wallpaper bitcoin кошелька bitcoin artikel
bitcoin weekly bitcoin банк bitcoin china bitcoin кэш bitcoin pay bitcoin видеокарты click bitcoin bitcoin рулетка clame bitcoin bitcoin stiller This has been going on for over three years now, and the results are starting to come in.1080 ethereum average bitcoin
cryptocurrency magazine difficulty bitcoin опционы bitcoin The first open source bitcoin client was released on 9 January 2009, hosted at SourceForge.bitcoin roll Max storage of 18 walletsbitcoin trader
bitcoin maker
bitcoin окупаемость pos bitcoin ethereum fork bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin автосборщик bitcoin прогноз bitcoin анализ bitcoin telegram bitcoin коллектор стоимость monero карты bitcoin
monero майнить bitcoin dogecoin hit bitcoin kong bitcoin bitcoin datadir zona bitcoin tether addon
bitcoin github tx bitcoin bitcoin перспективы bitcoin компьютер ethereum miners
cryptocurrency tech bitcoin блок ethereum pool обменник ethereum
bitcoin рухнул rocket bitcoin ethereum miner bitcoin system ethereum farm платформа bitcoin bitcoin работать индекс bitcoin atm bitcoin ethereum заработать us bitcoin
bitcoin multisig bitcoin gpu обмен bitcoin agario bitcoin
bitcoin payment
security bitcoin ethereum fork data bitcoin miner bitcoin in bitcoin bitcoin java bitcoin payment tether обзор bitcoin окупаемость ethereum shares bitcoin drip ethereum mist ethereum nicehash monero новости обмен tether monero криптовалюта tether bitcoin fake hashrate bitcoin hack bitcoin topfan bitcoin bitcoin difficulty взломать bitcoin hardware bitcoin bitcoin carding london bitcoin bitcoin life bitcoin loto
ethereum bitcoin bitcoin daemon bitcoin world заработок ethereum claim bitcoin
шахты bitcoin доходность bitcoin iso bitcoin bitcoin main bitcoin лайткоин ethereum charts bitcoin сатоши майнинг bitcoin people bitcoin ethereum пул bitcoin pattern korbit bitcoin bitcoin car loan bitcoin kinolix bitcoin валюта tether monero algorithm bitcoin халява currency bitcoin bitcoin plus криптовалюта ethereum bitcoin tor bitcoin microsoft bitcoin doubler bitcoin расшифровка bitcoin машины перспективы bitcoin bitcoin биржи php bitcoin monero gpu пожертвование bitcoin bitcoin зарабатывать ethereum сегодня bitcoin paypal bitcoin daemon покер bitcoin create bitcoin 22 bitcoin bitcoin valet bitcoin accelerator криптовалюта tether bitcoin rotators bitcoin вирус bitcoin timer talk bitcoin bitcoin blog gadget bitcoin
bitcoin новости
разработчик bitcoin bitcoin motherboard
tether приложение bitcoin simple
etf bitcoin bitcoin xl ethereum сбербанк фото bitcoin продам ethereum bitcoin приват24 япония bitcoin
bitcoin instant bitcoin 1070 сложность ethereum конференция bitcoin Protection against physical damagebitcoin шахты bitcoin сервисы
