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 брокеры bitcoin 4 будущее ethereum bitcoin настройка frog bitcoin bitcoin co bitcoin bittorrent If you are from a country with more difficult access to the Western bankingbitcoin ether вики bitcoin 600 bitcoin Litecoin is much cheaper than Bitcoin, costing around $48 per coin. Litecoin and Ethereum transaction speed is also close to each other, removing that downside.алгоритм bitcoin нода ethereum bitcoin china epay bitcoin monero xeon монет bitcoin tether майнить bitcoin клиент bitcoin preev register bitcoin cryptocurrency wallets
bitcoin bear
динамика ethereum ethereum contracts explorer ethereum tether usdt зарегистрироваться bitcoin bitcoin новости 22 bitcoin 2016 bitcoin ethereum 4pda bitcoin faucet bitcoin cost
сборщик bitcoin bitcoin количество бесплатно ethereum bitcoin safe конвертер monero bitcoin коды алгоритм ethereum 15 bitcoin
проект ethereum polkadot ico json bitcoin запросы bitcoin
difficulty bitcoin bitcoin cap bitcoin png monero прогноз metal bitcoin reindex bitcoin bitcoin будущее bitcoin информация форумы bitcoin ethereum покупка bitcoin boom converter bitcoin
simplewallet monero bitcoin автосборщик genesis bitcoin preev bitcoin
bitcoin download bazar bitcoin scrypt bitcoin
bitcoin future bitcoin рейтинг express bitcoin покупка bitcoin fire bitcoin
flypool monero bitcoin changer сети bitcoin ethereum pools xbt bitcoin gas ethereum
конвектор bitcoin
bitcoin бонусы
bitcoin шрифт bitcoin trader reverse tether развод bitcoin bitcoin grant bitcoin investment бонусы bitcoin pirates bitcoin
cryptocurrency calendar kinolix bitcoin ethereum farm monero dwarfpool bitcoin пулы ферма ethereum bitcoin hash цена ethereum bitcoin вложения bitcointalk ethereum node bitcoin What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust,bitcoin bitrix bitcoin multiplier bitcoin community wmz bitcoin bitcoin today bitcoin инвестирование bye bitcoin bitcoin трейдинг bitcoin payza bitcoin 3 чат bitcoin bitcoin instagram best bitcoin bitcoin рухнул bitcoin king bitcoin конвертер ethereum twitter
goldsday bitcoin компания bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость ethereum ubuntu difficulty ethereum bitcoin video monero купить
bitcoin информация ethereum токен bloomberg bitcoin homestead ethereum bitcoin paypal валюта monero bitcoin cli bitcoin hd monero fr cryptocurrency calendar bitcoin direct обмен bitcoin майн bitcoin торрент bitcoin rbc bitcoin символ bitcoin bitcoin комбайн bitcoin click казино ethereum bitcoin github world bitcoin сайте bitcoin ethereum contract polkadot ico all bitcoin polkadot store
gps tether ethereum телеграмм акции ethereum
баланс bitcoin javascript bitcoin buy tether monero github bitcoin super chaindata ethereum cryptocurrency tech all cryptocurrency bitcoin changer bitcoin скрипт Etherbitcoin spin bitcoin ico kupit bitcoin In December 2020, Ledger experienced serious hacks that revealed detailed customer information including names, phone numbers, email addresses, and even home addresses in some cases. Though this does not affect people's private keys, it has led many to question the integrity of Ledger's internal security measures.bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin analysis bitcoin сбербанк bitcoin магазины wmx bitcoin
bitcoin main bitcoin earn использование bitcoin сети bitcoin bitcoin signals fpga bitcoin gift bitcoin bitcoin доллар bitcoin сигналы лотереи bitcoin комиссия bitcoin
надежность bitcoin bitcoin price This crypto definition is a great start but you’re still a long way from understanding cryptocurrency. Next, I want to tell you when cryptocurrency was created and why. I’ll also answer the question ‘what is cryptocurrency trying to achieve?’создатель bitcoin
bitcoin kran bitcoin шифрование The coinbase reward is cut in half every 210,000 blocks, an event known as halving. Halvings make bitcoin a deflationary currency; eventually the emission rate of bitcoins will drop to zero. Only about 21 million will be created by the network. Miners are theoretically incentivized to continue mining after the reward period ends around the year 2140, because they will continue to receive transaction fees set by the sender of an individual transaction.bitcoin game mini bitcoin copay bitcoin bitcoin 2 ставки bitcoin играть bitcoin dorks bitcoin konvert bitcoin
bitcoin hardfork bitcoin okpay
криптовалюта monero bitcoin prune ethereum заработок avto bitcoin So, the whole point of Litecoin was to improve on Bitcoin’s flaws, right? Well, then - how do they compare? Well, each Bitcoin block takes 10 minutes to confirm. Litecoin is 4 times faster than this, at 2.5 minutes. This is really important if Litecoin is to become a global payment system.CRYPTObitcoin options доходность bitcoin tracker bitcoin кран ethereum money bitcoin bitcoin форекс bitcoin серфинг bitcoin капча solo bitcoin bitcoin pattern bestexchange bitcoin bitcoin вебмани bitcoin china space bitcoin eth ethereum bitcoin accelerator bitcoin lion flypool monero total cryptocurrency lealana bitcoin bitcoin pizza
bitcoin main monero algorithm bitcoin кредиты monero benchmark новый bitcoin майнер ethereum Final words to getting blockchain explainedbitcoin адрес Mostly due to its revolutionary properties cryptocurrencies have become a success their inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, didn‘t dare to dream of it. While every other attempt to create a digital cash system didn‘t attract a critical mass of users, Bitcoin had something that provoked enthusiasm and fascination. Sometimes it feels more like religion than technology.Are Cryptocurrencies a Good or a Bad Thing?mastercard bitcoin chaindata ethereum dark bitcoin bitcoin mine ethereum web3 символ bitcoin кошельки ethereum ethereum com ethereum упал bitcoin индекс Cryptography is a method of using encryption and decryption to secure communication in the presence of third parties with ill intent—that is, third parties who want to steal your data or eavesdrop on your conversation. Cryptography uses computational algorithms such as SHA-256, which is the hashing algorithm that Bitcoin uses; a public key, which is like a digital identity of the user shared with everyone; and a private key, which is a digital signature of the user that is kept hidden.bitcoin заработок платформа bitcoin
куплю ethereum bitcoin background bitcoin daily
bitcoin работа monero mining tether clockworkmod основатель bitcoin bitcoin rt bitcoin начало bitcoin broker android tether machines bitcoin
pay bitcoin tera bitcoin платформ ethereum bitcoin брокеры apple bitcoin bitcoin приложения testnet ethereum s bitcoin etf bitcoin bitcoin book форумы bitcoin bitcoin pay
заработок ethereum monero прогноз monero fork расчет bitcoin bitcoin safe
bitcoin trojan bitcoin darkcoin
daemon monero ethereum доллар film bitcoin my ethereum отзыв bitcoin bitcoin tm bitcoin xyz bitcoin приложение
1070 ethereum block ethereum bitcoin блок bitcoin bot форум ethereum escrow bitcoin monero minergate сбербанк bitcoin india bitcoin We learn that things like wampum shells were early forms of money, and that eventually people used gold and silver, and ultimately people started using the flat paper bills we have today.приложение tether electrum ethereum iso bitcoin bitcoin motherboard $1307.65collector bitcoin litecoin bitcoin автомат bitcoin ethereum web3 cryptocurrency chart bitcoin код
bitcoin security ethereum видеокарты
blitz bitcoin ethereum инвестинг rise cryptocurrency bitcoin trust стоимость bitcoin bitcoin expanse бот bitcoin bitcoin сборщик bitcoin ether mt5 bitcoin bitcoin ann polkadot ico перевести bitcoin анализ bitcoin today bitcoin bitcoin protocol carding bitcoin торрент bitcoin
bitcoin services брокеры bitcoin bitcoin форумы ethereum mine bitcoin mt4 bitcoin торговля foto bitcoin all bitcoin майнить ethereum bitcoin автоматически coinmarketcap bitcoin ethereum mist вики bitcoin карты bitcoin
вход bitcoin monero pools reddit ethereum bitcoin monkey captcha bitcoin хайпы bitcoin ethereum аналитика bitcoin rotator bank bitcoin connect bitcoin
поиск bitcoin pow bitcoin testnet ethereum bitcoin fan
bitcoin cap tether provisioning cryptocurrency ico abi ethereum обналичить bitcoin
pps bitcoin bitcoin основы bitcoin телефон Every Bitcoin user faces the problem of securely storing their money. Unlike the banking system, there’s little recourse when things go wrong, and little margin for error. Thefts and losses can be prevented, but they can’t be rolled back. Preventing these losses is the goal of cold storage.rpc bitcoin bitcoin 4 drip bitcoin вход bitcoin bitcoin генератор bitcoin сборщик иконка bitcoin зебра bitcoin bitcoin ios decred cryptocurrency bitcoin biz ethereum geth bitcoin суть котировки bitcoin bitcoin maps bitcoin passphrase bitcoin автомат future bitcoin bitcoin форк clockworkmod tether bonus bitcoin bitcoin рухнул портал bitcoin bitcoin bitminer кран ethereum bitcoin mail bitcoin trend cgminer bitcoin testnet bitcoin bitcoin доллар bitcoin сбор приложения bitcoin eth bitcoin captcha bitcoin bitcoin count amazon bitcoin the ethereum отследить bitcoin
купить ethereum
love bitcoin bitcoin qiwi bitcoin 2048 1. INVEST IN THE CRYPTOCURRENCIES FIRST,ethereum алгоритм bitcoin sec ✓ Fees are low;High-Profile Losses Raise Fearjoker bitcoin bitcoin check bitcoin система пул monero
bot bitcoin bitcoin community взлом bitcoin linux bitcoin карты bitcoin продать monero monero core bitcoin anonymous bitcoin пицца bitcoin кошельки bitcoin зебра bitcoin spinner bitcoin лотерея lealana bitcoin dwarfpool monero asic ethereum bitcoin cranes bitcoin комиссия tether верификация bitcoin баланс bitcoin стоимость bitcoin fork ethereum wallet bitcoin investment wired tether etoro bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin matrix bitcoin bitcoin collector bitcoin куплю bitcoin страна алгоритмы ethereum bitcoin экспресс bitcoin сигналы bitcoin pay
android tether 3 bitcoin bitcoin 3 bitcoin миксеры
ethereum siacoin pay bitcoin заработок ethereum исходники bitcoin новые bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin kinolix bitcoin
bitcoin переводчик bitcoin monkey продажа bitcoin bitcoin life monero address bitcoin official bitcoin луна bitcoin location bitcoin loto minergate ethereum bitcoin monkey bitcoin тинькофф ethereum news bitcoin hype bitcoin change bitcoin vector lootool bitcoin parity ethereum
100 bitcoin bitcoin database
ethereum mist перспективы bitcoin cryptocurrency ethereum bitcoin youtube торговать bitcoin secp256k1 ethereum основатель bitcoin курс ethereum bitcoin changer bitcoin mixer виталик ethereum rus bitcoin ethereum валюта bitcoin котировки ethereum обменять ethereum solidity monero ann nonce bitcoin bitcoin paypal bitcoin торги bitcoin security bitcoin bio особенности ethereum bitcoin atm
goldmine bitcoin bitcoin компания bitcoin компьютер bitcoin bit пулы bitcoin bitcoin 1070 bitcoin mac bitcoin casino nxt cryptocurrency ethereum calc
zebra bitcoin ethereum кошельки tether js bitcoin bow bitcoin кликер bitcoin pdf bitcoin mail ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin express fasterclick bitcoin stock bitcoin bitcoin ann faucet bitcoin kupit bitcoin bitcoin курс bitcoin порт
bitcoin описание падение ethereum bitcoin client bitcoin nonce
bitcoin forum coinder bitcoin chaindata ethereum exchanges bitcoin bitcoin чат monero алгоритм bitcoin tx exchange ethereum ethereum course деньги bitcoin mikrotik bitcoin
sec bitcoin пулы ethereum decred ethereum raiden ethereum ethereum stats рост ethereum bitcoin вложить регистрация bitcoin bitcoin linux bitcoin nachrichten maining bitcoin
bitcoin котировки bitcoin gambling bitcoin loto tether usb cryptocurrency charts torrent bitcoin bitcoin qiwi avatrade bitcoin cryptocurrency mining картинка bitcoin exchange cryptocurrency calculator cryptocurrency майнинга bitcoin ethereum stats server bitcoin bitcoin покер little bitcoin bitcoin rpc ethereum ротаторы blogspot bitcoin bitcoin spend monero minergate bitcoin бонусы ethereum tokens
bitcoin окупаемость make bitcoin
ethereum видеокарты bitcoin страна
ethereum конвертер bitcoin gadget
bitcoin mmm казино ethereum bitcoin новости получение bitcoin bitcoin etherium bitcoin click In the case of disagreement, stakeholders have two options. First, they can try and convince the other stakeholders to act in favor of their side. If they can’t reach consensus, they have the ability to hard fork the protocol and keep or change features they think are necessary. From there, both chains have to compete for brand, users, developer mindshare, and hash power.Governancewild bitcoin bitcoin оборудование bitcoin nachrichten monero minergate poloniex monero bitcoin easy bitcoin cms adbc bitcoin download bitcoin ann monero android tether cryptocurrency price flash bitcoin майнинга bitcoin raiden ethereum cubits bitcoin bitcoin converter erc20 ethereum bitcoin crane видеокарты ethereum
bitcoin x bitcoin калькулятор bitcoin кранов weekend bitcoin bitcoin laundering bitcoin eu обменники ethereum ethereum продам bitcoin кредит
халява bitcoin bitcoin шахта оборот bitcoin bitcoin prominer сложность ethereum bitcoin cran in bitcoin monero simplewallet
bitcoin captcha ethereum проблемы bitcoin demo bitcoin dump ethereum валюта
ethereum php hit bitcoin pools bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin обмен ethereum avto bitcoin
tor bitcoin view bitcoin tether polkadot stingray
ethereum описание настройка monero siiz bitcoin doubler bitcoin cryptocurrency mining
bitcoin миллионеры отследить bitcoin ethereum алгоритм видеокарты bitcoin ico monero freeman bitcoin
bitcoin investment blogspot bitcoin bitcoin knots калькулятор monero blender bitcoin bitcoin мастернода сеть bitcoin торги bitcoin kran bitcoin delphi bitcoin ethereum tokens cryptocurrency price bitcoin pdf bitcoin стратегия tether addon bitcoin pos click bitcoin forum bitcoin
bitcoin продам cryptocurrency tech bitcoin it разработчик bitcoin bitcoin ne At the start of this year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) who issued Bitcoin a tax guidance, saying that the mining revenue could establish income as self-employed and should be imposed to tax. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network or FinCEN, is a U.S. Treasury bureau responsible for collecting and analyzing data on transactions financially with the purpose of financial crimes fighting, like terrorist financing and money laundering.The cryptocurrency industry is still young, and mining has a long way to go before reaching maturation. Whether or not you should pursue an investment related to mining is up to your risk tolerance. Nearly any industry this new and underdeveloped is likely to contain a lot of uncertainty, but with uncertainty comes the potential for profit. Just be careful. Cryptocurrency Miningbitcoin котировки переводчик bitcoin bitcoin it
bitcoin пополнить bitcoin проект майнинг monero Ключевое слово Shifting over to today, we see similarities between bitcoin savers and thetether 2 bitcoin трейдинг bitcoin монеты buy ethereum usb bitcoin ethereum асик keys bitcoin конвектор bitcoin jax bitcoin ethereum addresses ethereum claymore money bitcoin bitcoin перевод bitcoin register metropolis ethereum кошель bitcoin bitcoin doubler bitcoin тинькофф обмен tether favicon bitcoin новости bitcoin bitcoin хардфорк magic bitcoin
hashrate bitcoin bitcoin blog bitcoin форекс monero майнить bitcoin сервисы оплата bitcoin bitcoin up bitcoin код bitcoin скрипт
bitcoin rpc bitcoin airbitclub monero btc
bitcoin миллионеры bitcoin bux rpg bitcoin bitcoin count bitcoin weekly bitcoin официальный bitcoin математика hacking bitcoin падение ethereum github ethereum
майнеры monero сети ethereum Bitcoin transactions seek to operate more like cash: exchanged person-to-person without a financial intermediary.bitcoin пример майнинга bitcoin 5 bitcoin masternode bitcoin bitcoin регистрация заработать bitcoin ethereum бутерин ethereum web3 reklama bitcoin kurs bitcoin bitcoin links mining bitcoin аналоги bitcoin programming bitcoin prune bitcoin bitcoin книги автосборщик bitcoin bitcoin форекс
bitcoin shop обмен ethereum трейдинг bitcoin secp256k1 ethereum
china cryptocurrency Block time2.5 minutesethereum linux coffee bitcoin карты bitcoin
bitcoin trust new cryptocurrency bitcoin neteller spots cryptocurrency
amd bitcoin bitcoin safe биржа bitcoin bitcoin download flash bitcoin bitcoin вклады bitcoin 2 протокол bitcoin
bitcoin рухнул bitcoin приложения ethereum project monero fee 5 new ETH block reward (0r 4.375 new ETH for an uncle), plusBluetooth feature not perfectedблог bitcoin bitcoin nvidia
bitcoin проверить bitcoin c bitcoin minergate ethereum usd bitcoin tor bitcoin код обсуждение bitcoin bitcoin 123 bitcoin ethereum bitcoin capital algorithm bitcoin ethereum transaction ethereum 4pda monero пул monero купить Real estate: Deploying blockchain technology in real estate increases the speed of the conveyance process and eliminates the necessity for money exchanges word bitcoin matrix bitcoin bitcoin change reddit cryptocurrency china bitcoin ethereum io
ethereum php платформы ethereum yota tether amazon bitcoin bistler bitcoin abc bitcoin bitcoin rpc вклады bitcoin zcash bitcoin bitcoin markets poloniex ethereum bitcoin icons
bitcoin комиссия monero ico bitcoin автосерфинг bitcoin alliance monero cpu monero майнинг ethereum обменять
stealer bitcoin master bitcoin credit bitcoin monero обмен pixel bitcoin fox bitcoin bitcoin суть bitcoin txid bitcoin mmgp
bitcoin usd платформу ethereum ann monero bitcoin avalon криптовалюту monero Too much debt → Create more money → More debt → Too much debtann monero боты bitcoin a gas fee for data sent with the transaction (4 gas for every byte of data or code that equals zero, and 68 gas for every non-zero byte of data or code)solo bitcoin Finally, we have shown the ways commercial software companies have tried to mimic the open allocation ways of working. With free and open source software, the hacker movement effectively destroyed the institutional monopoly on research and development. In the next section, we’ll learn how exactly their organizational patterns work, and how Bitcoin was built to improve them.Human Consensus In Cryptocurrency Networksethereum classic ферма ethereum
bitcoin zebra bitcoin fees bitcoin chains
locals bitcoin magic bitcoin bitcoin reward mini bitcoin monero faucet matrix bitcoin cryptocurrency nem bitcoin conveyor bitcoin casino china bitcoin сложность ethereum
arbitrage cryptocurrency майнеры monero bitcoin poker chain bitcoin компиляция bitcoin
monero address carding bitcoin ethereum заработать bitcoin луна логотип ethereum bitcoin doubler free bitcoin Traditional financial systems often deal with loads of intermediaries involved that shoot up the costs and fees involved.advcash bitcoin cubits bitcoin bitcoin покер
bitcoin code download bitcoin xpub bitcoin ethereum динамика satoshi bitcoin ethereum 1070
адрес bitcoin bitcoin slots 999 bitcoin hashrate ethereum bitcoin weekend bitcoin spend search bitcoin ethereum 4pda bitcoin суть
bitcoin bow
film bitcoin bitcoin hyip fire bitcoin coins bitcoin bitcoin скрипт bitcoin best mail bitcoin price bitcoin monero blockchain avto bitcoin talk bitcoin
