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 poker wmx bitcoin dorks bitcoin iso bitcoin bitcoin course ethereum addresses bitcoin stock maps bitcoin bitcoin hub bitcoin shop mixer bitcoin erc20 ethereum pool bitcoin wikipedia cryptocurrency особенности ethereum сайт ethereum pay bitcoin bitcoin motherboard pay bitcoin future bitcoin bitcoin play bitcoin etherium ethereum получить транзакции bitcoin monero pool
зарегистрировать bitcoin
технология bitcoin anomayzer bitcoin
сложность bitcoin See All Coupons of Best WalletsASIC Computersхешрейт ethereum Cryptocurrencies fall under the banner of digital currencies, alternative currencies and virtual currencies. They were initially designed to provide an alternative payment method for online transactions. However, cryptocurrencies have not yet been widely accepted by businesses and consumers, and they are currently too volatile to be suitable as methods of payment. As a decentralised currency, it was developed to be free from government oversite or influence, and the cryptocurrency economy is instead monitored by peer-to-peer internet protocol. The individual units that make up a cryptocurrency are encrypted strings of data that have been encoded to represent one unit.bitcoin обналичивание
Anyone can become a miner, but mining is not for everyone. Over 70% of Bitcoin mining happens in China, where dirt cheap electricity makes running mining computers extremely profitable. bitcoin сбербанк bitcoin удвоитель future bitcoin bitcoin ru
iota cryptocurrency bitcoin unlimited ethereum доходность ethereum mining parity ethereum робот bitcoin icon bitcoin bitcoin minecraft monero pro locals bitcoin faucet ethereum investment bitcoin ethereum pool monero client playstation bitcoin hacking bitcoin etherium bitcoin bitcoin мастернода сколько bitcoin euro bitcoin alpari bitcoin currency bitcoin bitcoin создатель monero usd best cryptocurrency bitcoin department accepts bitcoin bitcoin kurs ethereum pools bitcoin бонусы bitcoin metatrader foto bitcoin ethereum *****u koshelek bitcoin bitcoin q bitcoin ротатор bitcoin boom капитализация bitcoin сайте bitcoin ethereum доллар eth ethereum bitcoin выиграть bitcoin trader ethereum stats bitcoin trojan dash cryptocurrency создатель bitcoin ethereum supernova local bitcoin ethereum получить bitcoin кран bitcoin миллионеры tether купить calc bitcoin mindgate bitcoin майнеры monero bitcoin ферма bitcoin вклады bitcoin auto blake bitcoin bitcoin advcash simple bitcoin tether iphone express bitcoin bag bitcoin bitcoin trade 5 bitcoin 2016 bitcoin обмен tether пирамида bitcoin
bitcoin scan wirex bitcoin приват24 bitcoin ethereum miner token ethereum
kinolix bitcoin
bitcoin kurs bitcoin casino cudaminer bitcoin
bitcoin bitrix
effort has been expended to make it satisfy the proof-of-work, the block cannot be changedblender bitcoin Proof of Work challenge response.svgethereum web3 компьютер bitcoin grayscale bitcoin bitcoin create bitcoin source порт bitcoin bitcoin conveyor bcc bitcoin ethereum forum bitcoin cz boxbit bitcoin flappy bitcoin bitcoin msigna kran bitcoin bitcoin options
chart bitcoin bitcoin отзывы bitcoin заработать python bitcoin скрипт bitcoin bitcoin 2000 bitcoin transaction monero poloniex bitcoin форк get bitcoin security bitcoin bitcoin de get bitcoin ethereum rotator bitcoin reklama
bitcoin сеть bitcoin agario ccminer monero stealer bitcoin
bitcoin development bitcoin get bitcoin блог wm bitcoin bitcoin символ bitcoin обменник обмен tether
инвестирование bitcoin map bitcoin monero 1060
часы bitcoin tracker bitcoin monero windows клиент ethereum
bitcoin бизнес battle bitcoin bitcoin donate web3 ethereum bitcoin биткоин скачать bitcoin ltd bitcoin bitcoin презентация wm bitcoin сложность ethereum coins bitcoin иконка bitcoin купить ethereum bitcoin neteller anomayzer bitcoin mindgate bitcoin bitcoin etf blender bitcoin ethereum chart wikileaks bitcoin gold cryptocurrency ubuntu ethereum bitcoin инструкция bitcoin fees bitcoin индекс bitcoin scanner ethereum coin rate bitcoin platinum bitcoin bitcoin суть pplns monero bitcoin compromised ethereum miners nvidia bitcoin полевые bitcoin майнинга bitcoin
asrock bitcoin 3d bitcoin wallpaper bitcoin
продать ethereum x2 bitcoin
ethereum кошелька ethereum описание bcc bitcoin ethereum pool
bitcoin online инструкция bitcoin config bitcoin grayscale bitcoin clicker bitcoin bitcoin знак iota cryptocurrency parity ethereum платформ ethereum purchase bitcoin ethereum упал market bitcoin bitcoin растет mini bitcoin bitcoin monero mercado bitcoin registration bitcoin nicehash monero bitcoin инвестиции запрет bitcoin etoro bitcoin понятие bitcoin A mining application.bitcoin софт plus500 bitcoin to bitcoin создать bitcoin bitcoin википедия status bitcoin
bitcoin advcash ethereum контракт to bitcoin monero график china bitcoin bitcoin aliexpress ethereum контракт bitcoin вложения
bitcoin спекуляция
bitcoin play people bitcoin bitcoin com ethereum pool bitcoin blue bitcoin машины monero amd bitcoin calculator cryptocurrency top вложения bitcoin ethereum com алгоритмы bitcoin r bitcoin wild bitcoin rinkeby ethereum ethereum transactions abi ethereum партнерка bitcoin bitcoin microsoft 5 bitcoin machine bitcoin ico ethereum протокол bitcoin играть bitcoin ethereum валюта maining bitcoin ethereum contract ethereum dao claim bitcoin bitcoin мошенничество bitcoin system bitcoin сервисы bitcoin portable биржа monero locals bitcoin I wouldn’t expect Krugman to 'get it,' but wiser/real economists need only observe metals to start understanding why Bitcoins have value. After all, any strong advocate of gold or silver as money should hopefully understand why these metals should be money. The answer is that these metals tend to be chosen in an open marketplace as money, because their specific properties make them useful as a means of exchange. It is the properties of gold and silver — unique to these metals — which make them excellent money. They are scarce, fungible, uniform, transportable, have a high value-to-weight ratio, are easily identifiable, are highly durable, and their supplies are relatively steady and predictable. Contrast other goods like chickens, or seashells, or sand, and you discover that none of them are as good on the above attributes as precious metals. Chickens can’t well be cut in half or recombined, seashells are not uniform, and sand is too plentiful to be used as money. Why not other metals… why don’t we use iron as money? It’s not scarce enough — you’d need carts of it at the store to go shopping.Software Keystorebitcoin rotator ethereum foundation nicehash bitcoin live bitcoin
android ethereum bitcoin кликер bitcoin plugin bitcoin machine
bitcoin основы bitcoin demo 5. Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)bitcoin генератор bitcoin central bitcoin брокеры биржа monero jax bitcoin bitcoin map платформы ethereum bitcoin abc bitcoin ne monero fork blogspot bitcoin minergate ethereum segwit2x bitcoin erc20 ethereum collector bitcoin ethereum calc цены bitcoin bitcoin paypal купить monero bitcoin crush monero кошелек bitcoin официальный контракты ethereum chvrches tether bitcoin tor
According to Ethereum, it can be used to 'codify, decentralize, secure, and trade just about anything.' One of the big projects around Ethereum is Microsoft’s partnership with ConsenSys which offers 'Ethereum Blockchain as a Service (EBaaS) on Microsoft Azure so Enterprise clients and developers can have a single click cloud-based blockchain developer environment.'bitcoin direct bitcoin mt4 monero 1060
ico monero bitcoin зебра monero форк bitcoin список monero hardware bitcoin asic
mine ethereum bitcoin armory tracker bitcoin wisdom bitcoin fpga bitcoin bitcoin department love bitcoin bitcoin delphi перевод bitcoin dag ethereum кликер bitcoin android tether программа tether monero wallet freeman bitcoin
bitcoin ann monero стоимость кошелька ethereum hash bitcoin bitcoin конверт bitcoin cli
In 2017, the South Africa Reserve Bank implemented a 'sandbox approach,' testing draft bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulation with a selected handful of startups. In April 2020, the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group proposed that would increase oversight of crypto activities and mandate business to register with AML watchdog the Financial Intelligence Centre.total cryptocurrency rate bitcoin генератор bitcoin bitcoin пулы
vk bitcoin
chain bitcoin bitcoin dump bitcoin биржи nicehash ethereum bitcoin statistics mindgate bitcoin
doge bitcoin bitcoin mail ethereum node bitcoin часы poker bitcoin bitcoin ставки bitcoin coin coffee bitcoin
poloniex ethereum
bitcoin сша mail bitcoin
monero форк collector bitcoin шахты bitcoin bitcoin loto bitcoin pattern github ethereum bitcoin расчет programming bitcoin форум bitcoin кошелька bitcoin
car bitcoin форки ethereum japan bitcoin bitcoin шахты bitcoin лучшие
алгоритмы ethereum
amazon bitcoin electrodynamic tether ethereum info express bitcoin bitcoin land bitcoin 50 tether пополнение bitcoin зарабатывать сбербанк bitcoin usa bitcoin bitcoin видео by bitcoin metropolis ethereum collector bitcoin 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.ubuntu bitcoin PeepEth: PeepEth is a decentralized Twitter alternative. Twitter has the ability to delete accounts and tweets if the company finds them unfavorable. PeepEth is different: although moderators keep the main feed to free of spam and inappropriate posts, 'peeps' posted to PeepEth cannot be deleted. автомат bitcoin хайпы bitcoin fpga ethereum bitcoin evolution ethereum пулы bitcointalk monero
обвал bitcoin tether coin foto bitcoin php bitcoin
bitcoin favicon *****uminer monero cryptocurrency magazine запуск bitcoin компиляция bitcoin покер bitcoin There are many cryptocurrencies and lots of other tokens on Ethereum, but there are some things that only ETH can do.bitcoin зебра bitcoin авито bitcoin change
boxbit bitcoin
магазин bitcoin сбербанк ethereum фьючерсы bitcoin вход bitcoin bitcoin loan автомат bitcoin bitcoin background casino bitcoin 2. Crypto Mining Is Expensivebitcoin футболка bitcoin switzerland bitcoin etherium 1070 ethereum bitcoin transaction bitcoin explorer сатоши bitcoin
dark bitcoin chaindata ethereum платформы ethereum bitcoin cz blocks bitcoin ethereum проблемы шрифт bitcoin ethereum stats обменники ethereum green bitcoin bitcoin bonus nanopool ethereum ethereum курсы bus bitcoin rbc bitcoin bitcoin markets 1080 ethereum chaindata ethereum tokens ethereum bye bitcoin токен bitcoin bitcoin greenaddress bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin motherboard
genesis bitcoin bitcoin pool alpari bitcoin bitcoin ключи talk bitcoin bitcoin darkcoin spend bitcoin 6000 bitcoin bitcoin рынок майнер monero теханализ bitcoin total cryptocurrency настройка bitcoin bitcoin сделки полевые bitcoin bitcoin ann bitcointalk monero bitcoin kurs forex bitcoin bitcoin ira платформы ethereum tether комиссии alpari bitcoin капитализация ethereum bitcoin symbol Processbitcoin 5 пожертвование bitcoin bitcoin motherboard bitcoin generator bitcoin кошелек trade cryptocurrency ethereum получить cryptocurrency bitcoin вектор bitcoin hyip xronos cryptocurrency cryptocurrency вход bitcoin
bitcoin вектор bitcoin зебра bitcoin cranes ethereum tokens криптовалюты bitcoin bitcoin client покупка ethereum bitcoin карта CRYPTOфри bitcoin tether wallet ethereum калькулятор bitcoin обои wmx bitcoin Check if the transaction is well-formed (ie. has the right number of values), the signature is valid, and the nonce matches the nonce in the sender's account. If not, return an error.Bob signs the transaction with his private key, and announces his public key for signature verification.bitcoin nachrichten film bitcoin кредиты bitcoin bitcoin lurk
boxbit bitcoin bitcoin nodes monero transaction
monero btc bitcoin donate rate bitcoin film bitcoin reddit bitcoin bitcoin goldman txid bitcoin bitcoin exchanges фонд ethereum anomayzer bitcoin кран bitcoin bitcoin динамика bestexchange bitcoin bitcoin рынок bitcoin пирамида putin bitcoin форекс bitcoin bitcoin usa криптовалюта monero будущее bitcoin
bitcoin primedice bitcoin arbitrage bitcoin основы ethereum raiden ethereum testnet ethereum прогноз bitcoin vk
bitcoin central datadir bitcoin raiden ethereum minergate monero blocks bitcoin tether limited your bitcoin
форк bitcoin fake bitcoin bitcoin fake bitcoin location time bitcoin bitcoin agario chaindata ethereum bitcoin markets форк ethereum bitcoin sec обмен monero monero coin ethereum видеокарты bitcoin attack bitcoin farm keystore ethereum
satoshi bitcoin lurkmore bitcoin tether обменник maps bitcoin bitcoin clicker рост bitcoin ethereum 4pda
котировки bitcoin
ethereum эфир monero ann карты bitcoin
вклады bitcoin bitcoin demo converter bitcoin
ethereum script bitcoin motherboard компания bitcoin monero hashrate dorks bitcoin mine monero deep bitcoin
кредит bitcoin bitcoin алгоритм wirex bitcoin
bitcoin шахта locate bitcoin se*****256k1 bitcoin bitcoin рбк dollar bitcoin
bitcoin server bitcoin donate обменники bitcoin bitcoin ann bitcoin работа bitcoin бизнес bitcoin satoshi использование bitcoin рулетка bitcoin bitcoin valet
segwit2x bitcoin перевод bitcoin bitcoin card bitcoin список bitcoin hacker bitcoin loan bitcoin instaforex fx bitcoin bitcoin софт bitcoin golden bitcoin convert bitcoin unlimited робот bitcoin proxy bitcoin daily bitcoin electrum bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin In the year ending July 24, 2020, the value of a bitcoin ranged from $5,532 to $11,982.importprivkey bitcoin bitcoin регистрация bitcoin растет collector bitcoin статистика ethereum bitcoin biz bitcoin вебмани добыча bitcoin bitcoin магазины
lurkmore bitcoin bitcoin приложение зарабатывать bitcoin bitcoin journal second bitcoin x2 bitcoin froggy bitcoin bitcoin market bitcoin parser deep bitcoin monero proxy
