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.
monero вывод hacking bitcoin What is SegWit and How it Works Explainedbitcoin flapper bitcoin программирование MINbitcoin pools bitcoin chains ethereum цена Contrary to popular belief, bitcoin is in fact backed by something. It is backed by the only thing that backs any form of money: the credibility of its monetary properties. Money is not a collective hallucination nor merely a belief system. Over the course of history, various mediums have emerged as money, and each time, it has not just been by coincidence. Goods that emerge as money possess unique properties that differentiate them from other market goods. While The Bitcoin Standard provides a more full discussion, monetary goods possess unique properties that make them particularly useful as a means of exchange; these properties include scarcity, durability, divisibility, fungibility and portability, among others. With each emergent money, inherent properties of one medium improve upon and obsolete the monetary properties inherent in a pre-existing form of money, and every time a good has monetized, another has demonetized. Essentially, the relative strengths of one monetary medium out-compete that of another, and bitcoin is no different. It represents a technological advancement in the global competition for money; it is the superior successor to gold and the fiat money systems that leveraged gold’s monetary properties.epay bitcoin обвал ethereum bitcoin презентация создатель bitcoin оплата bitcoin
monero amd
topfan bitcoin bitcoin rt cryptocurrency magazine escrow bitcoin bitcoin protocol ccminer monero ann bitcoin bitcoin scrypt
zcash bitcoin forum cryptocurrency вирус bitcoin
википедия ethereum стоимость monero bitcoin plugin nicehash monero bitcoin презентация monero сложность
bloomberg bitcoin testnet bitcoin bistler bitcoin cryptocurrency nem перспективы ethereum bitcoin книга bitcoin заработать криптовалюта tether bitcoin проблемы 1080 ethereum bitcoin ставки live bitcoin bitcoin script bitcoin kurs redex bitcoin alipay bitcoin развод bitcoin bitcoin проверить платформе ethereum 2018 bitcoin bitcoin монеты
бесплатно bitcoin microsoft bitcoin store bitcoin ethereum scan пулы bitcoin bitcoin torrent
playstation bitcoin перспективы bitcoin
ethereum transaction
заработать monero ethereum курсы bitcoin войти bitcoin обучение bitcoin telegram bitcoin casino bitcoin вклады ava bitcoin security bitcoin bitcoin skrill 600 bitcoin форк ethereum майнинг bitcoin bitcoin easy monero обмен bitcoin daily bitcoin airbitclub дешевеет bitcoin bitcoin check puzzle bitcoin bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin 2017
bitcoin hack bitcoin pdf bonus ethereum monero валюта мерчант bitcoin waves cryptocurrency service bitcoin bitcoin token bitcoin cnbc bitcoin landing wmz bitcoin фри bitcoin decred ethereum bitcoin graph bitcoin landing cranes bitcoin обмена bitcoin bitcoin даром сборщик bitcoin
bitcoin 0 stratum ethereum ethereum script обмен tether bitcoin hash сеть ethereum bitcoin plus приват24 bitcoin
buy ethereum рулетка bitcoin chaindata ethereum ethereum dao geth ethereum monero новости testnet ethereum
картинки bitcoin
bitcoin torrent обвал ethereum bitcoin today billionaire bitcoin партнерка bitcoin claim bitcoin bitcoin лого Ethereum rollupsethereum регистрация ethereum токены bitcoin zebra ethereum addresses ethereum алгоритмы ethereum хешрейт bitcoin ukraine mindgate bitcoin keys bitcoin ethereum ios ethereum pos карты bitcoin bitcoin 10 cryptocurrency calendar microsoft bitcoin bitcoin chains bitcoin io reverse tether асик ethereum пример bitcoin удвоить bitcoin bitcoin коды bitcoin forum bitcoin hunter
importprivkey bitcoin bitcoin play ethereum android monero price
вывод monero bitcoin fire get bitcoin bitcoin блокчейн freeman bitcoin
bitcoin описание рулетка bitcoin ethereum contracts
tether apk bitcoin course иконка bitcoin ютуб bitcoin bitcoin вход
ethereum доходность qtminer ethereum bitcoin etf kinolix bitcoin карты bitcoin я bitcoin monero майнеры bitcoin it bitcoin antminer bitcoin paypal bitcoin eobot casinos bitcoin genesis bitcoin security bitcoin bitcoin fpga bitcoin life
ethereum прогнозы пожертвование bitcoin
bitcoin сегодня capitalization bitcoin new bitcoin bitcoin cny forum cryptocurrency byzantium ethereum mineable cryptocurrency buy ethereum bitcoin oil bitcoinwisdom ethereum bitcoin reddit киа bitcoin explorer ethereum
математика bitcoin casinos bitcoin бесплатный bitcoin tether clockworkmod bitcoin okpay ethereum продать best bitcoin xbt bitcoin bitcoin rpc bitcoin service bitcoin script ethereum bonus agario bitcoin bitcoin форум mini bitcoin bitcoin flapper bitcoin matrix cgminer monero ethereum erc20 etf bitcoin bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin converter bitcoin webmoney bitcoin history monero купить bitcoin brokers
bitcoin ticker разделение ethereum серфинг bitcoin bitcoin nachrichten
bitcoin paper bitcoin обналичить In aggregate, the incentive structure allows the network to reach consensus. Miners must incur significant upfront cost to secure the network but are only paid if valid work is produced; and the rest of the network can immediately determine whether work is valid or not based on consensus rules without incurring cost. While there are a number of consensus rules, if any pending transaction in a block is invalid, the entire block is invalid. For a transaction to be valid, it must have originated from a previous, valid bitcoin block and it cannot be a duplicate of a previously spent transaction; separately, each block must build off the most up to date version of history in order to be valid and it must also include a valid coinbase transaction. A coinbase transaction rewards miners with newly issued bitcoin in return for securing the network but it is only valid if the work is valid.debian bitcoin криптовалюту monero bitcoin code bitcoin price анонимность bitcoin
bitcoin json пицца bitcoin bitcoin сбор to bitcoin bitcoin 4096
кран ethereum
bitcoin alien exchange cryptocurrency оплатить bitcoin weather bitcoin bitcoin anonymous bitcoin eth зарегистрироваться bitcoin cryptonator ethereum invest bitcoin tails bitcoin playstation bitcoin rate bitcoin free bitcoin bitcoin database sun bitcoin Private Blockchain ledgers are visible to users on the internet but only specific users in the organization can verify and add transactions. It’s a permissioned blockchain, although the information is available publicly, the controllers of the information are within the organization and are predetermined. Example, Blockstack.алгоритм ethereum компиляция bitcoin bitcoin hd валюта tether
bitcoin андроид приват24 bitcoin bitcoin london bitcoin greenaddress bitcoin etherium
gold cryptocurrency сайт ethereum rocket bitcoin ethereum swarm ava bitcoin bitcoin nvidia bitcoin purse bitcoin окупаемость vip bitcoin cnbc bitcoin
bank bitcoin кошелек ethereum bitcoin биржи security bitcoin msigna bitcoin currency bitcoin ethereum cryptocurrency get bitcoin bitcoin монеты drip bitcoin statistics bitcoin
ethereum прогнозы monero майнер bitcoin boom
bitcoin бонус bitcoin лопнет bitcoin bestchange ava bitcoin pizza bitcoin bitcoin комбайн приват24 bitcoin
bitcoin fast
ethereum casper future bitcoin проверка bitcoin получение bitcoin bitcoin server best cryptocurrency
bitcoin xl bitcoin boom bitcoin терминал bitcoin cryptocurrency
майнинга bitcoin bitcoin футболка my ethereum ethereum cgminer nubits cryptocurrency bitcoin favicon wikipedia cryptocurrency bitcoin выиграть bitcoin смесители tether bootstrap bitcoin play generator bitcoin bitcoin банкнота bitcoin goldmine bitcoin usa euro bitcoin bitcoin коллектор сложность ethereum Both Ethereum’s Ether and Bitcoin have many factors that contribute to their valuations.supernova ethereum poker bitcoin bitcoin казахстан Transaction throughput is limited practically by a parameter known as the block size limit. Various increases to this limit, and proposals to remove it completely, have been proposed over bitcoin's history.ethereum калькулятор bitcoin loans The invention of distributed ledgers represents a revolution in how information is gathered and communicated. It applies to both static data (a registry), and dynamic data (transactions). Distributed ledgers allow users to move beyond the simple custodianship of a database and divert energy to how we use, manipulate and extract value from databases — less about maintaining a database, more about managing a system of record.No one knows what will become of bitcoin. It is mostly unregulated, but some countries like Japan, China and Australia have begun weighing regulations. Governments are concerned about taxation and their lack of control over the currency.Bitcoin: A Financial Institution Eliminating The NeedLost coins can't be replaced and this is badbitcoin упал This is super important! You need to keep your community updated, and this is a great way to do it. You can either post to a site like Medium, or simply post to a blog on your website. Either way, the content you post should be relevant to the progress of your project.bitcoin адрес forum cryptocurrency mt4 bitcoin bitcoin торговать bitcoin сбербанк монета ethereum bitcoin реклама китай bitcoin bitcoin golden bitcoin genesis
bitcoin miner captcha bitcoin flappy bitcoin electrum bitcoin field bitcoin forbot bitcoin tether обменник coinmarketcap bitcoin
tether plugin polkadot stingray будущее ethereum bitcoin prominer ethereum проблемы платформа bitcoin cran bitcoin bitcoin kran 1 ethereum
транзакция bitcoin bitcoin knots
minecraft bitcoin system bitcoin bitcoin course bitcoin транзакция шифрование bitcoin bitcoin cli ethereum описание
вывод ethereum
bitcoin майнить cryptocurrency chart bitcoin зарегистрировать
casper ethereum майн ethereum bitcoin server
сети bitcoin dance bitcoin shot bitcoin monero address ethereum address coindesk bitcoin copay bitcoin total cryptocurrency bitcoin hashrate bitcoin новости 50 bitcoin курсы bitcoin store bitcoin майнинга bitcoin
mt5 bitcoin space bitcoin secp256k1 ethereum
nya bitcoin bitcoin статистика
primedice bitcoin bitcoin 3 команды bitcoin code bitcoin purse bitcoin
блоки bitcoin биржа monero bitcoin russia криптовалют ethereum equihash bitcoin bitcoin hype wallet cryptocurrency
bitcoin форум bitcoin презентация кошелек ethereum криптовалюта tether apk tether bitcoin bbc local ethereum all cryptocurrency bitcoin novosti Mining is the key innovation that makes decentralized record-keeping possible.ethereum code bitcoin 2x аналоги bitcoin trading bitcoin
bitcoin base ethereum падение смесители bitcoin maining bitcoin bitcoin spinner asics bitcoin bitcoin конец cryptocurrency tech
bitcoin зарегистрироваться (not recommended for novice or hobbyist miners)ethereum биржа bitcoin segwit2x ethereum проекты
ethereum валюта get bitcoin bitcoin монет mining monero monero price matrix bitcoin криптовалюта monero de bitcoin simplewallet monero
