BASICS OF CRYPTOCURRENCY
Humans have been trading physical goods since the beginning of time. These currencies today are mostly printed bills or coins managed by a centralized government and monitored by financial institutions. However, in 2009, the founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, launched an idea that would change the way people think about money. What if currency was governed by mathematics, not governments?
Cryptocurrencies are a digital form of money that runs on an entirely new monetary system, not regulated by any centralized body or monitored by a formal institution. There are many types of cryptocurrencies with different functions. Independent of each function, each digital currency is supported by a decentralized peer-to-peer network called blockchain.
BLOCKCHAIN
Blockchain technology ensures the tracking of all cryptocurrencies, regardless of whether they are held in a digital wallet or used in commerce. The efficiency of running such a system, however, requires an infrastructure that ensures that cheating and gaming the system is not possible. Bitcoin was the first to market, establishing a system where two people – the sender and receiver of the coins – must sign off to create a digital signature. Each person has a public and private encryption key. Every transaction is checked for accuracy, and the system is anonymous and completely transparent. At the center of this infrastructure is a book. So let's dive into how it works.
HOW CRYPTOCURRENCIES WORK
It is a cryptocurrency ledger where all transactions are published to ensure complete transparency. Keeping a ledger forces everyone to "play fair" and removes the risk of double spending. A ledger is a list of database entries that no one can change without meeting certain conditions. No one owns the ledger or blockchain of cryptocurrencies; instead, it is a decentralized meaning of self-government and self-government without the interference of outside parties.
MINING
Let's say you want to invest in a cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, through a major cryptocurrency exchange. After purchase, decide to spend it. What will happen now? The transaction is initially unconfirmed, which means that the transaction is not yet official, and does not become "set in stone" until it passes the verification process. Once confirmed, the transaction becomes part of the record of historical transactions placed in the blockchain.
Cryptocurrency handlers verify transactions and then add them to the public ledger. They use powerful computers to solve complex mathematical problems that are crucial to the verification process. Cryptocurrency mining is open, so anyone can confirm a transaction, and the first miner to solve the problem can add a block to their transaction ledger. This process is called the "proof of work system".
After a block is added to the ledger, the miner is awarded a reward for their efforts, which varies by cryptocurrency. For example, Bitcoin originally awarded 50 BTC, but that reward has halved to 12.5 BTC today.
THE FUTURE IS HERE
Leading cryptocurrencies will play an important role in the future, and usage has been steadily increasing over the past few years. Bitcoin is currently used in 96 countries and growing, with 12,000 transactions taking place every hour. Understanding more about cryptocurrencies is the first step, the second is to try.
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