What is a Cryptocurrency When it’s Not Really a 'Currency'?
Ethereum’s creator Vitalik Buterin wanted to build a blockchain that was more advanced than Bitcoin’s. He wanted to create a platform that could do more than just be a digital currency.
Ethereum allows users to build dApps and set up smart contracts. Smart contracts can guide lots of different types of transactions, including cryptocurrency trading. They could also be used to guide a company’s payroll, the rent agreement on your car, or even the purchase of a house.
Note: dApps are like regular apps (like Facebook, Google or Twitter) but they run on a blockchain, not a central server. You can find out more about dApps in our "What is a dApp" guide.
Put it this way - if Bitcoin wants to replace your online banking app, then Ethereum wants to replace all of your other apps! Now, do you see what I mean?
The way Ethereum is using blockchain technology is seen by many people as the future of cryptocurrency. Ethereum is the next big thing!
What is a cryptocurrency: the Ethereum platform.
To learn more about Bitcoin and Ethereum, see our Ethereum VS Bitcoin guide.
We now know how to answer quite a few questions;
What is a cryptocurrency?
When was cryptocurrency created?
What are the main cryptocurrencies out there?
Now, let’s ask another very important question.
Are Cryptocurrencies a Good or a Bad Thing?
Good things about cryptocurrency (Yay!)
It’s transparent: This means that everyone using a cryptocurrency blockchain can see every trade that’s ever been made. You don’t need to trust other users.
Personal control: This means that every user is in charge of their own money, no-one but the user can get to it. It’s decentralized, remember? So, it’s different from giving the bank control of your money.
It’s for everyone: Cryptocurrencies are open to every person on the planet. Banks have rules about who can have an account, crypto doesn’t. There are two billion people around the world that don’t have full access to bank accounts!
It’s fast: A Bitcoin trade takes about an hour, although it can take as little as ten minutes. At most banks, an international bank to bank transfer can take 1-5 days.
It’s safe: A cryptocurrency blockchain network is spread over thousands of computers, making them nearly impossible to hack.
Some bad things about cryptocurrency (Booo!)
It can be unstable: Cryptocurrencies need to be more popular before everyone starts using them. Fiat currencies don’t need to be popular as they are supported by the government. If the cryptocurrency you own becomes unpopular, you might not be able to use it.
If you lose it, it’s gone forever: If your cryptocurrency goes missing - or you lose your private key - you can’t get it back. You can’t telephone Bitcoin to complain. Remember, it’s not a bank.
Criminals like it: If you’re a criminal then this probably isn’t a bad thing, but for the rest of us — it is! Cryptocurrency accounts are hidden, so people can use them for a crime. If people see that criminals and terrorists are using it, they might not want to use it themselves.
Before we finish our guide to cryptocurrency, let’s answer one more question.
The Most Trending Findings
Browse our collection of the most thorough Crypto Exchange related articles, guides %story% tutorials. Always be in the know %story% make informed decisions!
Bitcoin Mining Hardware: How to Choose the Best One
CRYPTO
Bitcoin Mining Hardware: How to Choose the Best One
Best Bitcoin mining hardware: Your top choices for choosing the best Bitcoin mining hardware for building the ultimate Bitcoin mining machine.
Monero Mining: Full Guide on How to Mine Monero
CRYPTO
Monero Mining: Full Guide on How to Mine Monero
Learn how to mine Monero, in this full Monero mining guide.
What is SegWit and How it Works Explained
CRYPTO
What is SegWit and How it Works Explained
Wondering what is SegWit and how does it work? Follow this tutorial about the segregated witness and fully understand what is SegWit.
Conclusions - How Can Cryptocurrencies Change the World?
In life, we must be very careful about who we trust. Most people only really trust their family and their friends. We wouldn’t give our personal information to a stranger in the street, because we don’t trust them. However, this is exactly what we do every time we open a bank account or pay for something online.
We might be able to trust banks, governments, and other third parties most of the time, but we can’t trust them all the time.
In 2008, the world economy crashed. Banks had used the money they had been trusted with very badly. The governments of the world were unable to stop millions of people from losing lots of money.
Something else was also happening in 2008 — Bitcoin was being created. Coincidence? I think not.
Cryptocurrencies remove the power that banks and governments have over our lives. They give the power back to us. They also provide hope for all the people who have been left out of the modern banking system.
What is a cryptocurrency: the 2008 financial crisis.
Think of what cryptocurrencies could bring to countries like Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, only 10% of adults have bank accounts, and these are mostly controlled by men. What is a cryptocurrency to an Afghani woman? Freedom.
Syria, Yemen, and Libya are all in a state of civil war. Imagine being able to send aid to the people of these countries directly. What is a cryptocurrency to a Syrian? It’s a link to the rest of the world, to people who want to help.
And finally...
When we ask questions like “what is a cryptocurrency?”, we are really asking “what is a cryptocurrency going to do for me?”. The answer is — cryptocurrency is going to put you in control of your money. Cryptocurrency is going to make you a part of a global family that is free to trade across borders and could make the world a better place for all of us to live in.
cranes bitcoin bitcoin это конвертер monero bitcoin earning reward bitcoin tether отзывы decred cryptocurrency bitcoin автокран bitcoin xpub matrix bitcoin bitcoin получить atm bitcoin алгоритм monero
matrix bitcoin
Play this one out. When exactly would developed world governments actually step in and attempt to ban bitcoin? Today, the Fed and the Treasury do not view bitcoin as a serious threat to dollar supremacy. In their collective mind, bitcoin is a cute little toy and is not functional as a currency. Presently, the bitcoin network represents a total purchasing power of less than $200 billion. Gold on the other hand has a purchasing power of approximately $8 trillion (40x the size of bitcoin) and broad money supply of dollars (M2) is approximately $15 trillion (75x the size of bitcoin). When does the Fed or Treasury start seriously considering bitcoin a credible threat? Is it when bitcoin collectively represents $1 trillion of purchasing power? $2 trillion or $3 trillion? Pick your level, but the implication is that bitcoin will be far more valuable, and held by far more people globally, before government powers that be view it as a credible competitor or threat. asic ethereum monero майнить bitcoin click monero майнить monero dwarfpool monero faucet ethereum twitter bitcoin рубль bitcoin scam monero хардфорк ethereum parity sha256 bitcoin bitcoin video bitcoin compromised bitcoin iso monero cpu captcha bitcoin bitcoin xpub ферма ethereum The Bitcoin market is fully-liquid and operates 24/7 with no holidays. The exchanges are accessible from any country in the world and support all major national currencies (wise currency traders may realize there are interesting arbitrage opportunities and means of acquiring currencies in countries with capital controls via Bitcoin).san bitcoin рынок bitcoin etherium bitcoin спекуляция bitcoin bitcoin casino tether android bitcoin biz регистрация bitcoin bitcoin блок ethereum dag gek monero bitcoin telegram The best Bitcoin wallets for safe and secure storageTrading Etherphoenix bitcoin mine ethereum n uncle included in block B must have the following properties:ebay bitcoin Let‘s have a look at the mechanism ruling the databases of cryptocurrencies. A cryptocurrency like Bitcoin consists of a network of peers. Every peer has a record of the complete history of all transactions and thus of the balance of every account.bitcoin cards картинки bitcoin genesis bitcoin bitcoin прогноз
bitcoin bitrix
андроид bitcoin bitcoin ключи bitcoin чат bitcoin тинькофф bitcoin хешрейт bitcoin x2 eth bitcoin
bitcoin exchange
bitcoin работа prune bitcoin bitcoin 2017 monero windows bitcoin обзор исходники bitcoin
bitcoin novosti dark bitcoin xpub bitcoin bitcoin автосерфинг bitcoin vk токен ethereum get bitcoin tether android
bitcoin reserve reverse tether bitcoin moneypolo майнить monero algorithm ethereum bitcoin future blitz bitcoin tether майнить
machine bitcoin символ bitcoin miner bitcoin monero fee bitcoin motherboard bitcoin алгоритм
microsoft ethereum bitcoin андроид bitcoin fan bitcoin segwit2x nova bitcoin monero amd часы bitcoin bitcoin 2018 ethereum btc monero gpu
доходность ethereum bitcoin landing bitcointalk monero monero майнер bitcoin список dance bitcoin биржи ethereum fpga bitcoin приложение bitcoin UkraineButerin gives the example of Ethereum developers setting up 'bounties,' rewards that can only be unlocked if someone accomplishes a task. In western movies, bounties are doled out to outlaws able to catch a person or criminal. But, in this case, they are rewarded for far less dangerous tasks, such as solving a difficult computational problem. Best Litecoin Cloud Mining Services and Comparisonsavto bitcoin amd bitcoin ethereum addresses windows bitcoin captcha bitcoin bitcoin fpga майнинг bitcoin запрет bitcoin segwit2x bitcoin ethereum calculator ethereum описание connect bitcoin dollar bitcoin trust bitcoin buy tether пожертвование bitcoin bitcoin сети daemon monero bitcoin транзакция average bitcoin прогноз ethereum bitcoin авито bitcoin community автокран bitcoin Thus, you can’t be certain of which address sent funds to another address.bitcoin official bitcoin ethereum
перспективы bitcoin bitcoin symbol ethereum claymore
bitcoin buying decred ethereum programming bitcoin биржи bitcoin bitcoin minecraft monero bitcointalk ethereum контракт
bitcoin компьютер вебмани bitcoin bitcoin прогнозы
bitcoin earnings карта bitcoin ethereum chaindata
tether комиссии bitcoin work динамика ethereum bitcoin school bitcoin grant bitcoin payoneer bitcoin script moneypolo bitcoin koshelek bitcoin buy tether king bitcoin
bitcoin 3 games bitcoin python bitcoin bitcoin qiwi ethereum node http bitcoin bux bitcoin ico cryptocurrency bitcoin video bitcoin easy генераторы bitcoin bitcoin проверить bitcoin swiss
bitcoin symbol monero прогноз monero купить bitcoin bear bitcoin trinity withdraw bitcoin bitcoin hd ethereum pos
ethereum course валюта monero ethereum install bitcoin reddit bitcoin котировка Monero Mining: Full Guide on How to Mine Monerobitcoin bonus bitcoin миллионеры jaxx bitcoin tether usdt credit bitcoin connect bitcoin деньги bitcoin
график monero значок bitcoin bitcoin mining bitcoin scam reklama bitcoin bitcoin system
ethereum github ethereum frontier bitcoin информация проект bitcoin bitcoin signals bitcoin coingecko ethereum обмен ethereum stratum antminer bitcoin bitcoin ukraine bitcoin maps bitcoin новости bitcoin multisig bitcoin win ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin скрипты bitcoin прогнозы bitcoin donate ethereum org proxy bitcoin bitcoin multisig x bitcoin проект bitcoin продам ethereum робот bitcoin bitcoin cgminer bitcoin com продам bitcoin bitcoin анимация перспективы ethereum monero client ethereum geth bitcoin indonesia locals bitcoin cronox bitcoin майнинг bitcoin autobot bitcoin bitcoin кран bitcoin girls bitcoin trader сложность bitcoin
bye bitcoin index bitcoin bitcoin торговля обсуждение bitcoin bitcoin scam space bitcoin обмен tether основатель bitcoin A software wallet is an application that is downloaded on a device; it could be a desktop or a mobile device, or it could be a web-based wallet that can be accessed online. Breadwallet, Jaxx, and Copay are popular software wallets. We can further categorize software wallets as desktop wallets, online wallets (web wallets), and mobile wallets.bitcoin coingecko bitcoin wikipedia wifi tether бонусы bitcoin ethereum crane bitcoin адреса vector bitcoin xbt bitcoin ethereum explorer sec bitcoin bitcoin стратегия bitcoin map bitcoin gadget clicker bitcoin bitcoin hack accepts bitcoin water bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin ethereum dark анализ bitcoin bitcoin nachrichten bitcoin рынок использование bitcoin bitcoin графики chain bitcoin registration bitcoin metal bitcoin air bitcoin pixel bitcoin store bitcoin windows bitcoin bitcoin программа bitcoin video что bitcoin bitcoin упал bitcoin рубль программа tether bitcoin reddit nanopool ethereum котировка bitcoin bitcoin сервер ethereum курсы icon bitcoin bitcoin cny bitcoin apple
депозит bitcoin ethereum info gift bitcoin
monero пулы bitcoin мошенники кредиты bitcoin bitcoin протокол
jax bitcoin bitmakler ethereum cryptocurrency logo ubuntu ethereum bitcoin луна bitcoin crypto bitcoin phoenix bitcoin okpay bitcoin оборот
monaco cryptocurrency capitalization bitcoin blue bitcoin claymore monero bitcoin widget проект bitcoin ethereum пулы gas ethereum car bitcoin monero курс bitcoin trading создатель bitcoin bitcoin qiwi tether chvrches
bitcoin начало
bitcoin in mist ethereum ethereum продать trade cryptocurrency bitcoin half metatrader bitcoin btc ethereum 777 bitcoin
bitcoin рейтинг bitcoin видеокарты шахта bitcoin
новости monero
avto bitcoin mt5 bitcoin space bitcoin вебмани bitcoin zone bitcoin bitcoin greenaddress bitcoin in
ethereum pools trade cryptocurrency ethereum news пул bitcoin карты bitcoin monero hashrate tether обменник ethereum платформа bitcoin зебра casascius bitcoin india bitcoin bitcoin банк ethereum видеокарты
keys bitcoin скачать tether coinmarketcap bitcoin ethereum frontier
bitcoin lottery bitcoin cap описание ethereum
bitcoin 99 sberbank bitcoin bitcoin faucet bitcoin кошелька покер bitcoin blue bitcoin часы bitcoin bitcoin конвертер bitcoin mining bitcoin лотерея ethereum сайт monero proxy bitcoin nvidia bitcoin blockstream bitcoin оборот ethereum валюта bitcointalk bitcoin cryptocurrency market перевод bitcoin solo bitcoin
All transactions contain the following components, regardless of their type:box bitcoin game bitcoin ethereum swarm bitcoin комментарии создатель bitcoin bitcoin bubble forbot bitcoin
bitcoin работать
ninjatrader bitcoin ethereum dark amazon bitcoin значок bitcoin Not satisfied with payments, the Ethereum community is building a whole financial system that's peer-to-peer and accessible to everyone.waves bitcoin bitcoin монеты monero coin service bitcoin ethereum nicehash bitcoin reindex tether майнить ethereum rig инвестирование bitcoin bitcoin send
бесплатный bitcoin fork ethereum monero blockchain bitcoin x2 In practice, like many programs of the era such as mail or Usenet clients, the default could simply be to hold onto the last n blocks/hashes (Satoshi estimates 12kb/day); this would consume a limited amount of disk space.bitcoin slots bitcoin экспресс
0 bitcoin математика bitcoin dash cryptocurrency exchange ethereum bitcoin удвоить rx560 monero chart bitcoin bitcoin вклады ethereum bitcointalk bitcoin 100 bitcoin github bitcoin лопнет bitcoin авито сложность monero widget bitcoin bistler bitcoin
faucet bitcoin alliance bitcoin bitcoin circle
ethereum info ethereum markets bitcoin client bitcoin protocol bitcoin блок прогноз ethereum bitcoin forex ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin ebay график monero bitcoin лотереи капитализация bitcoin sha256 bitcoin
ethereum стоимость china bitcoin fpga bitcoin cran bitcoin capitalization bitcoin ethereum токены Electricitymonero вывод bitcoin machine ethereum форк lealana bitcoin
bitcoin loans
bitcoin bear bitcoin роботы ethereum регистрация bitcoin окупаемость monero 1070 добыча bitcoin get bitcoin bitcoin компьютер стоимость bitcoin stellar cryptocurrency status bitcoin bitcoin принцип конвектор bitcoin 1060 monero ann ethereum ethereum decred 2016 bitcoin konvert bitcoin card bitcoin jax bitcoin sec bitcoin
bitcoin обменники зарабатывать bitcoin bitcoin команды arbitrage cryptocurrency free monero bitcoin loan bitcoin matrix vector bitcoin рост bitcoin wirex bitcoin bitcoin команды reddit cryptocurrency депозит bitcoin bitcoin ixbt bitcoin talk clame bitcoin bitcoin metal
boom bitcoin cronox bitcoin monero пул flash bitcoin word bitcoin cryptocurrency charts wiki bitcoin настройка bitcoin
bitcoin transaction
форум bitcoin bitcoin xl bitcoin торги Best Bitcoin mining hardware: Your top choices for choosing the best Bitcoin mining hardware for building the ultimate Bitcoin mining machine.Ethereum FoundationTrinityPython