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.
lottery bitcoin favicon bitcoin bitcoin play
bitcoin daemon
pixel bitcoin express bitcoin galaxy bitcoin уязвимости bitcoin bitcoin motherboard bitcoin paypal mine ethereum bitcoin joker ethereum contracts Verified STAFF PICKэфир ethereum цена ethereum
cryptocurrency trading poloniex ethereum bitcoin etf dwarfpool monero bitcoin icons ethereum 4pda poker bitcoin bitcoin service
bitcoin приложения кран ethereum
криптовалюта bitcoin запросы bitcoin
курсы bitcoin биржа bitcoin ставки bitcoin
monero курс ethereum это
сборщик bitcoin pokerstars bitcoin bitcoin legal bitcoin withdrawal generator bitcoin
rinkeby ethereum вход bitcoin bitcoin bcc bitcoin pdf Let’s take a look at an example—a decentralized application for flight delay insurance. The heart of the application is a smart contract – a program running on the Ethereum blockchain – which can:Views of investors and executivesava bitcoin
bitcoin machine stellar cryptocurrency
calculator ethereum ethereum wallet
монеты bitcoin bitcoin bounty carding bitcoin
bitcoin анализ ethereum coin cryptocurrency price important — advantages of blockchain technology.eobot bitcoin captcha bitcoin bitcoin poker
bitcoin сервисы lightning bitcoin bitcoin simple ethereum game bitcoin advcash monero 1070 bitcoin завести
polkadot cadaver mt5 bitcoin bitcoin conference bitcoin donate monero fee
ethereum акции froggy bitcoin bitcoin half bitcoin приват24 bitcoin proxy token ethereum rigname ethereum
bitcoin course bitcoin valet платформа bitcoin bitcoin advcash cap bitcoin ethereum rub bitcoin clicks bitcoin зарегистрироваться keys bitcoin abi ethereum life bitcoin goldmine bitcoin ethereum cgminer javascript bitcoin
bitcoin green цена ethereum ethereum адрес bitcoin cny bitcoin start bitcoin land bitcoin скачать bitcoin 123 tether coin Why did The DAO fail?broadly accepted store of value, Bitcoin has great potential as a future store of value based onbitcoin карты q bitcoin обмен tether мастернода ethereum bitcoin buying cranes bitcoin blockchain ethereum bitcoin background
bitcoin бесплатно отзыв bitcoin digi bitcoin
exchange ethereum nanopool ethereum
Storage values are stored permanently on the Blockchain networkbitcoin usd bitcoin node bitcoin icons bitcoin кредит bitcoin ishlash bitcoin pay 1 ethereum bitcoin poloniex
bitcoin trade bitcoin trend ethereum wikipedia bitcoin sha256 abi ethereum siiz bitcoin 3d bitcoin
криптовалюту bitcoin exchange ethereum bitcoin mmgp bitcoin миллионеры bitcoin биткоин bitcoin server bitcoin hardfork
bitcoin new
1000 bitcoin bitcoin будущее ютуб bitcoin json bitcoin bitcoin magazin sun bitcoin moon bitcoin bitcoin hosting
ethereum course получить bitcoin обменять monero bitcoin server
bitcoin fees bitcoin github bitcoin check стоимость bitcoin asus bitcoin bitcoin magazine poker bitcoin порт bitcoin games bitcoin bitcoin виджет sgminer monero bitcoin poloniex bitcoin mail bestexchange bitcoin bitcoin компьютер ropsten ethereum пожертвование bitcoin 8 bitcoin home bitcoin bitcoin деньги картинки bitcoin An ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) is a special type of hardware used for Bitcoin mining. An ASIC can cost anywhere between $600 to $1000, which has made Bitcoin mining unattractive for anyone except professionals.50000 bitcoin криптовалюты bitcoin site bitcoin bitcoin монет bitcoin эмиссия ethereum логотип
amazon bitcoin casper ethereum надежность bitcoin home bitcoin 2048 bitcoin bitcoin amazon хардфорк bitcoin перспективы ethereum ethereum 1070 bitcoin project ethereum скачать fire bitcoin bitcoin ru cryptocurrency bitcoin vps
blender bitcoin ethereum faucet перспектива bitcoin куплю ethereum bitcoin фарм lootool bitcoin monero proxy хайпы bitcoin bitcoin проверка
bitcoin информация
bitcoin windows рубли bitcoin tether обменник blake bitcoin vector bitcoin bitcoin switzerland иконка bitcoin
bitcoin вики ethereum обменники daily bitcoin project ethereum bitcoin окупаемость ethereum получить перевод ethereum doge bitcoin bitcoin компьютер bitcoin сколько monero fork secp256k1 bitcoin vector bitcoin bitcoin top tether reward bitcoin платформа bitcoin bitcoin machine ethereum хардфорк connect bitcoin автосборщик bitcoin количество bitcoin bitcoin blockstream bitcoin motherboard bitcoin серфинг logo bitcoin bitcoin bonus
bitcoin rt сложность bitcoin monero валюта bitcoin scam ethereum news bitcoin торговля life bitcoin bitcoin завести кошелька ethereum 1080 ethereum cryptocurrency price bounty bitcoin telegram bitcoin платформа bitcoin nova bitcoin bitcoin биткоин faucets bitcoin bitcoin установка особенности ethereum банк bitcoin space bitcoin bitcoin spend bitcoin клиент love bitcoin collector bitcoin е bitcoin
de bitcoin майн ethereum часы bitcoin bitcoin utopia mindgate bitcoin 5 bitcoin locate bitcoin monero хардфорк генераторы bitcoin краны monero bitcoin fasttech pull bitcoin homestead ethereum cap bitcoin bitcoin автосерфинг bitcoin club delphi bitcoin bitcoin iq bitcoin store асик ethereum сша bitcoin
bitcoin андроид bitcoin loto short bitcoin
bitcoin котировки bitcoin графики monero cryptonight
amazon bitcoin server bitcoin
monero blockchain bitcoin forbes bitcoin q aml bitcoin bitcoin 2018 магазин bitcoin bitcoin иконка оплата bitcoin bitcoin 2048 основатель ethereum bitcoin 2048 half bitcoin bitcoin links bitcoin data bitcoin legal заработок ethereum bitcoin инструкция куплю ethereum lealana bitcoin bitcoin шахта bitcoin change captcha bitcoin ethereum wallet credit bitcoin bitcoin fasttech casinos bitcoin инструкция bitcoin кредит bitcoin bitcoin de xmr monero bitcoin вложения hashrate bitcoin strategy bitcoin casper ethereum cryptonight monero bitcoin арбитраж ethereum online ethereum addresses лотерея bitcoin форк bitcoin куплю ethereum pull bitcoin bitcoin xt кошель bitcoin tether приложение bitcoin mail bitcoin comprar mikrotik bitcoin The first node to solve this problem gets new Bitcoins. Mining uses a lot of electricity, so the miners need to be rewarded!bitcoin завести lamborghini bitcoin bitcoin flapper bitcoin халява отзыв bitcoin логотип bitcoin ethereum проблемы bitcoin зарегистрировать bitcoin cnbc bitcoin song strategy bitcoin client ethereum полевые bitcoin bitcoin price bitcoin msigna
monero fork рулетка bitcoin calculator ethereum
bitcoin вики ethereum продать spots cryptocurrency форк bitcoin статистика bitcoin bitcoin картинки ethereum icon antminer bitcoin 2048 bitcoin bitcoin обменники bitcoin биржи bitcoin arbitrage запросы bitcoin ConclusionsCryptocurrencies 101: A Blockchain Overviewинструкция bitcoin bitcoin авито bitcoin machine 99 bitcoin биржи monero bitcoin путин виталик ethereum
tera bitcoin обменник bitcoin zona bitcoin bitcoin wmx bitcoin girls carding bitcoin bitcoin change ethereum телеграмм
ethereum cgminer bitfenix bitcoin 2018 bitcoin кредиты bitcoin bitcoin it system bitcoin wikipedia cryptocurrency tether обменник But bitcoin is completely digital, and it has no third parties. The idea of an overseeing body runs completely counter to its ethos. So if you tell me you have 25 bitcoins, how do I know you’re telling the truth? The solution is that public ledger with records of all transactions, known as the block chain. (We’ll get to why it’s called that shortly.) If all of your bitcoins can be traced back to when they were created, you can’t get away with lying about how many you have.But because mining is a competitive enterprise, miners have come up with ways to gain an edge. One obvious way is by pooling resources.qr bitcoin monero биржи счет bitcoin займ bitcoin
проверить bitcoin bitcoin swiss автосерфинг bitcoin запрет bitcoin Bitcoin is an adaptive and evolving system; it is not static. No one controls the network and there are no leaders capable of forcing changes onto the network. It is decentralized at every layer, and as a result, it has shown to be immune to any type of attack. However, it is not just immune to attack or errors, bitcoin actually becomes stronger as: i) external forces attempt to influence or coopt the network; ii) as individuals within the network make errors; and, iii) as a very function of its volatility, which is often perceived to be a limiting, if not critical, flaw. As bitcoin survives shocks and as individuals learn from errors and adapt to its volatility, bitcoin becomes tangibly more reliable; its demonstration of resilience and immunity causes trust to be reinforced in the network, which increases adoption and makes bitcoin more resistant to future attack or individual errors. It is a positive, self-reinforcing feedback loop. With every failed attempt to coopt or coerce the network, the bitcoin protocol hardens and confidence increases. Every time bitcoin doesn’t die, that very event propels bitcoin forward, and in a fundamentally stronger state than previously existed.bitcoin nachrichten bitcoin crypto bitcoin таблица bitcoin data
ethereum crane metatrader bitcoin plasma ethereum film bitcoin ethereum контракт ethereum майнеры sberbank bitcoin tether coin cryptocurrency mining bitcoin мавроди mining ethereum bitcoin bittorrent With numerous critical exchange failures, market participants increasingly shift to taking on the responsibility of holding their own bitcoin, independent from third-party service providers. The same is true in response to individual accounts at exchanges getting hacked. Not dissimilarly, as threats are identified for those that secure their own bitcoin, more secure wallets are developed and users opt toward more secure ways to safely secure their bitcoin by reducing or eliminating single points of failure. It is a constant evolution borne out of the reality that stressors exist everywhere. The network is not exposed to any critical failures because the entire network iterates through trial and error around the clock, with free competition and endless market opportunity incentivizing innovation. And, with each failure, everyone is on their own and personally accountable. The incentive structure dictates that everyone constantly seeks out better ways of securing bitcoin. Through this process of stress, the network very naturally and organically strengthens.bitcoin валюта яндекс bitcoin bitcoin euro bitcoin wordpress пулы bitcoin
ethereum rotator рулетка bitcoin разработчик ethereum bitcoin zone bitcoin xyz
As the earliest cryptocurrency to meet widespread popularity and success, Bitcoin has inspired a host of other projects in the blockchain space.ethereum wallet bitcoin generate Even a 1% spillover into Bitcoin from the tens of trillions’ worth of zero-yielding bonds and cash assets, if it were to occur, would be far larger than Bitcoin’s entire current market capitalization.cryptocurrency market auction bitcoin importprivkey bitcoin abc bitcoin клиент ethereum теханализ bitcoin bitcoin alliance bitcoin получение
оплата bitcoin
ethereum logo получить bitcoin контракты ethereum
wallet tether metatrader bitcoin bitcoin trojan monero ico asics bitcoin ethereum client теханализ bitcoin bitcoin usb bitcoin стратегия faucets bitcoin wallets cryptocurrency книга bitcoin bitcoin xapo live bitcoin
monero fr bitcoin word bitcoin обменник cryptocurrency wallets cryptocurrency prices forum cryptocurrency ethereum bitcointalk bitcoin trading wm bitcoin рулетка bitcoin теханализ bitcoin bitcoin ne Bitcoin violates governmental regulationsThe main difference is that litecoin can confirm transactions much faster than bitcoin. The implications of that are as follows: 