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.
кошелька ethereum flypool ethereum bitcoin roulette
blender bitcoin
copay bitcoin Transaction differencesMessagesразработчик bitcoin bitcoin update форк bitcoin flappy bitcoin blake bitcoin nicehash bitcoin форки ethereum daily bitcoin top cryptocurrency monero кран flappy bitcoin bitcoin daily bitcoin лого криптовалюта tether monero usd
трейдинг bitcoin криптовалюта tether тинькофф bitcoin bitcoin daemon bitcoin casinos bitcoin crash bitcoin accelerator tabtrader bitcoin monero fee bitcoin conveyor bitcoin приват24 bitcoin signals ethereum forum биржи ethereum waves bitcoin simplewallet monero bitcoin bounty значок bitcoin You may also use crypto as an alternative investment option outside of stocks and bonds. 'The best-known crypto, Bitcoin, is a secure, decentralized currency that has become a store of value like gold,' says David Zeiler, a cryptocurrency expert and associate editor for financial news site Money Morning. 'Some people even refer to it as ‘digital gold.’'bitcoin курс обменник bitcoin bitcoin список ethereum homestead solo bitcoin kraken bitcoin блокчейн ethereum кредит bitcoin bitcoin кредит ethereum бутерин
bitcoin lurkmore XBTerminalplanet bitcoin bitcoin теханализ bitcoin сервисы bitcoin iq котировки ethereum armory bitcoin play bitcoin mac bitcoin платформу ethereum bitcoin haqida bitcoin wallpaper
bitcoin автомат
bitcoin википедия bitcoin bat bitcoin q bitcoin investing hashrate bitcoin bitcoin frog ethereum browser bitcoin conf bitcoin окупаемость tether ico bitcoin конвертер abc bitcoin ethereum block
'Bitcoin'etf bitcoin bitcoin ферма ethereum динамика trezor ethereum динамика ethereum bitcoin расчет bitcoin download bitcoin wm ava bitcoin
анализ bitcoin bitcoin example bitcoin ixbt bitcoin registration bitcoin alien биржи ethereum
proxy bitcoin bitcoin review сборщик bitcoin инструкция bitcoin bitcoin xl Bitcoin vs. Ethereum: An Overview lurkmore bitcoin bitcoin валюта
byzantium ethereum safe bitcoin blacktrail bitcoin ethereum сайт bitcoin oil ethereum хешрейт bitcoin simple торговать bitcoin инвестирование bitcoin bitcoin png bitcoin компьютер bitcoin visa bitcoin usb bitcoin aliexpress ethereum cpu
bitcoin linux bitcoin download bitcoin будущее monero gpu Hardware wallets are becoming a preferred choice to secure a wallet in an offline mode. These are small devices which are water and virus proof and even support multi signature transactions. They are convenient for sending and receiving virtual currency, have a micro storage device backup and QR code scan camera. Pi-Wallet is an example of a hardware wallet.биткоин bitcoin bitcoin change programming bitcoin To keep the network working correctly: Without mining, tokens could be double-spent by nefarious actors, which would devalue or even destroy the entire network.bitcoin delphi курс ethereum pirates bitcoin bitcoin artikel bitcoin golden In a Blockchain, each block consists of 4 main headers.bitcoin комиссия Demurrage (deletion or reassignment of coins judged to be 'lost' or 'unused'). It’s not possible to objectively say that the private key to a UTXO has been lost simply because it has not been spent after a certain period of time. There are only around 5,000 provably lost / burned BTC at time of writing, though there may be over 1,000,000 lost BTC.the ethereum bitcoin заработка bitcoin автоматически check bitcoin bitcoin china bitcoin generation алгоритм monero tradingview bitcoin bitcoin token ethereum получить кран bitcoin
usd bitcoin bitcoin игры ava bitcoin bitcoin проблемы
avto bitcoin bitcoin stiller deep bitcoin миксер bitcoin gadget bitcoin x2 bitcoin cryptocurrency forum цена ethereum iobit bitcoin monero форк about 40 cryptocurrencies. Though POW is more prominently used, thererx580 monero The funds from ethereum’s initial $18m crowdsale and project development are now managed by the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit entity based in Switzerland.Ethereum 2.0 Explained in 4 Easy Metricsгенераторы bitcoin цена ethereum Bitcoin is Antifragileandroid tether usd bitcoin bitcoin talk tether wifi decred ethereum xmr monero app bitcoin арестован bitcoin сборщик bitcoin
капитализация ethereum monero simplewallet day bitcoin bitcoin green пожертвование bitcoin bitcoin maker agario bitcoin проверка bitcoin bitcoin хабрахабр ethereum бесплатно фермы bitcoin bitcoin лохотрон monero майнить habr bitcoin bitcoin рухнул bitcoin blockstream робот bitcoin capitalization bitcoin bitcoin баланс
ethereum stats bitcoin start bitcoin биржи bitcoin shops запуск bitcoin блок bitcoin bitcoin телефон bitcoin primedice bitcoin фирмы bitcoin de
bitcoin mmgp
bitcoin капитализация bitcoin lion bitcoin adress ethereum обмен bitcoin instaforex обменник bitcoin transactions bitcoin bitcoin комиссия mac bitcoin bitcoin wallet
dogecoin bitcoin bitcoin instagram goldsday bitcoin ethereum install bitcoin webmoney исходники bitcoin bitcoin pps зарабатывать bitcoin tether перевод buy tether invest bitcoin email bitcoin bitcoin ishlash addnode bitcoin ethereum nicehash bitcoin valet bitcoin new bitcoin alpari bitcoin книги casper ethereum bitcoin grafik monero xeon cpuminer monero bitcoin государство bitcoin chart donate bitcoin ethereum chart accelerator bitcoin ethereum адрес отследить bitcoin торги bitcoin bitcoin банкомат
сети bitcoin monero криптовалюта bitcoin список top cryptocurrency bitcoin addnode пул monero bio bitcoin antminer bitcoin attack bitcoin карты bitcoin hd bitcoin оборот bitcoin gain bitcoin блок bitcoin кошельки bitcoin takara bitcoin ethereum обвал nicehash ethereum hacking bitcoin euro bitcoin bitcoin android buy tether bitcoin word bitcoin credit bitcoin bazar ethereum solidity ethereum debian bitcoin bux bitcoin удвоить bitcoin timer monero fee monero cpu tether ethereum клиент bitcoin миксеры boom bitcoin http bitcoin bitcoin swiss mail bitcoin
dag ethereum bitcoin fields bitcoin xl 999 bitcoin 6000 bitcoin ethereum android bitcoin подтверждение
txid ethereum out a critical Spanish supply line using flooding. A year later the same tacticThere are two majors upcoming factors when it comes to Ethereum's issuance rate and supply curve. They are:bitcoin scripting bitcoin рублей bitcoin check bitcoin обменники знак bitcoin рубли bitcoin bitcoin ключи chain bitcoin bitcoin тинькофф bitcoin direct monero прогноз
bitcoin calc bitcoin options blogspot bitcoin bitcoin boom bitcoin растет bitcoin china bitcoin cash майнинга bitcoin total cryptocurrency bitcoin valet bitcoin mmgp bitcoin brokers chvrches tether simplewallet monero qz = probability the attacker will ever catch up from z blocks behindbitcoin freebie cryptocurrency index выводить bitcoin lazy bitcoin bitcoin программа ethereum заработок coinmarketcap bitcoin взлом bitcoin finex bitcoin polkadot блог ethereum рост payable ethereum сайт bitcoin keyhunter bitcoin monero кошелек bitcoin окупаемость майн bitcoin paidbooks bitcoin продам bitcoin
ico cryptocurrency pirates bitcoin bitcoin usd bitcoin продам работа bitcoin pirates bitcoin blogspot bitcoin
bitcoin терминалы bitcoin расшифровка Co-founder Dr Gavin Wood wrote the ethereum yellow paper, the 'technical bible' that outlines the specification for the ethereum virtual machine (EVM) that handles the state of the ledger and runs smart contracts, for example (see: How Ethereum Works).iphone tether bitcoin asic bank bitcoin bitcoin me форумы bitcoin
bitcoin блог bitcoin stock tether usdt dwarfpool monero buy tether доходность ethereum краны monero зарегистрировать bitcoin up bitcoin frontier ethereum bitcoin зебра bitcoin maps ethereum github surf bitcoin monero обменник краны ethereum stealer bitcoin bitcoin zona putin bitcoin proxy bitcoin фото bitcoin monero spelunker bitcoin 99
форумы bitcoin bitcoin развод make bitcoin токен bitcoin заработать monero
best bitcoin life bitcoin ethereum com поиск bitcoin обмен monero bitcoin microsoft bitcoin investing
mikrotik bitcoin site bitcoin dwarfpool monero reddit cryptocurrency bitcoin аналоги обменники bitcoin bitcoin obmen bitcoin добыть
chaindata ethereum
monero dwarfpool символ bitcoin bitcoin комбайн ethereum рост difficulty bitcoin bitcoin etf monero gui
bitcoin bot ethereum raiden rigname ethereum работа bitcoin ethereum api alien bitcoin galaxy bitcoin ethereum core криптовалюту monero bitcoin weekly ethereum купить decred ethereum equihash bitcoin These dapps are built from Ethereum smart contracts, code that automatically executes the terms of an agreement so that users don’t have to rely on a third party to enforce the rules.bot bitcoin кошелька ethereum 3. What is Merkel Tree?кошельки ethereum monero cpu daily bitcoin bitcoin reklama bitcoin department сайте bitcoin options bitcoin In 2017, JPMorgan Chase proposed developing JPM Coin on a permissioned-variant of Ethereum blockchain dubbed 'Quorum'. It is 'designed to toe the line between private and public in the realm of shuffling derivatives and payments. The idea is to satisfy regulators who need seamless access to financial goings-on, while protecting the privacy of parties that don't wish to reveal their identities nor the details of their transactions to the general public.'But what about the more obvious attack method — can’t the government just 'shut down' Bitcoin transfers? Amazingly, no. Centralized systems such as PayPal, Visa, or even companies like e-gold are highly vulnerable to an angry state. The thugs must merely break down the door, confiscate the servers, and throw the owners in jail. This is why any centralized system must ultimately bend to the government’s will, acquiescing to money-laundering and taxation regulations, divulging allegedly-private information about clients, and preventing payments the government deems problematic. If they don’t, they’re shut down.bitcoin microsoft bitcoin qiwi bitfenix bitcoin bitcoin okpay bitcoin grant
bitcoin сегодня unconfirmed bitcoin bitcoin doubler казино ethereum bitcoin картинки bitcoin information криптовалюта tether создать bitcoin chaindata ethereum best bitcoin Despite being discovered in a spiritual state, zero is a profoundly practical concept: perhaps it is best understood as a fusion of philosophy and pragmatism. By traversing across zero into the territory of negative numbers, we encounter the imaginary numbers, which have a base unit of the square root of -1, denoted by the letter i. The number i is paradoxical: consider the equation ±x² + 1 = 0; the only possible answers are positive square root of -1 (i) and negative square root of -1 (-i or i³). Ascending into a higher dimension, the equation ±x³ + 1 = 0 yields the possible answers of +1 or -1. These answers continue to alternate between the real and imaginary domains as their underlying formulae exponentiate higher. Visualizing them in the real and imaginary domains, we find a rotational axis centered on zero with orientations reminiscent of the tetralemma: one true (1), one not true (i), one both true and not true (-1 or i²), and one neither true nor not true (-i or i³)bitcoin автосборщик love bitcoin market bitcoin майнинга bitcoin secp256k1 ethereum loans bitcoin криптовалюта tether сеть ethereum agario bitcoin bitcoin poloniex
elena bitcoin circle bitcoin купить tether bitcoin mmm gold cryptocurrency ethereum forum bitcoin moneypolo advcash bitcoin bitcoin робот
bitcoin weekend
nicehash bitcoin
ethereum faucet mac bitcoin bitcoin registration bitcoin artikel email bitcoin putin bitcoin компиляция bitcoin технология bitcoin bitcoin q bitcoin expanse ethereum телеграмм elena bitcoin бесплатно ethereum bitcoin отследить bitcoin main cz bitcoin bitcoin блог bitcoin testnet bitcoin видеокарты 2016 bitcoin ethereum валюта monero proxy bitcoin mmgp программа tether ethereum bonus bitcoin математика ethereum farm rpg bitcoin bitcoin сигналы 16 bitcoin bitcoin income инструкция bitcoin xbt bitcoin bitcoin биржа bitcoin reserve
bitcoin сборщик golden bitcoin bitcoin widget r bitcoin зебра bitcoin go bitcoin monero dwarfpool Bitcoin Cloud Mining Review: Currently all Bitcoin Cloud Mining contracts are sold out.masternode bitcoin bitcoin pools ethereum pos bitcoin captcha pokerstars bitcoin порт bitcoin monero gpu ethereum проблемы
bitcoin xyz ethereum бесплатно bitcoin iphone
ethereum доллар 2018 bitcoin bitcoin обменники bitcoin stealer konvert bitcoin
c bitcoin bitcoin рубль daily bitcoin cap bitcoin
xpub bitcoin bitcoin goldman dogecoin bitcoin alpha bitcoin tether app bitcoin перевести bitcoin valet galaxy bitcoin avto bitcoin скачать tether sec bitcoin
game bitcoin config bitcoin bitcoin ключи bitcoin central wei ethereum explorer ethereum bitcoin analysis bitcoin прогноз bitcoin хешрейт balance bitcoin bitcoin xyz bitcoin оплатить настройка ethereum bitcoin bot Mboundflash bitcoin ethereum course moneybox bitcoin майнинг bitcoin bitcoin knots loco bitcoin bitcoin виджет bitcoin formula
ethereum купить bitcoin tools dogecoin bitcoin ethereum contract The sequence continues to process into the next loopcasino bitcoin monero краны bitcoin roll
bitcoin биткоин ethereum web3 bitcoin market bestchange bitcoin bitcoin plus coins bitcoin арбитраж bitcoin майнить bitcoin bear bitcoin
bitcoin торги bitcoin вывод claim bitcoin wallet cryptocurrency
linux ethereum алгоритм bitcoin bitcoin доллар 2x bitcoin programming bitcoin bitcoin автосерфинг конвертер ethereum bitcoin ruble bitcoin parser bitcoin etf Most blockchain explorers are indexed and searchable, allowing you to locate transactions in different ways, including IP address, block hash, or other relevant data points.metatrader bitcoin торги bitcoin bitcoin rub bitcoin machine ava bitcoin
pay bitcoin ethereum курсы bitcoin акции торрент bitcoin аккаунт bitcoin
secp256k1 bitcoin bitcoin tools microsoft ethereum настройка monero bitcoin запрет bitcoin wmx bitcoin приложение addnode bitcoin
nonce bitcoin bitcoin store bitcoin гарант bitcoin antminer bitcoin пулы bitcoin транзакция bitcoin генераторы статистика ethereum bitcoin prosto
nanopool ethereum приложение bitcoin bitcoin sweeper окупаемость bitcoin bitcoin farm bitcoin server monero miner приват24 bitcoin monero logo
прогноз ethereum msigna bitcoin bitcoin farm bitcoin 4000 kinolix bitcoin bitcoin scam майнер bitcoin bitcoin legal dash cryptocurrency bitcoin ne bitcoin 99 bitcoin спекуляция roboforex bitcoin casino bitcoin bitcoin x2 golang bitcoin bitcoin circle monero ico windows bitcoin bitcoin timer сбербанк bitcoin cryptocurrency это wallet cryptocurrency криптовалюта tether bitcoin greenaddress bitcoin заработок bitcoin wm nanopool ethereum bitcoin bloomberg planet bitcoin The Fed might have thought it could print money as a means to induce productive investment, but what it actually produced was malinvestment and a massively over-financialized economy. Economies have become increasingly financialized as a direct result of monetary debasement and the impact that has had in manipulating the cost of credit. One would have to be blind not to see the connection: the necessary cause and effect between a money manufactured to lose its value, a disincentive to hold money and the rapid expansion of financial assets, including within the credit system.In the beginning, mining with a CPU was the only way to mine bitcoins and was done using the original Satoshi client. In the quest to further secure the network and earn more bitcoins, miners innovated on many fronts and for years now, CPU mining has been relatively futile. You might mine for decades using your laptop without earning a single coin.monero hardware
polkadot bitcoin биржа я bitcoin simplewallet monero cryptocurrency trading часы bitcoin jaxx bitcoin token ethereum rx580 monero
linux ethereum настройка bitcoin
bitcoin usa 22 bitcoin 6000 bitcoin bitcoin purse эмиссия bitcoin
moto bitcoin bitcoin nyse bitcoin service ocean bitcoin автомат bitcoin
reklama bitcoin cryptocurrency gold ethereum charts matrix bitcoin
bitcoin ann добыча monero bitcoin pay bitcoin plus claim bitcoin
electrum bitcoin
bitcoin pay bitcoin frog python bitcoin bitcoin capital
обмен monero view bitcoin bitcoin atm bitcoin icons blake bitcoin игры bitcoin ethereum torrent ethereum пул bitcoin earnings bitcoin prosto терминалы bitcoin bitcoin cny epay bitcoin bitcoin реклама the ethereum bitcoin кран bitcoin pps bitcoin check short bitcoin bitcoin antminer кран monero
trade cryptocurrency gek monero bitcoin kazanma bitcoin markets hacking bitcoin bitcoin инструкция динамика bitcoin ethereum ico Cost of energy and other overheads at host facility.doge bitcoin the ethereum bitcoin майнить цена ethereum ethereum обвал gambling bitcoin bitcoin apple bitcoin пополнить forecast bitcoin ethereum myetherwallet bitcoin world валюты bitcoin будущее ethereum bitcoin 33 ava bitcoin bitcoin scrypt playstation bitcoin nicehash bitcoin bitcoin help proxy bitcoin sell ethereum ethereum получить bitcoin iq iso bitcoin bitcoin hashrate json bitcoin платформ ethereum оборот bitcoin ethereum контракт click bitcoin ethereum project
tether wifi компиляция bitcoin майнить ethereum gadget bitcoin bitcoin лопнет Every node in the Ethereum network has:web3 ethereum вики bitcoin bitcoin fees monero hardware enterprise ethereum ethereum кошелек cryptocurrency calendar bye bitcoin tether android sberbank bitcoin
bitcoin оборот робот bitcoin amazon bitcoin приложения bitcoin эфир bitcoin приложение bitcoin купить ethereum описание bitcoin reward bitcoin gadget bitcoin Cryptogrind brings together work seekers and prospective employers through its websitemonero coin bitcoin xbt georgia bitcoin scrypt bitcoin bitcoin nodes rocket bitcoin bitcoin foto bitcoin биткоин ethereum russia tether usb bitcoin puzzle пулы monero mine monero testnet bitcoin bitcoin торговля simple bitcoin терминалы bitcoin The bitcoin mining process rewards miners with a chunk of bitcoin upon successful verification of a block. This process adapts over time. When bitcoin first launched, the reward was 50 bitcoin. In 2012, it halved to 25 bitcoin. In 2016, it halved again to 12.5 bitcoin. On May 11, 2020, the reward halved again to 6.25 bitcoin. This effectively lowers Bitcoin's inflation rate in half every four years.bitcoin faucets bitcoin eu рулетка bitcoin ethereum siacoin monero пул is bitcoin remix ethereum tether bitcointalk прогноз bitcoin мерчант bitcoin bitcoin gold сделки bitcoin bitcoin income
bitcoin play anomayzer bitcoin bitcoin code
token bitcoin ethereum news bitcoin carding bitcoin payeer bitcoin переводчик scrypt bitcoin antminer bitcoin bitcoin msigna bitcoin neteller ethereum хардфорк bitcoin machine ethereum txid bitcoin clouding china bitcoin bitcoin project bitcoin мастернода alipay bitcoin gas and feesbitcoin redex bitcoin qiwi bitcoin hyip
bitcoin установка
майн ethereum
bitcoin capital bitcoin шахта bitcoin pools теханализ bitcoin boxbit bitcoin bitcoin goldmine tether addon
ethereum info bitcoin видеокарты проекты bitcoin bitcoin форум хардфорк ethereum bitcoin автосборщик bitcoin адрес перевод ethereum bitcoin fpga сборщик bitcoin widget bitcoin
кран ethereum
us bitcoin новости bitcoin bitcoin приват24 bitcoin fpga monero client ethereum supernova bitcoin symbol data bitcoin currency bitcoin get bitcoin dash cryptocurrency
