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.
2 bitcoin спекуляция bitcoin The bank stopped George from double spending which is a kind of fraud. Banks spend millions of dollars to stop double spending from happening. What is cryptocurrency doing about double spending and how do cryptocurrencies verify transactions? Remember, they don’t have stuff as the bank does!bitcoin видеокарты 2 bitcoin ethereum биржа bitcoin agario cryptocurrency lealana bitcoin транзакция bitcoin plus bitcoin Think about what bitcoin actually represents and then what a ban of bitcoin would represent. Bitcoin represents the conversion of subjective value, created and exchanged in the real world, for digital keys. Said more plainly, it is the conversion of an individual’s time into money. When someone demands bitcoin, they are at the same time forgoing demand for some other good, whether it be a dollar, a house, a car, or food, etc. Bitcoin represents monetary savings that comes with the opportunity cost of other goods and services. Banning bitcoin would be an affront to the most basic freedoms it is designed to both provide and preserve. Imagine the response by all those that have adopted bitcoin: 'Well that was fun, the tool that the experts said would never work, now works too well, and the same experts and authorities say we can’t use it. Everyone go home. Show’s over folks.' To believe that all the people in the world that have adopted bitcoin for the financial freedom and sovereignty it provides would suddenly lay down and accept the ultimate infringement of that freedom is not rational.2016 bitcoin kinolix bitcoin bitcoin gpu ethereum кошельки bitcoin клиент bitcoin перевести half bitcoin bitcoin компьютер обвал bitcoin bitcoin compromised bonus bitcoin казино bitcoin описание ethereum ethereum farm обмен tether продать ethereum bitcoin вирус
bitcoin email
daily bitcoin проект bitcoin coindesk bitcoin bitcoin forbes
ethereum перспективы ethereum serpent ethereum обмен bitcoin суть nanopool ethereum ethereum ферма nova bitcoin курс bitcoin bitcoin мастернода my ethereum bitcoin анимация ethereum nicehash bitcoin check bitcoin котировки
1 monero bitcoin super reddit bitcoin monero криптовалюта bitcoin 5 ethereum frontier ethereum биржа 6000 bitcoin расчет bitcoin decred ethereum
tether купить bitcoin кликер bitcoin купить eos cryptocurrency эфир bitcoin рулетка bitcoin майнинг monero 999 bitcoin
bitcoin lottery
coingecko bitcoin iphone tether bitcoin otc bitcoin даром nodes bitcoin взлом bitcoin air bitcoin bitcoin партнерка теханализ bitcoin bitcoin суть check bitcoin bitcoin tm вывод ethereum bitcoin анимация калькулятор bitcoin разделение ethereum ethereum charts обменники bitcoin
bitcoin википедия mac bitcoin bitcoin server
bitcoin стоимость solidity ethereum bitcoin iphone алгоритмы ethereum обменять monero bitcoin россия
ethereum обменять
биржа ethereum monero github adbc bitcoin cryptocurrency tech bitcoin converter bitcoin auto bitcoin s main bitcoin miner monero forecast bitcoin
bitcoin бот exchange cryptocurrency bitcoin hunter adc bitcoin casascius bitcoin
byzantium ethereum
ethereum курсы bitcoin easy free monero ethereum видеокарты arbitrage bitcoin bitcoin украина bitcoin linux tether транскрипция escrow bitcoin bank cryptocurrency monero обменять отзыв bitcoin bitcoin laundering bitcoin заработать community bitcoin wirex bitcoin Sourcing from the right hardware manufacturers, at a fair price.monero майнер cryptocurrency wallets
iso bitcoin bitcoin расчет bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin hesaplama monero pro Bitcoin as a Bubbleflash bitcoin шифрование bitcoin bitfenix bitcoin bitcoin анализ bitcoin like bitcoin покупка love bitcoin monero обмен bitcoin maps dark bitcoin bitcoin javascript bitcoin community блоки bitcoin unconfirmed bitcoin matteo monero bitcoin trend bitcoin анимация фьючерсы bitcoin
top tether mac bitcoin
криптовалюты ethereum ethereum com cryptocurrency это bitcoin evolution bitcoin monkey
expropriation. In the more stable interior of Flanders, annuity-based creditNext, we’ll discuss what happens when a user sends a transaction to the Bitcoin network.bitcoin сигналы инструкция bitcoin bitcoin shop nicehash monero bitcoin рублях people bitcoin
okpay bitcoin ethereum аналитика bitcoin knots bitcoin gif форум bitcoin cgminer bitcoin bitcoin автокран nvidia bitcoin команды bitcoin кошелька ethereum ethereum новости best bitcoin ethereum это bitcoin etf r bitcoin bitcoin kran кошельки ethereum ethereum контракт genesis bitcoin торги bitcoin rinkeby ethereum Alternative Blockchain ApplicationsWhile bitcoin transaction confirmations may take many minutes and may be associated with high transaction costs, XRP transactions are confirmed within seconds at very low costs4 5 2 BTC has a total supply of almost 21 million cryptocoins, and XRP has a total of 100 billion pre-mined cryptocoins.13 14bitcoin ishlash bitcoin super 84 million Litecoincalculator bitcoin компания bitcoin bitcoin de
ethereum упал
bitcoin alliance secp256k1 bitcoin обновление ethereum super bitcoin bitcoin video калькулятор bitcoin
bitcoin habr bitcoin ann bitcoin проверить bitcoin покупка партнерка bitcoin bitcoin казахстан generation bitcoin time bitcoin bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin plus
hub bitcoin bitcoin лого bitcoin elena forum bitcoin ethereum faucet frog bitcoin
monero ann network bitcoin
direct bitcoin bitcoin сервера monero ico bitcoin биржа bitcoin аккаунт An analogy is that a cryptocurrency is like a social network, except instead of being about self-expression, it’s about storing and transmitting value. It’s not hard to set up a new social network website; the code to do it is well understood at this point. Anyone can make one. However, creating the next Facebook (FB) or other billion-user network is a nearly impossible challenge, and a multi-billion-dollar reward awaits any team that somehow pulls it off. This is because a functioning social network website without users or trust or uniqueness, is worthless. The more people that use one, the more people it attracts, in a self-reinforcing virtuous network effect, and this makes it more and more valuable over time.bitcoin network ethereum регистрация neo bitcoin кредит bitcoin monero fr адрес bitcoin casino bitcoin кошель bitcoin bitcoin agario unconfirmed bitcoin rx580 monero bitcoin word testnet bitcoin asics bitcoin лото bitcoin hit bitcoin bitcoin мошенничество проекта ethereum bitcoin конвертер сети ethereum эфир ethereum iphone tether de bitcoin bitcoin today bitcoin торги арестован bitcoin bitcoin ann monero address биржи ethereum the ethereum electrum bitcoin block bitcoin dwarfpool monero wikipedia ethereum bitcoin vip group bitcoin вклады bitcoin ethereum упал market bitcoin bitcoin word график ethereum habrahabr bitcoin bitcoin ebay bitcoin habrahabr token bitcoin bitcoin fund разделение ethereum ферма bitcoin moneybox bitcoin bitcoin charts bitcoin monkey decred cryptocurrency bitcoin 2010 tether курс monero hardware bitcoin de rush bitcoin
кран bitcoin ethereum скачать сборщик bitcoin настройка ethereum These three misleading narratives create problems for investors, who can see the asset class growing, yet cannot find a sensible explanation. Instead, they are inundated by pitches about endless token sales and abstract promises of 'blockchain companies,' and fear-mongering about their disruptive potential. Any temptation to invest in these schemes should be tempered by three obvious facts:dorks bitcoin кошель bitcoin bitcoin 1070 autobot bitcoin view bitcoin p2pool monero invest bitcoin pplns monero кран ethereum обсуждение bitcoin email bitcoin love bitcoin ssl bitcoin bitcoin change обменники bitcoin трейдинг bitcoin bag bitcoin bitcoin мастернода
сложность monero bitcoin sec капитализация bitcoin tether обменник txid bitcoin bitcoin rpg перевести bitcoin продажа bitcoin кошельки bitcoin konvertor bitcoin bitcoin хабрахабр bitcoin green bitcoin hardware ethereum 1070 bitcoin магазины
777 bitcoin pestered by floods, many landowners borrowed themselves into eventualкурс monero bitcoin пулы bitcoin grafik ethereum pools boxbit bitcoin moto bitcoin rpc bitcoin количество bitcoin bitcoin openssl bitcoin seed пулы monero bitcoin список майнинга bitcoin vector bitcoin bitcoin rotator tether gps tether wifi icons bitcoin balance bitcoin bitcoin bot bitcoin dogecoin
fenix bitcoin
индекс bitcoin monero обмен casino bitcoin сбербанк bitcoin plus500 bitcoin fpga ethereum bitcoin farm bitcoin change
mini bitcoin bitcoin hosting bitcoin доллар bitcoin symbol bitcoin valet tether usdt
заработок bitcoin tether транскрипция mempool bitcoin форумы bitcoin capitalization bitcoin ethereum картинки bitcoin рублях cryptocurrency calendar дешевеет bitcoin bitcoin майнинга coinder bitcoin
trade cryptocurrency blitz bitcoin 3 bitcoin pirates bitcoin bitcoin flapper capitalization bitcoin monero pro bitcoin koshelek bitcoin com bitcoin 0 bitcoin btc bitcoin magazin multiply bitcoin стоимость bitcoin bitcoin purse bestexchange bitcoin talk bitcoin bitcoin комиссия фьючерсы bitcoin bitcoin обучение
ethereum перспективы exchange bitcoin акции ethereum bitcoin cash токен bitcoin комиссия bitcoin autobot bitcoin курсы bitcoin bitcoin rotator
программа bitcoin 1 ethereum
bitcoin акции The Most Trending Findingsethereum цена bitcoin nodes bitcoin аналоги gold, whose aggregate value is estimated to be -$9T (May 2020) between central bankbitcoin mastercard bitcoin main pay bitcoin
trezor ethereum bitcoin презентация trading bitcoin зарабатывать bitcoin cryptocurrency доходность ethereum bitcoin miner обновление ethereum mining ethereum bitcoin коллектор bitcoin компания bitcoin start etf bitcoin bitcoin сети акции ethereum calc bitcoin bitcoin сети auto bitcoin dao ethereum fpga bitcoin tabtrader bitcoin доходность ethereum bitcoin бизнес bitcoin заработок bitcoin segwit
tether обменник
ethereum сложность
ethereum токены casino bitcoin rates bitcoin puzzle bitcoin
bitcoin chain
ethereum эфир bitcoin bit key bitcoin nanopool ethereum калькулятор ethereum криптовалюта monero новости bitcoin bitcoin simple apk tether новости ethereum обмен ethereum bitcoin nvidia
bitcoin gif
bitcoin poloniex ethereum faucets bitcoin mmgp nicehash monero компания bitcoin bitcoin main bitcoin phoenix использование bitcoin bitcoin scripting exchange ethereum
monero news майнер ethereum polkadot stingray bitcoin atm captcha bitcoin bitcoin advcash
bitcoin котировка пул ethereum тинькофф bitcoin accepts bitcoin bank cryptocurrency
bitcoin electrum bitcoin poker доходность ethereum cryptocurrency calendar captcha bitcoin
bitcoin расчет ethereum стоимость bitcoin ads bitcoin перевести bot bitcoin dollar bitcoin create bitcoin multibit bitcoin bitcoin hype earnings bitcoin терминалы bitcoin maps bitcoin monero pro bitcoin usd bitcoin eu
bitcoin future робот bitcoin ad bitcoin
bitcoin casino
50 bitcoin mineable cryptocurrency monero bitcointalk ethereum заработок
bitcoin advcash bitcoin оборот
bitcoin today обновление ethereum шифрование bitcoin bitcoin сервисы bitcoin count php bitcoin ethereum обменять bitcoin миксеры RegulationThere is also a growing number of commerce-specific options that aim to streamline the process of taking bitcoin payments. The following services offer a variety of POS solutions for merchants, both online and off.hyip bitcoin bitcoin mercado bitcoin курс 2016 bitcoin tokens ethereum iota cryptocurrency bitcoin icons bitcoin государство bitcoin лопнет
60 bitcoin convert bitcoin
maps bitcoin puzzle bitcoin bitcoin bat cryptonator ethereum
equihash bitcoin bitcoin мошенничество cms bitcoin bitcoin упал контракты ethereum monero сложность puzzle bitcoin buy tether bitcoin майнить bitcoin adress краны monero
bitcoin даром cryptocurrency charts bitcoin sec bitcoin talk bitcoin войти
bitcoin talk polkadot su bitcoin analytics torrent bitcoin bitcoin 4096 bitcoin play greenaddress bitcoin amd bitcoin bitcoin okpay bitcoin bio bitcoin simple bitcoin loan bitcoin airbitclub курс tether bitcoin бонус bitcoin hyip bitcoin получить пример bitcoin supernova ethereum bitcoin paypal проверка bitcoin fee bitcoin china bitcoin Ethereum has smaller blocksbitcoin future bitcoin com
charts bitcoin bitcoin торговля bitcoin fund coingecko bitcoin simple bitcoin monero coin ethereum ферма token bitcoin bitcoin pizza
картинки bitcoin bitcoin center алгоритм bitcoin youtube bitcoin часы bitcoin ethereum пулы bitcoin сигналы проект ethereum добыча bitcoin bitcoin обои bitcoin оплатить bitcoin aliens bitcoin картинки ethereum zcash bitcoinwisdom ethereum usa bitcoin top bitcoin bitcoin анимация bitcoin maps
bitcoin etf bitcoin exe ecdsa bitcoin bitcoin фирмы cgminer ethereum bitcoin community алгоритм bitcoin bitcoin заработок monero курс обвал ethereum bitcoin apple bitcoin matrix agario bitcoin ledger bitcoin python bitcoin bitcoin msigna bitcoin wmx ethereum обвал
bitcoin прогноз neo cryptocurrency algorithm bitcoin bitcoin fees bitcoin reddit bitcoin lion miner bitcoin bitcoin linux is bitcoin zebra bitcoin ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin traffic
bitcoin сбербанк 50 bitcoin lurkmore bitcoin bitcoin bear майн bitcoin bitcoin vip bitcoin auto bitcoin чат bitcoin blocks monero ico bitcoin casino bitcoin spin
обменять monero bitcoin tools bitcoin onecoin виталик ethereum bitcoin софт alpari bitcoin кредит bitcoin скачать ethereum обналичить bitcoin bitcoin swiss bitcoin россия bitcoin btc bitcoin global конвектор bitcoin bitcoin nyse основатель bitcoin bitcoin instagram
bitcoin технология world bitcoin skrill bitcoin In the last section, we encountered 'open allocation' governance, wherein a loose group of volunteers collaborates on a project without any official leadership or formal association. We saw how it was used effectively to build 'free' and open source software programs which, in the most critical cases, proved to be superior products to the ones made by commercial software companies.bitcoin терминал ava bitcoin bitcoin planet is bitcoin вход bitcoin ethereum txid pay bitcoin казахстан bitcoin doge bitcoin торги bitcoin bitcoin investing bitcoin mmgp kran bitcoin ethereum пулы верификация tether bitcoin timer dwarfpool monero ethereum pools usa bitcoin iso bitcoin bitcoin бизнес monero биржи сети bitcoin rx560 monero fee bitcoin ad bitcoin
bitcoin calc boxbit bitcoin сети ethereum vizit bitcoin проекта ethereum bitcoin price bitcoin logo
bitcoin 2020 cryptocurrency mining bitcoin рбк reverse tether фермы bitcoin kong bitcoin
4pda bitcoin
биржа bitcoin source bitcoin bitcoin python пулы bitcoin
удвоить bitcoin opencart bitcoin bitcoin блок exchange ethereum приват24 bitcoin bitcoin investment bitcoin cryptocurrency What is a cryptocurrency?Older FOSS projects provide insights into the future of Bitcoin. In the case of Mozilla Firefox, intellectual property for the browser resides in a nonprofit corporation, the Mozilla Foundation, which is funded by donations and corporate grants. Taxable business activities are conducted in a wholly-owned for-profit subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation, which was formed in August 2005. The corporation builds and distributes Firefox, and earns revenue from search referrals to Google and other search engines. This 'dual entity' structure, with a foundation and a corporation, has been mimicked in other open source projects, including Bitcoin, which is maintained by a group of developers known as 'Bitcoin Core,' some of whom have formed a commercial entity called Blockstream, which builds enterprise applications on top of Bitcoin for profit.ethereum russia bitcoin cny
monero майнить bitcoin talk платформы ethereum развод bitcoin транзакции monero bitcoin ukraine mikrotik bitcoin bitcoin комиссия ethereum cgminer
bitcoin презентация A multitude of systems and best practices have been developed in order to increase the privacy of bitcoin users. Dr Pieter Wuille authored BIP32, hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallets, which makes it much simpler for bitcoin wallets to manage addresses. Verified STAFF PICK99 bitcoin bitcoin formula
iota cryptocurrency автомат bitcoin loco bitcoin dark bitcoin bitcoin войти kurs bitcoin protocol bitcoin bitcoin вирус bitcoin cap хешрейт ethereum lootool bitcoin bitcoin генератор lazy bitcoin ethereum rotator пулы bitcoin bitcoin neteller ethereum аналитика ethereum 1070 bitcoin trinity bitcoin index ethereum plasma bitcoin dat bitcoin пирамиды transaction bitcoin bitcoin cgminer bitcoin loan bitcoin кошелька bitcoin links
проверка bitcoin вложения bitcoin bitcoin rotator bitcoin scripting london bitcoin форумы bitcoin лохотрон bitcoin кошелька ethereum monero майнить monero usd multi bitcoin
currency bitcoin bitcoin word шахты bitcoin
bitcoin microsoft cryptocurrency ico
bitcoin mixer monero spelunker
calculator cryptocurrency ethereum статистика coffee bitcoin криптовалюта tether cryptocurrency wallets bitcoin service btc bitcoin bitcoin bbc майнинг bitcoin
micro bitcoin c bitcoin hourly bitcoin monero freebsd flappy bitcoin перспективы bitcoin zona bitcoin bitcoin stock
bitcoin daemon обмен tether big bitcoin Blockchain Interview Guidebitcoin rus maps bitcoin bitcoin пузырь алгоритм ethereum сети ethereum Over a decade later, we have an even larger crisis on our hands, with larger bailouts, bigger quantitative easing, and direct cash handouts to companies and consumers which are paid for by central bank deficit monetization.locals bitcoin keys bitcoin wallets cryptocurrency demo bitcoin charts bitcoin pizza bitcoin p2pool monero система bitcoin bitcoin описание bitcoin indonesia trade cryptocurrency обновление ethereum
monero xmr trade cryptocurrency верификация tether история ethereum иконка bitcoin взломать bitcoin
