CRYPTOCURRENCY

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Hi Guys , I'm Osm RD a.k.a Rugved and I'm back with a blog on interesting topic . Yeah your guess is right , its about the cryptocurrency as stated in the image “ What is cryptocurrency ? "  

First of all let's not get cryptocurrency  to be confused with VIRTUAL CURRENCY , We'll read about that in the next blog ....

 

Currently in the market 3 of the cryptocurrencies are trending and they are BITCOIN , DOGECOIN , ETHEREUM ! 

with DOGECOIN that has risen to prominence earlier this year, thanks to Elon Musk, is the cheapest cryptocurrency to purchase in 2021.

Dogecoin is currently one of the cryptocurrencies that many analysts consider to be a viable investment option as per 28-July-2021 ...

As we'll progress through series of cryptocurrency blogs we'll talk about these trending cryptocurrencies , their inventions , inventors and much more ! 

Before moving to “What is cryptocurrency ? " We'll read about its history first as it's very important to know about its history before understanding what CRYPTOCURRENCY actually is !

HISTORY OF CRYPTOCURRENCY 

In 1983, the American cryptographer David Chaum conceived an anonymous cryptographic electronic money called ecash. Later, in 1995, he implemented it through Digicash, an early form of cryptographic electronic payments which required user software in order to withdraw notes from a bank and designate specific encrypted keys before it can be sent to a recipient. This allowed the digital currency to be untraceable by the issuing bank, the government, or any third party.

In 1996, the National Security Agency published a paper entitled “How to Make a Mint: the Cryptography of Anonymous Electronic Cash”, describing a Cryptocurrency system, first publishing it in an MIT mailing list and later in 1997, in The American Law Review (Vol. 46, Issue 4)

In 1998, Wei Dai published a description of "b-money", characterized as an anonymous, distributed electronic cash system. Shortly thereafter, Nick Szabo described bit gold.Like bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that would follow it, bit gold (not to be confused with the later gold-based exchange, BitGold) was described as an electronic currency system which required users to complete a proof of work function with solutions being cryptographically put together and published. 

On 6 August 2014, the UK announced its Treasury had commissioned a study of cryptocurrencies, and what role, if any, they could play in the UK economy. The study was also to report on whether regulation should be considered. 

What is Cryptocurrency ?

A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a binary data designed to work as a medium of exchange wherein individual coin ownership records are stored in a ledger existing in a form of a computerized database using strong cryptography to secure transaction records, to control the creation of additional coins, and to verify the transfer of coin ownership.^[1][2] Some crypto schemes use validators to maintain the cryptocurrency. In a proof-of-stake model, owners put up their tokens as collateral. In return, they get authority over the token in proportion to the amount they stake. Generally, these token stakers get additional ownership in the token over time via network fees, newly minted tokens or other such reward mechanisms.Cryptocurrency does not exist in physical form (like paper money) and is typically not issued by a central authority. Cryptocurrencies typically use decentralized control as opposed to a central bank digital currency (CBDC).When a cryptocurrency is minted or created prior to issuance or issued by a single issuer, it is generally considered centralized. When implemented with decentralized control, each cryptocurrency works through distributed ledger technology, typically a blockchain, that serves as a public financial transaction database.

Six conditions met by Cryptocurrencies

According to Jan Lansky, a cryptocurrency is a system that meets six conditions:

1. The system does not require a central authority; its state is maintained through distributed consensus.
2. The system keeps an overview of cryptocurrency units and their ownership.
3. The system defines whether new cryptocurrency units can be created. If new cryptocurrency units can be created, the system defines the circumstances of their origin and how to determine the ownership of these new units.
4. Ownership of cryptocurrency units can be proved exclusively cryptographically.
5. The system allows transactions to be performed in which ownership of the cryptographic units is changed. A transaction statement can only be issued by an entity proving the current ownership of these units.
6. If two different instructions for changing the ownership of the same cryptographic units are simultaneously entered, the system performs at most one of them.

Altcoins

Tokens, cryptocurrencies, and other types of digital assets that are not bitcoin are collectively known as alternative cryptocurrencies, typically shortened to "altcoins" or "alt coins". Paul Vigna of The Wall Street Journal also described altcoins as "alternative versions of bitcoin"given its role as the model protocol for altcoin designers. The term is commonly used to describe coins and tokens created after bitcoin. A list of some cryptocurrencies can be found in the List of cryptocurrencies article.

Altcoins often have underlying differences with bitcoin. For example, Litecoin aims to process a block every 2.5 minutes, rather than bitcoin's 10 minutes, which allows Litecoin to confirm transactions faster than bitcoin. Another example is Ethereum, which has smart contract functionality that allows decentralized applications to be run on its blockchain. Ethereum was the most used blockchain in 2020, according to Bloomberg News. In 2016, it had the largest "following" of any altcoin, according to the New York Times.

Significant rallies across altcoin markets are often referred to as an "altseason".

Crypto token

A blockchain account can provide functions other than making payments, for example in decentralized applications or smart contracts. (Units of) fungible tokens are sometimes referred to as crypto tokens (or cryptotokens). These terms are usually reserved for other fungible tokens than the main cryptocurrency of the blockchain, that is, usually, for fungible tokens issued within a smart contract running on top of a blockchain such as Ethereum. There are also non-fungible tokens.

TRENDS 

The "market cap" of any coin is the calculated by multiplying the price by the number of coins in circulation. The total cryptocurrency market cap has historically been dominated by Bitcoin accounting for at least 50% of the market cap value where altcoins have increased and decreased in market cap value in relation to Bitcoin. Bitcoin's value is largely determined by speculation among other technological limiting factors known as block chain rewards coded into the architecture technology of Bitcoin itself. The cryptocurrency market cap follows a trend known as the "halving", which is when the block rewards received from Bitcoin are halved due to technological mandated limited factors instilled into Bitcoin which in turn limits the supply of Bitcoin. As the date reaches near of an halving (twice thus far historically) the cryptocurrency market cap increases, followed by a downtrend.

By mid-June 2021 cryptocurrency as an admittedly extremely volatile asset class for portfolio diversification had begun to be offered by some wealth managers in the US for 401(k)s.

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I'll come with series of blogs on this topic , till then bye, Have a nice day ! 

Regards 

Osm RD a.k.a Rugved