What is Cryptocurrency |
Bitcoin |
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"Cryptocurrency is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses cryptography (blockchain) to secure its transactions, to control the creation of additional units, and to verify the transfer of assets." It is a fully online asset that is tracked on the "blockchain". The value of a cryptocurrency is completely determined on what someone is willing to pay for it. These cryptocurrencies are unregulated by the government making them "decentralized" and require no 3rd party when making a purchase with them (banks). The way to obtain a cryptocurrency is done by the means of "mining". The simple version is that the blockchain is built of blocks and miners add another block to the chain and are rewarded with a coin. Obviously this is much harder than it sounds. There is a limited number of each coin available to be mined, adding value based off its rarity.
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Bitcoin, the first to the cryptocurrencies and the most valuable of them to date. Bitcoin is the biggest driving factor behind the cryptocurrency market. It is tracked on the blockchain, keeping record of every transaction every made. This ensures the transaction are accurate and secure, preventing fraud or corrupted files.
There are 21 million Bitcoins available to be mined. |
LitecoinLitecoin works on the same basis as Bitcoin, but with a slight edge in transaction speed. The time it takes to process a Litecoin is much faster than bitcoin and the transaction fees are much lower. Having more coins available brings down the price making it more practical for day to day purchases. There are 84 million Litecoins available to be mined.
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EthereumEthereum is a more complicated currency that is generally used among the more tech savvy community. Bitcoin is traded on a blockchain where Ethereum focuses on running the programming code of an application. This currency is more so used to pay for services and transaction fees on the Ethereum network.
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Where Can I Buy Cryptocurrency?
Coinbase is one of the most well known and trusted exchange platforms for cryptocurrency. It is the site I personally used to buy and store my crypto. If you are thinking about investing in crypto, use the link posted here for a free $10 in Bitcoin after you buy an equivalent of $100 USD in crypto.