In this blog post, I’ll answer the question, “what is cryptocurrency?”
And I’ll go even further than just the definition and meaning.
I’ll also explain why cryptocurrencies are important and how they can help your business.
The goal is to help you understand how crypto currency works and how you can use it for your business.
What Is Cryptocurrency?
A cryptocurrency is a virtual or digital currency that uses cryptography technology, which makes counterfeiting or double-spending nearly impossible.
Blockchain technology, a decentralized ledger maintained by a global network of computers, is at the heart of many cryptocurrencies.
Since there is no central body issuing cryptocurrencies, there is no way for governments to control or manipulate them.
How Does Cryptocurrency Work?
Cryptocurrency is a digital, encrypted, and decentralized means of trade.
Unlike traditional currencies such as the US dollar or euro, cryptocurrencies are not governed by a central body.
Instead, these functions are widely distributed among cryptocurrency users through the Internet.
Cryptocurrencies are based on what is known as a distributed public ledger, or blockchain, which is a record of all transactions that are updated and maintained by currency holders.
Cryptocurrency coins are generated through a process called mining, which requires computing power to solve complex mathematical problems to generate units of cryptocurrencies.
Additionally, users can buy cryptocurrencies through brokers and then store and spend them using a cryptocurrency wallet.
You can use cryptocurrency to buy traditional products and services, but most individuals invest in cryptocurrency in the same way that they would invest in other assets such as stocks or precious metals.
While cryptocurrency is an innovative and lucrative asset class, investing in it can be risky as you must do a fair amount of research to properly understand how the cryptocurrency system works.
What Are The Advantages Of Cryptocurrency?
There are many benefits of cryptocurrency.
1. Easy And Convenient Transactions.
Cryptocurrency transactions are simpler, cheaper, and in a manner more private than most other types of transactions.
Anyone can send and receive a variety of cryptocurrencies using a simple smartphone app, hardware wallet, or exchange wallet.
Certain cryptocurrency types, such as bitcoin, litecoin, and ethereum, can be purchased at bitcoin ATMs with cash.
It is not necessary to have a bank account to use cryptocurrency.
A person can buy bitcoins using cash at an ATM and then transfer the currency to their phone.
This could be one of the most significant benefits of cryptocurrencies for those who do not have proper access to the regular banking system.
2. Exceptional Security.
Because they are based on cryptography and blockchain technology, decentralized cryptocurrencies are generally considered a secure method of payment.
This is one of the biggest advantages of using cryptocurrency.
The hash rate mostly governs cryptographic security.
The higher the hash rate, the more computing power is required to breach the network.
Bitcoin is the most secure cryptocurrency on the market, with the highest hash rate of any network so far.
However, using a cryptocurrency exchange is only as secure as the exchange itself.
Most cryptocurrency hacking cases involve hackers hacking exchanges or people doing mistakes.
Almost all cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum, etc, are secured through the use of a technology called a blockchain, which is continuously monitored, checked, and verified by an enormous amount of processing power.
Bitcoin’s network has never been hacked.
And the basic concepts behind cryptocurrencies help make them safe: the systems are permissionless, and the core software is open-source, allowing myriad computer scientists and cryptographers to analyze all aspects of network operation and security.
3. Faster Settlement Times And Lower Transaction Fees.
While some individuals want to invest in cryptocurrency simply for capital gains, others may see value in the ability to use it as a means of exchange.
Transactions in bitcoin and etherium can cost anywhere from nickels and dimes and several dollars or more.
Other cryptocurrencies, such as Litecoin, XRP, etc, can be transferred for some cents or less.
Payments for most cryptocurrencies are settled within seconds or minutes.
Bank wire transfers can be much more expensive and often take three to five business days to complete.
4. Growth Of Industry At An Exponential Rate.
The cryptocurrency industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the twenty-first century.
Being involved now might be compared to being involved with cutting-edge Internet startups and companies in the 1990s and early 2000s.
In 2013, the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market was approximately $1.6 billion.
By June 2021, it had grown to over $1.4 trillion.
5. High Returns.
It is no secret that bitcoin has outperformed all other assets over the past 12 years.
When bitcoin launched in 2009, it was almost worthless.
In subsequent years it would climb to a fraction of a cent and then to tens of thousands of dollars.
This equates to a million percentage point increase.
In contrast, the S&P 500 index of stocks has an average annual return of about 8%.
At times, certain altcoins have outperformed bitcoin by a wide margin, although many of those coins have declined in price.
Gains like these are among the great benefits of cryptocurrency.
On the other hand, losses are among the most well-known disadvantages.
Prices in the cryptocurrency sector have always been volatile, which is one of the primary advantages of cryptocurrency for day traders and speculators.
6. More Private Transactions.
While privacy is one of the benefits of cryptocurrencies, it is not as private as some belief.
The blockchain creates a permanent public ledger of all transactions.
While this ledger only contains wallet addresses, monitoring of transactions becomes possible if an observer can link a user’s identity to a particular wallet.
While most cryptocurrency transactions are pseudonymous, there are techniques to make more anonymous transactions.
Coin mixing services aggregate transactions so that it is difficult to differentiate them from one another while confusing outside observers.
Individuals operating a full node further increase the opacity of their transactions because observers cannot always know whether transactions passing through a node were sent by the node’s operator or by someone else.
These techniques are intended for expert users and can be problematic for those unfamiliar with cryptography.
Thus, although complete anonymity is not one of the primary benefits of cryptocurrency, transactions are still generally more private than using fiat money with third-party payment processors.
When trading with cryptocurrency, you do not have to provide personal information to the person with whom you are doing business.
This ensures that your financial information is not shared with other parties such as banks, payment providers, advertisements, or credit-rating agencies.
Additionally, because no sensitive information is transmitted over the Internet, there is little risk of your financial information or identity being compromised or stolen.
7. Diversification Of Portfolio.
Cryptocurrencies have established a reputation as an uncorrelated asset class.
Cryptocurrency markets operate independently of other markets, and their price is determined by factors other than those that affect stocks, equities, bonds, and commodities.
Any asset that has grown by millions of percentage points in just less than 12 years, as many cryptocurrencies have, clearly is unrelated to anything else.
However, it is worth mentioning that cryptocurrencies have begun to sometimes trade with stocks for short periods of time.
8. Hedge Against Inflation.
Cryptocurrencies that can be mined and have a limited amount of volume, such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Monero, to mention a few, are considered strong hedges against inflation.
Because monetary inflation can occur when central banks and governments print more money and increase their supply, things that are scarce tend to rise in price.
With more new dollars chasing fewer and fewer coins, the price of these fixed-supply coins is more likely to rise.
Additionally, the bitcoin protocol, for example, is designed to maintain the scarcity of those coins regardless of monetary policy changes.
9. Cross-Border Payments.
National borders do not have any impact on cryptocurrencies.
A resident of one country can easily send cryptocurrency to a resident of another country.
Transferring funds across international borders using traditional financial services can take a long time and come with significant fees.
This may not be possible under certain circumstances due to laws, sanctions, or conflicts between particular nations.
Because your crypto assets are not tied to any financial institution or government, they are accessible to you regardless of where you are globally or what happens to any major intermediary in the global financial system.
Cryptocurrency makes transactions with people on the other side of the world as easy as shopping with cash at your neighborhood supermarket.
10. A Financial System That Is More Inclusive.
One of the benefits of cryptocurrency is that anyone can participate due to its decentralized and permissionless nature.
So it is a great option for those who do not have access to the regular financial system.
Individuals do not need authorization from any financial body or government to participate in the crypto ecosystem.
Additionally, they are not required to have a bank account.
Today, billions of people are “bankless,” meaning they do not have access to the financial system, including bank accounts.
These individuals just need a smartphone to become their own bank with cryptocurrency.
11. Transactional Freedom.
One of the most important benefits of cryptocurrency is its ability to exchange value between two parties.
This can be accomplished without the involvement of a third party, therefore increasing the freedom of transactions and resistance to censorship.
Banks and other payment processors have the option to discontinue the service for any reason whatsoever.
This complicates matters for some journalists, political dissidents, and others working in countries with harsh government regimes.
Since a central body does not control most cryptocurrencies, it is very difficult to prevent their use.
12. 24/7 Markets.
Stock exchanges are open only on weekdays from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm.
With respect to the New York Stock Exchange, it is Eastern Standard Time (NYSE).
Most traditional financial markets are closed on evenings, weekends, and holidays.
On the other hand, the cryptocurrency markets operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Some factors that can impair a person’s ability to trade cryptocurrencies are power outages, internet failure, or outages at a controlled exchange.
13. Transparency.
Every crypto currency transaction is made public.
This eliminates the possibility of manipulating transactions, changing the money supply, or changing the rules in the middle of the game.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Cryptocurrency?
There are many drawbacks of cryptocurrency as well.
1. Scalability.
The most important concern with cryptocurrencies is scalability.
While the number and adoption of digital coins are growing rapidly, they are still dwarfed by the number of transactions processed each day by payments giant VISA.
Additionally, transaction speed is another important criterion for which cryptocurrencies cannot compete on an equal footing with giants such as Visa and Mastercard unless the infrastructure supporting these technologies expands dramatically.
Such development is complex and complicated to do.
However, some have already offered several scalability solutions, including the Lightning Network, sharding, and staking.
2. Volatile.
Since their inception, cryptocurrencies have come a long way.
However, they are a fairly new technology.
As a result, markets remain highly volatile.
Cryptocurrencies often double in value within a few months.
Additionally, it is not unusual for cryptocurrencies to halve in value within the same period of time.
Thus, cryptocurrencies are currently being used by investors who are not afraid of speculation or volatility.
Investors seeking a stable source of value for their investments usually avoid cryptocurrency marketplaces.
3. Rules And Regulations.
First, the primary advantage of cryptocurrencies is their ability to operate independently without the need for a central bank that controls all operations.
However, this is the primary downside of these investments.
Firstly, since there is no central bank that mediates all transactions, most of them are irreversible.
Second, there is no centralized party or government to enforce its price or value.
The value of the cryptocurrency is entirely determined by the value placed on it by peer investors.
Thus, if the investing community loses interest in a specific cryptocurrency due to a security breach, the units of the currency may become worthless overnight!
4. Loss Of Data.
Money invested in cryptocurrency is stored in digital wallets that are password protected.
If the owner deletes these passwords and cannot retrieve them, the funds stored in the digital wallet may become inaccessible to them.
5. Legal Difficulties.
The problem with cryptocurrencies is that they operate completely anonymously.
As a result, they are commonly used by organized crime syndicates and other individuals engaged in illegal activities.
Since the government does not regulate cryptocurrencies, criminals see them as the best means of money laundering.
This can be dangerous for investment.
Due to the complete anonymity of the market, it is possible for investors to engage in such money laundering operations without their knowledge.
Investors can find themselves in legal trouble simply by trading cryptocurrency.
To prevent such issues, many investors stay away from cryptocurrencies entirely.
In addition to the difficulties discussed earlier, many countries have made it illegal to issue and receive cryptocurrencies.
If investors continue to trade these currencies despite the ban, they also engage in criminal activity and face legal consequences.
6. Tax Difficulties.
Since cryptocurrency is fairly a new industry, there is a lack of clarity about how earnings from these investments should be taxed.
Since the rules are not clear at all, the tax codes of most countries do not include cryptocurrency gains as taxable income.
Even if it is not explicitly done, investors must report and pay taxes on their income.
Since governments lack a robust mechanism to determine the exact amount of income from cryptocurrencies, some investors have attempted to avoid paying taxes on them.
This is causing them trouble with the tax authorities.
Often, investors want to pay their dues.
However, they have been unable to do so due to misunderstandings about the exact form of tax to be imposed on cryptocurrencies.
As a result, the taxation of cryptocurrency is a complex process that requires high transaction expenses.
Which Cryptocurrencies Are The Most Popular?
The most popular cryptocurrencies are listed below!
1. Bitcoin (BTC).
As the new coins are coming in the cryptocurrency era, bitcoin is still the coin that most people refer to when discussing digital currency.
The currency’s mystery founder – believed to be Satoshi Nakamoto – launched it in 2009, and it has been on a roller-coaster ride ever since.
However, bitcoin did not gain wide acceptance until 2017.
2. Ethereum (ETH).
Ethereum – the name of the cryptocurrency platform – is the second most recognized cryptocurrency.
The system enables you to use Ether (the currency) for a variety of purposes, but Ethereum’s smart contract feature contributes to the currency’s popularity.
3. Binance Coin (BNB).
Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency issued by Binance, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges.
While Binance Coin was initially designed to be used for payments with fewer transactions, it can now be used to make payments and buy a variety of products and services.
4. Tether (USDT).
The price of Tether is fixed at $1 per coin.
This is because it is a stable coin.
In the case of Tether, the stable coin is denominated in a fixed asset, in US dollars.
Tether is often used as a bridge currency when traders exchange one cryptocurrency for another.
Instead of returning in dollars, they use Tether.
However, some are concerned that Tether is not secure as it is not backed by dollars in reserve, but rather a short-term form of unsecured debt.
5. Solana (SOL).
Launched in March 2020, Solana is a relatively new cryptocurrency that prides itself on the speed of transactions and the overall robustness of its “web-scale” platform.
The SOL currency will be issued in a limited amount of 480 million coins.
6. USD Coin (USDC).
The USD coin, like Tether, is a stable coin pegged to the dollar, which means that its value should not fluctuate.
According to the currency’s creators, it is backed entirely by reserve assets, or “equivalent, fair value,” which are held in accounts with authorized US financial institutions.
7. Cardano (ADA).
Cardano is the cryptocurrency framework that powers the currency name ADA.
Cardano, founded by one of the co-founders of Ethereum, also uses smart contracts to facilitate identity management.
8. Ripple Coin (XRP).
Formerly known as Ripple and founded in 2012, XRP enables the transfer of funds in various real-world currencies.
Ripple is advantageous for cross-border transactions as it facilitates payments through a trustworthy mechanism.
9. Terra (Luna).
Using its Luna cryptocurrency, Terra acts as a backup for various stable coins based on real currencies such as the dollar or euro.
Terra contributes to the price stability of stable coins through various technologies and also enables smart contracts.
10. Polkadot (DOT).
Polkadot, which was launched in May 2020, is a digital currency that combines the blockchain technology of several cryptocurrencies.
One of the inventors of Polkadot is a co-founder of Ethereum, and some industry observers believe that Polkadot is attempting to decouple Ethereum.
11. Avalanche (AVAX).
Avalanche is a low-cost and fast blockchain platform based on smart contracts that focuses on developing decentralized applications and supporting the establishment of custom blockchains.
Its users can transact using native AVAX tokens.
12. Dogecoin (DOGE).
Dogecoin was created as a joke after the meteoric rise of bitcoin.
The name comes from an internet meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog.
Unlike many other crypto currencies with a limited supply of coins, Dogecoin has an indefinite supply.
It can be used for payments and money transfers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
Below are some frequently asked questions:
1. What Is Cryptocurrency In Simple Words?
Cryptocurrencies are digital assets and decentralized systems that enable secure online transactions.
2. How Do You Get Cryptocurrency?
Any investor can buy cryptocurrencies through popular cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase, mobile apps such as Cash App, or through brokers.
Another popular method of investing in cryptocurrencies is through financial derivatives like CME’s Bitcoin futures.
3. What Is The Purpose Of Cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrencies represent a fundamental change in the way money is used.
They aim to simplify the existing financial system to make it more efficient and cost-effective.
Their technology and architecture decentralize existing monetary systems allowing transacting parties to exchange value and money without the aid of intermediary entities such as banks.
4. Can You Generate Cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency mining is the process by which cryptocurrencies are created.
For example, bitcoin is created through bitcoin mining.
The process involves downloading software that contains a partial or complete history of network transactions.
While everyone with a computer and internet connection can mine bitcoin, the business is dominated by giant corporations due to the energy and resource requirements of the region.
5. What Are the Most Popular Cryptocurrencies?
The most popular cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, followed by Ethereum, Binance Coin, Solana, and Cardano.
Conclusion.
Cryptocurrencies are still a new technology and the industry is still in its infancy.
As a business owner, it is important to be aware of how they work and how they can impact your business.
It is also important to understand whether they can help or hinder your business.
I hope this article gave you a better understanding of cryptocurrencies and their impact on your business.
Share this article with your friends and family on social media.
Also, let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below.
Thanks for reading!
