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Cryptocurrency has been around for a while, but a sizable portion of the population doesn't understand what it is and how it works. In this video, we break down everything, from its history to its relevance in the market.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Today we're going to talk about cryptocurrency. It is a digital form of currency that can be used to purchase goods, services, and also can be used for investment purposes. Cryptocurrency is traded peer-to-peer through decentralized blockchain technology.
Let's take a step back... Peer-to-peer means trade between two willing individuals through a decentralized meaning it's not overseen by the federal government with blockchain technology, which is a virtual public ledger that records transactions. Say I wanted to send you some cryptocurrency I would post the transaction in my cryptocurrency wallet then it would go through this process to make sure it's a legit transaction. This is the mining phase- when most people think of a miner you're probably thinking of someone with a pick hacking away gold and that's not exactly what that is. In this case cryptocurrency, miners are really computers that are processing these transactions. They are reading the cryptographic keys and once they confirm the transaction is correct they post it to the blockchain. Once it is posted people are allowed to see the transaction.
Cryptocurrencies have been around since the 1990s when tech companies were thinking of new forms of currency. Digital currency was an idea at the time but it never came to be until 2008 when Satoshi Nakamoto released a whitepaper on Bitcoin. It was after this that Bitcoin became readable available for trading in January of 2009.
In 2017, Bitcoin was valued at just under $1,000 per Bitcoin and quickly rose to close to $19,000 per Bitcoin. However, once it did reach the high point it did come back down to under $9.000 per Bitcoin. It is volatile and you should be aware of that. There is more to cryptocurrency than Bitcoin. Have you heard of etherum, dash, or ripple? You might not have heard of them but these are other types of cryptocurrencies.
So why are you hearing more about cryptocurrencies? While the fame of Bitcoin is well known in general these currencies are becoming more relevant because there are individuals that believe it'll be the new currency, so they want to buy them now as they're cheaper.
If you're interested in investing in cryptocurrency make sure to do your research into what you're buying and once you think you've done enough research do some more! I hope this has been helpful in learning about cryptocurrency.