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33 Cryptocurrencies Described in Four Words or Less

bitcoins

The cryptocurrency which has been a popular topic of discussion since several years have concluded at the end of 2017, with the bitcoin featuring the trading beginning on Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the conversations then seemed to reach a fever pitch. But what exactly is a cryptocurrency? And what’s the secret behind its meteoric rise?

Similar to money, cryptocurrency is also a medium of exchange. But, the cryptocurrency is a virtual or digital currency, which means that there is no physical coin or bill which owners of the currency can possess. The “crypto-“part in the name comes from the fact that it uses cryptography so as to secure and verify the transactions. Adding to it, a common characteristic of many of the cryptocurrencies is the decentralized nature: Which means all the typical currencies are issued from the central bank, but the cryptocurrencies cut out the middlemen with a peer-to-peer system. This decentralization is considered as one of the principal benefits of cryptos because this might increase the transaction speed and allows users to avoid fees charged by the banks and few other traditional financial institutions.

Currently, there are multiple cryptocurrencies which are widely being used. Among them, the biggest are Bitcoin, Ripple, LiteCoin, and Ethererum. However, it is the Bitcoin which remains the largest and also the most talked about cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin was created in 2009 and is credited as the first decentralized cryptocurrency. It is also the first cryptocurrency to make its future traded on a major exchange. The Users of Bitcoins are able to use it as similar to any other traditional currency at thousands of local merchants and vendors, like Overstock and Subway.

Bitcoin, which has garnered widespread attention for its increase in popularity as a digital currency, is also known for what is perhaps its biggest innovation called blockchain.

In the basic terms to define, blockchain is a type of public and digitized ledger. The Bitcoin uses the blockchain technology so as to maintain information on how much Bitcoin is being owned and who owns it exactly. Often than possessing a physical currency, or a digital file which represents the currency, users can just claim to a piece of information which is contained in the blockchain ledger.

Therefore, when a transaction with Bitcoin is made, the currency is transferred between the parties as a block of information which gets added to the historical chain of the existing transaction data. This “ledger” is nothing but a public file where anyone can download a copy of it. Individual identities are encrypted, but however, this feature of the technology is amongst the many reasons why it is so highly considered.

Similar to Bitcoins, the other cryptocurrencies are gaining in stature; the blockchain has expected and emerged as an important technology with a wide array of many potential applications. Blockchain can be used in everything from the expedited transfer of title in the real estate sales to the international transactions

Therefore the outlook of both cryptocurrencies and blockchain are not entirely well defined and the concepts may be initially difficult to grasp, one thing is clear: consumers from all the stripes can be sure that this technology will likely impact the financial futures of the consumers of all the stripes in the near future.

There are more than 2000 cryptocurrencies and the top 33 are described in four words or less in the following infographic, developed by our friend’s at mrbtc.org. Please check the infographic and share your thoughts.

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