What is the real meaning of crypto?
Cryptocurrency is decentralized digital money, based on blockchain technology. You may be familiar with the most popular versions, Bitcoin and Ethereum, but there are more than 5,000 different cryptocurrencies in circulation, according to CoinLore.
You can use crypto to buy regular goods and services, although many people invest in cryptocurrencies as they would in other assets, like stocks or precious metals. While cryptocurrency is a novel and exciting asset class, purchasing it can be risky as you must take on a fair amount of research to fully understand how each system works.
How Does Cryptocurrency Work?
A cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange that is digital, encrypted and decentralized. Unlike the U.S. Dollar or the Euro, there is no central authority that manages and maintains the value of a cryptocurrency. Instead, these tasks are broadly distributed among a cryptocurrency’s users via the internet.
What is a Blockchain?
A blockchain is an open, distributed ledger that records transactions in code. In practice, it’s a little like a checkbook that’s distributed across countless computers around the world. Transactions are recorded in “blocks” that are then linked together on a “chain” of previous cryptocurrency transactions.
“Imagine a book where you write down everything you spend money on each day,” says Buchi Okoro, CEO and co-founder of African cryptocurrency exchange Quidax. “Each page is similar to a block, and the entire book, a group of pages, is a blockchain.”
With a blockchain, everyone who uses a cryptocurrency has their own copy of this book to create a unified transaction record. Software logs each new transaction as it happens, and every copy of the blockchain is updated simultaneously with the new information, keeping all records identical and accurate.
To prevent fraud, each transaction is checked using one of two main validation techniques: proof of work or proof of stake.
Disclaimer: This article is being left short to prevent information overload for beginners
Cryptocurrency can be purchased on peer-to-peer networks and cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Coinbase and Bitfinex. Keep an eye out for fees, though, as some of these exchanges charge what can be prohibitively high costs on small crypto purchases. Coinbase, for instance, charges a fee of 0.5% of your purchase plus a flat fee of $0.99 to $2.99 depending on the size of your transaction.
More recently, the investing app Robinhood started offering the ability to buy several of the top cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin, without the fees of many of the major exchanges.
“It was once fairly difficult but now it’s relatively easy, even for crypto novices,” Zeiler says. “An exchange like Coinbase caters to non-technical folks. It’s very easy to set up an account there and link it to a bank account.”
If you want exposure to the crypto market, you might invest in individual stocks of crypto companies. “As far as crypto-oriented stocks go, Coinbase is expected to have an IPO sometime in 2021,” Zeiler says. “There are also a few Bitcoin mining stocks such as Hive Blockchain (HIVE). If you want some crypto exposure with less risk, you can invest in big companies that are adopting blockchain technology, such as IBM, Bank of America and Microsoft.”