What Is Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is a decentralized digital currency. There is no physical money associated
with it; it is created on and only exists on the blockchain, so it is a virtual asset. Like most
financial assets, it gets its value based on the trust people put in it to be worth something
now and in the future, like shiny golden rocks called gold, or pieces of paper with the
picture of a president on them called dollars. Long ago, people used shells and beads as
financial assets.
❏ Cryptocurrency gets its name from the word cryptography, the science of protecting
computer information using mathematics.
❏ Cryptocurrency on the blockchain is assigned to an owner and is accessed via the
owner’s cryptocurrency wallet.
❏ Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency. It was originally designed to be used as a direct
peer-to-peer electronic cash system allowing users to hold a form of currency and make
transactions directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party such as a
bank or credit card company to be involved in the transaction.
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What Is Cryptocurrency
❏ There is no central authority controlling cryptocurrency holdings or transactions such as a
bank, credit card company or a government. They are unable to manipulate, interfere or
stop a blockchain on which cryptocurrencies operate.
❏ Unlike government issued money (fiat currency) that has a stable value, most
cryptocurrencies have no stable value and are only worth what people are willing to pay
for them; therefore, their value is constantly fluctuating, sometimes wildly, due to the
speculative nature of the market. Some cryptocurrency, called stable coins, are pegged
1:1 with fiat currency, most commonl