Nowadays, cryptocurrency is the latest topic on the internet. Every day, you can see the rise in the price of Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other cryptocurrencies and increased popularity of them among mining enthusiasts and developers. Ultimately, it all resulted in increased sale of mining hardware and graphics cards. However, it has been observed that it is bad for consumers or best for hardware manufacturers, as it increases the price of mining hardware substantially. The rapid increase in cryptocurrency has made people to believe in its craft theories. In addition, its popularity had made people to get work on the projects related to cryptocurrency and make the most of it. Be it magazines, news outlets or news channels, all places are flooded with cryptocurrency information. So, in order to filter and provide you the best information, we list nine things that everybody must know about the cryptocurrencies. Let’s discuss.
Origin
Bitcoin started the cryptocurrency era. Invented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, Bitcoin was the first decentralized cryptocurrency or digital cash. However, it was not the first attempt to make digital currencies. Previously, many attempts were made in order to make digital currency in 1990’s. In 1990, David Chaum worked on DigiCash; however, his decision of leading the company failed.
After invention of Bitcoin, plenty of cryptocurrencies surfaced in the market. Released in 2011, one such currency was Namecoin that tried to make decentralized DNS. In the past years, numerous cryptocurrencies released, but no currency achieved the success as Bitcoin did. However, in the market, after Bitcoin, Ethereum is the second most sought-after cryptocurrency that is enjoying great success.
Stability Issue
The second thing that you must know about cryptocurrencies is their unstability. Yes, cryptocurrencies are not stable. For instance, you can see Bitcoin value keeps on fluctuating. One day it is 2000$ and next day it is 500$. At present, per Bitcoin value is 4311$. The second next popular cryptocurrency is Ethereum. Miners are showing their interest in Ethereum mining by investing heavily in its hardware. As of now, decrease in Ethereum price can also be seen.
Bitcoin and Ethereum
When you search on the internet, you can see above 900 digital currencies. Not all cryptocurrencies are popular. When talking about the Bitcoin, it is a peer-to-peer Electronic Payment Method, invented by pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Since from the release time of Bitcoin, no other cryptocurrency has matched the level of success of Bitcoin. Recently only, Ethereum has attained the second position in the most lovable cryptocurrencies. At present, one Ethereum price is around $295. Both of the cryptocurrencies are on the top right now.
Widely Acceptance of Cryptocurrencies
Today, cryptocurrencies are widely accepted everywhere across the world, right from restaurants to online shopping portals. Even, you can make use of Bitcoins to order pizza. In addition, you can also make payments of goods and services through cryptocurrencies.
Initial Coin Offering
ICO has grabbed all attention of the mining market. Even startup companies have started making use of ICO in order to raise funds. They are raising funds so fast through ICO. Invented by Brendan Eich, Brave (web browser) raised around $35 Million funds in merely 30 seconds, post the ICO release.
To those, who don’t know what Initial Coin Offering is, here is a definition. ICO is digital currency project that helps startup companies to raise money. In the initial phase, the only idea is to raise funds. ICO participants buy tokens for future profit and it is kind of similar to cryptocurrency. For more details on ICO, you can read on the internet.
Bitcoin – A Preferred Cryptocurrency
Miners’ interest and easy adoption make Bitcoin as preferred cryptocurrency in the mining industry. Developers have already observed that Bitcoin value will keep on increasing in the coming time. As per Ronnie Moas – Analyst, Bitcoin value might increase from 80 to 100% in the coming 2018. Further, he continued by saying that eventually Bitcoin will attain more and more value in the coming time even after ups and downs in the market.
Anonymity
The biggest reason of acceptance of cryptocurrencies among people is their anonymous nature. Anonymity in the following things –
- No identity revelation of users when doing transactions
- No Bitcoin address is tied to user
- Transmitted data on decentralized network make use of some random node
However, in all cases, 100% anonymity is not assured, as there are few cases in which nodes could be traced. To read about the anonymity of bitcoin, you can read various piece of information on the internet.
8. Using a Cryptocurrency is Legal?
Among users, legality of cryptocurrency is a hot topic. In countries like Saudi Arabia and Bolivia, cryptocurrency mining is banned and person who did this is punished severely. Besides these, there are countries that have made some rules and regulations on the usage of cryptocurrency. For instance, Israel have imposed a particular tax amount on each Bitcoin transaction. Therefore, it also depends in which country you are using Bitcoin and it is good to follow regulations made on Bitcoin selling and mining.
9. Future of Cryptocurrency
As everybody can see that cryptocurrencies future is bright. Along with big and medium enterprises, startups have also started taking advantage of cryptocurrencies and make use of ICO. In fact, the universal nature of cryptocurrencies and anonymity makes them popular among crypto miners. However, these can be used for illegal activities like drugs. They are relevant in dark web too.
Wrapping Up
The above-listed are some of the things that most of the know might not be known before. The rise in cryptography can be observed and for people, it is not a risk. As this information will surely make you well informed about Bitcoin mining or trading. This rise in the cryptocurrencies also promoting young talented developers of the world to make applications or services for businesses or users. Therefore, it will be interesting to see the further progress of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.