Cryptocurrencies

What is Cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency may seem complicated, but it’s easy understand the basics. Cryptocurrency can be thought of as email for money. Instead of sending a message to an inbox, however, you send money to a “wallet”. To access your inbox you use a password, and to access your wallet you need something similar, but it is called a “key”. We call it a key because it is used the same way you use a key for your car or house - for security.

The word “cryptocurrency” is a combination of the words “cryptography”, and “currency”. Cryptography is a word that means “secret writing”, and can be used to communicate securely, or even to verify someone is who they say they are.

What is Cryptography?

Cryptography is a way to secure information, literally “secret writing”. It provides a way to make sure that no one can access information that they shouldn’t be able to. What is Currency? Money. Traditionally in the form of coins or banknotes, such as the dollar in the US, or the Euro in Europe.

How does a cryptocurrency differ from traditional currency?

Traditionally currencies have the limitation of being physical objects. It is hard to transfer value using coins or banknotes across large distances, or over the internet without an intermediary such as a bank. They also require a centralized and trusted authority such as a government or reserve bank to issue and mint the currency.

Cryptocurrency, on the other hand, requires no centralized authority to create it, and is easily transferred over the internet between two parties.

• History of cryptocurrency / bitcoin.
• What is a currency?
• What is cryptography?
• How does a cryptocurrency differ from traditional currency?
• Where does the currency come from? How is it created? Mining.
• Proof of Work
• Proof of Stake
• How does a wallet work?
• Blockchain - public ledger
• Bitcoin
• Altcoins - Litecoin, Peercoin, Namecoin, Primecoin, Solarcoin, Permacredits
• Security & Consensus
• Mining Pools

Extra

• Practical use cases - sending money to poorer countries, internet purchases.
• Why use this instead of the banking system / money? - fees, inability to transfer via internet.
• Programmable money

Questions