Darshan Joshi

Feb 08, 2022

What Is Cryptocurrency? Here’s What You Should Know

Cryptocurrencies are digital assets created using computer networking software that enables secure trading and ownership.

and most other cryptocurrencies are supported by a technology known as blockchain, which maintains a tamper-resistant record of transactions and keeps track of who owns what. Public blockchains are usually decentralized, which means they operate without a central authority such as a bank or government.

The term cryptocurrencies comes from the cryptographic processes that developers have put in place to guard against fraud. These innovations addressed a problem faced by previous efforts to create purely digital currencies: how to prevent people from making copies of their holdings and attempting to spend them twice.

Individual units of cryptocurrencies can be referred to as coins or tokens, depending on how they are used. Some are intended to be units of exchange for goods and services, others are stores of value, and some are mostly designed to help run computer networks that carry out more complex financial transactions.

One common way cryptocurrencies are created is through a process known as mining, which is used by Bitcoin. Mining can be an energy-intensive process in which computers solve complex puzzles in order to verify the authenticity of transactions on the network. As a reward, the owners of those computers can receive newly created cryptocurrency. Other cryptocurrencies use different methods to create and distribute tokens, and many have a significantly lighter environmental impact.

For most people, the easiest way to get cryptocurrency is to buy it, either from an exchange or another user.