The Basics

 So what do I mean when I say that this blog is going to be about Cryptocurrency?

We all know what currency is, we use it all of the time: US Dollars, British Pounds, Euro's Japanese Yen etc. Each of these currencies have their own "tokens" such as coins or notes (in the US they have nickels, quarters, dimes, $100 dollar notes etc.) and they can be exchanged for products and services. We use the currency to buy things but only in the country where they are valid, you can't (usually) take Australian dollars and spend them in shops in Kenya for example.

This means that the currency that we are used to is specific to the area in which we live and if we want to travel to a different country in the world we generally have to exchange one currency for another. The exchange often costs a small fee and we need to know in advance approximately how much we need to exchange otherwise when we get back home after a trip we have to exchange it back (and paying another small fee).

Looking it up in a dictionary, the word crypto means hidden, secret or being concealed in fact dictionary.com  defines it as "a person who secretly supports or adheres to a group, party, or belief." or "secret or hidden; not publicly admitted"

So does that mean that cryptocurrency is currency that is hidden from view or concealed?

I suppose in some ways it is, it is a form of currency that has no physical form. There are no coins or notes that you can hold, no bank that you can go to to withdraw your money and put it in your pocket. If you can't see it, hold it, smell it, or touch it then you could say it is hidden from view but, to me, many of the good points about the different cryptocurrencies are clear.

They generally are fully international, 1 bitcoin in the US is the same as 1 bitcoin in the UK, 1 bitcoin in Canada, 1 bitcoin in France or wherever else you are in the world. Sending cryptocurrencies around the world is often easier and quicker than sending normal currency as you don't need to go through the banking system of several countries and multiple currency exchanges to do it.

They are a digital currency so it is often easier for programmers to include them in programs than normal currency. Plenty of games and mobile apps have been (and are being) developed that use various different cryptocurrency tokens for payments and payouts.

It is easy to get started with creating online wallets and depositing, receiving and transferring cryptocurrencies is relatively easy (and can be really quick).

However that doesn't mean that understanding them is easy, there are well over 6,000 different types of cryptocurrency (according to wikipedia) and the sheer number of different terms, abbreviations and jargon out there is mind boggling. I haven't even scratched the surface with my own learning of the cryptocurrencies yet but I aim to share.

The crypto part of it really refers to the fact that the currencies are secured using cryptography so that they are almost impossible to fake and can't be spent twice.

In later posts I'll start to introduce some of the different terms and the different coins that are out there, as well as apps that I have tried to use.

Thanks for listening, more soon.

Crypto Cardigan

As with all of my posts, all views are my own, any errors or omissions that I might are accidental and nothing that I say should be relied upon. This blog is not giving financial advice and you should do your own research before making any investments.