By rigid definition, cryptocurrencies are digital methods of payment through which encryption protocols are used to generate and verify funds before any financial transaction is made online.
But to most of us, the concept is nothing but a new way to pay for our day-to-day items in a more secure way.
The first decentralized cryptocurrency in the world was Bitcoin, which is also now the most popular.
It was created in 2009, supposedly by a person named Satoshi Nakamoto.
Over the years, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have gained a huge amount of popularity and also a lot of value in terms of price.
In the early days when the concept was first gaining traction, the only cryptocurrency available was Bitcoin.
In order to purchase Bitcoins, one had to mine for it using their computers. Now you can easily buy them online.
The process of mining will be explained later on in this article, so stay tuned.
Why Choose Cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrencies are probably the most stable out of all currency systems.
Bitcoin, by far, is the most popular and reliable.
With prices increasing by the day, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies also make for good investments. Apart from all this, cryptocurrencies are also very secure.
Bitcoin uses industry-level encryption and ALL transactions are anonymous, but the figures are posted in a public ledger.
They can only be referenced by an alphanumerical sequence and by the amount transacted.
Mining Cryptocurrencies
In the start, the only way to mine a Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) was to use a computer processor to solve math problems and get rewarded with Bitcoins.
Soon after that, people discovered that using the graphics card of a computer was far faster than a regular CPU.
Unfortunately, this caused a different problem-excess heat and electricity bill so high that most miners using a GPU were bleeding money every single day they continued to mine.
After about four years, the first dedicated Bitcoin mining technology was introduced into the market. The new tech was called ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) mining. This is still used today.
Another method is FPGA mining. It's a very efficient and fast way to mine, comparable to GPU mining and drastically outperforming CPU mining.
FPGAs typically consume very small amounts of power with relatively high hash ratings, making them more viable and efficient than GPU mining.
A new and emerging way for people to mine cryptocurrencies are cloud mining services. These are businesses with a lot of mining equipment that allows customers to use the tools under a contract.
In the contract, a customer can choose which cryptocurrency they would like mined for them, as well as the duration and amount of resources they want dedicated to it.
Depending on the weight of these factors, the price of the contract will then be determined.
All of the chosen currency will then be given to the customer. Although this is a gamble, it's a pretty safe investment.
This is gaining a lot of popularity as it is simpler to do, and the initial investment is significantly lower than buying equipment, having to maintain it and pay for the electricity it produces.
Popular Cryptocurrencies:All these and more are available online to purchase. Most of them can be purchased using a credit card with little to no verification of identity or age.
Even with the wealth of new and emerging cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin will always remain the original cryptocurrency that set the industry standard for all others to come.
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