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A Beginner’s Guide to Cryptocurrency

Consumers can buy various types of services and products using physical money; similarly, cryptocurrency can also be possible. It is a simple and unique technology that is almost accessible to everyone. When cryptocurrency came across the public eye, it changed the game for investors and business owners worldwide.

Crypto can sound complicated until and unless you understand the basics of it. To have a clear idea about crypto, understanding its evolution is required; let’s find out about the basics of cryptocurrency to its future requirements in this blog.

What is cryptocurrency?

A decentralized digital currency utilized over the Internet is known as a cryptocurrency. It operates under a decentralized format and does not come under any central bank authority. Crypto works through a distributed ledger known as the blockchain. Cryptocurrency is a digital asset with highly secure and encrypted transactions; these currencies are limited in number and will get exhausted after a time.

The production of new units of a certain cryptocurrency is controlled by cryptography, which is also used to protect and verify transactions. Cryptocurrency differs from regular fiat currency as it does not come under any government and is free from interventions and other manipulations. Cryptography ensures that a unit can not get a copy; it secures all the transactions using a mathematical technique.

How did cryptocurrency come into existence?

Crypto was invented in 2008, introducing the first cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. Crypto is based on an underlying technical system, and the first crypto was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, which is Bitcoin. This system makes sure safety, integrity, and balance of the ledger. The system’s main goal is to establish a digital currency under the owner’s control.

Cryptocurrencies are designed to decrease currency production by placing a cap on the total currency circulating. Its use started in 2009 when the organization released its implementation as open-source software. Crypto can not be seized by law enforcement as it is decentralized and released freely without law interference.

Satoshi launched the cryptocurrency by publishing a white paper. This paper outlined the system of currency which requires third-party trust. After the release of this currency, there was a revolution in the crypto market, and many more cryptocurrencies were released.

Major historical events in cryptocurrency evolution

Cryptocurrency has evolved a lot in recent years, but certain events make Crypto what it is today. Let’s take a quick look at those events in crypto history.

• Bitcoin white paper presented

Bitcoin as the 1st cryptocurrency that came into Existence. An anonymous creator ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ presented the white paper ‘Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper’ on 31st October 2008. After the release of this paper, there have been significant changes in the financial market and the field of digital currencies.

• Mining of the 1st block

On 3rd January 2009, the 1st block was mined, called the Genesis Block. This operation makes Bitcoin a cryptocurrency which shows its scalability and proves the potential of this project. After this mining, it has been running uninterruptedly till date.

• The first transaction using crypto

The 1st crypto transaction in history happened on 12th January 2009 when Hal Finney and Satoshi Nakamoto made the 1st Bitcoin transaction. Satoshi has sent 10 BTC to Hal, recorded in the blockchain number 170.

• Establishment of the 1st exchange

New Liberty Standard was the 1st exchange established; the 1st conversion of Bitcoin from the fiat took place on 11th October 2009. Martti Malmi has used the exchange and sent 5050 BTC for $5,05. This transaction was completed through PayPal. This initiated the crypto-fiat exchange, which we generally use today.

• 1st payment using crypto

A programmer became the first person to buy using Crypto on 22nd May 2010. He purchased two pizzas worth $25 by paying 10000 BTC mined by him. People consider it as Bitcoin Pizza Day and often pay using cryptocurrency for pizzas.

• Mt Gox exchange came into existence.

It is one of the largest exchanges in the crypto world; it has reached 70% of global crypto transactions. It was started on 18th July 2010.

• 1st OTC exchange was built

Under the channel #bitcoin-otc, the first over-the-counter exchange was formed on 17th October 2010. It was built on Freenode IRC.

• Market capitalization of crypto

Over the end of November 2010, the combined value of Crypto exceeded a market capitalization of $0.5/BTC. This was the first hike cryptocurrency got after being in Existence.

• Bitcoin mining pool

SlushPool was a well-known mining pool established on 16th December 2010. It was operated by a Bitcoin talk user named ‘Slush’; this mining pool is still active and considered the world’s longest-lived crypto pool.

• Valuation equals to the USD

After three years of release in 2011, Bitcoin-the first cryptocurrency, reached the equal of USD 1 and has been growing since then.

These significant historical facts have been part of crypto evolution and contributed to the popularity of cryptocurrencies.

Why did crypto become popular?

There are multiple reasons why people started considering crypto as a mainstream way for digital currencies. Some of these reasons are mentioned below, clarifying why cryptocurrency became popular.

• Decentralized

In crypto, transfers are done between different people through a peer-to-peer network. Any bank or financial agency does not regulate cryptocurrency. Instead, it gets stored in a digital wallet on your computer and phone. Its decentralized nature makes it popular, as you need to know how much money you can access.

The built-in features of crypto ensure that no one steals your money without authorization. Cryptocurrency is an independent currency without any centralized server to track transactions.

• Globally accepted

Crypto can be used globally in its exact form; this eliminates the conversion charges and saves foreign exchange fees. Cryptocurrency is only available in digital format, which means with the Internet, you can send money to anyone within the country and outside as well.

Cryptocurrency includes various other currencies, too; a person can switch between multiple currencies and send them globally.

• Identity protection

Crypto is a peer-to-peer network, but despite that, it can be used in corporate and public networks too. Unlike banks, crypto transactions are not linked with your name, which keeps the identity of the sender and receiver anonymous. People who don’t want to share their identity with others find crypto helpful.

Cryptocurrency gains popularity by keeping the transactions secret; instead of using the name, transactions get stored with a transaction ID. The transactions are also secured using the cryptography mechanism.

• No fix banking rates

Cryptocurrencies are not bank currency, so the effect of inflation and deflation does not imply it. Crypto works on a distributed ledger and runs on millions of computers worldwide. Based on the transactions and people owning the highest crypto, the prices of different currencies vary.

The market of crypto is said to be volatile as its values fluctuate constantly. Still, there is no fixed rate of a particular currency like fiat currencies which do not keep the value of crypto restricted.

• Safe from law

Many fiat currencies have high exchange rates and government restrictions. The cryptocurrency was used as an alternative to fiat currencies as any government does not back them, and there is no track of the transactions done in cryptocurrency.

There needs to be relying on third parties like banks or financial institutions to validate the transactions and keep a record. With no privacy concerns and government interruption, people find crypto a reliable and safe way to conduct transactions.

How does cryptocurrency work?

Cryptocurrency works with blockchain technology, which improves trust and has better transparency and security of data sent across the network. A single system does not control crypto. Instead, it is distributed among a network of various computer systems. This decentralized network of devices keeps the blockchain functioning and authenticates its transactions. There are multiple steps involved in crypto functioning, as it works over the blockchain network.

Multiple transactions get stored in a chain in the form of different blocks; these blocks validate the transactions and keep up with the authenticity of the network. Every transaction gets stored in the blockchain network; these records are publicly available, so anybody can see them in the significant blockchain.

The authenticity of a cryptocurrency is examined by a mechanism called proof of work. Powerful computers do this, these are called miners, and the process of validating crypto is called mining. A lot of energy and time is involved in mining a crypto unit; the miners get crypto assets in return for these efforts. Apart from mining, the crypto amounts are transacted and held with the help of a digital address. There are two types of keys, public and private keys. To unlock and send a cryptocurrency private key is required, while a public key is available to all and allows the holder to receive cryptocurrency from any sender.

To understand the working of crypto, let’s get to one of its transaction examples.

When A wants to pay a bill at a restaurant in crypto, then owner B will provide its digital address to A. As ‘A’ proceeds transaction from its end, a new block will be added to the cluster of transactions. Then, miners will try to solve the complicated mathematical solution to validate that transaction. When this transaction gets validated, it gets settled in the receiver’s account.

To understand in simple terms, cryptocurrencies’ significant works are mining, buying and selling, storing, and investing. The complex mining process generates new crypto units, which can be bought and sold by clients and investors. Crypto is even stored in digital wallets to transact them in the future.

How do miners earn from cryptocurrency?

Miners play an important role in cryptocurrency; everything is possible through mining, from authenticating the transactions to generating new units. But to perform all such tasks, they have to solve some complicated puzzles. Solving these problems is called hashing the code, and it requires powerful computers too.

For successful crypto or bitcoin mining, a mining rig is required, which includes a computer, upgraded RAM space, processing units, and heavy fans to cool down the system. With this rig, a block of code is hashed sequentially, and when the correct code is found, the miner wins it.

Apart from this, miners can use mining softwares and mining pools too. Mining softwares provides channels through which one can mine blocks while the mining pool works collaboratively with other miners, increasing the chances of successfully mining cryptocurrencies.

Miners do all of these, but what miners gain from that or how they earn is a question. The answer is simple: for every hash code a miner solves, they generate a unit of crypto for the blockchain and get their fee in the form of cryptocurrency.

In the initial stages of mining, miners get paid a lot, but after every 4 years, the fee for mining gets halved. Crypto mining started in 2009, where mining one block will pay a person 50BTC. After this, in 2012, the mining fee halved and became 25BTC. Later in the coming years, which are 2016 and 2020, it halved twice, and currently, miners earn 6.25 BTC for mining 1 block.

What are the causes of crypto being volatile?

A cryptocurrency is a decentralized form of money; being digital, it is considered future money. Without any governmental control, it provides fast and secure transactions. It is a high-return investment asset with high risks. Also, trading in cryptocurrencies needs an underlying knowledge of market technology.

Crypto is volatile because there are no market regulations for trading; hence, the rates are highly unpredictable when it comes to trading. This fluctuation in the crypto market can bring immense profits or losses. There are certain factors for such volatility; let’s discuss them further.

• Demand and supply

Some cryptocurrencies are limited in number, like bitcoin; as mining processes continue to form new coins, the number of buyers is also increasing, which increases the demand for cryptocurrencies. When the demand increases, the valuation of currencies also increases; on the other hand, there are certain cryptocurrencies with low valuations, and people are keen to sell them out. This increases the flow of those currencies in the market and decreases their valuation.

This type of situation can arise anytime; people who hold large amounts of cryptocurrencies can buy and sell their holdings based on their needs. The sudden rise and fall in the flow of crypto fluctuate the demand and supply market, which results in its volatility.

• Market hype

When a new cryptocurrency is launched, the market hype creates a sudden rise in the value of those coins. This hype makes people buy and sell those coins at higher prices, causing an unsustainable environment in the market. After the coins get overvalued and people lose their money, the market hype has no effect, and the prices collapse.

Specific cryptocurrencies have seen a significant rise during their launch but have faced collapse after a certain time. This happens due to the market hype, which is one reason to create crypto, a volatile market for investors.

• Cost of producing cryptocurrencies

Miners solve complicated problems to get rewarded in crypto tokens. The cost of adding a new crypto unit depends on two factors; the hash rate of the network and the power consumed. If there’s a lot of competition in mining a particular cryptocurrency, the time consumed will be high to mine it, and the profit will also decrease.

In situations like this, where miners find the cost of production is exceeding, they prefer switching to other cryptocurrencies. This creates temporary volatility in the market, and miners switch to more profitable coins, leading some currencies to lose their share of the market.

• Competition of currencies

Currently, thousands of cryptocurrencies exist in the market; new coins and tokens are released daily with various projects. These new currencies are generating high competition in the market and decreasing the values of all the other cryptocurrencies.

The market valuation of cryptocurrencies gets divided more and more after different tokens are released. The volatility factor is due to internal competition between various cryptocurrencies and tokens.

• Legal rules and regulations

Volatility in government rules affects the valuation of coins; in some countries, the government and legal entities are not accepting cryptocurrencies. As per their regulations, they have considered it illegal to deal with or invest in the same.

Even other countries’ governmental decisions affect crypto coins’ market value. For instance, when China banned crypto trading in 2019, there was a considerable drop in the value of bitcoin.

• Negative news

Values of cryptocurrencies are sensitive to the news, some bad geopolitical incidents can bring down the valuation of coins, and better incidents can raise prices. This can be seen as a timely volatility event at certain times; even the news does not affect the currency’s performance.

When El Salvador legalized the bitcoin tenders, many investors thought it would enhance the value of bitcoins, but despite that fall in the bitcoin values have seen.

• Whales of crypto

Large cryptocurrency holders are called whales; they have a considerable amount of crypto at stack. These whales can buy and sell vast amounts of crypto and move the market accordingly; if a person with a massive stake in bitcoin wants to convert some in cash, then it can significantly change bitcoin prices for a short period.

When such a situation arises, the market can be said to be volatile for some time, but it gets regulated after the flow of coins becomes settled.

Top 10 cryptocurrencies and their market value

After the launch of Bitcoin, many other projects got started to release various cryptocurrencies. The value of currencies keeps on changing based on their volatility factors.

Different currencies have a defined market cap which means the total value of a cryptocurrency, and this is calculated by multiplying the price and circulating supply.

Let’s see the top 10 cryptocurrencies by their market cap.

1. Bitcoin

This currency was launched in 2009 under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Regarding economic valuation, Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency and the first one. The volume of Bitcoin is also high, as it leads to market capitalization, user base, and popularity.

It gained the highest price of $68,000 in 2021.

It supports smart contracts and DApps; after the major update, it came in the form of lightning network and taproot updates. Bitcoin prices are highly volatile, but it is the most popular cryptocurrency.

Coin: BTC

Market Cap: $540 billion

2. Ethereum

Ether is the cryptocurrency that runs over the Ethereum blockchain. It is the second largest cryptocurrency, an open-source, decentralized blockchain that functions on smart contracts. Ethereum operates over its blockchain with a smart contract that runs over its blockchain; it gets automatically executed when its conditions are met.

Ethereum was launched in the year 2015. To reduce the energy footprint, Ethereum switched to the proof-of-stake method from the proof-of-work model in 2022.

Coin: ETH

Market Cap: $224 billion

3. Tether

This stablecoin is issued by Tether in Hong Kong. Tether is pegged against the U.S. dollar; this cryptocurrency is backed by the same amount as U.S. dollars and faces similar volatility as the dollar. The valuation of cryptocurrencies fluctuates a lot, but Tether’s value remains equal to $1 most of the time.

Tether does not possess its blockchain. Hence it runs on a second layer on top of blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, etc. Thus, it gets the security of its hashing algorithm. Due to its asset-backed nature, this currency does not form new units with mining. New Tether coins are generated for verified users after they deposit the fiat currency.

Coin: USDT

Market Cap: $82 billion

4. Binance Coin

These coins belong natively to the Binance exchange, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Binance coins were launched in 2018 for multiple uses, such as payment processing, trading, credit card payments, loans, etc. Binance lowered the transaction fee of exchange if people used their coins; this encouraged the adoption of Binance coins.

To keep the value of their coins stable, Binance destroys a fixed amount of coins in circulation. It is the greatest provider of free crypto and blockchain. It also launches Binance Academy for learners who want to gain knowledge in blockchain and crypto.

Coin: BNB

Market Cap: $49 billion

5. USD Coins

USD coins are a bridge between dollars and trading in a crypto exchange. These are fully collateralized U.S. dollar stablecoins powered by Ethereum and created by the collaboration of Circle and Coinbase. A person can swap these coins with the liquidity provider and earn a fee in return.

This was launched in 2018 by considering mainly two aims: avoiding volatility and bringing fiat money into the crypto exchange. USD coins are smart open-source and contract base stablecoins.

Coin: USDC

Market Cap: $31 billion

6. XRP

XRP is a cryptocurrency natively belonging to the XRP ledger; it was created by a US-based technology company named Ripple Labs Inc. It was launched in 2012 to create a digitally valued asset that is sustainable and built for payments specifically.

It is an open-source distributed ledger with a network of trusted validators that validates all the transactions. XRPL possesses a unique node list for the validators.

Coin: XRP

Market Cap: $23 billion

7. Cardano

ADA is the native coin of Cardano; one of the co-founders of this was the founding partner of Ethereum. Cardano possesses advanced smart contract functionality, and due to that, it is known as an Ethereum killer in the industry. It has established many DeFi products similar to Ethereum. Cardano has provided solutions for chain interoperability also.

It was founded in 2015 and uses a proof of stake system known as the Ouroboros system. It is the first blockchain that is built in the Haskell programming language.

Coin: ADA

Market Cap: $13 billion

8. Dogecoin

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that branched from Litecoin. It was formed based on the ‘Doge’ meme in 2013. It is a top-rated canine-themed meme coin and was built to make a fun cryptocurrency with great appeal and is different from regular core bitcoins.

Doge has developed a robust online community and successfully captured mainstream attention. It got massive hype in 2021 when Elon Musk expressed public support for the currency.

Coin: DOGE

Market Cap: $10 billion

9. Polygon

Developers can use a decentralized Ethereum scaling platform to build secure, scalable, and user-friendly DApps with low transaction fees. The core component of this is Polygon SDK, which is a modular and flexible framework.

Polygon contributed a lot to the Ethereum blockchain with multiple solutions. It was launched in 2017 under Matic Network, the polygon token brand. Later, in 2019, it moved into its platform.

Coin: Matic

Market Cap: $9 billion

10. Solana

It was launched in 2017 for the fast execution of decentralized apps. Solana can perform more transactions per second with minimum transaction fees. Like Cardano, it is also called Ethereum Killer due to its fast functionality and lower rates.

Solana has the fastest TPS among all the major blockchains. Using the hybrid consensus mechanism proof-of-history and proof-of-work, the Solana blockchain runs with a speed of 3,000 TPS.

Coin: SOL

Market Cap: $8 billion

How to invest in cryptocurrency?

When it comes to investment, buying and holding crypto coins is the most common idea to cross people’s minds. This can be considered the most straightforward way, but when it is seen from an investment point of view, there are multiple options one can consider.

• Direct Purchase of Crypto

Cryptocurrencies are bought directly and stored; one can purchase multiple cryptocurrencies. One can buy the most popular cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH to the less known ones. Investors buy these currencies directly in an initial coin offering (ICO), where newly released coins are kept. Using this method, people can buy different types of coins they need and can store them as per their needs.

• Investment in crypto companies

This is a partial investment in companies supporting crypto. You can consider crypto mining companies, private firms, hardware makers who support cryptocurrencies, and other corporations like Hood and PYPL with varied amounts of exposure to the crypto market. Investment can also be made in companies that hold large amounts of crypto in their businesses.

• Crypto-focused funds

If investing in individual crypto companies is not your choice, then crypto-focused funds are a considerable choice. These funds provide various options of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) like index and future funds; a range of crypto investment trusts is also there. These crypto ETFs can track the prices for you of one or more tokens so that you can invest accordingly.

• Be a crypto miner or validator

An indirect way to invest in a crypto is to mine it or be a validator in the network. Both crypto miners and validators receive reward points in crypto. They can hold up these crypto coins as a form of investment or can use them in other forms of money. Other ways around miners invest their services and get crypto in return which works as an asset to them.

• Buy crypto from an exchange

Exchanges provides direct cryptocurrencies to their investors; it works similarly to a broker where you can buy and sell crypto. This is an effective way to invest in crypto due to low fees and robust security. By following some simple steps, one can buy crypto from an exchange:

Steps to Buy Crypto from an Exchange

  • Choose the cryptocurrency exchange you want to use; it should be reputable and well-known, which can provide a large selection between cryptocurrencies.
  • Complete the registration process and establish an account with the exchange; it will need your personal information to verify your identity.
  • Before any crypto is bought, you must put funds in your exchange account as fiat money like USD, Euro, etc.,
  • Choose which cryptocurrency to buy and research accordingly; one can buy different cryptocurrencies from the same exchange.
  • By following its steps, place the order on the exchange and buy the required cryptocurrencies.
  • Keep them stored in your digital wallet or hardware wallet.

Legal factors to consider before cryptocurrency investments

Multiple industries accept crypto as a legal implication of using digital currencies; this decentralized form of money benefits companies who want to expand their global reach.

Governments of various countries are trying to regulate these currencies, but some legal factors need to be considered before controlling the decentralized space.

• Licensing for business

Daily transactions is increasing as companies use crypto as a standard business payment mode. Currently, using cryptocurrencies does not need any license, but it may need to perform several transactions in the future. The responsibility for this will come to the business owners and managers to legally function their crypto transactions.

• Taxation

There are many appealing schemes to lure new investors, but they must be aware of that and avoid investing in it. It has been a major issue; being an anonymous and decentralized currency, some people have used crypto maliciously to hide their tax evasion. People use various loopholes in the current tax scheme to hide all their non-legal properties.

• Decentralized status

The first cryptocurrency Bitcoin has made ways for all the other currencies to be decentralized. Thus, these currencies have no physical presence, and any regulations do not bind them. It is effortless to operate in them, but this is a drawback of the crypto market; due to decentralization, there can be confusion about various transactions between multiple clients.

• Independent wallets

To store cryptocurrency, independent wallets are used; they are easy to access and can be used in transactions. Private companies manage all such wallets and do not control any organization to follow specified regulations. Hence, there is no company liability for financial losses or if someone commits a crime using the wallet.

• Fraud of money

One common belief is that illegal organizations use digital currencies to commit fraud and money laundering. These acts can directly affect new crypto investors who are unaware of the legal drawbacks of this new-age currency. There are no legal chances of getting the money back once it is sent to the other party.

Taxes applied on cryptocurrency

In 2014, when the first crypto guidance was released, it became specified that this digital asset would be taxable. Although people think all crypto transactions will be taxable, this is not true. Certain transactions are taxable, and some are not. Using Cryptocurrency Tax Guide, you can find all your answers regarding taxation and its filing process. Let’s understand what tax-paying assets are and which transactions are tax-free.

• Non-taxable events

There are certain transactions using cryptocurrency that do not come under the tax criteria.

  • Buying digital assets using cash is considered nontaxable.
  • Transferring assets between wallets and accounts does not come under tax criteria if you control various wallets and accounts.
  • Using cryptocurrency as a gift neglects the tax range but avoids extensive facilities as they can obligate other taxes.
  • Some transactions are tax deductibles, like donating cryptocurrency to a charity or organization.

• Taxable events

There are events where tax is applied to Crypto; let’s get to know about them.

  • Selling digital assets into cash is taxable, like converting Crypto to fiat currency.
  • The tax applies if any digital asset is traded and converted to another asset.
  • There are taxes when cryptocurrency is used as a method of payment.
  • In the process of mining and staking crypto, taxes get included.
  • When airdropped tokens are received, the receiver has to pay needed taxes for the same.
  • When someone gets paid in Crypto or receives interest from crypto yield.

What is staking and market capitalization in Crypto?

When a crypto asset is locked for a period of time to help, a blockchain with its operations is called staking. In return for this stacking, a person earns more cryptocurrencies. The proof-of-stake consensus mechanism is used by many blockchains where validators who add new blocks to the blockchain need to stake some set sum of Crypto.

Staking helps in keeping transactions and data legitimate. It works as insurance as people who want to participate as validators keep some of the amounts at stake. They can lose some or all of their stacks if they falsely validate fraudulent data. While if they validate it correctly, they earn more Crypto as a reward.

Market capitalization is an indicator that keeps track of and measures cryptocurrency’s market value. Market cap shows the popularity of a cryptocurrency and its dominance in the financial market. It is elementary to calculate market capitalization.

Market Cap = Current Price X Circulating Supply of Currency

Advantages of cryptocurrency

Crypto has gained popularity due to its various features, providing multiple advantages to investors and ease of the process.

• Protect against inflation

Inflation causes a decline in many currencies, but crypto currency offers protection against that. In Crypto, when the demand for currency goes high, its value increases, keeping inflation controlled.

• Better speed of transaction

Crypto transactions provide better speed for settlement; moving funds and assets from different accounts is easy using cryptocurrency. Financial institutions prefer cryptocurrency because most large transactions get settled in a few days or hours.

• Cost-effective transaction fee,

The transfer cost with cryptocurrency is minimal as it does not include any third party to confirm the transaction. Using Crypto, the transactions are done globally without the fear of large transaction fees and additional charges. With minimum charges, Crypto has settled an environment that is cost-effective for all transactions.

• Decentralized nature

Crypto is a decentralized model for money; it does not come under other fiat regulations and has brought money out of control. This currency also fought against the monopoly of a single currency in the market. No government organization is involved in setting up the worth of a cryptocurrency and its market flow.

• Diverse market

For-profit generation, crypto investments are considered ideal due to the extent of the market in the past few years. Crypto is unrelated to stocks and other bonds and has a diversified portfolio. Less priced assets provide more stable returns and vice versa too. For instance, if the stock market goes down, then Crypto can go up, and there are chances of Crypto being down in high-invested cryptocurrency.

• Easy to access

Crypto is an easily accessible currency; verification is unnecessary to open up a crypto wallet. It is fast and easy for people to keep their currency in their wallets and access them anytime they want. Effortless individual and internet transactions are done both domestically and internationally.

• Highly secured and safe

To access a crypto wallet, there is a need to access the private keys; without them, there is no possibility of gaining control over any cryptocurrency. Crypto transactions are secured by blockchain and a scattered network of computers to verify the transactions. Clients consider it more reliable if they keep the currency in their wallets. All the transactions are secured using various incentive systems like proof-of-work or stack.

• Corruption-free and transparent transactions

Using blockchain explorer, one can view and keep track of transactions; this open system is transparent and relieves investors of corruption. Transaction IDs and transaction time get stored in the blockchain, which is publicly available and can be seen by anyone who has access to that network; this increases the transparency in the ledger.

Disadvantages of cryptocurrency

Multiple factors are affecting people when it comes to cryptocurrency. While transferring data of any kind or receiving it, there are certain issues people have faced; these issues came out as certain disadvantages.

Let’s get to know about these disadvantages for better understanding in the future.

• Issues related to scalability

The scalability issue was not expected at the beginning of cryptocurrency. Still, after a while, when it gained popularity, scalability became a huge disadvantage for cryptocurrency. Crypto has made transactions faster, but the most common scalability issues exist. This problem causes the transactions to take time, and it lies in the infrastructure of the cryptocurrency.

• Security in terms of crypto exchange

Crypto is a digital currency, and due to that, it is prone to cyber breaches. While dealing with crypto exchanges, there have been cases where reports of hacking are seen in many ICOs, which has created losses for many investors. For this, the security infrastructure has to be made more robust and securely maintained with all the measures. There may not be a risk with any intermediary crypto works with, but security issues can affect the functioning of cryptocurrency.

• The volatility of crypto

This digital currency is not connected to any physical asset; hence, its volatility is relatively high. The market of Crypto is volatile as some currencies surge to heights in no time but can even fall very quickly. Crypto is vulnerable to changes, and without any analysis, the market can respond accordingly. Thus some investors consider it as a disadvantage to the financial investment.

• Lack of regulations

Being a decentralized currency, there are no regulations on Crypto. Without authoritative guidelines, there is no control over the Crypto market. This inherent technology can be used Corruption-Freel, its features, but a slight risk exists when operating a currency without any rules and regulations and evolving technology daily.

Digital currency is primarily connected to technology, and when any alteration takes place in the technology, there will be a lot of work with other additional functions.

With any update in the technology, there will be changes in the protocol of Crypto, which can disturb the functional flow of the currency.

Future perspective for cryptocurrency

We have understood all the basics of cryptocurrency till here. From this, it gets clear that Crypto is worth considerable future money. By looking at its market volatility, there are specific prospects it can follow; these predictions can change in the future or be applicable after a while. Now let’s get down to what the future holds for cryptocurrency.

• Regulators and their battles

There are discussions about applying cryptocurrency regulations, and different financial institutions are putting up various ideas ahead. Multiple communities can fight to bring Crypto into regulations, and there can be clashes between them to get control of crypto regulations. In upcoming years there are chances to settle these battles by making Crypto a part of some regulatory institution.~

• Growth of the Web3 platform

Interoperable identity will grow along with the on-chain graph, creating a meaningful social platform protocol for Web 3. Trading in Crypto will get more advanced if such functionality gets implied on the Web3 platform. This will shift the crypto projects toward utility using significant macro downturn market conditions.

• Vast contagion

There are high chances of a credit crunch or exposure of the same to bad counterparties; funds and companies have been closed due to this, as contagion is very large and challenging for all crypto companies to quantify.

• Global adoption of crypto among entrepreneurs

It has been seen in many Bitcoin conferences that entrepreneurs around the world are interested in Crypto and building their careers using cryptocurrency. People from various underdeveloped countries will come out to understand the impact of Crypto in the financial world. If this happens, global acceptance of Crypto will get its true meaning.

• High growth in DeFi and DAOs

Certain areas, like decentralized finance and decentralized autonomous organizations, are predicted to have high growth in Crypto. DeFi aims to create financial products without the interruption of the middleman, and DAO is a significant new community on the internet.

Conclusion

From the formation of the 1st cryptocurrency to its current usage, many things make Crypto worth what it is today. The cryptocurrency market is highly speculative, but with a basic knowledge of its volatility and features, investors can decide if it is a suitable asset for them. This blog has an overview of cryptocurrency, which will help you understand the need for your crypto journey.

Speed Team