Crypto 101: What is it, Exactly?

What is a Cryptocurrency?

A Cryptocurrency is a digital form of currency created by a blockchain network.

It is a result of “blocks” being created on the network by nodes, which are high powered computers(essentially) that help verify blocks and the validity of transactions on the network, that solve a complex cryptographic puzzle in order to continue and verify transactions on the network.

Think of these puzzles as winning a lottery in reverse. Each miner or node knows the winning number, but you can only draw random numbers. The first Miner to find the number mines the block.

When these puzzles are solved, a “block” is mined. This means that the miner gets Bitcoin(or the native coin to whatever the network as the block reward), a portion of transaction fees during that time, and the transactions that happened within that timeframe are verified on the blockchain as permanent

Some Different Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin - Is a network that allows for transactions using Bitcoin or denominations of Bitcoin. Was intended to be peer to peer digital cash.