CryptocurrencyConsumer Products
A cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange that is digital, encrypted and decentralized. Unlike the U.S. Dollar or the Euro, there is no central authority that manages and maintains the value of a cryptocurrency. Instead, these tasks are broadly distributed among a cryptocurrency’s users via the internet.
You can use crypto to buy regular goods and services, although most people invest in cryptocurrencies as they would in other assets, like stocks or precious metals. While cryptocurrency is a novel and exciting asset class, purchasing it can be risky as you must take on a fair amount of research to fully understand how each system works.
Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency, first outlined in principle by Satoshi Nakamoto in a 2008 paper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” Nakamoto described the project as “an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust.”
That cryptographic proof comes in the form of transactions that are verified and recorded on a blockchain.
Blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system.
A blockchain is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on the blockchain. Each block in the chain contains a number of transactions, and every time a new transaction occurs on the blockchain, a record of that transaction is added to every participant’s ledger. The decentralised database managed by multiple participants is known as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).
Blockchain is a type of DLT in which transactions are recorded with an immutable cryptographic signature called a hash.
This means if one block in one chain was changed, it would be immediately apparent it had been tampered with. If hackers wanted to corrupt a blockchain system, they would have to change every block in the chain, across all of the distributed versions of the chain.
Blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are constantly and continually growing as blocks are being added to the chain, which significantly adds to the security of the ledger.
Why is there so much hype around blockchain technology?
There have been many attempts to create digital money in the past, but they have always failed.
The prevailing issue is trust. If someone creates a new currency called the X dollar, how can we trust that they won’t give themselves a million X dollars, or steal your X dollars for themselves?
Bitcoin was designed to solve this problem by using a specific type of database called a blockchain. Most normal databases, such as an SQL database, have someone in charge who can change the entries (e.g. giving themselves a million X dollars). Blockchain is different because nobody is in charge; it’s run by the people who use it. What’s more, bitcoins can’t be faked, hacked or double spent – so people that own this money can trust that it has some value.
There are several key steps a transaction must go through before it is added to the blockchain. Today, we’re going to focus on authentication using cryptographic keys, authorisation via proof of work, the role of mining, and the more recent adoption of proof of stake protocols in later blockchain networks. 
Authentication
The original blockchain was designed to operate without a central authority (i.e. with no bank or regulator controlling who transacts), but transactions still have to be authenticated.
This is done using cryptographic keys, a string of data (like a password) that identifies a user and gives access to their “account” or “wallet” of value on the system.
Each user has their own private key and a public key that everyone can see. Using them both creates a secure digital identity to authenticate the user via digital signatures and to ‘unlock’ the transaction they want to perform.
Authorisation
Once the transaction is agreed between the users, it needs to be approved, or authorised, before it is added to a block in the chain.
For a public blockchain, the decision to add a transaction to the chain is made by consensus. This means that the majority of “nodes” (or computers in the network) must agree that the transaction is valid. The people who own the computers in the network are incentivised to verify transactions through rewards. This process is known as ‘proof of work’.
Proof of Work
Proof of Work requires the people who own the computers in the network to solve a complex mathematical problem to be able to add a block to the chain. Solving the problem is known as mining, and ‘miners’ are usually rewarded for their work in cryptocurrency.
But mining isn’t easy. The mathematical problem can only be solved by trial and error and the odds of solving the problem are about 1 in 5.9 trillion. It requires substantial computing power which uses considerable amounts of energy. This means the rewards for undertaking the mining must outweigh the cost of the computers and the electricity cost of running them, as one computer alone would take years to find a solution to the mathematical problem.
The Power of Mining
The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index estimates the bitcoin mining network consumes almost 70 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity per year, ranking it the 40th largest consumer of electricity by ‘country’. By way of comparison, Ireland (ranked 68th) uses just over a third of Bitcoin’s consumption, or 25 TWh, and Austria at number 42 consumes 64.6 TWh of electricity per year, according to 2016 data compiled by the CIA.
The Problem with Proof of Work
To create economies of scale, miners often pool their resources together through companies that aggregate a large group of miners. These miners then share the rewards and fees offered by the blockchain network.
As a blockchain grows, more computers join to try and solve the problem, the problem gets harder and the network gets larger, theoretically distributing the chain further and making it ever more difficult to sabotage or hack. In practice though, mining power has become concentrated in the hands of a few mining pools. These large organisations have the vast computing and electrical power now needed to maintain and grow a blockchain network based around Proof of Work validation.
Proof of Stake
Later blockchain networks have adopted “Proof of Stake” validation consensus protocols, where participants must have a stake in the blockchain – usually by owning some of the cryptocurrency – to be in with a chance of selecting, verifying & validating transactions. This saves substantial computing power resources because no mining is required.
In addition, blockchain technologies have evolved to include “Smart Contracts” which automatically execute transactions when certain conditions have been met.
Cryptocurrency is a type of currency that’s digital and decentralized. Cryptocurrencies can be used to buy and sell things, and their potential to store and grow value has also caught the eye of many investors.
There are thousands of different cryptocurrencies available today. The most popular — and the original — is Bitcoin, which was created in 2009. Other common cryptocurrencies include Ethereum, XRP, and Bitcoin Cash. Each of these currencies serves a different purpose, with some optimized for use in place of cash, and others designed for private, direct transactions.
Cryptocurrencies are wholly digital, so there’s no physical coin or bill connected to the crypto you own. Instead, owners hold cryptocurrency in a digital wallet, and buy or sell through an online exchange. Your wallet may be online (some popular exchanges like Coinbase offer an in-app wallet) or stored offline on a hardware device similar to a USB drive.
Decentralization is a primary tenet of cryptocurrency. Whereas most currencies are backed by a central bank — the U.S. dollar, for example, is backed by the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. government — cryptocurrencies are maintained and valued by their users.
Cryptocurrency transactions are recorded on a decentralized ledger. This ledger is called a blockchain. Every time crypto is bought or sold, the transaction is added to the blockchain — a public database of the transactions, which is available to other crypto holders. Anyone can join and participate in the blockchain, but data on individual transactions — and the people involved with them — are secured using cryptography (the basis for the term cryptocurrency). For each transaction added to the blockchain, there’s a digital validation process to verify it and prevent fraud.
What Can You Do With Cryptocurrency?
While it shares characteristics of both currency and investments, there’s still debate among experts about whether cryptocurrency is clearly one or the other.
As its name suggests, you can use cryptocurrency to make purchases. But your purchasing power is limited; crypto isn’t yet widely accepted among retailers and other businesses.
That lack of widespread adoption, plus crypto’s volatility, limits its use as a currency, says Roger Aliaga-Díaz, principal and senior economist with Vanguard Investment Strategy Group.
For many people, crypto is a type of alternative investment. Just as you can buy and trade stock in public companies, you can buy cryptocurrency with the hope that it will increase in value over time, allowing you to cash out for a profit at a later date. Some people invest in crypto less for the belief that it will become a popular currency and more as a bet on the blockchain technology behind it.
But classifying crypto as an investment is complicated, too. It doesn’t quite fit the mold of a traditional stock or bond, and while cryptocurrencies do share characteristics of commodities like gold — they can be bought and sold for cash and as derivatives based on expected future value — they have no inherent physical value or use.
Without a clear track record to assess long-term value, cryptocurrency rises and falls on an unpredictable demand cycle. And for individual investors, the challenge is “you really don’t know where supply and demand can end up,” Aliaga-Díaz says.
Similar to forex — foreign exchange — trading, there can be significant risks involved with a largely unregulated market, and your best bet is to get informed beforehand, and don’t invest any money you can’t afford to lose. Regulators are still trying to figure out how to classify cryptocurrencies, for purposes of trading, payments, antifraud, taxation, and more. Clear regulation may help us understand how to use cryptocurrency and what its future may look like, but we aren’t there yet.
“Where digital assets land, at the end of the day … will be driven in part by regulation, both domestic and international,” Former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton recently told CNBC.
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