Blog – What is Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is like regular currency, but completely digital.
Remember even dollar bills all have serial numbers to verify the uniqueness and to allow for record keeping. Cryptocurrency has a similar representation. They can also all be divided into smaller pieces similar to how the dollar can be divided into 100 cents.
Individual coin ownership records are stored in a ledger which is a computer database using strong cryptography to control the creation of coins, to secure transaction records and verify the transfer of coins between people.
There are different crypto coins exist on a specific “Blockchain”, often referred to as an ecosystem. A blockchain is a growing list of records, called “blocks”, that are linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. The timestamp proves that the transaction data existed when the block was published in order to get into its hash.
As blocks each contain information about the block previous to it, they form a chain, with each additional block reinforcing the ones before it. Therefore, blockchains are resistant to modification of their data because once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without altering all subsequent blocks.
Crypto currency coins are stored in a “Wallet”. A cryptocurrency wallet is a device, physical medium, program, or service which stores the public and/or private keys for cryptocurrency transactions. Each wallets has a unique address and allows users to send crypto currency from one wallet to another.
