About Currency
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the pioneer of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies can be thought of as digital or virtual currencies. Just like you can trade dollars for yen or pound sterling, you can trade virtual currencies for other virtual currencies, as well as fiat currencies/paper money. Cryptocurrencies are also becoming increasingly accepted as a medium of exchange for regular goods and services, and in some countries, you can use cryptocurrencies to buy groceries, pay your utility bills, and invest for capital gains.
What is Ethereum?
Ethereum was created with a hugely different purpose to Bitcoin, despite being frequently compared with one another. Unlike Bitcoin’s ambition to become a next-generation payment system, the Ethereum network creates a new world of opportunities for decentralised products and services to power our digital future.
What is Ripple?
Ripple is a cryptocurrency that’s fast becoming a digital asset “built for global payments”. Ripple’s payments system is designed with international money transfers firmly in mind, facilitating swift and frictionless payments across borders at a minimal cost. Could Ripple change the face of global transactions and garner support from major banks and payment providers?
What is Tether?
Tether is a digital token much like Bitcoin or Ether. However, what makes Tether different from many traditional cryptocurrencies is that one unit of Tether, known by the ticker symbol USDT, is almost always exactly equal to one US dollar.
Basics
What is cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency may seem a little confusing at first, which is possibly why you are here. This guide will give you information on what cryptocurrency is and how you might use it. Coinread makes cryptocurrency easy so you can successfully use it in your life and explore the possibility of enjoying financial autonomy beyond the realms of everyday centralized banking.
What is a cryptocurrency wallet?
Cryptocurrencies are digital tokens or assets. As such, they do not in physical form, so you cannot store them the way you store precious metals or fiat (paper) currency. Instead, what you need to do is store the public address of your wallet and the private keys that give you access to your wallet. You can think of your public key as an account number in which you can deposit tokens or coins of a specific type, and you can think of private keys as a unique, secure, and completely private access key to your account that you and only you have.
What is a cryptocurrency exchange?
Cryptocurrency exchanges are one of the most popular places to buy and sell cryptocurrencies online. You can exchange one cryptocurrency for another, or you can purchase cryptocurrency using fiat currencies like pounds (GBP) or dollars (USD).Think of it like a stock exchange for cryptocurrencies instead of stocks and shares. The value of one cryptocurrency against another rises and falls based on supply and demand. It can also be influenced by fundamental factors like industry news – good or bad – regarding a particular cryptocurrency.
Glossary
51% Attack
If more than half the computer power or mining hash rate on a network is run by a single person or a single group of people, then a 51% attack is in operation. This means that this entity has full control of the network and can negatively affect a cryptocurrency by taking over mining operations, stopping or changing transactions, and double-spending (reusing) coins.
Address
A place where cryptocurrency can be sent to and from, in the form of a string of letters and numbers. A cryptocurrency address can be shared publicly in the form of text or QR code to those who want to send you cryptocurrency.
Airdrop
An airdrop is a marketing ploy in which new virtual currency is sent to the wallets of active members of a blockchain community to promote the new token. Sometimes they are sent for free, and at other times they are sent in return for a small service, such as posting about the new currency on social media.