A cryptocurrency is a digital currency that keeps records about balances and transactions on a distributed ledger, which is most commonly in the form of a blockchain. Cryptocurrencies enablepeer-to-peer transactions between participants across the globe on a 24/7 basis.A distributed ledger is a database with no central administrator that is maintained by a network of nodes. In permissionless distributed ledgers, anyone is able to join the network and operate a node. In permissioned distributed ledgers, the ability to operate a node is reserved for a pre-approved group of entities.
Top cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum employ a permissionless design, in which anyone can participate in the process of establishing consensus regarding the current state of the ledger. This enables a high degree of decentralization and resiliency, making it very difficult for a single entity to arbitrarily change the history of transactions.

Cryptocurrency works through networks of nodes that are constantly communicating with each other to stay updated about the current state of the ledger. With permissionless cryptocurrencies, a node can be operated by anyone, provided they have the necessary technical knowledge, computer hardware and bandwidth. However, not all cryptocurrencies work in the same way. While all cryptocurrencies leverage cryptographic methods to some extent (hence the name), we can now find a number of different cryptocurrency designs that all have their own strengths and weaknesses. The two major categories of cryptocurrencies are Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake. Proof-of-Work coins use mining, while Proof-of-Stake coins use staking to achieve consensus about the state of the ledger.
In order to send and receive a cryptocurrency, you need a cryptocurrency wallet. A cryptocurrency wallet is software that manages private and public keys. In the case of Bitcoin, as long as you control the private key necessary to transact with your BTC, you can send your BTC to anyone in the world for any reason.

Crypto prices are calculated by averaging cryptocurrency exchange rates on different cryptocurrency trading platforms. This way, we can determine an average price that reflects cryptocurrency market conditions as accurately as possible.

Cryptocurrency exchanges provide markets where cryptocurrencies are bought and sold 24/7. Depending on the exchange, cryptocurrencies can be traded against other cryptocurrencies (for example BTC/ETH) or against fiat currencies like USD or EUR (for example BTC/USD). On exchanges, traders submit orders that specify either the highest price at which they’re willing to buy the cryptocurrency, or the lowest price at which they’re willing to sell. These market dynamics ultimately determine the current price of any given cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency and enjoys the most adoption among both individuals and businesses. However, there are many different cryptocurrencies that all have their own advantages or disadvantages.

If you value a highly secure and decentralized network above all, Bitcoin is probably your best bet. This is because the Bitcoin network consists of thousands of nodes spread geographically and is secured by a massive amount of computing power. On the other hand, if you require transactions to be very fast and cheap, Bitcoin is probably not the best choice due to the relative inefficiency of its Proof-of-Work design. In that case, you might want to consider using a cryptocurrency like XRP or Stellar Lumens instead. If you want to use decentralized applications and need smart contract functionality, a cryptocurrency such as Ethereum or EOS would be the best choice.

The cryptocurrencies listed here are used as examples to illustrate the point that the best cryptocurrency depends on your specific requirements and use case.

Cryptocurrency was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, which is the pseudonym used by the inventor of Bitcoin. Even though digital currency concepts existed before Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto was the first to create a peer-to-peer digital currency that reliably solved the issues facing previous digital money projects, Bitcoin was initially proposed in 2008 and launched in early 2009. Following the invention of Bitcoin, thousands of projects have attempted to imitate Bitcoin’s success or improve upon the original Bitcoin design by leveraging new technologies.

An altcoin is any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin. The word “altcoin” is short for “alternative coin”, and is commonly used by cryptocurrency investors and traders to refer to all coins other than Bitcoin. Thousands of altcoins have been created so far following Bitcoin’s launch in 2009.

Bitcoin is the oldest and most established cryptocurrency, and has a market cap that is larger than all of the other cryptocurrencies combined. Bitcoin is also the most widely adopted cryptocurrency, and is accepted by practically all businesses that deal with cryptocurrency.

However, Bitcoin is far from the only player in the game, and there are numerous altcoins that have reached multi-billion dollar valuations. The second largest cryptocurrency is Ethereum, which supports smart contracts and allows users to make highly complex decentralized applications. In fact, Ethereum has grown so large that the word “altcoin” is rarely used to describe it now.

Generally, altcoins attempt to improve upon the basic design of Bitcoin by introducing technology that is absent from Bitcoin. This includes privacy technologies, different distributed ledger architectures and consensus mechanisms.

A stablecoin is a crypto asset that maintains a stable value regardless of market conditions. This is most commonly achieved by pegging the stablecoin to a specific fiat currency such as the US dollar. Stablecoins are useful because they can still be transacted on blockchain networks while avoiding the price volatility of “normal” cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Outside of stablecoins, cryptocurrency prices can change rapidly, and it’s not uncommon to see the crypto market gain or lose more than 10% in a single day.
Now, let’s provide a simple theoretical example of how the value of stablecoins actually stays stable.
Let’s say that a company creates Stablecoin X (SCX), which is designed to trade as closely to $1 as possible at all times. The company will hold USD reserves equal to the number of SCX tokens in circulation, and will provide users the option to redeem 1 SCX token for $1. If the price of SCX is lower than $1, demand for SCX will increase because traders will buy it and redeem it for a profit. This will drive the price of SCX back towards $1.
Tether’s USDT was the first stablecoin ever launched, and is still the most popular option on the market.

The term DeFi (decentralized finance) is used to refer to a wide variety of decentralized applications that enable financial services such as lending, borrowing and trading. DeFi applications are built on top of blockchain platforms such as Ethereum and allow anyone to
access these financial services simply by using their cryptocurrency wallets.
To give you a better idea of what kind of use cases are enabled by DeFi applications, let’s quickly go through some major DeFi apps and what they accomplish:
     ● Maker: Users can post their cryptocurrencies as collateral to receive a loan in the form of Dai stablecoins
     ● Compound: Users can borrow cryptocurrency or loan out their cryptocurrency to earn interest
     ● Uniswap: Users can swap between different Ethereum-based tokens in a decentralized manner
     ● dYdX: A decentralized platform where users can go long or short on cryptocurrencies

A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger that is useful for recording the transactions and balances of different participants. All transactions are stored in blocks, which are generated periodically and linked together with cryptographic methods. Once a block is added to the blockchain, data contained within it cannot be changed, unless all subsequent blocks are changed as well.

A cryptocurrency wouldn’t be very useful if anyone could just change the history of transactions to their own liking – the point of cryptocurrency is that you can be sure that your coins belong to you only and that your balances will not change arbitrarily. This is why reaching consensus is of utmost importance. In Bitcoin, miners use their computer hardware to solve resource-intensive mathematical problems. The miner that reaches the correct solution first gets to add the next block to the Bitcoin blockchain, and receives a BTC reward in return.

With a blockchain, it’s possible for participants from across the world to verify and agree on the current state of the ledger. Blockchain was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto for the purposes of Bitcoin. Other developers have expanded upon Satoshi Nakamoto’s idea and created new types of blockchains – in fact, blockchains also have several uses outside of cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency mining is the process of adding new blocks to a blockchain and earning cryptocurrency rewards in return. Cryptocurrency miners use computer hardware to solve complex mathematical problems. These problems are very resource-intensive, resulting in heavy electricity consumption.

The miner that provides the correct solution to the problem first gets to add the new block of transactions to the blockchain and receives a reward in return for their work. Bitcoin miners are rewarded with BTC, Ethereum miners are rewarded with ETH, and so forth.
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin feature an algorithm that adjusts the mining difficulty depending on how much computing power is being used to mine it. In other words – as more and more people and businesses start mining Bitcoin, mining Bitcoin becomes more difficult and resource-intensive. This feature is implemented so that the Bitcoin block time remains close to its 10 minute target and the supply of BTC follows a predictable curve.

Cryptocurrencies that reach consensus through mining are referred to as Proof-of-Work coins. However, alternative designs such as Proof-of-Stakeare used by some cryptocurrencies instead of mining.

ICO stands for Initial Coin Offering and refers to a method of raising capital for cryptocurrency and blockchain-related projects. Typically, a project will create a token and present their idea in a whitepaper. The project will then offer the tokens for sale to raise the capital necessary for funding development. Even though there have been many successful ICOs to date, investors need to be very careful if they are interested in purchasing tokens in an ICO. ICOs are largely unregulated, and very risky.

A cryptocurrency exchange is a platform that facilitates markets for cryptocurrency trading. Some examples of cryptocurrency exchanges include Binance, Bitstamp and Kraken. These platforms are designed to provide the best possible prices for both buyers and sellers. Some exchanges only offer cryptocurrency markets, while others also allow users to exchange between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies such as the US dollar or the euro. You can buy and sell Bitcoin on practically all cryptocurrency exchanges, but some exchanges list hundreds of different cryptocurrencies. One metric that is important for comparing cryptocurrency exchanges is trading volume. If trading volume is high, your trades will execute fast and at predictable prices.