Steemit Crypto Academy S5-[The Genesis Block] - Task 03
3a) What is a Cryptocurrency?
b) What is Cryptography and how does it make cryptocurrencies secure?
c) Explore the Steem Genesis Block and Sign in as proof of completion.
What is a Cryptocurrency?
First of all, we must first know what Money is, if as my esteemed professor is reading. I choose to answer the first question starting with the brief definition of money that is nothing more than: "The simple printing of a banknote with monetary value that serves to exchange goods" This banknote that is printed is usually controlled by a Central Bank or a Treasury Department that controls monetary policy and usually this is subject to the centralized dictates of a State.
Now, Cryptocurrencies are born with the mission of supplanting fiat money, centralized and controlled by State Banks. Thus, a crypto asset is a digital currency that operates under cryptography its main function is to dismantle the existing inorganic printing system. Certainly, this happens thanks to the decentralized blockchain they operate with, which makes it attractive, both for young Millennials or young Z and me who have little confidence in inorganic centralized currencies. In this same context, all crypto-asset transactions are secure and do not operate under state supervision, private entities, or banks, which has allowed their consolidation since their appearance. In perspective, the crypto asset grants full freedom to its owner without any interference this is what we can call full or absolute economic freedom.
On the other hand, its historical compilation is accompanied by a long process that began in 1983 with the American David Chaum who elaborated a cryptographic system called eCash, later, in 1995 the DigiCash was established that was also composed of cryptography this truthfully kept secret each of the anonymous transactions; so it is then that in 1996 the National Security Agency of the United States of America generates a collective location of an investigation it had carried out of the detailed description of the cryptocurrency system.
According to this in 1998 the engineer Wei Dai makes the description of the ideas of cryptocurrencies, this idea of Wei was based on the foundation of generating a digital currency that was in such a case based on cryptography and that it controlled him; however, it is until 2009 when the first cryptocurrency is born and inserted into global markets if the new digital asset would receive the name Bitcoin by its creator Satoshi Nakamoto after that moment that broke paradigms in the various markets, countless cryptocurrencies emerged, some booming, and others with full similarity to Bitcoin.
In this way, it should be denoted that cryptocurrencies have managed to position themselves on the planet, and the markets due to their decentralized characteristics which allows their rapid mobility. This is even endowed with large investment spaces; as well as abrupt increases in the growth trend, I cite for example the one of 2013 that marked the hegemony of Bitcoin that allowed greater reliability of the Millennial generation and greater adoption of the generation Z of which I am part.'
Now, there is clear evidence from some paternalistic, mercantilist countries or those that contradict free-market policies where the initiative of controlling crypto assets has arisen repeatedly, so in some, their transaction is prohibited, but the reality is the imminent market has evolved and humanity begins to abandon fiat money.
- Let's see the advantages and disadvantages of Cryptocurrencies
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| They are decentralized currencies. | Fluctuate. |
| Low cost for operations. | Requires exclusive use of the internet. |
| User information is confidential. | Their operations are not allowed in some countries. |
| Low tax rate. | Its value depends on the market criteria of perfect competition. |
What is Cryptography and how does it make cryptocurrencies secure?
It should be noted that in order to fully know the term cryptography must totally interfere with its historical origin, this is how, the term cryptography derives from "Kryptós", which is called as: "Secret" therefore cryptography, is a full as absolute "secret writing". Humanity used cryptography to encrypt some messages and thus configure their confidentiality. In perspective, its operation is framed in encryption as well as in encodings; however, in this process of expansion, some problems were perceived in its security where it was necessary to fully protect the information within the network.
In this way, cryptography is described as a science, method, or even valued as art, which is responsible for providing full security to the communications that make up the computer world. Certainly, this happens thanks to the algorithms or systems it uses to maintain such operability; being, in this case, its primary needs to implement, design, implement in addition to making cryptographic systems this with the missive of thus being able to protect the information and secure communications.
In this order of things, this entire ecosystem caused the network with which cryptocurrencies operate to be called "Asymmetric Cryptography", this simply consists of using a pair of combined keys to obtain a public key, which is used for coding and another private key that is used to decode.
In short, if we lose our private key our coins can be stolen or looted, therefore, it must be protected safely guaranteeing efficiency and effectiveness its protection. There are two methods that can secure cryptocurrencies by cryptography, the first of which is the verification of the identity of the user as such; this is guaranteed thanks to a message that is authorized and determines the fidelity of the user, however, this is fully executed as a result of encodings such as encryption codes that require access control. On the other hand, there is the second which is the "Linking" where the documents or in effect the transactions are interrelated with a user clearly.
- Explore the Steem Genesis Block and Sign in as proof of completion.
I must emphasize on this occasion that the Genesis block is the first block that is elaborated for a blockchain, in such a way this has the objective of starting a cryptocurrency or token, this is not scarce for this platform because it also operates or has the Steem Genesis Block that in such a case is explorable by means of:
To start our exploration we must follow https://steemworld.org. Then select Block Explorer.
Then select block 1 in the search box.
Here we can see all the details for the steem genesis block.
Now I will log in to the site as proof of completion.
