Steemit Crypto Academy Season 4 Beginners' course - Task 3: The Genesis Block

iloveakuma (61)Beginner[2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]in SteemitCryptoAcademy • 3 years ago

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.

Good day to members of the steemit crypto academy. I am excited today because I will be presenting the 3rd task of the Beginners' Course, season 4. I'll be answering the questions highlighted above. I thank Prof @awesononso for his lectures.

What is a Cryptocurrency?

From getting the word cryptocurrency, you immediately get the idea that it concerns money. But as we'll be finding out, cryptocurrency is very different from fiat currency.

Crypto currency, is a digital currency. By using the word digital, it means that Cryptocurrency does not exist physically. Cryptocurrency exists online, and it is used as a medium of exchange. An amazing feature about Cryptocurrency is the fact that it is decentralised. This means cryptocurrency is free from control, as there is no central authority which exercises power over it. Cryptocurrency is also secured using cryptography.

In recent times, cryptocurrency has really grown popular. It is increasingly being accepted and used all around the world. Today, there are thousands of cryptocurrencies around the world, but the most popular still remains Bitcoin.

Just like we store our fiat currency in wallets, Cryptocurrency is also stored in digital wallets. These wallets are application softwares which permit users to receive, send and store their digital assets (cryptocurrency). Thousands of such wallets exist. They can be downloaded as mobile apps on our phones, or accessed online using phones or computers.

Origin of Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency Can be traced back to 2009 when Bitcoin was created. Satoshi Nakamoto is known to be the creator, but apart from that, his real identity still remains unknown. In 2009, he made the first ever crypto transaction, which led to the mining of the first ever crypto block.

Over the years, the first block and the original Bitcoin algorithm has been used as reference for the development of other Cryptocurrencies.

Satoshi's invention was revolutionary. Financial transactions could now be carried out in a decentralised manner, with details of every transaction recorded on the Blockchain, making it difficult to change or overwrite.
Till today, this Satoshi's idea still remains the fundamental reason why Cryptocurrencies are created.

What is Cryptography and how does it make cryptocurrencies secure?

I remember that while answering the first question, I mentioned the fact that Cryptocurrencies are secured using cryptography. So now the question is what is cryptography?

Cryptography comes from 2 Greek words.Crypto meaning "secrets" and Graph meaning "to write". We can derive that Cryptography means hidden/secret message. Cryptography is a system by which codes are being used to protect vital information, so that it is read and understood only by those which it is meant for. This method prevents third parties from accessing the information.
Cryptography ensures the safety of transactions.

How Does Cryptography Work?

As I mentioned in my definition above, Cryptography works with codes. It uses codes to transfer digital assets (coins and tokens) and to authenticate transactions ensuring that it can only be received and read by the person it was intended for. So, we can say that the message is sent encrypted, and can be decrypted by the receiver using their private key. This secures the digital assets if the receiver because without the private key, the message can't be read.

Cryptography Also Makes crypto currency secure by:

• It ensures confidentiality: During transactions, personal information about the buyer and seller are usually unknown. Also, the public key (wallet address) is used to send and receive coins and tokens, but individuals can use only their private key to access their digital assets as well as authenticate transactions. This ensures that security of users is not compromised.

• It codifies information using a technique known as hash. This makes it impossible for 2 users to have the same code.

Explore the Steem Genesis Block and Sign in as proof of completion.

Inorder to access the steem Genesis block, we take the following steps:

• visit the site steemworld.org

• From the main menu, click on block explorer.

• A box for block number will pop up. Make sure that it's number 1, then click ok

• Once it loads up, details about the Genesis block will be displayed.

Some of the details are:

Timestamp	2016-03-24, 17:05:00
Block Id	0000000109833ce528d5bbfb3f6225b39ee10086
Previous Id	0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Signing Key	STM8GC13uCZbP44HzMLV6zPZGwVQ8Nt4Kji8PapsPiNq1BK153XTX
Witness	@initminer

• To sign in, click on sign in in the top right corner

• Proceed to enter your username and private posting key...

• Click on ok, and you're signed in

All screenshots used above are from steemworld.org edited using inshot.

CONCLUSION

Cryptocurrency is here to stay. Already, there increasing acceptance with countries such as El Salvador making Bitcoin legal tender. Thousands more of these currencies are being created. The best time to get involved with Cryptocurrencies is now

Thanks for reading...

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