Steemit Crypto Academy Season 4 Beginners' course - Task 5: Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies, Public chains.
Questions
What Is Cryptocurrency and How You Would Like To See Cryptocurrency In The Future?
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Cryptocurrency is a non physical coin or token or currency that makes use of Cryptographic technology to operate.
To explain cryptocurrency I must first explain what cryptography is.
Cryptography originated from the two latin words “crypto” which means secret/codes and “Graph” which means to write. Therefore Cryptography can be defined as the art of writing or sending information in codes and transmitting them in a way that the public can not understand or decipher.
There fore to say cryptocurrency makes use of Cryptographic technology to perform, one must understand its origin.
History of Cryptocurrency
The first official idea of cryptocurrency was pitched in the year, 1998 by Wei Dai. Wei Dai is a computer scientist best known for his works on Crypto+++, Vmac and the first proposed digital currency “B money”. B money was aimed to be the first cryptocurrency to make use of a peer to peer electronic cash concept while also applying the use of Cryptographic technology which meant that, nobody, not even the public controls the system.
Wei Dai's aim was to prevent violence and social disarray, which he presumed was as a result of the lack of anonymity between people(people knowing each other). He thought if he introduced a non-physical money that can be transfered between people without having to know each other, violence and squabbling over money or other petty things will be curbed. He also aimed to create a currency that cannot be overseen by the government (central banks) thus the name “crypto”currency. Therefore B money was proposed, though B-money was never launched but a decade and a year later Bitcoin came into existence.
Bitcoin was developed and launched by Satoshi Nakamoto in the year, 2009. Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym, because it is believed to be an alias of the person or persons who created Bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto decided to keep his/their identity a secret for the past 12 years for some reason. I guess what's the point of creating a “hidden” currency without applying it on yourself, right?.
With it's existence, Bitcoin became the first ever digital currency to make use of the “peer to peer electronic cash system”. It has been speculated by some that Wei Dai is the owner of Bitcoin due to the similarity between his proposed b-money and Bitcoin. Though the computer scientist Wei Dai has disproved of this notion after revealing emails of his conversation with Satoshi who emailed him, wanting to know more about Wei's idea to create a Decentralized network using “P2P”.
How it works?
Cryptocurrency makes use of a Decentralized network to perform. The entire point of being a Decentralized network is that the entire network is not controlled by a person or the public but by a number of interconnected nodes which builds up the crypto blockchain.
A block chain consists of blocks that collects and stores data or information which is then distributed to a number of computer networks. The blockchain is designed in a way that allows for only peer to peer transfer of informations and cannot be hacked or infiltrated by the public.
Peer to peer transactions are performed through the use of keys. These keys, namely private and public keys are used to perform transactions and safeguard cryptocurrency in a wallet. The public key is the key given to a person for transaction(to transfer cryptocurrency) while the private key is meant for the owner alone. This private key Safeguarded by the owner is the only means to safekeeping his currencies.
The bad side about cryptocurrency is that in any case that the private key is lost, all funds is lost as well since there is no method of recovery of lost keys.
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE CRYPTOCURRENCY IN THE FUTURE?
Cryptocurrency has come a long way since it's invention over a decade ago. Cryptocurrency Is literally what most people talk about with most countries now accepting cryptocurrency and with countries intending to create their own digital currency named “fiats”.
Fiats are digital currencies owned by the government in the form of “central bank digital currency” (CBDC). Though it can be said that fiats are not cryptocurrencies but are centralized digital currency which means that the currency is backed up and controlled by the government. The aim of fiats is to create a digital currency similar to cryptocurrency that can be used for easy transactions but will be overseen by the government. A typical example is the proposed “e-naira” from the Nigerian central bank.
The world has not seen or heard the full of cryptocurrency as it still faces some struggles, with governments placing bans and wanting to gain control over it's processes. In the future to come cryptocurrency will gather more popularity to the point that no one would be ignorant of it and it would be used as a more official form of transaction in all nations.
With cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum making a pump of over 1000% in months, a typical example; in 2013 when Bitcoin rose from $150 to $1000 in 2 months. Most individuals who owned bitcoin in large amounts, were turned into millionaires and billionaires.
In that same notion, in a few years time, most cryptocurrency holders will enjoy a great deal of financial wealth, thus making cryptocurrency a massive source of financial income to individuals in the future.
CONCLUSION
Cryptocurrency is here to stay and will be around for a very long time. Cryptocurrency is definitely a technological advancement that will usher in a world of endless financial stability.
Thank you for reading
Professor @stream4u