Wow, great lectures by Prof. @awesononso. Thanks for this interesting lectures.

Now to the assignment proper.

Question
2a) 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.

Answers

What is a Cryptocurency

These are digital Currencies mainly encrypted writings which are operational on a Decentralized blockchain. As the name implies "Cryptocurency", where Crypto means Hidden and currency is a means of exchange in that if a receiver of the currency does not have the decoding key(private key) then the currency cannot be used. It is a means of exchange of properties, goods etc but it can't be held physically i.e it's operation is digital in nature

One beautiful thing about Cryptocurency is it Decentralized nature in that it is not connected to a single system like the conventional or traditional financial system. So though birthed or created by a single person but it's nature of operation is such that it is not controlled by a single person.

The first Cryptocurency is presumed to be created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 which was the Bitcoin and since then over 12,000 other currencies called the altcoins have been created further making the future of Cryptocurency more promising and rewarding.

By logging into https://coinmarketcap.com/ one can access as many Cryptocurrencies as possible with is different functionalities, ranks, market capitalization, current price and lots more.

Pros of Cryptocurency

• Not controlled by a single entity

• Difficult for hackers to penetrate.

• Pear to pear basis of transaction

• Low transaction fees

• Since it is digital in nature then a huge amount of it can be carried around without attracting prying eyes.

Cons of Cryptocurency

• If someone gains access to your keys then your asset is gone, so key storage can be a problem.

• Market price volatility in that the prices of Cryptocurency changes per seconds and could be a problem for investors thereby reducing investment.

• Adoption - this is another problem of major concerns in that if the government kicks against it usage then this restrictions can be an hindrance to it growth.

• Scalability - The speed of transaction is another major source of concern in the crypto world

What is Cryptography and how does it make cryptocurrencies secure?

Cryptography

Now a break down of Cryptography means Hidden Writing, Were Crypto means Hidden and Graphy meaning Writing, bringing that together we have a single word.

Therefore cryptography is the method used during digital communication, were written text or message or plain text is transformed to an encrypted text through out the sending process only to be interpreted with a method called decrypting by the receiver. This decrypting can only be done using a particular decrypting key the reciever possesses called the private key.

So a sender sends a text which turns encrypted (hash) and this text can only be decoded by the recievers private key alone this is simply the whole process of the cryptography.

In summary, cryptography is just a method were plain text is transformed to coded text or humanly unreadable form only to be understood or converted back to plain text at the receiving end by the use of the receivers key.

How does it make cryptocurrencies secure?

Cryptography makes Cryptocurency very secured looking at the concept of encrypting and decrypting data's. Further more;

• Cryptography makes hacking of a crypto asset transaction very difficult in that if the attacker is not in possession of the receivers key then it is near impossible.

• Prevents double spending. Double spending which is like a duplication of a particular transaction in that is done two times without a corresponding reward sent to the reward pool like the case of a counterfeit in the traditional financial system.

• Aids in the verification of a transaction. In that the sender sends a message with a public key which helps in the encryption which can only be decrypted by a particular private key and this stands as a verifier.

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

• First log into https://steemworld.org/
  and the page below opens and you proceed to choose the block explorer.

_{Screenshot from steemworld}

• The page below then comes up and you input the particular block you want to explore, here I choose block one(1).

_{Screenshot from steemworld}

• Then the details about the block immediately comes up as seen below from the timestamp to block extension.

_{Screenshot from steemworld}

Now let me proceed to sign in.

• Click on sign in as displayed at the top right corner of the page

_{Screenshot from steemworld}

• The proceed to input your user name and your private posting key and click ok.

_{Screenshot from Steemworld}

• Immediately that is done then you are good to go, your user name immediately displays on the page as seen below.

_{Screenshot from steemworld}

Conclusion

A continuous learning about about the Cryptocurency increases my knowledge on the subject vis a vis my enthusiasm on it thereby increasing my willingness to invest more on it for maximum yield and profit.

Thank you.