This book is about the origin of Bitcoin and its implications for today’s economy. Bitcoin was started in 2009 as a type of digital money, a way for people to transact online without having to use banks or credit cards. It is based on cryptography and an open source software project maintained by a group of mostly anonymous volunteers. The Bitcoin system is designed so that only 21 million Bitcoins will ever be created. As more people find Bitcoin useful the value has increased dramatically. In 2011, 1 Bitcoin fetched $1 USD, in 2012 $6 USD, in 2013 $100 USD, in 2014 $500 USD and in 2015 over $300 USD!
Bitcoin offers many unique features over traditional currencies. It can be used to move money quickly around the world for almost free, usually within 10 minutes and sometimes faster than that. You can hold Bitcoins yourself or have them held by others through what are called “Bitcoin Exchanges” where you can also buy and sell Bitcoins based on current market prices. You can also purchase services or products from vendors that accept Bitcoins as payment.
The History of Cryptocurrency gives you the tools to get started investing in cryptocurrencies. This book covers a brief history of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Dogecoin along with how blockchain
The history of digital currencies and their rise in popularity is one that has been documented time and time again. Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to gain mainstream attention, and it’s still the most valuable. But there are many different cryptocurrencies that have entered the market since then. Cryptocurrency investing continues to be a popular way for investors and enthusiasts to grow their wealth.
The market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined has risen from $18 billion in January 2017 to over $500 billion by December 2017.i The total cryptocurrency market cap has since dropped to $315 billion as of May 2018, but it’s difficult to say exactly what caused the drop in value.
Many experts believe that the cryptocurrency boom is driven by speculation rather than actual use, which can make a volatile investment vehicle.ii Others believe that, because digital currencies are not tied to any country or central bank, they may be able to dodge inflation and devaluation concerns that plague fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar (USD).iii
If you’re interested in digital currencies but aren’t sure where to start, read on for more information about what cryptocurrency is and how it works.
A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend.
Cryptocurrencies are decentralized and based on blockchain technology, which is an open shared ledger that records transactions across multiple computers in such a way that the recorded transactions cannot be altered retroactively without alteration of all subsequent blocks and the collusion of the network.
Bitcoin was launched in 2009 by an individual or group known by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment. Bitcoin can also be held as an investment. According to research produced by Cambridge University there were between 2.9 million and 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, as of 2017, most of them using bitcoin.
Among other cryptocurrencies, Ethereum has become very popular in recent times due to its smart contracts feature. The cryptocurrency market cap has increased from $17bn on 1 January 2017 to over $650bn in December 2017. Smart contracts are in place for Ripple, Litecoin, and more recently EOS.
Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that is created and managed through the use of advanced encryption techniques known as cryptography. Cryptocurrency made the leap from being an academic concept to (virtual) reality with the creation of Bitcoin in 2009. While Bitcoin attracted a growing following in subsequent years, it captured significant investor and media attention in April 2013 when it peaked at a record $266 per bitcoin after surging 10-fold in the preceding two months. Bitcoin sported a market value of over $2 billion at its peak, but a 50% plunge shortly thereafter sparked a raging debate about the future of cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin in particular. So, will these alternative currencies eventually supplant conventional currencies and become as ubiquitous as dollars and euros someday? Or are cryptocurrencies a passing fad that will flame out before long? The answer lies with Bitcoin.
Bitcoin has indeed experienced some rapid surges and collapses in value, reaching as high as $19,000 per bitcoin in December of 2017 before returning to around $7,000 in the following months. Cryptocurrencies are thus considered by some economists to be a short-lived fad or speculative bubble. There is concern especially that the currency units, such as bitcoins, are not rooted in any material goods. Some research has identified that the cost
As a result of the chaos, the cryptocurrency market has become increasingly attractive to speculators and investors. The cryptocurrency price volatility is not new, however. It all started with Bitcoin, which was the first cryptocurrency to be created.
Bitcoin is a digital currency that was created in January 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. It follows the ideas set out in a white paper by the mysterious and pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. The identity of the person or persons who created the technology is still a mystery. Bitcoin offers the promise of lower transaction fees than traditional online payment mechanisms and is operated by a decentralized authority, unlike government-issued currencies.
There are no physical bitcoins, only balances associated with a cryptographically secured public ledger. Though each bitcoin transaction is recorded in a public log, names of buyers and sellers are never revealed – only their wallet IDs. While that keeps bitcoin users’ transactions private, it also lets them buy or sell anything without easily tracing it back to them.
At the dawn of the internet age, it was easy to look at this new technology and see a way to exchange information on a scale previously unimaginable. The ability to transmit information anywhere in the world almost instantaneously led some to believe that we were witnessing the formation of a “global brain” – an interconnected network of computers around the world, programmed by their users to learn and adapt. The idea of a “global brain” persisted through the 90’s, as the internet grew into something bigger than anyone could have conceived of when it was first conceived.
As time went on, however, people began to realize that there was more than just information moving around in these global networks. In fact, there was money moving around too. Businesses formed and flourished on the internet; people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg made billions of dollars developing software and services for people to use online. As we entered the 21st century, it became clear that this digital landscape we were creating would be controlled by whoever had control over its economy. What if there were a way for people to create an economy within this digital space that wasn’t beholden to any one nation or centralized institution? What if instead of trusting our money with banks or governments, we put it in an incorruptible digital
If you’ve been anywhere near an airport bookstore in the last five years, you’ve probably seen the face of Tucker Max leering out at you from one of his two uber-bestselling books.
Tucker Max is many things that I am not. He went to Duke Law School, has a law degree, and is good looking. I am a midwesterner with a liberal arts degree and I did not even go to college. He was born wealthy; I have had to fight tooth and nail for every dime I’ve made (I had more than $20k in credit card debt at one point). He wrote several New York Times bestsellers; I can barely get my stuff published on Cracked.com. I like this quote because it highlights the power of small changes—how they can compound into something huge.