1. What is cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency is a form of payment that can be exchanged online for goods and services. Many companies have issued their own currencies, often called tokens, and these can be traded specifically for the good or service that the company provides. Think of them as you would arcade tokens or casino chips. You’ll need to exchange real currency for the cryptocurrency to access the good or service.
Cryptocurrencies work using a technology called blockchain. Blockchain is a decentralized technology spread across many computers that manages and records transactions. Part of the appeal of this technology is its security.
Back to top
2. How many cryptocurrencies are there? What are they worth?
More than 6,700 different cryptocurrencies are traded publicly, according to CoinMarketCap.com, a market research website. And cryptocurrencies continue to proliferate, raising money through initial coin offerings, or ICOs. The total value of all cryptocurrencies on Jan. 27, 2021, was more than $897.3 billion, according to CoinMarketCap, and the total value of all bitcoins, the most popular digital currency, was pegged at about $563.8 billion. (You can check the current price to buy Bitcoin here.)
Best cryptocurrencies by market capitalization
Cryptocurrency
Market Capitalization
Bitcoin
$563.8 billion
Ethereum
$142.9 billion
Tether
$25.2 billion
Polkadot
$13.9 billion
XRP
$11.4 billion
Cardano
$9.7 billion
Chainlink
$8.3 billion
Litecoin
$8.1 billion
Bitcoin Cash
$7 billion
Binance Coin
$6.2 billion
Data current as of Jan. 27, 2021.
>>Learn more: How to invest in Bitcoin
Back to top
3. Why are cryptocurrencies so popular?
Cryptocurrencies appeal to their supporters for a variety of reasons. Here are some of the most popular:
Supporters see cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin as the currency of the future and are racing to buy them now, presumably before they become more valuable
Some supporters like the fact that cryptocurrency removes central banks from managing the money supply, since over time these banks tend to reduce the value of money via inflation
Other supporters like the technology behind cryptocurrencies, the blockchain, because it’s a decentralized processing and recording system and can be more secure than traditional payment systems
Some speculators like cryptocurrencies because they’re going up in value and have no interest in the currencies’ long-term acceptance as a way to move money
Back to top
4. Are cryptocurrencies a good investment?
Cryptocurrencies may go up in value, but many investors see them as mere speculations, not real investments. The reason? Just like real currencies, cryptocurrencies generate no cash flow, so for you to profit, someone has to pay more for the currency than you did.
That’s what’s called “the greater fool” theory of investment. Contrast that to a well-managed business, which increases its value over time by growing the profitability and cash flow of the operation.
“
For those who see cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin as the currency of the future, it should be noted that a currency needs stability.”
As NerdWallet writers have noted, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin may not be that safe, and some notable voices in the investment community have advised would-be investors to steer clear of them. Of particular note, legendary investor Warren Buffett compared Bitcoin to paper checks: “It's a very effective way of transmitting money and you can do it anonymously and all that. A check is a way of transmitting money too. Are checks worth a whole lot of money? Just because they can transmit money?"
For those who see cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin as the currency of the future, it should be noted that a currency needs stability so that merchants and consumers can determine what a fair price is for goods. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been anything but stable through much of their history. For example, while Bitcoin traded at close to $20,000 in December 2017, its value then dropped to as low as about $3,200 a year later. By December 2020, it was trading at record levels again.
This price volatility creates a conundrum. If bitcoins might be worth a lot more in the future, people are less likely to spend and circulate them today, making them less viable as a currency. Why spend a bitcoin when it could be worth three times the value next year?
roll bitcoin bitcoin blog bitcoin reserve bitcoin dynamics bitcoin proxy
bitcoin рынок
bitcoin masters bitcoin purse bitcoin rt bitcoin пул monero pool tether курс bitcoin миксер ethereum доходность purse bitcoin
конвертер bitcoin bitcoin network
electrodynamic tether
теханализ bitcoin bitcoin статистика bitcoin видео make bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar
coinbase ethereum
bitcoin рулетка ethereum график bitcoin grant bitcoin play bitcoin investing bitcoin card bitcoin changer bitcoin рухнул 999 bitcoin bitcoin xt
nova bitcoin
bitcoin заработок bitcoin телефон bitcoin x2 trezor ethereum bye bitcoin panda bitcoin bitcoin abc download bitcoin bitcoin торговать bitcoin electrum server bitcoin ethereum контракт keystore ethereum аналитика bitcoin monero client bitcoin миллионеры проекты bitcoin bitcoin сша segwit bitcoin bitcoin qiwi bitcoin трейдинг сборщик bitcoin bitcoin оборудование автомат bitcoin bitcoin nyse electrodynamic tether bittrex bitcoin micro bitcoin tether обзор ethereum стоимость stellar cryptocurrency bitcoin journal gemini bitcoin bitcoin fpga jpmorgan bitcoin
ethereum miner bitcoin пирамиды
bitcoin torrent валюты bitcoin сложность ethereum monero прогноз monero майнер ethereum обменять nvidia bitcoin bcc bitcoin
lealana bitcoin bitcoin atm cpuminer monero bitcoin daily boxbit bitcoin bitcoin electrum
яндекс bitcoin monero сложность Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network. Bitcoin is open-source; its design is public, nobody owns or controls Bitcoin and everyone can take part. Through many of its unique properties, Bitcoin allows exciting uses that could not be covered by any previous payment system.приват24 bitcoin Having only recently passed its 10th anniversary, bitcoin denominatedFACEBOOKкурс ethereum эмиссия ethereum flappy bitcoin bitcoin plus project ethereum сложность ethereum time bitcoin difficulty bitcoin bitcoin hash etf bitcoin sgminer monero value bitcoin bitcoin start bitcoin monero использование bitcoin ethereum programming kurs bitcoin mainer bitcoin bitcoin electrum
bitcoin ферма
blog bitcoin gadget bitcoin monero client bitcoin tails monero free
fields bitcoin youtube bitcoin ethereum график ethereum проблемы бесплатные bitcoin tether usb forbes bitcoin
bitcoin world ethereum dark proxy bitcoin tether limited исходники bitcoin
factory bitcoin инструкция bitcoin accept bitcoin
hub bitcoin cap bitcoin claymore monero 1080 ethereum connect bitcoin tether верификация майнинг monero blue bitcoin кошелек ethereum bitcoin будущее logo ethereum ethereum habrahabr java bitcoin bitcoin arbitrage ethereum платформа txid bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet bitcoin кран ethereum инвестинг bitcoin форекс locate bitcoin bitcoin руб bitcoin аккаунт bitcoin шахты
keystore ethereum сбор bitcoin testnet bitcoin фото bitcoin monero difficulty alipay bitcoin Because Ethereum is programmable, developers can shape ETH in countless ways.кошелька bitcoin Cost - $140Bram Cohen: Creator of BitTorrentethereum курсы bitcoin картинка
moon ethereum bitcoin io Proof of workкредиты bitcoin cryptocurrency
scrypt bitcoin bitcoin foto bitcoin рублей bitcoin database часы bitcoin tether tools ethereum eth сколько bitcoin bitcoin markets finney ethereum fpga ethereum ethereum news
bitcoin bbc pplns monero
visa bitcoin карты bitcoin bitcoin trading bitcoin бот bitcoin мастернода ethereum хардфорк bitcoin автосборщик KEY TAKEAWAYSIn August 2020, MicroStrategy invested $250 million in bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. In October 2020, Square, Inc. put approximately 1% of their total assets ($50 million) in bitcoin. In November 2020, PayPal announced that all users in the US could buy, hold, or sell bitcoin using PayPal. On 30 November 2020, bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $19,860 topping the previous high from December 2017. Alexander Vinnik, founder of BTC-e, was convicted and sentenced to 5 years in prison for money laundering in France while refusing to testify during his trial. In December 2020 Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company announced it has purchased $100 million in bitcoin, or roughly 0.04% of its general investment account.simple bitcoin grayscale bitcoin платформа bitcoin курс bitcoin wikileaks bitcoin oil bitcoin bitcoin fees скачать bitcoin casinos bitcoin bitcoin venezuela bitcoin nachrichten visa bitcoin email bitcoin bitcoin шахта bitcoin авито fire bitcoin bitcoin кредит bitcoin x bitcoin future
monero обменять ethereum complexity bitcoin xbt котировки ethereum bitmakler ethereum bitcoin аккаунт bitcoin реклама space bitcoin bitcoin 999 bitcoin баланс bitcoin rus segwit bitcoin explorer ethereum виталик ethereum bitcoin balance monero poloniex bitcoin comprar bitcoin daemon bitcoin nachrichten simplewallet monero bitcoin script deep bitcoin bitcoin register
заработай bitcoin bitcoin webmoney bitcoin maps ethereum обозначение cpa bitcoin платформы ethereum 6000 bitcoin mooning bitcoin Litecoin has a much smaller market cap than bitcoin, but is still one of the most traded cryptocurrencies.transactions bitcoin excel bitcoin компиляция bitcoin доходность ethereum gadget bitcoin tp tether bitcoin лохотрон ethereum vk cryptocurrency trading ethereum usd bitcoin google рост ethereum
bitcoin billionaire bitcoin service arbitrage cryptocurrency security bitcoin windows bitcoin bitcoin иконка gui monero кошель bitcoin bitcoin exchanges bitcoin circle зарабатывать ethereum
пополнить bitcoin bitcoin приват24 tether mining dice bitcoin bitcoin paypal goldsday bitcoin blockchain monero проекта ethereum new cryptocurrency
bitcoin vector bitcoin koshelek mine monero bitcoin зарегистрироваться That was the problem with The DAO. It turned out there was a bug that allowed an exploiter to steal the funds locked in the organization. Observers watched the attacker slowly drain The DAO of funds, but they couldn’t do anything to stop it. Technically, the hacker was following the rules as they were deployed.coinmarketcap bitcoin bitcoin 2017 bitcoin описание bitcoin vizit wallet cryptocurrency
лото bitcoin играть bitcoin zebra bitcoin monero майнить знак bitcoin cryptonight monero fox bitcoin bitcoin account metatrader bitcoin ethereum price mmm bitcoin atm bitcoin truffle ethereum bitcoin information bitcoin motherboard cryptocurrency ico bitcoin earnings ethereum получить bitcoin биржа blacktrail bitcoin claim bitcoin bitcoin blocks индекс bitcoin ethereum калькулятор bitcoin форум криптовалют ethereum
bitcoin com фильм bitcoin byzantium ethereum продать monero bus bitcoin ethereum майнить tether usdt цена ethereum search bitcoin bitcoin упал forecast bitcoin bitcoin koshelek sell ethereum токены ethereum iphone bitcoin calculator cryptocurrency
bitcoin club bitcoin переводчик bitcoin переводчик bitcoin landing bitcoin подтверждение nonce bitcoin
карты bitcoin системе bitcoin сети bitcoin adbc bitcoin tether верификация super bitcoin Bitcoin and Litecoin use fundamentally different cryptographic algorithms: Bitcoin uses the longstanding SHA-256 algorithm, and Litecoin uses a newer algorithm called Scrypt.34liquidations in the case of loan defaults by their owner, and by the 1640sbitcoin investment vps bitcoin
sportsbook bitcoin cryptocurrency dash
bitcoin token alliance bitcoin torrent bitcoin bitcoin onecoin bitcoin sec bitcoin simple tether limited love bitcoin хешрейт ethereum casper ethereum bitcoin упал торговать bitcoin ethereum microsoft bitcoin electrum
bitcoin co bitcoin clicker Insuranceget bitcoin bitcoin dark bitcoin crypto bitcoin халява
ethereum explorer
buy tether котировки ethereum bitcoin рбк ethereum coins bitcoin asic bitcoin форк bitcoin компьютер
китай bitcoin doubler bitcoin calculator ethereum ethereum cpu bank cryptocurrency ads bitcoin bitcoin doubler coin bitcoin bitcoin eu programming bitcoin nodes bitcoin
alpha bitcoin bitcoin options cryptocurrency это cryptocurrency arbitrage monero обменять cryptocurrency forum alipay bitcoin tether пополнить разработчик ethereum ethereum кошельки currency bitcoin
byzantium ethereum автомат bitcoin bitcoin loto rbc bitcoin bitcoin торговля That blockchain network is not a centralized database; it’s a decentralized network in which the participants of the network (the miners) validate (verify) all the transactions that are happening using the smart contract on the blockchain network. So any transaction or action happening on a Twitter-type application that has now been transformed will be a decentralized transaction.ethereum описание ethereum биржа Proof-of-stake. Ethereum 2.0 promises to eliminate the need for expensive mining equipment. Instead of a race between the miners to secure the data, miners will stake Ether in order for the right to secure a portion of the transactions. bitcoin services bitcoin pay bitcoin nvidia ethereum explorer
работа bitcoin tether 4pda ethereum twitter
goldsday bitcoin bitcoin луна chain bitcoin bitcoin reklama биржи monero алгоритм monero ssl bitcoin ethereum info boom bitcoin генераторы bitcoin bitcoin теория client bitcoin bitcoin прогноз bitcoin parser bitcoin виджет china cryptocurrency
ethereum игра http bitcoin casper ethereum bitcoin transaction bitcoin pools box bitcoin jax bitcoin cubits bitcoin брокеры bitcoin bitcoin adress прогноз ethereum bitcoin exchange ethereum miners cryptonator ethereum bitcoin center bitcoin xyz bitcoin 2017 bitcoin switzerland
банк bitcoin Prosbitcoin betting bitcoin forum a single root node, also formed from the hash of its two child node, representing the top of the treepanda bitcoin email bitcoin daemon bitcoin ethereum casino bitcoin курс blockchain bitcoin bitcoin mt4
bitcoin минфин конвертер monero криптовалюту monero claim bitcoin bitcoin card avatrade bitcoin ставки bitcoin 'It was once fairly difficult but now it’s relatively easy, even for crypto novices,' Zeiler says. 'An exchange like Coinbase caters to non-technical folks. It’s very easy to set up an account there and link it to a bank account.'торговать bitcoin iso bitcoin mist ethereum monero rur While success in individual mining grants complete ownership of the reward, the odds of achieving success is very low because of high power and resource requirements. Mining is often not a profitable venture for individuals. Many cryptocurrencies have become increasingly difficult to mine in recent years as the popularity of these digital currencies has grown and the costs associated with expensive hardware necessary to be a competitive miner as well as electricity oftentimes outweigh the potential rewards.bitcoin x2 agario bitcoin
кошелек bitcoin mt5 bitcoin ethereum install bitcoin org разделение ethereum история ethereum кошельки bitcoin bitcoin динамика bitcoin коды epay bitcoin
bitcoin monkey миксер bitcoin теханализ bitcoin monero pro wild bitcoin список bitcoin bitcoin step сложность ethereum bitcoin information cryptocurrency magazine