Cryptocurrency 101: An Infographic to Make You Seem Smarter at Dinner Parties

by BX3 Capital team

It’s one thing to have a basic grasp of a concept. Being able to explain that concept to someone else in layman’s terms requires another level of understanding. While many of us may live and breathe cryptocurrency, having to describe how it works or what it is in the most general terms can leave us feeling tongue-tied. Preparing us for holiday get-togethers with the family, Stefan Ateljevic of BitcoinPlay breaks down the main takeaways with this primer and infographic.

What is cryptocurrency?

The first thing you need to understand about cryptocurrency is that it is a digital currency. That is, it is available in electronic form only and cannot be procured as coins or banknotes.

Secondly, it is made secure using complex cryptography. When you make a transaction using crypt, cryptography verifies the transaction instead of a central authority such as a bank. Cryptocurrency can thus be defined as a digital currency that is secured by cryptography.

What are the main advantages of cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrency does away with the need of having a middleman to verify a transaction. If you or the other person involved in the transaction doesn’t trust the central clearinghouse to keep your transaction anonymous and secure, crypto is an option to consider.

Another advantage of crypto is that no one can take it away from you. Only you have control and access to your asset, not any bank or government. The same can’t be said about physical money, which is usually stored at legacy financial institutions and whose value is determined by that currency’s central bank.

Last but not least, because cryptocurrency is digital, the sender can neither
counterfeit or reverse it arbitrarily, something that can happen in the case of credit card charge-backs.

In light of these advantages, it’s no surprise that cryptocurrencies have caught the attention of millions of people around the world. Check out the infographics below to learn more facts about some of the better-known cryptocurrencies.

Sources listed in BitcoinPlay’s article.