#MarketCorrectionBuyOrHODL
Economics
Social and political aspects
Increasing regulation
Legality
Impacts and analysis
See also
Notes
References
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Last edited 14 days ago by Greenman
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A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto[a] is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.[2]
A logo for Bitcoin, the first decentralized cryptocurrency
The genesis block of Bitcoin's blockchain, with a note containing The Times newspaper headline. This note has been interpreted as a comment on the instability caused by fractional-reserve banking.[1]: 18
Individual coin ownership records are stored in a digital ledger, which is a computerized database using strong cryptography to secure transaction records, control the creation of additional coins, and verify the transfer of coin ownership.[3][4][5] Despite the term that has come to describe many of the fungible blockchain tokens that have been created, cryptocurrencies are not considered to be currencies in the traditional sense, and varying legal treatments have been applied to them in various jurisdicitons, including classification as commodities, securities, and currencies. Cryptocurrencies are generally viewed as a distinct asset class in practice.[6][7][8] Some crypto schemes use validators to maintain the cryptocurrency.
The first cryptocurrency was bitcoin, which was first released as open-source software in 2009. As of June 2023, there were more than 25,000 other cryptocurrencies in the marketplace, of which more than 40 had a market capitalization exceeding $1 billion.[9]
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto[a] is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.[2]