Cryptocurrencies — What are they?
Bitcoin is a “criptocurrency”, what is this?
Cryptocurrencies are secure and private encrypted digital assets that can be sent anywhere in the world without the presence of third parties (government agencies, banks, etc.). So, if you need to send money URGENTLY to someone, having only a cell phone or PC with internet access, you can send it directly, without needto send your money first to a company that makes this transfer. This transaction is called P2P or Peer-to-Peer.
IT DOES NOT STOP THERE!
Cryptocurrencies have no owner, but developers, who are often called “Devs” (short for developer). As the name says, developers have the function of developing benefits for their cryptocurrency, this is what we call PROJECT. Every cryptocurrency with a good project has the role of solving some problems, such as:
- Creating a partnership with a large supermarket;
- FACILITATING the use of specific active cryptography;
- Making the used cryptocurrency better known and with an attractive USE.
Now you ask me, how does a cryptocurrency works? What makes it operational? Well.. All cryptocurrencies use technology called “blockchain”, each one having it’s own different specifications (except for tokens) But after all, what is this blockchain?
BLOCKCHAIN
The blockchain is an encrypted network that records all transactions of any cryptocurrency. It is the technology that makes cryptocurrencies DECENTRALIZED, the user can do whatever he wants with the currencies he has, without depending on a company to make withdrawals, deposits, and even exchanges (P2P).
The cryptocurrency that brought this technology is Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin was created by a person or group that we call Satoshi Nakamoto. BTC simply brought something that was on paper years ago to reality, being: fast, anonymous, and efficient transactions, with total freedom for cryptocurrency users. Therefore, nowadays BTC rates are more expensive, making it a problem for small transactions … From the BTC boom, other cryptocurrencies gain the market, each with its peculiarity, all respecting its great father (BTC) after all, he started this revolution!
CRYPTOGRAPHY
Cryptography is unintelligible code (very difficult to discover), making it impossible for anyone to access the data stored by the blockchain! Each cryptocurrency has its own encryption, which is why you should not send a currency to the address of another currency, for example: If you have SCRIV in a wallet, and you want to send to the Crex24 exchange, you cannot send SCRIV to any address (be it BTC, or any other cryptocurrency), you must send it directly to the Crex24 SCRIV address (In this case, your personal Crex24 SCRIV address).
WALLETS
There are several types of wallet, online wallet (website/hot wallet), desktop wallet (official), paper wallet (cold wallet). Each one its benefits, but the objective is the same: to keep YOUR coins. Always use the wallet address according to the currency, for example: If you are going to deposit BTC, use your BTC wallet, if you are going to deposit LTC, use your LTC wallet. Sending any currency to a different blockchain wallet will result in LOSS of the coins!
Online wallet: Official website that works like a wallet, is instantly accessible but does not have as much security as a traditional desktop wallet, as it is a website! (This does not mean that it is not safe!)
Desktop wallet: Official wallet that is generally used for POS/MN. It is one of the safest wallets, as you have full access to your wallet (Private Key). It is necessary to synchronize the blocks of the cryptocurrency to be able to make transactions, which takes time according to the specifications of the currency.
Paper wallet: Paper wallet, is the safest wallet because it is offline, used more for holding (saving coins for possible long-term hike). Very useful and safe for those who want to hold promising coins.
Note: The private key, as the name says, is the key to access your wallet, ANYBODY who has access to that key can access your wallet fully (Unless your wallet is encrypted, that is, with a password to your liking. If you lose access to that password, you won’t even be able to access your desktop wallet with the private key). If you lose your wallet and your private key, there is no way to recover it, so keep your private key in several secure locations, always BACKUP your wallets. Tip: If you use Windows, press the Win + R keys and type in the “% AppData%” box and press “Ok”, you will be redirected to the Windows data folder, look for the currency folder and enter it, which way how you find the wallets you have in a particular currency. However, it is not always there, some cryptocurrencies use the folder where you installed the desktop wallet.
Curiosity — After all, what is this backup? It is the “wallet.dat” file which holds your wallet data. Generally, the backup is only necessary to be done once, since the wallet synchronizes the blocks, it updates your balance regardless of whether the backup is old or not. Also be considerate if you use more than one wallet address, as there are cases where there is more than one “wallet.dat” file, try to find out which wallet address you are backing up. How to backup? Just copy the file “wallet.dat” and save it in a safe place (we recommend saving in more than one place).
Attention! We are not responsible for improper handling, we optimize useful information in general cryptocurrencies! Every day new cryptocurrencies appear, which can use different methods than the ones explained above.
