The simplest definition of cryptocurrency is that “cryptocurrency is a peer to peer decentralised distributed ledger run by the community”. 

Just like Facebook and other websites needs internet. Blockchain is the technology behind the curtains, which runs the cryptocurrency.

However, as you dive in to grasp more understanding of how blockchain (and different algorithms along with different protocols) operate to maintain ecosystems of several cryptocurrencies, things become a bit more complex. Proof of work and Proof of Stake are two main algorithms within blockchain technology, which comprise most of the cryptocurrencies.

Decentralised - the beauty of cryptocurrency lie in the fact that they are based on a public ledger. Now you might ask what is a ledger? A ledger is a full record of all the transactions occurring within an ecosystem. For example, all the transactions that go through Barclay bank are kept within their records privately. However, in blockchain, the information is encrypted and publicly posted on the explorer of each blockchain. Such as the blockchain of TenUp coin can be found on explorer.tenup.io. As cryptocurrencies are decentralised, it makes them border-less, which makes the worldwide transactions much more convenient, inexpensive and faster payment gateway compared to banks.

Peer to peer - Cryptocurrencies allow the people to be their own “banks” as cryptocurrencies eliminate the third party authorities such as banks. As the need to trust third party authorities is eliminated, people can easily transfer money to their friends and family with much more convenience and efficiency.   

Transaction fees - compared to traditionally high bank fees for each transaction, cryptocurrencies use a fraction of those high fees. Some times, the transactions are even free! Links with miners and mining, topics I will introduce in the upcoming blogs.

Quicker payments - another beautiful feature of cryptocurrencies is that the transaction speed are 1000 times faster than traditional banking methods. It is because blockchain uses the algorithmic problems to solve and approve the transactions. Depending on the cryptocurrency you are sending/receiving, cryptocurrencies may take from half hour to just a few seconds to receive/send the money. THAT IS LIGHTENING FAST!