Cryptomaniac (Part 1)

Many people became more familiar with cryptocurrency this week thanks to Elon Musk’s SNL appearance. Although Bitcoin has been a household name and the go-to coin for anyone conversing about cryptocurrency, the Dogecoin has been all the rage as of late. I initially became familiar with Bitcoin in 2015 and though I was excited about the new currency option, I did not understand it. I didn’t understand how something attached to virtually nothing, could be a viable option for purchasing goods and services. I did not understand when we as a nation collectively decided this was an acceptable form of currency. More importantly, I didn’t understand the magnitude of the revolution I was witnessing.

Blockchain

Cryptocurrency is a form of digital money that lives on a network of computers (a database) called a Blockchain invented in 1991. Cryptocurrency gets it’s name from the encryption techniques used to keep it secure in the Blockchain. Think of a block chain as a collection of information stored electronically on a computer system. The info is stored on a chronological (by date) chain tied together by knots, but instead of knots, the info is tied together by “blocks” of information. Once a block is filled with irreversible & encrypted data, a new block begins to form and the chain continues. I tend to look at a blockchain like chapters in somebody’s life. A person will experience different events in life and each block of their life changes the trajectory of their personality going forward. The blockchain is volatile in that way; each event in the last block differs from events that can occur in the next block. I guess life is like a block of choco… Never mind.

All different kinds of information can be stored using blockchain technology, not just logs of cryptocurrency transactions. Blockchain technology acts as a ledger that records any number of data points such as transactions, votes, inventory, identification numbers, logistics, medical records, etc., I predict blockchain technology will be at the center of several major industries in the very near future.

The blockchain spreads information across a network of computers to create a centralized location where blocks of information are immune from manipulation by any individual or group or people. This transparency keeps the system honest, functional, secure, private, and efficient. Should a copy of the blockchain fall into the wrong hands, only the single copy of the chain could be altered and not the entire network.

Is it safe?

The bad news is that there has been cryptocurrency hacks. The good news is that because of the way the blockchain is set up, cryptocurrency is traceable. If a hacker decided they wanted to write a code to steal everyone else’s cryptocurrency, the database would not recognize the hacker’s version of the chain and render the hacker’s version illegitimate (bye Felicia). Most websites recommend users get cold storage for someone who is holding or mining large amounts of cryptocurrency.

A Trend or Nah?

A person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin in 2009. As of today, the value of all cryptocurrency is around 2-trillion dollars. Cryptocurrency is positioning itself as a valid and modern system of currency. Once associated with the dark web and black market transactions, the cryptocurrency has become a digital asset many Fortune 500 companies are beginning to include on their corporate balance sheet. I do not foresee cryptocurrency going anywhere for a long time.

Do you think crypto could eventually replace our currency system, as we know it?