Typically, a cryptocurrency project aims to innovate or improve blockchain technology. Most people are investing in cryptocurrencies as they would in stocks or precious metals.

Each cryptocurrency has its own utility and aims to solve a problem across different industries, whether it be financial, medical, entertainment, transport, education, and so on. The future financial system will run on a blockchain, and many governments and countries are set to issue their own form of the digital currency known as CBDC.

Cryptocurrency Basics

Bitcoin (BTC) was the first digital currency. Satoshi Nakamoto, a person or a group of people, created it in 2009. No one knows who made BTC or who was on the team that made it. In the original Bitcoin White Paper from 2008, Satoshi wrote about how the blockchain system works and what it can do.

In his white paper, Satoshi says that, unlike the central banking system, he wants to eliminate the need for third parties to process electronic payments.

Transactions that are hard to reverse on a computer would protect sellers from fraud, and regular escrow procedures that are easy to use would defend buyers. 

All transactions are recorded on the blockchain and  Block Explorers, are used to trace every block mined and every transaction ever carried out on the blockchain.

Different Consensus Mechanisms

POW and POS were among the first consensus mechanisms, and as blockchain technology advances, new consensus mechanisms begin to emerge.

At first, there were two kinds of consensus mechanisms that made blocks on the blockchain, verified transactions, and kept the network safe.

Proof of Work (POW) is when miners mine and verify blocks. Mining can be very expensive and is often seen as non-environmentally friendly. It requires a lot of electricity, good airflow, and a lot of money. In the early stages of Proof-of-Work (POW) blockchains, you didn’t need expensive machines (miners) to mine blocks. You could do it with a PC, a laptop, or a cloud server. However, as the network difficulty increased, which meant that more computing power, or “hashing power,” was needed, many companies started making expensive mining equipment that you had to upgrade or replace almost every year as the network difficulty to mine a block increased due to an increase in miners.

Proof of Stake (POS), where blocks are staked and verified by validators. You need to lock in a certain number of coins to become a validator. To do this, you have to keep coins in your wallet while the staking function is turned on or lock them in a staking pool on an exchange. Some exchanges require a minimum number of coins locked in while others don’t.  POS is better for the environment and safer than POW. The more coins you have and the longer you stake them, the stronger your staking power will be and the more often you will get paid for making and validating blocks.

Coins and Tokens explained

Bitcoin, Ticker: BTC

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency. It was created in 2009, and it is still the most traded. Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin with the goal of establishing a decentralized electronic payment system that eliminates middlemen, aka central banking institutions. Instead, miners that support the Bitcoin network are rewarded with BTC for validating transactions. Bitcoin is the original and main cryptocurrency, ranked 1st on Coinmarketcap.

Ethereum, Ticker: ETH

Ethereum is a blockchain platform that was created in 2015. It has its own currency, ETH. After Bitcoin, it is the most popular digital currency. On September 15, 2022, Ethereum switched from POW to POS, becoming more environmentally friendly. Ethereum functions on smart contracts, where users and developers can build applications and create their own tokens that run on the Ethereum blockchain.

Tokens are crypto assets that back applications and smart contracts created on Ethereum. Tokens basically run on top of Ethereum’s blockchain, such as Shiba Inu, a popular meme coin; Uniswap (a decentralized exchange) with its own token UNI; Decentraland (a virtual metaverse) with its own token MANA; and many more.

Ripple, Ticker: XRP

Ripple was founded in 2012 as a distributed ledger system. Ripple can be used to keep track of more than just cryptocurrency transactions. Ripple is a company that works with banks and other financial institutions to use XRP as a cryptocurrency for a method of payment.

Solana, Ticker: SOL.

Solana is basically like Ethereum only with faster and cheaper transactions. It has its own blockchain where users and developers are able to build applications and create their own smart contracts and tokens. Solana was launched on March 16, 2020, and became one of the fastest-growing blockchains, gaining a lot of popularity and being backed by some of the biggest names.

How to monitor cryptocurrencies

CoinMarketCap, known as CMC, is the most popular website for keeping track of the value of various digital assets. Its goal is to provide consumers with high-quality, reliable data so that they can make educated decisions about crypto assets on a worldwide scale.

CoinMarketCap is currently owned by Binance, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges.

The cryptocurrency market is expanding fast, and CoinMarketCap is there to keep track of new projects, as well as offer airdrops. Users are able to learn and earn, as well as keep track of the upcoming ICOs (initial coin offerings) and much more.

By signing up with CoinMarketCap you are able to earn diamonds on a daily basis with which you can purchase NFTs, merchandise, discount vouchers, and more.

Currently, cryptocurrency exchanges are the sole retail outlets for the purchase of cryptocurrencies. The exchange you choose should have a high volume. since there are fraudulent trading platforms available. The following cryptocurrency exchanges are widely recognized as some of the most trustworthy in the world’s crypto trading community. Once you register, you will need to do KYC (know your customer) verification by uploading your ID, passport, and proof of address.
Verification is very quick and simple. KYC is a method of safeguarding the exchanges, as well as your account in the event of fraudulent activity.
You can buy cryptocurrency using a bank transfer, a credit card, or a debit card.

Binance

Binance, with a trading volume of $7.7 trillion in 2021, was the most popular and largest exchange. Binance is one of the safest, biggest, and most reputable exchanges with a great fee structure.

A professional platform offering a broad selection of cryptocurrencies for Spot and Futures trading, saving, Mining, Staking, or investing in new projects through their Launch Pad, NFT market, crypto loans, dual investment, and more.

You may buy crypto using a debit or credit card, a bank transfer, or P2P (peer-to-peer trading).

Binance is one of the platforms that always keeps improving, expanding, and innovating in the crypto space. They have their own BNB coin and a blockchain.

Huobi

Huobi was one of China’s earliest cryptocurrency exchanges, and today, Huobi is among the top five exchanges in market value and transaction volume.

You may buy cryptocurrency through Fiat and bank card deposits, P2P trades, and third-party providers.

You can receive daily rewards for completing tasks if you download their app. Huobi offers spot and futures trading, bots, staking, lending, dual investments, crypto loans, and daily airdrops.

Huobi has its own loyalty token, called Huobi Token (HT), which is powered by the blockchain. Until now, this is the only token that Huobi has officially released. All Huobi Global services and products are available to Huobi Token holders, including VIP discounts, Huobi Token-only events, trading against prominent cryptocurrencies, and a “let your voice be heard” feature.

Join Huobi and get 5672 USDT and 20 % off trading fees as a welcome bonus!

Bybit

The world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency exchange. Bybit, launched in 2018, has since grown rapidly to become the most popular cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform in the world.

Bybit is easy to use and supports both wire transfers and bank card deposits. Bybit offers everything from spot trading to derivatives to NFTs to mining to staking to savings to crypto loans, and beyond.

 In 2021 Bybit founded BitDAO an investment DAO (decentralized autonomous organization)  a system developed to distribute decision-making, management, and entity ownership. BitDAO’s mission is to encourage the development of open finance and assist token-based economies that operate without a central authority.

BitDao has successfully funded many new projects by providing investment grants,  partnering with projects, and token swaps, as well as developing a few of their core products to help with risk management, onchain Governance, and governance Suite. 

BIT is BitDAO’s governance token and can be purchased on Bybit.

Currently, as a celebration of reaching 10 million users, Bybit has zero fees on all spot trading pairs.