Cryptocurrency
A Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that leverages cryptography to secure transactions, control the creation of additional currency units, and verify the transfer of digital assets without requiring central authority.
- AKA: Crypto Currency, crypto-currency.
- Context:
- It can typically operate on a Blockchain Ledger Database System through crypto currency consensus protocols.
- It can typically enable Peer-to-Peer Transactions through crypto currency networks.
- It can typically maintain Transaction Record Immutability through crypto currency cryptographic verification.
- It can typically provide Financial Sovereignty through crypto currency private key control.
- It can typically control Crypto Currency Supply through crypto currency issuance algorithms.
- It can typically verify Crypto Currency Ownership through crypto currency digital signatures.
- ...
- It can often implement Smart Contracts through crypto currency programmable protocols.
- It can often serve as a Financial Instrument for crypto currency investment strategy.
- It can often facilitate Cross-Border Payments through crypto currency payment networks.
- It can often enable Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) through crypto currency governance tokens.
- It can often provide Crypto Currency Privacy Features through crypto currency anonymization techniques.
- ...
- It can range from being a Utility Crypto Currency to being a Store-of-Value Crypto Currency, depending on its crypto currency primary function.
- It can range from being a Private Crypto Currency to being a Public Crypto Currency, depending on its crypto currency network accessibility.
- It can range from being a Centralized Crypto Currency to being a Decentralized Crypto Currency, depending on its crypto currency governance structure.
- It can range from being a Volatile Crypto Currency to being a Stablecoin Crypto Currency, depending on its crypto currency price stability mechanism.
- It can range from being a Energy-Intensive Crypto Currency to being a Energy-Efficient Crypto Currency, depending on its crypto currency consensus energy requirement.
- It can range from being a Fixed-Supply Crypto Currency to being an Inflationary Crypto Currency, depending on its crypto currency monetary policy.
- It can range from being a Standalone Crypto Currency to being an Interoperable Crypto Currency, depending on its crypto currency cross-chain capability.
- ...
- It can support Crypto Currency Exchange Systems for crypto currency trading.
- It can integrate with Crypto Currency Wallets for crypto currency storage.
- It can connect to Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Systems for crypto currency transaction verification.
- It can interact with Virtual Currency ecosystems through crypto currency interoperability protocols.
- It can be used within Monetary Systems as alternative currency medium.
- ...
- Examples:
- Crypto Currency Types, such as:
- Bitcoin Currency, of bitcoin Units, as the first decentralized crypto currency.
- Ethereum Blockchain Platform crypto currencies, such as:
- Alternative Crypto Currencys ("Altcoins"), such as:
- Crypto Currency By Functions, such as:
- Payment-Focused Crypto Currencys, such as:
- Platform Crypto Currencys, such as:
- Ether (ETH) Cryptocurrency for powering the Ethereum Blockchain Platform.
- Privacy-Focused Crypto Currencys, such as:
- Stablecoins, such as:
- Crypto Currency Implementations, such as:
- UTXO-Based Crypto Currencys, such as:
- Account-Based Crypto Currencys, such as:
- ...
- Crypto Currency Types, such as:
- Counter-Examples:
- Central Bank Digital Currency, which lacks crypto currency decentralization and relies on central bank issuance authority.
- Video Game Currency, which lacks crypto currency blockchain verification and is limited to specific platform ecosystem.
- Virtual Currency that does not use cryptography or distributed ledger technology.
- Digital Fiat Currency, which lacks crypto currency censorship resistance and implements government monetary policy.
- See: Digital Currency, Blockchain Transaction, Non-Fungible Token (NFT), Digital Asset, Bitcoin Network System, Economic Investment, Monetary System, Financial Instrument, Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) System.
References
2019
- (Fanti & Viswanath) ⇒ Giulia Fanti (editor) and Pramod Viswanath (editor). (2019). “Decentralized Payment Systems: Principles and Design." The Distributed Technology Research Foundation January 16, 2019
- QUOTE: ... The original vision for Bitcoin was to build precisely such a payment system. In many ways, it was successful; Bitcoin has achieved high levels of decentralization compared to centralized money supplies, and remarkable levels of awareness for cryptocurrencies, although merchant adoption has been nearly non-existent. ...
... Unit-e is a cryptocurrency that specializes exclusively on payments, with a strong emphasis on performance and state-of-the-art, decentralized scalability. Whereas blockchains offering smart contracts must solve the problem of full, decentralized state-machine replication, lightweight payment transactions offer massive parallelism. Consequently, we narrow the objectives of a general purpose blockchain system, and tackle these questions in a holistic, first-principles manner. We note that although focused on payments, we find that much of the research output involved in the design of Unit-e also provides programmability (e.g. through smart contracts written in Turing or pseudo- Turing complete languages); we discuss these ramifications in the appropriate sections throughput the manifesto. To become a ubiquitous global payment system, United is designed to meet the following five requirements in a fully-decentralized manner:
- . Security. The system should prevent unauthorized or invalid payments from being executed.
- . Latency. Transactions should be processed seamlessly, on the timescale of seconds.
- . Throughput. The network as a whole should be able to confirm up to thousands of transactions per second.
- . Usability. The system should be accessible at all times, offer low and predictable fees and a low cost of operating the network and provide a seamless and predictable user experience.
- . Privacy. The system should prevent unauthorized parties from accessing transaction logs.
- QUOTE: ... The original vision for Bitcoin was to build precisely such a payment system. In many ways, it was successful; Bitcoin has achieved high levels of decentralization compared to centralized money supplies, and remarkable levels of awareness for cryptocurrencies, although merchant adoption has been nearly non-existent. ...
2017
- (Wikipedia, 2017) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency Retrieved:2017-5-8.
- A cryptocurrency (or crypto currency) is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure the transactions and to control the creation of additional units of the currency. Cryptocurrencies are a subset of alternative currencies, or specifically of digital currencies.
Bitcoin became the first decentralized cryptocurrency in 2009. Since then, numerous cryptocurrencies have been created. These are frequently called altcoins, as a blend of bitcoin alternative. Bitcoin and its derivatives use decentralized control as opposed to centralized electronic money/centralized banking systems. The decentralized control is related to the use of bitcoin's blockchain transaction database in the role of a distributed ledger.
- A cryptocurrency (or crypto currency) is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure the transactions and to control the creation of additional units of the currency. Cryptocurrencies are a subset of alternative currencies, or specifically of digital currencies.