The world of crypto is growing fast. It’s a complex industry and there are thousands of cryptos out there. AutoCoinCars is giving you a beginner's guide to cryptocurrency with some fast facts and information to give you a helping hand!
What is cryptocurrency?
A cryptocurrency often referred to as crypto, is virtual or digital money that takes the form of tokens or coins. The majority of cryptocurrencies don’t have a physical form, they’re virtual coins held in a virtual wallet.
Fast Fact! How many types of crypto are there?
In the current market, approximately 20,000 cryptocurrencies are being traded. This has tripled since this time last year when there were only 5,300 cryptos in circulation.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to successfully record transactions on a secure, decentralized blockchain-based network.
It uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks. Managing transactions and issuing bitcoins are carried out cooperatively by the network.
Bitcoin is open-source, its design is public, nobody owns or controls Bitcoin and everyone can take part – buy it, own it, sell it, spend it.
What is Ethereum?
Ethereum is an altcoin alternative to Bitcoin. It’s the second most successful cryptocurrency to Bitcoin, thus showing it has great potential as a coin for the future.
The complexity of Ethereum comes into play with the fact that it is programmable, this gives it many uses. There is 5 times the amount of Ethereum in circulation than Bitcoin.
Fast Fact! What is Fiat?
Fiat currency is a legal tender that stems its value from its issuing government.
Fiat replaced the gold standard and other systems in establishing the value of the legal tender.
What is USDT?
USDT is a stable coin that doesn’t look to be profitable, it is a cryptocurrency that aims to match the rate of the US Dollar.
It was created to help with fiat withdrawals as the closeness of the rate to the US dollar makes it the least risky crypto for users to convert back to a traditional currency.
Fast Fact! Where is crypto stored?
Crypto is held in a digital wallet.
A wallet is a term used for what your digital cryptocurrency is held in. You can hold multiple wallets of different coins at any time.
Crypto can also be held on a physical storage device called a Ledger.
A Ledger is a secure physical storage device for your cryptocurrency. Similar in looks and design to that of a USB stick this encrypted device will allow you to gain access to your crypto wallet.
The Ledger company has created Ledger Live software that provides a user interface for all your holdings. This gives the user the ability to add new wallets for different cryptocurrencies to their device.
What can I do with cryptocurrency?
The uses of cryptocurrency have significantly increased over the past few years. Since its creation, Bitcoin and similar cryptos have only been used in a trading sense - buy, sell, trade. However, times have changed and you can now spend cryptocurrency!
Many banks and exchanges across the world have made it difficult and expensive to exit cryptocurrency back into local currency. Especially if you don't know what you're doing!
To exit crypto you have so many things to think about such as exchange fees, capital gains tax, banking restrictions and more!
Companies are now adapting though! Across the world large corporations such as Amazon, PayPal, Starbucks, and more, are adapting to accept cryptocurrency.
At AutoCoinCars buy cars with cryptocurrency we are part of this revolution and we are market makers within the automotive industry! We are the first marketplace to accept crypto, uniting the world of cryptocurrencies and automobiles.
You can pay us directly with your cryptocurrency so that you don't have to worry about the stress of the banking system.
Want to know more about crypto?
AutoCoinCars posts regular blogs on news and information regarding cryptocurrency. We have covered the essential starting information in this blog.
You might also like our A-Z guide on cryptocurrency.
We accept cryptocurrency as a payment method for the vehicles advertised on our site. You can see all of our accepted cryptos here.
We would always recommend that beginners in cryptocurrency should do thorough research before making any big investments.
Some great sites to read more on are; Coindesk, CryptoNews and the Financial Times.