What - in words of one syllable - the heck is cryptocurrency?

I've spent most of my working life in finance and yet I can't get my head around bitcoin / digital currencies / cryptocurrency. It's, like, electronic, you can't actually see it, touch it or spend it, but it gets more valuable all the time - wha?

Am I being super thick? Can anyone explain it without posting in links to sites I've already given up trying to understand?

I didn't even know whether to classify this blog as gaming or technology frustrated
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Comments (43)

All I know is the bubble is gonna burst, if it hasn’t happened already.
Mimi, people have been saying that for over a year and the reason I'm asking is the value of a single bitcoin clearing $10K in November. Holy moley. I knew people getting excited when it cleared $250.

wow
And sure it has nearly halved since then, but it is still bobbling way, way higher than entry price if I hadn't sneered and refused to risk entry price

frustrated
...nowdayes even the gouvernment support mining those bitcoins.... needs enourmous computerpower, and in one city in Norway, Trondheim, the neighbours complains about the noice...
-the noice comes from the cooling-fans whos there to keep the computers running.... crazy the whole thing.
and cryptic....laugh
...but no, sorry, I`m not even gonna try explaining anything...help

cool wine
A piece of advice from my late grandpa, “Don’t dabble in anything that you’re not familiar with” professor

He was never a risk taker while he was alive...probably that was why he never strike it rich! grin
Viking, you and me both.

I don't like things I can't understand, and I really don't like things I can't understand becoming mainstream, and it is.

I really really don't want to wake up one day and find the small amount of savings I have had been invested by my bank in cryptocurrency and oops, sorry Biff, we lost it all. Yet cryptocurrency is increasingly moving into the shipping lanes.
...yeah, the one thing I do know, is that the gouverments arround the world starts taking it serious, as they loose controll over taxes.... and we can`t have that, offcourse. grin
Cryptocurrency is not new Elle, at least for some who had been in the investment world either as an investor or the manager of that investment. It is like future. Meaning buying currency of other countries and then sell it at a certain time of the day, week or months to make huge gain or loss.

Crypto is a bitcoin and is complicated. What it is is for anyone to buy a crypto currency to an investor such as bank and you as the owner of that can trade any services to that account such as buying an airplane or anything and can't be traced to you. Complicated but the drug dealers and or billionaires use this system in order to avoid tax and or tracing their wealth. \

My ex was in the investment world and I heard a little bit about it.
Mimi, that's why I sneered back when I had the chance at a price I could afford. I didn't understand what it is and I didn't take the chance and ok I'm sorry now but although I AM a risk-taker I do have to know what risk I am taking. confused

It's like a giant April Fool joke that won't stop
I am on the road Elle and I will get back with you later.

More with a simplified explanation.wave
Hi Elegs,

That's money that was used in that movie "Tales from the crypt." professor
...the ones who do accept bitcoins, exchange them in to real money for the buyer, in a way...
Viking, yup. Yesterday thought, the banks were pointing and scoffing. Today some of them are getting into bed with it. Tomorrow?

uh oh
In reality this is a game for the exact reason you said Elle. Yes because it is not traceable and there is no way of knowing who spends what and for how much. Exactly. I had been involved with my ex in this because he is one of the trustee on the account and it is very weird. Very complicated and yes it does take a lot of trust to be involved in it. When I was in CH my money was deposited in an account that only has numbers. My name was not on it etc. Only your connection to your money is number. This one is almost the same but a whole new system that is entirely untraceable.

Imagine the drug cartels buying the bitcoin (original name) or crypto and use it to trade services no matter how big and can't be responsible in any tax obligation. It is ;very complicated.
Robrt! Long time no see! yay

Coins from the eyes of the dead, eh? Oh well THAT's okay laugh
Viking of course, the buyer of the bitcoin does exchange it in real money. But it doesn't have to be done through a bank where in the record shows that the bank deposited that for you. That is how it an't get untraceable.

You or me or anyone can buy. You have to go though a whole orientation, process to be a buyer.
LJ good at least I'm not the only one finding it complicated!

What worries me is that every form of banking before, numbered bank accounts and all, have been tied to real currency, backed by real assets, at least in theory.

Now something that has no physical links, that can be lost forever if you lose your codes, that has absolutely no existence at all, is less physical than a soap bubble, is increasingly being seen as a valid investment. That can't possibly be right.

I do know that shares bought for a dollar can be worth hundreds, even thousands, of dollars and the only piece of paper connected to them will always have the face value of one dollar. Their value can soar or crash too, and that's part of the gamble. But somewhere along the line that share and its soap bubble value is linked to something physical. It is traceable, it is owned, it is bought and sold. This isn't. It does my head in a bit.
hehe...Z-man sumed it up....laugh rolling on the floor laughing
So, it's not a whole coin, just a bit ? laugh
Viking, interesting you say that, it was my understanding bitcoin can't be used for anything, it can't even be linked as a credit on your bank cards, the only way to use it is to cash it and the authorities were trying to control all the cashing in points - to the point where they are offering them. Which comes straight back to it increasingly becoming mainstream.

With value for one bitcoin sitting at $6K today that would have to be one helluva cup of coffee laugh

So I was wrong, and I need to find out more
Yikes Z my buddy's husband has some. Or he had some. Maybe he ran out of babies to eat and sold out in disgust.

tongue
lol! yeah a whole bitcoin would probably drown you in coffee....grin I watched a program on tv about this things a while back.
the ones who likes to try out this stuff, only have small amounts, like a quarter or so of a bitcoin.
I remember they paid through their phones...( o,oo23 bitcoins as an example...)dunno I guess theres spechial programs or apps they go through... (ohhhh, I SO hate apps)... sigh

jaja...enough rambling from me...!grin
An IOU not backed by the government and instead backed by faith in the people alone. All the money in the world has value because of faith, but the government makes normal money less cryptic by cementing its existence with a central bank. Private property can only physically exist because of government.
Viking that is VERY cool I had asked if anything could be bought with it by Joe Blogg and was told no laugh
Chesney it is almost reassuring to know in a world where fewer and fewer people believe in anything that we can believe in mythical money applause
...funny thing about this cryptocoins... no one has been able to "crack the code" of this program...
-so who ever invented it, sure knew what they/he/she , was doing...
-thats what I find most exiting about the whole thing, when thinking about all those computer-freeks that probably been trying to break into this program...

-but imagine , one day, somone does?

I rather go to a casino....laugh
It's a fiat currency as opposed to money it is deadly simple to manouver & I own 2 Forecasts are that the value will reach well over 1mil
Let me start you off; although with what I am about to tell you I don't think you will care about them rolling on the floor laughing
I'm in Mt Rushmore in 30 minutes Elle. I'll get back with you.
people want to play with money.
as the central banks are printing money, that money needs to leave the system.
In my country they see it as speculation, so you'll need to pay taxes on the profit made (off course losses are for you).
I don't know if you have to do that for other currencies.

I own a few ripples and Ethereums. it does nothing.
All is low, so maybe it is a time to buy?
nobody knows, but the rich still want to get richer, that is for certain.

=john oliver had a nice one about it.
You're best googling "Andreas Antonopoulus", if you're interested.

He's the great explainer for the newbs.
Viking, the program's apparently been around since the 90s, too. I'm guessing more and more layers on encryption since though

Listen, if this blog makes you decide to work on it and you crack it, I want a small share, k? Half a million would do me nicely laugh
Unlaoised Run? I'm not touching it, I'm just concerned that we're in the minority!
Robby, yay, another comics fan whoop whoop we are a small and select group here, Ken is the only other I know of laugh
Cervatilla sweetie, too generous rolling on the floor laughing hug I'm rich, I tell ya, RICH!
Len, hi! Belgium taxes speculation money? Ouch. I think most countries say that winnings are tax free but spending saving or investing the income will find the govt standing with its hand out.

I'll look up the John Oliver one, when he isn't being a prat and taking the mickey he is very good indeed, ta.
Still, I might have to, lots of fun comments but I don't know much more than when I started dunno
We're not in the minority, Biff. I had a look at bitcoins a few years ago. Too volatile for my liking and the inventor has disappeared into the vapour laugh
They are releasing a limited edition bit coin on one side Gladstone Gander and the other scrooge Macduck

grin
Oh, I didn't mean in the minority for not investing, but in the minority for eyeing them with panic laugh

Most aren't that fussed conversing
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by Elegsabiff
created Aug 2018
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