The Awakening to Cryptocurrency

It’s been a month or so since I have joined read.cash. I don’t know how long exactly but it’s a little under 2 if I may guess. I realized that upon reading my friend @immaryandmerry 's article, it has not been that long but it felt like forever since I grew accustomed to the site and the people I interact here are just warm, welcoming and nothing short of amazing. And with that, I also realized that I am also involved with cryptocurrencies for more than a month now. That’s insane, it feels just like yesterday that I earned my first two dollars worth of bitcoin cash. Again, it has not been that long but I managed to earn, to spend, to send, to share, to store and to burn some coins already. But if I really think about it, I still am the same newbie I was before when it comes to really understanding the in and outs of the crypto world.

I realized also that if I will be expecting to earn in cryptocurrency I should really learn the basic know-hows and really be immersed with it. So far, almost all the articles I have published on this platform can be classified as creative writing, with topics ranging from life experiences to fictitious fantasies. I think it’s good, it’s acceptable but I could do a lot more better. I should at least really try to study and be familiar with cryptocurrency so I can someday, also write about it. This article from @Eybyoung entitled "Want To Write Crypto Topics?: Here Are Some Techniques For Your Guide" really shook me up and as if a slap across my pathetic face, it woke me up. I was like “What on Earth are you doing man? Crypto’s fun, crypto’s hot, crypto is NOW!” And we that I think that I should really put my money where my mouth is and really exert the effort in grasping cryptocurrencies and BCH specifically.

And with that renewed resolve to learn, I am starting with the basic. I think I’ll approach it just like how you would learn a new language. I need to be familiarized with some of the keywords first. I need to be exposed with the jargon so I can also understand what people are saying when talking about things inside this realm. Also, I believe that it’s better to learn with people and with friends so I think I am going to share with you this journey of mine. So in this one I will be sharing the terms that I got acquainted with in the first month or so of my cryptocurrency exposure.

Cryptocurrency

Since this is the first step of my learning this world, we got to start on the basic of the basic, right from the top. What is cryptocurrency? As I gathered from different sources on the net, it is defined as a digital or virtual currency that can be used as payment for goods and services and is secured by cryptography, hence the name I guess. As it is secured this way, it is nearly impossible to counterfeit it. In other terms I think of it as you will a real paper bill or coins, but instead of having them on your pocket or wallet, you store them in a digital form.

You could also think of them as the “coins” you gather while playing a video game. Inside the game, you could use those coins to buy materials or equipment for your character. It is just like that, only in a bigger scale. The coins are your cryptocurrency, the game is basically the world and your console is the internet.

Blockchain

The next term I encountered was this, blockchain. Because as it has been used “Cryptocurrencies use blockchain techonology to store transaction information…” and obviously I do not know what that blockchain technology was. With some quick readings, I gathered that blockchain is like a database. This made great sense to me as I work in IT.

For the sake of clarity, I’ll describe what a database is. Database is a collection of data and information. In programming, the information in a database are usually stored in “tables”. Inside the table the data are organized in row-column format much as like as a spreadsheet. The rows represent and individual record entry and the rows are the “fields” or attributes of the respective record. However, in the blockchain technology, the data are not organized in tables but in blocks. A chunk or set of data is collected into a block instead of a table. And that block is then chained together with other blocks, hence blockchain.

Blockchain is defined as a decentralized ledger of all transactions across a peer-to-peer network.

This definition also excites me, because decentralized and p2p network make sense to me. In computing when we say decentralized, it means that there are multiple computers involved in it instead of just one computer acting as a server, and peer-to-peer simply means the connection is direct from a user to another user. This is the same technology that “torrents” and other sharing sites utilize. Basing on that, I was able to understand that blockchain does not have a central server that is controlled by a single person, company or entity and every user is part of the network. And what does that tell me? It tells me that blockchain is secure, stable and virtually impossible to hack or take down. And that is amazing.

Why is it amazing? Hmm.. think about Facebook, in theory, it is controlled by a single company and we can say that its servers are not decentralized. If the company decides to shutdown its servers, Facebook will not be accessible to everyone, whereas in cryptocurrency using blockchain, every node or computers connected to the blockchain shall disconnect from the network first before the blockchain would shut down. That would be nearly impossible.

Fork

I’ve read this one a lot from the get go since "bitcoin cash is a result of bitcoin fork". So what is fork? First time I've read it I judged its meaning from the context, I think it's like when we say it's a "fork in the road". I believe it is a moment in time that a decision shall be made and that decision may result in to two different paths or outcomes. And sure enough it was more or less like that. Forks in cryptocurrencies are like updates for an application, there is a change with the rules, the blockchain, or the processes. Those changes may arrive from different reasons, they may be necessary for security reason, if there has been a known exploit or hack for example, or there are some disagreements among the community. So to put it in perspective, a change in the Bitcoin blockchain was deemed necessary hence the birth of bitcoin cash. The particular change was related to the size of the block. It was proposed that the block size of bitcoin must be enlarge to cater more transactions.

 Futures

I am still quite vague about this one because I can't seem to find a direct definition of it. All I understand from what I read is when dealing with futures you are betting for the future price of a cryptocurrency. It's pretty much gambling, you will bet if the price will go up or the price will go down. And somehow you will be paid if you bet right at the end of the set schedule.

Hedge

I got to be honest, when I read this one I thought of that certain blue fast runner hedgehog. But when I read about it, it's not even remotely close. Hedge in cryptocurrency is as I understand it, a way to protect your cryptocurrencies fiat value. As you know cryptocurrencies values are volatile. One day a bitcoin cash is equivalent to $1000 the next day it's $900. Hedging an asset will prevent that from happening. For example, you hedge a certain $20 worth of bitcoin cash, for a set amount of time, that amount you hedge will stay $20 regardless of how much bitcoin cash is worth.

Whew! And it's just like real studying, you get so tired after a while. I can't believe that I have only discussed 5 terms. Anyway, those are the terms that really caught my attention upon my entry to this world. As I browse through several articles I see a ton more of terms that I hope will make sense to me soon enough, but of course in studying, information overload in counterproductive so I guess a break is really needed, so on to the next one.

Hey there!

Thank you for reading this, just to let you know I'm open for a crypto tutorial. Yep! You can teach me. LOL I pride myself to be a fast learner so you won't be depressed teaching me.

Sources:

Lead image : https://www.trustetc.com/blog/cryptocurrency-types/

Image 1 : Photo by David McBee from Pexels

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cryptocurrency.asp

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blockchain.asp

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bitcoin-cash.asp

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/cryptocurrency-7-things-to-know#:~:text=A%20cryptocurrency%20(or%20%E2%80%9Ccrypto%E2%80%9D,at%20times%20driving%20prices%20skyward.

 https://gbv.capital/what-does-shill-mean-in-crypto/#:~:text=As%20a%20popular%20term%20in,sell%20it%20at%20a%20profit.

https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/financial-services/fintech/bitcoin-blockchain-cryptocurrency.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain

https://builtin.com/blockchain