Is Cryptocurrency The Future Of Money?
Satoshi Nakamoto
In the beginning, cryptocurrency was relatively unpromising. Satoshi Nakamoto was trying to create a new form of digital cash. Nakamoto, a quiet interloper in the financial world, was hoping to create a digital cash system that did not rely on a central entity. His hope was to avoid creating one specific financial entity, such as a central bank or trading market, that had total control over the financial market he was hoping to invent. Previous electronic online currencies had tried to do the same thing and failed, like B-Money or Bit Gold. The desire to create electronic cash was still pressing, leading to the invention of bitcoin by founder and developer Satoshi Nakamoto. The only catch? No one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is.
The mysterious man never actually announced himself to the public. A white paper (an informational document designed to promote or highlight features of a product or document concisely) was anonymously posted to a financial mailing list detailing the invention of this new cash system. Titled Bitcoin: A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System, the paper was authored by someone calling themselves Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. A year later, someone had transformed the paper into a publicly available software, and by 2009 people were mining (buying) and creating new bitcoins that were later verified in blockchain exchanges.
The beginning of Cryptocurrency
In 2011, Bitcoin continued to increase in popularity, creating a national conversation about cryptocurrency and other decentralized and encrypted currencies. Altcoins, alternative cryptocurrencies began appearing left and right, continuing to improve on the original design. Many different variations of cryptocurrency began emerging and disappearing off the market, with ultimately around a thousand remaining in permanent circulation. The first cryptocurrency crash in 2011 sent shockwaves through the online world, causing many investors to lose hundreds and thousands of dollars. The crash also caused increased volatility in the remaining investors’ shares.
Over the next five years, cryptocurrency built its way back up. Cryptocurrency surged forward with the emergence of another top cryptocurrency model called Ethereum. Ethereum’s Ether coin facilitates blockchain interactions and triggers an initial coin offering (ICO) platform. This platform allows investors to trade stock or shares in various crypto-startups, the same way you might trade or invest in cryptocurrencies. The increased confidence that Ethereum and its ICO successes provided entrepreneurs and investors with the growing confidence to reinvest in bitcoin. Ethereum was responsible for kickstarting a rise in bitcoin popularity. The price of bitcoin spiked as high as $10,000 per bitcoin.
The future of Cryptocurrency
Today, Bitcoin and Ethereum are the two most popular cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is currently trending at over $30,000 per coin whereas Ethereum is trending at over $1000 per coin. The increase in popularity of these decentralized and highly encrypted currencies has led to growing confidence in the idea of decentralized finance in general. An unsupervised market that’s entirely guided by users and moderated on principle, cryptocurrency is redefining what it means to be fiscally responsible. Many investors view cryptocurrency as the future of money, a sign that we are one step closer to a self-moderated world free from the pressures and purview of financial oversight. Whether or not cryptocurrency will remain successful is something only time can tell.
