Why trade cryptocurrency?
There are many reasons for trading CFDs in cryptocurrencies through us:
No automatic expiration date
Unlike some providers, we will not automatically close your position every week, so you can hold your position without having to pay spread trading fees to start trading again.
Margin trading
Hold positions in Bitcoin and Ether without occupying all of your funds * .
Long or short
Take full advantage of the price changes of cryptocurrencies, go long or short the price of Bitcoin and Ether.
Experience
Avoid the cumbersome trading of unfamiliar trading platforms, trading with existing brokers allows you to easily deposit and withdraw funds for trading.
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Explore cryptocurrency
Encryption currency is a digital currency created by code. They operate autonomously outside the confines of traditional banking and government systems.
Cryptocurrency uses encryption technology to ensure the security of transactions and regulate the creation of other units. Bitcoin is the most original and by far the most famous cryptocurrency, launched in January 2009. Today, there are already more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies that can be traded online.
Cryptocurrency is significantly different from traditional fiat currencies. Nevertheless, you can still buy and sell them like any other asset. You can now also trade the price movements of various cryptocurrencies through CFDs.
Encrypted currency belongs to digital currency, alternative currency and virtual currency. They were originally created to provide an alternative payment method for online transactions. However, cryptocurrencies have not been widely accepted by businesses and consumers, and their current prices fluctuate too much, making them unsuitable as payment methods. As a decentralized currency, its development is not subject to excessive government restrictions or influence, while the cryptocurrency economy is monitored by a peer-to-peer Internet protocol. Each unit constituting the encrypted currency is an encrypted data string that has been coded to represent one unit.
Bitcoin is considered the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Like all cryptocurrencies, it is controlled through a blockchain transaction database, which is used as a distributed public ledger. Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto-it is unknown whether the name refers to a person or a group.
One characteristic of most cryptocurrencies is that they are designed to slowly reduce production. Therefore, only a limited number of currency units will be circulated. This has the same attributes as commodities such as gold and other precious metals. For example, the number of bitcoins is not expected to exceed 21 million. On the other hand, cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum work slightly differently. The issuance limit is 18 million Ether per year, which is equivalent to 25% of the initial supply. Limiting the number of bitcoins provides "scarcity", which in turn gives it value. Some people claim that the creators of Bitcoin actually imitated precious metals to create cryptocurrencies. Therefore, over time, mining becomes more difficult because the mining reward is halved every few years until it reaches zero. Read more about Bitcoin mining below.
The main characteristics of cryptocurrency
There are many key principles to govern the use, exchange, and trading of cryptocurrencies.
encryption
Cryptocurrency uses advanced encryption technology in a variety of ways. Cryptography evolved from the need for secure communication methods during World War II, and was designed to convert easy-to-read information into encrypted codes. Now cryptography has come a long way. In today's digital world, it is mainly based on computer science and mathematical theories. It also draws on communications science, physics, and electronic engineering.
The two main elements of cryptography apply to cryptocurrencies-hash algorithms and digital signatures:
- The hash algorithm verifies data integrity, maintains the blockchain structure, and encodes personnel's account addresses and transactions. It also generates encryption puzzles, making block mining possible.
- Digital signatures allow individuals to prove that they own a piece of encrypted information without revealing that information. For cryptocurrencies, this technology is used to sign currency transactions. It proves to the network that the account owner has agreed to the transaction.
Blockchain technology
Blockchain is a decentralized public ledger or list of cryptocurrency transactions. The completed block is composed of the latest transaction, which is recorded and added to the blockchain. They are stored as open, permanent and verifiable records in chronological order. A peer-to-peer network of market participants manages the blockchain, and they follow a set protocol for validating new blocks. Every "node" or computer connected to the network will automatically download a copy of the blockchain. This allows everyone to track transactions without the need for central record keeping.
Blockchain technology has created a record that cannot be changed without the consent of the rest of the block. The blockchain concept is attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin, which inspired a series of applications other than digital cash and currency.
Block mining
Block mining is the process of adding new transaction records as blocks to the blockchain. In this process-using Bitcoin as an example-new Bitcoin will be generated, increasing the total number of tokens in circulation. Mining requires a specific piece of software to solve mathematical problems, and the legal transaction that verifies that a block is formed is a block. These blocks are added to the public ledger (blockchain) approximately every 10 minutes. When the software resolves the transaction, the miner will receive a certain amount of Bitcoin. The faster the miner's hardware can process mathematical problems, the more likely it is to verify transactions and receive bitcoin rewards.
Major cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is considered the most original and most famous cryptocurrency. Satoshi Nakamoto is a person or group of people under this name, founded in 2009. It can be said that its characteristics are more like commodities than traditional currencies. This is reflected in the fact that it is now used more as a form of investment than a method of payment. As of December 2017, there are approximately 16.7 million Bitcoins (a limited number may be 21 million) in circulation. Traders can buy Bitcoin through exchanges, or speculate on its price trends through CFDs and spread betting.
Ethereum
Ether is relatively new in the field of cryptocurrency. It was launched in 2015 and is currently the second largest digital currency at the time of writing. It operates similarly to the Bitcoin network, allowing people to send and receive tokens representing value through an open network. The token is called Ether and is used as a payment on the network. However, the main use of Ether is as a smart contract rather than a payment method. Smart contracts are code scripts that can be deployed in the Ethereum blockchain. The restrictions on Ethereum are also slightly different from Bitcoin. The issuance cap is 18 million Ether per year, which is equivalent to 25% of the initial supply. Therefore, although the absolute issuance is fixed, the relative inflation rate is declining every year.
Bitcoin cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a cryptocurrency and payment network created by the Bitcoin hard fork in December 2017. When the digital cryptocurrency community disagrees, a hard fork occurs. In general, the point of divergence is mainly related to the software update used in the network, but for Bitcoin Cash, the divergence point that produced its hard fork is mainly derived from a proposal whether to increase the block size limit . After the fork, the blockchain is divided into two, and miners and the wider community decide which digital encryption currency to choose. After the emergence of the Bitcoin hard fork, a Bitcoin Cash coin is generally allocated for each Bitcoin held (but some exchanges do not recognize Bitcoin Cash).
Litecoin (litecoin)
Litecoin (LTC) is a peer-to-peer digital encryption currency founded by Charlie Lee (a former Google employee) in 2011. Litecoin is an early "altcoin" derived from Bitcoin. It was originally created for smaller transactions than Bitcoin. Technically speaking, Litecoin is almost identical to Bitcoin, but has some significant differences and improvements. For example, Litecoin can process blocks up to 4 times faster than Bitcoin. Litecoin mining has higher technical requirements, but the total amount is also much higher-currently set at 84 million, which is 4 times the number of Bitcoins.
Ripple
Ripple is a network that can trade any currency (including fiat currency and digital cryptocurrency) in the world. Ripple aims to ensure safe, fast and low-cost transactions within the network, without the risk of fraud or refunds. Ripple is much faster than Bitcoin-it only takes a few seconds to complete the transaction. The minimum transaction cost is also much lower, which is one of the reasons why more and more banks choose Ripple for settlement. Ripple also refers to Ripple's own digital cryptocurrency Ripple coin used on the network.
Summarize
The best description of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is the potential currency. As mentioned above, they are not widely accepted as a medium of exchange today. They have obvious limitations, which prevent them from developing into fully-fledged currencies. Whether cryptocurrency is only part of the financial bubble is also questionable. However, although unlikely, it may be used more widely as a medium of exchange in the future. The potential use of blockchain technology behind cryptocurrency is also an interesting question. This technology may be used for other purposes, including legal transactions, security plans, and voting systems.