"More Coins?"

When I first found out about cryptocurrency, I actually thought that it only meant Bitcoin. However, a while back I started to hear many names that were also cryptocurrencies. It was very surprising, I must admit, because just knowing about Bitcoin was something hard to understand, let alone trust... Little did I know that, according to Investopedia.com, there are over 700 coins, but only some of them actually circulate the market. I’ve always thought that this cryptocurrency reality was a rather small reality, but it’s been growing a lot throughout the years.

Travelex.com confirms that there are 180 current currencies across the world recognized by the United Nations; the British pound is the world’s oldest currency that’s still in use, dating back to the 8th century. The newest currency in the world is the South Sudanese pound, made official on July, 18th, 2011. So, the question is, why would the crypto world be any different? It’s still ultimately cash.

There may be many different currencies, traditional ones or cryptocurrencies, but there will always be ones that are more popular than others. The most popular one is the US Dollar, as mentioned by Investopedia.com, “First and foremost is the U.S. dollar, which is easily the most traded currency on the planet. The USD can be found in a pair with all the other major currencies and often acts as the intermediary in triangular currency transactions. This is all because the USD acts as the unofficial global reserve currency, held by nearly every central bank and institutional investment entity in the world." Bitcoin would be like the US Dollar. When it comes to crypto, there are a couple that have reached a lot of popularity aside from the well known Bitcoin. Some examples of the latter are Litecoin, launched in 2011, one of the first crypto around the market; Ethereum came out in 2015 as a decentralized software platform that enables Smart Contracts; and Dash and Monero, which offer more anonymity within the system.

Apparently, it’s not that hard to create a new cryptocurrency... I thought that this would be a bit more complicated, but according to Fastcompany.com, someone with even basic coding skills would be able to create one. In their article called "How to Create your own Cryptocurrency," they interview Chris Ellis, an entrepreneur and a community activist at Feathercoin. He says the following, “The first step is to find a community and build a currency around them rather than building a currency and expecting everyone to show up." The article points out the importance of getting everyone on board with your new crypto from creating a community, and then make miners aware of this new coin so it grows. There is a specific point that I believe is the hardest one, and is the one with more emphasis in the article; it has to do with convincing people that this digital currency holds a value. As I mentioned in my previous blog, this is really mind blowing; it works because of the people using it and the value they believe it has.

Hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to comment.