Crypto currencies from 2008 till our days.
At the core of digital currencies is Bitcoin. In 2008, a person known under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto wrote a White Paper, the basis of which, led to the practical history of Bitcoin beginning on January 3, 2009 (Genesis Block).
Bitcoin is a highly innovative technology that requires new thinking, especially in regards to the decentralized structure of this system. For the understanding of Bitcoin or any other decentralized crypto currency, it is important to understand that Bitcoin is not just a file, which can be sent by e-mail, but it only exists and can be applied within an underlying infrastructure, ie the Bitcoin network.
As the benchmark of the crypto currencies, the Bitcoin has made a steady upward trend in both usage and the value development over the past years.
Bitcoin is an electronic money system that is fully peer-to-peer-based and thus operates without other intermediary institutions.
The basis for the existence and functionality of the Bitcoin is the blockchain. The blockchain is the central tool and the breakthrough innovation that Bitcoin makes possible and without which the decentralized, distributed accounting of the system would not be possible. It forms the technical basis of crypto currency and the understanding of its concept is a prerequisite for anyone who wants to understand how Bitcoin works.
Bitcoin is not the only crypto currency. Currently, there are more than 700 alternative coins, with similar functions to the Bitcoin. Various technical innovations give these coins practical uses and thus both meaning and value.