Are Virtual Currencies the Future of Payments?

Cryptocurrency is an entire new field for the world. It is a domain that relies on the digital. Cryptocurrency is fully autonomous, anonymous, it is super-secure, and it continuously grows. Digital currency does not involve any form of government or institution control. This means that no global unit is coordinating cryptocurrencies, no matter their type. Each digital coin is based on a process that’s converting information into unbreakable lines of code. These are the ones that ensure the flow of transactions that occur in a blockchain.

What is a blockchain? Well, in order to understand how cryptocurrency works, you should first see what the latest blockchain technology is all about. Blockchains are supposed to completely transform financial services. Blockchains are related to authenticating identity and value, making payments, transfers and purchases, storing value, accounting for value, and even insuring value. It is important to remember that a blockchain is decentralized and is based on peer-to-peer networking. By using such technologies, users can actually confirm transactions without the need of a third-party authority. Keep reading to learn more about this domain.

Popular currencies

Once you invested into cryptocurrencies, you will have to thoroughly follow the activity of cryptocurrency price charts. These are the ones that tell you whether the coin you invested in losing ground or not. You should be aware of the fact that investing in digital currency is something you have to permanently keep updated about. It is still a field that’s sensitive and not as stable as people may think. Here’s a list with the most popular cryptocurrencies and their actual values:

• Bitcoin (BTC) – Current value: $10,148.91
• Ethereum – Current value: $1,093.72
• ZCash – Current value: $390.71
• Dash – Current value: $681.27
• Litecoin – Current value: $163.49

You are your own bank

When investing in cryptocurrency, you have to keep in mind that you are the only one controlling what’s going to happen. There are a few do’s and don’ts that you might want to know more about if you want to engage in such domain. Here are some tips:

• Do’s

This category includes many facts that you need to consider when investing in digital currency. Start with small amounts of money because you never know what the course of the coin you are investing in is in the future. Your private key is the most important piece of information related to cryptocurrency. It represents your identity instead of a name. Keeping track of the price charts is already mentioned above, but you have to pay lots of attention to it. Also, cryptocurrency is stored on a virtual wallet or a physical one, specially designed for this function. These wallets require a password that you cannot forget by any means. Carry out an identification check on every buyer or seller that you intend to trade with since there can be scammers out there. Malware downloads are one of the most popular ways to introduce a virus into your system. The same goes with cryptocurrency flipping scams that ask users to pay a start-up fee before the actual investment. These are scams you should watch out for. Your OS should also be kept updated and protected against viruses to ensure your wallet security – if it’s an online one. Keep withdrawing digital coins frequently to become familiar with hot transactions are being made, but – at the same time – be patient and follow charts.

• Don’ts

The list of things you should not be doing is just as long as the pieces of advice listed above. Firstly, you should never share or lose your private keys. Pay as much attention as possible to keeping these keys safe. Trusting unreliable devices is not a good idea either. Roaming into scam sites is a sure way to get a virus. You should not reuse your wallet addresses or leave money at an exchange. Trading with persons that have a low feedback score is one thing you should avoid at all costs. In addition, storing all your funds in a single wallet may have both benefits and downsides. The downside would be that you are a certain target for hackers. The benefit would be that you can easily organize and handle all your cryptocurrencies in one single place.

Final thoughts

If you plan on investing in cryptocurrency soon it would be advised to get as much information as possible about this topic. Start by understanding how the entire process works and continue with following price charts long before investing. You can observe a pattern in a digital coin’s rise and fall which will eventually help you out with deciding when to buy or sell. Making money out of cryptocurrency is pretty difficult, but if you gather all the resources you need and you invest some of your time and attention into it, the outcome might be very reasonable.