Investors were all frenzy earlier this year with the enormous growth of the Crypto Currency such as the Bitcoin and Ethereum. Working on the blockchain methodology and peer-to-peer payment systems, the Crypto were attractive as an alternate currency. The lack of fees for local and international transactions proved to be a rebellious way of paying. However, the software fork updates this month has made the Crypto Currency loose billions of dollars.
Crypto Currency
Crypto Currency is a term widely used for digital currency or virtual currency which is independent of any bank or financial institutions or country. It is just a process of continuous verification of transactions through software and hardware code. For every verified piece or block of code, a unit of digital currency is issued. Some Crypto Currency such as the Bitcoin and Ethereum have become the official currencies in some parts of the world. Organizations and regular stores have started accepting the Crypto Currency as a means of payment. Individuals with appropriate technology set up are able to mine the Crypto Currency in their homes. Some opt for pool mining, some investors set money in exchanges, while some buy the stocks reserved for the Crypto.
Crypto Currency can be bought with real-time currency worldwide. Several exchanges such as GDAX and Coinbase have made buying the Crypto Currency easier. In some parts of the world, Crypto ATM’s are made available for users with which they can buy the digital currency. There are fees for the transactions on the exchanges. Anonymity of users and transactions are possible in the Crypto networks. High security of the software and hardware have led to billions of transactions. Users may see a delay between when the time of order and the processing of orders due to the continuous verification.
All exchanges follow minimum Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering policies. Since the network is driven by software and users themselves, the investments are not secure. Recent software glitches made users loose money due to the issues. The exchanges do not guarantee the money lost in the wallets. Also, during the software updates or forks, the money may be lost which cannot be recovered.
Investment
This year, the IRS has exempted transactions in Bitcoin up to $20, 000 in Coinbase. New regulations are being developed worldwide for regulating Crypto Currency. Billions of users are investing in the Crypto Currency due to the rapid growth. Bitcoin has risen from around $100 to up to $4000 since its inception in 2009. Similarly, Ether which is preferred by the organizations also seen a huge growth from about $8 to around $403 this year. Early investors have seen growth up to 400 per cent. Short term investors have lost some amount due to the volatility of the Crypto Currency.
The network users and miners have started to have disagreements on how the transactions were processed. Some believe that the transaction processing can be outsourced to third parties for faster processing. Some say that all transaction processing must be within the network. Several updates of the software fork SegWit have been introduced in to the system. Investors do withdraw their money during the updates as the software may be unpredictable. In the past, users of MtGox, a popular exchange, lost all their money due to the difficulties in the exchange. All exchanges lock the withdrawals during the software updates.
With every update and the differences in the system, investors are suspicious about the Crypto Currency network. Some believe that after the network is stabilized, the Crypto will reign. Some are getting in to panic mode and avoiding Crypto altogether. Finally, the Crypto Currency has huge scope to grow as it fell rapidly this year. Users can invest while it is in low and hope it will rise again from death. Let me know your experiences with the new found luck – Crypto Currency. 🙂