Why Do People Use Cryptocurrency? A Beginner’s Guide

Essentially, cryptocurrencies are decentralized digital assets that leverage blockchain technology to gain transparency, security, and independence from traditional financial institutions. Bitcoin, the first and most well-known cryptocurrency, paved the way for this new form of digital money. But before delving into why people are drawn to cryptocurrencies, it’s essential to grasp their foundational principles.

To properly understand cryptocurrency, in terms of both Bitcoin and all of the altcoins that followed it into the market, it is important to understand the motivations behind the movement. If the beliefs that spawned cryptocurrency are in line with yours, you might just want to adopt it into your own life. And if nothing else, you’ll have a clearer picture of what it’s all about in case you want to invest in it somewhere down the road. Let’s delve deeper into Bitcoin and its origins.

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The Ideas Behind Cryptocurrency

The cryptocurrency movement was a reaction against the fact that the finances of individuals often slip out of their hands. This isn’t to say that people have no control over their money and the way it is spent. But it is true that you often need large, third-party companies to complete transactions with that money, hold it for safe-keeping, and basically be a kind of facilitator for any move you might want to make.

This kind of thing has frustrated many people with independent views for quite a long time. It’s that kind of frustration that makes people refuse banks and hide all their cash away somewhere only they can find it, or invest in gold that they hold onto themselves. Those ideas are extreme, however, and it is difficult to participate in society if you hold them.

At some point, a group of developers wanted to sidestep the banks, credit card companies, and every other financial institution with the ability to get their hands on the finances of everyday people. But they had to come up with a way that people could pass money from peer to peer without having to be in the same room to do it. And if not in the same room, how would these people then be able to rely on that this proposed transaction would be carried out in any verifiable way?

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The Bitcoin Solution

It was first conceived in 2009 by a group of developers that were trying to come up with a solution for that trust problem. Blockchain technology proved to be the solution; and it was the key to the invention of Bitcoin; which would start the cryptocurrency revolution.

These blocks are added by a network of computers that attempt to solve a coding problem presented to them. The first of these to solve the problem is the one that verifies the block and provides the trust factor; this so-called “miner” is also presented with digital coins as a reward for their success.

This currency, which the developers termed Bitcoin, became the first cryptocurrency. And the miners were the answer to the problem of verification and trust. Hence a new kind of money was born; but it would need some people to use it before it could be anything more than a theoretical exercise.

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Reasons Why People Use Bitcoin

For the most part, Bitcoin was the only game in town in the early days of cryptocurrency. Yet it wasn’t long before it became a well-known name in both technological and financial circles. The most obvious reasons for its growth are the same reasons it captivates people today. This is one of the reasons why people use Cryptocurrency.

1. Speed

With a Bitcoin transaction, there is generally little wait time for it to be processed. Once it is verified on the blockchain; the coins will show up in the digital wallets of the receiver in hardly any time at all. This stands in stark contrast to; for example; a credit card transaction, which can take days, especially if it is begun on the weekend, to be completely settled.

2. Reduced Fees

One of the advantages that drew early adopters to Bitcoin was the potential for reduced transaction costs compared to traditional banking systems. While it’s true that Bitcoin can sometimes offer fee-less transactions, it’s not always the case. The fee structure is dynamic and can vary based on network demand. During times of high traffic, fees can increase.

However, even with these fluctuations, many find the fee structure of Bitcoin to be more transparent and, in some cases, more affordable than traditional banking and financial systems.

3. Security

One of the most unfortunate aspects of the digital age has been the ease with which hackers and other computer experts can steal personal information. It often requires them just get a credit or debit card number. Worse yet, if you use a credit or debit card to buy from a vendor; and that vendor is hacked, your financial and personal data could go to the hacker as a result.

People who started using Bitcoin realized that none of this was a concern. Only the amount of coins that need to change hands is proffered in a Bitcoin transaction. The rest can be kept safely away in a digital wallet with offline storage.

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4. Universality

For those people looking to bring the far corners of the world much closer to them, cryptocurrency was just the ticket. Many parts of the globe that don’t have access to a bank do have access to an internet connection. Those people could trade coins with others from far across the globe without having to worry about obstacles like tariffs or borders.

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The Lure of the Cryptocurrency Movement

The people who use cryptocurrency, whether as a payment system or for some other daily purpose, have the ability to take their autonomy into their hands. They don’t need to be reliant on corporations or big businesses at every minute of every day.

As a result, cryptocurrency, both at the beginning of its existence and now nearly a decade into it, tends to appeal to those who have an independent spirit about them. Many people have no use for the feeling that they are just a tiny part of some big machine over which they have no control. Cryptocurrency, especially the coins that were created for the right reasons and with the right amount of ingenuity behind them, gives them back that control.

As, now that cryptocurrency has evolved and survived some growing pains, the next step is to ensure that the applications that the coins promise will be used on a widespread level. For that to happen, it might mean that the cryptocurrency community will need to come into alliance with some of the powers that be that they have previously tied to evade. It will be interesting when that happens to see if cryptocurrency loses some of the essences that made it so popular in the first place.

In any case, the rise of cryptocurrency should continue. And as more people get exposure to the coins, they figure to keep finding more reasons for using cryptocurrency.

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