I am going to try the impossible. To simplify some crypto terms for you.
There is so much going on, even I can get confused at all the bits and pieces of how this all works.
You keep hearing some common terms being thrown around, let me break a few of the most popular ones down for you.
These are simple terms. Not detailed descriptions. Enough to paint a picture in your mind.
BLOCKCHAIN
Imagine a file on your hard drive. The file gets bigger and bigger as more stuff gets added to it.
The great part is, everyone has a live copy of that same file, all of the time. So it is easy to read what is saved in that file.
STEEM vs STEEMIT
You are reading this text, which is saved on the steem blockchain.
- STEEMIT is like a blockchain reader
- BUSY.ORG is like a blockchain reader
- eSteem app is like a blockchain reader
...and all of those readers can "write" to the blockchain too
Centralized Crypto Exchange
It's like a stock market. Except there is no stocks. They are crypto coins (like Bitcoin, Litcoin) traded between people. The Exchange brings people all in one place and takes a small commission everytime someone BUYS or SELLS a coin
- Problem: You have to trust the proprietary operators and staff of the exchange, their rules, and their policies
Decentralized Crypto Exchange (DEX)
It's also like a stock market. Except there is no stocks. There are TOKENS that represent actual coins which gateway nodes bring in, or send back out based on those tokens.
- Benefit: You have to just trust the blockchain.
Bitshares
A decentralized exchange. It has a main token called BTS. When you buy or sell on this exchange, you pay nominal fees that are due in BTS. So to trade there, you have to hold and spend some BTS
Ethereum
Ethereum is a blockchain. So is steem.
STEEM is made up of "smart contracts" which says things like "if this user makes a post, and those people upvote it, the post is worth $XX dollars worth of STEEM or SBD"
Ethereum is made up of "smart contracts" too. Those contracts are different than STEEM contracts. Anyone can create a smart contract that does different things.
EOS
EOS is similar to Ethereum but a lot more scalable. It is multi-threaded (meaning it can concurrently do many things all at the same time)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_(computing)
...so when Ethereum gets busy, everyone has to wait. When EOS gets busy, it just adds another thread
Think of Ethereum like a single-lane highway
Think of EOS like a multi-lane highway
Bitcoin
The first cryptocurrency that proved that people can trade virtual coins without knowing or trusting each other.
Many of the basic principles of Bitcoin are found in all technologies.
Bitcoin started with PUBLIC and PRIVATE keys.
A public key: Is like your bank account number. Anyone can deposit to it
A private key: Is like your bank PIN code. You need that to move money out of it
BitsharesTalk
A discord voice and text chat channel that meets every Saturday at 1pm UTC (9am Eastern)
This is where about 50 people show up to listen to 3 or 4 guest speakers talk about the Bitshares DEX
Why is this important even if you aren't into Bitshares?
The afterparty that ends after the main show is a free-for-all cryptocurrency discussion that allows people to talk about anything crypto-related to each other. You should be there!
