What is Crypto?
Crypto as we know it today is software. This makes sense because software is written with code. The word crypto is short for cryptographic or cryptography. Cryptography is simply the art of writing and solving codes.
A simple example of a code would be to replace all the letters of the alphabet with a number so that the letter A would be 1 and B would be 2 and so on. So the word “He” would be “85”. A very important aspect of any code is its key.
The key is what allows you to write or understand the code. The power of the cryptograph is based on how complex the key is. The more complex the key the more difficult the code is to crack.
In crypto space today we use software (crypto) for many things.
- To transmit value (money) from one point to another around the world.
- To keep a record of ownership or transaction of an asset or commodity.
- As a smart contract that executes autonomously.
- Programmable money.
- Tokens.
These are just a few of the ways in which crypto is being used. It is disrupting the business world especially the financial industry. All industries will soon be disrupted by this new technology. Crypto used to be called crypto currencies. Leaders in the field thought, that they should not be called currencies anymore because crypto are more than just currency. They are software.
Many companies are raising funds through “ICO” (Initial Coin Offering) directly to the public and cutting out the middleman. Offering many people a chance to profit from this new tech. However be sure to DYOR (DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH), before putting your money into any project.
The most important thing that a noob (newbie) to crypto should know is how to keep their private
keys safe. Your private key is what unlocks your crypto and says you own it because you hold the private key to the address where your crypto is stored.
Without your private key you don’t actually have full control over the contents of your crypto wallet. The promise that crypto holds is the empowerment of the people to control their value. This promise disintermediates many incumbents across all industries and puts the power in the hands of the end users.
There are 2 things you should take from this
A) Keep your private keys safe and backed up.
B) Do Your Own Research