The explosion of Bitcoin in 2017 revealed to the general public a virtual world that was rather discreet since 2010. With over 1800 new currencies of the genre, boasted by the now famous blockchain technology, the complexity of this industry greatly increased over the past 5 years in an industry that is now trying to set the tone for future financial freedom.
This is the story of cryptocurrency.
It all started in 1998, Wei Dai released a “b-money” device, an anonymous electronic treasury system, but it was the Bitcoin, created in 2009 by a developer whose pseudonym is Satoshi Nakamoto, that launched the cryptomarket as we now know it. Later, other major cryptocurrencies appeared, like Litecoin, Peercoin and Namecoin, all with different properties.
Many others have been developed but have not been very successful, mainly because of their lack of innovation.
During the first years of its existence, cryptocurrencies attracted the general public little by little, especially through the interest of the media, and since 2011 we have been able to notice an increasing success of the subject, notably during the sudden rise of the Bitcoin price in April 2013 (it is at this time that consumers really knew this currency and its strong potential).
From 2014, a second generation of digital currencies has made its entry on the market, with Monero, Ethereum (derived from Bitcoin and referent of this second generation) and Nxt for example, and their new features such as stealth addresses, intelligent contracts, or lateral blockchain chains, among others.
Robocoin’s founder launched the first Bitcoin vending machine in the United States in early 2014.
The kiosk is located in Austin, Texas and is similar to bank machines, but is equipped with scanners to read ID cards to confirm the identity of users. Finally, the market capitalization of cryptomonnaie should reach 1 000 billion dollars in 2018.
Major challenge for institutional money
Today, the cryptocurrency market represents a major challenge for central banks and the global economy because the rules of the game in this environment are quite different from those of traditional currencies, and the growing popularity of cryptomonets could cause consumers to lose confidence in fiduciary currencies, which is essential: a currency is valid when consumers believe in it, otherwise it can collapse.
That’s why several countries have studied the question to create state cryptocurrencies. In January 2018, the Bank of England announced its intention to create a cryptocurrency indexed to the British currency. In Canada and Singapore, institutions are also considering developing cryptocurrency payment systems. This year, the Marshall Islands became the first country in the world to launch a legal cryptocurrency, and the Venezuelan president created a cryptocurrency, petro, anchored on the price of a barrel of oil, in order to circumvent the American sanctions that affect the country.
In any case, the cryptocurrencies and his blockchain account book seem to have a bright future, and since everyone can try their luck, why shouldn’t the next person to consult the blockchain be you?