BITCOIN VS OTHER MAJOR ASSETS

Bitcoin is the first-ever decentralized global digital currency.  Among other things, this means that it is entirely computerized and doesn’t exist in a physical form.

Bitcoin can be sent quickly and securely from any point in the world, and you only need an internet connection. Bitcoin’s price is determined by the free market, subject to supply and demand.

Built on a decentralized network, it operates free of any central control, including but not limited to bank or government oversight. It relies on open-source and peer-to-peer software and cryptography. Known as blockchain, this technology is also fully transparent and immutable. Any changes to it can only happen following a majority consensus.

The consensus algorithm that powers Bitcoin’s blockchain (also commonly referred to as distributed ledger technology) is called Proof of Work.

Cryptocurrency can be stored in digital addresses that are spread throughout the Internet. To make it easier to safe keep for regular users, there are many digital wallet providers, each one with its dedicated address where you can receive BTC.

As mentioned above, Bitcoin is based on open-source technology, and many developers have contributed and continue working on the protocol on a daily basis.

DeFi is short for decentralized finance - a field in the cryptocurrency industry that many believe to be their best use case with the brightest future. While DeFi has been around for a long time, it really took off in the summer of 2020 when the total value-locked in various decentralized protocols skyrocketed to the range of billions. This was facilitated by the appearance of automated market makers and decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap. The field of decentralized finance has grown substantially in a very little timeframe and it appears that the interest in it is only going to increase. According to the latest DeFi news, there are hundreds of projects and thousands of investors exploring its numerous capabilities and opportunities. A lot of industry proponents believe that DeFi is capable of revolutionizing traditional finance and even the fintech industry. 

The term “altcoin” is actually short for “alternative cryptocurrency (coin).” It describes all cryptocurrencies apart from Bitcoin. The idea behind most of them is to be an alternative to Bitcoin or to provide something else that the primary cryptocurrency cant offer. The truth is that each one of them, in its own way, bears at least one characteristic of Bitcoin’s technology.

Some altcoins bring forward new consensus algorithms, others aim at improving transaction processing, scalability, speed, token distribution methods, and so forth.

Despite the comparatively short history of the cryptocurrency industry, tens of thousands of altcoins are already invented.

The popular data aggregator, CoinMarketCap, shows that there are 8,200 cryptocurrencies listed currently.