Читать книгу Cryptocurrency All-in-One For Dummies онлайн

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Bitcoin remained the only cryptocurrency until 2011. Then Bitcoin enthusiasts started noticing flaws in it, so they decided to create alternative coins, also known as altcoins, to improve Bitcoin’s design for things like speed, security, anonymity, and more. Among the first altcoins was Litecoin, which aimed to become the silver to Bitcoin’s gold. But at the time of this writing, over 5,000 cryptocurrencies are available, and the number is expected to increase in the future. Check out ssss1 of this minibook for just a sampling of cryptocurrencies that are available now.

Still not convinced that cryptocurrencies (or any other sort of decentralized money) are a better solution than traditional government-based money? Here are a number of solutions that cryptocurrencies may be able to provide through their decentralized nature:

 Reducing corruption: With great power comes great responsibility. But when you give a ton of power to only one person or entity, the chances of their abusing that power increase. The 19th-century British politician Lord Acton said it best: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Cryptocurrencies aim to resolve the issue of absolute power by distributing power among many people or, better yet, among all the members of the network. That’s the key idea behind blockchain technology, anyway (see ssss1).