Last week we saw how various retailers such as Tesla and Microsoft have begun accepting Cryptocurrency payments for their products. However, is this more marketing ploy on their part, or are the public beginning to view Cryptocurrencies as a legitimate payment alternative to fiat money?     In their current capacity, how are they being used?   In recent years Cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin have been used more as speculative investment instruments, being bet on within financial markets, rather than legitimate payment and currency alternatives. This therefore has less bearing on the general public other than helping shape their price.    As an example, a typical 24 hour period would now see trade volumes of Bitcoin of over 40 billion coins (Yahoo Finance, 2021). This trading volume has increased exponentially over the past decade, as more investors look to capitalise on price fluctuations and increases. Figure 1, Bitcoin Trading Volume in the US from 2013 – 2021. (S...

Now that we understand the history of Cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin from week one of the blog, it is crucial to understand how Cryptocurrencies operate and what makes them different from normal currencies.   Research suggests those who understand how Cryptocurrencies operate are more likely to trust and use them (Arli et al. 2020, p.1). Therefore, if our research in the coming weeks suggests a large role for Cryptocurrencies going forward, understanding them will be crucial for us everyday consumers to get the most out of them.    This can be broken down into how the currencies are created, government regulation and how they are traded. How they are created How Cryptocurrencies are created is one of the most confusing elements associated with them. The most common term related with this process is ‘mining’.    The following video briefly explains how mining works; Therefore, in simple terms cryptocurrencies are created in code using algorithms. For most cryptocur...

In today's blog feature, we will look at the history of Cryptocurrencies and how they came to be such a phenomenon in the world of finance! The term cryptocurrency is often used interchangeably with Bitcoin which regularly confuses many as to the differences between the two.  A Cryptocurrency is a form of electronic cash that exists without the presence of a central bank or government, that operates on a peer-to-peer basis allowing users to make payments to each other in a concealed manner (Bank of England, 2021). I'll go into more detail on how they operate in next weeks blog.  Bitcoin is just one form of cryptocurrency, even if it was the first and the most well-known, along with others such as Litecoin and Ethereum. Each of these operate as their own separate currency in the marketplace, in the same way that there is a difference between the Dollar and Euro.  A lot has happened since they were first introduced in 2008, so I am going to begin this blog series by lo...

Welcome to Crypto College! Welcome to the Crypto College blog! Over the next number of weeks, I’m going to be helping to de-mystify Cryptocurrencies and the role they might play in the future. We in the public are hearing more and more about Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum every day, whether that’s in the news through well-known companies such as Tesla and Microsoft starting to embrace them, or large price fluctuations that are having an impact on investors and financial markets.    At a basic level this has left lots of us confused.  Therefore, this blog rather than being targeted at investors or finance professionals is addressed towards everyday people and will try to answer the following; 1. What are Cryptocurrencies and how do they operate? What is their history? 2. How big a role are Cryptocurrencies likely to play in our future lives? 3. If not Cryptocurrencies, what other digital currencies might play a role?   I’ll also be discussing breaking Cr...