Ever heard of Bitcoin? It is a kind of cryptocurrency (“Crypto is short for “cryptocurrency”). You might be thinking “What is crypto?” It is a new format of money, but what is special about it is that it is digital. You can exchange your money into Crypto such as Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and more. However, this also means that if you own Crypto this could be very risky if the internet breaks down, since your money is on the internet.
Bitcoin was founded on the 12th of January 2009 by a person who calls him/herself Satoshi Nakamoto, but nobody knows if this is the creator's real name or not.
There are a few problems with Crypto. The first one is that you cannot use it like real money. Let’s say you go to a coffee shop. Are they going to ask you to pay in Bitcoin or in Pounds? Pounds, since Pounds are much more widespread, are the national currency, and are much safer.
Crypto can be much more dangerous than regular money, because of the idea behind it. Crypto was created in a way that no bank can trace your transactions. Criminals are now trying to use Crypto instead of real money, because no bank can track who is making the payment, for what, and to whom. That is why countries such as China, India and politicians in the U.S. are trying to ban Crypto. And when a country bans Crypto, Crypto shrinks and its rating sinks.
Crypto is very young, it is only thirteen years old and already many are trying to stop it. But Crypto has been useful in paving the way for another recent invention, NFTs. “NFT” is short for Non-Fungible Token. This is a way of buying and selling digital versions of art on the internet, mainly using Cryptocurrencies. This has also been blowing up, all over the world. Many famous celebrities are trying to buy their own NFTs, flip them, make their own or even visit NFT galleries. Yes, that is a digital gallery you pay to walk through and see the NFTs, bought by the Gallery founder.
Now, you may be wondering, why are people trying to build their own cryptocurrencies? It can cost you a lot to make them. But you can add fees to your currency, so that every time someone buys or sells an NFT they pay those fees, and you earn money.