The Future of Money

The forms of currency used have been changing throughout history. In the beginning of human history people would trade and not have a normal currency. Later this turned into trading elements like gold and silver. That metal eventually became coins and then switched topaper money. In 1950 the first universal credit card was introduced and was seen as a crazy creation. Now the world is entering the most complicated type of currency, Cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency

 “A digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized system using cryptography, rather than by a centralized authority.” (Oxford)

Cryptocurrency is on its way to become one of the main forms of payment. Almost 15,000 different types of crypto currencies are being traded publicly. As of Nov 29, 2021The value of every crypto combined is 2.5 trillion dollars. The crypto currency at the top is known as bitcoin. At the time of this article one bitcoin is worth 56,946 USD. A person can also buy just a fraction of a cryptocurrency and is not forced to buy the whole thing. The total value of Bitcoin is 1.1 trillion dollars. Bitcoin, unlike other forms of money transferring, is not tracked by a bank or any higher power. Bitcoin is decentralized so it is not watched over by any government or bank. Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto. This can be a singular person or a group nobody knows but this person or group is rumored to be the richest in the entire world. The second leading coin is ethereum at a price of 4,216. This coin is on the rise but is still tiny compared to bitcoin. The risk with crypto is that the price of a coin always rises and falls, this can cause the investor to lose money. Crypto is the future and people will have to accept it.

Blockchain

The blockchain keeps record of transactions electronically and is decentralized so the government cannot access it. This causes the user of a cryptocurrency to trust and invest more into crypto. The blockchain also causes people to use cryptocurrency for illegal purposes such as buying stuff on the darkweb. There is no way for any authority to access the transaction history which keeps the user safe. The blockchain is different from a normal database because it keeps a set amount of data in a block and there are unlimited amounts of blocks. The blocks are made so the data within the block cannot be altered, damaged or deleted. Blocks are chained together so it is easy to tell if it is tampered with. The blockchain is very complicated and hard to understand but it is a great concept that was also pushed by Saoshi Nakamoto.

NFT

“Non-Fungible Token” People look at NFTs and wonder, why are these online pictures that I can screenshot. Well NFTs are pretty simple once you stop overthinking them. NFTs are art and the price is based on the popularity, hype, and rarity. Think about it, if someone redrew the Mona Lisa, by Leonardo Da Vinci it obviously is not going to sell for the same price. The Mona Lisa cost so much because of the history of Da Vinci and how people see him. Also NFTs come with perks. An example is the Bored Ape Yacht Club where you gain access to parties with many celebrities. Some celebrities with this NFT are Stephen Curry, Von Miller, and Lil Baby. The list is a lot longer than this. The only way to buy NFT is with crypto currency like bitcoin and etherium. Also anyone can make NFT’s and profit off of them. Sultan Gustaf Al Ghozali made an NFT with just selfies of himself. The NFT gained hype and it turned him into a millionaire. That is an example of how NFT’s build on what people think of it. NFT’s are complicated and unique but are a new way to spend money and make money.

Money is always evolving and it is hard to keep up with all the changes. Cryptocurrency is becoming more mainstream and gaining more value every year. Crypto has many different uses and different risks involved. This should not stop people from at least trying one cryptocurrency. The use of crypto for different purposes is rising including NFTs. All this innovation and new technology  is exactly why cryptocurrency is the future of money.