Cryptocurrencies are digital assets stored on computer databases around the world.
Anyone can purchase these digital assets, and as a result, their price goes up when more people buy, and down as more people sell, just as the exchange rate constantly changes for your own country’s currency as traders buy and sell it.
But unlike the money in your pocket or bank account, cryptocurrencies are not issued or controlled by any sovereign state or central bank- they’re ruled by plain, logical computer code.
What are the features of cryptocurrency?
Security and transparency combine to make it all-but impossible for someone to change the transaction history of a cryptocurrency, as each coins’ movement has been stored in thousands of identical block chains files across the world and almost every cryptocurrency presents its code for the world to see.
What are the benefits to your business?
- Immediate Settlement
Bitcoin contracts can be designed and enforced to eliminate or add third party approvals, reference external facts, or be completed at a future date or time for a fraction of the expense and time required to complete traditional asset transfers.
- Identity Theft
Credit cards operate on a “pull” basis, where the store initiates the payment and pulls the designated amount from your account. Cryptocurrency uses a “push” mechanism that allows the cryptocurrency holder to send exactly what he or she wants to the merchant or recipient with no further information.
- Access to Everyone
There are approximately 2.2 billion individuals with access to the Internet or mobile phones who don’t currently have access to a traditional exchange, these people are primed for the Cryptocurrency market. Kenya’s M-PESA system, a mobile phone-based money transfer, and microfinancing service recently announced a Bitcoin device, with one in three Kenyans now owning a bitcoin wallet.
