These principles apply to any payment method wishing to call itself a cryptocurrency. If it doesn't possess all of these characteristics, it isn't a cryptocurrency.
1. DECENTRALIZATION: Cryptocurrency is owned and controlled by the people, not by any central authority. None.
2. PRIVACY: The consumer's identity is as anonymous as they want it to be. The public ledger only contains cryptic numbers known as cryptocurrency public keys for the sender and receiver of each transaction. With hierarchical deterministic (HD) technology, even those can be easily masked.
3. LIMITLESS TRANSACTIONS: Cryptocurrency can be sent via internet, immediately to and from anyone, anywhere, anytime, in any amount, with very minuscule fees. You need not hire a 3rd party banker, nor wire transfer service.
4. CONTROLLED SUPPLY: No one can change the predetermined and publicly published circulation schedule of a cryptocurrency. The government cannot arbitrarily create more cryptocurrency out of thin air and devalue it like they have the US dollar. Cryptocurrency has the same characteristics as precious metals used to back a currency. They work because of their controlled and limited supply. Therefore the Banksters can not inflate away your wealth.
5. TRANSPARENCY: All records are public. All technical specifications, white papers and source code files are published for the public to see. All cryptocurrency transactions are recorded in the public ledger (for example Bitcoin Blockchain) for everyone to see with a publicly provided explorer. Ask the Federal reserve why they resist with all their might a public audit? Let alone any transparency whatsoever.
Beware of the bankster-introduced “blockchains”. They are not true blockchains, but are sinister simulations designed to rob what little personal privacy you have left.