Steemit Crypto Academy Season 4 - Homework Post for Task 3 - Genesis block by @daakye

Thank you Professor @awesononso for this great course. Below are my responses to the assignment.

3a) What is Cryptocurrency?
b) What is Cryptography and how does it make cryptocurrencies secure?
c) Explore the Steem Genesis Block and Sign in as proof of completion.

WHAT IS CRYPTOCURRENCY?

Cryptocurrency is derived from another word known as cryptography. I will elaborate more on cryptography later on. But that notwithstanding, you noticed that cryptocurrency is the combination of two different words with their own unique meaning. i.e crypto and currency.

CRYPTO means to be kept a secret or hidden from someone whereas CURRENCY is a medium for exchanging services for goods and vice versa.

So basically to the layman, Cryptocurrency is a hidden medium of exchange of goods and services without interference from a third party like the government of a particular country.

Technically speaking, Cryptocurrency is an online currency that works in conjunction with cryptography on a decentralized blockchain without the involvement of any central authority. This means that with cryptocurrencies, monetary exchanges are between just two parties or persons. This is known as a peer-to-peer transaction. The transactions are done using tokens or coins.

Just as not all the Physical currencies we know have the same value. These coins have different values as well when converted to fiat. Bitcoin is the mother token or coin from which all the other coins were birthed. It is believed that an individual or group of persons called Satoshi Nakamoto discovered Bitcoin in 2009.

To date, no one knows the true identity of this individual or persons.

There have been several other coins that really see eye to eye with the mother coin (Bitcoin). These include; Ethereum, Monero, and Litecoin. As I said, there are so many other coins like steem, dogecoin, Acoin, Binance coin, and the list goes on and on. You can choose to make transactions with any of these coins.

WHAT IS CRYPTOGRAPHY & HOW DOES IT MAKE CURRENCIES SAVE

Cryptocurrency is leading the world into a more digitalized one. As such, the concept of cyber security is questionable in times like these. Cryptography, therefore, comes in to address the issue of cyber security.

Cryptography is the study and use of techniques that are formulated on algorithms or codes to secure information and encourage communication among parties informed in a transaction. It is also derived from two words, i.e crypto and graphy.

"Graphy" is from the Latin word “graphein”, which means to write.

It involves the use of two keys. That is the Public key and the Private key. The Public key is the same as the address of the individual to whom a token or coin is being sent. During transactions involving cryptocurrencies, only a user's private key can enable him or her to sign in for the transaction to be successful. In other words, you are your own keeper and no one can have access to your transactions until you give them your details.

Cryptography makes transactions possible without necessarily knowing the personal details of whomever you're doing the transactions with.

Another important way that cryptography can help secure cryptocurrencies is through Hashing. Hashing forms a major component of the encryption process. During transactions, the data needs to be encrypted and only decrypted by the user using his private key. Hashing is used in changing the data into text form thus verifying how authentic it is. This in the long run helps keep the cryptocurrency safe and secure.

EXPLORE STEEM GENESIS BLOCK AND SIGN IN AS PROOF OF COMPLETION

To have access to the steem Genesis Block, log onto steemworld.org using this link
https://steemworld.org/

step 1
After clicking on the link, this appears

Step 2
Click on Block Explorer

Step 3

Click on Ok from the pop-up

Step 4

The details of the Steem Genesis appeals

Timestamp 2016-03-24, 16:05:00
Block Id 0000000109833ce528d5bbfb3f6225b39ee10086
Previous Id 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Signing Key STM8GC13uCZbP44HzMLV6zPZGwVQ8Nt4Kji8PapsPiNq1BK153XTX
Witness initminer25

Signing In as proof of completion

Step 1

Locate and click on the sign-in option at the top left corner of the screen

Step 2

Type in your username and private posting key and click on ok to sign in.

Step 3

This is an indication that I have signed in.

CONCLUSION

Once again. thank you very much Professor @awesononso for the lecture.

REFERENCE: I took all my screenshots from https://steemworld.org/