WHAT IS CRYPTOCURRENCY?

A cryptocurrency is a online currency which is secured by cryptography, thereby, making it impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. One notable feature of cryptocurrency is that,it has decentralized networks built on blockchain technology. It therefore implies that,a distributed ledger is enforced by different network of computers. The most important feature of a cryptocurrency is that, cryptocurrency is generally not issued by any central authority, or government interference or manipulation. Cryptocurrency is derived from the encryption techniques which make use of secured networks. Cryptocurrencies is criticized for so many reasons, including the use for illegal activities, exchange rate volatility, and vulnerabilities of the infrastructure.

It is trustworthy of note that, cryptocurrency cannot be discussed without bringing the word blockchain to the task.

WHAT IS BLOCKCHAIN?

Blockchain is a security based decentralized technology that is spread across different computers for the aim of securing, managing and keeping or recording transactions which are carried out by a user in the Crypto world.

For better understanding, let's go back to the origin of currencies and blockchain in the world. In the olden days, the major means of exchange was the barter system wherein people exchange their goods with another person's goods. This system of was in play for a long period of time but later crashed down because of the following reasons.
i. There was an issue of disagreement between the two parties which renders the business unsuccessful.

ii. Transportation was difficult as the goods were not able to be moved from one place to another.

As a result of the above reasons, the barter system collapsed and for business and livelihood to continue, men improvised and started using minted currency.
From minted currency, paper currency was used which gained popularity and gave birth to the era of modern currencies which includes, coins, credit cards, and digital wallets etc which are Still in used even till tomorrow.

Furthermore, currency was controlled by a bank. This bank is not 100% secured and they were other temporary problems and inconvenience issue associated with banks.

Because of these problems,the idea of cryptocurrency was came into lime light in the year 2008 when the first cryptocurrency called bitcoin was launched. The aim of this cryptocurrency is to eradicate all the problem posed by the banking system. The following are the benefits of cryptocurrency over banking system.

i. There is little or no transaction cost

ii. You have complete access to your money.

iii. There is no interference and manipulation from the banks and other financial institutions.

WHAT IS CRYPTOGRAPHY AND HOW DOES IT MAKE CRYPTOCURRENCIES SECURE?

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Cryptography is gotten from two words; "crypto” which means concealed or secret and "Cryptography" which means secret writing. Cryptography is the ability to exchange messages that can only be read by the person who receives the message. Cryptography technology ensures full anonymity. Which implies that,it is only the recipient who can read the message and no other person. In cryptocurrency, cryptography help to secure the transactions, participants, independence of operations from a central authority like banks and other financial institution, and protection from double-spending. Cryptography is concerned with the science and practice of sending a secured, encrypted messages or data between two or more people. The sender "encrypts" the message, rendering it unreadable to third parties, while the recipient "decrypts" it, rendering it readable. Cryptocurrencies are based on encryption to make transactions anonymous, secure, and trustless. This means that, one don't need to know anything about one,in other to interact with them and there is no need for a third party or intermediary.

How does it make cryptocurrencies secure?

i. It makes use of a hashing algorithm to encode information. This means that, two people cannot have the same code.

ii. It uses a technique known as public-private key encryption which allows transactions, conducted between strangers to be in safe hands without an intermediary like banks.

iii. Anonymity: Here, the personal information of the buyer and seller are kept secret and unknown .

EXPLORE THE STEEM GENESIS BLOCK AND SIGN IN AS A PROOF OF COMPLETION.

Steem genesis block was built by @steemchiller and it can be found in steemworld.com. I will be exploring steem Genesis block with my phone and the screenshots therein.

1. Login to steemworld.com and click on block explorer.
   
2. put 1 in the option and click on ok.
   
3. the details of the genesis block will display.
   
   Wherein,
   Timestamp: 2016-03-24, 17:05:00
   Block Id: 0000000109833ce528d5bbfb3f6225b39ee10086
   Previous Id: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   Signing Key: STM8GC13uCZbP44HzMLV6zPZGwVQ8Nt4Kji8PapsPiNq1BK153XTX
   Witness: initminer25
   Witness Signature: 204f8ad56a8f5cf722a02b035a61b500aa59b9519b2c33c77a80c0a714680a5a5a7a340d909d19996613c5e4ae92146b9add8a7a663eef37d837ef881477313043
   Transaction Merkle Root: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
4. click on sign in at the top right corner.
   
5. input your username and your private posting key.
   

Conclusion

I have successfully learn how to check the steem genesis block and also sign in to your account.
I thank @awesononso for this beautiful job done in lecturing about cryptocurrency and cryptography. His lecture was quite intriguing.