In crypto-writing there's a genre I call wut iz kryptokurrensy (or wut iz bitkoin, if you will). It's a very fruitful genre, the articles are baked every day in lots.
Here I must quote an example of what I mean:
Cryptocurrency is a digital currency, where transactions are recording on a public ledger, usually a blockchain, and every process is protected by cryptography, which is simply the practice of secure communication.
Cryptography is what makes cryptocurrency different from more common forms of electronic payment, such as credit cards or PayPal.
Cryptocurrency is anonymous and cannot be traced back to its sender or recipient, which makes it popular among people who want to conceal their financial activity.
Cryptocurrency is distinguished from fiat, or traditional, money in that it is decentralized and digital. Cryptocurrency is decentralized by design, so there is no intermediary like a bank to transfer cryptocurrency between people.
Instead, cryptocurrency is controlled by its users and computer algorithms like a blockchain to maintain its integrity. Cryptocurrency is also completely digital, so no physical representation of its value, such as paper money, is needed.
I don't mean that something is wrong with English here -- I'm not an English speaker, so I don't want to judge other person's grammar and style (at least, unless it's completely and utterly broken). I mean that every sentence here is questionable, at best...
Cryptocurrency is not yet currency in the traditional sense ("a medium of exchange for goods and services"), unless at a ridiculous level. At best it may be called a wannabe-currency, but actually, I hope I will make another article on what cryptocurrency really is at the moment.
The crypto-transactions are indeed recorded in a blockchain (linked list) or DAG (graph) or something alike and "protected" by cryptography, only cryptography is used not for "secure communication". In blockchain cryptography is like a "seal". Cryptographic signature seals (or verifies/approves) the transaction so that the seal (and therefore the transaction itself) is easy to verify, but hard to forge. Some cryptocurrencies have more cryptography features, but "secure communication" is still done with the old plain SSL (cryptography completely unrelated to cryptocurrencies) mostly.
Most cryptocurrencies (except specially designed Monero and friends) are "pseudonymous" and sender's and recipient's addresses and activities can be traced back perfectly, with a simple online block explorer. The hard thing is to bind an address to a real-life person. And afaik, for those who want to conceal their financial activity, Andorra still offers numbered bank accounts. However, nothing still offers more anonymity than the plain old cash (if you can tolerate some of its inconveniences).
Today dollars and euros on bank accounts are pretty much digital. I think soon we'll get even "cashless countries", the countries whose currencies exist only in digital form. A physical representation of a fiat currency is only a question of technology and convenience -- in the XIX-th century it was kinda hard to have a digital dollar and even today it's probably kinda hard to pay with a credit card somewhere in a Sahara oasis.
While cryptocurrency (or rather, blockchain, DAG, etc.) is decentralized and requires no middleman to execute digital transactions duly and securely -- it's not controlled by users. Instead, it's controlled by blockchain's creators, the devs behind certain crypto. The devs are demiurges who decide how their crypto will look like and who and how will control it. Well, they're "users" in some sense, as well as the FRS Board is "users" of their currency too.
After the first paragraph I stopped reading.
So, what makes cryptocurrency different from more common forms of electronic payments? The fact that you can hardly pay with cryptocurrency for anything. (a joke)
I often wonder what makes people write all those wut iz bitkoin articles over and over again. Ambition? Brag? Tips? Graphomania? Hype following? A good intention to educate the World?
Well, myself, I've written the above shit certainly for the tips only.