Cryptocurrencies are a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure the transactions and to create more units of the currency. Cryptocurrency can also be known as alternative currency.
Bitcoin was the first decentralized cryptocurrency released in 2009. Since then, literally hundreds of cryptocurrencies have been created. These are generally called altcoins.
Cryptocurrencies use decentralized control as opposed to centralized banking systems. The decentralized control is maintained through the use of bitcoin's blockchain (a data base of transactions) which is basically a distributed public record or ledger.
Literally hundreds of cryptocurrencies exist today and are mostly just like Bitcoin. The balance of cryptocurrencies is maintained by what are called miners. Miners are individuals that are using either their computers graphics or prossecors to hash out the digital coinage. More serious miners use what is reffered to as "mining rigs" which is basically a computer but designed to specifically mine cryptocurrency.
Generally cryptocurrencies are made to decrease production of currency over time, this is known as the coins difficulty. This also places a cap on that specific market.
Cryptocurrency is mainly mined in what are called pools. A pool is a group of miners all mining the same blocks. When a block is solved they share the rewards.
I hope this has been helpful and I encourage any who read this to research and dive in to these new and amazing technologies. We are the FIRST in history to have this technology why would we not USE IT?