What are Cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrency, it’s all in the name really. It is a currency that uses cryptography. The first successful and by far the most well known cryptocurrency is Bitcoin. Since Bitcoin, more than five thousand different kinds of cryptocurrencies have been developed.

How do you obtain cryptocurrencies?

The most popular cryptocurrencies are available in the BLOX app. For example bitcoin, ripple, stellar, or monero, to name just a few. All of them within reach in your pocket, easy as can be. You can start for as little as one euro, and it’s so easy that even your grandma will become a crypto fan!

Download the free BLOX app on your smartphone, or check out this page first to find out more about buying cryptocurrencies with BLOX.

What are cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that use cryptography. These digital coins (or actually the proof of their ownership) are stored in a blockchain. A blockchain is a chronological chain of blocks that carry all the transaction data.

Bitcoin was the very first cryptocurrency and originated in 2008. What a year it was. Usain Bolt set a new world record, Barack Obama became president of the United States, and the financial world collapsed due to the mortgage crisis.

The global economic crisis is the main reason for the existence of Bitcoin in particular, and cryptocurrencies in general. An important characteristic of crypto is that it’s not regulated by a central party, such as a bank. No one decides what happens to your coins, except for you.

But there is more to cryptocurrency. Its development is a logical consequence of the digital movement that has been happening for the last few decades. Digital payments are becoming increasingly important: slowly but surely we are turning into a cashless society.

What can you do with cryptocurrency?

Well, a lot. Each coin has its own features and characteristics, but in general you can do the following with cryptocurrencies:

Paying

You can use cryptocurrency to pay for products and services. For example, Wikipedia accepts donations in bitcoin, and Microsoft offers bitcoin as payment method in their Windows and Xbox stores. If you are planning to pay with cryptocurrency, you may have to do some research, but prepare to be surprised! There are more and more locations and webshops where you can pay with your crypto coins. Check out Coinmap for all of the physical locations in your neighborhood.

Investing or saving

You have probably heard of cryptocurrency because you can make money with it. Don’t worry, you’re not the only one! At the moment, cryptocurrency is indeed mostly used as an investment or as savings.

You could buy a coin such as bitcoin or ethereum, in the hope that it will be worth more in the future. That’s not such a strange idea either, just look at the return of investment on our price pages!

Inflation makes your euros worth less every year, even though you may not notice it right away. Some people try to avoid this by putting some savings in cryptocurrency, in order to maintain or even increase the value of their savings. However, buying cryptocurrency is never a guarantee for profit! You can also lose your investment with cryptocurrency. So always consider your investments, and do your own research.

Trading

Finally, you can also trade in cryptocurrency. You can compare this kind of trading to the traditional foreign exchange market. Traders try to make money there by switching between currencies like the Euro and the US dollar for example.

This is also possible with cryptocurrencies. For example, you can quickly switch between bitcoin, ethereum, or other coins. With some research and experience, you might be able to make some profit. And the fun part is, with BLOX it's very easy to get started!

Do you see that the value of bitcoin is falling, but ether’s price is increasing? Then you can sell your bitcoin and buy ethereum instead. It’s only a matter of a few clicks. And the other way around is also possible. And is the entire cryptomarket in a dip? Then you can always exchange your crypto coins back to euros.

Disclaimer

Our provided information does not function as investment advice of any kind. Trading digital currencies bares a significant risk, and never provides a guaranteed profit. Always do your own research and carefully consider your investments. It may sound cliche, but we live by it: never invest more than you are able to lose!