Introduction to Crypto-currency
From shopping to entertainment, the internet has brought about a revolution in many industries. Now, it is setting its sight on taking the payment system digital. This has given rise to Bitcoins and other crypto currencies.
Crypto currency, as the name suggests, uses cryptographic techniques and methods to secure transactions. A mutually trustworthy party manages the integrity of a crypto currency. The rates are set and known to everyone. Crypto-currency puts a cap on production of the currency to maintain a balance in the market. Some of the best examples of crypto currencies are Namecoin, Litecoin, Peercoin, Ripple and Masterxcoin.
Bitcoins is one of the most popular crypto-currency so far.
Bitcoins is a form of a digital currency that is stored on a computer system and traded online. Bitcoins was developed by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. It does not have a central regulatory body to monitor and is based on a peer to peer model. It is the first crypto currency and many other crypto currencies have followed its model. One major issue with Bitcoins is highly fluctuating price and distrust on its authenticity and security.
Processing and storing bitcoins in computer system is called mining which is a reward for individual or a business because they charge a fee for that. You can buy bitcoins from exchange by paying real world money. Sending and receiving bitcoins is also not an issue anymore but you will have to pay a transaction fee for that. The fees are lower as compared to credit card fee which has attracted the interest of merchants towards Bitcoins.
CoinDesk
The need for a unified system still remains to be fulfilled to manage Bitcoins and other forms of digital currencies. CoinDesk tried to take care of this need and offered a platform for newcomers and experts in the field to know about the latest news related to crypto currencies and digital money. The site started operating in May 2013 and took it to the next level when Jon Matonis joined the team of CoinDesk as an editor in September 2013. Jon Matonis was a former executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation and has the right skills and experience in the industry.
CoinDesk is one of the best websites if you are new to the field of digital currency or want to know about the latest happenings in the Bitcoin industry. With the increase in popularity of mobile devices, CoinDesk also took an initiative and released its iOS app in April 2014. The app gives you access to all the top stories and news related to digital currencies. It also has a Bitcoin Price Index so that you can access all the important information about crypto currencies on the go.
CoinDesk Price Index
There are many exchanges for Bitcoins and the rates may differ slightly. To standardize things, a Bitcoin price index has been developed by CoinDesk. The CoinDesk Bitcoin price index is the average of Bitcoin prices of Bitcoin exchanges. Set up in September 2013, many new exchanges have been added while some removed since then due to a number of factors. For instance, Mt.Gox was added to the price index later due to decreasing risk premium and to add new deposit and withdrawal methods. Unfortunately, it was removed because it failed to meet the standards of inclusion in the index in February 2014.
A new exchange called Bitfinex was added to the index to take the number of exchanges to three due to its good performance in Bitcoins trading. Some of the popular publications, such as New York Times, BBC, and Reuters, also publish Bitcoins Price Index in their publications. There are a few conditions exchanges have to fulfill before they can be considered for inclusion in the CoinDesk Price Index.
For example, the minimum trade size should be worth at least $1500, the daily trading level must touch the level set by CoinDesk, the exchange should be operating internationally, and must be large enough to be counted as at least 2% of the total market. Otherwise, the exchange will not be considered for listing on the Coindesk index. This applies to any and all exchanges for Bitcoins and other crypto currencies.
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