ix Introduction Since 2009, cybercurrencies have emerged, spread all around the world, and become a hotly debated topic. Cybercurrencies are forms of currency that exist only on the Internet. The best known of these is Bitcoin, but many others have been launched over the last decade as well. Prices rose so quickly that many early adopters got rich and then some saw their holdings get hacked or lose value. Other people, with skill and a bit of luck, maneuvered successfully through the hurly-burly beginning stages of this largely unregu la ted new economic world and held onto some of their impressive gains. For many purposes, cybercurrencies function like government-issued paper cur- rency. However, cybercurrencies open up new economic possibilities, particularly in areas where existing financial institutions function poorly. Constructive appli- cations have been launched and have brought tangible benefits. Those advances, however, have been overshadowed by the notorious scams and abuses of many devious, harmful, malicious, and illegal applications that have been launched and have caused harm. Cybercurrency advocates believe that informed citizens and par- ticipants in the world economy will have to learn to distinguish the wheat from the chaff because they assert that ignoring this burgeoning phenomenon is not an option. Proponents of cybercurrencies assert that every major innovation in any field undermines some existing institutions that were operating satisfactorily before a better way emerged. In Venezuela’s well publicized economic crisis, for exam- ple, businesspeople expressed frustration and anger with the slow pace of tradi- tional transactions with local banks at a time when the nation’s currency was losing value at an alarming rate. According to advocates, cybercurrency allows users to bypass these formerly functioning institutions. Historians of science also point out that every major innovation has had a tumultuous adolescence. In the view of pro- ponents of cybercurrencies, this new form of money and the rapidly evolving environment in which its operates are living up to that tradition. This encyclopedia opens up the entire world of cybercurrency by explaining all major concepts and important terminology. It enables the reader to leapfrog the tedious, time-consuming trek through blogs, news sites, texts, videos, and audio
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