Russia is not the only country where digital money has no currency. China has banned financial companies from Bitcoin transactions, just like Bolivia and Ecuador.
Most of the EU countries, the US, Canada and Southeast Asia remain undecided, while people in Germany, The Netherlands, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand are free to shop with virtual money and even get paid with it.
What it is
Cryptocurrency is a digital asset any computer user can produce. It has its own rate, can be used as a payment system and exchanged for any other existing currency.
How it came about
Bitcoin, often called the first cryptocurrency, was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto. However, no one seems to have ever met this man in person.
Many believe that Satoshi Nakamoto is just a pseudonym of a whole group of programmers or an individual, such as Australian Craig Steven Wright or… Dorian Prentiss Satoshi Nakamoto, a California-based programmer of Japanese descent.
Since its launch in 2009, the cryptocurrency has been spreading fast with hundreds of its variations now being traded on dozens of cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide.
Bitcoin: electronic gold
As the most popular cryptocurrency around, Bitcoin is often called “electronic gold” due to its extremely high rate (1 bitcoin equals $476). Bitcoins have no single emission center, can be exchanged for conventional currencies at ATMs and are accepted by some retailers and online stores.
Litecoin: electronic silver
Litecoin is a major alternative to Bitcoin. Created by Charlie Lee in 2011, it enables instant, near-zero cost payments to anyone anywhere. Litecoins are also four times easer to make compared to Bitcoins, so they cost less and are associated with silver.
Peercoin: third among equals
Next is Peercoin. Unlike Bitcoin and all other types of virtual money, Peercoin enjoys unlimited emission, but is designed to eventually attain an annual inflation rate of 1%. Earnings from every Peercoin are distributed among all of the system’s participants.
Namecoin: what’s in a name?
Namecoin is a cryptocurrency that emerged in 2011 as an alternative to the Internet The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
With Namecoin you can never have your domain name taken away from you. You are free to buy a new one in the.bit zine and never fear that it can ever be blocked. Namecoins are used as payment for domain name registration.
Feathercoin: unfair competition
FTC is a cheaper version of Litecoin with four times as many such coins issued. To make Feathercoin more attractive to potential users, its authors said it had been hacked and then announced that they had upgraded their security system making Feathercoin the safest around.
FRC was designed as a means to solve the problem of excessive currency accumulation without constant reinvestments. To make this system work they introduced a 5% fee for every single Feathercoin transaction.
