John Doe: What is a cryptocurrency?
Me: It’s a currency that uses cryptography.
John Doe: Yeah smartass I figured that out already!
Me: Ok it’s a digital currency, but the problem with digital stuff such as ebooks, for example, is that it’s easy to duplicate not something you want when it comes to money for obvious reasons. If everyone would be able to copy money it would become worthless in no time and inflation would set in.
John Doe: Alright bucko, so how can you guarantee it can’t be duplicated? Anything digital can be hacked and duplicated as we have seen happening multiple times.
Me: It does so using cryptography and something called the blockchain. An immutable record of transactions that validates the authenticity and integrity of data. It’s also a fully decentralized payment network. There’s no central point that can be forced into cooperation to seize your assets as there’s no central authority.
