What are Cryptocurrencies?
--
Money, Ponzi Scheme or Digital Assets?
You have probably heard of Bitcoin and Ether (the coin on the Ethereum network is called Ether) as they are two of the better known cryptocurrencies or coins that are constantly reported in mainstream media.
Cryptocurrencies have been called many things. The naysayers decree them as scams, assets with no intrinsic value, an illusion backed by nothing but speculators’ greed and so on. The early adopters view them as the next evolution of money, hedge against inflation, the key to a fairer financial system and more.
In a nutshell, cryptocurrencies are cryptographically-secured digital assets created by software. They are not backed by any government, entity, person, company, and have no terms of service or guarantees behind them. It can be said that for fiat currencies (such as US dollars, Euro, Yen, etc.), it is “in Central Banks or more specifically, Humans, we trust” since fiat currency itself has no intrinsic value; whereas for cryptocurrencies, it is “in Code, we trust”.
We can liken cryptocurrencies to digital gold, but unlike gold, cryptocurrencies can be created or destroyed based on the rules that were programmed into their codes. Their values are dictated by the marketplace (also called exchanges), and can be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies at mutually agreed prices between buyers and sellers.
The ownership of these digital assets can be transferred from one account to another over the internet. Unlike bank accounts, cryptocurrency accounts are a string of unique hexadecimals that are called addresses. When the transfer occurs, the transaction is recorded in their respective transaction database called a blockchain, which we will address shortly.
Coins, Cryptos, Tokens, are they the Same?
You would not be alone if you feel confused.
Coins, cryptos, and cryptocurrencies all describe the same thing, which are digital assets that can be transferred and traded on an exchange. Tokens are also cryptographically-secured digital assets; however, they can have different characteristics from each other. Tokens can be fungible (undifferentiated and interchangeable), or non-fungible (where each token is unique). Unlike cryptocurrencies, tokens may be backed by known issuers (such as famous artists, real estate firms, financial institutions, etc.), may represent legal agreements and/or provide future access to goods and services. They may have their differences, but both cryptocurrencies and tokens are cryptographically-secured assets, and are sometimes called crypto assets.
What do they all have in Common?
The underlying technology for all these crypto assets are blockchains. Blockchains record all transactions related to these digital assets, including their creation, destruction, change of ownership, and other programmable logic or future obligations. These blockchains are cryptographically-secured, immutable and distributed across a network of computers around the world.
Some blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are public and permissionless, which means that their record of transactions can be written by anyone, with no central authority to approve or reject the transactions. Other blockchains can be private or permissioned, where an authority decides when and what participants can read or write to them.
What is the Point of Cryptocurrencies?
Cash or physical money is great for many things, but the main problem is that it does not work well at a distance. Unless you carry it on yourself, you cannot transfer it to the next person on the other side of the room, let alone the other side of the planet.
Digital money, on the other hand, depends on bookkeepers trusted by their customers to keep an accurate account of balances that they hold. To do that, you will have to open an account with a third party, a bank, an e-wallet, so that they can pay you on demand or transfer money to someone at your request. Unlike cash, which settles using the transfer of physical tokens, digital money settles by increasing and decreasing the balances held by trusted intermediaries.
To summarise, cryptocurrencies allow the exchange of digital assets of value over the internet without needing a third party’s approval or them being able to deny it. Assets can be moved from one owner to another without the need for third party debits and credits. If volatility is a concern, stablecoins (which are cryptocurrencies pegged to, and more often than not, backed by fiat currencies) can be used instead. The other advantage is that this peer-to-peer transfer of value usually has lower fees than traditional remittance or international fund transfer services.
This may be getting too deep, but take heart, just like the internet, one does not have to understand the underlying infrastructure and protocols to enjoy the benefits of cryptocurrencies. In fact, many traditional financial institutions and investors are pivoting towards cryptocurrencies as must-haves in their portfolios for outperformance. You too, can benefit from cryptocurrencies, with Mars Panda World.
Mars Panda World makes it Easier to get Onboard
Mars Panda World is an all-in-one aggregation blockchain platform built on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) that allows users to gain access to a wide ecosystem of games, mainstream e-commerce, NFTs, and lifestyle apps seamlessly on one unified platform.
Users can buy Mars Panda Credits (MPC) through digital wallets such as Visa and MasterCard. They can then exchange game credits for Mars Panda Tokens (MPT) to purchase cryptocurrencies through Mars Panda’s sister company, Legatus Global. What are you waiting for? Get onboard with us now!
Play with the world, Mars Panda World.
About Mars Panda
Mars Panda is a complete eco-system which consists of:
• Games, Social Media and Ecommerce Aggregation
• Yield farming DeFi
• Mars Panda game with NFT game elements
• NFT Marketplace
We aim to fuse mainstream eCommerce and Gaming to the crypto world of NFTs and DeFi, on one seamless, unified platform.
Find us at:
Legatus Global Pte Ltd is an entity that has obtained a regulatory exemption under the Payment Services Act (“PSA”) for digital payments token services. Legatus Global is commissioned to handle the issuance of Mars Panda Token (MPT) as well as the KYC/AML during the private sales and distribution of tokens to private investors. Legatus Global is also handling the process for private sales and distribution.
