Modern cryptography has got extremely complex and is a fundamental part of the internet. Whenever we go on a website we are using cryptography and whenever we send an email we are using cryptography. The technology has been developed and has existed for some time but it took the genius of Satoshi Nakomoto to bring them together - just like a car bringing wheels and Carnot engines together.
Bitcoin was created by taking a number of advances from across the field of cryptography and computer science and combining them - proof of work and a a variety of other techniques.
One of the most important bits of Bitcoin comes from a part of cryptography to do with elliptic curves and digital signatures.
What is Elliptic Curve Cryptography?
How do digital signatures in Bitcoin work?
This is where you get your address from which comes from your public key which in turn comes from your private key. You can make a public key from a private key but you cant generate a private key from a public key. These are the secrets behind bitcoin that make it the cash part.
The inability to double spend comes from the blockchain and decentralised nodes verifying transactions and only allowing one transaction to be spent once.
And this is how you have money that exists on the internet and in the figments of our imaginations!
Digital money is always a cryptocurrency but bitcoin is a decentralised crypto currency. There will be other forms of digital money issued by corporations, games or nation states and these will most likely be centralised crypto currency - where the nation or company is verifying the transactions.
This is one of the problems with bitcoin in that it uses a proof of work amongst all its participants to confirm transactions and ledger history - this can be quite expensive and wasteful with energy... but there are solutions that come in the form of Proof of Stake.
Related guides
- What affects the Bitcoin price?
- What will happen to the Bitcoin Price when the Block Reward Halves in 2016?
- The Ethereum releases of Frontier, Homestead, Metropolis and Serenity.
- Who are the CypherPunks?
- What is a Bitcoin Vanity address and how do you get one?
- How to trade Bitcoin with the Relative Strength Index?
- How to trade Bitcoin and other Crypto Currencies Using Bollinger Bands?
Latest guides
-
Meet ZENIQ: The Decentralized Blockchain-Powered Ecosystem Sponsored
-
GAUGECASH Integrates Chainlink Keepers to Decentralize Automation of Novel Liquidity Pool, GAUGEFIELD
-
Ariva Digital’s ‘Arivaman’ Gets Set To Embark On Epic Adventure
-
WAGMI Games Partners With Cubix To Launch PvP Tower Defense Play-to-Earn Game
-
How 5 Popular Smart Contract Platforms Compare to Nexus
-
Is the “Decentralization” in the Blockchain Ecosystem Really Decentralized?
-
Astra Protocol, a Compliance Layer for DeFi, Could Help US SEC, Other Regulators with Ensuring Consumer Protection for Crypto Investors
-
TabTrader's Native TTT Token Launches on Gate.io
-
DecimalChain Believes NFTs Could Be the Response the Market Needs
-
TaleCraft: A Medieval-Themed Gaming Metaverse
Important information
This website is only provided for your general information and is not intended to be relied upon by you in making any investment decisions. You should always combine multiple sources of information and analysis before making an investment and seek independent expert financial advice.
Where we list or describe different products and services, we try to give you the information you need to help you compare them and choose the right product or service for you. We may also have tips and more information to help you compare providers.
Some providers pay us for advertisements or promotions on our website or in emails we may send you. Any commercial agreement we have in place with a provider does not affect how we describe them or their products and services. Sponsored companies are clearly labelled.