A cryptocurrency is a fully decentralized, secure, digital currency whose creation is controlled by
cryptography. Cryptocurrencies are not issued by central banks and their value does not depend
on bank policies. Unlike regular currencies where new money can be introduced in the money
supply through Quantitative Easing (QE), cryptocurrency prices are purely based on supply and
demand. Bitcoin, created in 2009, was the first cryptocurrency. There currently are over 800
alternative cryptocurrencies, called Altcoins, such as Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin.
Cryptocurrencies are somewhat similar to precious metals, in that their creation is controlled and
most have a cap on the amount of units, just like precious metals, which have limited minable
amounts.
