What is Cryptocurrency
Definition

A cryptocurrency is a digital and virtual currency that is protected by cryptography, making it nearly hard to forge or spend twice. Many cryptocurrencies are built on decentralized networks and blockchain technology, which is a distributed ledger supported by a diverse network of computers.

One distinguishing feature of cryptocurrencies is that they are not normally issued by any central body, making them potentially immune to political interference and manipulation.

Features that stand out

• A cryptocurrency is a type of digital/virtual asset that is built on a network shared by a large number of computers. Because of their decentralised structure, they can exist independently of governments and administrative bodies.
  
  The term cryptocurrency derives from the encryption methods used to secure the network.
  
  Blockchains, which are systematic techniques of ensuring the integrity of transactional data, are an important component of several cryptocurrencies.
  
  Numerous professionals and experts believe that blockchain and related technology will have a significant impact on many areas, including finance and law.

Mining
Mining is a type of transaction confirmation in cryptocurrency networks. Successful miners are rewarded with new cryptocurrency as a reward for their efforts. The incentive lowers transaction fees by creating a complementary reward to contribute to the network's procedure power.

The usage of specific processors such as FPGAs and ASICs running complex hashing algorithms such as SHA-256 and scrypt has increased the rate of computing hashes, which confirm any transaction. This arms race for machines has been going on since the first cryptocurrency, bitcoin, was introduced in 2009.