Exploring Bitcoin, digital coins that only exist online

Cryptocurrency’s most famous coin – Bitcoin – has been in the news recently, some good and some bad. It is still very new and relatively unknown. There are many questions about cryptocurrency and debate about protection.

“My opinion is that this is probably the biggest value driver I’ve seen in my lifetime outside of the internet,” said Jeremy Knopp, principal of CryptoHedge, a private hedge fund that trades in cryptocurrency, helping institutions and accredited investors navigate this. new world.

Out of college, Knopp became fascinated with the idea of ​​cryptocurrency and cryptoassets, that it became his life.

“I fell in love with the technology side as well as the investment opportunities,” he added. “I think a lot of people don’t know where to start, honestly, because the information is overwhelming.”

His father-in-law, Doug DeMarche, is like many Americans. Maybe his neighbor or friend made some money from Bitcoin, but other than that he doesn’t know much about it.

So DeMarche, who wants to start investing, seeks Knopp’s help.

“I think most people now realize the growth potential and the asymmetric upside risk. You know, there’s also a lot of noise out there,” Knopp said.

So Knopp suggests people start from the beginning and learn the basics. Think of it as digital gold, he said. He believes most people have probably heard of some of the most popular cryptocurrencies, Etherium, Dogecoin and, of course, Bitcoin.

They are digital coins that exist only online. They can be traded like a stock and in some cases can be used to make real purchases.

“There has literally been no better investment you could have made from 2009 to 2022 than Bitcoin,” Knopp said.

When you buy Bitcoin or any other crypto, you are actually buying a digital code that only exists on the Bitcoin blockchain. You gain access to this code through a private key to a digital wallet that only you have.

“I see blockchain technology and, you know, this kind of disintermediation of value as the next wave of technology,” he added.

The technology is known as blockchain, essentially a digital ledger or ledger. Blockchain is an open source, decentralized, shared-with-anyone digital ledger. It records transactions and tracks assets 24/7 and in real time. It is resistant to manipulation, while removing the nodes, the middlemen that we often see in finance and business, reducing the risk of foul play and fraud and also reducing the costs, the fees of that middleman.

Many people who do not mine use nodes – a third party – to acquire the coin.

– It provides a lot of efficiency. It provides a lot of technological capacity beyond what exists today, Knopp added.

Efficiency that is now disrupting banking and finance, gaming and even music.

Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace, which recently performed a private show in Syracuse, released its latest album as an NFT, a non-fungible token, a digital asset that allowed the band to skip the traditional record label, make the music that wanted to sell the album – and extras – directly to fans and not pay the label fees.

“So you remove all these middlemen, which have always been an obstacle for creators in terms of distribution, monetization, but also community building,” said Our Lady Peace lead singer Raine Maida, adding that blockchain’s ability to track asset transactions allows creators. to earn royalties every time an NFT or other creation in the chain sells from fan to fan.

“Especially from new artists who are a little unproven and trying to make a name for themselves. They have to accept terms that are not very favorable to them,” Knopp added.

That’s what he means when he says change the game.

But as much as some love the idea of ​​what crypto could be, others aren’t so sure. In the third part of this series, Spectrum news 1 takes a look at the questions many have, the scandals that have sprouted and the balance between a decentralized concept and a possible need for government regulation.