CRYPTO INTRODUCTION
When my wife passed away in February 2020, and shortly thereafter the virus came, my son introduced me to the world of cryptocurrency. I enjoyed learning about crypto, and started this page to share some of the things that have helped me understand crypto.
Most important is that any coin or token only has value if someone or group wants it. They are like some baseball cards or stamps I have collected. What are they worth? i have no idea. Over the years I may have acquired something very valuable.
As such, consider any ownership of crypto as high risk. Owning a bunch of code on a computer should be considered high risk. With that in mind, let's continue.
Each coin in the crypto world should be treated as a currency, such as dollar, euro, peso, etc. When you go to a different country you change currencies. Think of each crypto coin or token as the currency of a country. When you travel to another country you change one currency for another. Traveling from the USA to Europe, you exchange your dollars for euros. Traveling from Europe to Mexico, you would exchange euros for pesos.
In the crypto world, coins are being exchanged constantly. Bitcoin can be exchanged for Ethereum. Ethereum can be exchanged for Tron. Each coin is designed for a purpose, even if it is only to take your money. And just as there is a fee for exchanging dollars for euros, there is a fee for exchanging coins. These transactions take place on an exchange, such as Binance. They are called exchanges, because they exchange one coin for another coin.
Just as there is a fee for exchanging dollars for euros, there is a fee for exchanging one coin for another.This fee is often called "gas." IMPORTANT: THERE IS A TRANSACTION FEE ON EVERY TRANSACTION IN CRYPTO. Even when it is said there is no fee, there is one somewhere. Sometimes in exchanging one coin for another, the fee is paid by a third coin. IT CAN NOT BE EMPHASIZED ENOUGH THAT THERE IS A FEE ON EVERY TRANSACTION.
BLOCKCHAIN-COUNTRIES
Blockchains are like countries. Bitcoin and its relatives live in the country of bitcoin.
Polka Dot and its relatives live in the country of Polka Dot.
TRON and its relatives live in the country of TRON.
CRYPTO WALLET-APARTMENTS
In each country are apartment complexes in which tokens reside.
A wallet is similar to an apartment building. The wallet is the apartment building, and each token has its own apartment in that building, Each token has its own apartment with its own address. Some apartment complexes only have a few apartments, and some have many.
In the world of crypto, a token is like a letter you send to someone. If you send someone a birthday card with ten dollars as a gift, and it never arrives because you put the wrong address on the envelope, the card and ten dollars are gone. The same with tokens. Wrong address, and they disappear. Be careful.
An exchange moves a token to another country, transforming it so that it can function there. There are around 8000 tokens, and multiplying rapidly.