#Demystifying Crypto

Imagine spending 5000 rupees to purchase a new phone online.

Once the phone is delivered, logically you cannot still have those 5000 rupees. You spent the money buying the phone, right?

With a 51% attack, a person is able to to control more than half the blockchain network.

With this control, they can alter the chain's records - show themselves as owner of both the new phone and the money used to buy it

An event where coins or tokens are sent to selected users' digital wallets. It is a famous marketing stunt to create a buzz about a new token. Airdrops get people excited about the new token so they will start trading it the moment it gets listed. Some of the Bitcoin miners had forked on August 1st, 2017 to create a new chain called Bitcoin Cash. This did not impact Bitcoin balances, but instead created new token- BCH. At the time of the fork, all Bitcoin addresses holding a balance had automatically earned equivalent balances in Bitcoin Cash. The automatically earning part is the ‘airdrop’!

The term "altcoins" refers to all cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin.

"Altcoin" is a combination of the two words "alt" and "coin" and includes all alternatives to Bitcoin.

As of early 2020, there were more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies.

Ethereum and Ripple were the largest altcoins by market capitalization in February 2020.

ATH is an acronym for All Time High.

It is the maximum price attained by a cryptocurrency after it has been listed on exchanges.

If the price of a coin surpasses its previous ATH, the value is revised, and a new ATH is established.

For example, if the previous ATH of an investment was $20, and this value was exceeded by $5, the new ATH is now $250.

A bagholder is an investor who holds (or hodls) a particular coin even when its value is dropping. Imagine that you bought a coin hoping that the price will go up but instead it starts dropping so low that the coin becomes worthless. So, you are left holding a bag full of worthless tokens. That’s what makes you a bagholder. You can become a bagholder for many reasons. Let’s say you made an inadequate analysis of the coin or market while investing. Now, you’re too stubborn to get rid of the coin because taking a loss will make you feel bad about your decision or you might be hoping that the coin will go up again. Either way there is no bright side as you certainly lose most or all your money in the process of bag holding! Often the best move is to drop the bag, learn the lesson to take small losses quickly, and move on.

Stop in the name of the law or as the Ripple network says, The Balance Freeze Functionality. These are essentially invisible doorways that halt or as the name suggests 'freeze' transactions to stop or avoid illicit activities from happening. Before the obvious question pops into your minds, let us help you clear it - No, the powerful security feature is not meant for the token of XRP but only for the Ripple network itself. You can now enter the legit grounds with zero worries, and you only have Balance Freeze Functionality to thank.

Bear market: prices are falling. If investors are "bearish" they expect prices to keep falling. It's the opposite of a bull market. Demand is lower than supply. Sellers are in control. So prices slide. Investors sometimes sell or wait for a low price. But other (smart) investors cost average, buying small amounts on the way down and holding for the long-term.

Let's break the terminology into three parts.

• Bitcoin - The first crypto token ever created whose transactions are recorded on a decentralised and immutable ledger known as a blockchain

• Genesis - It is the point of origin of the blockchain

• Block - A set of transactions which are collectively recorded on a blockchain

When we put them all together, the term simply means the very first bitcoin block that was mined on the Bitcoin blockchain on January 3rd, 2009. It is the foundation of the entire bitcoin trading system and is also famously known as Block 0. Bitcoin buffs even donate small amounts of their Bitcoin as a tribute to the Genesis Block and its founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. It's similar to when you throw a quarter in a wishing well because once the donation is a part of the block, it can't be moved again.

A lot of people believe in Bitcoin but a maximalist trusts Bitcoin above all others as the only crypto that can change the world. Bitcoin maximalists believe Bitcoin is not just the most important crypto token but the ONLY one that matters. Maximalists think of Ethereum and altcoins as children of Bitcoin. Extreme Bitcoin maximalists think all other cryptos are either a waste of effort or even unethical. They say, instead of trying to create alternatives, all innovation should focus on improving the speed and scalability of the Bitcoin blockchain. You might be a bitcoin maximalist IF: a. You love and HODL bitcoin through all the highs and lows. b. You are eagerly waiting for the day when bitcoin is the only currency. c. You would sooner sell your car than your bitcoin. d. You named your dog Satoshi.

You know the struggle you face when you have to pick your favourite flavour out of the three options you have? That’s a similar dilemma or should we say, Trilemma that Blockchain faces! Especially when it comes to equally prioritizing scalability, decentralisation and security, in a blockchain network. There’s only one word for it - Impossible! All of them bring their speciality to the table While scalability refers to the speed and volume of the transaction, Decentralization takes care of the distribution of the network nodes, Security ensures the integrity of the system isn’t compromised Due to a lack of equal prioritisation, they are left with no choice but to only trade-off with one. This Trilemma is an Everest to many blockchain technologists and entrepreneurs. They are all striving to solve it with greater effectiveness in the design of any network, update, or application.

Imagine a group of villains joining hands to bring down the superhero. Think of a botnet as a device constructed by all the supervillains that infect the malware. A botnet is not one, but a collection of internet-connected infected devices that enables malicious hackers to control the devices. It is difficult for the owners to know their infected devices are being remotely controlled. Not just your phone, but your tablet, pads, computers, cybercriminals use botnets to orchestrate - - Credential leaks - Data theft We say, tread with caution by avoiding clicking on unknown links.

Bridges are nothing but an invisible pathway that allows independent blockchains to communicate with each other. These bridges are the multi-taskers of the Crypto world. It works differently on the Polkadot network. They help in attaching parachains and the main Relay Chain to other external blockchain networks - Your Bitcoin and Ethereum for instance. They do so to help the collator nodes that are attached to the parachains, to assemble and keep a check of the transactions. Wait, before the question even pops in your head, let us tell you - The reason why collator nodes attach themselves is that they only communicate via a bridge and connect with external blockchains

In a bull market, prices are rising and expected to rise further.

October 2020: Bitcoin rose from Rs. 8 Lakh to over 10 Lakhs. That's a bull market.

Investors buy in a bull market hoping to sell at a higher price. Sometimes the market continues up. Sometimes it doesn't.

To put it in simple words - It is an invisibility cloak for all your Bitcoin Cash Transaction. It is an upgraded, improved version of the CashShuffle tool that only helped you with enhanced privacy characteristics. You want to move around or shuffle a higher amount or even fuse two amounts compared to other participants, it is possible. This along with the UTXO combination makes it difficult, and almost impossible for the transactions to be traced. After all, privacy is the foundation of all crypto transactions

As the name suggests, it is a split in the blockchain. At a time, only one recording or a block should be made. But sometimes there may be disagreements on how the blocks should be made. Then, the network of users may cause a chain split creating their own recordings.