EPISODE 15: Using Crypto in Your Everyday Life
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Using Crypto in Your Everyday Life
Most of us have wondered at first: “Why is cryptocurrency even a thing? What is the difference between numbers in a bank account versus numbers on a crypto wallet?”
Banking still relies on technology built in the 1970s, and plain old paper trails. Why should we wait days for deposits and withdraws to clear, wire transfers to be sent, and cashier checks to be printed and mailed, when we can email someone around the world in 5 seconds? Finally, institutional banking and government is catching onto that the answer to that problem is cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology.
PayPal was one of the most revolutionizing service that pushed online shopping further after a long stalemate, adding another layer of safety and anonymity between the buyer and the seller (and anybody else trying to take a peak illegally). PayPal was never a currency though, just a payment gateway, providing a debit card linked to your PayPal balance that kept US dollars.
When Bitcoin came around, it brought a novel idea to the table called Proof of Work to make sure that each transaction was legitimate and transparent which is stored on something called the blockchain that anyone could read and be held accountable for. It gave the world of online currencies the chance it needed.
While the whole cryptocurrency field is yet to be accepted by the majority, there are already plenty of real life use cases for them right now:
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