Why Cryptocurrency exist in the World - Part 2 [Centralized vs Decentralized]

Centralized vs Decentralized

In our previous posts on Blockchain, we have seen how blockchain decentralizes trust.

Banks are an example of centralized authority. 

All your transactions are verified, stored and maintained by your bank. 

Let’s say when you withdraw money, your bank updates the ledger (record).

When it comes to cryptocurrencies based on Blockchain,

 
For example, Bitcoin. 

You know that there is no know centralized authority that controls them. 

It means there is no centralized ledger (record) 

Then who stores this record?

It is distributed among many computers.

That’s where Crypto miners come into the picture.

To verify crypto transactions on a blockchain, computational power is required. 

Crypto miners provide this computational power through their computers. 
What’s the benefit for them? 

They get cryptocurrency as reward in return

But this has turned out a race among miners. 

They set up high-end PCs with super powerful processors to be the first to verify a transaction and get rewards. 

Some have even built huge farms of computers for mining. 
But this race didn’t end here. 

People looked for mining without buying a costly computer. 
It gave birth to new cybercrime.

"Cryptojacking"

What is Cryptojacking?

It means using the computational power on your computer, smartphone, tablet etc. to mine cryptocurrencies without your consent. 

Simply put, it is stealing your device’s processing power. 

Though it’s relatively new, it has become a most common online threat. 

Several reports say that criminals are now preferring Cryptojacking over Ransomware attacks. 

Because they’re getting more money with less risk.

In our upcoming posts, we’ll tell you more details about Cryptojacking.

Next..