Without a clear track record to assess long-term value, cryptocurrency rises and falls on an unpredictable demand cycle. And for individual investors, the challenge is “you really don’t know where supply and demand can end up,” Aliaga-Díaz says.
Each asset holds a value, often priced in U.S. dollars, which leads to another use case: trading and investing. Aside from stablecoins — which seek to stabilize the instability of cryptocurrencies by pegging an asset to something else, such as the U.S. dollar — most cryptocurrencies constantly fluctuate in price. You can trade between cryptocurrencies and national currencies (called fiat currencies) on exchanges, depending on the trading pairs available on the platform of choice.

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Every cryptocurrency transaction is recorded in a public ledger known as the blockchain, which is the technology that makes it possible for it to exist. This allows people to follow the history of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to prevent them from spending coins they don't own, copying transactions, or undoing them. Because blockchain intends to eliminate intermediaries such as banks and internet marketplaces, there are no transaction costs.