Importantly, cryptocurrencies can be exchanged for fiat currencies in special online markets, meaning each has a variable exchange rate with major world currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, British pound, European euro, and Japanese yen.
“Bitcoin appears to be pushing out of a bullish flag pattern, and Ether is likely to confirm a long-term breakout on a close above resistance this Friday,” said Katie Stockton, founder and managing partner of Fairlead Strategies, in a note.

Unlike traditional currencies, cryptocurrencies exist only as a shared digital record of ownership, stored on a blockchain. When a user wants to send cryptocurrency units to another user, they send it to that user’s digital wallet. The transaction isn’t considered final until it has been verified and added to the blockchain through a process called mining. This is also how new cryptocurrency tokens are usually created.
Cryptocurrencies work using a technology called blockchain. They are tokens that can be used as a form of payment in exchange for online goods and services. They carry a pre-determined store value of their own, just like any other fiat currency like the US dollar or the Indian rupee. Cryptocurrencies are digitally mined, where very sophisticated computers solve extremely complex computational mathematics problems. Their mining is painstaking, costly and only sporadically rewarding.