Initial Coin Offering. In an ICO, an entity issues virtual coins, often called tokens, to raise capital. A “token sale” is simply distributing a new cryptocurrency to investors, who typically pay for the tokens in bitcoin or another established cryptocurrency.
Blocks are linked together by cryptography – complex mathematics and computer science. Any attempt to alter data disrupts the cryptographic links between blocks, and can quickly be identified as fraudulent by computers in the network.

As its name suggests, you can use cryptocurrency to make purchases. But your purchasing power is limited; crypto isn’t yet widely accepted among retailers and other businesses.
China announced in September that all cryptocurrency transactions in the country are illegal, effectively putting the brakes on any crypto-related activities within Chinese borders. In the U.S., things are less clear. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said recently that he has “no intention” of banning cryptocurrency in the U.S while Security and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has consistently commented on both his own agency’s and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s role in policing the industry.