Manager Magazine and Mynd explain: How
do cryptocurrencies work? Money is the lifeblood of the world economy. Whether on the pay slip, when shopping or
on the stock exchange – our economic system only works if we can rely on its value
. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin should make this
possible and be suitable as an autonomous means of payment – without a
central bank guaranteeing the value of the money. In its place is a global, decentralized
database, the blockchain: Crypto transactions are stored in it in a forgery-proof manner. All users can see and understand them. New bitcoins are created during the maintenance of this
blockchain: If a bitcoin changes hands, it is entered in the database. The arithmetic operations for this are very complex
– whoever carries them out gets new bitcoins as a reward . The system thus
creates money independently – without a central bank. At some point, however, this will end, because
the maximum possible amount of bitcoins has been limited to 21 million since their invention
.
This should ensure a stable value
– at least in theory. Bitcoin has not yet been established as a means of payment
. Instead, speculators determine its value
– and in 2017 they drove it to ever loftier heights . Many connoisseurs of the financial scene therefore
do not see the future of money in bitcoins; they warn of a speculative bubble – which
will eventually burst..
