A Brief Study of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain

Abstract

A cryptocurrency is a virtual or digital currency that uses cryptography for security [2]. The cryptocurrency has a security feature, which makes it difficult for a hacker to duplicate it. Further, the hackers cannot copy or falsify the cryptocurrency. It is not released by any particular nation, thus it is free from any government interference. In Greek, cryptography means “secret writing”. It is the mathematical “scrambling” of data so that only authorized person with the necessary „key‟ can “unscramble” it. Key is a sequence that controls the operation and behaviour of the cryptography algorithm. Cryptography allows secure transmission of private information over insecure channels.
This paper surveys various cryptocurrencies. We compare and contrast different features of currently trending cryptocurrencies. We evaluate the strengths, weakness and the rate of growth of various cryptocurrencies.