What’s NU: Cryptocurrency

Thursday, February 1st, 2018

20 years from now, someone is going to look back at this post and laugh like we do now to all those throwback TV news broadcasts trying to explain the “internet” or “electronic mail”. Realistically, that’s where we are at with blockchain and the conversations around cryptocurrency - it’s still in it’s infancy. There’s a lot of smoke and a lot of confusion. The majority of people today don’t understand it or think it's for nefarious purposes, such as marketplaces on the dark web.

There are some people who see the potential of what’s to come. They see the opportunity to be part of a paradigm shift in decentralized networks, economic impacts and pioneer changes in the value of what data is worth, and how it is accessed; namely, that it will be distributed everywhere, but encrypted only for you.

The Backgrounder

So what is the blockchain, anyways? Blockchain is the technology that allows the existence of cryptocurrency. It is a decentralized ledger of ALL the transactions across a peer-to-peer network. Using blockchain, any participants are able to confirm transactions without the need for a central certifying authority! There are many future applications of this technology, including fund transfers, settling trades, ticketing applications, voting systems, and many other uses.

Blockchain is still a relatively new technology to the world and it will only continue to improve with time. Blockchains afford us the ability for increased transparency, accurate tracking and reducing costs not to mention the basis of the technology is to function as a permanent ledger!

Here comes Cryptocurrency. It’s basically a medium of exchange (i.e. currency), which is stored electronically using blockchain. It uses encryption techniques to control the creation of monetary units and to verify transfers of funds. Through blockchain, Bitcoin was born. This came along with many other “cryptos” such as Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and most recent iteration, Ripple.

Looking to dip your toe in the water? Here are a few options to purchase crytpos: Coinbase, Coinsquare, and Quadriga are all great options that most individual consumers are using to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

Too good to be true?

If you’re reading the headlines, it seems like a lot of hype, and what goes up must come down, right? In many cases, that assumption may be right, but the reality is that these new-found currencies have been fluctuating for years, rising to new record highs over time. At the time of writing the first draft of this piece, Bitcoin was at a whopping $18 000 CAD (approximately 1 week ago); by the time we posted this article, Bitcoin is currently at ~$10 000 CAD (decreasing 44% in value), and continuing to fluctuate! This just goes to show how much volatility exists in the market not in days, but within hours.

Paving new roads

This industry is one that we’re very engaged in because we strive to seek out opportunity and solve problems. This new territory lacks the rule book and guidelines that other industries have. This allows us to work with our clients to navigate the waters and contribute to authoring the new rules of finance. We immerse ourselves in the brands we work with, we live and breathe what they do and have the ability to be responsive for new companies experiencing rapid growth.

We incubate and help new ideas and products grow into desirable services. After all, every fire is the same size when it starts.