{"id":930,"date":"2020-03-01T21:20:23","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T02:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timestampmag.com\/?p=930"},"modified":"2020-03-01T21:20:23","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T02:20:23","slug":"whats-the-crypto-in-cryptocurrency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timestampmag.com\/2020\/03\/01\/whats-the-crypto-in-cryptocurrency\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the “Crypto” in Cryptocurrency?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So you\u2019ve been into bitcoin since before it skyrocketed in 2017, participated in several airdrops with the hopes of seeing the next coin go \u2018to the moon!\u2019, and you or somebody you know (even if it\u2019s from social media) cashed in on your crypto investments by purchasing a shiny Lambo. If that\u2019s at all close to you, or you\u2019re at least familiar with those crypto culture cliches, chances are you\u2019re a crypto enthusiast, a HODLer, maybe even a FUDster, so a crypto kid, no doubt. But do you know what the “crypto” in cryptocurrency is?

If that\u2019s so, and you clicked the title of this article, I guess we both know it\u2019s about time to stop just blankly answering \u201ccryptography\u201d when someone asks what\u2019s the \u2018crypto\u2019 in cryptocurrency. Now\u2019s the time to get a bit better-versed in the art of cryptography, what it is exactly, what\u2019s the purpose of having all those keys, how they work, what\u2019s a hash, and the relation of it all to digital currencies and blockchain technology.

In the interest of time and money, we\u2019ll try to keep it short. We\u2019ll start with an overview of the terms that you need to grasp in order to better understand how a bitcoin transaction works, and then do a little walkthrough of how this happens within a blockchain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Encryption and Beyond (and where the “Crypto” in Cryptocurrency comes from)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cryptography<\/strong> or cryptology, from the ancient greek krypt\u00f3s <\/em>(hidden, secret), is merely a series of techniques for secure communication. The word \u201csecure\u201d implies the presence of a third party trying to breach that security, so cryptography, generally, is always about constructing protocols that prevent others from reading private messages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this sense, cryptography has been around since the times of the ancient Egyptians and Julius Caesar. Although, up to modern times the term referred almost exclusively to encryption<\/strong>. This is the process of converting a plain and legible message into an unintelligible cypher text. In order to decipher such text, one simply needs a key; a single word or string of characters that decrypts the whole text. In case you\u2019re not familiar with it, here\u2019s a fun little example of Caesar\u2019s Cypher<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\""Crypto"
A US cipher machine, SIGABA ECM II<\/a>, from the 1930s. It was one of the finest cryptomachines of that time and was used in WWII by the US Army and Navy<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, with the advent of computer science, cryptography went from linguistic and lexicographic patterns to far more complex use of mathematics. In other words, encryption went from using a key to using specific algorithms. Far more secure than using the same key to decrypt several messages between two or more parties, new technologies allowed us to develop random algorithms<\/strong> that change each time a message is delivered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These algorithms are divided into several subcategories, of which the ones that are mainly used in cryptocurrencies are: <\/p>\n\n\n\n