US needs to lead digital currency revolution, or other nations will
While the U.S. is consumed by understanding the Russian hacking into its presidential election, the other global power is claiming silent victory in a worldwide cryptocurrency competition.
Currently, China is the biggest entity mining bitcoins, claiming 70 percent of all mining equipment globally. Computers, known as “miners”, solve complicated mathematical algorithms, provide hashing power, keep record of transactions and get awarded by a bitcoin.
The miners are rewarded with bitcoins for solving challenging cryptographic problems that verify other bitcoin transactions worldwide. At the beginning of the blockchain revolution, bitcoin mining was easier; algorithms were less complicated.
Over time, algorithms become more complicated and soon there will barely be any algorithms to solve. Each time an algorithm is solved, “blocks” are added to the “blockchain”, which ensures authenticity of every transaction.
Miners can be located anywhere in the world, but given that it can take lot of electricity and computing power, mining can be an expensive undertaking. Miners in China strongly believe that China will soon become the leading cryptocurrency power.
The digital currency market has grown exponentially in just four years. With a market cap close to $19 billion dollars, digital currency and its underlying technology —blockchain — introduced a new way for people to exchange value.
Cryptocurrency is produced by computers and held electronically online; it is not backed up or controlled by governments. According to Bitcoin.com, the U.S. hosts the highest number of cryptocurrency users and bitcoin trading volumes in the world. For the first years of cryptocurrency existence, the U.S. lead the way.
Recently, other countries, like China, Estonia, and South Korea, have made significant investment and progress in blockchain technology.
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Source: US needs to lead digital currency revolution, or other nations will | TheHill
