Global Finance FAQ web series on cryptocurrencies.
June 28, 2021
How does one acquire cryptocurrency?
The easiest way to acquire cryptocurrencies is to purchase them from one of the many crypto exchanges, which can hold the asset for the investor like a brokerage. Investors also buy digital currencies in private transactions with other parties, similar to an over-the-counter trade. However, an investor would need an app to hold the newly acquired assets, which is commonly called a “digital wallet.”
Another way to acquire cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is to mine for them. Bitcoin’s mining process introduces new Bitcoins into the Bitcoin ecosystem via ‘hashing’, which solves complex cryptographic calculations that are then used to validate and encrypt transactions before adding them onto the “blockchain” distributed ledger.
EXPLAINED: Why Bitcoin Mining Consumes More Energy Than All Of Venezuela msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
electric vehicles
In this article, Frank Holmes, CEO of U.S. Global Investors and executive chairman of HIVE Blockchain Technologies, looks at the recent market changes to cryptocurrency prices, in part due to environmental concerns raised by Tesla’s Elon Musk. He also explores the role renewable energy plays in the way cryptocurrencies are mined.
And just like that, Elon Musk has turned on Bitcoin.
In a tweet on Wednesday (12 May), the self-proclaimed “Technoking of Tesla” said his company which announced in February that it bought $1.5bn in Bitcoin [BTC-USD] would be suspending vehicle purchases using the cryptocurrency. Musk cited crypto miners’ “increasing” use of fossil fuels, particularly coal, “which has the worst emissions of any fuel.”