Cryptocurrency is the hot new financial trend. After the internet got to see how successful Bitcoin has become, cryptocurrency is now in the spotlight.
But like anything else that is dealt with online, there are a large group of people who have concerns about the use of cryptocurrency. When you can’t physically see your money, it can be hard to feel safe financially.
On top of that, there are a lot of cryptocurrency scams. These scams can drain someone financially.
The more that you know about cryptocurrency, the more that you can keep your money safe.
What Is Cryptocurrency?
A cryptocurrency is a form of money that you can exchange digitally. This money is secured by cryptography technology that protects the currency from double spending and counterfeiting.
The networks that make cryptocurrency are split up between countless different computers. This structure allows cryptocurrency to remain unseen by the government.
The idea of having money that the government has no control over is enough to make a lot of people uneasy. Some people even question if the concept is legal.
Is Cryptocurrency Legal?
As of 2020, cryptocurrency is technically legal. Not every country is currently on board, but the majority of developed countries allow cryptocurrency.
That said, cryptocurrency was not always legal. Even now, there are still a lot of regulations around the use of virtual currency.
Bitcoin is not the first attempt at cryptocurrency. However, it was the first cryptocurrency to emerge in the new age of the internet. As a result, people went crazy over the idea of having money that was not under government watch.
Bitcoin has a mysterious origin. In 2009, an unknown development group put Bitcoin on the market. At that time, the internet was still largely unsupervised. People now had money that was unseen by the government. This fact was a large part of the many illegal transactions that took place on the dark web.
As a result, Bitcoin now has a bad reputation for being inclusive of illegal activity. However, Bitcoin did not provide as much privacy as people thought it did at the time.
There are more modern forms of cryptocurrency that provide more privacy than Bitcoin does. Because of this, Bitcoin has a fairly clean consumer base now. Despite the clean reputation, Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency now have regulations.
Most of the regulations in the United States are about taxes. In Russia, however, paying in cryptocurrency is illegal.
Bitcoin Scams
There are numerous forms of scams involving cryptocurrency. Information about cryptocurrency is not as common as regular currency. As a result, it can be difficult to tell what is a scam and what isn’t. However, there are a few things that you can do to help spot a scam.
Beware of Emails
If you get a random email about cryptocurrency one day, don’t click on any links you see. It’s likely a scam to get your information and steal your money.
Read Reviews
Reading the reviews on a cryptocurrency site or service is a great way to tell if the site is legitimate.
Conclusion
Overall, cryptocurrency is legal in the United States and many other countries. However, it’s a good idea to still be careful of scams and practice online safety habits.
