Cryptocurrency Primer

Way back in 2017, I remembered myself having made a rambling post about cryptocurrencies. Back then, I was pretty skeptical about them. I found them clunky and hard to use, not to mention that there were hardly much uses for them except for sending them back and forth between people.

Now come 2020, although my stance on them still has not changed, I've found that there are way, way more of these cryptocurrencies sprouting compared to back then. And whilst many of them could possibly be duds (and might just be there to sucker your coins out of you), there are some that have piqued my interest.

* Wait... What??? Isn't this supposed to be a gaming blog? So why is this bugger talking about cryptocurrencies!? *

Well, hold your horses and think for a moment.

Gaming blog talking about cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies, games.

Yup, the point of this silly old bugger's rant isn't about which cryptocurrency is good and/or valuable, ...but rather to talk about games, cryptogames (to be exact).

However, before we can truly jump into the games themselves, there...needs to be a certain basic level of literacy in cryptocurrencies. So hence, this "Cryptocurrency Primer" post of mine.

But don't worry, I'm not gonna go into the details of how they work. I mean, even I don't know how they work as I'm just another gamer, not a programmer duh.

Cryptocurrency 101

As far as this silly old bugger knows about the usage of a cryptocurrency, it seems to involve the installing of a software called a "wallet", in order to send and receive the cryptocurrency from.

Cryptocurrency	Wallet
Bitcoin	Electrum
Ethereum	MetaMask
Tron	TronLink
EOS	Scatter

Now the list isn't meant to be exhaustive, and neither are each wallet unique to the cryptocurrency. They are just there as examples.

There are cryptocurrencies with more than one wallet available for you to install/use, and there are wallets which may be able to interact with more than one cryptocurrency. It all depends on their developers (of the wallets) as well as their popularity (of the cryptocurrencies), I suppose.

However (yes, another however), I must stress that you take the time to properly vet the wallet before you choose to install and use it. Check its reviews and also use something like VirusTotal to scan the file for viruses and malware, if possible, lest you install something nasty in your pc and/or phone.

Setting Up Of Your Wallet

Almost all of the wallets, regardless of the cryptocurrency, will prompt you for or give to you the following few key items (upon first installation).

• Seed Phrase/Private Key
  A "Seed Phrase" is a set of words, usually 12 words long, that serves as the "key" to your "cryptocurrency account". Although they might seem random at first sight, they are typically derived from a wordlist/dictionary that the developers (of the wallet) have predetermined, when initially coding for the wallet. And because of that, a seed phrase generally only works with the same wallet software that created it.
  
  Example of a Seed Phrase
  witch collapse practice feed shame open despair creek road again ice least
  
  It is also important to note that the order of the words in a seed phrase is extremely critical. Accidentally mixing up the words can result in you accessing an entirely different crypto account (for better or for worse).
  
  
  If your thinking of trying out your luck, there can be upwards of thousands of words in that wordlist...so much so that the possible 12 word combinations that can come up are pretty astronomical.
  
  
  Depending on the wallet, your "key" can also come in the form of a long string of letters and numbers called a "Private Key".
  
  Example of a Private Key
  5JSWJuJZbjiCfHJbBFYAyYyvrsg6aVJRMnWXSByu9aZudskqZqU
  
  If it is in this form, there is a decent chance that you might be able to use this key to access your same crypto account, albeit using a different wallet software. This can prove to be useful in situations whereby the existing wallet software that you had been using (all this while) has been discontinued by its developers.
  
  But regardless of whichever form it comes in, your seed phrase or private key should only be kept and known to you alone. Anyone else who gains access to them will be able to "relieve" you of your precious cryptocurrency.
  
• Crypto Address
  You can think of this as something like your "bank account number". You will need to give this "Crypto Address" to others in order to receive cryptocurrency from them. Likewise, they will need to give you theirs in order to receive cryptocurrency from you.
  
  Depending on the cryptocurrency, this address is sometimes randomly generated for you, while at other times, you as the user can freely choose how you wish to name yours (pending availability).
  
  

  Cryptocurrency	Crypto Address
  Bitcoin	16xW7A6bSZTqzJuCBKrxJZuwbMgAyDayTZ
  Ethereum	0x4Cad189854d7f6d9da313D309ddedB32AebF3C87
  Tron	TA86Fo7x6BWhHPZJW1AwWLYqpRAaR5kjFn
  EOS	buladifu1eos

  
  
  It is of utmost importance (I cannot stress this enough), that you be extra sure of the address that your sending your cryptocurrency to. Do not, I repeat, do not send one type of cryptocurrency to the address of another type of cryptocurrency.
  
  Usually it will not work, since all the addresses are different in format, but on the rare chance that it does go through, then congratulations, you have just sent your cryptocurrency into the abyss...doomed to be lost forever.
  
• Password
  This is just a regular password that you set to protect/lock your wallet. It is there to prevent others (whom may have physical access to your pc or phone) from running the wallet software itself and steal your cryptocurrency.
  
  And as far as this password goes, whenever you do something that requires you to reinput your seed phrase/private key (like uninstalling/reinstalling the wallet software or logging out of it), it will usually cause it to reset and the wallet software will probably ask you to set up a new one.
  

Blockchain Explorer

A blockchain is like a "ledger" that records all of the cryptocurrency accounts ever created as well as all of the transactions and events that ever occurred, for that particular cryptocurrency. Each cryptocurrency will typically have their own unique blockchain.

A blockchain explorer (usually a website of some sort) allows the user to perform searches (on the blockchain) to find specific accounts, transactions, etc, that may be of interest to the user.

Apart from that, the explorer also contains a trove of other data pertaining to the cryptocurrency, like whether the blockchain is "busy" at the moment, how many users have adopted to using the cryptocurrency, the average cost to perform a transaction and how long it would take for a transaction to go through.

Depending on the cryptocurrency, the provider of the blockchain explorer may sometimes also offer extra services like the creation of new cryptocurrency accounts, facilitate transactions for free or even avenues to purchase/earn some amount of the cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency	Blockchain Explorer
Bitcoin	Blockchain.com
Ethereum	Etherscan.io
Tron	Tronscan.org
EOS	Bloks.io

Posted in: Cryptocurrency