What's the Point of Cryptocurrency Anyway?

Introduction

Many people new to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies ask, what's the point to all this anyway? Bitcoin is digital money, but almost all our money is already digital without using an obscure virtual token. However, there's much more to Bitcoin than just money on the internet. Without buzz words, let's dive into what makes up cryptocurrency vs the traditional banking system.

Traditional Banking System

Reserve Currencies
The traditional banking system uses the U.S. Dollar as the reserve currency. Governments and institutions hold large amounts of it to back the value of their own currencies and ensure international trades run smoothly.  

Printed At Will
While countries cannot print the U.S. Dollar at will, they can print their own money and the U.S. Dollar can be printed by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Backed By Central Authority
If your credit or debit card is used by an unauthorized individual, you can get your money back by reporting fraud.

Banks in Different Countries Unlinked While banks under the same company can interact with other branches across the globe, different banks don't necessarily trust each other.  As a result, linking them together to flow money through can be difficult and take days.  

Needs Access to a Bank
According to studies, a huge amount of people across the globe are effectively "unbanked". Approximately 2 billion of a total 7.5 billion people on the planet worldwide do not have access to a bank via physical location or mobile phone. Reasons why include not having enough money or simply being declined by traditional banking institutions.

Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency

Value by Scarcity
The total number of Bitcoin and most altcoins are limited by scarcity. For example, only 21 million Bitcoin will ever be mined. Some opponents say that forking the coin mean that more coins can be created at all. While the value of "altcoins" is arguable, the main Bitcoin itself is still limited and the scarcity of this coin means there's no need for a reserve backing.

Infinitely Divisible
This is one core piece of cryptocurrency that makes it a "new" currency that understands the abilities and needs of the modern day world. While digital currency in any form can be "infinitely divisible", cash itself cannot be. Bitcoin at its core can be divided infinitely small, which means that at its start it already has that property.  

Backed by Decentralized Authority
By allowing everyone to verify Bitcoin transactions at the same time through a general ledger, Bitcoin is able to remain decentralized and greatly reduces the vectors of attack. Banks need to be secure, but are continuously wary of hackers attacking their vulnerabilities. Bitcoins vulnerabilities are also tested day by day, but if one point falls there are still many to prevent the system from coming down.  

Different Countries Linked
Cryptocurrency is a programming-based method of transaction. As a result, all someone needs is to be running the same version of the protocol. Much like the internet, a web page in the United States represents the same web page as in New Zealand and is indistinguishable if you load it in two different geographic locations.

Access and Registration Anywhere
No matter how much money you have, you can sign up for a wallet anywhere on the planet with internet access and instantly become your own bank.

Conclusions

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies when used the same as digital government currencies is very similar in its base usage by the average developed nation consumer. However, for people living without access to a centralized bank or living in a nations where trust among institutions and governments is low, cryptocurrencies allow a math-based trust system that allows for self-government without control through monetary incentives.