This story is part of Power Money Moves, CNET’s coverage of smart money decisions for today’s changing world.
Cryptocurrency is controversial, risky, wildly volatile — and gaining traction fast. The world of digital coinage is a red-hot tool for those looking for a new way to make money, and it’s seen by some as a step forward for investors — a kind of “Money 2.0” that’ll democratize finance and power the metaverse. To others, bitcoin, stablecoins and NFTs are simply a new, digital form of an old con primed to swindle and scam. Still others consider the whole endeavor an empty bubble, destined to burst.
In simple terms, cryptocurrency is a digital token whose ownership is recorded on a blockchain, a distributed software ledger that no one controls — this is designed to make it more secure, in theory. Bitcoin and ethereum are the two most widely known flavors of crypto, but more than 18,000 tokens are traded under different names (dogecoin is one famous example).
Despite the seesawing prices and lack of regulation, cryptocurrency is moving mainstream as the next financial frontier. Developments like…
