Virtual currencies carry real value 

Anyone that has their finger on the pulse of technology and finance has at some point encountered virtual currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum and seen their incredible increase in value over the past decade.

Bitcoin was the first major virtual currency, and when it appeared in 2009, it was a revolutionary idea in the financial space.

One reason currencies like Bitcoin are so unique is that they are created out of thin air by the very process used to verify the buying and selling transactions.

There are a finite number of Bitcoins available on the network:  21 million. To “mine” these Bitcoins, users run programs that do Bitcoin work; using their own computer power to verify Bitcoin transactions. They are then rewarded with 12.5 newly generated bitcoins when they find the key to the transaction. At this point, it has become nearly impossible to mine Bitcoins, but some new Bitcoin still do exist.

Because of this, Bitcoins have become more precious over time, and prices have tended to increase because of their scarcity.

Another unique property of Bitcoin is that there is no centralized network, like a bank, according to Bitcoin.org.

For individual users, Bitcoins are stored in a virtual wallet that exists either in the cloud or on a user’s computer. Bitcoins can be shared internationally with no fees and with complete anonymity.

About 100,000 companies accept Bitcoin as currency, so they have real value. Early adopters had notoriously been criminal enterprises, which thrives on anonymity, but, today, criminals aren’t the only ones using the virtual currency.

With the price of Bitcoin at roughly $2,310 it’s quite clear that these currencies are the real deal for now.

There exist Bitcoin millionaires. Among them, Jered Kenna who bought his first batch of Bitcoins at 20 cents each and traded them for $258 each.  Famously, Kenna lost about $200,000 in 2010 when he reformatted his hard drive, according to 99bitcoins.com.