4 The Record: Cryptocurrency

TODAY. NOW W WYFF NEWS FOUR PRESENT FOR THE RECORD. WELCOME TO. FOR THE RECORD, I AM NIGEL ROBERTSON. TODAY WE TALK ABOUT CRYPTOCURRENCY. WHAT IS IT? HOW DO YOU INVEST IN IT? OR SHOULD YOU INVEST IN IT? WE TALKED TO A FINANCIAL ADVISOR. BUT THE FIRST ONE TO JOIN ME THIS MORNING IS ROBBIE FITZWATER, FACULTY MEMBER AT CLEMSON'S COLLEGE OF BUSINESS. ROBBIE, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE NIGEL. EXCITED TO BE HERE. FOR THE VIEWER AT HOME TO HEAR ABOUT CRYPTO AND WORDS LIKE BITCOIN, ETHEREUM AND SOLANA. WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN? UM, SO CRYPTOCURRENCY IS ESSENTIALLY LIKE A DECENTRALIZED FORM OF VALUE EXCHANGE IN SOME SIMPLE WAYS. UM, IT'S BEEN EXISTING SINCE 2013 AND IT'S BECOME A VERY POPULAR TOPIC AND IT GOES THROUGH THESE CYCLIC POPULAR TOPIC CYCLES BECAUSE IT'S GROWING A POPULAR TOPIC BECAUSE IT MAY BE BREAKING UP, BUT BASICALLY IT'S A WAY FOR PEOPLE, AGAIN, CREATE SOME. IT IS BASICALLY DIGITAL VALUE OR DIGITAL VALUE STORAGE. SO PEOPLE KNOW WHAT VENMO IS. SOME PEOPLE KNOW WHAT APPLE PAY IS AND CANNOT TRANSFER ACTUAL CASH. BUT IF YOU AND I ARE GOING OUT TO LUNCH AND I WANT TO PAY THE BILL, I COULD PAY IT OR SEND YOU THE CASH THROUGH THOSE APPS. IS CRYPTO SIMILAR TO THAT? SO YES. YEAH. SO YOU ARE TRANSFERRING AGAIN ONE STORE OF VALUE TO ANOTHER STORE OF VALUE. SOME OF THOSE TRANSACTIONS MAY BE A LITTLE MORE CHALLENGING IN TERMS OF EQUAL VALIDATION ON THE OTHER SIDE. SO I THINK I MENTIONED IT'S DECENTRALIZED. SO IT HAS TO BE VALIDATED AT SOME POINT AGAIN, CENTRALIZED OR BASICALLY SOMEWHERE. AGAIN, YES, I guess it has to be validated to some extent. AND SOME OF THOSE TRANSACTIONS MAY BE A LITTLE HARDER TO VALIDATE. AND SOME OF THOSE A LITTLE MORE EXPENSIVE. BUT UM, YEAH, IT'S AN EASY TRANSFER. AND, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE, IT MAKES IT VERY EASY FOR PEOPLE TO TRADE AGAIN. GOOD. LIKE THAT VALUE. YEAH. SO THE BEHAVIORS ARE INCREASINGLY MORE NORMALIZED BY THE APPLICATIONS AND SYSTEMS WE USE. AND IT'S MAKING IT MORE ACCESSIBLE FOR PEOPLE TO LIKE WIGGING YOUR TOE IN IT AND A LITTLE LESS INTIMIDATING BECAUSE IT'S UM, AGAIN, THE BEHAVIOR WE ALREADY DO IS LARGELY NORMALIZED. GOOD? SO AND IT'S VALIDATED BY THE BLOCKCHAIN ​​AND THE BLOCKCHAIN ​​ITSELF IS BASICALLY WHAT. SO IT'S BASICALLY A SYSTEM THAT, LIKE A LEDGER, IS A DIGITAL LEDGER. AND I AM TRYING TO ALWAYS THINK OF EASY WAYS TO COMMUNICATE THIS CORRECTNESS. AND IT IS A DIGITAL BOOK THAT AGAIN IS DECENTRALIZED. SO PEOPLE ARE GOING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OTHER PEOPLE'S COMPUTERS TO VALIDATE THE TRANSACTION AGAIN. I ALWAYS THINK THAT THE FIRST STEP IS LIKE INITIATING A TRANSACTION. AND THE ANALOGY I HAVE FOR THIS IS, UM, EVERYONE HAS PROBABLY SEEN JURASSIC PARK. UM, IT'S LIKE WHEN AMBER FLIES AWAY. So when you initiate that transaction, it's like the amber connects to the fly. IT HAS NOT HARDENED YET, BUT THAT TRANSACTION WILL BE DONE, um, when that transaction is validated, that will be the amber that hardens around that fly. SO BASICALLY THERE ARE TWO STEPS IN THAT PROCESS. BUT IT MAY TAKE A LITTLE TIME FOR THE ACTUAL VALIDATION TO BE DONE. BECAUSE AGAIN, HOW MANY DIFFERENT TRANSACTIONS GO THROUGH THE SYSTEM, HOW HARD THE SYSTEM IS WORKING. AND THEN, DEPENDING ON THE ACTUAL CRYPTOCURRENCY OR THE DIFFERENT EXCHANGE, UM, LIKE WHAT IS THE PROOF OF WHAT PROTOCOL THEY ARE WORKING, RIGHT. SO YEARS AGO IF SOMEONE WANTED TO BUY SOMETHING THEY HAD COINS AND I WOULD GIVE YOU SOME COINS AND YOU GIVE ME THE HORSE OR THE PLATE, WHATEVER I WANT TO BUY. SO THERE IS AN EXCHANGE YEARS LATER, THE BANKS CAME INTO THE EQUATION IN A BIGGER WAY, AND YOU WERE ABLE TO WRITE A CHECK. AND THAT CHECK IN AND YES HE SAID, I'M GOING TO WORTH WHAT IS WRITTEN IN IT. THEN OVER TIME PEOPLE STOP WRITING CHECKS AND STARTED USING PAY TO PAY LIKE VENMO AND STUFF, BUT STILL THROUGH THE BANKS WE ARE NOW AT A STAGE WHERE EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT CRYPTOGRAPHY AND CURRENCY EXCHANGE, AND THERE IS NO BANK IN THE MIDDLE. CORRECT. SO. AND THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT SO UNIQUE. AND THAT'S WHERE, AGAIN, THAT VALIDATION STAGE IS REALLY DIFFERENT. BECAUSE AGAIN, AS IF IT WAS VISA, I AM PROCESSING MANY TRANSACTIONS EVERY MINUTE. AS AGAIN THE VOLUME THAT THE DIFFERENT SYSTEM CAN PROCESS IS REALLY IMPRESSIVE. YEAH. BUT AGAIN, BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE A CENTRALIZED POINT, THIS HAS TO BE VALIDATED AGAIN IN A DIFFERENT WAY. AND WHAT THAT DOES IS PUT A LITTLE MORE STRESS ON THE HOLE OF THE SYSTEM AS A WHOLE, BECAUSE IT HAS TO GO THROUGH SOME DIFFERENT LAYERS AGAIN TO MAKE THAT WORK. BUT YES, LIKE AGAIN, DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE OFFERING THEIR, THEIR, THEIR COMPUTERS. THEIR PROCESSING POWER AND IN EXCHANGE, THEY GET SOME KIND OF TOKEN, SOME KIND OF REWARD. BUT ONCE IT IS THEY WHO OFFER THAT POINT OF VALIDATION. SO YOU'RE MAKING THAT PROCESS COMPLETELY DECENTRALIZED SO THAT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT BANK. YEAH. AND IT'S UNIQUE AND REALLY ABSTRACT WHEN YOU START LOOKING AT IT AGAIN FROM A 10,000 FEET VIEW. GOOD. BUT GRADUALLY IT STARTS TO MAKE A LITTLE MORE SENSE OVER TIME. AND IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO GET NOT ONLY TO DESCRIBE IT, BUT ITS USE CASE. AND WHAT EACH TOKEN IS USED FOR. SO YOU REALLY HAVE TO LEARN ABOUT EVERYTHING. YEAH. AND IT'S, IT COMES LIKE AGAIN IT'S LIKE YOU WANT TO MAKE THIS LOOK SO UNIQUE LIKE A WHIMSICAL STORY. YOU WOULD START THE WAY CRYPTOCURRENCIES LIKE HE, BITCOIN INVENTOR SATOSHI NAKAMOTO, NO ONE KNOWS WHO HE IS. AGAIN, THIS IS A POTENTIALLY FICTIONAL CHARACTER. GOOD. BECAUSE NO ONE KNOWS. BUT AGAIN HE CREATED THIS PROCESS AND THIS SYSTEM CALLED BITCOIN. AND AGAIN HE MADE IT AVAILABLE, LAUNCHED IT AND INITIATED A SYSTEM THAT ACTUALLY STILL WORKS TODAY. ALREADY THROUGH THAT TIME THERE HAVE BEEN MANY LAYERS OF Booms and busts and kinds of ups and downs, roller coasters and even today where it is becoming more and more of an established currency, an established currency and a little bit more like faith and credibility around IT . ALRIGHT. WELL, WE'RE GETTING STARTED RIGHT AWAY. A FINANCIAL ADVISOR ACCOMPANIES US WITH HIS ADVICE WHEN IT COMES TO THE RISKS OF INVESTING IN