GST and Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency can be understood as a digital or virtual form of currency which is secured by cryptography, making it extremely difficult to counterfeit. Several cryptocurrencies are based on blockchain technology as decentralized networks. One of many key features of it is that it is not centrally issued by any Public Authority, theoretically making them immune and safe from periodic government interference and manipulation. Cryptocurrencies comprise of complicated systems which allow for safe transactions online, denominated as virtual tokens represented by internal ledger entries on a system. The term “Crypto” represents several encryption algorithms and cryptographic methods that secure entries, as the likes of public-private key pairs, elliptical curve encryption and hashing functions. The very first cryptocurrency which was based on blockchain technology was ‘Bitcoin’, which is still quite remarkably popular and most valued in the market. There are hundreds and thousands of new cryptocurrencies with different specifications and functionalities available currently, some of them being clones of Bitcoin, also referred to as “forks”, while many others are absolutely new, built from scratch. Bitcoin, having been launched in 2009 by an entity with the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto”, as of August 2021 has over 18.8 million bitcoins in circulation with a total market value of almost 858.9 billion dollars, with the figure updating and changing consistently. Therefore, in order to prevent inflation as well as manipulation, only 21 billion bitcoins were made in the first place, which exist in the market today. Quite a few rival companies came to life after witnessing Bitcoin’s unprecedented success. These are named as Litecoin, Namecoin, Cardano, EOS, Peercoin and Ethereum. The estimated average valuation of all these cryptocurrencies present in the market today is over 1.8 trillion dollars, out of which Bitcoin currently represents around 46.5%.