The differences between digital money and cryptocurrency.

[Rruchi man]

The words cryptocurrency and digital currency have been used so much by newbies & beginners that most now think they mean the same thing. Although cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency, there still exist some clear cut differences between the two.

For ease sake, i have tabulated the difference under major key points;


https://www.analyticsinsight.net/digital-currency-v-s-cryptocurrency-brief-overview-for-beginners/

[Upgrade00]

If you say cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency, then I would assume that there cannot be clear cut differences between them, it's just dependent on the algorithm backing it up.

Saying cryptocurrencies are encrypted and digital currencies are not already contradicts itself as crypto is a type of digital currency, with its own qualities, which are not entirely limited to it. There are also lots of other digital currencies with different algorithm;
• Some centralized, while some others are not,
• Some are issues by the government and others are not,
• Some are less volatile than others, along with many other differences.

[Charles-Tim]

I think you should use fiat vs cryptocurrencies, even cryptocurrencies are more referred to digital currencies.

Fiat does not have a constant price, foreign reserves in a country determine fiat price, any depletion in foreign reserve will let the government to devaluate their country's fiat currency. Also many government manipulate the price to be able to pay their workers, in which what they (the governments) pay workers will be less than what the workers ought to receive in value, but yet the same amount, but depreciated by the government. If you check developing and underdeveloped countries, you will know how fiat is depreciating as government of the countries are devaluing their fiats. Also developed nations fiat currencies are not different in devaluation but only better than developing and underdeveloped countries, which means even US dollar, British Pounds and Euro are still getting devalued.

If I will have to be specific, the price of bitcoin maybe volatile, but if you do not sell when the price is falling, you will still most likely gain. Bitcoin price will rise and fall, but the price will reach all-time-high again and again. Which means implying Bitcoin to be highly volatile is not enough, it is also a speculative asset and yet a store of value.

Demand and supply affects the price. If the demand increased, the price will increase.
Know that CBDCs are cryptocurrencies too and they are nothing more that fiat, issued by the government and have most of the fiat characteristics if not all, CBDCs are also more privacy-depriving than fiat.

[GeorgeJohn]

I think Charles tim is right, op you would have change the caustion of the subject, because when looking at it very well digital currency and cryptocurrency is correlated and it will quite be difficult to understand the concept, to expand the differences well it should be cryptocurrency and Fiat, because with these it will be less easier to understand, cryptocurrency is only pointing fingers or emphasising to be decentralized currency as you stipulates it in the table above, while digital currency can be also be both decentralized and centralized currency.

[TheNineClub]

Maybe we should have a much detailed description of where we differentiate digital currencies and cryptocurrencies. I could see that happening in the future when more and more governments start issuing their own digital currencies that are much less volatile, centralized, and tbh, by that defie the true nature of cryptocurencies.

[Rruchi man]

I think you should use fiat vs cryptocurrencies, even cryptocurrencies are more referred to digital currencies.

I'm trying to spell out that not all digital currencies are cryptocurrencies, hence the "digital money" in the topic, i think if i had used just fiat, it may be perceived as though i mean physical money (hard currency)which i don't, and then the objective of the topic for people to understand that cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency and not the only digital currency, will have been defeated.

The other type of digital currency is the "virtual currency".

[witcher_sense]

It is sometimes hard to differentiate these similar concepts but you can simplify your analysis by determining what money is and what currency is. According to Mike Maloney, who is an expert in economics and monetary history, money is a means of exchange that retains its store of value function because no one controls it, whereas currency is always controlled by central authorities so it can and will be debased, which means you can't store value. So, the difference between digital money and digital currency is that the former is true money, the latter is just the analog of fiat but in another form. Bitcoin is the only digital money that exists today, it has all the attributes of physical gold but "can also be sent digitally". Bitcoin is not cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency and digital currency are similar because both are being controlled by centralized bodies, could be inflated, can't store value, etc.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

For ease sake, i have tabulated the difference under major key points;

The whole infograph is wrong, adding to what others have said, digital currency aren't always issued by the government. We have digital currency like WeChat Pay, that are own by institute outside the government although that I doesn't make them better alternative to fiats since they're been controlled by the same governing board, the central bank. Cryptocurency is also a form of digital currency so every column of the digital currency becomes invalid.

Better comparison should be comparing the traditional currency which are fiats to cryptocurrency. You should note that cryptocurency are upgraded version of digital currency in the sense that with cryptocurrency, transaction are more secure and mainly decentralized like with Bitcoin.

[20kevin20]

Bitcoin is not cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency and digital currency are similar because both are being controlled by centralized bodies, could be inflated, can't store value, etc.

What? How is Bitcoin not a cryptocurrency nor a digital currency? Bitcoin has both properties and is not controlled by centralized bodies, has a fixed inflation nobody can change within the flick of a finger and has so far been able to store a ton of value.

[Jazmin Leslie]

do not understand.

I was suddenly confused when I saw this topic. Is there any difference between cryptocurrency and digital currency?
I have always believed that cryptocurrency is digital currency.
Should this question be answered clearly in the technical sector? I would also like to know.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

The main difference is cryptography for cryptocurrency and no cryptography for digital currency.

However, media and people use digital and crypto arbitrarily. They did not use it correctly. Some even use virtual to call cryptocurrency.

[GUIDE] All About Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

In my opinion, digital currency is a bigger set than crypto currency. With Venn diagram, they have intersections and people misunderstand it when they consider they are the same.

Set theory

[BitKongy]

You make that sound as if all crypto coins are decentralized, many of them crypto coins are also centralised and can be controlled by the government for example centralised exchanges tokens and coins, XRP, USDT, USDC and many more, the reason why BTC is still standing strong is because it's fully decentralized and the maker is unknown till date.