1.In your own words, discuss cryptocurrency and Blockchain.

I will like to start by defining the basic terms.

Blockchain is an innovative technological development involving blocks interlinked and joined together by chains where information is stored in several nodes within the blocks. It's an arising technology that modifies the input, storage, retrieval, and output of data. It encourages a lot of great innovative notions which have not been seen in the previous technologies. There are so many blockchains like Bitcoin which is the first, Ethereum, Cardano, Polygon, etc. Blockchain enables peer-to-peer transactions with little or no cost and a great level of security and precision. There are three major properties of the Blockchain which are Decentralisation, Scalability and the Security System and this property makes the blockchain a better technology than our local banking system that is less secure, less scalable, and centralized. Every transaction on the blockchain has a unique hash in which the progress of the transaction can be traced. Every block always takes its features from the Genesis block which is the first-ever block in the blockchain.

A cryptocurrency is a form of digital money that involves the use of assets in exchange for goods and services. Cryptocurrency is the future of finance because we are in a digital world and virtually everything is being done online now. Examples of cryptocurrencies include $bitcoin, $ethereum, $algo, $cake, $blurt, etc.
We have two types of cryptocurrency which are the stable coin and volatile coin.
Stable coins are those coins that don't always change in value and are always used to purchase volatile coins. They are equivalent to 1$ most times. Examples are USDT, TUSD, USDC, BUSD, etc
Volatile coins are those coin that fluctuates and changes always in value and price as the law of supply and demand plays out between the seller and buyers. These are the coins that are always traded in the crypto market because you can make a lot of profit when you buy at a lower price and sell at a higher price.

So in relating cryptocurrency and blockchain, you can say that blockchain is the bedrock of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is built on blockchain which makes them the future of finance because of the strong security system, scalability, and decentralization.

2.How are crypto and blockchain making life easier today? Discuss giving real-life examples.

crypto and blockchain are making life easier today because crypto trading has helped in eradicating poverty in our societies recently. So many young adults have made this innovation there a source of income and means of employment. There are so many opportunities crypto and blockchain have brought to the table like crypto trading, crypto coaching, crypto staking, and farming which is a form of passive income, blockchain tech content writers, cryptographic designers, crypto community managers, crypto social media influencers. So with these jobs above, you can see that there is a massive reduction in unemployment and poverty rate in the society as a result of this technology.

Crypto and blockchain have also brought about social media platforms that enable users to earn as they post their favorite and choice content. Examples of such are Blurt.org, Steemit, hive, etc.

3. What is decentralization? What are some advantages of decentralization?

Decentralization is the central and distinctive feature of the Blockchain. It is a notion that gives identical rights and leverage to everyone in the blockchain ecosystem and does not allow for any centralization of capacity to anyone. It allocates stability among all users in the ecosystem and its self-governing and it's the main basis for the adoption of blockchain technology by the people. For example, decentralization allows transactions between two parties without any third party or middle man.

Advantages of Decentralization

1.Clarity

Decentralization help in transparent decision-making among the user of the blockchain. It helps to avoid an autocratic method of imposing decisions on users without their due consent of the information and agreement to it as well.

2.Secured

Decentralization helps in the security of the blockchain as everyone is liable to his information on the blockchain and keeps it safe by not exposing it to anyone and even if a user is hacked, it does not affect another user as it's a decentralized system unlike the centralized where if the head's system is hacked, it affects everyone in the system.

3.Speed

Decentralization helps in making a faster transaction as there are no third parties to cause delays.

Conclusion

I want to conclude this lecture by thanking prof @zology69 for this wonderful class. I really learnt a lot out of it. blockchain and cryptocurrency is truly the future of finance and it's already making waves everywhere and I hope to be fully involved in it as well.