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A Beginner’s Guide to Cryptocurrencies

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A Beginner's Guide to Cryptocurrencies

A Beginner’s Guide to Cryptocurrencies

With money pouring into the blockchain from investors, venture capitalists, and strategic partners, it is clear that cryptocurrencies will continue to be in the spotlight for years to come.

However, as with any newly emerging field, being in the spotlight can present a double-edged sword. It makes for an environment full of passionate and extremely technical discussion, but it also opens the door to blatant promotional pump-and-dump schemes and inflexible factions of cheerleaders or naysayers.

This clutter makes it considerably difficult for the average person to really wrap their head around the crypto space – and it creates opportunities to simplify the sector in an easy, digestible, and accessible way.

A Guide to Cryptocurrencies

Today’s infographic from BestAccountingSchools provides an introductory guide to cryptocurrencies, and it highlights the history, important terms, and statistics about the crypto space. It also profiles some of the pioneers that made it all happen.

It’s a great start for anyone looking to get up to speed on what’s happening in crypto – and we thought we would accompany it with some additional infographic resources that we have available on the topic as well.

Bitcoin’s Journey to $10,000 – This timeline chart catalogs Bitcoin’s wild 2017, in which it catapulted from $1,000 to $10,000 in just 11 months.

Comparing Crypto – This giant infographic compares the differences in design and protocol of six key cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Dash, and Ripple.

The ICO Explosion – The popularity of cryptocurrency has also led to a boom in initial coin offerings (ICOs). This nifty data visualization helps to show this.

Top 25 Cryptocurrencies – This infographic showcases the top 25 cryptocurrencies, organized by different factors: market cap, trading volume, purpose, and inception date.

Intro to Smart Contracts – Cryptocurrencies aren’t just about payments – they are also being used to automate transactions to avoid middlemen. This infographic on the power of smart contracts helps to introduce these concepts.

Historical Context – All the way back in 2013 and 2014, we put together infographics documenting the first 5 years of Bitcoin’s history, as well as why we predicted that Bitcoin would eventually disrupt banking in 2014.

Do you have any other great graphical resources that could be included for a beginner’s guide to cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments.

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Central Banks

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Public trust in the Federal Reserve chair has hit its lowest point in 20 years. Get the details in this infographic.

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The Briefing

  • Gallup conducts an annual poll to gauge the U.S. public’s trust in the Federal Reserve
  • After rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, public trust has fallen to a 20-year low

 

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Each year, Gallup conducts a survey of American adults on various economic topics, including the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve.

More specifically, respondents are asked how much confidence they have in the current Fed chairman to do or recommend the right thing for the U.S. economy. We’ve visualized these results from 2001 to 2023 to see how confidence levels have changed over time.

Methodology and Results

The data used in this infographic is also listed in the table below. Percentages reflect the share of respondents that have either a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence.

YearFed chair% Great deal or Fair amount
2023Jerome Powell36%
2022Jerome Powell43%
2021Jerome Powell55%
2020Jerome Powell58%
2019Jerome Powell50%
2018Jerome Powell45%
2017Janet Yellen45%
2016Janet Yellen38%
2015Janet Yellen42%
2014Janet Yellen37%
2013Ben Bernanke42%
2012Ben Bernanke39%
2011Ben Bernanke41%
2010Ben Bernanke44%
2009Ben Bernanke49%
2008Ben Bernanke47%
2007Ben Bernanke50%
2006Ben Bernanke41%
2005Alan Greenspan56%
2004Alan Greenspan61%
2003Alan Greenspan65%
2002Alan Greenspan69%
2001Alan Greenspan74%

Data for 2023 collected April 3-25, with this statement put to respondents: “Please tell me how much confidence you have [in the Fed chair] to recommend the right thing for the economy.”

We can see that trust in the Federal Reserve has fluctuated significantly in recent years.

For example, under Alan Greenspan, trust was initially high due to the relative stability of the economy. The burst of the dotcom bubble—which some attribute to Greenspan’s easy credit policies—resulted in a sharp decline.

On the flip side, public confidence spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was likely due to Jerome Powell’s decisive actions to provide support to the U.S. economy throughout the crisis.

Measures implemented by the Fed include bringing interest rates to near zero, quantitative easing (buying government bonds with newly-printed money), and emergency lending programs to businesses.

Confidence Now on the Decline

After peaking at 58%, those with a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the Fed chair have tumbled to 36%, the lowest number in 20 years.

This is likely due to Powell’s hard stance on fighting post-pandemic inflation, which has involved raising interest rates at an incredible speed. While these rate hikes may be necessary, they also have many adverse effects:

  • Negative impact on the stock market
  • Increases the burden for those with variable-rate debts
  • Makes mortgages and home buying less affordable

Higher rates have also prompted many U.S. tech companies to shrink their workforces, and have been a factor in the regional banking crisis, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Gallup (2023)

Data Notes: Results are based on telephone interviews conducted April 3-25, 2023, with a random sample of –1,013—adults, ages 18+, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on this sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. See source for details.

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