Write a paper on History Of Crypto Currency And Cryptography|Business & Finance
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/hrc/search/basic?vid=0&sid=f0a51cf6-8cbd-459c-8352-ea7244d447ec%40sessionmgr104
I have done 2 pages and i need a page and half form this link.
Cryptography has been used for thousands of years, dating back to as early as ancient Egypt in 1900 BC where an Egyptian scribe used non-standard hieroglyphs in an inscription. Fast forward about 4000 years and we have the most well known piece of modern cryptography, the german cipher machine. This machine, also known as the “Enigma,” looked like a large typewriter. The Enigma is very simple to explain, but is among one of the most frustrating things to break. The Enigma worked like this: first, the sender types the message into a standard keyboard, then the message passes through a plugboard which jumbles letters around, following that three physical rotors each changing the output letter before hitting a “reflector” which sends each letter back through the rotors. Additionally, the first rotor rotates one step after each key press (after 26 presses the second rotor begins to move) so ‘AA’ might become ‘BC’. The reflected signal then passes back through the plugboard, and the signal lights up a letter on a light board. The sender will then copy the lit letters and sends the encryption using morse code, this requires both sender and receiver to be set up in the same pattern. The receiver then writes down the message which appears to be gibberish, but once you start keying, the letters will start to appear. So, once the receiver keys a ‘B’ an ‘A’ might appear, and so on until the message becomes clear. (Young-Chang 4)
The code was only broken once a couple of British spies got the coding book from a sinking U-Boat, giving up their lives in the process. Because of their heroics, a decipher machine could be worked on by the allies (Tratt 1). They arrived at an issue however, they couldn’t get the two tapes synchronized. This step halted all progress and created so many more issues. To solve the Enigma, the scientists had to get the teleprinter tape with the cipher and the other tape with the mathematical functions to be read at the same time so that the message could be properly translated. The problems that came from this started with the sprockets of the tapes. The two sprocket wheels engage with the sprocket holes of the two tapes, and often times these two tapes couldn’t withstand the wear and tear and they would break. To fix this, the electricians proceeded to use a pulley system to drive the tapes via friction, but this also caused issues. First the issue was that the smaller of the two tapes had to spin more than the larger tape, leading the tapes to be desynchronized. The other issue was that over long runs, the paper would tear before the full message was completed. In a book later written by the electricians, the machine often seized up and caught fire (Tratt 1). After all of these issues the partners brought in Thomas Flowers of the Dollis Hills team. From here the trio started work on a machine that would be known as the “Colossus” due to its large size. On this new project they used the same tape reader, but replaced one of the tapes with an electronic equivalent with electronic synchronization, and replaced Heath Robinson’s electromagnetic switches with hundreds of valves. This switch was very risky because at the time, valves were very fragile and easy to break when switched on and off repeatedly. This risk paid off and the machine was able to decipher all messages. It worked so well it was able to decipher over 5000 characters per second (Tratt 1).
The use of cryptography is the base around the orginal ‘hype’ of cryptocurrency. What makes cryptocurrency even better is that the cryptography that goes into this currency is made by professional hackers. This allows the creators to look at this creation process in a much different perspective than people who aren’t themselves hackers. By being hackers, they can themselves prepare for approaches they would take when hacking into the currency’s system. The most popular way to get cryptocurrency is through mining, specifically cloud mining. Cloud mining is where you rent mining hardware and have someone else do the mining for you for a small cut, and even if you don’t get any bitcoin you often get paid for your investment in the space. Even though there are a lot of things involved in cloud mining that would steer you away, it requires a much smaller investment on your part to get into over personal mining. It is also very important that you do your own research into companies before you invest into them mining, it is very often that companies will say that they’re the best in the business but in reality they are just trying to make a quick buck. (Hurlburt 1)
The steps for cloud mining are fairly straightforward. First, find the mining
company that you like. The most popular and most reputable company in the space currently is Genesis Mining. A source that you can use to find a company is CryptoCompare. This is a site that compares a large number of crypto sites with user reviews and ratings. This, however, is still something to be cautious with as many people will use fake accounts to give their site high ratings and scam you. After your provider is chosen, you will have to pick out a mining package, these will come with your choice of hashing power and how much you are willing to initially invest. Typically, the more hashing power, the quicker you make a profit or you will make a higher return, but this is not always the case. The last step of this process is to pick a mining pool. This is a method that could increase the amount of currency that you could potentially earn. Again, there are pros and cons of each pool so you will have to do some research before choosing. Once this is done you should start seeing currency come into your account over the following few weeks. Companies will often allow you to reinvest the profits in return for a larger hashing power. What is largely recommended though is that you put your currency into a crypto wallet. (Hurlburt 4)
