For information on changes for our US clients, please visit our Support Center article.

Due to increased demand, account verification may be delayed. Please avoid submitting multiple requests, and for best results, review our document requirements beforehand.
Search
Introduction to cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies are digital assets designed to facilitate peer-to-peer financial transactions and smart contracts on the internet in a decentralized manner. This was first accomplished by solving the “double spend” problem and by using advanced cryptography and programming.
Blockchains
Cryptocurrencies record transactions on public ledgers known as blockchains and are the first form of digital money where an intermediary is not required to send funds from one person to another person.
Wallets
Cryptocurrencies do not have a physical location, wallets do not hold cryptocurrencies. Wallets only hold the cryptographic keys needed to access your cryptocurrencies on the relevant blockchain.
Nodes
Cryptocurrencies do not actually “move” anywhere when you send or receive them. They just change ownership on the respective blockchain, which is stored on nodes all over the world and secured using cryptography. Anyone with the right resources can set up and run a node.
Tokens
Some cryptocurrencies – Augur, Gnosis, Enzyme Finance, Tether – run on top of other blockchains and are often referred to as "tokens".
Privacy
Due to blockchains being public, cryptocurrencies are only pseudo-anonymous. A common goal for many cryptocurrencies is to improve privacy for clients, though only some cryptocurrencies make this their main focus (Monero, Zcash).
Confirmations
Double spending can still occur under some rare circumstances, which is why we require a certain number of confirmations before crediting cryptocurrency deposits.
Summary
Cryptocurrencies are a distributed financial ledger that is shared all over the world. The most famous examples of cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), but there are countless others.See the full list of cryptocurrencies available on Kraken.

Resources
Here are some links to quality video content explaining bitcoin.
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced

Related articles