Cryptocurrency

Tokens created digitally and at the moment privately, although some central banks have created their own (see this article). Enthusiasts see the currencies as a way of avoiding fiat currency and hence the oversight of governments and banks; ownership and transfer are recorded in a distributed ledger, called the blockchain. The value of cryptocurrencies has been highly volatile, making it difficult for them to be either a store of value or medium of exchange, two essential functions of a conventional currency.