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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) Cryptocurrencies are big business on Wall Street as valuations soar, but are they a form of currency for the masses?

CPA Garrett Wagner discussed the rise of these digital currencies Thursday during News 8 at Sunrise.

For many, Bitcoin is the most well-known cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin is a truly interesting technological creation, said Wagner. What makes it really interesting, if we go back to the beginning, no one knows who created it. Unlike Kodak we all know here in Rochester George Eastman was the founder of Kodak no one knows who created Blockchain and cryptocurrency. So its shrouded in mystery. But their goal was to take power away from the banks and let people like you and me exchange money without banks. So thats kind of how it got started take power away from the banks and create a global currency. Its just kind of gone from there in this big mess of confusion which is what were seeing today.

Wagner explained how cryptocurrency works.

Its very similar to the fundamental idea about you and I exchanging cash. Instead of having cash in U.S. currency, well have cash in Bitcoin or Ether or something else and well exchange that from one to another. Now thats not what gets most of the hype of cryptocurrency today. Most of the hype that we hear about is people investing in Blockchain, in Bitcoin, in Ether more like its a stock and they hope that if I buy $1,000 worth of Bitcoin today it will be worth $5,000 tomorrow. They dont want to actually conduct transactions with it. They hope that they just make a bunch of money and get out before it crashes back down.

Bitcoin has been around for more than 10 years, but Wagner said people outside investors have been slow to gravitate to it.

Were used to U.S. dollars. Were used to credit cards. Were used to ATM cards. Trying to get everybody to switch over to something else is a monumentally difficult task. So its been very, very, very slow to gain that adoption because no one wants to be the only person at a dinner party with 20 people who has Blockchain when everyone else has actual cash. So its been slow to make that change. Itll come at some point in the future, possibly, but for now, all of the speculation is about how can people get rich on this technology.

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Rise of cryptocurrency: How it works, where its going - RochesterFirst