Definition of 'Cryptocurrency'

A digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security. A cryptocurrency is difficult to counterfeit because of this security feature. A defining feature of a cryptocurrency is that it is not issued by any central authority, rendering it theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation. The first cryptocurrency to capture the public imagination was Bitcoin, which was launched in 2009. Bitcoin's success has spawned a number of competing cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Namecoin and PPCoin.