Each cryptocurrency is built on blockchain technology. The first cryptocurrency was Bitcoin, created by a developer or a group of developers under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009.

Cryptocurrencies do not have a central governing body. All operations are verified by the network of participants, that is, other users. Each operation is completed with others to form a block from which a continuous chain is made. Each block has a cryptographic reference to its predecessor, which makes it impossible to change the information in one block without having to make changes to all subsequent ones. Therefore, it is impossible or very costly to forge or cancel a record.

Until July 2013, the software of all cryptocurrencies except XRP (Ripple) was based on the code of the Bitcoin system. Then independently developed platforms with additional functions began to appear. Such crypto-platforms include BitShares, Mastercoin, Nxt; other platforms are also announced.

In cryptocurrencies, there is no forced return of payments, because there is no administration, funds cannot be forcibly frozen or withdrawn without access to the private key of the owner. However, there are opportunities to conclude agreements with the participation of an intermediary, when the agreement of all three is required to complete or cancel the agreement or any two sides. The participants of the agreement can voluntarily temporarily block their funds as collateral. More precisely, the cryptocurrency will be transferred to a special account, for the disposal of which the consent of all or several parties is required. At the same time, any party is unable to perform any operation on its own.

As a rule, cryptocurrencies have an upper limit of the total volume of emission[2][6]. However, in some cryptocurrencies, such as PPCoin, Novacoin, Sifcoin, and others, there is no fixed upper limit of the total amount of emission and both emission due to existing accumulations and extinction by mandatory destruction of a small fixed amount in each transactions

All cryptocurrencies are used pseudonymously - the content of transactions is open, not encrypted, but they contain information only about account numbers and no information about the owners of these accounts. However, the identity of the user can be established if the necessary additional information is known. Developments are underway, where it is planned to replace pseudonymity with anonymity