The birth of bitcoin in 2009 ushered in a new era of peer-to-peer electronic payment systems, or cryptocurrencies.Under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, bitcoin's shadowy creator sought to counteract growing mistrust in the traditional banking system and government-issued currencies following the 2008 financial crisis.Cryptocurrencies are secured through the use of cryptography to offer transparent transactions, as well as protection from counterfeiting and theft. Unlike traditional forms of currency such as paper bill and coins, these digital assets aren’t printed or minted at central banks. Cryptocurrencies are "mined" using computers with blockchain-technology-based software programs. Today, there are thousands of cryptocurrency options, with some of the most popular being bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum, dashcoin, litecoin and ripple.To complement these crypto options, there are also numerous cryptocurrency exchanges and peer-to-peer crypto trading apps, such as Binance, Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), CoinSmart Financial (NEO:SMRT), Gemini and Kraken.In the decade since its inception, the once-cryptic cryptocurrency has gone mainstream, spurred on by new access points for investors. In 2020 and 2021, several crypto investment tools were made available to both institutional and retail investors, including crypto trusts and crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs).Even though the crypto market is maturing, it is still plagued by volatility, as evidenced by the huge hikes and deep dives in crypto prices. Take bitcoin for example: 2016 is considered a pivotal year, as the price for the digital currency rose 121 percent from US$433 at the start of the year to US$959 at the close.Bitcoin’s success attracted attention from mainstream financial media outlets, and in 2017 that coverage helped fuel an astonishing 1,729 percent jump in the crypto coin’s value, from US$1,035.24 in January to US$18,940.57 in December. However, bitcoin couldn’t hold on to these gains, falling to US$11,837.70 by the end of 2018.