digital currency

American  

[dij-i-tl kur-uhn-see, kuhr-] / ˈdɪdʒ ɪ tl ˈkɜr ən si, ˈkʌr- /

noun

1. any form of money or similar asset that exists only in electronic form, with management, storage, and exchange happening exclusively on computer systems.

   Players can wager bitcoin and other digital currencies on sporting events, casino games, and online tournaments.

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Usage

There are numerous terms for money available only in nonphysical forms, and each has a slightly different scope. Digital currency is the broadest label, covering any kind of money or money-like asset that only has an electronic form. Some digital currencies are also virtual currencies, which are distinguished by being unregulated, issued by private individuals such as the developers of the currency, and generally localized to a particular community. Virtual currencies include tokens you can buy in online games, but they also include cryptocurrencies, which are distinguished by their decentralized trading networks and their use of advanced cryptography for security. The first widely adopted cryptocurrency was bitcoin, and all other cryptocurrencies are sometimes called altcoins. Another type of digital currency is a CBDC, or central bank digital currency. These are electronic-only versions of national currencies, such as China's digital yuan, and they are regulated by the same central bank that regulates the nondigital money supply in that country. A central bank digital currency is different from money stored electronically in an online bank account, because CBDCs are only issued and traded electronically, with no physical form.

Etymology

Origin of digital currency

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

Bitcoin, the digital currency that slumped a bit in 2025, continued a hot streak, gaining 3.2% to trade above $94,000.

From The Wall Street Journal

Still, that someone who dresses like a Victorian gentleman on a penny-farthing can wrap his head around digital currency speaks to the power of the past to inform the present.

From The Wall Street Journal

The so-called bitcoin-treasury companies have mostly halted their buying sprees after investing billions of dollars in stockpiling the digital currency.

From The Wall Street Journal

Bitcoin-mining—using vast computer power to solve equations to unlock the digital currency—has been a lucrative and cutting-edge pursuit in its own right.

From The Wall Street Journal

That goes beyond price volatility: the computer code behind bitcoin caps the digital currency’s supply at a hard limit of 21 million.

From The Wall Street Journal