Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that use a decentralized system of control and cryptography to facilitate, secure and verify transactions and create additional assets. They are created and secured by using cryptographic algorithms that are maintained and validated in a process called mining, where a network of computers or specialized hardware processes and validates transactions. The process incentivizes miners who run the network with cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies also affect the economy, their impact on bank operations is measured and the position of new financial elements is studied. Blockchain is a cryptocurrency technology and is defined as a distributed ledger that is jointly maintained by a peer-to-peer network of participants called miners. Blockchain allows cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to operate in a decentralized manner without intermediaries such as financial institutions. The purpose of this paper is to explain the concept and types of cryptocurrencies, explain the implementation of blockchain technology on cryptocurrencies and describe the way cryptocurrencies affect the economy. Also, the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the EU will be analyzed, which has received a greater focus than in previous years. It will describe the way in which EU countries regulate cryptocurrencies and what rules and laws on cryptocurrencies have been adopted in them. If the regulation of cryptocurrencies is improved even more in the coming years, the benefits for users could increase in the form of data security and increased investments in cryptocurrencies.