Back in the day, when it first emerged, Ethereum (ETH) came with quite a promise. It was branded The World Computer, with claims that it can do anything that can be coded. However, it never received one single thing that it needed to become an essential project, and that would be a killer use case.

Then, it finally happened.

For a large portion of its history, Ethereum was mostly popular as a platform for developing new coins. Entrepreneurs had a dream of becoming the next Satoshi Nakamoto by using Vitalik Buterins platform to create their own tokens.

Most have already seen their project fail, or they ended up fighting lawsuits thrown at them by the US SEC.

Meanwhile, Ethereum was also offering dApps, especially when it comes to gambling apps and blockchain games like CryptoKitties. In fact, CryptoKitties became Ethereums largest app, being the first and only dApp that seriously clogged its network at some point.

So, CryptoKitties, gambling apps, and token issuing were Ethereums use cases. This was enough for the entire industry to start expecting that ETH might surpass BTC in terms of market cap. This is how strong a rally ETH had seen back in 2017. Of course, it never happened, but it showed that ETH has massive potential.

But, even so, one CEO argued that ETH has an even bigger ceiling one that became available to it because of DeFi.

In the past twelve months, DeFi as well as stablecoins became a new trend on Ethereum. In fact, they became its new major use cases, and new game-changers for the network.

Around $7.3 billion in US dollars now sits locked away in Ethereum due to various stablecoins, such as PAX, USDC, and USDT.

This is why Ryan Selkis, the chief executive of Messari a major crypto researcher and data provider said that ETH has a higher ceiling than the one it saw during the bull run.

Of course, not everyone agrees with this. Stablecoins did become big on ETH, and that cannot be denied. However, some, like Ryan Watkins, believe that Tethers USDT on Ethereum actually poses a threat to the project. He thinks the same of other cryptos that exist on the ETH network.

Selkis, on the other hand, remains optimistic, and expects that DeFi and stablecoins could improve Ethereums long-term prospects. Even so, he admits that this, right now, is the time for Bitcoin to shine, and not ETH. Still, given the popularity and potential of DeFi, their time will definitely come.

Read the original post:

DeFi can take Ethereum higher than 2017 bull run - Invezz

As with most asset classes in the lead up to March 2020, Bitcoin prices cruised into the new year in 2020 racking up a 44% rise.

Like the Australian and global stock markets, BTC prices took fright at the extent of the global disaster that Covid-19 rapidly proved to become.

But while the S&P 500 index plunged by 33.7% before a floor was (at least temporarily) established, BTC went further, more than halving in price (down 53.2%).

For an asset that hangs its hat on non-correlation to the traded markets, it was an alarming fall.

However, since that March stabilisation, where the S&P 500 has rebounded by 28.3%, Bitcoin has streeted Wall Street in recovery terms, rocketing by 83%, to US$8,892.70.

Henrik Andersson, chief investment officer at Melbourne-based crypto-asset investment firm Apollo Capital, is not surprised by the resurgence of the cryptocurrency heavyweight, saying that several major factors are in bitcoins favour.

The first is that central banks around the world are printing an increasing amountof money, as they have to do given the wide-reaching macro-economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, Andersson says.

That is not a new story, but no-one imagined the pandemic, and certainly no-one imagined the Federal Reserve enacting QE Infinity (Fed Chairman Jerome) Powell has signaled that the Fed will literally throw everything it can into efforts to turn around the slump in the worlds largest economy and prevent a global credit crunch. No-one imagined the Fed committing to unlimited quantitative easing, by buying not only Treasuries and municipal bonds but mortgage-backed securities and even corporate bonds.

While that is arguably what the Fed has to do to prevent an economic meltdown in the US, it is bad news for fiat money like the US dollar: the monetary base has to expand to previously unimaginable amounts, devaluing the currency.

Real stores of money as gold is traditionally seen to be are benefiting. And so will digital gold, which bitcoin is, says Andersson.

The other main fundamental factor is the halvening that occurred this week: this event means that the supply of new bitcoins drops in half, from 12.5 bitcoins per new block to just 6.25.

This is the third halvening of bitcoin: the process, which was written into the software protocol of bitcoin as the digital currency was being created 11 years ago, by a person, or persons, identifying themselves as Satoshi Nakamoto. The halvenings regularly (roughly every four years) constrict the supply of the digital asset: no more bitcoins will be created after the total number of bitcoin in existence hits 21 million.

Whoever Satoshi Nakamoto is, he, she, it or they had their now-traditional fun with this weeks halvening. At 5.23 am on Tuesday morning, block number 630,000 was mined. With it, the supply decreased from 12.5 bitcoins to 6.25 bitcoin per block. The last block in the previous epoch, block number 629,999 contained a message:

NYTimes 09/Apr/2020 With $2.3T Injection, Feds Plan Far Exceeds 2008 Rescue

This echoes Satoshis message from the bitcoin genesis block in 2009, that read:

The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks

The crucial point to appreciate, says Andersson, is that with 87.5% of all Bitcoin now mined, it is becoming scarcer. He says this is in stark contrast to US M1 and M2. which are now growing on a three-month annualised basis at 73% and 39% respectively, the fastest rates since records began.

While quantitative easing goes nuts, bitcoin, in contrast, is going through a quantitative hardening, bringing its inflation down to around 1.8%, says Andersson. Because of this, an increasing number of major global investors are seeing bitcoin as digital gold, and as a hedge against the reckless monetary policy by central banks.

This process has been helped along, he says, by legendary hedge-fund investor Paul Tudor Jones, who revealed in a paper this month that he was buying bitcoin, to the extent of 1%2% of his portfolio.

That is the kind of allocation, Andersson says, about which an increasing number of financial advisers are talking to him. Up until now, most of the investors we have had have been family-office and high-net-worth clients. But many mainstream advisers are now investigating holding a bitcoin allocation as a part of a diversified portfolio, as an uncorrelated asset.

Andersson says the correlation that bitcoin showed in the Covid-19 Crash is well understood.

Its reasonably well-understood that there was a lot of leverage in the crypto markets, and a lot of that selling was tied to margin calls on other assets. Gold fell, too: in mid-March, the correlation of all assets came together, but that was really due to an unprecedented external factor the pandemic and the associated economic hit and that extreme event made all assets more correlated for some time, he says.

Golds correlation to equities rose sharply, as well. You really could not hide anywhere. BTC is typically negatively correlated to the S&P 500, but did shoot up to 0.6 during the Crash it is still at about 0.5%, but we expect that to come back down as we go forward.

With a year-to-date performance of +24.6%, compared to +12.5% for US$ Gold and 11.2% for the S&P 500 Index, he says bitcoin is back doing what it is supposed to do.

Bitcoin is the best-performing asset class at the moment. Its really tremendous to see such a renowned investor as Paul Tudor Jones saying that he is allocating up to 2% of his portfolio to Bitcoin, because it has such a strong upside.

Everyone understands that it is a super-volatile asset but it is starting to make sense for advisers to have a small allocation to crypto in a diversified portfolio. Andersson says. The narrative of Bitcoin being the digital equivalent of gold, and becoming a genuine member of the liquid alternatives asset class, is getting stronger.

This article was written by James Dunn, writer for Inside Adviser.

Amidst the COVID-19 confusion, some cloud-based companies are growing... FAST!

Meanwhile, industry researchers are valuing the entire cloud computing market at $US210 billion. If you ask me, it seems clear as day that this HUGE market is only going to get biggerin 2020 and beyond.

Our top investment analyst has just identified 3 growth stocks in a net cash position, with strong competitive forces... and obvious tailwinds at their back.

Claim your FREE investing report on our analyst's "3 best share ideas for the cloud revolution" when you create a free Rask Australia account.

Our report is 100% free and unlocks hundreds of hours of bonus content.

Simply click here to access the report.

Disclaimer and warning: The information on this website is general financial advice only. That means, the advice does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of that, you should consider if the advice is appropriate to you and your needs, before acting on the information. In addition, you should obtain and read the product disclosure statement (PDS) before making a decision to acquire a financial product. If you dont know what your needs are, you should consult a trusted and licensed financial adviser who can provide you with personal financial product advice. Please read ourTerms of ServiceandFinancial Services Guidebefore using this website.

Go here to see the original:

Is Bitcoin the digital equivalent of gold? - Rask Media

Bitcoin BTC is nearing one of its most important milestones: The Halving (or Halvening), an automated event that cuts the monetary reward for mining BTC by 50%.

Depending on who you believe, Halvings either cause Bitcoins price to skyrocket, its hash rate to crash, or simply exist as a relatively boring exercise in economic theory.

[Read:Gambling on Bitcoin with Trumps $1,200 corona check was a good bet]

Rather than debate whether the market has already priced in the next Halving (which should happensometime early on 12 May 2020), lets explorewhy Bitcoins mysteriously absent creator decided Halvings should occur at all.

Unlike fiat money, which can essentially be created out of thin air, Nakamoto set the upper limit for Bitcoins supply to 21 million once the network reaches that number, no more BTC can ever exist.

Since 2016, the Bitcoin network has reimbursed miners for validating transactions with 12.5 BTC ($123,500). This is meant to cover the costs associated with the computer equipment required to efficiently mine Bitcoin.

Within the next few days, that number will shrink to just 6.25 BTC ($62,125), a change that will have two effects on the ecosystem: Bitcoins scarcity will increase, while the Bitcoin-earning potential for miners shrinks.

But mining rewards are simply Bitcoins way of balancing the threat of inflation with distributing new coins.

In fact, scheduling Halvings every four years is Satoshi Nakamotos way of nurturing value growth by keeping the circulating supply of BTC in line with adoption.

Nakamoto explained this thought processin an email:

The fact that new coins are produced means the money supply increases by a planned amount, but this does not necessarily result in inflation. If the supply of money increases at the same rate that the number of people using it increases, prices remain stable. If it does not increase as fast as demand, there will be deflation and early holders of money will see its value increase.

Coins have to get initially distributed somehow, and a constant rate seems like the best formula.

Simply put, if Nakamoto had made the full 21 million supply of BTC available upon launch, supply wouldve far exceeded demand, and its value wouldve had very little chance of rising.

The graph below should help you visualize this process. It charts Bitcoin Halvings (in orange) against the total number of Bitcoins in circulation (in blue).

Nakamoto strategically set dates for Bitcoins Halvings on a logarithmic scale. The orange line, which denotes monetary inflation, steps down at even intervals, while the blue line (circulating BTC) shoots up in the beginning but tapers sharply.

This shows that even though the Bitcoin network released more than 85% of Bitcoins overall supply in its first 10 years, the final Bitcoin wont be mined until 2140.

As for what happensafter: miners will be restricted to recouping their upkeep costs by collecting network fees only. Right now, network fees equate to less than 5% of the current block reward (on average).

Before youre tempted to imagine how viable that might be for the network, remember that this reality wont hit for another century (at least). Odds are the inflationary status of Bitcoin wont carry much importance for you by then, so no worries.

Published May 8, 2020 16:13 UTC

See more here:

The Bitcoin Halving is imminent heres why it happens every 4 years - The Next Web

Eleven years ago, Bitcoin emerged in a white paper by Satoshi Nakamoto and changed the world. Bitcoin led to Ethereum, which led to ICOs, which led to stablecoins, DeFi, Libra, CBDCs, and much more. What started with one protocol has given rise to many protocols and experiments in decentralization.

Now, as another financial crisis looms, the crypto and blockchain industry is reaching a new level of maturity. Digital assets and distributed ledgers have found uses across industries and are ready to make their mark, whether it's paying out the stimulus or defining the post-COVID world.

CoinDesk has been covering this varied space for seven intense years. The CoinDesk 50 is our selection of the most innovative, consequential and viable projects. Together, these organizations promise another internet revolution.

We will be releasing the full CoinDesk 50 leading up to, and during, Consensus: Distributed, our free virtual event that starts May 11. (See how we made the choices here.)

Its about the users. Thats what Binance CEO Changpeng CZ Zhao said in a recent CoinDesk interview following his acquisition of well-known crypto data site CoinMarketCap for a reported $400 million.Launched in 2017, Binance has established itself as a juggernaut atop the crypto heap, becoming the dominant exchange by daily trading volume and running headlong into decentralized exchange (DEX) services, initial exchange offerings (IEOs) and over-the-counter (OTC) trading. The firms aggressive market moves have hardly shown signs of exhaustion either. As one CoinDesk source put it in early April, the firm is flush with cash even after closing nine M&A deals in 2019 alone. GET THE FULL STORY

2. Ethereum Still leading the pack

The second-largest blockchain by market cap now boasts more developers building, reconfiguring and experimenting than any other chain. Six years in, Ethereums rails have enabled several big crypto trends, from the 2017 ICO boom to decentralized finance (DeFi). While copycat chains look to unseat the worlds computer, Ethereum still reigns dominant. Just recently the network has seen a surge in U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins, including Tether and USDC, which, data suggests, are being used as a hedge against market volatility and genuine means of exchange. With the planned upgrade Ethereum 2.0, beginning this summer, Ethereum looks to improve its functionality and performance and finally deliver proof-of-stake and shard chains.

3. Fidelity The weight of Wall Street

With more than $8.3 trillion in total client assets, Fidelity is bringing institutional weight to crypto markets. In 2015, CEO Abigail Johnson signed off on a bitcoin mining experiment. Four years later, its Fidelity Digital Assets arm, led by President Tom Jessop, added a custodial business and crypto trading service for family offices, financial advisors and hedge funds. A frequent investor in the space, Fidelity has backed data high-flyer Coin Metrics and the Hong Kong-based BC Group exchange, and pursues distributed tech R&D with its in-house Fidelity Center for Applied Technology. Fidelity CEO Johnson has predicted crypto will fundamentally change market structures and perhaps even the architecture of the internet itself. Fidelitys role is to see that through.

4. Libra Ruffling feathers, finding peace?

When Facebook announced libra last summer, it changed the game for digital currency. Suddenly, here was a 2.6 billion-user company betting on the future of money and nobody from regulators to Silicon Valley could ignore the subject anymore. Soon Chinas central bank was rushing out its CBDC initiative, and Congress was holding hearings. Whatever else you think of Facebook, it has arguably done more to advertise crypto than any other entity. To quell an enormous international backlash to its original intentions, the Libra Association that will govern the currency now plans to issue multiple fiat-backed stablecoins rather than its own currency. Some say Facebook and the Libra Association have scaled back their ambitions. But its also possible they have found a way to be respectable while building off the post-crisis stablecoin surge.

5. Square Crypto Dorsey's bit bet on bitcoin

Twitter co-founder and Square CEO Jack Dorsey has long demonstrated his admiration for bitcoin, once saying it will eventually become the internets single currency. Dorsey says he spends $10,000 a week stacking sats, while his company Square Crypto continues to act as an accelerator for bitcoin dev projects, including BTCPay and Lightning Labs. Things could get really interesting if and when Square decides to integrate bitcoin tech closer to its stack (its a separate entity currently). Squares CashApp already lets merchants accept payments in crypto and CashApp recently received the go-ahead to function essentially as a bank, raising all sorts of possibilities. Dorsey survived a coup on his Twitter position recently and looks ready to play the waiting game on bitcoin tech.

Cosmos is building the tools to connect a multiverse of blockchain projects together. Launched in April 2019, the $590 million network places interoperability at the core of its project, a blockchain that will be able to translate data from one chain to another, in any programming language and across all consensus algorithms. The premise for Cosmos is that we are the least-maximalist-possible project, All in Bits, Inc. core developer Sunny Aggarwal said. We just want to connect everything together. While concord is Cosmos aim, the project has been rife with internal fragmentation. All in Bits director Zaki Manian left the project and criticized its CEO Jae Kwon for focusing on a side project, while the company itself has split in two. Despite this, Cosmos has attracted the participation of about 100 validators on its proof-of-stake network, and is used by more than 80 companies and projects including Binance and the Thailand government's National ID program. GET THE FULL STORY

7. Coinbase Cryptos friendly custodian

Cryptos first unicorn, Coinbase still leads among US-based exchanges. A common on-ramp for crypto newbies seeking ease-of-use, eight-year-old Coinbase has opened 35 million accounts and manages approximately $21 billion in assets, making it one of the largest custodians in the space. Coinbases success in attempting to make crypto safe for all is a double-edged sword, however, with many in the industry placing it center in the not your keys controversy. The firms merchant services wing Coinbase Commerce also provides training wheels for retailers, and has processed $200 million in transactions in two years. Co-founder and Chief Executive Brian Armstrong has said within a decade nearly 1 billion people will participate in the crypto economy, a system that is more global, more fair, more free and more efficient, and Coinbase will likely take them there.

8. ConsenSys Spinning its wheels and driving innovation

Brooklyn-based Ethereum powerhouse ConsenSys has sometimes been criticized for a scattergun approach to business development. In the heady days of 2017, its mesh of spokes ranged far-and-wide to energy, media, music, personal identity and dozens of other imaginative bets founder and Ethereum OG Joe Lubin seemed to make more out of hope than expectation. In reality, ConsenSys, which burned through $100 million since 2016, has needed to cut back more than once to keep itself coherent. But now, following a partnership with Hyperledger and the launch of Codefi, it looks well placed to ride favorable trends in enterprise blockchain, DeFi and trade finance.

9. IBM - Big Blue writes blockchain history

Among the old-line giants of American computing, they dont come any bigger than IBM. Big Blue has a central place in the history of moving information around, and recently its been betting its future on distributed ledgers and related ingenuity. Blockchain is a new class of enterprise application, Jerry Cuomo, IBMs vice president of blockchain technologies, said previously. The New York powerhouse has applied for over 100 blockchain-related patents. Through its enterprise blockchain Hyperledger Fabric, IBM is testing DLT across healthcare, shipping and agriculture. Its Health Utility Network, which creates a manipulation-proof ledger for patient medical histories, includes insurance lines like Cigna and Anthem. The IBM Food Trust tracks thousands of food supply chains and counts retailers like Walmart and Carrefour. And in TradeLens, a global shipping industry blockchain used by more than 100 organizations, IBM has the likes of Maersk under its advisement.

10. Chainalysis Chainalysis grabs headlines and criminals

When a big federal investigation broke up a massive child porn ring earlier this year, data sleuthing outfit Chainanalysis tracked pedos directly back to the wallets. It was not the only headline-grabbing intervention by the NYC firm, led by Michael Gronager, has been involved with. Over the last five years, Chainalysis has taken in more than $10 million in contracted work for various U.S. government departments, dwarfing its competitors in the blockchain surveillance industry, while helping to track countless unscrupulous individuals. The company, which sells anti-money laundering software to bitcoin businesses, also reportedly helped suss out the Hermit Kingdoms vast crypto trove. What we found is that the different types of crime and illicit activity that these agencies need to be able to prevent means that our appeal has become much broader, and our role expanded, Jonathan Levin, co-founder of Chainalysis, has said.

11. Walmart Bentonville sells blockchain to the world

The worlds largest retailer by sales is turning to blockchain to monitor its fresh food and medicinal supply chains. And if its litany of 50 blockchain patents mean anything, Walmart has big aspirations for distributed technologies. Its a signal to other corporations that blockchain can be used to cut costs and turn a profit. Since teaming up with IBM in 2016, Walmarts Food Traceability Initiative has signed on more than 120 retail pilots to track hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of strawberries, chicken and other fresh foods as they move through the global supply chain. The Beast of Bentonville, Ark., has even applied for a patent for its own libra-like stablecoin. When the worlds biggest retailer adopts a digital currency for its own operations, you know something is afoot.

12. Gemini The Winkleviis road to regulatory clarity

Having missed the full riches of Web 2.0, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are leading the charge towards the future of finance. After an early investment in bitcoin, the twin Olympians have set out to create an onramp so all the world can access crypto. The fruit of their labor after a few sour partnerships is the Gemini exchange. Founded in 2014, Gemini is paving the way towards fully regulatory compliant crypto trading. One of the first crypto firms to receive a coveted Trust License from the New York States financial regulator (frequently misreported as a BitLicense), Gemini is now heading up the effort to build a self-regulatory organization to oversee the crypto industry, similar to how FINRA is the first pass watchdog for broker-dealers. This year, the New York-based exchange expanded into Europe, set up its own insurance for cold storage assets and has grown its custody business.

Crypto loves a troublemaker. When the Brave browser debuted in 2016, the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) sent it a cease and desist letter: You are hereby notified that Braves plan to replace our clients paid advertising content with its own advertising violates the law, and the undersigned publishers intend to fully enforce their rights.Four years later, Brave is still going strong (while the NAA changed its name). At the end of 2019, the browser had more than 10 million monthly active users. FULL STORY

14. Lightning Labs Building the VISA of Bitcoin

Backed by Silicon Valley and crypto heavy-weights including Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, Square executive Jacqueline Reses, and Litecoin creator Charlie Lee, Lightning Labs is developing Bitcoins much anticipated scaling solution, Lightning. This programmable financial layer for the internet is like the Visa network for bitcoin, enabling instant, high volume transactions with fees far lower than credit cards. Launched in 2016, and helmed by Elizabeth Stark, Lightning Labs follows an unrelenting release schedule to develop the technologies that other lightening startups rely on, like Lightning Loop, which will make it easier to transact over Lightning. In February, the company announced its $10M Series A financing round led by Craft Ventures.

15. Uniswap Making market making universal

Uniswap is one of the core building blocks of the DeFi ecosystem, with more active wallet addresses than any other application. Essentially, it's an automated market maker that turns this critical financial role from an active, capital-intensive process into a passive one, open to all. Traditional market makers are individuals that buy and sell assets to provide liquidity. On Uniswap, thousands of these liquidity providers have trust-lessly pooled millions of dollars worth of digital assets to enable trading within the DeFi ecosystem. This includes leviathans like Coinbase, which placed $1 million into the USDC/ETH liquidity pool. While the COVID-19 has shaken funds loose from the application, trading volumes have never been higher, with $386 million traded between March and April.

More to come

Stay tuned for Day 3 of the CoinDesk 50 on Saturday.

Consensus:Distributed is CoinDesks free, virtual convention featuring 150 leading personalities from the crypto and blockchain. Register here.

Link:

The CoinDesk 50 - CoinDesk

Well, and, of course, a very significant magnet is the opportunity to make money on all this, and not only speculating on the cryptocurrency rate. There is also such a way of earning as Mining here they pay for the provision of computing power (for example, your PC or a specially assembled computing system) for the extraction of monetary units and conducting transactions (transfers).

Today well talk about what cryptocurrency is all about (Ill try to explain in simple terms, understandable to everyone), how it appeared and how it can be used today, what its current rate is, what cryptocurrency exchanges it is worth using, what you need for mining, in which place is better to exchange and where to find the most accurate course calculator?

When the first electronic money appeared, people began to make a great many payment transactions on the Internet. Of course, the administrators of payment systems chose not to lose their hands and set a commission for each transfer or exchange made, the commissions were especially strong when transferring electronic money to real ones.

Advanced network users wondered: How to make payment transactions commission-free?, Began to offer a variety of options. In 2009, anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto realized his own vision for solving the problem: he proposed the release of an information currency that was not backed by anything but could be a unique medium of exchange. The currency is called Bitcoin.

Why is cryptocurrency so-called and how does it work?

Obviously, the name comes from words cryptographic currency. In fact, it is encrypted (cryptography is just the area of science that studies the methods of encrypting and decrypting information) in such a system, not all, but much. Cryptography is used to protect the chain of transactions, i.e. of the most valuable, that is in this system, namely the database with all operations performed with monetary units. But we have to be able to trust de.thebitcoincode.io. If you trust only then you can get maximum profit using these coins.

Let me outline the structure of any cryptocurrency thesis (and now, apart from bitcoin, they have already divorced quite a lot), so that you can understand its radical difference from everything that was before:

In order to eliminate fraud attempts, it was decided to advertise absolutely all operations in the public domain every person using the cryptocurrency has the opportunity to see which wallet and how much bitcoins were transferred to. True, it is not a fact that extracts the name from this information, rather the opposite, because the system is truly anonymous.

The cryptocurrency is not provided with gold reserves or the economy of any state, but it has a certain rate, which is constantly changing and is listed on the exchange. The more people use bitcoins as a medium of exchange, the higher the rate, since the popularity of information money is increasing, and their total number is strictly limited. For example, in the case of Bitcoin, in accordance with the algorithm for its implementation, more than 21 million monetary units cannot be created. So far this number has not been reached and what the rate will be after the extraction of the last bitcoin is unknown.

And most importantly, any such cryptocurrency system can not only have a host but even an external or internal administrator. It does not belong to anyone and therefore it has almost no transfer fees. The system is controlled by the algorithm that is embedded in it, and no one (neither the courts, nor officials, nor persons in execution) can intervene in its work. This freedom has a downside, but this is what distinguishes bitcoins, light coins, and other coins from any other type of electronic money.

Disclaimer: This is a paid post and should not be considered as news/advice.

Go here to see the original:

What is a cryptocurrency and why is it needed? - AMBCrypto English

When Satoshi Nakamoto published the groundbreaking Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008, it received much fanfare among the cypherpunk community. A pre-programmed measure ensures the finite supply of 21 Million BTC will slow down its supply entering the market through a scheduled quadrennial block reward halving, known as The Halvening. Fast forward to 2020, the decentralised digital currency that is permissionless by nature, has cemented its status as the alternative to the inflation-prone fiat currencies and the centralised banking system. The growing adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) is also attributed to the fading public confidence of the global economy as it faces the unprecedented challenge of the global coronavirus pandemic, US-China trade war and oil price war. In fact, many experts believe that the global economy will be facing the worst recession since the Great Depression which occurred in the 1930s.

The economic uncertainty has influenced more people to seek out alternative assets to hedge onto during periods of market turmoil, which may happen given the current conditions of the global market. As this crisis worsens, Bitcoin will become a safe haven asset and a hedge option for the people as evident by the renewed interest in the cryptocurrency this year, coupled with the halving event. However, before you consider buying Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, it is good to learn of the cryptocurrency itself.

The lack of privacy in Bitcoin

While the original design of the Bitcoin offers a transparent and immutable ledger, it lacks the appropriate privacy measure for the user. It is now a common knowledge among the crypto community that Bitcoin, like other cryptocurrencies, is of a pseudonymous nature. Anyone with access to a blockchain analysis tool like the freely available blockchain explorer will be able to track the transaction activity of any Bitcoin address. Skilled individuals and blockchain analytics firms are able to work out the ownership of the Bitcoin address through the transaction pattern and other factors revealed on the blockchain. Moreover in crypto-friendly countries, centralised cryptocurrency exchanges and payment services are now obliged to follow the regulatory procedure of verifying users personal information through the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) process. As a result, it utterly obliterates any form of anonymity or privacy dealing with Bitcoin or any other crypto since a third party can trace the users transactions and personal information.

Based on a report by the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), privacy is the fundamental of human rights, which is increasingly important in the digitally-connected world that we are in today. Therefore, such concerns have prompted Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrency community to look for an effective privacy solution, which eventually gave rise to an effective privacy tool known today as the Bitcoin mixer/tumbler.

Bitcoin mixing services surge on demand

This year, governments and numerous organisations have created contact tracing applications and other tools to battle the ongoing pandemic at the expense of users right to privacy. The move is feared by not just the cryptocurrency community, but also ordinary citizens, that governments could use this opportunity to strengthen their surveillance over the people, including users who are dealing with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. As a result, more Bitcoin users have chosen to utilise privacy solutions like Bitcoin mixers to add an additional layer of privacy and anonymity into their everyday Bitcoin transactions.

In the Bitcoin mixing arena, MyCryptoMixer (MCM) stood out of its competition in 2020 based on not just the affordability and reliability that MCM has to offer, but also the impeccable customer service standard which they have set across the mixer industry.

Another reason that MCM has seen a surge in mixing volume is due to stricter regulations from governments seeking to comply with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations and enhanced Anti-Money Laundering (AML) guidelines on regulated centralised exchanges like Binance and BitMEX. However, it is worth noting that Bitcoin mixing service is actually legal. Just like any other services including offshore bank accounts, it is only illegal if the user decides to mix Bitcoins solicited from illicit activities. Another comfort is provided by the blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, where it stated in a recent report that a mere 10% of funds sent to mixers are derived from criminal activities, while the majority were actually mixed for personal privacy reasons.

For starters, the Bitcoin mixer helps to keep the anonymity and privacy of Bitcoin transactions by mixing the transaction trail between the origin Bitcoin address and the assigned wallet addresses (up to 5 addresses in MCM) which receive those mixed funds. In this case, MCM held custody of the users Bitcoin during the mixing process and returned the user with freshly mixed Bitcoins through a secure and anonymous algorithm.

MyCryptoMixers prominence in the mixing market

Although there are several other strong contenders, MCM stood out this year with its trusted and user-friendly Bitcoin mixing platform as compared to other mixers in the market. They have gained a gradual following of crypto advocates as evidently shown in their monthly mixing volume. According to anonymous feedback by their users, MCM has gained rapid recognition due to its user-focused and highly responsive customer service support.

In addition to that, no account registration is required to access their mixing service, which is accessible in both clearnet (e.g. Firefox, Opera, etc.) and TOR browser, making the transaction much harder to be traced later on, while keeping its promise of the users privacy and anonymity. Due to security reasons, logs are only held for up to 24 hours before they are automatically deleted by the provider, in the unlikely events where the database is compromised which result in the leak of their users transaction activities.

4 easy steps to complete anonymity in Bitcoin transactions

There is a good reason that MCM has been praised for the aforementioned user-friendliness, and credit where credits due, it has one of the most straightforward and sleek-looking interfaces around, giving the user a seamless mixing experience without much distraction. To advance your own knowledge of Bitcoin mixing, it helps to know an overview of how it works. Below are a snippet of their famous 4-step mixing process and how to put that knowledge into practice :

Step 1: Ensure the Web Address is Correct

First, the user shall navigate to the Bitcoin Icon which can be seen on their homepage or click here.

Step 2: Configure your Destination Address(es)

Next, configure up to five destinations (or receiver) Bitcoin addresses, Transfer Time Delay, Funds Distribution, and the user-defined service fee (between 0.50% to 5.00%). MCMs straightforward interface allows the user to complete the relevant fields easily, either by text input or by adjusting the values through a slider. Interestingly, the mixer will generate a randomized MyCryptoCode, which allows the user to strengthen the privacy process by preventing previously mixed coins from reappearing in their subsequent mixed wallet addresses.

Step 3: Send the Bitcoin to the mixer

In order to enhance the anonymous process, users would be shown the required BTC amount as indicated by the mixer. This is to ensure that every transaction is unique, eradicating any possibilities of tracking these transactions through the users activity pattern.

Step 4: Processing your mixed coins

Finally, the user would be shown a status page that reflects the mixing status. No action is required from the user end at this point. As long as all information as furnished by the user is accurate, the mixing process is deemed as completed.

The importance of Bitcoin mixing for Anonymity and Privacy

Bitcoin mixing services allow users to mix the transaction for the primary purpose of achieving complete anonymity as governments and regulators tighten their grips on KYC and AML compliances on cryptocurrency markets and services. For users who are trading in especially large volumes of Bitcoins, it is also recommended to combine privacy wallets, VPNs and TOR browsers, in addition to a Bitcoin mixer to truly protect yourself against bad actors (and the pervasive governments surveillance) in a secure, private and anonymous way, when dealing with the revolutionary asset class of the 21st century.

For more information about MCM, you may refer to their walkthrough guide on how to get startedwith Bitcoin mixing or drop an emailfor their mixing service.

You can send them an email or visit these websites.

Disclaimer: This a paid post, and should not be treated as news/advice.

See more here:

Secure and Anonymize Your Bitcoin Transactions With MyCryptoMixer, The Best Bitcoin Mixer of 2020 - AMBCrypto English

Its impossible to overstate the impact that coronavirus has wrought on global markets the year, from the fastest-ever bear market in US stocks, to the collapse in global bond yields, to the seemingly daily 20%+ moves in oil, to name just a few.

All the events that traders were expecting to drive markets as they flipped their calendars to 2020 have been put on the proverbial backburner as market participants digest the fallout of an unprecedented shutdown on global commerce, not to mention the accompanying record policy response. That said, next week brings an event that will reshape the cryptocurrency landscape for the next half decade and beyond: Bitcoins third halving of block rewards.

What is the Bitcoin Halving?

For the uninitiated, bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that enables instant payments to anyone, with no central authority. The Bitcoin network is secured by miners that use specialized computers to verify each block of bitcoin transactions approximately every 10 minutes; the miner that verifies each block is rewarded for their work with newly-created bitcoins.

When Bitcoin was first created, this block reward was set at 50 bitcoins for each block, but that reward is cut in half every 210,000 blocks, or about every four years. According to bitcoins pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, "total circulation will be 21,000,000 coins. It'll be distributed to network nodes when they make blocks, with the amount cut in half every 4 years." Bitcoins programmatically encoded monetary policy and supply cap set it apart from many other popular cryptoasset networks, including Ethereum.

After previous halvings in 2012 and 2016, the block reward is now scheduled to drop from 12.5 to 6.25 bitcoins per block on May 11 or 12, depending on how fast blocks are mined over the next week. To date, about 18.3 million bitcoins have been minted out of a total of 21 million that will ever be created. As you can imagine, the instantaneous -50% reduction in compensation for miners securing the bitcoin network will have a major impact on the entire cryptoasset industry.

How Has Bitcoin Historically Performed Following its Previous Two Halving Events?

As it has throughout most of its history, bitcoin has thrived in the wake of its previous two halving events (though wed be remiss not to remind readers that past performance is not necessarily indicative of future returns!). From a purely supply and demand perspective, a bullish reaction to supply cuts makes sense; after all, at current prices, the amount of newly-created bitcoin each day (which is usually sold into the market by miners) will drop from $16M to closer to $8M. In this way, its not surprising that the previous two bitcoin halvings kicked off huge rallies of 10,000% and 2,500% respectively:

Source: TradingView, GAIN Capital

This declining supply dynamic supports the increasingly popular stock-to-flow (S2F) valuation model. Perhaps the most basic of the valuation methods, the S2F model treats Bitcoin like other store of value commodities like gold, silver, and platinum, whose value comes from their relative scarcity. By comparing the current supply against the flow of new supply added each year, we can get an objective measure of how hard and scarce different assets are, and by extension, a potential target price:

Source: LookIntoBitcoin.com

While the S2F model has proven to be fairly accurate to date, it does give potentially overly bullish valuation projections, such as a single Bitcoin being worth about $1,000,000 in about five years, at which point Bitcoin alone would be worth about half of the current value of the US stock market, the worlds largest!

Will Bitcoin Surge Around Next Weeks Halving as Well?

As experienced traders have learned, market movements are never as clear and predictable as they appear in hindsight. From an efficient market perspective, any fundamental reaction to the halving should be heavily priced in at this point; after all, its hard to imagine a more predictable event than an unalterable supply reduction that has been scheduled for more than a decade (and remains scheduled in the future for more than a century) in a liquid, heavily traded, $150B+ market cap asset. Note that bitcoins market capitalization is more than 15 times larger than it was at the last halving, and much of that market cap from rapid growth from more sophisticated institutional investors.

That said, the retail contingent of Bitcoin traders remains a significant contributor to price movements, and they could still have a bullish impact on the price in the coming weeks. A quick look at Google search trend data shows that searches for bitcoin halving in the US are already dwarfing the retail interest around the 2016 halving, and this interest is likely to grow further over the next week:

Source: Google Trends

Frankly, it doesnt take a CFA charter or a Bloomberg terminal to identify the sharp difference between the recent monetary policy of traditional central banks and Bitcoin. Over the last 12 weeks alone, the Federal Reserve has seen its balance sheet rise by more than $2.5T, or +60%, whereas Bitcoin will see its unalterable annual rate of issuance decline from +3.6% to +1.8% per year after the halving. For this reason, we could see a sentiment-driven rally in bitcoin heading into and immediately after the halving, though theres also a risk of a buy the rumor, sell the news reaction if institutional investors look to take advantage of a rallying price by taking profits on accumulated positions.

Regardless of the short-term movements, bitcoin may continue to benefit from the broader macroeconomic backdrop. As Jefferies Global Head of Equity Strategy noted last week, bitcoin should be a source of diversification in a portfolio, as is gold, precisely because of its truly decentralised nature. It is this feature, combined with the fixed supply, which makes it a hedge against central bank manipulated fiat money."

Time will tell if bitcoin is ultimately able to become the store of value and medium of exchange that Nakamoto imagined more than a decade ago, but theres no doubt that next weeks halving will draw plenty of attention to cryptoasset market, presenting opportunities for nimble traders.

Original post:

The Bitcoin Halving: What Traders Need to Know - City Index

Blockstream chief executive and cryptographer Adam Back says a 200-word post from back in 1999, a decade before Bitcoin was launched, appears to carry the hallmarks of the anonymous creator of Bitcoin known as Satoshi Nakamoto.

The text is part of a back and forth among the cypherpunks, a group of activists who emerged in the late 80s advocating cryptography, anonymity and personal privacy.

Back, who is referenced in the Bitcoin whitepaper, is a longtime member of the movement and the inventor of Hashcash, a proof-of-work system that ultimately became a cornerstone for BTC.

In a series of tweets, Back says he has unearthed a post from the early cypherpunk days featuring an anonymous author who spouted a number of Bitcoins ideals, including how to successfully secure a virtual currency in a decentralized manner.

One possibility is to make the double-spending database public. Whenever someone receives a coin they broadcast its value. The [database] operates in parallel across a large number of servers so it is intractableto shut it down.

However, at one point, the author writes over night instead of overnight a mistake that would be out of character for the notably meticulous Nakamoto.

Back says the error is noteworthy, but calls it more of a typo than a misspelling.

Read the rest here:

Blockstream CEO: Bitcoin (BTC) Creator Satoshi Nakamoto May Have Written This Newly Discovered Post - The Daily Hodl

Sometimes less is more. Thats a tenet of modern design, but its also a central belief of many in the decentralized cryptocurrency community. Throughout the Bitcoin (BTC) world in Twitter threads, on crypto news websites and in private Telegram and Discord channels conversation almost invariably turns to one topic: the May halving that will reduce the amount of newly minted Bitcoin by 50%. Less Bitcoin being produced may mean greater demand and higher prices, but to understand just why the community at large is thrilled we need to take a look at Bitcoins history.

Bitcoin was intended as a finite and increasingly scarce commodity. Miners need to solve block calculations to earn the right to mint the next swathe of Bitcoin. Just as a gold mine grows gradually less efficient as the veins are tapped and the lodes uncovered, Bitcoin mining also grows more difficult over time. The calculations miners must solve grow more difficult, and the rewards grow smaller. When its pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto launched the Bitcoin network in 2009, any off-the-shelf computer could mine and run a decent chance of winning the 50 BTC block reward. This has lessened over time. In 2020, the individual block reward is 12.5 BTC, and only custom-built and energy-intensive mining rigs have any chance of earning the reward. Bitcoin has halved twice before: in 2012 and in 2016. When the 2020 halving occurs, the reward for successfully mining a block will be 6.25 BTC.

The last halving in 2016 led to major increases in Bitcoins price, but not everyone is sure that the 2020 halving will inspire similar market adjustments. When the first halving took place in November 2012, Bitcoin was a lesser known asset class. Few people outside the programming, technology and cryptography worlds had ever heard of it. The May halving will be very different. While cryptocurrency may not be widely understood by the general public, its now widely acknowledged and covered by journalists and reporters the world over. The news of the halving, even if its exact significance might remain unclear to casual observers, has the potential to draw new people into the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain.

While the halving may persuade some users to take the plunge, others in the Bitcoin world may find that the new rules the 6.25 BTC reward dont suit them. Miners may see the price of Bitcoin appreciate, which is something theyre likely to welcome, but there are doubts about whether the theoretical increase in price can match the expected doubling in mining costs. In particular, for miners that run higher electricity costs and those running outdated mining equipment such as the Antminer S9, the mining break-even costs could reach as high as $7,600 to $13,000. These higher break-even costs could force a large amount of miners out of the network but may be good news and provide a larger market share for those that are able to remain.

While new miners may be faster and more efficient, driving mining firms to invest in new devices, such as mining rigs, will actually add additional costs, as new mining rigs are expensive and scarce. And that scarcity may not be intentional there are concerns that coronavirus could break the mining rig supply chain. Though new miners will eventually make their way to mining firms, a delay could lead miners to drastic decisions. Some might temporarily shut down their operations, potentially causing a decrease in the amount of hash power required to solve the mining equations. Halvings are hard enough to prepare for without the complication of a pandemic; the coronavirus may make the forthcoming event even more tumultuous than usual.

Even those in the crypto community who do not hold Bitcoin find themselves involved in debates about the effects of a halving event on price. Some maintain that the certain and inevitable knowledge of an event is priced into Bitcoins value, and that the market has already considered the drop in block rewards. This means the price already reflects the looming scarcity. Others take an opposite position: Because the cryptocurrency market is young and still maturing, there can be few hopes of forward pricing. While the argument is of theoretical interest to observers, to people and institutions with holdings its vital to take a position. Arbitrage and positioning opportunities may exist, but making the wrong prediction could prove exceedingly costly.

As Bitcoin grows ever more scarce, especially if this growing scarcity creates a price increase,security grows ever more important for people looking to hold or to transact. New users should follow the standard rules for cryptocurrency security, and they should remember that lost codes or keys mean lost currency. A wallet service could be a valuable safety mechanism for new and experienced users alike, and people who acquire larger portions of cryptocurrency may want to split their holdings between multiple wallet addresses.

The next halving will take place on May 12, the exact impact of which immediate or long-term cannot be accurately predicted, even after considering the examples of the last two halvings. What is known is that the 2020 halving will impact the Bitcoin communitys future in some shape or form. It may make things briefly harder for miners, and its liable to bring in hundreds or thousands of new crypto investors. Anyone even tangentially connected with Bitcoin should be prepared for May. Whatever comes, its going to be big, and its going to be surprising.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Ashish Singhal is the co-founder and CEO of CoinSwitch and CRUXPay. He is a hacker to the core and has won almost every major hackathon in India, including those hosted by Sequoia, Google, Amazon and LinkedIn. While working at Amazon as a software development engineer in 2014, he led the internal teambuilding Amazon Prime's one-hour delivery model. Ashish was a technical advisor with Reap Benefit, a nongovernmental organization in Bangalore aimed at encouraging Indias youth to become actionable citizens. He holds a bachelor of engineering in computer science.

Excerpt from:

The Next Bitcoin Halving: To Halve and to Hold? - Cointelegraph

In an era ruled by infinite-supply currencies, the stock-to-flow model offers a refresher on the value and meaning of scarcity. The model also offers one framework for evaluating an asset in terms of sound money. Key Takeaways

Most digitally-native products and items arent valuable because they can be reproduced at little to no cost. In 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto solved this problem by devising the first decentralized network protocol that produced a scarce digital asset, Bitcoin.

Measuring this scarcity, as well as its potential value, has been the primary thrust behind the stock-to-flow (S2F) model. This framework, however, isnt without its limits.

For money to be considered sound, it must be durable, portable, divisible, fungible, easily-verifiable, and widely-accepted as a medium of exchange.

Sound money must retain its scarcity to remain valuable over long periods. In the past, sound money was born out of peoples need for protection against the princely practice of debasing money or coinage.

Toquotethe famed Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises:

It is impossible to grasp the meaning of the idea of sound money if one does not realize that it was devised as an instrument for the protection of civil liberties against despotic inroads on the part of governments.

Since the dawn of time, humans perhaps instinctively have always opted for gold, silver, or other precious metals to serve them as sound money. These compounds are hard to find in nature and costly to forge and reproduce. It is for this reason that many governments adopted the gold standard.

By basing a states money on a scarce resource, one separated the monetary units purchasing power from the policies of the worlds governments and the elite.

It meant that governments and central banks couldnt print money out of thin air.

Bitcoins have value primarily because more people recognize Bitcoins as sound money.

This recognition stems from Bitcoins inherent scarcity, and whatNick Szabo, an early proponent of digital cash and a cryptographer,callsunforgeable costliness.

Bitcoin, like gold, antiques, and fine alcohols, is valuable because it is very hard to create the work needed to produce it. It is costly and time-consuming to mine gold, and a finely-aged wine is far more expensive than freshly-pressed grape juice. There are other factors to consider, of course, but there is no replacing the value of time itself

Bitcoins market value also hinges on features of supply and demand.

Bitcoins total supply is capped at 21 million coins, and itsreal supplyis much lower. Moreover, Bitcoins deflationary monetary policy is hardcoded into its protocol. New BTC are issued every ten minutes at a predictable, decreasing rate.

Critically, these components cannot be changed unless users decideto fork the protocoland create a new cryptocurrency. At the time of press, the price of a Bitcoin fork has never overtaken the price of the original Bitcoin.

From this, one can begin to see the relationship between Bitcoins supply-side mechanics and its market price. The independent researcher and investorPlanB took this a step further when creating the stock-to-flow model.

They begin their thesis with a question that many have asked:

Surely, this [Bitcoins] digital scarcity has value. But how much?

The stock-to-flow hypothesis states that the scarcity of Bitcoins as measured by SF, where SF = stock/flow directly drives the market value of Bitcoins.

Stock is the total size of the existing stockpiles or reserves of the asset, while flow signifies the yearly production. Consider the following illustration.

There are currently 185,000 metric tons of gold in the world. Thats the stock.

The annual supply of gold or how much gold is mined every year in the world equals 3,000 metric tons. Thats the flow.

In other words, the annual supply growth of gold equals 1.6%.

To get the SF ratio of gold, one would divide the stock with the flow and arrive at an SF ratio of 62.

An SF of 62 means that, at the current rate of production, it would take roughly 62 years (185,000 / 3,000 = 61.6) to replenish the existing stock of gold in the world.

In comparison, Bitcoins current stock is 16.8 million (for more on how this figure was determined, please readthis article), while the supply of new Bitcoins, or the flow, is 0.7 million a year.

This puts bitcoins SF ratio at 24.

Given that the flow of Bitcoins is fixed, and it halves every 210,000 blocks or roughly every four years, with the nexthalvingevent, Bitcoins current SF of 24 will double to 48. This will bring Bitcoins value proposition closer in line with that of gold.

Bitcoins halving event is predicted to occur on May 12, 2020.

According to PlanBsstock-to-flowmodel, there is a statistically significant relationship between Bitcoins SF and the market price of bitcoins.

To quote PlanB directly:

The likelihood that the relationship between stock-to-flow and market value is caused by chance is close to zero.

PlanBs stock-to-flow model predicts a stunning Bitcoin market capitalization of $1 trillion in the one to two years following the next halving event in May.

A market cap of $1 trillion would put the price of one bitcoin at $55,000. With such a generous price tag on the worlds most unpredictable digital asset, PlanBs analysis has been criticized often.

Thelatest criticismcomes from Eric Wall, the CIO of Arcane Assets.

Wall claims that the S2F model is flawed insofar as it relies too heavily on supply and demand narratives as well as ever-changing statistical models. Instead, he proposes an alternative called the Rainbow Chart.

The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.

You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.

See full terms and conditions.

See the original post:

What Is Bitcoins Stock-to-Flow? - Crypto Briefing

On September 19, 1999, an nameless consumer printed a submit on digital cash within the cipherpunk mailing record. Some members of the neighborhood imagine that Satoshi Nakamoto could write it, studies Cointelegraph.

It isn't identified for sure whether or not Nakamoto was within the distribution of cipher banks, however a number of representatives of the latter are talked about within the whitepaper of bitcoin, together with Dr. Adam Beck and Wei Day. One other distinguished cipherpunk, Hal Finney, was one of many first Bitcoin customers.

An nameless creator emphasised that transactions in digital cash ought to be irreversible. He talked about a sure blinding, in all probability referring to the blind signatures developed by David Chaum.

He additionally described a doable answer to the issue of double spending by creating a public database. The creator acknowledged that a secure cost system may be constructed on the idea of b-money gives and the HashCash algorithm. These applied sciences are additionally talked about within the whitepaper of bitcoin.

Recall, the creator of Cardano, Charles Hoskinson, believes that Nakamoto may be found utilizing a stylometric evaluation of the bitcoin code.

Examine all variations concerning the identification of the creator of the primary cryptocurrency in our materials.

From the drug vendor to Ilona Masks: how Satoshi Nakamoto managed to stay nameless after ten years of looking

Subscribe to Forklog Fb Information!

subscribe to information Forklog

Excerpt from:

Users found a publication from 1999 that Satoshi Nakamoto could write - Sunriseread

While it might surprise some to learn that crypto technology has been evolving since the early 90s, what shouldnt come as a shock is just how far the technology has come- and how far it hopes to go.

Few buzzwords are as powerful as blockchain and crypto these days. Each creating a thought association with novel technological practice. Even though these terms arent actually new. Crypto technologies have been available for nearly two decades, but only recently have created adaptable, necessary, and accessible applications for the everyday person.

So much so that trading, purchasing, and using the coin have become commonplace in many peoples lives. Even new users and laypeople can enjoy the thrill of an exchange platform, like for example https://bitvavo.com/en with little to know expert knowledge on the subject. This timeline of the evolution of bitcoin and its associated technologies lets us know just how far weve come, so we can all look forward to just how far we can go.

Blockchain has been evolving since Stuart Hager and Scott Stornetta began work on the first blockchain ever. However, 2013 is a notable moment in the history of blockchain, as this is when alternate cryptocurrencies began to evolve and the world received a new term, hard fork.

A hard fork is a divergence from the original functionality of any given blockchain network or cryptocurrency protocol. This divergence ends one protocol splitting, creating a new coin, token, or network along with it. 2013 marked the first known hard fork when Vitalik Buterin released the Ethereum white paper.

In 2009, the father(s) of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto released a white paper explaining how the blockchain technology that they had developed could provide the structure to create a fully decentralized currency.

Little is known about Nakamoto. Some believe that it is one man or woman, others are sure that it is a group of people. Whoever Nakamoto is, what was conceptualized by them in 2008, was soon to grow into one of the biggest names in tradable assets, digital trust, and decentralized power structures.

This is bitcoin. Bitcoin changed the way we think, not only about currency and assets themselves but about data accumulation and dissemination.

2013 is also an important year for bitcoin, as in February of that year, the main payment processor for bitcoin at the time reported selling $1 million worth of bitcoin in a single month. Through that year, the bitcoin marketplace surpassed $1 billion, showing the marketplaces flair for value volatility and returns.

In the United States, regulating bodies began to sit up and take notice of the technology. Instituting regulations on traders and shutting down the infamous Silk Road empire. Effectively showing the public that bitcoin was here to stay.

When Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin saw the potential of blockchain, he knew he had to take it further. Ethereum became a full-blown, decentralized network. Enabling users to undertake smart contracts and begin the creation of decentralized applications (dApps).

Smart contracts are like any other contract, only using blockchain technologies instead of arbiters and intermediaries. These contracts are capable of adding in something that original blockchain technology couldnt offer- contingencies.

Smart contracts work with if-then protocols, meaning that the next step in the contract cannot begin until the previous request has been met satisfactorily. Normally, we use a person to guarantee that each benchmark is met, which doesnt always work the way it should. With smart contracts, these benchmarks are non-negotiable and if theyre not carried out as planned, the contract will cancel.

2017 saw the development of yet another hard fork that would change the world of crypto. EOS.io is unveiled as a new protocol within the blockchain that would allow for the further deployment of dApps.

This open-source network aims to encourage users to create their own applications and smart contracts sans-centralization. Which was a massive game-changer in 2017. The continued development of dApp friendly platforms meant that more people had improved access to develop the dApps that they needed most- and use dApps that had already been created by others.

Keep in mind that this is a far cry from an exhaustive list of all the bright points that sparkle in blockchain history. There have been a number of innovations, resulting in an exponentially amount of new technology- designed to solve the problems that plague us most.

The key to the underlying usefulness of crypto and blockchain technologies is that these systems boost trust, reliability, security, and self-sufficiency. All by removing the centralization that far too often becomes corrupted in common day society.

So where will crypto go in the future? Well, the possibilities truly are limitless, so that makes it incredibly hard to say. But, surely, it will continue to evolve exactly as we need it to.

Read this article:

Crypto Timeline: The Evolution of Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrency Technologies - BlockPublisher

On March 24, Cardano (ADA) founder, Charles Hoskinson, streamed a YouTube video titled On Wikipedia, in which he berated Wikipedia for applying arbitrary commercial censorship against Cardano.

Censorship of cryptocurrency projects is as old as the industry itself. Back in 2010, even Satoshi Nakamoto was frustrated with Wikipedias editors for removing Bitcoins wiki entry several times.

After PayPal severed ties with WikiLeaks, one of Bitcoins supporters suggested that becoming the site's new source of donations would generate enough publicity to gain entry into Wikipedia. Satoshi strongly opposed WikiLeaks adoption of the cryptocurrency, but it was too late:

No, don't "bring it on". The project needs to grow gradually so the software can be strengthened along the way. I make this appeal to WikiLeaks not to try to use Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a small beta community in its infancy. You would not stand to get more than pocket change, and the heat you would bring would likely destroy us at this stage.

Hoskinson states that he does not know the rationale behind Wikipedias hostility towards his project, despite it being the most cited of all of the peer reviewed coins:

We don't know why there's hostility where coins like SpankChain can have an article on Wikipedia. A lot of other cryptocurrencies and top 15, top 20 apparently have articles and that's perfectly fine. But then we're not allowed to have an article for some reason, even though we've been mentioned by the U.S. Congress.

Cointelegraph could not find a Wikipedia article for SpankChain (SPANK). Other projects like Dogecoin (DOGE), GridCoin (GRC), and PotCoin (POT) do have one, however. Most of the top ten projects, including Bitcoin Cash (BCH), have one too.

Source: Cointelegraph

Hoskinson confirmed to Cointelegraph that the censorship comes exclusively from Wikipedias English language editors, noting that there are Cardano wiki entries in German, Estonian, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese, Romanian and Russian.

Crypto censorship has recently been on the rise. In Wikipedias case, it is an especially surprising move, considering that the site accepts Bitcoin to help fund its mission of providing a free online encyclopedia, created and edited by volunteers around the world

Excerpt from:

Just Like Bitcoin Before It, Cardano Is Banned From Wikipedia - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency began stamping its hypothetical feet and making noise in mainstream media over the last decade, with individuals taking a keen interest in blockchain and its link to banking and investment. Since then blockchain, the technology that runs Bitcoin, has developed into one of the biggest revolutionary technologies with the potential to impact every industry from data centres to the financial sector. Abigail Opiah reports.

Blockchain first arrived on the scene back in 2008 when a person (or group of people) using the name Satoshi Nakamoto released a whitepaper that explored the concept of a peer-to-peer version of electronic cash that would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. With the launch of Bitcoin in January 2009, blockchain had its first real-world application.

Blockchains multiple strands created conversations that go far beyond its original purpose of a growing list of records that are linked using cryptocurrency. According to Vincent Barro, Vice-President Datacentre & Business Development at Schneider Electric, before peeling away at blockchains surface level to unlock its full potential, conversations around tokenization need to be had.

When we talk about crypto, we need to talk about blockchain and tokenization, which are the main two technologies behind cryptocurrency. Crypto is huge in terms of banking, and you can see companies like Swisscom invest a lot in crypto which means that they want to take the lead globally on it, he says.

To be efficient with your customer, you need to have infrastructure and a presence in the cloud. This is extremely critical for blockchain because you are going to need the edge. The blockchain business has been predicted to jump from 2.5bn to 20bn by 2025, thus the data centre needs to adapt to this new business strategy. With that being said, there are some challenges that relate to energy including modularity.

I have a lot of demand from customers for modular solutions, which can be containerised solutions or something more local. On the other side, youve got this link with the cloud providers and major colocation data centres, which conjures the need for super-efficient solutions that leads to liquid cooling which is a big topic at the moment.

Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. By design, a blockchain is resistant to modification of the data. In one breath, the conversation led to all the tree-branches that stem from blockchain which puts conjures up the question of what is next for blockchain, will all the big technology players jump on board, and which regions will see the adoption of blockchain completely flourish first.

What has been happening over the last two years is a lot of acceleration within Microsoft and Google to come to Switzerland. The usual situation in Switzerland was more about medium-sized colocators that do colocation business but there are a lot of

Google and Microsoft decided to enter the Swiss market through colocation, with Google communicating that it will enter the market via Green Datacenter AG. Green Datacenter was a small colocation provider, which became a major player in the last two years thanks to Google.

The reason why these companys feel it is important to be in Switzerland is because they want to be under the Swiss data protection legislation and banking applications. That is mandatory to attack the wall of finance and insurance.

One point which is important but has not been finalised is that Amazon may move to Switzerland as well in the very near future. In terms of finance, this is important because of low latency. With this new ecosystem of data centres, these companies will have about ten milliseconds of improvement in latency which is huge when we talk about finance, and as the country is not very big, it has two interconnected points within an hour and a half between Zurich and Geneva.

This is because Switzerland has no specific hindrances that affect cryptocurrencies. Switzerlands Federal Council, the nations collective head of state and government, has announced it will commit to improving the legal framework for blockchain and distributed ledger technology companies.

Newsletter

Time is precious, but news has no time. Sign up today to receive daily free updates in your email box from the Data Economy Newsroom.

As the conversation steered towards tech giants, one instant ping in the brain was Facebooks announcement of its very own cryptocurrency, Libra.

The cryptocurrency is a permissioned blockchain digital currency that does not yet exist, with only rudimentary experimental code being released so far, but it has been projected to be launched in 2020.

At the moment, there are around 240 cryptocurrencies in the world, thus we see consolidation in this environment, which is set to grow more, adds Barro.

240 cryptocurrencies are a lot of cryptocurrencies. The blockchain sector has witnessed the birth of new alliances, Bitcoin and Ethereum survived the bear market, new cryptocurrency trading products and a plethora of blockchain protocols matured and expanded in growth.

Compute Norths President Marshall Johnson predicts that migration from China will continue in regards to blockchain and hash rate will continue to jump. His other predictions for blockchain is that there will be a continued evolution of the technology, and as a result, there will be further enterprise adoption, especially in financial services, supply chain and banking.

Lastly, he predicts that low costs will still win, previous generation machines will be dead this year unless there is serious price movement, and halvening will make some miners go out of business that have not upgraded their equipment.

In a halvening also referred to as halving Bitcoin rewards that go to the so-called miners that support the coins network drop in half in order to prevent inflation from eroding the purchasing power of the coins.

Since bitcoin has halved twice in the past, we can say that it has shown to be a major catalyst in setting off a new bull market era for bitcoin. As bitcoin halves and fewer are being generated, the increased scarcity leads to an increase in value, says Johnson.

The increased scarcity of bitcoin means only the most high-performing and high-efficiency mining operations will stand to see steady or increased profits following the halving. This makes outdated miners like the Antminer S9 nearly irrelevant without some sort of optimisation strategy to extend their productive life.

This will drive many to upgrade to a more efficient miner like the Antminer S17, especially for large-scale operations. Utilisation of cheap energy and mining colocation should also be leaned on more significantly leading up to and in the wake of the halving in order to maximise profit in an increasingly competitive market.

Like Barro, Johnson too identifies the link with blockchain and data centres, highlighting that there will continue to be high demand low-cost computing and storage, which will put pressure on the data centre sector to evolve and adapt.

Worldwide data and computing requirements continue to grow rapidly. Blockchain and many applications are not mission-critical, require vast amounts of power and resources, and there is a trend to outsourcing these types of applications (IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Image Rendering, and Blockchain), says Johnson.

This opens the door for innovative solutions, like the Tier 0 data centre infrastructure that Compute North is developing and building. North America offers a unique blend of power resources, geopolitical stability, and reliable infrastructure that is appealing to mining operations.

Although China recently reversed a two-year ban on cryptocurrencies, volatility and uncertain still exists in the region as government oversight of the sector appears to be in a regular state of flux. By moving some of their mining operations to the U.S., miners benefit from a more stable economic environment, the availability and mix of cleaner energy, stronger infrastructure and the advantages of an industry that is held to a higher standard. Diversifying operations is recommended to mitigate risk.

Read the latest from the Data Economy Newsroom:

Link:

Blockchain Nation. The currency that is infiltrating the data centre sector - Data Economy

The Nervos CKB (common Knowledge Base) is the fundamental layer 1 Proof of Work Blockchain. It creates the foundation for all the Layer 2 protocols, integrations, and scaling solutions facilitated on the Nervos Network.

Terry Tai, Nervos Cofounder, and CEO stated,Nervos, in our design concept, is different from other public blockchain projects in many ways.

Terry Tai controversially opines that POW is the only choice for Layer 1 protocol. He also feels that blockchain technology is still in its very early phase. He opined that there is a lot of infrastructure work that should be done before any kind of mass adoption.

Terry Tai, in an interview in response to a hypothetical question about a chance to meet Satoshi Nakamoto, who is a male in his deathbed, stated he would ask, Where is your private key? Would you mind me helping you burn the coins?

Nervos Network CEO acknowledged that the project is in its early stages. He described his community members as futurists with an adventurist spirit. He also stated that he respected the BTC and Ethereum communities.

Sydney Ifergan, the Crypto Expert, tweeted: Nervos Network believes that trust is incredibly valuable in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. They believe that trust has barriers. And, that sums up everything else about them.

The NErvos network is different from several other projects in the cryptocurrency space in that it provides flexible support for crypto primitives. Also, there is no need for a hard fork.

Their Layer1 protocol CKB does not use an account model, rather they use a UTXO like model, and they call it Cell model. It facilitates improved Bitcoin Interop, and it can take advantage of UTXO tech like the MimbleWimble. The Layer1 protocol CKB makes use of PoW. Also, Nervos is not just a single blockchain; instead it is a layered architecture that included both the Layer1 and Layer2 protocols.

The Nervous network is very clear about the fact that trust is common in families, but not in companies, nations, firms, and giant institutions. They opine that blockchain technology can break through the barriers of trust to establish bilateral cooperation efficiency in a way to strengthen the collaborative relationship in human beings, thus making blockchain technology more prosperous.

The Nervos Network has announced a public grants fund to fuel the growth of their ecosystem for their permissionless layer, one blockchain the Nervos Common Knowledge Base (CKB).

Original post:

Nervos Network Blockchain Believes Trust is Incredibly Valuable But Has Boundaries - The Cryptocurrency Analytics

Welcome back to Cointelegraph Chinas Focus talk show. This time around, Peter Vessenes is under the spotlight. He is the founder of CoinLab, the first venture-backed Bitcoin company. He also co-founded the Bitcoin Foundation, serving as its first executive director and chairman.

Vessenes has provided digital-currency consulting services for entities including the United States Treasury Department, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. He serves as the chief cryptographer for the Deluge Network and Metronome, a project that aims to create a politics-free digital currency.

Cointelegraph: You were the first one to have talked with the U.S. Treasury Department about Bitcoin. What is the story behind it, and what exactly did they discuss with you that first time?

Peter Vessenes: In the early days, governments were trying to get their heads around Bitcoin, and things were so decentralized it wasn't really clear who even to talk to. The Bitcoin Foundation filled that role for a while in a critical time in the industry's development. We were invited out originally to meet with FinCEN, which is the Anti-Money Laundering enforcement section of the Treasury Department, headed by Jennifer Shasky Calvery at that time.

They were most worried about and interested in the enforcement side of Bitcoin: knowing what was happening, who was doing what and so on. Ms. Calvery said something I'll never forget: "We think the toothpaste is out of the tube." She proceeded to explain her rough idea was to acknowledge they couldn't stop Bitcoin from being a thing, and they would try and work with already regulated entities at the on- and off-ramps for enforcement.

This, it turned out, was a really good strategy. It let some early Bitcoin businesses and funds get a commanding lead: Coinbase, Kraken and Pantera all had the regulatory space to work on business models without major fear.

I would say the SEC has done much worse by American business in the most recent round of innovation, regulating with a much heavier hand, and we see the results with exchanges like Binance worth billions of dollars, but staying out of the U.S.

CT: Many traditional companies are now working on cryptocurrency, but on the other hand, the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to place obstacles before the Libra stablecoin, and it hasnt warmly welcomed crypto exchange-traded fund applicants, either. What is the exact problem you think the crypto companies need to solve? And what is the SEC or the government looking for?

PV: Government agencies that I've worked with are mostly concerned with serious enforcement worries, really objectionable activities, by which I mean things I wish I had never heard were happening and certainly will not repeat. I found this comforting. In 2012, it wasn't clear if there would be sort of petty enforcement in the U.S. outside of the SEC. In the U.S., we haven't seen much of that, although perhaps IRS subpoenas of Coinbase records come close.

In general, most agencies I've worked with were filled with good people working on good things, and they almost all big secret own crypto themselves.

As far as companies solving problems: financial inclusion, open access, destruction of rent-seeking behavior by long-standing financial industry participants those are all pretty good goals. I'll give you a hint, though, and say that JPMorgan won't be destroying rent-seeking behavior, no matter how innovative its crypto group is.

SEC behavior is complex, and it's good to remember that the U.S. has multiple regulatory agencies overseeing complex financial products; the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is another. So, you have a mix of internal regulator incentives, including expanding their own remit vis-a-vis other agencies, American imperialism, etc., and then you also have some what I'd call "good" motivations, like protecting citizens from scams, Ponzi schemes and so on.

I think we'll continue to see real innovation happening in fits and starts in areas that are as lightly regulated as possible. It's just so very expensive, risky and time-consuming to try to innovate in America on the financial side. I really can't emphasize enough the benefits of a lighter regulatory regime for innovation. It's very important.

CT: The Bitcoin Foundation was one of the most prominent organizations in the ecosystem.

So, how do you see its failings with respect to its governance, transparency and finances?

PV: Leaving the Bitcoin Foundation was bittersweet. In the beginning, I wanted it to be a place that built the good brand reputation for Bitcoin globally and provided a venue for both industry and individuals to do some collective work together.

It was sweet because it was clear that my idea had been right: There was real demand to organize and work together. Bitter because I failed to bring the best quality leadership to the top of the organization. Two board members went to prison. A third had been accused of crimes, but not tried. I worked hard to try to clear out influencers that I thought shouldn't be there. But in the end, I couldn't keep the leadership at a level I felt good about and decided to leave.

There won't be another thing like the foundation in our industry, but I'm still glad I launched it with Gavin Andresen and would do it again, although I would change how we chose board leadership and make it more international from the very beginning.

CT: Regarding Mt. Gox, as previously reported, roughly 24,000 creditors are thought to have been affected by the 2011 hack and subsequent collapse in early 2014. It was said you own a stake of Mt Gox and you have submitted a $16 billion claim in the Mt. Gox civil rehabilitation, which is considered an obstacle for other creditors. Can you explain the issue here?

PV: Unfortunately, since we are still in litigation seven years later, I can't talk a lot. I will say that we have been diligently and aggressively pushing for a real trial this whole time so that we can get a fair ruling. It looks like we will be getting that trial in Tokyo this year, pending coronavirus slowdowns. So, that's great.

Right now, all creditors including us are waiting on the trustee to make a payment plan that can be reviewed. Believe me, we would love to see one as much as any other creditor.

We have had a fair amount of interest from investors and other creditors trying to buy into the lawsuit as a way to hedge out their own risks in the bankruptcy and ideally achieve good returns. So, we may look into providing access to the suit to a broader group of investors in the future, all still TBD.

CT: As a cryptographic expert, how do you summarize the technology development of blockchain in these 10 years? After proof-of-work, different consensus mechanisms have appeared, like proof-of-stake, delegated proof-of-stake, practical Byzantine fault tolerance,, etc. What do you think of them? And are there any projects that excite you with their technology?

PV: The last project that really got me excited technically was Ethereum. Not to say we haven't seen interesting innovation since then, but it was a massive leap over Bitcoin. We just closed a blockchain fund Capital 6 Eagle with my partner in China, and I can tell you what I'm investing in:

A crazy paper last year that really got me thinking was the MAST paper out of Blockstream. They provided a way to have provable computation using only software. It's very, very slow, but the idea is profound and interesting for verifiability.

CT: You started to pay attention to smart contracts in 2014, and you set up New Alchemy in 2016. What is the main plan for you this year?

PV: I'm launching a new project that has been a secret so far, but this can be the announcement: It's a Bitcoin paper-currency project. Unlike some of the other hardware-wallet projects, we are working on having a chip embedded directly into a paper bill. We will have a series of announcements, but we are working with a major global currency producer and have an agreement with one of the best currency designers in the world to make these bills. It's just so very hard to deal with crypto, and I want to give access to regular people to have, hold and trade it.

Finally, we're working on launching a Shenzhen incubator, probably in the third quarter. So, that should be really exciting. I love the energy and pace of business in China and want to provide mentorship, capital and advice to another generation of Chinese entrepreneurs. So, that's really exciting.

CT: You are also interested in security token offerings. You said in 2018 that there would be a large circulation of STOs in the future, but they havent made much progress. What do you think about it now?

PV: On STOs: I was obviously wrong about timing, which is the same thing as being wrong. The difficulties in the last few years have been the intersection of the technology, the regulatory pace and the crash all together. Plus, early STOs offered in the U.S. were just bad offerings, poorly priced and definitely worse for the buyer than comparable publicly traded products or crypto products or both.

But I do sort of stand by my prediction, too. Over the years, I believe more and more in the idea of permissionless innovation. STOs necessarily bridge regulated and unregulated worlds, and this is a really hard space because of that interaction. But, I still do believe that we will see tokenized offerings with regulatory oversight.

CT: One time you mentioned that you feel a nostalgia about the early times when Bitcoin was purely decentralized and only was mined by personal computers. Do you think that the modern ecosystem is the right way for the industry to develop?

PV: If I could wave a wand, I would definitely do away with industrial mining. It's a very hard problem to do away with, though. I think mining is not in a stable position right now, though. There will be more innovation on business models. For instance, during the BCHBTC war, I thought it very interesting that companies like Coinbase used their user platforms to advocate for what they wanted. Why hadn't they invested in mining so that they could actually control voting on the outcome?

The answer to that question is at least partly regulatory, by the way, both for Coinbase and their investors, but it's also social; a matter of how different people think of mining. Miners have generally historically not used their influence for more than making money, or at least usually in very soft ways, and this is probably not quite what Satoshi wanted.

CT: In early 2018, you said that innovations in the industry should be measured by the question: What percent of the total innovation thats going to be done has been done? And your answer was less than 5%. Do you think we are at the same stage now?

PV: I still think we have a lot of innovation left to do, and in fact, I wouldn't say anything super material has shown up in the last two years. We're seeing infrastructure build out right now, which is good. But we need another Vitalik and Gav, or we need one of them to pull a Linus Torvalds and do Git on top of Linux.

CT: What would you say to Satoshi Nakamoto if you were to meet?

PV: What makes you think I haven't?

To Satoshi, I'd say thank you, we got the leader we needed, luckily not the leader we deserved.

Read the original here:

Peter Vessenes in the Focus of Cointelegraph China - Cointelegraph

The exchange Binance has announced the release of its first crypto debit card. According to the announcement, the Binance Card is intended to improve and expand the payment options for cryptocurrency owners worldwide to strengthen the adoption. The card, issued by Visa, is expected to be accepted by more than 46 million merchants online and offline in 200 regions and territories worldwide.

As announced, the Binance Card works like a conventional debit card, but in this case it is linked to the users account at the exchange. To use it, the user only needs to top up the Binance Card with funds via the Binance Card app. The funds will be available in Bitcoin (BTC) or Binance Coin (BNB). All payments made with the card are simply debited from the balance.

Source: https://www.binance.com/en/blog/421499824684900479/Introducing-the-Binance-Card-Shop-and-Pay-With-Crypto-Anywhere-in-the-World

The Binance Card is available in virtual format during the beta phase. However, the physical version will be available soon. The exchange has declared in this regard:

Were currently releasing the Binance Card in a beta version, and we aim to make it available globally to all new and existing Binance users within the next few weeks. We will initially release the card in Malaysia, then follow with Vietnam, and add more countries as we move forward.

Users who are interested in the card can register here on the product page. Once registration is complete, the user will be notified if the Binance Card is available in their region:

All you need to do then is download the Binance Card App, log in to your Binance account or register a new one, and complete simple and secure identity verification.

Once the above process is completed, the user can pre-order their Binance Card for a one-time fee of 15 USD. Payment can be made using the Binance Card App. Through the application, users will also be able to manage their funds and expenses. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao invited the exchange users to register for their Binance Card.

However, Binance is not the only exchange that has expanded its services in the form of a debit card. As reported by CNF, the crypto exchange Coinbase has succeeded in issuing the Satoshi Nakamoto card through its collaboration with Visa. The card allows Coinbase users to spend the funds at their disposal directly from the exchange, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP and other cryptocurrencies.

Follow us onFacebookandTwitterand dont miss any hot news anymore! Do you like ourprice indices?

Last Updated on 27 March, 2020

Read this article:

Binance will launch a debit card for Bitcoin and BNB payments - Crypto News Flash

Trivia buffs: test your knowledge with this week's Good Weekend quiz.Credit:

6. Which Australian tennis player is known as the Rockhampton Rocket?

7. French nuclear tests were conducted on Fangataufa and what other atoll from 1966 to 1996?

8. Which is not a former country of the USSR: Belarus, Latvia or Poland?

9. Which was granted US statehood first: Alaska or Hawaii?

10. The Henley Royal Regatta rowing event is held annually on which river?

11. Australia beat India by how many runs in the Womens T20 World Cup final?

12. Who composed the Bridal Chorus, often known as Here Comes the Bride?

13. Which of these cured meats are made from beef: speck, pancetta or bresaola?

14. The Parthenon in Athens was built in honour of which Greek goddess?

15. The acronym ASIC stands for what?

16. What nationality was Smurfs creator Pierre Culliford, aka Peyo?

17. Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym used by the creator of which digital currency?

18. Who are the hosts of the podcast Chat 10 Looks 3?

19. In what year did the USSRs Yuri Gagarin first orbit Earth?

20. Rockmelon is also known as what?

21. Who is Australias Minister for Defence?

22. What type of musical instrument is the ancient ocarina?

23. Which Spanish territory lies on Moroccos northern tip?

24. What breed is UK PM Boris Johnsons rescue dog, Dilyn?

25. Would you find layer cakes, jelly rolls and charm squares at a bakery, a quilting shop or a jewellers?

1 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and UK PM Winston Churchill. 2 Laura Dern. 3 1770(QLD). 4 Hamlet. 5 For Your Eyes Only (1981). 6 Rod Laver. 7 Mururoa. 8 Poland. 9 Alaska (granted statehood in January 1959; Hawaii was granted statehood in August 1959). 10 River Thames, England. 11 85 runs. 12 Richard Wagner. 13 Bresaola (the other two are made from pork). 14 Athena. 15 Australian Securities and Investments Commission. 16 Belgian. 17 Bitcoin. 18 Leigh Sales, Annabel Crabb. 19 1961 (April 12). 20 Cantaloupe. 21 Linda Reynolds. 22 Wind. 23 Ceuta. 24 Jack Russell-cross. 25 A quilting shop.

Fancy yourself a quizmaster? Send us a question; we include one from a reader each week and acknowledge it here. Email: goodweekend@goodweekend.com.au: label it GW Quiz Entry. This week, Q25 was supplied by readers Phoebe Scamps and Nick Babos of Manly, NSW.

To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.

Go here to read the rest:

The Good Weekend Quiz: March 28 - The Age

The world is still in quarantine because of pandemic Coronavirus . But humanity should not, and cannot, stop. It is for this reason that in CriptoTendencia will find 7 movies of Bitcoin to see during quarantine, along with their family members, so that the situation does not stop you either. The Coronavirus continues its path relentlessly with almost 700 thousand infected and the 33,000 deaths. It is for this reason that the majority of the worlds governments have decided to apply the method of quarantine, with its various exceptions, to try to stop the spread of the Coronavirus. This leaves us with a lot of free time, many things to think about, and a lot of uncertainty, anxiety and even panic. But, we must not let the situation overcome you, and now you can use your time to see these 7 interesting films about Bitcoin, and the cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin is still leading the way in all fields of our daily life. Not only in banking and finance, or the struggle against the centralisation with its background technology, the Blockchain. Also in the area of cinema and entertainment. Although it is true that the number of movies dealing with these topics is not so great. It is also reality that every time the interest for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrencies has been growing progressively. This has led to that we have more movies and series, following the growth of the interest. An interesting phenomenon that we can observe is that, while more old are the movies, series or documentaries, these touch on dark themes of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrencies, as their use for money laundering and buying drugs, in the so-called Silk Route. But, as we approach the present, the issues are going to play points increasingly disruptive. In this list we will try as much as possible not to let a spoiler. Without nothing more to say, lets go.

The film is directed by John Stalberg Jr. and starring Beau Knapp, Luke Hemsworth, Alexis Bledel and Kurt Russell. With a duration of over 65 minutes. Martin (Beau Knapp) is one of the bankers most promising of all of Wall Street. However, after a dispute with his bosses, the young man must travel to his hometown and work from there. In the bank of his native city is aware of several suspicious movements, discovering that the Russian mafia is using the cryptocurrencies to launder money. This tape has sparked a lot of criticism within the criptoverso. Therefore, although the title is Crypto, the criptos are not explained, and are not the important thing of the film. It is more of a role to diffuse them in all this criminal network that used the bank to launder their money. Anyway, it is a movie that everyone must see. Whether to be part of the discussions that this tape has been treated, or to observe what is the vision of Hollywood with respect to the criptos. For one reason or another this is the first film of Bitcoin to see in quarantine.

Bitcoin: the end of money as we know it is a documentary, directed by Torsten Hoffmann. Has the presence of big names in the criptoverso as Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Roger Ver and Vitalik Buterin. This documentary exposes the practices of central banks and dubious financial players that brought down the world financial crisis in 2008. Highlights the influence of the government in the process of money creation and how it causes inflation. Examines the patterns of technological innovation of money, and calls into question everything we believed to know about money. How is Bitcoin an alternative to national currencies backed by debt?, How Bitcoin will cause a revolution in the way we use money?, what is a gift to criminals? or is it the next bubble to burst?. If you still trust the money issued by your government, this is the documentary for you. This is our number 2 movie of Bitcoin to see in quarantine

This is another documentary directed by Torsten Hoffmann, five years after the number 2 in this list. The focus is again Bitcoin and aims to explore the evolution of the industry Blockchain and its new promise. Can this technology, designed to operate independently of the trust and within a decentralized network really provide a solid alternative to the Internet as we know it?. These are the questions that the director of these two documentaries.

This is a series created by Philipp Kbohrer and Matthias Murmann, directed by Arne Feldhusen and Lars Montag. Not everything can be documentary and technical information, not everything can be serious and full of reality. There is also that to have fun and forget a little bit of everything that happens in the street. In this fun series German is told from the perspective of the outcast of the high school Moritz Zimmermann. The series continues to Moritz and his friend, Lenny Sanders, who try to rekindle the love of Moritz by his ex-girlfriend Lisa Novak, through the sale of ecstasy on-line. While it begins as a small business, it quickly goes out of control and Moritz and Lenny learn to deal with the consequences of drug trafficking on a large scale. Do and guess what is one of the means that are used by these two guys germans to sell their drugs (rapidly)?. Yes, you guessed it, the cryptocurrencies. Although we see almost nothing of the world of criptos. It is interesting to see the perspective that you gave these directors the use of the cryptocurrencies on the part of these two teenagers. And of course, laugh in the process.

The short film is directed by Ansel Faraj, written and produced by Nathan Wilson and Ansel Faraj. It is the sequel of the movie GAMBLING MAN (2013). It has a duration of only 28 minutes. In addition, it is available legally on Youtube. Wesley, a drug addict in recovery, believe that you have made a wise investment in the future of your child, and if invested in cryptocurrencies. And after you have made the investment of savings for the education of your child, what, you ask, it was a good investment?. And they just dont make the investment in Bitcoin, but, in an altcoin new. Does this type of news sounds familiar?. In this short film shows how dangerous it can be to invest all of your money, and above all, in the world of cryptocurrencies, that Is why you need information, education and a page of news of confidence as CriptoTendencia. And always keep in mind do not invest what you are not willing to lose. We are already finishing the list 7 films of Bitcoin to see in quarantine.

Directed by Thomas Laine, is a series of Finnish criminal drama that premiered in 2017. The story of the film consists of four stories that intertwine as a result of the theft of Bitcoin. Janne, Mika, Maarit and Harry, are the protagonists of this unusual story. Viraali (Viral) also treats thematically the life as a viral phenomenon, the film focuses on the phenomena of viral spread through the Internet. The city of Helsinki will be the center of the series.

This short film based on real facts, directed by Mike Anzel, tells the story of 2 journalists who believe they have found the real Satoshi Nakamoto, and no, they do not refer to Craig Wright. In the research the journalists are trying to identify if Satoshi Nakamoto is a person or a group of them. In addition, they attempt to answer if the disappearance of Satoshi was due to a scheduled withdrawal, or if the people, or person, no longer with life.

We have reached the end of our list of 7 movies of Bitcoin to see in quarantine. We hope you will enjoy it, as we are doing. The important thing in all this time is to stay at home and wash our hands. Do you want more movies, series or documentaries of Bitcoin, the cryptocurrencies and technology Blockchain?. If so write in the comments and we will give you some new recommendations on this topic.

See the original post:

7 movies of Bitcoin to see in quarantine - Cryptocurrency Market

DEFINITION of Satoshi Nakamoto

The name used by the unknown creator of the protocol used in the bitcoin cryptocurrency. Satoshi Nakamoto is closely-associated with Bitcoin and the Bitcoin blockchain technology.

Satoshi Nakamoto is amongthe biggest pioneers of cryptocurrency.

Satoshi Nakamoto is considered the most enigmatic character in cryptocurrency. To date it is unclear if they area single person, or if the name is a moniker used by a group. What is known is that Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper in 2008 that jumpstarted the development of cryptocurrency.

The paper, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, described the use of a peer-to-peer network as a solution to the problem of double-spending. The problem that a digital currency or token can used in more than one transaction is not found in physical currencies since a physical bill or coin can, by its nature, only exist in one place at a single time. Since a digital currency does not exist in the physical space, using it in a transaction does not remove it from someones possession, at least not immediately.

Solutions to combating the double-spend problem had historically involved the use of trusted, third-party intermediaries that would verify whether a digital currency had already been spent by its holder. In most cases, third parties, such as banks, can effectively handle transactions without adding significant risk. However, this trust-based model still results in uncertainty. Removing the third-party could only be accomplished by building cryptography into transactions.

Nakamoto proposed a decentralized approach to transactions, ultimately culminating in the creation of blockchains. In a blockchain, timestamps for a transaction are added to the end of previous timestamps based on proof-of-work, creating a historical record that cannot be changed. As the blockchain increases in size as the number of transactions increase, it becomes more difficult for attackers to disrupt it. The blockchain records are kept secure because the amount of computational power required to reverse them discourages small scale attacks.

Satoshi Nakamoto was involved in the early days of bitcoin, working on the first version of the software in 2009. Communication to and from Nakamoto was conducted electronically, and the lack of personal and background details meant that it was impossible to find out the actual identity of Nakamoto. Nakamotos involvement with bitcointapered off in 2011; reportedly, the last correspondence anyone had with Nakamoto was in an email to anotherbitcoin developer saying that they had "moved on to other things."

The inability to put a face to the name has led to significant speculation as to Nakamotos identity, especially as cryptocurrencies increased in number, popularity, and notoriety. While their identity has not been uncovered, it is estimated that the value of bitcoins under Nakamoto'scontrol - which is thought to be about 1 million -may exceed $5 billion in value. Given that the maximum possible number of bitcoins generated is 21 million, Nakamoto, with about 5% of the total bitcoin holdings, would have considerable power over the market.

Original post:

Satoshi Nakamoto - investopedia.com