A Brief Overview Of Bitcoin, Ethereum & Ripple

A cryptocurrency exchange or digital currency exchange is a business that involves the exchange of cryptocurrencies for other assets such as money or any other digital currency. It is a web service that provides electronic transactions in electronic form and charges fees for them.

Any transaction or activity on a digital currency exchange can be done by debit and credit card, postal money order or any other form of money transfer. This article discusses various cryptocurrency exchanges that facilitate cryptocurrency trading for beginners and what they offer in terms of availability, ease of use, security, deposit/withdrawal methods and fees. We hope this guide to cryptocurrency trading will help you get started with cryptocurrency exchanges.

Coinbase/GDAX

Coinbase is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges based in San Francisco, California. It is available in 32 countries and currently serves more than 10 million customers. Launched in 2012, it has an easy-to-use interface that makes digital currency exchange a simple task for a non-technical person. It is also available for both iOS and Android. Unfortunately, Coinbase does not offer cryptocurrency mining for beginners and is only an exchange.

As of now, it offers four coins, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin. It exchanges digital currency with the US Dollar, Euro and Great British Pound. With minimal transfer fees, Coinbase has never experienced any security breaches making it a perfect platform for exchanging digital currencies. In addition to that, Coinbase offers a fully developed exchange called GDAX. It offers more advanced features and different and better trading fees than Coinbase.

Bitstamp

Bitstamp is another platform that offers digital currency exchange. It is relatively easy to use and offers more advanced features than TradeView. Bitstamp offers coins like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Ripple. It exchanges digital currencies with US dollars and Euros. You can practice all the latest cryptocurrency trading strategies on this exchange.

It offers flat deposits through bank transfer and supports debit/credit cards. Perhaps the only downside to Bitstamp is the slightly high fees and the fact that it has suffered a security breach in its 7 years of operation. Nevertheless, it is one of the most reliable exchanges. It is available on both iOS and Android.

Gemini

Gemini is a UK based company launched in 2015 by the Winklevoss twins. It is available in a few countries, including the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea. A downside of this platform is that it is not particularly user friendly. So, beginners are not advised to use this platform.

It offers two coins and 1 flat currency Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and US Dollar. Gemini follows strict protocols when it comes to security and till 2018, it has not faced a single security breach thus making it one of the most secure and reliable digital currency platforms. However, it is important to have a digital currency investment strategy before you start trading.

Digital Tix

Digital Tix is ​​a modern crypto exchange that aims to be a game changer in the sector. They have implemented many modern techniques that make it easy for anyone to start trading.

It has a unique feature called a single portfolio view that will enable traders to view all holding positions in a single portfolio. Using this unique feature will make it easier for traders to make informed decisions about cryptocurrency exchanges. It supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dashcoin.

the kraken

Kraken is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchange platforms. Launched in 2011, Kraken is the largest exchange in terms of volume and liquidity of the EUR trading pair. It serves worldwide, including the United States.

Kraken offers a variety of coins including Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Monero, Agur, Litecoin and more. It also supports bank transfers and deposits/withdrawals through cryptocurrencies. With a not so friendly user interface, it suffers from stability and performance issues but still, it is a good platform for cryptocurrency exchange.

Bitfinex

Bitfinex is the largest cryptocurrency exchange platform. Launched in 2012, its interface is easy to use and offers advanced number of features like margin trading, margin funding etc. It is available for both iOS and Android platforms It offers BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, IOTA, XMR and NEO.

Similar to previous cryptocurrency exchanges, it supports withdrawals using US dollars and Euros via bank transfer. Bitfinex has suffered two security breaches, the first in May 2015, which resulted in $330,000 in losses. and the second in August 2016 which resulted in $72 million worth of damage.

EtherDelta

EtherDelta is a decentralized exchange that directly supports peer-to-peer connections. It is very different from the previously discussed cryptocurrency exchanging platforms. Here, funds are held in a smart contract on an Ethereum network from which you are solely responsible for deposits and withdrawals Currently, EtherDelta only supports Ehtereum based tokens.

EtherDelta has a rather confusing interface that makes it difficult for users to perform cryptocurrency exchange operations. On one occasion, someone tried to buy 750 KNC at 0.007 ETH each but ended up buying 0.007 KNC at 750 ETH.

Conclusion

After looking at various cryptocurrency exchange platforms, we can safely say that Coinbase and Bitstamp stand out in terms of good features such as security, user-friendly interface, multiple withdrawal/transfer methods and more.

I wouldn’t call them perfect but I would recommend that this is the safest bet you can make. Each cryptocurrency exchange platform is unique in its own way and has both advantages and disadvantages. We just have to select one as per our requirement. We hope this guide to basic cryptocurrency exchanges and trading will give you a head start on your cryptocurrency trading journey.

Introduction: To invest in cryptocurrency

The first cryptocurrency that came into existence was Bitcoin which was built on blockchain technology and was probably launched in 2009 by a mysterious man named Satoshi Nakamoto. At the time of writing this blog, 17 million bitcoins have been mined and it is believed that a total of 21 million bitcoins can be mined. Other most popular cryptocurrencies are Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Golem, Civic and hard forks of Bitcoin such as Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold.
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It is advised to users not to put all the money in one cryptocurrency and try to avoid investing at the top of the cryptocurrency bubble. It has been observed that the price suddenly dropped during the peak of the crypto bubble. Since cryptocurrency is a volatile market users must invest the amount they can afford to lose as there is no government control over cryptocurrency as it is a decentralized cryptocurrency.
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Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple has predicted that Bitcoin is the real gold and will dominate all currencies like USD, EUR, INR, and ASD in the future and become the global currency in the coming years.
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Why and why not invest in cryptocurrency?

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency that came into existence and since then around 1600+ cryptocurrencies have been introduced with some unique features for each currency.
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Some of the reasons I felt and wanted to share are that cryptocurrencies are built on decentralized platforms – so users don’t need a third party to transfer cryptocurrencies from one destination to another, unlike fiat currencies where a user needs to transfer money from one account to another. Bank-like platforms to Cryptocurrency is built on a very secure blockchain technology and the chances of your cryptocurrency being hacked and stolen is almost zero unless you share some of your important information.
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You should always avoid buying cryptocurrencies at the high point of a cryptocurrency-bubble. Many of us buy cryptocurrencies at their peak hoping to make a quick buck and fall victim to the bubble scam and lose their money. It is better for users to do a lot of research before investing money. It is always better to keep your money in multiple cryptocurrencies rather than one as it has been observed that some cryptocurrencies grow more, some on average while other cryptocurrencies go into the red zone.
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Cryptocurrencies to focus on

In 2014, Bitcoin occupied 90% of the market and cryptocurrencies occupied the remaining 10%. In 2017, Bitcoin still dominates the crypto market but its share has dropped from 90% to 38% and Altcoins like Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple have grown rapidly and captured most of the market.
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Bitcoin still dominates the cryptocurrency market but is not the only cryptocurrency that you need to consider when investing in cryptocurrency. Some of the main cryptocurrencies that you must consider are:

Bitcoin

Litecoin

ripple

ethereum

Tron

citizen

the golem

remember

Where and how to buy cryptocurrency?

Although it was not easy to buy cryptocurrencies a few years back but now there are many platforms available to users.
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In 2015, there are two major Bitcoin platforms in India Unocoin wallet and Zebpay wallet where users can only buy and sell Bitcoins. Users only need to buy bitcoins from the wallet and not from another person. There was a price difference between buying and selling rates and users had to pay some nominal fees to complete their transactions.
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In 2017, the cryptocurrency industry grew tremendously and the price of Bitcoin rose spontaneously, especially in the last six months of 2017 which forced users to look for alternatives to Bitcoin and crossed 14 lakhs in the Indian market.
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As Unodax and Zebpay were the two major platforms in India that were dominating the market with 90% market share – which only traded in Bitcoin. This gives other companies the opportunity to grow with other altcoins and even forces Unocoin and others to add more coins to their platform.
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Unocoin, one of India’s leading cryptocurrency and blockchain company has launched UnoDAX exchange, an exclusive platform for its users to trade multiple cryptocurrencies in addition to Bitcoin trading on Unocoin. The difference between both the platforms was – Unocion was only offering instant buying and selling of Bitcoin whereas in UnoDAX, users can place an order for any available cryptocurrency and if it matches the recipient, the order will be executed.
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Other major exchanges available for cryptocurrency trading in India are Koinex, Coinsecure, Bitbns, WazirX.

Users have to open an account on any exchange by signing up with email ID and submitting KYC details. Once their account is verified, one can start trading the coins of their choice.

Before investing in any coin, users should do their research well and not fall into the cryptocurrency-bubble trap. Users must research the trustworthiness, transparency, security features and more of the exchange.
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All exchanges charge some nominal fee on each transaction. There are two types of charges – maker fee and taker fee. Apart from transaction fees, one has to pay transfer fees, if you want to transfer your cryptocurrency to another exchange or to your personal wallet. Charges only depend on the coin and the exchange as different exchanges have different prices for transferring coins.

Major Altcoins Other Than Bitcoin

As mentioned above, Bitcoin is dominating the market with a 38% market share, followed by Ripple, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash. Exchanges like UnoDAX, Bitfinex, Kraken, Bitstamp have listed other coins like Golem, Civic, Raiden Network, Kyber Network, Basic Attention, 0X, Augur, Monero, Tron and more. If a coin matches your portfolio then you must buy it.

But, you must put the money in the market that you can lose because the cryptocurrency market is very volatile and there is no government control over it.

When to buy?

There are no hard and fast rules when to buy your favorite cryptocurrency. But market stability needs to be researched. You shouldn’t at the top of a cryptocurrency bubble or when prices are constantly crashing. The best time is always considered when the price is stable at a relatively low level for some time.

Cryptocurrency storage method

Before buying any cryptocurrency you must understand how to keep your cryptocurrency safe.

Generally, all exchanges offer storage facilities where you can keep your coins safely. No one will share their username, password, 2FA when you deposit cryptocurrency on the exchange.

Paper wallets, hardware wallets, software wallets are some of the channels where one can store their cryptocurrency.

Paper Wallet: Paper wallet is an offline cold storage method to hold your cryptocurrency. It prints your private and public key on a piece of paper where the QR code is also printed. One needs to scan the QR code for their future transactions. Why is it safe? No need to worry about your account being hacked or any malicious malware attack. You just need to keep your piece of paper safe in a locker and if possible keep two to three pieces of paper wallet under your complete control.

Hardware Wallet: A hardware wallet is a physical device where you keep your cryptocurrency safe. There are many forms of hardware wallet but the most commonly used hardware wallet is USB. When you keep your cryptocurrency in a hardware wallet you just need to remember that you should not lose the hardware wallet because once it is lost you cannot recover your cryptocurrency.

A famous case, where a person mined 7000+ bitcoins and stored them in a hardware wallet and put them in another hardware wallet. One day he threw away the hardware wallet he used to store his cryptocurrency instead of the damaged hardware and he lost all his bitcoins.

What can be bought from cryptocurrency in India?

Most people assume that buying and selling any cryptocurrency is only for investing and getting high returns in the long and short term. Influentials and Bitcoin investors believe that Bitcoin will dominate all fiat currencies and be accepted as an international currency in the coming years.

Dell is one of the largest e-commerce businesses that accept Bitcoin as payment. Expedia and UNICEF are other examples.

In India, Sapna Book Mall was accepting Bitcoin as payment using Unocoin merchant services. People were booking movie tickets through BookMyShow or recharging their mobiles using the Unocoin platform. According to reports, they have stopped the service but are planning to resume it in the near future.

Conclusion:

Cryptocurrency is one of the growing investment sectors and has given better returns than real-estate, gold, stock-market etc. in the past. You can buy cryptocurrency and hold for long term to get excellent returns or go short term for quick profit as we have seen many coins grow at 1000%+ in the past. Since cryptocurrency is a volatile market and the government has no control over the industry. One must invest an amount in any cryptocurrency that they can afford to lose.

You can store your cryptocurrency in a hardware wallet, paper wallet, software wallet if you don’t want to keep it on the exchange you are trading from.

Background

Initial coin offerings on blockchain platforms have painted the world red for tech-startups around the world. A decentralized network that can allocate tokens to users who support an idea with money is revolutionary and rewarding.

Profit-spinning Bitcoin has become an ‘asset’ for early investors offering multiple returns in 2017. Investors and cryptocurrency exchanges around the world capitalize on the huge return opportunities for themselves leading to the rise of multiple online exchanges. Other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Ripple and other ICOs have promised better results. (Ethereum rose more than 88 times in 2017!)

While ICOs landed millions of dollars in the hands of startups in a matter of days, ruling governments initially chose to focus on the fastest fintech developments that had the potential to raise millions of dollars in a very short period of time.

Countries around the world are considering regulating cryptocurrencies

But as the technology and its underlying implications gained popularity, regulators became wary as ICOs began raising billions of dollars worth of funding.

It was in late 2017 that governments around the world seized the opportunity to intervene. Although China has completely banned cryptocurrencies, the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), has highlighted the risks to risky investors and proposed treating them as securities.

SEC Chairman Jay Clayton’s recent warning statement released in December notes that investors are cautioned,

“Please also recognize that these markets span national borders and that significant transactions may occur on systems and platforms outside the United States. Your invested funds may travel abroad quickly without your knowledge. As a result, risks, including market risk, may be amplified. Regulators, such as the SEC, effectively Bad actors will not be able to pursue or recover funds.”

This was followed by concerns in India, where Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in February that India does not recognize cryptocurrencies.

A Central Bank of India circular on April 6, 2018 to other banks asked banks to sever ties with firms and exchanges involved in trading or dealing in cryptocurrencies.

In Britain, the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) announced in March that it has formed a cryptocurrency task force and will seek help from the Bank of England to regulate the cryptocurrency sector.

Different laws, tax structures across countries

Cryptocurrencies are mainly coins or tokens launched on a cryptographic network and can be traded globally. Although cryptocurrencies have more or less the same value worldwide, countries with different laws and regulations can provide differential returns for investors who may be nationals of different countries.

Different laws for investors in different countries can make calculating income a tedious and cumbersome exercise.

It involves investment of time, resources and techniques which leads to unnecessary stretching of processes.

solution

Instead of many countries enacting different laws for global cryptocurrencies, a uniform global regulatory authority should be formed with laws that apply across borders. Such a move will play an important role in increasing legal cryptocurrency trading around the world.

Organizations with global objectives like UNO (United Nations Organization), World Trade Organization (WTO), World Economic Forum (WEF), International Trade Organization (ITO) are already playing an important role in bringing the world together on various fronts.

Cryptocurrencies were formed with the basic idea of ​​transferring funds around the world. They have more or less the same value across exchanges except for negligible arbitrage.

A global regulatory authority to regulate cryptocurrencies worldwide is the need of the hour and may create global rules to regulate new modes of financing concepts. Right now, every country is trying to regulate virtual currency through legislation, which is still being drafted.

If economic superpowers with other countries can build a consensus by introducing a regulatory authority with laws that know no national borders, it will be one of the biggest advances towards designing a crypto-friendly world and encouraging the use of the most transparent fintech. Blockchain in System Ever.

A universal regulation with subsections on cryptocurrency trading, returns, taxes, fines, KYC procedures, exchange laws and penalties for illegal hacks could bring us the following: facilities.

1. This can make the calculation of profits very easy for investors all over the world, as there will be no difference in net profits due to uniform tax structure.

2. Countries around the world can agree to share a certain portion of profits as taxes. So countries’ share of tax collected will be uniform across the world.

3. Time can be saved by forming many committees, drafting bills, and deliberating in legislation (like the Indian Parliament and the US Senate).

4. Not every country has to go through strict tax laws. Especially those involved in multinational businesses.

5. Even companies offering tokens or ICOs will comply with the said ‘international law’. Therefore, accounting for post-tax income will be a cake walk for the company

6. A global framework would invite more companies to come up with better ideas, thereby increasing employment opportunities around the world.

7. The law may be supported by an international watchdog or global currency regulator, which may have the power to blacklist an ICO offering that does not comply with the rules.

It’s not all benefits, when it comes to a law that will govern cryptocurrencies around the world. Sure there is difficulty For example.

It may take time to get the world’s financial leaders together and draft a law. Negotiating and bringing them to consensus can be challenging

1. Countries or economies offering tax-free structures may not agree to adopt laws that provide for a universal tax policy.

2. The intervention of global watchdogs or regulatory authorities in monitoring regulatory developments related to ICOs may not go down well with some countries.

3. Universal law can cause the world to be divided into groups. Countries that don’t support cryptocurrency like China can’t be part of it.

4. The law may be the brainchild of economically powerful countries who can design it for their best interests.

5. Unlike cryptocurrencies, which are decentralized in nature, this legislation will be a centralized one with a global regulatory body.

Conclusion

The world has come together for good. Whether building a peaceful world after World War II, or coming together for better trade laws and agreements.

The International Trade Organization (ITO), the World Trade Organization and the World Economic Forum have some of the best brains that define the global economy.

They can come together and be part of an organization that will define the economic prosperity of the world. They will help draft cryptocurrency rules globally and be a part of the regulatory body that can better guide and be a beacon for the thousands of ICOs around the world. It may take time initially, but will make things easier later on

ICO is short for initial coin offering. When launching a new cryptocurrency or crypto-token, developers offer a limited number of units to investors in exchange for Bitcoin or other major crypto currencies such as Ethereum.

ICOs are amazing tools for raining rapid development funds to support new cryptocurrencies. Tokens issued during the ICO can be sold and traded on cryptocurrency exchanges, assuming there is sufficient demand for them.

The Ethereum ICO is one of the most notable successes and the popularity of Initial Coin Offerings is growing as we speak

A Brief History of ICOs

Ripple is probably the first cryptocurrency distributed through an ICO. In early 2013, Ripple Labs began developing the Ripple payment system and created around 100 billion XRP tokens. These were sold through an ICO to fund the development of Ripple’s platform.

Mastercoin is another cryptocurrency that sold several million tokens for Bitcoin during an ICO, also in 2013. Mastercoin aims to tokenize Bitcoin transactions and execute smart contracts by creating a new layer on top of the existing Bitcoin code.

Of course, there are other cryptocurrencies that have been successfully funded through ICOs. In 2016, Lisk raised nearly $5 million during their initial coin offering.

Still, Ethereum’s ICO that took place in 2014 is perhaps the most prominent to date. During their ICO, the Ethereum Foundation sold ETH for 0.0005 Bitcoin each, raising around $20 million. Using the power of Ethereum smart contracts, it paves the way for the next generation of Initial Coin Offerings.

Ethereum’s ICO, a recipe for success

Ethereum’s smart contract system implemented the ERC20 protocol standard that sets the ground rules for creating other compliant tokens that can be traded on Ethereum’s blockchain. This allows others to create their own tokens, compliant with the ERC20 standard that can be traded directly on Ethereum’s network for ETH.

The DAO is a notable example of successfully using Ethereum’s smart contracts. The investment company raised $100 million worth of ETH and investors received DAO tokens in exchange to participate in the management of the platform. Sadly, The DAO failed after being hacked.

Ethereum’s ICO and their ERC20 protocol outlined the latest generation of crowdfunding blockchain-based projects through initial coin offerings.

This makes it very easy to invest in other ERC20 tokens. You simply transfer ETH, paste the contract into your wallet, and the new tokens will appear in your account for you to use however you like.

Obviously, not all cryptocurrency ERC20 tokens live on Ethereum’s network but pretty much any new blockchain-based project can launch an Initial Coin Offering.

Legal status of ICOs

When it comes to the legitimacy of ICOs, it’s a bit of a jungle. In theory, tokens are sold as digital goods, not financial assets. Most jurisdictions have yet to regulate ICOs so assuming founders have an experienced lawyer on their team, the entire process should be paperless.

Nevertheless, some jurisdictions have become aware of ICOs and are already working to regulate them similarly to the sale of shares and securities.

In December 2017, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) classified ICO tokens as securities. In other words, the SEC was preparing to crack down on ICOs that they considered misleading investors.

In some cases the token is just a utility token. This means the owner can only use it to access a specific network or protocol in cases where they may not be defined as financial security. Still, equity tokens whose purpose is to appreciate in value are pretty close to the idea of ​​a security. To be honest, most token purchases are made specifically for investment purposes.

Despite the efforts of regulators, ICOs are still stuck in a gray legal area and until a clear regulation is imposed entrepreneurs will try to benefit from initial coin offerings.

It’s also worth noting that once regulations are finalized, the cost and effort required to comply may make ICOs less attractive than traditional funding options.

last word

For now, ICOs remain an amazing way to fund new crypto-related projects, and many more have been successful.

However, keep in mind that everyone is launching ICOs these days and many of these projects are scams or lack the solid foundation they need to thrive and make it worth investing. For this reason, you must thoroughly research and investigate the team and background of any crypto project you wish to invest in. There are several websites that list ICOs, just search on Google and you will find some options. .

Bitcoin has led the crypto world for so long, and is so influential that the terms crypto and bitcoin are often used interchangeably. However, the truth is, digital currency is not only made up of Bitcoin. There are numerous other crypto currencies that are part of the crypto world. The purpose of this post is to educate our readers about cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin in order to provide them with a wide range of options to choose from if they wish to make a crypto-investment.

So let’s start with the first name on our list, which is:

Litecoin:

Launched in 2011, Litecoin is often referred to as the ‘Golden Silver of Bitcoin’. Charlie Lee – MIT graduate and former engineer at Google – founder of Litecoin

Like Bitcoin, Litecoin is a decentralized, open source payment network that operates without a central authority.

Litecoin resembles Bitcoin in many ways and often makes people think: “Why not go with Bitcoin? Both are the same!”. Here’s a catch: Litecoin’s block generation is much faster than Bitcoin! And this is the main reason why merchants around the world are becoming more open to accepting Litecoin.

Ethereum:

Another open source, decentralized software platform. The coin was launched in 2015 and enables smart contracts and distributed applications to be built and run without any downtime.

Applications on the Ethereum platform require a specific cryptographic token – Ether. According to Ethereum’s core developers, the token can be used for business, security and decentralization.

Ethereum faced an attack in 2016 that saw the currency split into two: Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.

In the race of top cryptocurrencies, Ethereum is the second most popular and is right behind Bitcoin.

Zcash:

Zcash comes out in the later part of 2016. The coin defines itself as: “If Bitcoin is to http for money, Zcash is to https”.

Zcash promises to provide transaction transparency, security and privacy. The currency also offers ‘shielded’ transaction options where users can transfer data in encrypted code form.

Dash:

Dash is basically a secret version of Bitcoin. It is also known as ‘darkcoin’ due to its secretive nature.

Dash is popular for offering an extended anonymity that makes its users’ transactions impossible to trace.

The coin first appeared on Digital Market Canvas in 2014 Since then, it has developed a huge fan following in a very short span of time

Ripple:

With a market capitalization of over $1 billion, Ripple is the last name on our list. The currency was launched in 2012 and offers instant, secure and low-cost payments.

Ripple’s consensus ledger does not require mining, a feature that sets it apart from Bitcoin and other mainstream cryptocurrencies.

The lack of mining reduces computing power which ultimately reduces latency and speeds up transactions.

Let’s finish:

While Bitcoin is leading the crypto pack, rivals are picking up the pace. Coins like Ethereum and Ripple have overtaken Bitcoin in enterprise solutions and are growing in popularity every day. As per the trend, other cryptos are here to stay and will soon give Bitcoin a real hard time to maintain its status.

Here’s a question that often comes up: How do I choose which cryptocurrency to invest in – aren’t they all the same?

There is no doubt that Bitcoin has captured the lion’s share of the cryptocurrency (CC) market and this is mainly because of its FAME. This phenomenon is very similar to what is happening in national politics worldwide, where a candidate wins the majority of votes on the basis of FAME rather than any proven competence or competence to rule a nation. Bitcoin is the pioneer in this market space and continues to grab almost all the market titles. This FAME doesn’t mean it’s perfect for the job, and it’s fairly well known that Bitcoin has limitations and issues that need to be addressed, however, there is disagreement in the Bitcoin world about how to address the issues. As the problem continues to grow, there is continued opportunity for developers to launch new coins that address specific situations, and thus differentiate themselves from the approximately 1300 other coins in this market space. Let’s look at two Bitcoin competitors and explore how they differ from Bitcoin and each other:

Ethereum (ETH) – Ethereum currency is known as ETHER. The main difference from Bitcoin is that Ethereum uses “smart contracts” which are account holding objects on the Ethereum blockchain. Smart contracts are defined by their creators and can communicate with other contracts, make decisions, store data and send ETHER to others. The execution and services they offer are provided by the Ethereum network, all of which are beyond what Bitcoin or any other blockchain network can do. Smart contracts can act as your autonomous agents, following your instructions and rules for spending coins and initiating other transactions on the Ethereum network.

Ripple (XRP) – This currency and the Ripple network have unique features that make it far superior to digital currencies like Bitcoin. Ripple has developed the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP), a powerful financial tool that allows exchanges on the Ripple network to transfer funds quickly and efficiently. The basic idea is to keep money in a “gateway” where only those who know the password can unlock the funds. This opens up huge potential for financial institutions, as it facilitates cross-border payments, reduces costs and provides transparency and security. This is done through creative and intelligent use of blockchain technology.

Mainstream media is covering this market almost daily with breaking news, but their stories lack depth… they are mostly dramatic headlines.

The Wild West show continues…

5 Stocks Crypto/Blockchain Pick Averages Up 109% From Dec 11/17. Wild swings continue with daily motion. Yesterday we saw South Korea and China make the latest attempt to dampen the cryptocurrency boom.

On Thursday, South Korea’s justice minister, Park Sang-ki, sent global bitcoin prices temporarily lower and virtual currency markets into turmoil when he said regulators were preparing legislation to ban cryptocurrency trading. Later the same day, South Korea’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance, one of the main member agencies of the South Korean government’s cryptocurrency regulation task force, came out saying that their department do not agree Including the Ministry of Justice’s premature statement about a possible cryptocurrency trading ban.

Although the South Korean government says cryptocurrency trading is nothing more than gambling, and they worry that the industry will leave many citizens in the poor house, their real concern is the loss of tax revenue. This is the same concern of every government.

China has become one of the world’s largest sources of cryptocurrency mining, but now the government is rumored to be looking into regulating the electrical power used by mining computers. Currently over 80% of Bitcoin mining electricity comes from China. By shutting down miners, the government will make it harder for Bitcoin users to verify their transactions. Mining jobs will move elsewhere, but China is particularly attractive because of very low electricity and land costs. If China follows through on this threat, there will be a temporary loss of mining capacity, causing Bitcoin users to see longer timers and higher costs for transaction verification.

This wild ride will continue, and much like the Internet boom, we will see some big winners and, ultimately, some big losers. Also, like the Internet boom, or the uranium boom, early adopters prosper, while mass investors always show up at the end, buying at the top.

Stay tuned!

“Crypto” – or “cryptocurrency” – is a type of software system that provides transaction functionality to users over the Internet. They are the most important features of the system Decentralized Nature – usually provided by Blockchain database system.

Blockchain and “cryptocurrency” have recently become staples of the global zeitgeist; Usually as a result of the “price” of Bitcoin skyrocketing. This has led to millions of people participating in the market, with many “Bitcoin Exchanges” undergoing massive infrastructural stress as demand increases.

The most important thing to realize about “crypto” is that while it actually serves one purpose (cross-border transactions over the Internet), it does not provide any other financial benefit. In other words, its “intrinsic value” is strictly limited to its ability to transact with other human beings; Not in price saving/promotion (which is what most people call it).

The most important thing you need to understand is that “Bitcoin” and the like Payment network – Not “Currency”. This will be covered in more depth in a second; The most important thing to realize is that “getting rich” with BTC isn’t about putting people in a better economic position – it’s just a process of being able to buy a “coin” at a lower price and sell it higher.

To this end, when looking at “crypto”, you must first understand how it actually works and where its “value” actually lies…

Decentralized payment network…

As mentioned, the key thing to remember about “crypto” is that it is primarily a Decentralized payment network. Think Visa/Mastercard without the central processing system.

This is important because it highlights the real reason why people are starting to look more deeply into the “Bitcoin” proposition; This gives you the ability to send/receive money from anyone around the world, as long as they have your Bitcoin wallet address.

The reason it features a “price” for different “currencies” is because of the misconception that “Bitcoin” will give you the ability to make money by being a “crypto” asset. It doesn’t.

The only The way people are making money with Bitcoin is by “raising” its price – buying “coins” at a low price, and selling them at a much higher price. While this worked well for many people, it was actually based on the “bigger fool theory” – basically saying that if you manage to “sell” the coins, it’s to a “bigger fool” than you.

This means that if you want to get involved in the “crypto” space today, you are essentially buying any “coin” (even “alt” coin) that is cheap (or cheap) and riding them up until you sell them later. . Since none of the “coins” are backed by real-world assets, there’s no way to predict when/if/how it will work.

Future growth

For all intents and purposes, “Bitcoin” is a spent energy.

The epic rally in December 2017 signaled mass adoption, and while its price will likely continue to rise in the $20,000+ range, buying a coin today would essentially be a huge gamble that would happen.

Smart money is already looking at most of the “alt” coins (Ethereum/Ripple etc) that have relatively low prices, but are constantly increasing in price and adoption. The key thing to look at in the modern “crypto” space is how the various “platform” systems are actually being used.

Such as the fast-paced “tech” space; Ethereum & Ripple look like the next “Bitcoin” – focusing on how they’ll enable users to use “decentralized applications” (DApps) on top of their underlying networks to gain functionality

This means that if you look at the next level of “crypto” growth, it will almost certainly come from the various platforms that you are able to identify out there.