What is Bitcoin? I’ve had many people ask me this question because they know that I am familiar with the financial markets. Recently, this question came from my wife. Like many others, she has heard of bitcoin but has no idea what it really is. Well, don’t worry, I’m here to help you understand what Bitcoin is and what it can be used for. Also, how can you participate in this ever-growing movement of bitcoin owners/traders?
To answer this question, I took some time to really do research on the subject. I already knew what bitcoin was, I knew more than the basics but in order to educate others in the subject, I needed to have expert knowledge. So, I spent a few days just reading and researching to learn as much as I can. This article contains the basics of what I have learned. It has been simplified in many instances to help non-technical/ non-financial individuals to walk away feeling satisfied that they finally get it. My hope is to not have you walking away feeling like that guy below:
Bitcoin and the millennial Generation
If you look at my logo, you can see that it is influenced by the bitcoin revolution. I’m willing to bet that in 20,30,50 years from now, when the world thinks of the millennial generation, they will undoubtedly associate us with the cryptocurrency market (wherever that may be by then). So, let’s get started on what bitcoin is.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that is electronically created through “mining”. To mine a bitcoin, you need to have really fast and powerful computers that can solve very complex mathematical equations. When the equation is finally solved, the “miner” gets a Bitcoin. Each equation that is solved is more complex than the one before it. Because of this, each Bitcoin that is mined will take more and more computing power than the one before it.
How is Bitcoin printed and how is it used?
This cryptocurrency can be used to buy things electronically just like any fiat currency. It can also be traded on an exchange in the same manner. The only difference is that it is not traded with fiat currencies on the FX. Instead, it has a separate platform of its own.
Bitcoins are not printed like dollars, they are complex and unique and can never be duplicated (theoretically). The decentralization of Bitcoins along with the fact that there can only be 21 million Bitcoins is what makes them special.
Who is the creator of Bitcoin?
Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, a software developer. His idea was to produce a currency independent of any central authority, transferable electronically and as close to instant as possible with very low transaction fees. Bitcoin can be divided into smaller parts however; the smallest divisible amount is one hundred millionth of a Bitcoin which is called a Satoshi (name after the founder).
What is the Blockchain
The Blockchain is a general ledger where Bitcoin stores all the transactions that have ever happened in the network. This is where mined Bitcoins go to be verified. If you have publicly used Bitcoin addresses, anyone can tell how many Bitcoins are in that address because of the blockchain however, because of Bitcoin’s anonymity, they won’t know exactly who the address belongs to.
Also, Bitcoin transactions are nun-refundable unless the recipient agrees to return the Bitcoins back to you. If they don’t, they are gone forever!
Is that it?
Yes, in a nutshell… that is basically it! I told you, I was going to try to make it as simple as possible to understand. If you were able to follow all that then congratulations, you now understand what Bitcoin is, its origin and how it is used. If you think you have additional useful information to add to readers, comment below and tell us your thoughts! Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to receive more Bitcoin/cyrptocurrency news along with other financial news and ways to help you reach financial independence.
Original article and pictures take themillennialbull.com site
The 6 Most Important Cryptocurrencies Other Than Bitcoin
Bitcoin has not just been a trendsetter, ushering in a wave of cryptocurrencies built on decentralized peer-to-peer network, it’s become the de facto standard for cryptocurrencies. The currencies inspired by Bitcoin are collectively called altcoins and have tried to present themselves as modified or improved versions of Bitcoin. While some of these currencies are easier to mine than Bitcoin is, there are tradeoffs, including greater risk brought on by lesser liquidity, acceptance and value retention. Since Bitcoin prices are soaring new highs, we look at six cryptocurrencies, picked from over 700 (in no specific order) that could be worth your while. (Related reading, see: How Do Bitcoin Investors Combat Price Volatility?)
1) Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin, launched in the year 2011, was among the initial cryptocurrencies following bitcoin and was often referred to as ‘silver to Bitcoin’s gold.’ It was created by Charlie Lee, a MIT graduate and former Google engineer. Litecoin is based on an open source global payment network that is not controlled by any central authority and uses "scrypt" as a proof of work, which can be decoded with the help of CPUs of consumer grade. Although Litecoin is like Bitcoin in many ways, it has a faster block generation rate and hence offers a faster transaction confirmation. Other than developers, there are a growing number of merchants who accept Litecoin.
2) Ethereum (ETH)
Launched in 2015, Ethereum is a decentralized software platform that enables Smart Contracts and Distributed Applications (ĐApps) to be built and run without any downtime, fraud, control or interference from a third party. During 2014, Ethereum had launched a pre-sale for ether which had received an overwhelming response. The applications on Ethereum are run on its platform-specific cryptographic token, ether. Ether is like a vehicle for moving around on the Ethereum platform, and is sought by mostly developers looking to develop and run applications inside Ethereum. According to Ethereum, it can be used to “codify, decentralize, secure and trade just about anything.” Following the attack on the DAO in 2016, Ethereum was split into Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). Ethereum (ETH) has a market capitalization of $41.4 billion, second after Bitcoin among all cryptocurrencies. (Related reading: The First-Ever Ethereum IRA is a Game-Changer)
3) Zcash (ZEC)
Zcash, a decentralized and open-source cryptocurrency launched in the latter part of 2016, looks promising. “If Bitcoin is like http for money, Zcash is https," is how Zcash defines itself. Zcash offers privacy and selective transparency of transactions. Thus, like https, Zcash claims to provide extra security or privacy where all transactions are recorded and published on a blockchain, but details such as the sender, recipient, and amount remain private. Zcash offers its users the choice of ‘shielded’ transactions, which allow for content to be encrypted using advanced cryptographic technique or zero-knowledge proof construction called a zk-SNARK developed by its team. (Related reading, see: What Is Zcash?)
4) Dash
Dash (originally known as Darkcoin) is a more secretive version of Bitcoin. Dash offers more anonymity as it works on a decentralized mastercode network that makes transactions almost untraceably. Launched in January 2014, Dash experienced an increasing fan following in a short span of time. This cryptocurrency was created and developed by Evan Duffield and can be mined using a CPU or GPU. In March 2015, ‘Darkcoin’ was rebranded to Dash, which stands for Digital Cash and operates under the ticker – DASH. The rebranding didn't change any of its technological features such as Darksend, InstantX. (Related reading, see: Top Alternative Investments for Retirement)
5) Ripple (XRP)
Ripple is a real-time global settlement network that offers instant, certain and low-cost international payments. Ripple “enables banks to settle cross-border payments in real time, with end-to-end transparency, and at lower costs.” Released in 2012, Ripple currency has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion. Ripple’s consensus ledger -- its method of conformation -- doesn’t need mining, a feature that deviates from bitcoin and altcoins. Since Ripple’s structure doesn't require mining, it reduces the usage of computing power, and minimizes network latency. Ripple believes that ‘distributing value is a powerful way to incentivize certain behaviors’ and thus currently plans to distribute XRP primarily “through business development deals, incentives to liquidity providers who offer tighter spreads for payments, and selling XRP to institutional buyers interested in investing in XRP.”
Monero is a secure, private and untraceable currency. This open source cryptocurrency was launched in April 2014 and soon spiked great interest among the cryptography community and enthusiasts. The development of this cryptocurrency is completely donation-based and community-driven. Monero has been launched with a strong focus on decentralization and scalability, and enables complete privacy by using a special technique called ‘ring signatures.’ With this technique, there appears a group of cryptographic signatures including at least one real participant – but since they all appear valid, the real one cannot be isolated.
The Bottom Line
Bitcoin continues to lead the pack of cryptocurrencies, in terms of market capitalization, user base and popularity. Nevertheless, virtual currencies such as Ethereum and Ripple which are being used more for enterprise solutions are becoming popular, while some altcoins are being endorsed for superior or advanced features vis-à-vis Bitcoins. Going by the current trend, cryptocurrencies are here to stay but how many of them will emerge leaders amid the growing competition within the space will only be revealed with time.
Original article and pictures take i.investopedia.com site
Ten Rules for Trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Other Crypto
Ten Rules for Trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Other Crypto
#Newsflash 2 February 2018: Binance has disabled New Registrations but you can open a new account using this backdoor. They forgot to close the registration app endpoint in the launchpad server. Open account at Binance.
#30 January 2018: Exchanges are closing doors to new Registrations
One by one, the exchanges are closing the doors to new Registrations under the pressure of excessive demand. Bittrex, Cryptopia, CEX are closed to new registrations. It is still possible to open accounts at Binance, Bitmex, Bitfinex, CoinExchange, COSS, HitBTC, Altcoin.
Exchanges Accepting New Clients
Advice is to to register with these exchanges immediately, while they are still accepting new business:
Due to the extremely high number of registrations that have occurred recently we have paused our registration feature while out team works to make changes in our internal systems to cope with the increased level of traffic our site is experiencing.
If you like risk you can buy 1 Bitcoin (currently $11,670) with 0.1 BTC ($1,167) by buying a 10x margin position at Bitmex. You might assign a small fraction of your portfolio to this high-risk high-reward trade. Use this link to receive a 10% fee discount. Here is a video tutorial on trading Bitcoin with leverage. Note that you can lose what you stake if there is a large drop in the price.
You can also short the Bitcoin price (profit from a fall in its price) by Selling the Contract.
Set-up to buy 1 Bitcoin ($11,670) with 0.1 BTC ($1,167)
Cost:The cost is 0.1015 BTC i.e. $1,167. This is the maximum you can lose should the price fall by 10% to $10,500. If the price was to crash to $5,000 your loss is still limited to $1,167. This is the beauty of the Bitmex contract. Trading Futures Contracts on the CME, for example, there is no such limited risk facility — you can lose a lot more than your initial margin.
Order Value:The value of your position is 1 BTC i.e. $11,670.
Scenarios
Price rises by 10% to $12,837. Your profit is $1,167, i.e. 100%
Price rises by 20% to $14,004. Your profit is $2,334, i.e. 200%
Price falls by 10% to $10,503. Your loss is $1,167, i.e. 100%
Price falls by 20% to $9,336. Your loss is $1,167, i.e. 100%
I suggest trading with tiny amounts to start with to become familiar with the Bitmex site. Then you can increase your leverage to x100 as you gain competence. (i.e Buy 1 Bitcoin worth $11,670 with 0.01 BTC worth $116.70). A position at x100 leverage is quite likely to make a lot of money quickly or to get wiped out in a matter of minutes.
My general rule in buying Bitcoin on leverage is to buy the dip: you want to see red candles after a period of green candles on the charts. I like to buy at 10x leverage to start with. If the position trades into a nice profit I slide the leverage slider up to 50x or 100x. This has the effect of moving your Liquidation Price up and therefore securing profit.
Margin-trading is available on most of the Top 10: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Dash, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Monero, ZCash. Note that the BTC trade is priced against the USD, but these altcoin contracts are priced against Bitcoin.
Another strategy I use is to keep a 10x leveraged long position on Bitcoin permanently open on Bitmex. When the market rises then take profit off the table. My position gets closed out periodically when the market moves against me, in which event I simply re-open it.
Futures trading is also of value when you identify a crypto asset that is in a downward trend or even a death spiral, in which event you can profit by shorting it against BTC at Bitmex. Look at XRPBTC slowly sink by 90% from 21,000 Satoshis to 2,210 Sats over the period 18 May 2017 to 3 December 2017.
Also, the day might come when the crypto market goes into a prolonged period of funk or decline. Like DotCom in the Spring of 2000. If you are skilled at trading on margin you can use that as an opportunity for gain.
#Trading Tip 28 November 2017: Buy Binance Coin $BNB. Trading volumes of cryptoassets are exploding. More Bitcoin is traded daily than Apple or Amazon stocks. How to leverage this phenomenon into trading profit? Binance Exchange is a new global exchange that has quickly entered the top 10 exchanges by trading volume, and rising. They issue their own utility coin.
The price of $BNB can be expected to rise non-linearly with the exchange’s growing volumes. Buy Binance Coin here.
#News 6 November 2017: I keep a crypto trading diary that I regularly update with trading recommendations.
The Ten Rules
31 December 2017: Performance of my Portfolio:
Since Entry June 2014: Portfolio is x 46.5, i.e. has increased 4,550%. My average Bitcoin buy price (June 2014 to December 2015) was $540. Bitcoin (at its current $13,947) is x 25.82, increase of 2,482%.
Year to Date (YTD) 2017: My portfolio is x 22, i.e. has increased 2,100%. Global Cryptomarket is x 33.62, increase of 3,262%. (From $18.2 billion to $612 billion.)
The main successes in my portfolio have been $BTC, $ETH, $EOS (ICO), $XTZ (Tezos ICO), $ZRX (0X ICO), $BNB (Binance Coin), $POWR, $BCH, $BCO (BridgeCoin).
The Golden Rule: Build your Portfolio on Bitcoin, not on any altcoin. Buy Bitcoin at Coinbase. (You will get $10 of free Bitcoin using this link.)
Let Profits Run. Cut Losses. Watch 7d Price Change not 24h or 1h
ICOs are a Great Opportunity. Do Your Own Research.
Research Micro-Caps that might rise by Orders of Magnitude. (I like KucoinShares $KCS. Buy at Kucoin Exchange.)
It can pay to go long or short on margin. Buy (and Sell) Bitcoin on margin at Bitmex Exchange. Use margin if you want greater, faster returns (at a higher risk).
Rule 1: Build the Portfolio on Bitcoin
Bitcoin is the mother lode. It has been good to me and will always form the main part of my crypto portfolio.
Those (mainly low-income copy & paste journalists) claiming Bitcoin is in a bubble are too lazy and/or stupid to become informed. There is no Bitcoin bubble for these reasons.
Growth
Bitcoin has had phenomenal growth in its price and MCap since inception. If we exclude other cryptoassets, Bitcoin has been the best performing asset in the world every year since 2009 through to December 2017 with the exception of 2014. It has beaten all global currencies, equities, commodities, bonds, ETFs, real estate throughout that period. Bubbles are by definition short-lived, they do not keep bubbling for eight years.
As a result it has achieved a MCap of $56 billion and this place in a global table of iconic assets.
Trading Volumes
Volumes indicate the liquidity of an asset. The greater the liquidity the easier it is to buy and sell, even when there is turmoil, and the lower the Bid-Offer spread and therefore the cost of trading. You want to avoid assets with tiny liquidity as when the shit hits the fan it will be costly to exit. Bitcoin has world-class liquidity. I run a crypoasset analysis site named Blocklink.info. Here is a screen-grab of the most liquid assets in the world.
Source: Blocklink.info. Volumes for cryptoassets are fetched from the Coinmarketcap API using the CRYPTOFINANCE Google Sheets Add-On. Volumes for stocks come from Google Finance. You can check the US stocks volume at the NASDAQ site.
Bitcoin’s trading volume is up there with the great iconic American stocks.
Things like this are gold when I'm trying to get institutional investors to take the space seriously. https://t.co/XypK4ojTXL
Bitcoin’s price will continue to be volatile, but Bitcoin is travelling along a secular bull trend road, and that spectacular volume is not going to evaporate overnight.
Transaction Fees
Every month fees are ever higher which is watertight evidence of ever greater demand to use Bitcoin. That is, people want to send transactions across the blockchain, not just trade on the exchanges.
On average, it now costs more than $5 to transact on the Bitcoin blockchain! ��
Tx fees time-series data is maintained at Blockchair.com
Bitcoin and My Portfolio
Bitcoin holds a dominant place in my cryptoasset portfolio. As a result of recent changes in UK regulations I have allocated my entire personal pension (like a US 401k or retirement account) into Bitcoin via the XBTProvider ETN.
Be more cautious about investing your 401k into Barry Silbert’s Bitcoin Investment Trust $GBTC. The (European) XBT Provider ETN is an open-ended fund which means it maintains a premium to the NAV close to 0% at all times. The Bitcoin Investment Trust is an inferior investment vehicle because it is a closed-end fund (it does not increase its holdings of the underlying asset when demand for the product increases) which means it is subject to wild swings in its premium, which has been as high as 150%. So you could make the mistake of buying when the premium is high and suffer swingeing losses even when the Bitcoin price is stable.
Rule 2: “When you See it, Bet Big.” George Soros.
Something extraordinary is happening. The cypto space in June 2017 is like the Internet space in 1995. It is a great opportunity.
Stanley Druckenmiller has written about his dealings with George Soros whom he quotes as saying ‘When you see it, bet big’. The funny thing is, I was mocked by a Hedge Funder on Twitter named Sarah Cone (@impcapital ) when I revealed that I had seen it and I had bet big. I bet big with my entire fucking pension.
@zaoyang@BTCoinInfo@impcapital@AriDavidPaul And it's not a small pension - built it working on dev. of risk management systems for interest rate derivatives at banks all over the globe
Until 18 May 2017 I held very little Ethereum and zero Ripple in my portfolio.
I made a great mistake in not buying Ethereum and Ripple in 2017 until 18 May. My mistake was Bitcoin Maximilism. I refused to have anything to do with Ethereum and Ripple because I didn’t like them. As a result I missed these returns.
I came to my senses on 18 May, 2017 when I underwent an epiphany. I then made a new (self-imposed) rule : broadly track the Top 10 cryptoassets in my portfolio, regardless of my opinion about their individual merits.
I look at this and think what the fuck was I doing? I have done OK in 2017 - my return of 106 > 89% of Bitcoin, but not great.... 1/
At the time of writing, 20 June 2017, the results of index-tracking have been pleasing.
YTD 2017 returns for Cryptocurrencies, 18 May 2017:
My portfolio was up 106% YTD.
YTD 2017 returns for Cryptocurrencies, 20 June 2017:
My portfolio was up 281%. So in one month (18 May to 20 June) it has raced past Bitcoin, $GBTC, and Monero, and has made good ground in catching up with Global Cryptocurrencies.
I ruled myself free to apply discretion in my index-tracking. It was very clear early on that Ripple was in a secular bear market against Bitcoin from 18 May and I quickly became and stayed underweight in Ripple.
Decided to track the crypto index (& thus to buy some $XRP) on 18 May, the exact date that the $XRP bubble popped! Good decision, bad luck.
I also went underweight in Ethereum in mid-June at $350 — $360.
Why? Because:
Is Ethereum in a bubble?
I don’t know. Applying the same metrics used above to $ETH it does pretty well, but not as well as Bitcoin. But there are clear risks and as a result I am underweight in Ethereum compared to its share of the global Cryptoasset Market Cap.
Growth (Price & MCap): Ethereum has outstanding growth in its short life, but it was only created in August 2015 so it lacks the 8-year track record of Bitcoin. This is significant. Ethereum’s explosive performance in 2017 could indeed fit into the time-frame of a bubble.
Trading Volumes & Volume/MCap Ratio: Great. Similar to Bitcoin.
Transaction Fees: All good. They are rising quickly indicating true demand for this cryptoasset.
Metrics aside, Spencer Bogart makes great sense in this thread where he describes the regulatory risk and other risks that might bring the Ethereum house of cards down. It is possible that the SEC will rule that the ICOs are illegal sale of securities. People might go to prison. It is for these reasons that I am under-allocated.
1/I want Ethereum to succeed and stand to gain from its continued success. That said, I have a three major concerns about ETH price outlook:
Note: If Governments decide to put a stop to the cryptoasset economy, there is a crucial distinction between Bitcoin and Ethereum. Bitcoin is truly decentralised. It has honeybadger, even cockroach qualities and is resistant to such measures. Ethereum is a registered commercial legal entity in Switzerland and can be shut down overnight.
Anyone who has lived through a bubble knows the value of this.
I have experienced several bubbles, namely London housing 1984–1988, DotCom in 1998–2000, London housing again 2002–2008, the Bulgarian property market (seaside apartments and ski apartments) 2004–2008.
It’s human nature to be cautious at first and then progressively relaxed, even reckless. My observations suggest that it is best to behave in the opposite, counter-intuitive way: commit yourself to the market with reckless abandon in the early days, and then start the scaling out process, applying the brakes and get the hell out when it appears to be the later stages.
In all those bubbles I made great paper profits that disappeared in a matter of months. The paper profits were more than 2 million Euros in the Bulgarian property market. In none of them did I take profit off the table in the run-up. Christ did I regret that. I am taking profit off the table in the cryptoasset market.
Finally, at the end, you must scale out completely. Jesse Livermore’s advice for a bull market:
It is not my opinion that we are near the last eighth:
Rule 5: The Honeybadger Trade: Buy the Dip.
Lots of influential actors — Governments, banks, regulators — fear Bitcoin and try to kill it on a regular basis. Bitcoin takes massive hit after massive hit, but it has always rode the punches and bounced back. Experienced traders have noted this and the advice is to buy the dip. This is the Honeybadger Trade.
I like the idea of BTFD, as I truly believe in Bitcoin. BTFD! people on Twitter yell. But it has puzzled me for a while.
There is actually no point in watching this bloodbath. People say BTFD but with what funds?
There is a solution. Buy on margin at the dips. The beauty of this is that you do not need to add funds to your account, you merely avail yourself of the leverage already available. Use Bitmex Exchange.
I permit myself to use margin in the specific case of BTFD.
You need to get the timing of BTFD right. Beetcoin on Twitter provided this great analysis (thread) demonstrating that you should stay out for the first 48 hours of a dip and then BTFD.
You need to be clear, is this a dip or is it a secular bear market? I BTFDd relentlessly in the DOTCOM unravelling in 2000 and lost every penny in the end.
If it is an established, secular bear market then face the music and STFD.
Rule 6: Don’t Overtrade. Lock up Coins
I over-trade stupidly at at tiny whims when I am bored or drunk. A solution I have found is to lock coins away out of reach.
One way is to keep Bitcoins and others in your hardware wallet. I use Trezor. It can store Bitcoin, Ethereum (+ all ERC-20 tokens), Ethereum Classic, ZCash, Litecoin, and Dash.
Another way is to lock them into terms deposits at Cryptopia (applies only to Dotcoin). This gives you the added benefit of earning interest on coins at interest rates that just do not exist outside crypto (about 18% p.a.).
Rule 7: Let Profits Run. Cut Losses.
This guy turned $10,000 into $6 million by letting his profits run during the Ethereum run-up in the first half of 2017.
Today I hit my goal. I've turned $10,000 fiat into 20,000 $ETH tokens and a nice side of $GNT in 7 months and 2 days. Cheers Twitter
Run profits Cut Losses is hard to do exactly. In my P&L Sheet I focus on the 7d (Price Change over 7 days) to decide whether to re-allocate my portfolio according to this rule. I largely ignore 1 h and even 24 h .
Rule 8. Treat ICOs and other Examples of Herd Mentality with Care
In general you are better off holding Ethereum than going through the mad, greedy, FOMO process of buying ICOs.
Odds have been against you picking a token sale that outperforms #Ethereum's $ETH �� https://t.co/y5TABTPpW8
But ICOs or coins newly released on the exchanges can be great investments. Beetcoin played the IOTA new release on Bitfinex like a master. He turned 10 Bitcoin into more than 200 Bitcoin.He bought the $IOT Over the Counter (OTC) some time before Bitfinex listed it. He was ahead of the herd.
iota - Coz you just heard about it here before it becomes mainstream. Bought 1 Ti = 10 BTC (otc) Current 1 Ti = 36 BTC $134M mktcap
I bought Elastic $XEL at the obscure Heat exchange. It was rather difficult discovering how to buy it because I was in this case ahead of the herd where the path was not well defined. In the end I bought it at a high price (average 31,367 Satoshis, should have got them at 25,000 Sats) as I got scammed over at Heat by a predator (Arsonic @Ars0nic on Twitter) playing the order book. We’ll see how that plays out. I think the excessive price I paid will not matter too much.
This is the strangest order book for $XEL. The offer is 10x the bid!
@notsofast@dandidanillo@Crypto_God It was like a Hollywood movie. I was lured into Heat and played like a river salmon. Skilled stuff. My losses were small & money well spent.
That said, those who lost everything were not the brightest traders. They could have avoided that by using judiciously set Stop-Limit orders, rather than plain Stop orders.
The mistake those ETH traders who lost everything was they used Stops but not Stop Limits: https://t.co/AHRAXB7Umb
TD Ameritrade, Ally Invest to Offer Exchange Traded Bitcoin Futures
With two of the most respected exchanges in the US about to launch bitcoin futures, CME and Cboe, American brokers now have little excuse not to offer the instruments. A few of the major players have already revealed their positions regarding retail trading clients, while most still remain on the sidelines.
Both TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD) and Ally Invest (NYSE: ALLY) have publicly stated that they plan to offer access to bitcoin futures trading as soon as they become available to them. Together these two brokers serve over seven million retail US traders, Ameritrade with 6,950,000 funded customer accounts and Ally with 250,000.
“What’s exciting to us about it is it provides a two-sided market,” JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist TD Ameritrade said. “With natural buyers and sellers, that helps to put a more reasonable volatility on the product.”
“Ally Invest customers have specifically expressed interest in the futures product the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is planning to launch that is based on bitcoin,” said Rich Hagen, president of Ally Invest. “If the CME does launch this product, Ally Invest plans to offer it to current and new futures customers immediately.”
Maybe in the Futures
Possibly the most surprising announcement came from Fidelity Investments whose spokesman told Bloomberg they don’t have any plans yet to offer access to the instruments for their clients. Fidelity was the first major US broker to allow clients to track their bitcoin, ether, and litecoin holdings on its web portal. Considering that they now have regulatory cover to offer an actual form of trading, with CME and Cboe handling the compliance issues, it is likely just a matter of time until they jump on board.
The other major US brokers have either not had enough time to process the rapid developments, or are just waiting to see what will happen with Ameritrade and Ally before making any move.
What does brokers offering bitcoin futures trading mean for investors? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock.
Do you like to research and read about Bitcoin technology? Check out Bitcoin.com’s Wiki page for an in-depth look at Bitcoin’s innovative technology and interesting history.
Original article and pictures take news.bitcoin.com site
Taming the Power-Hungry Blockchain Beast with Decentralized, Clean Energy
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Cheap electricity from fossil fuels means mining cryptocurrencies can cause havoc on the environment. But there is a greener solution.
Throughout history, every great breakthrough often came with negative consequences and side effects.
Think about Marie Curie. Her research on radioactivity is what makes X-rays possible today. Unfortunately, her discoveries and remarkable research are also what killed her.
What about the Internet? It’s the most revolutionary invention for generations and holds countless opportunities that benefit billions of people around the world. However, cybercrime has never been higher and expected to reach $2 tln by 2019.
It’s the same story with Blockchain. The technology has the potential to revolutionize every industry it comes into contact with. However, its biggest application remains in the cryptocurrency industry.
And with the current excitement surrounding this industry, it’s easy to overlook the side effects that come with such a disruptive breakthrough.
Energy-craving Blockchain can have devastating consequences for the environment
Mining popular cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, requires extremely powerful computer hardware that can solve complex mathematical equations. To run these computers burns up a lot of energy, mostly from non-renewable fossil fuels.
And as the price of the digital coin sores so too does the number of people looking to get in on the action.
Each and every Bitcoin transaction requires around 215 KWh (kilowatt-hours) to process. In comparison, the average American household uses 900 KWh every month. So around 30 KWh per day.
That means a single Bitcoin transaction uses the same amount of power as seven homes do in an entire day. What’s even more shocking is that a single Bitcoin mine relies on fossil fuels, like coal, can produce as much as 13,000 kg of CO2 emissions per Bitcoin mined.
With 300,000 transactions per day, it’s easy to see what a significant impact the process has on the environment.
And this is just from one cryptocurrency.
Although Ethereum is less energy reliant, a single transaction on this network still requires the same amount of power as nearly two homes. In total, the network is equivalent in power consumption as the whole of Cyprus.
Centralized mining on a decentralized network
On a platform that is inherently decentralized, centralized mining operations seem counterintuitive.
However, mining operations gravitate towards countries with cheap electricity.
For example, China does over 80 percent of Bitcoin mining due to the country’s cheap supply of electricity.
Unfortunately, the power supply comes mostly from dirty, non-renewable sources like coal. The country gets more than 70 percent of their electricity from coal. In fact, a few years ago, it was reported that China burns as much coal as the rest of the world combined.
Burning coal releases large amounts of CO2 which is one of the biggest causes of the greenhouse effect and global warming.
Apart from having a detrimental impact on the environment, large pools of concentrated mining pools spurred on by cheap electricity, have too much influence over the network. Look what happened to the price of Bitcoin when China announced their ban on ICO’s? The price becomes too reliant on single entities.
This in stark contrast to the underlying concept of cryptocurrencies and Blockchain as a whole, which adds value exactly because of its dependency on a majority consensus to verify and approve transactions.
However, people and big corporations are becoming more aware of their social responsibilities and the size of the footprint that they leave on this earth. Development and adoption of renewable energy sources have seen a dramatic increase in the last few years, including solar, wind and hydropower.
So much so that in many locations, there is an excess supply of electricity from renewable sources, that simply goes to waste. This is in great part due to the fact that the cost of building large-scale solar farms has dropped by as much as 50 percent in five years.
A three-fold solution
Envion is hoping to make cryptocurrency mining cheaper, cleaner and decentralized with their mobile data-centers.
They’ve developed automatized mining units which are installed inside shipping containers. These containers can be relocated around the world with relative ease, reducing the dependency on single governments, economies or infrastructures.
The mining units, which exclusively consume power from reusable, green sources, are placed near energy supply points, such as solar plants and wind farms, reducing the cost of “transporting” electricity and enabling them to easily tap into excess energy production.
In addition, the company developed a new, self-regulating cooling system, specifically for Blockchain mining, which is up to forty-times more energy-efficient and cost-effective than conventional, AC cooling units.
Envion further promotes environmental friendliness by recycling the energy produced from mining with the strategic placement of the mining units, close to objects and buildings that need heating, including warehouses and greenhouses. This enables them to reduce their energy costs even further.
The end result is a mining solution that is more profitable due to lower energy costs, more secure due to mobile mining that puts less reliance on single entities, and more eco-friendly due to the usage of renewable, green power.
An ICO for the environment
Many of the ICO’s we see these days are largely based on Speculation. The EVN token is however fully backed by the hardware that it represents which is already operating successfully.
The EVN token will be on sale for 31 days from Dec. 1, 2017, with a max cap of 150 mln.
Once invested, token holders will have the right to dividends from the mining operations including 100 percent from proprietary mining operations (75 percent immediately and 25 percent reinvested to boost future payouts) and 35 percent from non-proprietary operations.
Finally, token holders will also get a say in company strategy by voting on decisions.
Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor this article can be considered as an investment advice.
Original article and pictures take www.btcethereum.com site
Stay Warm This Winter and Profit – Using Bitcoin Mining to Heat Your Home for Free
Bitcoin miners living in colder climates can save money on their heating bills by using the heat generated from bitcoin mining to warm their homes.
The average American household uses 901 KWh per month or a little over 10,800 KWh per year. In comparison, Digiconomist puts Bitcoin’s current estimated annual energy consumption at 31.6 TWh – a 25% increase since early November – which works out to roughly 86.5 million KWh per day. At 300,000 transactions per day, a single bitcoin transaction consumes approximately 251 KWh – enough to power the aforementioned American household for a week or more.
To put it in perspective, the energy consumed by Bitcoin mining each year:
is equivalent to 0.7 percent of the total energy consumption of the entire United States
is enough to power 2.9 million American households;
One by-product of Bitcoin mining, of course, is heat. Rather than simply letting all of that heat dissipate into the atmosphere, some miners are beginning to do the environmentally friendly thing by actually harnessing the excess heat and using it to heat their homes.
Bitcoin Mining for Comfort and Profit
In the Siberian town of Irkutsk, Russia, two builders – Ilya Frolov and Dmitry Tolmachyov – decided to see if the heat generated by bitcoin miners would be enough to heat a home. They started small, building a tiny 215-square foot house and installing two bitcoin miners. The heat generated by the miners warms up a liquid that cycles through the home’s sub-floor heating system, keeping the house toasty warm.
The end result? A warm home without the extra electric, propane, or other hard fuel costs PLUS a tidy profit of $430 per month from processing bitcoin transactions.
An entrepreneur is building homes that are kept warm for free by mining bitcoins. pic.twitter.com/7HVYzo4Ne1
Tolmachyov explained the impetus behind the project:
People who mine cryptocurrencies use big miners. And they just heat the atmosphere. […] And we say, ‘No, (sic) the environment!’ We shouldn’t heat the atmosphere. We have a nine-month long heating season. We should heat our homes. The miners should not be concentrated in one place. They should be in various places, in private homes. The technology allows it nowadays.
Environmentally responsible bitcoin mining doesn’t have to draw the line at merely heating homes, however. There are many examples of data centers recycling excess heat (“waste” heat) that Bitcoin miners might be able to duplicate. IBM Switzerland, for example, reuses heat generated by its data center to warm a local community swimming pool. Even agriculture and aquaculture can benefit from recycled waste heat – something that even the most die-hard ‘Bitcoin is bad for the environment’ detractor can surely get behind.
How feasible is it to use bitcoin mining “waste” heat to warm homes on a larger scale? Can you think of any other uses for the excess heat? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Pixabay
Original article and pictures take bitcoinist.com site
Small Washington Town is Becoming a Bitcoin Mining Epicenter – Bitcoin News
9:21 AM
Small Washington Town is Becoming a Bitcoin Mining Epicenter
Mining
Wenatchee, a small town in Washington, is emerging as a new home for bitcoin miners. The town is about three hours aways from Seattle. What is it about this rural area causing people to move there and mine cryptocurrency?
Wenatchee is home to a dozen of the largest bitcoin miners, becoming something of an epicentre. It appears a steady stream of investors are discovering the town as an optimum place to mine. Steve Wright, the head of the local power utility, says that another 75 have inquired about coming to the town:
We’ve come from just a few people out there who have been knocking on the door to all of a sudden to people who are banging on the door pretty loudly.
Bitcoin mining is known to be energy-consuming. But miners here appear not to have this problem. Power is extremely cheap for the town— only 2 to 3 cents per kilowatt hour.
An early miner in the town, Malachi Salcido, owns three data centers in the area capable of generating 5 to 7 BTC per day. Salcido uses 7.5 megawatts of power and wants to produce 50 BTC per day by July, which would require a whopping 42 megawatts of power. The town of Wenatchee is key in his plans.
Abundant Power to Offer
Power is cheap here due to abundant hydroelectric power through a series of dams on the Columbia River.
Another reason why Wenatchee is a favorite mining town is that it boasts cooler seasons to help keep the servers at the right temperature. The small town also has exceptional internet access. Steve Wright, however, is concerned that speculators might rush into the town to take advantage of everything it offers:
What we don’t want is people who come here to make a quick buck off of our low-cost electricity and then leave town and leave us, and leave the people of this community holding the bag.
What do you think of the mining boom? Will the small town attract more crypto investors? Leave your comments below.
Images via myBTCcoin, CNBC.com
Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.
Faucets work by rewarding visitors with small amounts of cryptocurrency – usually bitcoin – in return for your visit. The website owner earns money from advertising and the more traffic they get the more money they make.
Some of the best-paying and most reliable faucets are:
You’ll be paid in Satoshis (100 million Satoshis = 1 bitcoin) which will usually be sent to a microwallet, such as CoinPot or FaucetHub or a bitcoin wallet such as Coinbase.
Faucets are free to use, as are microwallets and bitcoin wallets so there is no outlay whatsoever, aside from your time.
The CoinPot microwallet:
#2 – Referrals From Faucets
Once you’re familiar with free bitcoin faucets you can start gathering referrals.
Most faucets offer some form of referral programme. The average referral bonus is around 10% of any referred claim, but some are much more generous.
Moon Bitcoin, for example, pay up to 50% of claims. If you enlist all your friends, enemies and anyone else you can muster through your referral links you’ll soon see the Satoshi start to mount up.
#3 – Offers And Surveys
Many faucet websites offer additional ways of earning coins, mainly by completing offers and surveys, such as Bit Fun and Moon Bitcoin.
Offers can vary from something as simple as carrying out a search for flight tickets to downloading an app to your phone. The payouts vary according to the effort involved.
Surveys can also pay well, although they tend to involve a lot more time and effort and you won’t always qualify to participate.
#4 – Browser Mining
It’s still possible to mine bitcoin and other cryptocurrency using either your browser or a free pool service such as MinerGate.
CoinPot allows you to mine all its supported coins through the microwallet. Here are the direct links:
MinerGate offers an easy-to-use GUI which links you to mining pools supporting various coins such as ethereum, monero, zcash.
There’s no cost involved – MinerGate earns their money by taking a small slice of your income. But for the service offer, especially if you’re not technically minded, this offers great value.
Many faucet sites offer hi/lo games or lotteries which enable you to bet your coins claim from the faucet (or deposit more to carry on playing).
We don’t recommend this method as a way to get rich as the old adage ‘the house always wins’ certainly applies, but some people do get lucky.
The Free Bitcoin faucet for example offers a hi/lo game (exactly what it sounds like), an hourly lottery to win $200 that you’re automatically entered into with each claim and a bigger weekly lottery.
The top prize for the weekly lottery is usually around 1 bitcoin, which is a decent prize, but a lot of people enter. However, you get free entries every time you claim from the faucet so you don’t have to spend anything to play.
With both hi/lo game and the weekly lottery you can deposit bitcoin to play for longer or buy more tickets and obviously this is how the website makes its money.
Free Bitcoin has been around for years and is one of the most trusted faucets out there. You’ll find many others offer similar games, but with less provenance so always be cautious before depositing any bitcoin.
#6 – Donations To Your Blog Or Website
If you run a blog or website you can ask people to make Bitcoin donations to help support you in your efforts.
There are several widgets available for WordPress and other platforms that generate a QR code in your sidebar that visitors use to make a payment to your bitcoin address.
It’s notoriously hard to get people to reach into their pockets if they’re not forced to, but it’s worth a punt, especially if you have a high volume of traffic and a loyal following.
Final Word
We hope you enjoyed reading this and please get in touch if you known any other great ways to earn free bitcoin online!
six ways to earn free bitcoins online pin 1
Other pages you might like:
Original article and pictures take freecoyn.com site
