Cryptocurrency Introducing CryptoSnoos—a very Reddit take on NFTs |
- Introducing CryptoSnoos—a very Reddit take on NFTs
- Daily Discussion - June 24, 2021 (GMT+0)
- Activists archive Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper on blockchain. This is awesome.
- John McAfee found dead in prison cell after Spanish high court allows extradition, according to Spanish newspaper El Mundo
- I work in a Bank, they forbid us from buying crypto and even talking about it in social networks
- The first 10 years of crypto feel like the first 10 years of the internet
- Crypto is not a crime. Denying citizens the civil liberty and human right of peacefully owning and transacting in it, is the real crime
- [Forbes] Two South African brothers who founded crypto investment firm Africrypt vanished with ~69,000 bitcoins, worth $3.6B+, after informing clients of an alleged hack
- The fourth largest Bitcoin whale bought an additional 3044 bitcoins after already buying 1062 BTC yesterday.
- What is Algorand? A Quick Guide
- What are you doing to buy this dip and the crash that may be coming soon? 20 Moons Best Answer Bounty ��
- You know what's a really bad way to figure out if someone is an expert? Reddit karma!
- Omg Bitcoin 34k! New Bull Market!
- Understand the difference between buying the dip and chasing your losses.
- FEDS sold Silk Road 144,336 bitcoins, valued at just over $48 million(1BTC =$334). In 2017,the amount would be $630 million. In 2021,it would be in tens of billions
- A City in France Uses Tezos Blockchain to Vote on Local Project - Decrypt
- Ethereum chosen by Bank of Israel to trial their new digital Shekel
- Michael Saylor is Still Michael Saylor: MicroStrategy buys another $489 million worth of Bitcoin
- The Media Shows financially irresponsible people who borrowed $250,000 for Crypto, but won't show you examples of someone responsible who started with $250, and now has $250,000
- One of the biggest crypto whales just made a 3044 BTC purchase
- PwC introduces Air Trace, powered by VeChain
- Found a Reddit thread from 2013, where people where paying 4.75 bitcoin for a year of Reddit gold.
- Nobody wants to be your friend on here.
- NYC Democratic mayoral front runner says he will turn the city into a bitcoin hub to rival Miami
- What is crypto?
| Introducing CryptoSnoos—a very Reddit take on NFTs Posted: 23 Jun 2021 02:46 PM PDT
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| Daily Discussion - June 24, 2021 (GMT+0) Posted: 23 Jun 2021 05:00 PM PDT Welcome to the Daily Discussion. Please read the disclaimer, guidelines, and rules before participating. Disclaimer:Though karma rules still apply, moderation is less stringent on this thread than on the rest of the sub. Therefore, consider all information posted here with several liberal heaps of salt, and always cross check any information you may read on this thread with known sources. Any trade information posted in this open thread may be highly misleading, and could be an attempt to manipulate new readers by known "pump and dump (PnD) groups" for their own profit. BEWARE of such practices and exercise utmost caution before acting on any trade tip mentioned here. Please be careful about what information you share and the actions you take. Do not share the amounts of your portfolios (why not just share percentage?). Do not share your private keys or wallet seed. Use strong, non-SMS 2FA if possible. Beware of scammers and be smart. Do not invest more than you can afford to lose, and do not fall for pyramid schemes, promises of unrealistic returns (get-rich-quick schemes), and other common scams. Rules:
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| Activists archive Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper on blockchain. This is awesome. Posted: 24 Jun 2021 02:46 AM PDT
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| Posted: 23 Jun 2021 12:27 PM PDT
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| I work in a Bank, they forbid us from buying crypto and even talking about it in social networks Posted: 24 Jun 2021 06:33 AM PDT Obviously I won't say the name of the bank but it's one of the biggest in Europe. Few months ago we got a communication saying we were forbidden to buy and trade cryptos because they're not regulated and we could easily get involved in criminal activities (lol). By the way, we must have no legal records, if we commit any crime, we get fired. To prevent this situation, the bank said they would automatically block our accounts from sending money to crypto exchanges. Officially, the bank statement said it was a decision made to protect its employees. However, i still buy crypto, i just use another account from another bank. Now we got a new communication about social network behavior. We are not allowed to say anything racist or violent on internet or any social network, even with our personal profile. The strange thing is that in this communication they included "talking about cryptocurrenies and spreading news about unregulated markets" which is totally not related to racism or violence (?!). I wonder if they are breaking any law, is there someone who knows anything about European union laws? [link] [comments]  | ||
| The first 10 years of crypto feel like the first 10 years of the internet Posted: 24 Jun 2021 05:00 AM PDT For years after the TCP/IP protocalls were finalized in the early 80s, the internet was a wild place full of unrealized potential. You basically had to be some kind of nerd to fire up your home computer and connect to an IP address. It was very user unfriendly and confusing, but the potential for this internet thing to take off was always there and built up over the years. In the early 90's the world wide web was invented. And web browsers. America On Line. Then it was a mega boom that kept on booming the rest of the decade. All crypto needs is an invention to make it more user friendly and main-stream. Just as the web browser was a game changer in the early 90s, I feel the next great innovation could be built on the back of blockchain technology as we speak. It's just a matter of figuring out what is the "world wide web browser" of crypto to make this next decade as big a bull run as the last. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 24 Jun 2021 05:30 AM PDT China has told banks and payments platforms to stop supporting digital currency transactions. Their central bank said it had recently summoned several major banks and payments companies to call on them to take tougher action over the trading of cryptocurrencies. Banks were told to not provide products or services such as trading, clearing and settlement for cryptocurrency transactions. Authorities have ordered the closure of 26 mines last week. Last month China's cabinet, the State Council, said it would crack down on cryptocurrency mining and trading as part of a campaign to control financial risks. The day will come when a united crypto community will publicly and peacefully stand against government's trying to restrict/block it's citizens from transacting in peaceful cryptographic code on decentralised and open networks. When that day comes, I for one will be more than willing to take my place on the frontline. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 23 Jun 2021 09:09 PM PDT
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| Posted: 24 Jun 2021 01:43 AM PDT Yesterday, I highlighted a bitcoin whales transaction in this post, where the whale bought back 65% of the bitcoin they sold approx before the dip. Today, I just seen that the whale bought an additional 3044 BTC (100.766.441 USD). [link] [comments]  | ||
| What is Algorand? A Quick Guide Posted: 24 Jun 2021 03:50 AM PDT As Algorand publicly opened its Testnet on April 16th 2019, we decided to write a short article to introduce you to this foundational blockchain platform from Turing Award winner, MIT teacher and zero-knowledge proof creator, Silvio Micali. Algorand is a Boston-based open-source software company working towards building a borderless economy. They've developed a permissionless, PureProof-of-Stake (PoS) protocol with open participation, scalability, security and transaction finality. Key Characteristics Algorand aims to solve the three main problems faced by blockchains today, also known as the blockchain trilemma: security, scalability, and decentralization. In Algorand's consensus algorithm, called Pure PoS, the network ties its security to the honesty of the majority. Essentially, in comparison to Delegated Proof-of-Stake, Liquid Proof-of-Stake or Bonded Proof-of-Stake, there is no sanction mechanism, also known as slashing, in case an actor misbehaves — think about liveness faults such as low uptime, or security faults such as trying to validate twice the same block. Rather than punishing bad actors, Algorand prefers to make cheating by a minority of the money impossible and cheating by the majority stupid. As long as 2/3 of the majority is honest, the protocol will work just fine. In Algorand, blocks are constructed into 2 phases through lotteries known as "cryptographic sortition" enabling fast finality, long gone would be the days where one would have to wait for 30+ confirmations and eventually several hours to ensure that a transaction really happened. Proposal phase: a single token is randomly selected, and its owner proposes the next blocks. However, this proposer is only known to the whole network during the propagation phase: it is already too late to interfere. In Pure PoS, every token has the same power in being selected. Voting round: a committee of owners of 1,000 random tokens is selected, approving the block proposed by the first user. As opposed to the fixed committee system in many Proof-of-Work or Proof-of-Stake blockchains, this random selection of the committee members makes the protocol extremely secure against adversary attacks: they simply don't know who to target. According to us, these are the key properties of the Algorand protocol: Low computation requirements: No need for high energy-consuming mining farms. Fast agreement: The entire community agrees on the next block and confirms transactions with latency on the order of a minute while scaling to many users. Delegation: Token holders can delegate their tokens if they wish to participate in the consensus. Extremely low fork probability: Users can rely on a new block as soon as it appears. Even if the network is temporarily partitioned, Algorand ensures that no users have divergent views of confirmed transaction. True decentralization: the network is not controlled by a few miners or validator set since proposers and committees are randomly selected. Governance: Community token holders can propose changes to the protocols and agree on its evolvability. Team Silvio Micali, Founder: MIT Faculty member and recipient of several prestigious awards among which the Turing Award in computer science. Steven Kokinos, CEO: Serial entrepreneur, Co-founder of Fuze, BladeLogic, and Web Yes. W. Sean Ford, COO: Former CMO of LogMeIn, an experienced consultant and Co-founder of Upromise. The team is also made of several renowned experts and advisors. They're currently recruiting but also looking for community ambassadors. Token The Algorand Foundation will inject tokens into the system through a series of Dutch Auctions. The refund program allows auction buyers to sell tokens back to the Foundation. The refund program works as a mechanism to reduce supply if demand falls. https://algorand.foundation/token-dynamics What can we build on Algorand? As the Testnet is now public, you can already start coding with its REST APIs. The team has also released open-source Go, Javascript and Java SDKs and more will be added over time. In a goal to democratize finance, Algorand might release sophisticated financial tools for everyone to interact in its own fashion with the network, among which treasury bonds will be one of the key tools. Supporters Right now, Algorand is backed by some leading cryptocurrency and tech funds including Metastable, Sparkpool, MultiCoin Capital, AlgoCapital, or even NGC. Last October, the company secured $66m in equity funding. https://community.algorand.org/blog/what-is-algorand-quick-guide-and-overview/ [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 24 Jun 2021 12:35 AM PDT I bought in at 60k, and I've been desperately trying to get my cost average down ever since. You name it, I've tried it. Selling goodwill stuff on eBay, selling textbooks on Amazon, plasma donation, the survey sites on r/beermoney, fighting crackheads for the $5 bill in the gutter... I've even done some things I won't mention here. I'm not gay, but 20,000 Satoshis is 20,000 Satoshis. Now it's looking like we really might hit 20 K in the coming weeks. And I need ideas for even more DCA money I can afford to lose! Hence the bounty. Share your hustles, tips for extra cash and interesting anecdotes of your misadventures rustling up crypto money. Most amusing and/or helpful answer gets ~$1.40 in moons. Winner decided Thursday 4:20 PM Pacific Stoner Time [link] [comments]  | ||
| You know what's a really bad way to figure out if someone is an expert? Reddit karma! Posted: 24 Jun 2021 12:56 AM PDT tl;dr: after I made a very popular post saying this sub is an awful source for advice yesterday, multiple people asked me for crypto advice via chat because my post was popular. That's stupid. Hi, I'm martins by name hkreli. I am a regular poster on here and for some reason, sometimes my posts get a lot of upvotes. Currently, 2 of the top 5 posts on this sub in the past week were written by me, one slightly over, one slightly under 10,000 upvotes - and I have absolutely no idea why, neither of them were all that interesting to be honest. Did you ever have a post reach 5 digits of upvotes, or something close to that? If not, I'll tell you what happens: you get a lot of chat requests, especially if it happens multiple times. People were telling me random stuff, offering me money to promote their shitcoins or other products (because it seems you're an influencer if you have a few popular posts) etc. Stuff like that always happens (but yeah, it's weird enough). You know what's also weird? Part of the title of my popular post yesterday was "Nobody knows what is happening, don't come to this sub for advice". I explictly said that nobody has a clue what will happen and that people shouldn't listen to anyone pretending they do, because crypto is super random. Can you already guess what messages I also got? Let me quote: Guy 1: "Hello mate Do you trade crypto? Hope you don't mind sharing your strategy?" Guy 2: "You seems to be probably one of the most intelligent and thought out people on all the trading subs, just wondering how you learnt the ins and outs." Guy 3: "Hey man looks like youre good with crypto can you tell me what to buy right now?" In my post I had, like I said, explicitly said that you shouldn't listen to advice - and I had given zero indication whether I was good with crypto. As far as those guys know I could just have 5 DOGE on Robinhood and nothing else. This is not the first time this happens, I always get asked for advice when I make a popular post, but I thought it was especially weird when the post was exactly about not doing that. Karma is the worst possible indicator of crypto expertise. I am not an expert (and to be honest I think there is no such thing as a crypto expert, but that's a different topic) and I've seen downright crazy people with much more karma than me. Even if they're sane: maybe they are funny, are really good at promoting their OnlyFans or just post a lot of questions to askreddit. Even if they earned all their karma on this sub, that doesn't make them an expert at all. Please don't listen to anyone's advice just because they have a lot of upvotes. And if you still think people have authority because of karma: I'm like the most popular user on this sub in the past week so you have to listen to me: don't listen to people just because they have a lot of karma or moons or whatever. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Omg Bitcoin 34k! New Bull Market! Posted: 24 Jun 2021 06:03 AM PDT Bitcoin hitting 34k doesn't mean anything right now. The media will try to say things like, "Bitcoin SURGES back!" Or "Bitcoin tests 29k and PASSES the test!" And my personal favorite "Bitcoin comes ROARING back!" Well, guess what? It all means nothing. Bitcoin needs to at least get back to 50k before anyone can mention bull market. Honestly, about 90% of media can be ignored. I don't want them scaring anybody when the market drops or giving them false hope when the market goes up a couple percentage points. Just DYOR [link] [comments]  | ||
| Understand the difference between buying the dip and chasing your losses. Posted: 24 Jun 2021 06:26 AM PDT This is a very grey area and prone to put people in positions they later regret. Buying low is great for obvious reasons especially if you're trying to DCA down after buying high but be careful you don't fall into a trap of thinking that everything that has crashed will come back up and especially up to where it was previously. This is not fud but just common sense for people who may get influenced by the hundreds of "oo look at me, I'm so cool I'm buying the dip posts". [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 24 Jun 2021 05:07 AM PDT | ||
| A City in France Uses Tezos Blockchain to Vote on Local Project - Decrypt Posted: 24 Jun 2021 04:31 AM PDT
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| Ethereum chosen by Bank of Israel to trial their new digital Shekel Posted: 23 Jun 2021 09:46 AM PDT The Bank of Israel is trying out Ethereum's technology in a recently launched internal digital shekel trial, a spokesman said. In May, the central bank issued a report concluding that the digital payment system could have a positive impact on the economy by simplifying payment processes while providing security to both parties in a transaction. The bank has also put out a call for smart application ideas that could run on the digital infrastructure. Monetary authorities from Sweden to China are working on their own digital currencies as the dwindling use of notes and coins threatens to upend traditional payment methods. The emergence of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin has added to pressure on central banks to ensure they have a viable alternative before unregulated payment forms take over. Ethereum was the first blockchain to host fully functioning computer programs known as smart contracts that allow users to create new cryptocurrencies. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Michael Saylor is Still Michael Saylor: MicroStrategy buys another $489 million worth of Bitcoin Posted: 24 Jun 2021 05:37 AM PDT
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| Posted: 23 Jun 2021 04:50 PM PDT The Media Shows financially irresponsible people who borrowed $250,000 for Crypto to give an the worst example possible of "Hodl Culture" but won't show you someone who didn't put in more than they could afford to lose starting with $250, and now has $25k or higher. Because it's all a game to them. When someone who isn't involved in crypto but interested sees a story like that , it give the impression that cryptocurrency is for irresponsible people but will fail to show you that financially irresponsibility isn't exclusive to crypto. Every year people commit suicide because they gambled all their money away on march madness. So articles like that showing crypto = bad because it's a cult is just BS [link] [comments]  | ||
| One of the biggest crypto whales just made a 3044 BTC purchase Posted: 23 Jun 2021 06:07 PM PDT 3044 BTC @ $ 33560, for a cool $100 million! https://bitinfocharts.com/bitcoin/address/1P5ZEDWTKTFGxQjZphgWPQUpe554WKDfHQ-full [link] [comments]  | ||
| PwC introduces Air Trace, powered by VeChain Posted: 24 Jun 2021 05:19 AM PDT
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| Found a Reddit thread from 2013, where people where paying 4.75 bitcoin for a year of Reddit gold. Posted: 24 Jun 2021 06:42 AM PDT
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| Nobody wants to be your friend on here. Posted: 24 Jun 2021 01:47 AM PDT Obviously you can have friendly exchanges with people in this sub, but the people DMing you, asking how you're doing, aren't your friends. I've seen plenty of warnings on here about general scams, like phishing and people wanting you to send them crypto to invest, but I haven't seen any on the endless stream of fake friends in your DM box. I've been getting daily chat requests at this point from people who claim they are new to crypto and looking for friends. The few I've engaged with play through the same scenario, wanting to know where I live, what I'm holding, and very quickly want me to chat with them on another app so that we can "talk easier." It took my newbie butt a few chats to understand why they wanted me to switch apps, but every app they suggest is linked to your phone number: WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Telegram. I assume most people on here know what a SIM swap is, but if you're new and dumb, like me, the "I may have just made a new friend" aspect was a new angle for me. The biggest warning signs I've seen, as they all haven't been new accounts, is:
I've finally been on here 60 days so I can hopefully post without getting it removed. I've only been into crypto for a few months and this sub has been awesome for the support and information. Hopefully most of you are smarter than this to begin with, but I just wanted to put this out there since there are a lot of new people here. tl;dr Scammers want your phone number; don't trust anyone who wants you to download another app to chat with them. [link] [comments]  | ||
| NYC Democratic mayoral front runner says he will turn the city into a bitcoin hub to rival Miami Posted: 24 Jun 2021 03:30 AM PDT
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| Posted: 23 Jun 2021 07:58 PM PDT As this sub is constantly growing I believe it is important for the newcomers to understand crypto and what they are investing in. What is crypto? Cryptocurrency is decentralized digital money, based on blockchain technology. You may be familiar with the most popular versions, Bitcoin and Ethereum, but there are more than 5,000 different cryptocurrencies in circulation, according to CoinLore. You can use crypto to buy regular goods and services, although many people invest in cryptocurrencies as they would in other assets, like stocks or precious metals. While cryptocurrency is a novel and exciting asset class, purchasing it can be risky as you must take on a fair amount of research to fully understand how each system works How Does Cryptocurrency Work? A cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange that is digital, encrypted and decentralized. Unlike the U.S. Dollar or the Euro, there is no central authority that manages and maintains the value of a cryptocurrency. Instead, these tasks are broadly distributed among a cryptocurrency's users via the internet. Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency, first outlined in principle by Satoshi Nakamoto in a 2008 paper titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System." Nakamoto described the project as "an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust." That cryptographic proof comes in the form of transactions that are verified and recorded in a form of program called a blockchain. What Is a Blockchain? A blockchain is an open, distributed ledger that records transactions in code. In practice, it's a little like a checkbook that's distributed across countless computers around the world. Transactions are recorded in "blocks" that are then linked together on a "chain" of previous cryptocurrency transactions. "Imagine a book where you write down everything you spend money on each day," says Buchi Okoro, CEO and co-founder of African cryptocurrency exchange Quidax. "Each page is similar to a block, and the entire book, a group of pages, is a blockchain." With a blockchain, everyone who uses a cryptocurrency has their own copy of this book to create a unified transaction record. Software logs each new transaction as it happens, and every copy of the blockchain is updated simultaneously with the new information, keeping all records identical and accurate. To prevent fraud, each transaction is checked using one of two main validation techniques: proof of work or proof of stake. Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake Proof of work and proof of stake are two different validation techniques used to verify transactions before they're added to a blockchain that reward verifiers with more cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies typically use either proof of work or proof of stake to verify transactions. Proof of work. "Proof of work is a method of verifying transactions on a blockchain in which an algorithm provides a mathematical problem that computers race to solve," says Simon Oxenham, social media manager at Xcoins.com. Each participating computer, often referred to as a "miner," solves a mathematical puzzle that helps verify a group of transactions—referred to as a block—then adds them to the blockchain leger. The first computer to do so successfully is rewarded with a small amount of cryptocurrency for its efforts. This race to solve blockchain puzzles can require an intense amount of computer power and electricity. In practice, that means the miners might barely break even with the crypto they receive for validating transactions, after considering the costs of power and computing resources. Proof of stake. To reduce the amount of power necessary to check transactions, some cryptocurrencies use a proof of stake verification method. With proof of stake, the number of transactions each person can verify is limited by the amount of cryptocurrency they're willing to "stake," or temporarily lock up in a communal safe, for the chance to participate in the process. "It's almost like bank collateral," says Okoro. Each person who stakes crypto is eligible to verify transactions, but the odds you'll be chosen to do so increase with the amount you front. "Because proof of stake removes energy-intensive equation solving, it's much more efficient than proof of work, allowing for faster verification/confirmation times for transactions," says Anton Altement, CEO of Osom Finance. If a stake owner (sometimes called a validator) is chosen to validate a new group of transactions, they'll be rewarded with cryptocurrency, potentially in the amount of aggregate transaction fees from the block of transactions. To discourage fraud, if you are chosen and verify invalid transactions, you forfeit a part of what you staked. The Role of Consensus in Crypto Both proof of stake and proof of work rely on consensus mechanisms to verify transactions. This means while each uses individual users to verify transactions, each verified transaction must be checked and approved by the majority of ledger holders. For example, a hacker couldn't alter the blockchain ledger unless they successfully got at least 51% of the ledgers to match their fraudulent version. The amount of resources necessary to do this makes fraud unlikely. How Can You Mine Cryptocurrency? Mining is how new units of cryptocurrency are released into the world, generally in exchange for validating transactions. While it's theoretically possible for the average person to mine cryptocurrency, it's increasingly difficult in proof of work systems, like Bitcoin. "As the Bitcoin network grows, it gets more complicated, and more processing power is required," says Spencer Montgomery, founder of Uinta Crypto Consulting. "The average consumer used to be able to do this, but now it's just too expensive. There are too many people who have optimized their equipment and technology to outcompete." And remember: Proof of work cryptocurrencies require huge amounts of energy to mine. It's estimated that 0.21% of all of the world's electricity goes to powering Bitcoin farms. That's roughly the same amount of power Switzerland uses in a year. It's estimated most Bitcoin miners end up using 60% to 80% of what they earn from mining to cover electricity costs. While it's impractical for the average person to earn crypto by mining in a proof of work system, the proof of stake model requires less in the way of high-powered computing as validators are chosen at random based on the amount they stake. It does, however, require that you already own a cryptocurrency to participate. (If you have no crypto, you have nothing to stake.) How Can You Use Cryptocurrency? You can use cryptocurrency to make purchases, but it's not a form of payment with mainstream acceptance quite yet. A handful of online retailers like Overstock.com accept Bitcoin, it's far from the norm. This may change in the near future, however. Payments giant PayPal recently announced the launch of a new service that will allow customers to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency from their PayPal accounts. "That's huge," Montgomery says. "If PayPal was considered a bank, they'd be the 21st largest bank in the world, and they are giving access to all of their users. They're going to make it easy for people to send their crypto." Until crypto is more widely accepted, you can work around current limitations by exchanging cryptocurrency for gift cards. At eGifter, for instance, you can use Bitcoin to buy gift cards for Dunkin Donuts, Target, Apple and select other retailers and restaurants. You may also be able to load cryptocurrency to a debit card to make purchases. In the U.S., you can sign up for the BitPay card, a debit card that converts crypto assets into dollars for purchase, but there are fees involved to order the card and use it for ATM withdrawals, for example. You may also use crypto as an alternative investment option outside of stocks and bonds. "The best-known crypto, Bitcoin, is a secure, decentralized currency that has become a store of value like gold," says David Zeiler, a cryptocurrency expert and associate editor for financial news site Money Morning. "Some people even refer to it as 'digital gold.'" How to Use Cryptocurrency for Secure Purchases Using crypto to securely make purchases depends on what you're trying to buy. If you'd like to spend cryptocurrency at a retailer that doesn't accept it directly, you can use a cryptocurrency debit card, like BitPay, in the U.S. If you're trying to pay a person or retailer who accepts cryptocurrency, you'll need a cryptocurrency wallet, which is a software program that interacts with the blockchain and allows users to send and receive cryptocurrency. To transfer money from your wallet, you can scan the QR code of your recipient or enter their wallet address manually. Some services make this easier by allowing you to enter a phone number or select a contact from your phone. Keep in mind that transactions are not instantaneous as they must be validated using proof of work or proof of stake. Depending on the cryptocurrency, this may take between 10 minutes and two hours. This lag time, though, is part of what makes crypto transactions secure. "A bad actor trying to alter a transaction won't have the proper software 'keys,' which means the network will reject the transaction. The network also polices and prevents double spending," Zeiler says. How to Invest in Cryptocurrency Cryptocurrency can be purchased on peer-to-peer networks and cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Coinbase and Bitfinex. Keep an eye out for fees, though, as some of these exchanges charge what can be prohibitively high costs on small crypto purchases. Coinbase, for instance, charges a fee of 0.5% of your purchase plus a flat fee of $0.99 to $2.99 depending on the size of your transaction. More recently, the investing app Robinhood started offering the ability to buy several of the top cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin, without the fees of many of the major exchanges. "It was once fairly difficult but now it's relatively easy, even for crypto novices," Zeiler says. "An exchange like Coinbase caters to non-technical folks. It's very easy to set up an account there and link it to a bank account." But keep in mind that buying individual cryptocurrencies is a little like buying individual stocks. Since you're putting all of your money into one security, you take on more risk than if you spread it out over hundreds or thousands, like you could with a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF). Unfortunately, crypto funds are currently in short supply. There is a Bitcoin mutual fund—the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), but it is currently only open to accredited investors, meaning most Americans aren't eligible to buy into it. There are no Bitcoin or crypto ETFs; however, there are blockchain ETFs. If you want exposure to the crypto market, you might invest in individual stocks of crypto companies. "As far as crypto-oriented stocks go, Coinbase is expected to have an IPO sometime in 2021," Zeiler says. "There are also a few Bitcoin mining stocks such as Hive Blockchain (HIVE). If you want some crypto exposure with less risk, you can invest in big companies that are adopting blockchain technology, such as IBM, Bank of America and Microsoft." Should You Invest in Cryptocurrency? Experts hold mixed opinions about investing in cryptocurrency. Because crypto is a highly speculative investment, with the potential for intense price swings, some financial advisors don't recommend people invest at all. For example, while Bitcoin has nearly doubled in value over the last year, reaching a price of over $18,000 in November 2020, it's also drastically lost value in the same year, like when it bottomed out at under $5,000 per Bitcoin. All of this is to say, cryptocurrencies, unlike most established currencies, can be very volatile and change value frequently. That's why Peter Palion, a certified financial planner (CFP) in East Norwich, N.Y., thinks it's safer to stick to currency that's backed by a government, like the U.S. dollar. "If you have the U.S. dollar in your cash reserves, you know you can pay your mortgage, you can pay your electricity bill," Palion says. "When you look at the last 12 months, Bitcoin looks basically like my last EKG, and the U.S. dollar index is more or less a flat line. Something that drops by 50% is not suitable for anything but speculation." That said, for clients who are specifically interested in cryptocurrency, CFP Ian Harvey helps them put some money into it. "The weight in a client's portfolio should be large enough to feel meaningful while not derailing their long-term plan should the investment go to zero," says Harvey. As for how much to invest, Harvey talks to investors about what percentage of their portfolio they're willing to lose if the investment goes south. "It could be 1% to 5%, it could be 10%," he says. "It depends on how much they have now, and what's really at stake for them, from a loss perspective." [link] [comments]  |
![[Forbes] Two South African brothers who founded crypto investment firm Africrypt vanished with ~69,000 bitcoins, worth $3.6B+, after informing clients of an alleged hack](https://external-preview.redd.it/UIHjPFwbZnxUbKcCz9ItTF7pZ08qydtrMtOFyLVCQok.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=4de3b535827ca753ebb96d409aaf6964ed1b94a1 "[Forbes] Two South African brothers who founded crypto investment firm Africrypt vanished with ~69,000 bitcoins, worth $3.6B+, after informing clients of an alleged hack")
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