Bitcoin Price Tripled in Last Year

bitcoin price trippled in last year

A collection of Bitcoins stand in this arranged photograph in Danbury, U.K., on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. Bitcoin, the digital currency, climbed on Wednesday to hit its highest levels since early November, amid fresh speculation that the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto — the virtual currency’s creator — may have finally been revealed. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bitcoin Price Tripled in Last One Year

In April of 2016, Bitcoin price averaged at around $420 on most major Bitcoin exchange markets. Since then, over a period of 12 months, Bitcoin price tripled, increasing from $420 to $1257.

As previously reported, Bitcoin price is nearing its all-time high price set at $1,277, primarily due to the explosive growth of the Japanese Bitcoin industry.

Analysts expect Bitcoin price to increase consistently in the mid-term if key markets such as Japan and the US sustain their growth and if relatively small markets like India experience a massive change in regulatory frameworks for Bitcoin trading and usage.

Two key factors: India and Japan

For years, India was considered to be one of the more important markets for Bitcoin to penetrate because of the country’s poor banking system, declining financial platform and weak infrastructure. Today, local analysts and researchers note that 40 percent of Indian population remains unbanked.

The vast majority of households and individuals in India do not rely on banks or established financial institutions to manage their money for a few reasons.

Recently, the demonetization of 500 and 1,000 bank notes initiated by the Indian government led to a nationwide financial crisis, as banks and ATMs ran out of cash to dispense. Both the banked and unbanked populations of India have been struggling to obtain cash to fund day-to-day operations and basic necessities ever since.

Moreover, research and professional services firms such as PwC revealed that by October of 2015, 233 mln Indians had no access to bank accounts. According to Times of India, a prominent local publication, a UN report further revealed that 43 percent of adults in India made no deposits or withdrawals in banks.

“I have nearly Rs 20,000 saved up from the last so many years. I never knew how to do bank work, so I never had an account. I’ve had no need for one, and now I am stuck with all the cash but can’t use it to buy my supplies. I have some money saved but all in cash at home, as I did not know how to deposit in the bank,” said a full-time professional who resides in India.

Over the past few years, major Bitcoin exchanges and service providers in India were not able to demonstrate an exponential rate of growth in terms of user base and daily trading volume. It was only by early 2016 that exchanges such as Zebpay and Unocoin began to see a spike in their user base and trading volumes.

One key factor that would allow the Indian Bitcoin industry to grow at a rapid rate similar to China, South Korea and Japan is the legalization of Bitcoin as legal tender and currency. The central banks of the Philippines and Japan most recently legalized Bitcoin as legal tender, to help their local industries to grow and allow the general consumer base to utilize bitcoin.

For Bitcoin to achieve mainstream adoption in India, a legalization of the digital currency by local authorities is necessary. If Bitcoin becomes legalized by the end of May as many predicts, and millions of new users from India emerge as a result, Bitcoin price will likely surge in the mid-term. Therefore, for the mid-term, the performance of the Japanese, US and Indian markets should be considered as reasons to hold onto Bitcoin as an investment.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Source : Cointelegraph

David

What’s keeping Cryptocurrencies from mass adoption? – Part 2

Official Local Exchanges

Having to look other users in the eye can make a world of difference. Face-to-face exchanges at trusted locations means that the sale of a coin can be more easily limited, and this can act as a throttle to gauge demand. People on the “front lines,” seeing the real demand for the coin in person, can then vote to increase the price. Having stable locations to exchange the currency also creates consistency. It removes the guessing game of wondering where you can buy and sell your coin.

The advantages are not just purely economic, either. Cryptocurrencies don’t exactly have the best reputation thanks to their penchant for attracting unscrupulous people. Unethical or illegal businesses will tend to be voted out of cooperative networks with face-to-face exchanges, however, which can go a long way towards legitimizing the currency. It would still be possible to run such enterprises of course, but they would never be part of the co-op.

Local Exchange Dominance

This kind of approach can only work if there are dramatically more local exchanges than online exchanges. It would mean that the local exchanges would dictate the pricing of the currency.

Marketing Early Can Be Disastrous

Marketing is a powerful force, and as such it needs to be handled with care. On the one hand, founders naturally want to attract investment early on. This will raise the price of the coin and help pay for infrastructure, as well as boost the growth of the coin. On the other hand, historically the earliest investors in cryptocurrency have been extremely low quality—they are the speculators who doom the currency in the long run and scare away mainstream users.

With speculation, capital infusion is needed to keep the currency stable, which can be a significant task. Take Bitcoin for instance: With a market cap of roughly $20 billion, it would need a huge amount of capital to have a stable floor.

low and Steady Wins the Race

Cryptocurrencies are still in their infancy, and it’s hard to tell where the path for most of the major currencies is headed. What is the “finish line” that they are aiming for? What will the end game be?

Most cryptocurrencies have little direction besides the whims of the market, so there’s no telling where they will end up. However, there are a handful of interesting coins that have invested in strategies that nudge them in a specific direction.

The Central App Coin Method

This is a strategy that is centered around creating value with unique products and services that are associated with the currency. In this way, you could say that the currency is backed by something that people actually want.

For example, the MaidSafe network incentivizes users to provide something of value to the network (storage space), and offers the use of apps and services in return for coins. This naturally leads to better cooperation. People want to create value and channel their efforts towards the growth of the currency that they have in common.

The Setup and Switch Metho

Similar to the central app strategy, this method establishes a user base first, and then introduces the currency. Bitshares and its array of associated startups is a good example of this. Several networks with varying currencies—Steemit and their STEEM currency, Peerplays and their tokens, for instance—slowly built their user base and value exchange system, and now they plan to adopt a central currency with Bitshares. This allows them to create a stable base first before pooling their resources.

The Grassroots Movement

Finally, the best way for a currency to create that all-important foundation of true users is through bootstrapping. Just like a business startup, a currency like this would need a user base that believed in a common mission. It would need everyone in the system to be able to see the inherent value of the coin, and to understand that it could be worth much more than the value it is traded for in its early stages.

An example of one of these grassroots efforts is FairCoin. It’s a currency established and led by FairCoop, whose strategy is to build an ecosystem where businesses cooperate to give users maximum value. It is a currency built from the ground up to incentivize the long-term interests of users instead of their short-term greed—not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes sense.

FairCoin focused from the beginning on building infrastructure for everyday users. Because of the strong relationships among members of the co-op, they can have thousands of ATM’s, debit cards, and exchanges that make mass adoption much easier.

An approach like this allows the currency to slowly build itself in the background without the need for a spotlight and the barrage of speculators that come with it. This offers the huge advantage of stability from the very beginning, though it does pose the problem that FairCoin has to bootstrap with less capital than most coins. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, they can’t rely on CoinMarketCap to sing their praises by displaying artificially rising prices (the effects of speculation).

In other words, FairCoin traded the excitement of volatility and greed for a quiet, long-term stability. The only problem is that people might not notice! Drama catches the human eye, after all.

Hard Forks

Let’s take a look at the hard fork that looms in the horizon for Bitcoin. As if things weren’t complicated enough, now there could be two competing chains for the currency. There are already many technical barriers to Bitcoin’s adoption among mainstream users, and this is yet another one. This makes the price even more uncertain, and uncertainty is like poison for a currency.

On the other hand, if you have a large community and a co-op on top of an immutable blockchain, then a hard fork is extremely unlikely—and unnecessary. Cryptocurrencies like MaidSafe, Bitshares, and FairCoin all represent solid communities that are incentivized to cooperate instead of speculate. This means that the coin can be worth more than its market price; it has a high inherent value within the system itself.

This makes it so that users have very little reason to defect from the existing community. A hard fork would mean giving up many benefits of the co-op, so people stay loyal to the original vision of the currency. When something deeper than just greed ties a community, hard forks don’t occur as often.

Conclusion

Stable prices don’t just happen by accident. They are not a miracle of the market—they require a carefully constructed foundation. A stable currency needs a stable ecosystem first.

While it’s tempting to market the currency too soon because capital injection can do a lot to raise prices in those critical early periods, it’s better to wait. Advertising is like opening up Pandora’s box and inviting the world to look inside. Some of those users will be interested in the actual currency, but others will be undesirable speculators that just leech off the system. For a currency to be stable, it needs to be used by “the 99%,” not just a handful of investors.

A currency needs to grow with the people, not past them. Look at the state of Bitcoin and its inflated prices. The everyday person can no longer either mine the coin or expect to use the coin in everyday transactions without high fees or risk. It has been given up to the speculators.

With a truly stable currency, on the other hand, you can have currency conversion, remittance, ATM withdrawals, and other financial services with lower fees than fiat systems. In other words, it can be used as intended—as money. This is what will ultimately attract a mainstream audience and will actually incentivize them to make the switch to cryptocurrency.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David

What’s keeping cryptocurrencies from mass adoption?

What is keeping cryptocurrency from mass adoption

What’s keeping cryptocurrencies from mass adoption?

Speculators flocked to Bitcoin and many of the alt-coins in hopes of getting in early and making a big exit, but everyday users haven’t warmed to cryptocurrencies.

There are many reasons why, but one of the largest barriers to mainstream adoption is the price volatility of cryptocurrencies.

So the question is, why do the prices change so much in the first place? It comes down to supply and demand: Most cryptocurrencies have only a fixed total supply, and yet demand for the coins is uncertain and constantly fluctuating thanks to speculation.

Of course, it’s easy enough to talk about the problem — coming up with a solution is quite another matter.

Why is Stability So Important?

The need for stability is not unique to cryptocurrency. Any currency needs to be stable in order to be used as a trusted medium of exchange. The more that prices rise and fall, the more ordinary people will shy away from using the coins for everyday transactions.

Whether they hoard the coins in the hope that prices will rise sharply soon, or they avoid using them altogether for fear that they will lose all of their value, people are not yet accustomed to seeing cryptocurrency as real money.

Worse, the unpredictability of prices wreaks havoc on regular money services, like remittance, currency conversion, and the use of ATMs. In order to use cryptocurrencies, businesses have to hedge their risks by charging exorbitant fees.

Bitcoin ATMs can charge up to 15% just to convert to fiat currency. This totally defeats the original purpose of cryptocurrencies, which was to offer a cheaper and more flexible alternative to other payment methods. With no advantage over government-printed money, why would the average person use them?

Patience is a Virtue

Price volatility has plagued Bitcoin from nearly the beginning. With what we have learned over the better part of a decade, why have cryptocurrencies still not solved this problem of fluctuating prices?

Human nature gets in the way, as it tends to do. It is difficult to stabilize prices in a world where people would rather play the market and get instant gratification by re-selling their coins for as high a price as possible. Without careful planning from the very onset of a cryptocurrency’s existence, it’s hard to recover from the effects of speculation.

Phase 1: Building a Stable Ecosystem

When building a cryptocurrency from scratch, you first need a solid foundation. From this foundation, the currency can grow and self-correct as it develops.

Gauging Demand

The first piece of the puzzle is being able to reliably predict demand. Uncertainty around demand is the main cause of price fluctuation, as every user’s intentions are a mystery to every other user. Having a way to gauge real demand for a coin would go a long way in fixing this problem.

The issue with predicting demand, though, is the existence of speculators creating artificial demand. This is the core of the problem: With so much speculation, the price for the cryptocurrency will not reflect its actual usage and demand. It simply becomes a bubble that is constantly on the verge of bursting, and no one wants to risk their hard-earned money on that.

Traditionally, the solution to the problem of stability was to have a central bank. The government could then alter the money supply at will, for example by causing inflation. Cryptocurrencies are by definition decentralized — that is part of their advantage — and without a central bank they need an entirely new approach when it comes to squashing volatility. They need to do this without compromising the freedom of the users and without resorting to inflation.

Cooperation Over Competition: A Decentralized Community

“United we stand, divided we fall.”

What if there was a currency that encouraged people to cooperate? What if people were incentivized by a spirit of growth, rather than of greed? Under the ideal model, a network of cooperative businesses and services would coordinate with each other as a single unit. The coin would be shaped democratically by this co-op (shaped not controlled). Every user would have incentives to help the network grow as a whole, and the use of a blockchain would help make the process fair.

Instead of rampant online speculation, users would visit local exchanges to buy and sell the currency. The community as a whole would vote on when to increase the coin’s price, which would keep things democratic and guard against sharp spikes.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Neil Haran
CONTRIBUTOR

David

Cryptocurrencies Surge in Value – Threefold Increase since last year

Cryptocurrencies Surge in Value - Threefold Increase since last year

Cryptocurrencies Surge in Value – Threefold Increase since last year

The combined market value of bitcoin and other crypto-currencies is now $27bn, representing a threefold increase since the start of 2016, with bitcoin miners having earned more than $2bn since trading in the electronic currency began in 2009.

These are some of the findings of a new report the Global cryptocurrency benchmarking study by Dr Garrick Hileman and Michel Rauchs of the University of Cambridge.

The authors note that ten years after the publication of a white paper by Satoshi Nakamoto which led to the creation of bitcoin, the crypto-currency markets now have approximately the same valuation as AirBnB, with the value of individual coins, the total number of users and the number of crypto-currencies in use all rising fast.

The prices of bitcoin and "altcoins" such as dash, monero and ether have all rocketed in price in the last 18 months, more than doubling in the case of bitcoin and with monero worth 16 times more than at the start of 2016.

At the same time, the number of daily bitcoin transactions has risen from 201,595 in Q1 2016 to 286,419 a year later, with the ether being traded more than twice as much reaching 47,792 daily transactions in January-February 2017.

With the future direction of bitcoin uncertain due to arguments about the best way to increase its scalability without centralising power in the hands of a few giant "miners" (generally companies operating a large number of powerful servers that verify transactions on the bitcoin blockchain), alternative currencies such as the ether have risen in importance as a hedge for investors.

The alternative approaches threaten to split bitcoin in two, forking the blockchain. This could create difficulties as there would be two different versions of bitcoin in circulation, and other coins and services built on the bitcoin blockchain and currency exchanges would have to decide which way to go. However, despite the feuding, the price of bitcoin against the US dollar is close to an all-time high.

The transaction fees that miners can earn have risen sharply as the number of transactions, and hence the size of the blockchain, has grown, with users opting to pay more for a quicker transaction time. This has left the big miners with a lot of power and a vested interest in the way bitcoin evolves.

The report estimates the current number of unique actve users of crypto-currency wallets be between 2.9 million and 5.8 million, with between 5.8 million and 11.5 million wallets in active use. The industry is thought to employ around 2,000 people worldwide.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

John Leonard

Author

David

Bitcoin Rises Footsie Falls as UK Heads to Snap Election

Bitcoin Rises Footsie Falls-as UK Heads to Snap Election

Bitcoin Rises, Footsie Falls, as UK Heads to Snap Election

Theresa May, the British unelected current Prime Minister, has surprised and at the same time excited everyone by all the sudden calling a snap election in what may be an historical two months of campaigning.

“It was with reluctance that I decided the country needs this election, but it is with strong conviction that I say it is necessary to secure the strong and stable leadership the country needs to see us through Brexit and beyond,” May said according to Reuters.

No one was expecting the British election as May has univocally stated there will not be one, but the surprise u-turn sent FTSE down some 2.46%, Pound is up to months high and so is Bitcoin, rising slightly around 1.50%.

The outcome of the election is currently seen as somewhat certain because the Labour leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, is generally seen as unelectable. Moreover, Theresa May is 20 points ahead of Labour, but will there be a twist?

All eyes are now on Tim Farron, the leader of the Liberal Democrats. The party rose to power in a coalition in 2010 with the conservatives. Voters, however, severely punished them in 2015 because they rose student fees when they said they would not.

However, now the times are very different. Britain has as good as no official opposition. The only real choice is the Liberal Democrats, a coalition of social liberals and classic liberals. They usually strongly appeal to students, while also attracting libertarian-leaning voters.

In this election, their main selling point would probably be their pro-EU stance. Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of lackluster campaigning for remaining in the EU prior to the referendum. Some speculate he is secretly in favor of Brexit.

The only voice, therefore, for some 48% of voters who wished to remain, may be Tim Farron. It is far too early to say what exactly he will promise, but if the party accepts the referendum’s results and campaigns on a soft-brexit, it may actually have a real chance of providing a third political earthquake in just months.

The election may then be given some meaning, instead of being just a coronation, as the public debates whether they wish to hard or soft Brexit in potentially the biggest decision this nation has faced in almost a century.

We should, however, expect Tim Farron to botch it all and say we should have a second referendum, something which would probably take them off the election map and relegate them to a joke party.

Britain has voted to leave. The will of the people must be upheld. The question now is how, not if. The nation demands an opposition. Who wants the position is now the question everyone is asking.

David Ogden
Entreprenuer

David

Should You Accept Cryptocurrency In Your Small Business?

should you accept cryptocurrency in you small business

Should You Accept Cryptocurrency In Your Small Business?

Despite the controversy and challenges that occur — small-business owners are embracing cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin. The main reason, according to the more savvy entrepreneurial-types, is that by using the latest technology they can stand out from other businesses.

Does that mean that accepting cryptocurrencies is the right fit for your business? It actually depends on your business’s particular situation and needs, but for the most part, cryptocurrencies can offer the following advantage for business owners.

In years past U.S. merchants have had to pay over $78 billion in credit and debit card processing fees. Since cryptocurrencies are decentralized, meaning that they don’t require a bank to verify each transaction, you can eliminate those transaction fee which normally cost 2 percent up to 5 percent for each transaction.

In other words, it costs almost nothing for your customers to transfer funds to you. As for you — as a business owner — don’t have to share your hard-earned revenue with that third party financial institutions.

More privacy and security for your customers.

According to a research by Statista, 17 percent of shopping cart abandonment is over payment security concerns, with another 18 percent is due to excessive payment security checks.

With cryptocurrency transactions, customers don’t have to share personal data when making purchases because they rely on a send-only protocol, meaning that counterfeiting and identity theft are decreased because there aren’t any number for hacker to steal.

Transactions are processed quickly.

Waiting for a funds to become available in your bank account isn’t just frustrating, it can negatively impact your cash flow. That’s not the case with cryptocurrency transactions. In most cases, these transactions occur in real-time because there aren’t multiple banks holding-up the payment process.

Even if it’s not that quick — funds are typically available in just a couple of minutes.

It’s an international currency.

If your business exports goods and services, or purchases supplies or materials from other countries, then cryptocurrencies like bitcoin can help you get around those expensive foreign transaction fees, exchange rates, or currencies.

Since eCash, like bitcoin, is a global currency and it’s not tied to any single government or company. In other words, it ignores border restrictions. So as long as both parties accept bitcoin, you’re good to go.

No fraud, no chargebacks.

Cryptocurrencies are similar to cash, in that you either have it or you don’t and all transactions are final. This is because transactions are added to the blockchain via a complex system called mining.

This system verifies funds and makes it pretty much impossible to spend more than you own. Also, since both parties must approve the transaction, there aren’t any disputes to worry about it. This means that chargebacks don’t occur and are a thing of the past.

Acquire new customers.

There are serious die-hard fans of cryptocurrencies. Having your customers already familiar with cryptocurrencies is a plus and can be a major assist for your business since they actively seek out businesses that accept digital currencies.

Of course, that’s a niche market. However, as a general rule of thumb, when you offer more payment options the more customers you’ll be able to attract. In fact, it’s been found that up to 28 percent of shopping cart abandonment is caused by the lack of a payment option a shopper prefers to use.

We’re moving away from paper.

Both cryptocurrencies and digital wallets are continuing to grow. In fact, both the blockchain and bitcoin had banner years in 2016. Bitcoin was the top currency in 2016 and is being valued at around $1,000.

It’s expected this trend will continue in 2017 and and began a high growth beyond 2017 as people become more familiar with this digital currency.

Instead of resisting this change, it would make more sense for your business to become an early adopter and embrace cryptocurrencies so that you can set yourself apart from your competitors.

The bottom line.

While accepting cryptocurrencies can set you apart as an innovator and an early adopter of fintech. Cryptocurrencies are faster and cheaper than processing traditional payments, and are relatively secure.

As yet, cryptocurrency is not equally regulated. Some countries are working to restricted cryptocurrency use.

If is not considered as stable, yet. Cryptocurrency isn’t as regulated as the price of eCash and it can fluctuate suddenly.

Limited scaling. The system is designed to only process so many transactions at this time. However, the fintech revolution is solving many of the issues surrounding the scaling.

Lack of applications. There aren’t as many applications to process virtual currencies as compared to apps that can process credit or debit cards. However, several companies are in the race to come up with the MVP app for cryptocurrencies.

Security. While identity theft and counterfeit can be greatly reduced with this type of system, there’s no system in place to prevent human error, technical glitches, or fiduciary fraud. (Of course, there never has been anything to stop those very same issues in traditional banking, either. Cryptocurrency still remains the most secure banking method as a result of the blockchain process.)

Makes planning more challenging. Since cryptocurrencies are decentralized, and 100 percent digital, it can make preparing financial statements, determining taxes, and figuring out your prices difficult.

If you do decide to start accepting cryptocurrencies after weighing the pros and cons, you can easily get started by using digital wallets like Due and Coinbase.

There’s also POS systems like XBTerminal that allows customers to pay from any mobile bitcoin wallet by using NFC or QR code.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

This article was originally published on Due.com.

David

3 Simple Ways for Earning Cryptocurrency From Home

3 simple ways of earning cryptocurrency from home

3 Simple Ways for Earning Cryptocurrency From Home

Cryptocurrencies represent awesome payment systems that enable anyone to send and receive money to and from anyone in the world; convert it to fiat currencies easily and use it to buy whatever one might choose whether online or offline. However, one of the drawbacks of cryptocurrencies is that it can be somehow hard to buy them, especially in selected countries where it is difficult to open a bank account.

Throughout this article, I will show you three ways to make money online in the form of cryptocurrencies using just your laptop/PC and an internet connection:

1-Blogging on Steemit.com

Steemit.com is a blockchain based social network, that incentives its users for posting and curating (upvoting) content. On Steemit, you can make money online, in the form of crypto, for posting new content and/or curating (up-voting) the content of others. The social network has three forms of currencies/tokens:

STEEM: which represents a cryptocoin that is tradable on a number of exchanges such as Poloniex.

Steem backed dollars (SBD): whose value is linked to the USD. SBD is also tradable on cryptocurrency exchanges.

STEEM Power: which are influence tokens that give users control over the amount of earnings they gain by posting and curating content.

When you publish a post on steemit, you will receive rewards for it after 24 hours depending on the number of upvotes it received by other users, who create content. Your earnings will be divided into 3 portions

a. 50% will be in the form of STEEM Power

b. 25% will be in the form of STEEM

c. 25% will be in the form of SBD

STEEM and SBD can be instantly transferred to an exchange and sold for Bitcoin, while you can only convert STEEM Power to STEEM, to be able to sell it, through a complex process known as “Power Down”.

2- Mining Altcoins Via Minergate:

Even though I remember that I used to mine around 1 whole Bitcoin every 36 hours in 2010,using just my PC, it is now impossible to mine Bitcoin and most major altcoins using a PC, as the networks of all these coins have grown massively and their networks’ difficulties have skyrocketed too. However, there are a handful of altcoins that you can still mine using a PC with reasonable specifications.

Minergate provides a descent service that enables you to mine a number of altcoins using your PC or laptop including Monero, bytecoin, Ethereum, Ethereum classic and others. The software also has a great option; “Smart mining”, which automatically picks up for you the best coins to mine according to market prices and network difficulties.

With a few clicks, you can download, install and start mining cryptocurrencies using your laptop. The higher the specifications of your PC (processor, RAM) and GPU, the bigger the amount you can make via Minergate’s mining software. Roughly speaking, a dual core i5, 8 GB RAM PC with a 1 GB Nividia Geoforce GPU can mine what is worth around 10 cents per day.

3- Donating your PC processing Power for Gridcoin GRC:

Gridcoin Research (GRC) is a cryptocurrency network that is created to facilitate multi-party computing and reward volunteers who donate their computing power to BOINC projects with GRC. You can make between 8-30 cents per day via donating your PC’s processing power to the gridcoin network.

Follow the BOINC client and gridcoin installation guides on gridcoin’s official website and in less than 20 minutes, you will be earning gridcoin for donating your computer’s processing power.

David Ogden

Entrepreneur

Author Dr Tamer Sameeh

David

Cryptocurrency Creates New Opportunities

cryptocurrency creates new opportunities

Cryptocurrency Creates New Opportunities

Over the last few years, the Cryptocurrency industry has been gaining popularity, and for a good reason. With the complexity that goes into making physical dollars, it’s clear now why people are opting to print a new form of currency. Making a digital currency is quite easier for someone with basic coding skills. Most are turning to the internet to gain ground and understand its use and value. Before, the concept was unfamiliar and scary just like the credit card some years back.

You might have come across the terms Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ether. These are cryptocurrencies that use the Blockchain Technology to ensure this currency and technology is safe. Here we look at the some of the new opportunities created by cryptocurrency versatility in different fields. But before that, let’s look at the basics.

WHAT IS CRYPTOCURRENCY?

A cryptocurrency is an encrypted digital currency that is created using advanced encryption techniques commonly known as cryptography. The concept became a reality upon the creation of Bitcoin in 2009. It captured the attention of significant investors in April 2013 when it recorded a price of $266 per bitcoin. So, will the currency eventually unseat the ruling currencies such as dollars and euros? The answer lies with the Bitcoin. That said, what are the new opportunities being created by the cryptocurrency? Find out.

IMPROVEMENT IN EDUCATION

According to Gigaom reports, university students can now receive bitcoin once they enroll in school, and some universities are even accepting the currency as a form of payment for tuition. Dan Elitzer, the President of the MIT Bitcoin Club, and Jeremy Rubin, a computer scientist at MIT, successfully raised about half a million dollars for the enrollment of more than four thousand students worldwide in tech institutions.

The team together with the bitcoin community managed to provide students a chance to develop their own bitcoin wallets. This seems like a clever plan judging from the recent advancements in Bitcoin where they have developed the new Xapo Wallet.

Today technology has enabled students to access different services including essay services and now cryptocurrency. Providing college students with access to bitcoin is a great step in cryptocurrency especially since universities are now accepting alternative currencies such as Bitcoin as payment for tuition.

ENTREPRENEURIAL INNOVATION

The improved growth in the use of cryptocurrency leads to entrepreneurial innovation and it is said to foster growth in traditional banking infrastructure. Once the infrastructure is built and there is mass distribution of the currency, new businesses can build financial services without having to invest in expensive infrastructure. They just have to build applications and supportive services aside from the cryptocurrency system and they conduct their business without building a data center, huge hardware, and an IT department.

The ability of an entrepreneur to access a source of payment method has fueled innovations in the financial services. These services are beneficial to the constituencies and areas that are underserved by the traditional banking providers.

FACILITATES ESTABLISHMENT OF CUSTOM DESIGNED CURRENCIES

Cryptocurrencies are the latest technological advancements that have enabled groups to create custom designed currencies. Today we see banks and other institutions working hard to establish their digital currencies and this is a new chance to experiment new technology.

Bitcoin has already set ground and proven to be quite dynamic and resilient amongst other currencies. It has undergone massive criticism but it has proven it’s powerful on the global perspective. Being an example of a successful digital currency, it is completely public and can be used in peer-to-peer transactions. It is a global financial utility that is accessible to anyone provided you’re connected to the internet.

Those who say that Bitcoin and Ethereum may become irrelevant may be surprised. Cryptocurrencies are high-grade financial tools that are made for legitimate and exciting function with a sense of global financial services that bypasses the infrastructure of traditional banking. Some experts even suggest that blockchain payment systems may beat the mighty U.S. Automated House financial transactions system come 2020.

With the technological advancement that is being experienced now, it is not a surprise to find that the cryptocurrency usage may accelerate to greater heights. The blockchain technology is expected to form a great part of the coming internet generation with massive transformation in commerce and overall structure of corporations and many other institutions across the globe. Be ready for this radical transformation. It’s worth checking out.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Author Laura Buckler

David

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency on the rise in South Africa

bitcoin and cryptocurrency on the rise in south africa

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency on the rise in South Africa

Since the meteoric rise of Bitcoin, cryptocurrency has become increasingly popular across the world.

While Bitcoin is the largest and most widely-used cryptocurrency on the market, there are other currencies experiencing steady growth – such as Ethereum and Dash.

These cryptocurrencies also use a blockchain, or distributed ledger system, but feature different mining techniques and additional features.

Mining is the process of earning cryptocurrency based on the work done to confirm transactions and add them to the blockchain.

The earning efficiency of this process is generally based on hardware processing power, and mining different currencies can require different hardware.

While mining Bitcoin in South Africa generally requires a large investment, mining alternative cryptocurrencies can be a cheaper option for enthusiasts.

Cryptocurrency popularity in South Africa

BitMart CEO Jacques Serfontein told MyBroadband that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are becoming increasingly popular in South Africa.

“The popularity of cryptocurrencies has increased tremendously in South Africa, and with the weakening rand it’s a great investment option – giving returns of between 6-15% per month,” said Serfontein.

BitMart is a local online retailer which sells cryptocurrency mining hardware and hosts cloud mining services.

Serfontein said Bitcoin mining rigs remain the most popular choice among South Africans, despite the rise of alternative cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum.

“Ethereum mining hardware is becoming more and more popular as the price gains value, but Bitcoin remains the most popular cryptocurrency among miners,” he said.

“We deliver two Bitcoin miners for every other miner we sell.”

Dash follows closely behind Ethereum in terms of popularity and is gaining rapidly on its competitors.

Mining alternative cryptocurrencies can be more viable than Bitcoin mining for beginners, and Serfontein recommends they purchase a GPU-based mining rig which allows them to mine a number of different coins.

“We recommend the Thorium 2480 rig for beginners, as it is cheap and can mine Zcash, Ethereum, Monero, and various other coins,” said Serfontein.

“You can choose to either mine the coin directly and keep it, or have our pre-loaded software convert the coin to Bitcoin.”

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken adds Dash to Listings

cryptocurrencey exchange kraken adds dash to listings

Dash, the fifth most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap, has announced its partnership with Kraken Digital Asset Exchange – one of the world’s oldest bitcoin exchanges with the largest selection of digital assets and national currencies.

The partnership comes in the wake of a record surge for the cryptocurrency, which experienced a 6x increase in price per ($11 to $72 USD) and a 10x increase in trading volume ($3 million to $30 million USD) across Q1. Dash is now open for trading on the platform with buy and sell pairings including DASH / EUR, DASH / USD, and DASH / BTC. Kraken is expected to offer Dash margin trading in the near future, the release said.

“Kraken is excited to offer Dash on their trading platform and our teams are working closely to ensure clients can begin trading the currency immediately. Kraken is an incredibly well established and well structured organization, and amongst the best in the exchange business. In terms of reputation, they represent the highest standard for client satisfaction. Dash is a project that has implemented very original ideas that resonate well with the market, and as a top tier exchange, Kraken’s mission is to provide clients with access to digital currencies that are in demand and provide value”, Dash VP of Business Development, Daniel Diaz, said.

Following several business partnerships around the world, the implementation of the Sentinel software upgrade and the announcement of revolutionary decentralized payments system called Evolution, Dash has been on record breaking trajectory. Its total market cap skyrocketed from $78 million USD (January 1st) to an all time high of $835 million USD (March 18th), with new international markets unlocked alongside user demand.

“As the leading exchange in the Euro market, Kraken’s global reach helps Dash successfully meet the needs of our users and investors. The entire integration experience was very positive and we have high expectations for the partnership going forward. This is a significant achievement for Dash because our ecosystem needs high quality and trustworthy exchanges like Kraken to thrive, and we know they will play an important role as a fiat gateway”, Diaz continued.

Founded in 2011, Kraken Digital Asset Exchange is based in San Francisco, with offices around the world. Trusted by hundreds of thousands of traders, institutions, and authorities, including Germany’s BaFin regulated Fidor Bank, Kraken is the first exchange to display its market data on the Bloomberg Terminal, pass a cryptographically verifiable proof-of-reserves audit, and one of the first to offer leveraged margin trading. Kraken investors include Blockchain Capital, Digital Currency Group, Hummingbird Ventures, Money Partners Group, and SBI Investment.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David