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BTC Vs BSV: what is the difference

Bitcoin is a crypto currency. The one we all know regardless of how much you care about the industry. To understand what BTC vs BSV are, we have to go back.

BTC Bitcoin cash is a cryptocurrency that is a fork of bitcoin. And by fork, I mean changes in protocol to the bitcoin network and are similar to software upgrades.

In 2018 bitcoin cash split into two cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin cash (BTC) and Bitcoin SV (BSV). Bitcoin cash was created when the need to increase count of transactions per second. There was a huge push from part of the community to create hard fork to increase the block size limit.

This was because some part of the community felt that adopting bitcoin as it was without increasing the block limit would only work to favor people who treated bitcoin as a digital investment rather than a transactional currency. This part of the community wanted bitcoin cash as more a medium of exchange than anything else.

There was lot of friction from various factions about increasing the block size. However, developers, blockchain activists, investors and mostly large china-based miners were not happy with the initial plans to increase capacity and pushed alternative plans which created bitcoin cash.

BTC Vs BSV: Understanding BSV

  The debate started early on in 2013, as I had told you earlier. The question was about scaling bitcoin. Satoshi, who had implemented the fixed block argued that there wasn’t a need for the fixed block saying hardware would improve and hence support larger blocks. Those with the contrary opinion said it would become increasingly difficult to run on a full node (which is a node in the blockchain network that has stored the entire transaction history).

This would mean only big firms, with lots of funds and excellent hardware could verify blockchain. Abolishing the fixed would mean Changing the rules a hard fork. This led to the scenario I drew out in the first paragraph. Fast forward to 2018, Bitcash (BCH) decides it would take the path of larger blocks and it was agreed within the BTC community to conduct hard forks twice a year.

The in November, when the second hard fork was about to happen controversy ensued. This led to the birth of bitcoin SV (satoshi vision). This event split the bitcoin cash community into two groups. The battle was fierce, every party fighting for what they thought was right for them.

Are BSV Microtransactions Price Pumping?

Now that you know the history, we can now answer this question. I decide not to bore you with jargon and intricacies of how they all work, but you’ll have to excuse me on this one. I came across a tweet that claimed: the huge amount of microtransactions of BSV happening are evidence of “price manipulation” and “fake activity”.

Another thing to look at in BTC Vs BSV is the transactions of BSV are twice that of BTC. Plus, also BSV have occasionally passed the 1 million transaction per day marked. These allegations are not true because it is well known that these two applications.

That generate microtransactions and record massive volumes of data could be considered price manipulation. And also because their transaction volumes do not correspond to large price movements. Baffles me how one can think of such absurdity.

New Post has been published on http://baseberry.com/archives/6397

Coronavirus and The Crypto Connection

News broke earlier on that coronavirus had attacked China. This is a new strand of Ebola. It has caused upwards of around 400 deaths and over a thousand people infections and millions infected and millions more affected.

After the Coronavirus outbreak, the government quickly cordoned off the city of Wuhan, where patient zero was first identified. Nothing is allowed in nor out. Following this, many governments around the world have banned all flights in and out of china.

This is in an attempt to stop the virus from spreading around the globe, which would be a catastrophe. Science China is a major crypto mining hub, it was inevitable, it would have an impact. Not only crypto has taken a hit. The whole economy is on its knees.

Factories have been shut down and people don’t want to go out because of the Coronavirus. The only thing doing well are online streaming, food delivery and of course medical equipment. People are in panic mode and its showing in the economic view.

Due to the closure of the factories, companies like apple, which, completely rely on China’s manufacturing industry, have really been affected and it’s expected to be dead line’s missed on their flagship products. But nobody truly knows what the situation will develop.

The Crypto Community and the Coronavirus

Most online communities use WeChat to communicate in China. So many of the now have changed and have decide to aid and help those I need. The key thing they want to help with is face masks. When the government has not only denied entry and exit of people it has also refused any goods coming into Wuhan. So many inhabitants in Wuhan don’t have access to face masks.

This is where the community comes in, they help smuggle face mask from their countries and bring take them to Wuhan. Example is trader who stays in Thailand and had connections to the mask industries. She managed to get the mask through the border and various ports until it reached its final destination in a hospital in Wuhan.

But lately the government is softening its stance and allowing a few goods to go in the city. People are also donating to try and help the situation. Imagine if they all used a decentralized system, the government would not have the ability to restrict messages and calls. It would really come in handy during a time like this.

Crypto Companies

Many crypto companies have organized donations to help out. Many of them have chosen to do it directly in fiat (inconvertible paper money made legal tender by a government decree) while others are using tokens. The biggest concern is how to authenticate the spending.

However, with the availability of blockchain many startups have promised to authenticate and track these donations. But that’s easier said than done. Tracking is not easy.

This may explain why many NGO are not on any blockchain network and also the governments have to give the green light and allow for any charity organization to help in this tragedy.  Also, many small-medium size businesses are suffering due to the lack of funds. Many of them will have to shut down.

Many miners have been affected, but are gradually resuming operations since for most, part its automatic and only requires human involvement when it comes to repairs and anything along those lines.

New Post has been published on http://baseberry.com/archives/6389

Crypto Faces Big Firm Opposition: How is Google Killing Crypto

The rise of CRYPTO has been slow but sure. Since the bubble burst its been a tough 24 months for all stakeholders involved. After all that you’d want to believe the worst has already passed ,right? Well that’s not so,here is a read on how google is killing crypto.

Google, believe it or not, the people supposed to bet engineering our future is busy trying to fight it. I’m not paid to give my opinion, well,technically I am, but it seems like hypocrisy from where I’m standing.

But what do they stand to gain? Why would they want crypto dead? This is what we’re going to look at. To be frank this doesn’t come as a surprise. We always new the establishment had been always against it.

How Is Google Killing Crypto?

A month ago, a puzzle game called bitcon blast, which rewarded its users with redeemable points was suspended without any warning from the google play store. Funnily enough, it was available on the app store. This was one way google started showing these fishy signs.

But the app has been reinstated after the parent company cried foul. Soon after YouTube banned a lot of creators from its platform but later reversed this after facing backlash. It doesn’t end there, google suspended a popular crypto wallet and mobile app and yes you called it.

They reinstated it after.  This caused an outcry from stakeholders letting others be aware how google is misbehaving. People have called for a boycott because of this unfair treatment. It’s very weird . People can only speculate what is really going on.

Why Is Google Killing Crypto?

It’s not really clear what is going on, we can only sit here and guess. It’s scary when you really think about it. Although it could be that Google wants to get into financial services and they’re afraid that allowing bitcoin to flourish on their platform may hinder partnerships from big banks who will facilitate their ambitions. As we’ve known banks are not really bought with the idea of crypto.

The search engine giant has made a deal with Citibank, a financial giant in the states and that may explain the reason for this reckless and unfair behavior.

They may also be trying to put pressure on many crypto exchanges and companies to do more to promote better and more open dealings. This maybe bully tactics, but may improve crypto in fine light in the long term. Or maybe google is scared, scared of what you ask? Well its been long known that block chain aims at decentralizing the internet.

The same internet google holds a monopoly on. This may be a tactic to try and save its backside. This,however, holds less water when you really think about it. Since the block chain is not near threatening banks let alone the internet, it still has a long way to go.

What Next?

Well, nothing really. We just wait and see and hope it was just a slight misunderstanding and nothing more than that. But I do believe, that even if google want to harm crypto, I’m confident crypto will find a way of thriving without the morgul.

New Post has been published on http://baseberry.com/archives/6393

Crypto Crime: how it has grown and affected the industry

The progress in cryptocurrency has been evident for everybody to see. Even the people who wrote it off are now super into it. It’s only going to get better as time goes on. The technology has proved to be highly useful, and that is why it’s growing at that fast a rate. And the Crypto Crime rate also growing.

This is mainly because people are using it as a digital investment and also some may use it as a medium of exchange. I could go on and on about why crypto is a success, but today we’ll focus on the other side. The dark side of crypto .

Even a well-meaning technology can still be used for bad. 2019 saw a rise in Crypto Crime. It was always going to be so, new tech new problems I’m afraid. But people who crusade against crypto will use this to spread a bad name and portray a message that isn’t necessarily true.

It’s very hard to track transactions not only because they’re so many of them, but also that would mean looking up an entire network. This means crime can exploit this flaw because the technology is new and we don’t really know exactly what we have on our hands here.

Hackers who commit Crypto Crime

This word scares a lot of people. But not all work to expose your show, your private life. But now we’ll focus on the crypto hackers who work to help illegal activity and also rob people who have saved their coin with not so great care. Most are lost in exchanges.

This is where many people take advantage and loot what doesn’t belong to them. My advice would be to do due diligence and be properly educated with all ways to safely secure our belongings online.

Crypto Scams and Crypto Crime

This has been a very common way of stealing from people. They pretend to be legitimate companies and give people a deal too good to pass off. This is how they hook you. They try and exploit those of us who want to get rich quickly. An estimated 12.5 billion has been lost due to such scams.

Due to the nature of block chain, it’s hard to track where the money goes and they get away with it. I know it’s terrible, but, I feel as time goes by a better and more trusted block chain will come to be that’s will help. For now, I’ll advise you to take absolute care of where you decide to buy your coin.

“One Coin” Crypto Crime

One Coin scam is probably the most famous scam yet. It left a lot without their assets. It’s responsible for the disappearance of about 4 billion was lost. The woman responsible started out a fund claiming to help people invest and navigate the crypto world, only for the company to disappear with all the money.

There’s probably no hope for compensation. This happened due to the fact that it’s a new industry and people don’t really do their homework. It may be to your advantage to really do your homework.

Where To Go From Here?

These Crypto Crime can be prevented and their many ways now to do it. It’s just a matter of time till it’s completely impossible to do it. But this will be down to the regulators and developers to show goodwill and actually reign in on these people putting a bad name on crypto.

New Post has been published on https://baseberry.com/get-gold-cryptocurrency/

How To Get Gold From Cryptocurrency?

If you’re a crypto fanatic, you’re, here aren’t you? And happen to be an investor, you can buy gold.  It’s about time if you ask me. This recently blew up when OneGold an online platform for buying and selling precious metals recently partnered with bitpay.

This makes it possible to buy this precious metal using crypto from your smart phone. Simple huh? From an investor’s point of view, there’s a huge sense of family hood when it comes to crypto and gold.

For starters, they’re both mined. How crazy is that. It’s a great fit. What a great way to diversify your portfolio, as the Wall Street boys and girl like to say. This is all due to the rally crypto has had science the crypto crash. Most people, I included see crypto as the gold of the future.

Why Buy Gold?

Because it has been here for a very long time and is a great product to invest in. it as the earliest form of currency, but don’t quote on this. Gold is regarded as a store of wealth not as an investment. It keeps you safe in case of a financial crash or global depression. Governments don’t support people holding this precious metal. they’d rather have you use their currency.

To manipulate you of course. Another thing is, storage of gold is rather tricky. You can either get a certificate of ownership, which make zero sense in case of emergency. Then there’s physical gold, needs physical storage space. But all in all, gold is an amazing thing to hold on to.

The Gold-Crypto Relationship

As I hinted earlier these two components are very similar. First the government doesn’t support either. They’re a great way to store wealth, but as we’ve just seen crypto would have less a hustle. Bitcoin for example, is nearing exhaustion.

The supply will go down and the demand will increase. This is the sentient investors love to hear. The fact like you can buy one with the other is really great news. I’d suggest you get to it. Buy a little first then build from there. However, the fact that you cannot use either to buy everyday commodities just shows how similar crypto and gold is rather than currency. The fact that both their prices keep fluctuating means that it’s not money ready for market yet. There’s a longer way to go.

SUMMURY

Buying gold from crypto is great news. OneGold make a good move. This shows that crypto is slowly but surely been accepted in the cooperate world. It’s also from the click of a smart screen. I mean, what more could one ask for? We’ve seen gold is a great way to protect you from the unknown.

Imagine the world economy crashes tomorrow. Monies wiped out. Banks closed so no withdrawals. Prices drastically go down inflation shoots up. What could a bar, a chunk of crypto do for you then? You’re right. They can do wonders for you.

Crypto is showing a lot of strength this year. It’s a really good sign. Investors are happy, happier now that they can easily using crypto buy gold. There a lot of service providers out there offering this service. Get on it. In a smart way.

New Post has been published on http://baseberry.com/archives/6404

Problems with Cryptocurrencies, are they set to improve

There’s still a huge rift in this industry and many Problems with Cryptocurrencies. It’s either you buy into crypto or you don’t. but to be completely fair, it’s okay to have questions about crypto. It’s only natural to have this.

There are many Problems with Cryptocurrencies that still need to be solved. We’ll look at some of them and try and see where they can be improved.  I would not blame anybody who is still not sure about crypto. Well, if you stand on the fence we’ll try and help you join ne side and hopefully it’s the crypto and blockchain is really good just needs a few tweaks side.

Problems with Cryptocurrencies: High Volatility

The price of Bitcoin has been going up and down in the past four years. This makes it a lot harder for investors to trust that ecosystem as a worthy investment. Another thing is most people don’t know what crypto currencies and how they work hence predicting their price becomes very difficult.

Also many new currencies are started just to raise money and after that they disappear and leave people blaming the entire system. This is very frustrating and for sure something needs to be done asap to help people out.

Low Scalability

This is the most debated areas in terms of  Problems with Cryptocurrencies. Currencies are faced with a dilemma, either to choose between speed or security and decentralization. Most coins choose the latter and hence transactions are agonizingly slow. This is a huge hinderance for many people and they opt for fiat currencies. Due to how inconvenient crypto is at the moment.

Absence of Regulations

This is a super frustration for many. Especially new investors who are unable to trust the system. The fact that many people may exploit crypto and use it for unethical means. This is is a massive Problems with Cryptocurrencies that turn off for any investor. Regulation is needed to help improve and help get more people involved. The regulations need to reign in on bad behavior. Strong regulations are needed if crypto is to be recognized internationally.

Liquidity Issues

This is also a problem fiat currencies face. Many of them cannot be liquid. Selling any assets without affecting the value of the currency is almost impossible for the investors. investors can lose hundreds of dollars before they sell the currency.

Cybersecurity Concerns

Cryptocurrencies are also prone to breaches and hacks. many crypto companies report millions in lost coin due to hacking. Also, many ICO’s have faced issues with security breaches and hacking which cost investors millions.

The hackers are getting smarter and now attacking their systems for ransomware. This compromises a lot of data and firms end up losing a lot of money and credibility. This is very dangerous especially if it’s a new startup which needs funds. This could put them out of business leading to many people losing their jobs.

Problems with Cryptocurrencies: Way Forward

Crypto are still young. The existing hurdles can be tackled by practical solutions. For crypto to flourish these problems need to be addressed as soon as possible. They could start with a regulatory framework to govern the application of cryptocurrencies.

Maybe countries form a union and govern to help deal with this. It has to be self-governing so as not to curtail the gains already made due to bureaucracy and other similar occurrences. Many companies are already working on scalability and will eventually find a suitable way to deal it. It’s also important to deal with volatility and give investors confidence.

New Post has been published on http://baseberry.com/archives/6385

How Rich Would You Be If You’d Have Invested in Bitcoin From 2015

You probably hadn’t heard of bitcoin back then or thought those who Invested in Bitcoin were scammed. Bitcoin sold for a dollar back then. A dollar! Well, to put things into perspective, if you’d bought one bitcoin then, it would be worth a whooping 10,000$ today. Staggering if you really think about it. The figure had reached 20,000$ in 2017.

It’s not normal that commodities shot up like that in a small amount of time but bitcoin did. The rise of crypto has been short and sure. Most people probably brushed it off five years ago as something else that doesn’t matter. And, surely had not Invested in Bitcoin.

Well, I’d love to meet those people now. Whether we’ll see another price spike? No clue. But should you invest in Bitcoin now? Well yes. Most definitely yes.

You don’t need 10,000$ and may I remind you there are thousands of crypto coins out there. So, there’s very high possibility that there’s another bitcoin out there super under priced. Just waiting in the sidelines to eventually run out charging like a bull just seen a matador or one with a cowboy on its back, but I digress. The crypto industry is now mature and its very difficult for other crypto to emerge like that. But one surely will.

1$ To 10,000$

I still cannot believe this figure. It’s incredible how fast that has been. I’m proud how fast people have taken up to crypto hoping for another surge especially those who had not Invested in Bitcoin.

Thousands of startups creating coins and hoping they become the next big thing.  I cannot blame them. Don’t we all want to make ten thousand dollars for one dollar? This mentality sadly has led a lot of people to do the wrong thing.

In 2017, bitcoin was selling at 20,000$, this led many people to speculate that it was going to shoot up even further to 100,000$ and people invested a lot of many expecting this to happen. Disaster. That’s what happens next. Thousands if not millions of people lost all they had saved. Sad indeed. If you were one of the affected, I do apologies.

Things do go how you don’t expect them to. But still, in this period of chaos for many, there’s a small percentage of people that became instant billionaires. Mixed fortunes. That’s a normal day at the markets I’m afraid. The problem is many people just wanted to make a quick buck, not really knowing what crypto really was.

Those who Invested in Bitcoin for A Dollar A Day

I came across an interesting article that was the actual inspiration to writing this.  There had been a video showing a guy who asked what would invest a dollar a day since 2015 would make today? This really inspired me and got me thinking why I never did. Doing the math, you’d have to invest around 2000$ and you’d get returns of around 20,000$.

You probably waste more than a dollar a day on things that really don’t matter. However, people were quick to point out that it was not possible to buy a dollar worth of Bitcoin since most exchanges have a minimum of 2$ plus fees. It is possible to do it today using the lightning network, which you could not use back then. So, I’d not really worry to much.

New Post has been published on https://baseberry.com/earn-free-cryptocurrency/

How to Earn Free Cryptocurrency?

Since the rise of crypto, a lot of people want to get their hands on them. The coin market is growing like crazy.  It seems everybody wants to take advantage of this opportunity, but can you blame them? But for many people they would not like to risk their money in a sector that they do not fully understand. Leading to many looking for ways of earning free cryptocurrency.

This has led to a very competitive space. And due to this many coin companies will offer incentives to allow people to bring attention to their product or platforms that facilitate exchanges. Free cryptocurrency convenient way for companies and startups to market their products.

However, the “free” should not mislead you. You still have a lot of work you’ll need to do. You’ll have to scour the internet for these deals and giveaways. On the bright side, you will not spend your money theoretically. I would also want to tell you to be careful and watch out for scams. But I believe my audience is smart and sharp and actually look before they leap.

Airdrops

This is when free tokens of a particular cryptocurrencies are given out to the community. This happens after the project has completed its ICO and it’s tradable on the market.

It’s done to gain followers and build the community and bring business their way. Simple, right? Well, that’s half the story. In the early years of crypto it worked but since the market has flooded with coins its hard to get a legit deal.

Most airdrops expect you to join their telegram account, follow them on twitter and things along this line. As I said it’s a marketing strategy and they want engagements and you want free crypto. You do need to be extra careful when dealing with this free cryptocurrency give-away, but there’s some level of opportunity to be had.

Faucets for free cryptocurrency

These are websites where people can earn cryptocurrencies through doing simple tasks like watching ads, sharing them, following their social platform. Simply put, you get paid for carrying out a simple task. However, you’ll probably get very little coin. A Satoshi which constitutes to (0.00000001 BTC) per task. This is by no means a get rich quick exercise.

Affiliate Marketing and Referrals

Affiliate marketing is where you market crypto on your blog or social media platforms and when people use your referral code you get free crypto. They are all much and the same. This has been used in very many industries. It’s a tried and tested method and it works well for everybody. This is one that needs one to work. To be patient and focused.

Work with The Startup for free cryptocurrency

You can also lend a hand to the startup that has launched and help them in return for coin. Many startups really appreciate this. You could detect a bug in their code. This may seem like a long shot, but it’s much better and leads to a better relationship between everybody. Id suggest you really try this one.

 Conclusion

The title, “free cryptocurrency” may have been misleading but you ought to know, nothing is free. It’s only that you aren’t spending any money. But most of these methods will have you up all night. And obviously there’s many more methods one can choose to adopt.

What I’m trying to tell you is that you’ll have to work. Forget the get rich quick notion because you’ll burn out and it will all be for nothing. Perform due diligence and ensure you are ok with whatever you have to do. Come to think of it.

New Post has been published on https://baseberry.com/crypto-viewed-traditional-assets/

Should Crypto Be Viewed as Other Traditional Assets?

If this is a question on crypto as traditional assets you’ve asked yourself, I don’t need to sell you. You’re clearly ‘woke’. However, they’re a bit different from traditional assets.

Can you imagine the thought of you deleting a folder and your riches vanish, or casually forget your password and you have locked yourself out of your hard earned “asset”.

If that doesn’t get you tingly, imagine you could buy or mine a whole lot of cryptocurrency and keep it all to yourself then get hit by a bus. Your family and loved ones will never get to see any of it.

Vanished like any chance of you having a beautiful corpse I’d assume, but I digress. Crypto is really kicking into gear after the 2017 crash, if you’re going to do it, there isn’t a better time.

Delete My Crypto?

Cryptos are basically electronic monies. So, to this point they’re stored in folders and you could actually delete them by pressing a button.

Recovery is virtually impossible. But this would indeed be worst case scenario. In the real world Crypto is stored in wallets. Wallets are physical mediums, programs or a service store the public or private key used to take ownership, receive or spend of cryptocurrencies.

Private key meaning (without getting to geeky) code that protect your crypto. Also choose a cold wallet (a crypto wallet not connected to the internet). But not many crypto currencies accept this. Also, cold wallets are expensive compared to its counterpart, yes you guessed it, hot wallet which are free. So, as we’ve seen its possible to protect, you’re crypto as you would any other asset.

Can Hackers Get My Crypto?

Well, can a thief steal your money? Yes, they sure can. But crypto however it’s a bit difficult, but possible. Blockchain cannot be altered. But if majority of the people on the network decide to hack it, what’s commonly known as the 51% attack, then it will be infiltrated.

Most cryptocurrency hacks occur at exchanges, which is where people trade. But generally, it’s as safe as taking your money and entrusting it to strangers in a bank. So far, it seems you can barely tell the difference between cryptocurrency and other traditional assets. Due to these issues there’re a lot of companies sprouting up to protect such things from happening.

Is Crypto Really Like Traditional Assets?

I’d be compelled to say yes and no. Yes, like all other traditional assets its destructible, its value fluctuates and it can disappear in whichever way. I know, this may not be wanted to hear, but you came here to find out. But the biggest reason I say yes, because it needs to be taken as seriously as any other traditional asset. I say no because, they’re no banks involved or government getting in your way. Which make it better.

Invest?

If you have deemed cryptocurrency a good investment choice, I’ll suggest you do your homework, starting here was great of course but further your studies. Many jumped on the coin bandwagon to make a quick buck. Well, most of those people probably didn’t succeed and have moved on to something else.

There are companies who protect your crypto in case of any accident. Recently also there are a few tracking it and helping authorities hunt down illegal activity.

New Post has been published on https://baseberry.com/5-cryptocurrency-regulation-themes-for-2020/

5 Cryptocurrency Regulation Themes For 2020

We’re all in agreement that it’s going to be a big year for cryptocurrency. Looking back 2 years ago, most people probably thought crypto was dead. But they are stronger than ever meaning we should expect some sought of Cryptocurrency Regulation to take effect soon.

To be fair nothing that falls by 80% in a year is shouting longevity but here we’re.  So, what bitcoin hasn’t gone to the ridiculous value it had before nosediving.

It’s proved itself and its climbing back slowly. Great news for the crypto world, and if that wasn’t enough, Facebook arguably the biggest tech company in the world, the controller of all what we like, search and see on the internet decides to join the game.

Regulators and legislators panic.  On comes the regulations. Here are a few of the themes to look out for in 2020.

Cryptocurrencies May Kill the Current Money System

After Facebook announced libra, many fed chiefs are worried. The fact that unregulated currency is being used.

Traditional money is heavily regulated. By Cryptocurrency Regulation I mean people sit in a room and decide what is to be done. Governments are worried they might lose control and that crypto may run wild and bring down economies.

To be fair however the financial industry was doing this pretty well on their own before crypto was born. The 2008 financial crisis happened because of poor policy by the same regulators. So, the idea that crypto may lead to the fall of the money system doesn’t hold much water.

Cryptocurrency Regulation: Cryptocurrencies May Sponsor Illegal Activity

This has been a big hurdle for crypto to overcome. The fact that it’s untraceable means it’s attractive to those who are eager to scrutiny from the law. In practical, sense if you were to do anything dodgy and had to use a mode of currency and had a decent brain, bets are you’re using crypto.

Because of this many ‘traditional money people’ unfairly judge crypto. Yes, we can all agree that terrorism, human trafficking and all other vile behaviors are absolutely intolerable. I do agree that more could be done to eliminate this through Cryptocurrency Regulation. But certainly traditional banks have a bigger case to answer.

Cryptocurrencies Are A Danger to The Economy

Crypto re under high scrutiny from everybody. People are watching and waiting. Many invested and the bubble burst. If a lot of people had jumped on the bandwagon then.

We’d be looking at a real financial crisis. This is what has governments on edge. Because it would mean that money would be decentralized and the monopoly by central banks would be no more.

Cryptocurrencies Are Untraceable

Governments are worried about this and also due to the nature of the technology and how private it is. This further goes to enhance the propaganda been peddled about illegal activity. Regulators will want to tighten the noose on his fact.

But the majority of users use crypto due to its private nature. This is a fight many crypto companies will fight. The argument would be that paper currency is also quite hard to trace as well. If you manage to not go through a bank, traditional currency can also be a tool to illegal activities as well.

The Bigger Picture

In all honesty, cryptocurrency has a long way to go to overtake its traditional counterpart. But if you really look deep into all these regulations there’s a war shaping up.

New Post has been published on https://baseberry.com/best-cryptocurrencies-2019/

The Best cryptocurrencies in 2019

The Best Cryptocurrencies have had quite a good year in 2019. They are more crypto currencies in the market than ever before. Plus, more and more people are starting to accept the concept.

Companies are scrambling to integrate blockchain tech to their system meaning that in a couple of years you can use your favorite crypto coin to make over the counter purchases.

But some crypto coins did better than others. With some of the Malware Best Cryptocurrencies experiencing quite a growth in 2019.

1. Best cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin

Even though many people thought that Bitcoin would never recover from the monstrous fall of value in 2017, The coin has been steadily increasing.

It hit a high of over $10,000 in mid-2019, and has stabilized at around $5,000 as the year comes to a close. Bitcoin started the year at around $2,500 and has ended it at almost double the value. Not many commodities even in the crypto world would boost of such an accomplishment, making it one of the Best cryptocurrencies around.

Bitcoin has the highest liquidity of any of the crypto coins and is universally known. It has the highest trade volume of any of the other coins. Today Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is almost used interchangeably by novice users. Which is quite the achievement for any brand.

With the Bitcoin halving coming up in 2020, and the belief that there is going to be a great rise in price after this, 2020 looks like a great year for Bitcoin.

2. Ethereum

Ethereum is more of a base for develops to build their apps on. This is a platform that has grown with more companies accepting crypto currencies. They use smart contracts, which is the basis of these app developers using Ethereum. Such diversity has catapulted Ethereum to be one of the Best cryptocurrencies.

Ethereum is also very widely accepted. Placing it second behind Bitcoin. Meaning its liquidity is also very high. You will not have a problem buying and selling Ethereum on any market place.

Its stability is much better than most Alt coin and Bitcoin. Since it is not used to trade that much its price has been slowly rising.

3. Litecoin Still one of the Best cryptocurrencies

Litecoin is a direct competitor to Bitcoin. They have improved and built on the Bitcoin concept making operations with Litecoin much faster. Litecoin has been viewed as a hold asset in 2019 than other high volatile coins like Bitcoin.

Even though the price is not as high as Bitcoin its potential is there for all to see. This is also a contributor to why it has become a hold asset. With a total of 84 Million LTC when the coin is fully mined experts believe that there is a lot of potential with this coin.

4. Libra

Libra from Facebook has not been as popular as the founders thought it would be when they first launched it. This has been down to the misconception that the coin brought about.

Firstly, many people thought that the coin was owned by Facebook, but in reality, the social media company was its major backing.

Secondly many people thought that Libra was here to compete with Bitcoin. Which is not the case. Libra is more of a link between online currencies. This concept alone makes them one of the Best cryptocurrencies around.

Their aim is to facilitate trade between currencies and commodities. Many investors have already backed out of the project. However, they still have Facebook on their corner and hope to make 2020 an even bigger year.

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Top 5 topics that will drive the crypto agenda in 2020

The crypto agenda of 2020 is one of the biggest taling points of any investor. This article talks about the current state of bitcoin as a leading blockchain in the industry. Daniel Gorfine, the owner of Fintech advisory company Gattaca Horizons LLC shares great insights about Bitcoin.

Currently, he is a professor at Georgetown University Law Center. He also served as a chief innovation officer at US Commodity Future Trading Commission.

The arrival of bitcoin can be related to the sudden appearance if the monolith in 2001. It’s like a space trek that elicits suspicion, curiosity, ecstasy, and evolution within a selection of interesting primates.

Satoshi’s white paper that is over ten years has stimulated a range of emotions, responses, and reactions. These reactions range from people who think it’s just digital smoke that will soon end. And those who claim blockchain is the greatest innovation since the advent of the internet.

Irrespective of your opinion is the fact that Bitcoin has made people think broadly about various aspects.

Some key crypto agenda include the nature of cash, how people engage in economic activities, and the responsibility of technology infrastructure and financial intermediaries in the market.

As we enter 2020 and wind up more than ten years of experience with digital currency, it’s good to look at five critical regulatory and market topics that will fuel the crypto program ahead next year.

1. The remainder of the international ICO mania of 2018 is a main crypto agenda

This topic catalyzed the vigorous debates in the description of security in a crypto context. The majority of people in the crypto society argue that ICOs will act as a consumption or utility function that powers new decentralized business models.

So, these tokens shouldn’t be viewed via the security offering lens. International regulators have assessed the promises to claim that most pre-sales of ICOs hve the hallmark of convectional capital increase. For this reason, there has been a focus on security laws.

2. Derivatives of the Remainder of the international ICO mania of 2018

This topic entails assessing various ways regulations will evolve in the United States to the level that the ICO falls outside the security laws.

Currently, all platforms facilitating the buying and selling of digital commodities are subject to a patchwork of federal regulations.

These regulations treat the transfer of virtual currencies as a cash transfer. With the exclusion of FinCEN registration, there’s no coherent state framework that offers oversight of the digital currency exchange making it a critical crypto agenda.

For this reason, 2020 might be the year where policymakers at the federal and state level starts making robust deliberation of a restructured digital currency regulatory framework.

3. Exploration within the application of security laws

Experts beleive that we need more research on the implementation of security laws to digital commodities that are deemed to be securities.

It explains the ways blockchain technology and blockchain-based products satisfy regulatory requirements and expectations. This includes aspects such as if tokens represent a listed on the legal form of the token, and the core blend of commodities in investment funds.

4. Ongoing improvement within stable crypto and digital fiat currencies

This includes Libra initiative, international CBDC efforts, or the USA hybrid model.  Irrespective of the longevity of Bitcoin, we haven’t witnessed any mainstream adoption. And achievement at the scale of the tokenized platform of exchange.

While there are many potential advantages such as efficiency, transparency, inclusion, and speed, we must test the merits as contrasted to payment convectional rails.

5. Ancillary benefits of technology infrastructures

This revolves around crypto as a commodity. And concentrates on numerous auxiliary benefits offered by the new focus on technology infrastructures.

Such an infrastructure underpins the broader market and supply of financial services. While the current infrastructure might be Scotch-taped and stuck together to serve the intended purpose.

There’re some questions about the new system being the coming generation of Fintech in the enterprise.

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Improvements that we have seen in Bitcoin Cash 2019

BeacuseAs we come to the end of 2019, Bitcoin ecosystem has changed. Bitcoin cash has been upgraded twice in 2019.

They added Schnorr signatures abilities, and many transactions on the network are non-malleable. Furthermore, bitcoin has augmented adoption in 2019. This includes the SLP token explosion and a slew of a handful of third-party applications.

The growth of Bitcoin Cash

As we usher in the New Year, bitcoin proponents are discussing the significance of Bitcoin cash network. Like most coins, bitcoin experienced a slow movement market-wise. However, the coin is above the +30-40% January prices.

As the market has a great year, Bitcoin cash ecosystem experienced vast improvements. From merchant adoption to infrastructure, Bitcoin enjoyed tremendous growth this year.

Furthermore, Bitcoin has undergone two upgrades in 2019 that as enhanced the general functionality and struggles towards the Bitcoin roadmap.

Bitcoin enthusiasts from across the world consider that decentralized digital coins are paving the way to the international P2P electronic cash transfer.

Bitcoin Cash 2019 Upgrades

After six months, Bitcoin chain updates in order to boost the Bitcoin roadmap towards technical improvement and scaling. On 15th May, the Bitcoin blockchain adopted the basics of Schnorr signature capability and Segwit recovery exemption. The Schnorr signature allows enhanced scaling and privacy. The first update created the initial framework that allows developers to leverage its protocol.

On the other hand, the Segwit recovery change allows network participants to get back their cash that has been transferred by mistake.

On 15th November, bitcoin developers adopted the Minimaldata regulation change that eliminates the malleability vector from the bitcoin network. This improvement makes most bitcoin transactions non-malleable.

Also, the 15th November agreement change comprises the Schnorr signature support prolonged to OP_Checkmultisig. That means that all signatures checking processes must support a Schnorr signature.

Simple Ledge Protocol (SLP)

The Bitcoin network has experienced a significant improvement in their simple ledger protocol as the SLP domain has grown strong. The SLP framework has helped in the creation of 6141 tokens, resulting in 312,505 SLP transactions in 2019.

Famous tokens created on the bitcoin network in 2019 comprise Spice, Honk Honk, Official Honk, Flex coin, ACD coin, SAI Drop, Gocrypto, and Honestcoin. Most of these tokens have acquired value, and bitcoin proponents have witnessed the token market capitalizations expand.

Above all, SPL tokens are merchandized on exchanges, and they can be swapped on various trading platforms such as Coinex, Coinsuper, Bitcoin.com Exchange, Altilly, and Cryptophyl.

Merchant Adoption

Bitcoin cash supporters will always get retailers to support P2P electronic cash platforms, and this year has not been different. With the help of individuals spreading awareness about Bitcoin cash, merchant adoption has experienced a tremendous growth since January.

At the start of the year, data collected by Acceptbitcoin.cash indicated that 943 online traders accepted bitcoin cash.

Privacy

Bitcoin has made tremendous improvements in terms of its BCH privacy. Its privacy was spiked after the introduction of CashShuffle on 27t march. The feature providers more profound anonymity, and it’s being enhanced upon with the idea known as Cashfusion.

Different Bitcoin Cash Milestones and latest applications

Bitcoin fans witnessed the introductions of the BCH marketplace known as local.Bitcoin.com. This allows bitcoin users to sell in noncustodial fashion and P2P.

The committed SLP exchange cryptophyl introduced this marketplace this year, which built an SLP-centric marketplace that utilizes BCH as base pair.

Bitcoin launched a cryptocurrency exchange and a trading system that supports SPL tokens and uses BCH as base pair.

The Sideshift.ai application became a famous crypto swapping system this year, and it introduced a native token known as SAI.

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What is Malware dropper and why it is so invasive?

Crypto currencies were designed to remain secure and anonymous. But with the technological revolution that it is, hackers have also stepped up. The latest tool they are using is the Malware dropper.

What is the malware Dropper?

This kind of malware works much like a trojan virus. The malware is uploaded with another program to your computer, giving access to the hacker. From then the crypto hacker can use the program to steal processing power and mine the coin.

So far the malware dropper has been associated  with Monero, and experts believe it is only a matter of time before hackers move on to more established coins like Bitcoin. This process is also called hallowing.

“As the dropped file is only made of skeletal code with no behavior on its own, the file can stay undetected in the system and possibly evade even manual detection when dormant,” the report explains.

“The attackers can choose to activate the malware at specific times “As the dropped file is only made of skeletal code with no behavior on its own, the file can stay undetected in the system and possibly evade even manual detection when dormant,”

the report explains. “The attackers can choose to activate the malware at specific times.”.”

But what makes the malware dropper so effective

The major property that makes this program so effective at stealing your mining power is that it can lay dormant in your computer until it is activated by the hacker.

This means even a thorough manual scan of your device may not detect the malware. Instead the hacker can put it on and off at will, making it even harder to detect and eradicate.

The Malware Dropper also requires a series of commands to active it and deactivated it. This makes it even more difficult to remove from your device once you detect it.

All the “security” set in place by this malicious code leave no traces of hacking.

How to defend against Malware Dropper?

You can use  unified endpoint management (UEM) which is by far the most effective way of monitoring hacking. The tool regularly monitors end to end activity on the black chain. It can easily spot irregular activity and unprompted transactions. One of the ways it monitors irregular activities is by detecting a surge in CPU usage which is mostly associated with crypto hacking.

An inexpensive way is to regularly manually check for changes in your network yourself. This is great for small time miners as it is effective and cost effective.

Bitcoin is not as safe either with quite a number of attacks in the past. The principle of hacking Bitcoin is quite similar to the one in Monero.  But with Bitcoin hacking the hacking process has been streamlined to ensure that the Bitcoin blockchain has been updated to avoid any detection.

Conclusion

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The Future of Cryptocurrencies Receives a New Lease of Life

The future of cryptocurrencies seems to be on its way to receiving the financial credit that it has been craving for over the years.

The Republic of Germany may have indeed been that breath of life it needed.

With the focus on Future of Cryptocurrencies, How did this happen?

Towards the end of November 2019, the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament. And also, the Bundesrat, the upper house went ahead and amended the current European Union’s Fourth Anti – Money Laundering Directive.

This directive currently prohibits banks from trading or dealing in any way or form in crypto currency. As a result, the new amendment turns this directive on its head and now makes cryptocurrency trading legal. This bill shall be effective from the 1st day of January 2020.

With this amendment in place, it translates to this particular anti-laundering directive clause has been made ineffective in Germany. Thus making it legal to trade, that is sell and store, cryptocurrency just as they would with stocks and bonds to institutional investors as well as retail.

On one hand. with this amended bill, current, custody providers and crypto exchanges that operate in Germany and around the world can now come out of the woodwork.

How do I apply?

This said there are a few regulations in place where Kraken, Binance and other Digital Asset Custodians can obtain a license.  Which has lead to Bafin, the German regulator to be given the mandate to manage this process of licensing.

To start this process, they have put in place guidelines that one needs to follow to obtain this license and the deadlines against each step.

 Your company needs to be a German legal entity before 31 December 2019.

A minimum of two German nationals as directors.

A letter of intent to needs to send by the end of March 2020 to Bafin.

Your official proposal delivered by the end of November 2020.

With these few requirements, Germany has officially turned into a safe haven for Digital Asset Custodians. But before this they have been struggling to get a foothold in the official trade markets.

Currently Crypto Finance a subsidiary of Swiss financial services provider. While Crypto storage has already made an announcement on their plans to open an office in Frankfurt based on this new German law.

Should we be concerned on the Future of Cryptocurrencies?

Despite the positive receipt this new law has been received by many financial institutions. There is a general concern from consumer watchdogs.

That this might lead to consumers being bombarded with this option of trade. However, Since its perceived profit margins are high without proper regulation. And how best to protect and educate the consumers on the pros and cons of cryptocurrencies.

The other concern brought forward in the financial arena is how safe will the private keys be.

Despite this general concern, this is a definite economic boost for the German economy. And act as a challenge to the rest of Europe.

New Post has been published on https://baseberry.com/bitcoins-2020-halving-catalyze-fomo/

Why Bitcoin’s 2020 Halving Will Catalyze “FOMO” and “Large Bull Run

If you know any thing about cryptocurrency then you understand how a big deal the Bitcoin’s 2020 Halving is. If you don’t, then you need to understand the fundamentals of BTC mining.

In a nutshell, new BTCs are introduced to the industry as rewards for minors when they mine Bitcoin blocks. When Satoshi was making the regulations for Bitcoin protocols, he pointed out two essential things:

The supply of BTC is restricted and finite to 21 million. The other important thing is that the number of BTC mined per block should reduce by 50% for every 210k blocks.

The duration takes for BTC Halving

Because six blocks are available on average with a 60-minute and halving takes place once in 210k blocks, then halving events will occur every four years. meaning we will have the next event with Bitcoin’s 2020 Halving.

Basically, this means that BTC generation rewards will be reduced by 50% from the initial amount. For instance, if every BTC generator gets 10.5 BTC for mining a block, they’ll get 5.25BTC after the halving event happens.

Since 21 million BTC have been mined over the period, that does not imply that there are 21 million BTCs available. It would be best if you considered the lost BTCs that won’t be recovered.

Within the next six months, the world is expected to see the Bitcoin’s 2020 Halving. Recognized as halvening/halving, the number of coins provided per block to miners will be cut 12.5 to 6.25. That means that Bitcoin’s inflation rate will be cut into equal parts.

The halvening mechanism must be stored in the code in many years to come. And will guarantee there will be 21 million BTC available. This links to Satoshi’s apparent obsession with building a scarce and hard type of currency that is not like fiat money that is printed with no limits.

Most developers and economists have doubts about Nakamoto’s decision to limit the number of coins to be printed.

Since it’s recognized as a not feasible in the long run. Stakeholders and other people involved in this industry suggest that helvening event will bolster Bitcoin. Making mass FOMO among investors.

Bitcoin’s 2020 Halving posed for Bull Run

Recently, TokenDaily published a report known as “the 2020 crypto crystal ball”. In this case, the company published predictions from executives in the industry about the New Year for the crypto market.

The majority of those mentioned stated that they anticipate for the 2020 halvening to have a definite positive effect on the BTC market.

Not every person convinced

The interesting thing is that not every person is convinced that helvening will do magic for the market. Jason Williams, the founding partner of Morgan Creek Digital, pointed out that at the Bitcoin’s 2020 Halving won’t affect the price in May 2020 since it won’t be an event. This declaration comes during the start of a great recession in the crypto markets. This has played a role in discouraging many hulking sentiments and narratives being published this year.

Jason is not the only person with doubts. Jihan WU, founding partner of Bitmain claims that he thinks that bitcoin Bull Run might not be an event in 2020.

Maths favors Bitcoin bulls

The truth is mathematical figures might favor the bulls.

PlanB, a leading institutional quantitative specialist interest in BTC, discovered earlier 2019.  The market capitalization of bitcoin could be defined by the stock-to-flow ratio of the crypto.

New Post has been published on https://baseberry.com/events-bitcoins-first-decade-need-know/

Events of bitcoin's first decade you need to know

Crypto currecis have been a big boom over the past ten years. Bitcoin’s first decade has been crumbed with a lot of interesting events.

Satoshi Nakamoto started creating Bitcoin in 2007 and published the first whitepaper on 31st October 2018. In 8 pages only, Satoshi explains how the Byzantine General’s theory can be solved.

In the early days of Bitcoin, when the mining of the genesis block was completed on 3rd January 2009. Satoshi held communications with people like Mike Hearn, Gavin Andresen, and Hal Finney.

Where they discussed the network. They discussed many things on a forum formed by Shitoshi, known as BitconTalk.org.

Let’s look at some of the top events on bitcoin’s first decade.

The first transition in bitcoin’s first decade

Nakamoto sent the first BTC transaction to Hal Finney after the mining of the genesis block was completed. This was after 9 days. Note that Hal Finney is a cryptographer who established evidence of the work system even before the existence of Bitcoin.

Wikileaks accepting Bitcoin

In 2011, Wikileaks announced that they would start accepting BTC donations. In one of his posts, Satoshi mentioned Wikileaks. He pointed out that this project requires to expand gradually, and the software will be reinforced along the way. He tried to persuade Wikileaks not to use Bitcoin, claiming that bitcoin was a small beta society in its early stage.

Gavin Andresen takes over the role of chief developer from Satoshi

In 2011, Satoshi gave the network alert key and regulator of BTC code mine to Gavin Andresen. However, analysts projected that the owner had already mined 1million bitcoins.

Gavin was the chief developer of an open-source bitcoin source. This is the same guy who developed Bitcoin Foundation to educate supervisors about budding digital assets.

He got numerous invites from security agencies such as the CIA. The Bitcoin society fervently discussed his move to talk to the agency on matters concerning bitcoin.

The first-ever ASIC Miner ships

Jeff Garzik, the former Bitcoin developer, got the first Application-Specific Integrated Chips (ASIC) Bitcoin miner. The chips are created specifically to mine GPU coins.

The ASIC miners specialize in hashing Bitcoin’s cryptographic has an algorithm known as SHA-256.

Bitcoin pizza

In bitcoin’s first decade the cryptocurrency has ventured in some very interesting ventures. Laszlo Hanyecz, who made huge contributions to the making of bitcoin source code, bought a product using bitcoin. He had purchased two pizzas from Jercos. Jercos was 18 during the time of the transaction for 10,000 Bitcoin.

On 17th May 2010, Laszlo posted his bid to buy bitcoin. On 22nd May, he reported this transaction to the bitcoin society. During the moment of that offer, bitcoin was priced at $14.

The pizza index to the price of bitcoin used on buying the pizza was traded for US dollars and not pizza. The amount increased to $15.5 million in 2017 April.

22nd May of every year is recognized as Bitcoin pizza day.

The rise and fall of the Silk Road

Silk Road that is named after a famous trade route linking Europe and East Asia, was built by administrator and developer Ross Ulbricht. Over bitcoin’s first decade, the site was run as a Tor secreted service. Even though Ross agrees that he created the website, he doesn’t admit he operated it when it was working.

Mt. Gox Collapse

Before Mt. Gox was shuttered, it handled up to 70% of all BTC transactions. This Tokyo-based exchange platform had to file for bankruptcy. With an estimated value of up to $460 million during that time, 850k Bitcoins went missing, even though 200k were recovered. However, $27 million bank deposits were not accounted for.

2013 Unintended Bitcoin Fork

In 2013, the Bitcoin blockchain temporarily was divided into 2 separate chains with various regulations because of the bug in 0.8 version of the software.

Merchants, users, and miners operate a new and divergent Bitcoin version. Both the new and old versions weren’t compatible. Miners using the latest version of 0.8.0 were required to go back to the old version 0.7.