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Facebook’s Libra Project is Developing a Governance Model that will Disrupt the Remittance Space

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The controversial Facebook’s Libra project has been 2019’s biggest story. However, it is not the only payments project hoping to transform the payments sector, when still ripe to throw into disarray.

As per the most recent statistics, the remittance course leading to low and middle-income nations is predicted to extend to  $574 billion in 2020; and $597 billion by 2021. However, this is a sector that has been pestered by carelessness, which has been an expensive occurrence to some. The high cost on top of the rigorous laws and regulations, continue to bear an impediment to the payments sector.

Dante Disparte, the Head of Policy and Communications at the Libra Association, likens the current payments system as “walled gardens.” He notes that the current 230 million economic asylum seekers are the individuals that propel the GDP of their mother countries. This is bigger than the p2p payments, foreign direct investments or even official government aid and development assistance. However, he adds that there is no way to achieve this in a less expensive and systematic way.

Libra Tapping Payments Space

Moreover, Disparte claimed in a recent interview that the competition in the payments space is minimal; and the existing methods are “one big monopolist player or there’s a duopoly operator” running the remittance sector. He also touched on the Libra project exploring this opportunity. He said:

“If we introduce the opportunity for digital wallet providers to emerge that are interoperable, that’s a big game-changer for the world. To do that right, of course, means you have to go through the process we’re going through now – build a governance model that can withstand the the the vagaries and the vicissitudes of any one organizations and association but also build a model that could achieve a regulatory standard that protects consumers.”

In addition, the lack of infrastructure has led to slow digital currency and remittance engagement. However, in the case that Facebook’s Libra project receives regulatory approval, it will go head-to-head with an experienced figurehead in the industry; Ripple. The blockchain firm has multi-partnerships under its wing.

Will Libra Disrupt the Remittance Space?

As per the initial expectations, Facebook expects the Libra cryptocurrency to launch within the first half of 2020. The global stablecoin is designed to enable users to be able to initiate payments using Facebook and WhatsApp and stored in its digital wallet called Calibra. 

The main focus of the Libra project is on developing countries and the unbanked. However, it remains to be seen which companies the project will partner within these regions because their targets are not expected to book Uber or buy hamburgers. The ineptitude to bring value is expected to make make it hard to sell in the particular regions especially; since it will disrupt the local players on top of limiting the government’s oversight on the banking system.

In addition to this, Libra will facilitate payments regardless of whether the parties involved are criminals or not; whether they are under sanctions or not. Facebook will have to provide good proof that it will not facilitate terrorism. Given how the social media giants handle their social network, this will be a difficult task.

In conclusion, the stablecoin will have to get rid of many middlemen (in this case banks) from the market. However, they still need banks in their loop. In order for Libra users to use it, they will have to convert fiat into Libra. Additionally, if its target is the over $500-billion-dollar remittances market, there is a need for a smooth transition from Libra back to local currency. These are the areas where banks will be required.

 

China Pilot Testing its Digital Currency: Will the Digital Renminbi Challenge the US Dollar in the Currency Wars ?

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The majority of Chinese intellectuals called out over-reliance on the United States Dollar and seemed worried about the safety of Beijing’s massive amount of US dollar reserves. These scholars suggested the diversification of China’s reserve and pressed the government to globalize the Chinese Renminbi.

Against this backdrop to potentially unleash a currency war against the United States amidst heightening tensions with the Trump administration; The central bank of China is on its way to launch the digital renminbi.

Almost overnight, China has transformed into a global economic powerhouse. The nature of money has changed, and with it has come to a cashless payment society in China. Hundreds of Millions of Chinese citizens use popular payment applications to make purchases such applications like WeChat and Alipay. It is easy to see how immensely technology and quantum macroeconomics have redefined the future of money.

Since the inception of Bitcoin in 2009, many people have objected to the concept of fiat money.  Perhaps even challenging the perceived notion of the US dollar as a good store of value.

New Era in the Currency Wars

Now the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is preparing to test the genesis of a global stable coin. In a bid to solve one of the biggest results of conspiracy in financial crises, several experts believe China’s digital currency marks the beginning of a New Era in the currency wars.It was unlikely that a digital currency could have the potential to challenge national currencies. Yet as it turns out, projects such as the Digital Renminbi and Facebook’s Libra could catalyze a new economic arms race against the US Dollar.

The fact is that programmable algorithms were initially not better storage of value, hence the rise of a volatile bitcoin. A cryptographic asset that could easily skyrocket by $10,000 or even declines to as low as $1000. Invariably, governments and central banks still had an upper hand in the financial ecosystem. However, Bitcoin and other altcoins still maintained a vast potential as mediums of exchange and international remittance.

Meanwhile, China’s Central Bank has been working on digital currency for the past six years in an effort to usurp the US dollar from its reserves. Figures have it that at least 58% of global foreign exchange reserves are held in dollars. While China could create an all parallel new financial ecosystem presently dominated by giants such as Paypal and SWIFT; it is unlikely that it would catch up with the US dollar. China positions its digital Renminbi as a stablecoin. And as it holds, stablecoins are regarded as the quintessential stepping stones towards the mass adoption of digital currencies.

Despite the Central Bank’s statue as one of the most advanced central banks in the world, PBoC shifted its acceleration forward following Facebook’s plan to unveil a global stablecoin. Beijing worried that if Facebook would unleash its currency to approximately 3.0 billion of its Facebook, whatsapp and Instagram users, China’s digital currency would be reduced to nothing. Therefore, the bank geared its effort to complete its work quickly and is currently preparing to launch its first pilot test.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was skeptical about the United States laxity to renovate its financial system. The internet mogul referred to the currency war as global competition and guaranteed that his country’s financial leadership was at risk:

“China is moving quickly to launch a similar idea in the coming months,If America doesn’t innovate, our financial leadership is not guaranteed.“

While Libra is tied to a diverse amount of major currencies, the digital renminbi is backed by the regular yuan. Hence, it will be relatively stable. Yet unlike Bitcoin’s decentrality, the central bank will monitor all transactions that take place.

 

Learning the Cryptocurrency Ropes

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In the modern world, cryptocurrency is one of the most exciting investment markets that people can get involved with. If you are looking for a potentially lucrative investment that is going to bring you the potential for a lot of money in the future, crypto is the way forward. A lot of people fear this industry because they don’t really understand it, but there is so much to love when it comes to the world of digital currencies.

Finding out as much as you can about crypto and how it works is so vital for the future. There are a lot of factors to consider here, and, if you are looking to invest in cryptocurrency, it is essential to learn a little more about the market. Here are some of the core things you need to learn when discovering what you can about cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin is King

The thing to remember about cryptocurrency is that Bitcoin is the most crucial crypto on the market. Basically, Bitcoin can determine the direction the rest of the market goes in, and this is important to remember. There are a lot of factors that you are going to need to keep in mind when assessing the cryptocurrency market, and it’s clear that Bitcoin remains an essential part of the process. You have a lot to think about when it comes to Bitcoin, and, by tracking its history, it is clear to see that this is a digital currency that’s going places in a big way.

Digital Wallets

If you are serious about investing in cryptocurrency, you are going to need to try to protect your assets as much as possible. Now, there are a lot of ways in which you can do this, and one of the key ones is to get a digital wallet. This will come with a strong passcode and phrase, and you can use it to secure your digital currency safely.

You can also transfer between wallets, as well as moving currencies from wallets to crypto exchanges, and vice versa. Choosing the right digital wallets is really important, and this is something you need to keep in mind right now.

Study Crypto

Studying cryptocurrency is an excellent way of better understanding it, and you might even find that you need to study some as part of your homework. If you are just starting, then one of the best approaches to take might be to use an easy to use homework helper to find people knowledgeable about crypto. This is important, and it will prepare you as much as possible for being able to find out as much as you can about the world of cryptocurrency.

There are a lot of things to consider when it comes to improving and boosting any investment potential you might have. When it comes to learning the ropes, cryptocurrency is definitely something you are going to need to think about. There are a lot of factors that play a part in this, and you should look to learn as much as you can so that you can make the right choices moving forward.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Never miss our daily cryptocurrency news, price analysis, tips, and stories. Join us on Telegram | Twitter or subscribe to our weekly Newsletter.

Learn How Bitcoin Price Gets Determined: The Ultimate Guide

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The standard lore in every traditional financial market is that the price is the one piece of data that tells you everything you need to know about a Forex trading pair, a commodity, the company behind a stock,  or any other financial instrument. While experts who prefer fundamental to technical analysis disagree on this, the fact remains that the prices drive all markets and they determine if you make a profit or if you lose money.

Cryptocurrency markets are not that different from traditional markets in that regard (though there are many crucial differences). Since Bitcoin remains the most critical digital asset in the world, and because all other coins are linked to it through trading pairs in crypto exchanges, everybody follows Bitcoin’s price. Bitcoin alone has driven the whole market up or down in the past. But unlike commodities, Forex, or the stock market, very few people have a sound idea of how BTC’s price is determined.

What do we mean by Bitcoin’s price, anyway?

Bitcoin is included in trading pairs against almost every other altcoin in the world and many fiat currencies as well. A different number characterizes every pair, obviously, so the question of what is BTC’s price is not as straightforward as it may seem. But the answer is quite simple when you know it. It refers to the number that the world’s leading exchanges report on the BTC/USD trading pair, or to an average of all the available prices (which is the price that sites like CoinMarketCap report).

It behooves us to keep in mind that Bitcoin is a decentralized asset that trades all over the world at every possible time. It’s in the nature of the beast that every exchange in the world reports the price it’s offering, according to the laws of supply and demand, and that different exchanges will show different numbers.

There’s no unified Bitcoin price. The ciphers across the board are usually are very alike but never exactly the same, so while the general trend is the same all over the world, the small details are different from platform to platform. It’s all about the activity each exchange has, the geopolitical zone, even the time of the day. So while average values are useful, you should expect to find slight differences in the price when you go in to perform a trade.

If we want to understand how Bitcoin’s price works, then we need to understand how Bitcoin’s price is settled in an individual cryptocurrency exchange platform. Let’s see.

Discovering the price

It’s the process by which traders come together, negotiate a trade, and reach an agreement on the price they will adopt. Buyers want to pay as little as possible while sellers want to get as much as they can. So they meet in the middle after negotiating and compromising a little.

The price that any exchange reports is quite simply the price at which the most recent trade happened.

This brings us to another question: how do buyers and sellers manage to agree on any given number? Let’s find out.

The order book

Every trading organization includes a thing called “the order book.” It’s not a physical book, but a page filled with market data. It’s like the story of the day’s market transactions. Every buy and sell order is in there.

The buy-side features all the standing offers (also called “bids”) and the prospective price; the sell-side includes all the offers to sell the asset (also called “asks”). The book consists of and displays recent trades too. It’s usually formatted as a list or as a chart.

The top right lists the asks. It shows the price the seller wants, as well as the number of coins he has for sale. The bottom contains the trade history, which tells you the number of traded coins as well as the trading price. The last price is the current asset value in the exchange. That is the Bitcoin price, and it remains steady until further trading happens.

Makers and takers

Supply and demand are usually invoked to explain the price away. If there are more buyers than sellers in the market, then the price goes up and vice versa. This is a bit too simplistic because it takes two to tango. Neither bulls nor bears can decide on the price because they have to negotiate with each other to reach an agreement.

The driving force behind the price is more about the degree of aggressivity that the bulls or the bears are willing to show. The side with the most motivation is willing to pay higher spread costs (the difference between the best bid and the best ask) so that the trade is settled as soon as possible. Those are the “takers,” as they’re taking the offer in the book. The maker is the one who initiated the trade.

Takers and the price

Bitcoin Price exchanges
Credit: Pixabay

Let us consider the following scenario. Say that a group of uncoordinated but determined buyers is feeling sure that the price is going to surpass the USD 10.000,00 level in the next five days. If they’re so persuaded, then they’ll know that any price under the 10k line will make them profit in a matter of days so they’ll be willing to buy and accept the spread.

If the current price happens to be USD 9.400,00, then the buyers will make USD 600,00 minus the spread (which could be typically around USD 50,00). The determined buyers, in our example, will buy everything available at the current price. Then everything there is at USD 9.450,00 and so on. They will keep going up the ask list until they get near 10k.

If the bulls are energetic enough, the sellers will quickly notice. Consequently, they will rise their ask prices. That will keep driving the price up until the buying pressure dilutes. At this point, things could turn around. This is how prices go up and down over time.

The price, the exchanges, and arbitrage

The price discovery process happens in every exchange platform around the globe, of course. It’s a continual phenomenon that never rests. It’s ongoing every day of the week and every hour of the day. Unlike Forex, for instance, that rests after the NYC session ends on Friday’s afternoon, the cryptocurrency market is always active.

The corollary we need to learn from this is clear: there is no such thing as an official Bitcoin price. Each platform is independent, and it will value the asset according to its internal trading forces. That doesn’t mean there’s not a general global trend that converges to a specific number. But it’s not an institutional thing but the side effect of the aggregated activity in all exchanges.

There’s a process that links the prices across exchanges, and that helps to consolidate the world’s trend in Bitcoin prices. It’s called arbitrage. Arbitrage is a trading strategy in which investors exploit the difference in price between platforms.

If Bitcoin is cheaper in BitStamp than in Coinbase, for instance, then you can buy at the first platform and sell at the second one and make a profit. It’s a quick and low-risk move. In this way, the traders create a link of sorts among the world’s platforms so that the general trend remains consistent everywhere.

The dominant exchanges

The world’s largest exchanges can affect the market significantly, and we also need to take that into account in understanding what makes the Bitcoin price tick. The platforms that mediate the most substantial trading volumes in the market tend to be considered more authoritative as sources for the correct price.

So if the BTC’s value surges in, say Binance, backed up by a substantial trading volume, the chances are that other exchanges will follow the trend. If it happens at many major platforms simultaneously, that will most certainly set a global trend in a matter of minutes.

So why are the most significant players more influential? Well, because traders pay more attention to the price in those platforms. Seasoned traders expect new trends to start at the largest exchanges and then permeate the rest of the market through arbitrage and general market sentiment. This phenomenon is global, and it’s completely independent of each platform’s local fiat currency valuation. Crypto is isolated from fiats for the most part because most of the trading pairs are crypto/crypto, instead of crypto/fiat.

The indexes

The lack of an official BTC price, even as general trends and price synchronization effects do exist within the market, opens an opportunity window for many private companies to compute a composite index for the price and make it available to the public.

There are several ways to calculate indexes, the most popular one being the weighting of prices according to trading volume and then coming up with a weighted average. This practice comes from Forex markets in which the world’s main domestic currencies (USD, EUR, CNY, JPY, etc.) have an index while they can have slightly different prices in every country.

The indexes are helpful in that they do show the global trends. Otherwise, the information from a single local market could deceive cryptonauts into making biased decisions. For instance, if a large sell order gets placed on, say, Bitfinex, the price in that platform will plummet, at least for a while. But does that mean that there’s a global crisis for BTC? Not necessarily as the price could keep steady in every other platform.

Final thoughts on determining Bitcoin price

Now you have a detailed, blow-by-blow, description of the market process that ends up deciding the Bitcoin price. It’s global, it’s quite complicated, but it’s essential to understand it as best as possible because otherwise, getting involved in the trade becomes a little too suspicious as lack of understanding breeds mistrust.

We’ve shown you something of what goes on under the hood. It’s all a bit technical, and it can be hard to follow. There’s no doubt about that. Nevertheless, it’s handy. If you’re car breaks down and you know a bit about mechanics, then you can see under the hood and, if the problem is not too bad, you’ll probably find a way to keep it running smoothly enough to get you home or to a shop for service. If however, you know nothing, then you’ll need to call for help, and you’ll be stranded while the help arrives and for as long as the car is in the shop.

The cryptocurrency markets are your car, but there’s one crucial difference: when something goes wrong, there’s no help. Nobody will come to your rescue, you’ll just get the stranded part, and you’ll pay for it with your hard-earned digital wealth. That’s why knowing what’s under the hood can be critical.

We’ve explained the whole process as it applies to Bitcoin. But the price for every other cryptocurrency in the market follows the very same mechanism. So if your cup of tea is Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, or any other digital asset, the information should be exactly as useful as it is for BTC.

We hope you find this article illuminating as you navigate the cryptocurrency markets and that it will help you to make informed choices and keep your profit levels up. Happy trading!

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Never miss our daily cryptocurrency news, price analysis, tips, and stories. Join us on Telegram | Twitter or subscribe to our weekly Newsletter.

So you need a Bitcoin wallet? Keep this in mind

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The cryptocurrency world is high-tech, automated. Most projects are highly decentralized. Many good things derive from those features, but they also mean that the system does not forgive any mistakes. The lack of central authorities in, say, the Bitcoin network, makes it impossible to clarify or repair any errors, innocent though they may be. Navigating the crypto-verse successfully and free of slips is to make informed choices.

One of the first few (and most important) choices you’ll need to face is choosing the right Bitcoin wallet for you. Even if your main interest is not in BTC, but some other altcoins, the trading pairs in most exchanges are not designed to use fiat currencies.

Most altcoins are trading against Bitcoin, so there’s just no way about owning Bitcoin at some point or other. In this article, we’ll try to shed some light and give you the information you need to select the wallet that gives you all the functionality and security you need.

Bitcoin remains the world’s central cryptocurrency. As such, it holds most of the attention of all kinds of investors all over the planet. From the rookies to the most seasoned professionals, Bitcoin is the main thing. In this context, it’s understandable if you have doubts about timing. Is this the right moment to join in the action?

That shouldn’t worry you too much. The blockchain technology industry is expected to keep growing steadily (if with fluctuations) and being fully matured by 2025. Blockchains will become part of our daily lives at some point in the next six years. So the first step in this journey is choosing a Bitcoin wallet.

The crucial thing is to make an educated choice when opening your first Bitcoin wallet. Too many new users get scammed just because of lack of previous research. A functional Bitcoin wallet satisfies a brief list of relevant criteria. In this article, we tell you what those are.

Wallet Types

Bitcoin wallets come in five different varieties: paper wallets, mobile, desktop, web, and hardware. Let’s dig a little deeper into each kind.

Hardware

You can think of hardware wallets as a sort of long-term investment repository. They’re considered cold wallets because they are never online on the internet. The form factor usually resembles a USB sticks or a small tablet device. The main feature in this kind of wallet is its high degree of security you can have when all of your private keys are stored offline. That feature alone makes hacking incidents almost impossible.

It’s the most expensive type of wallet because you have to buy a physical device. Because of the cost, you shouldn’t consider a hardware wallet unless you’re going in for USD 1.000 or more and you plan to stay in crypto for the long run.

However, the price is worth it. As far as we know, no cryptonaut has ever lost a single Satoshi while using hardware wallets. Along with high security, physical-digital wallets are easy to use. Completing a transactions needs just for you to plug your wallet into your computer and get the authorization. The high costs associated with the devices are the main disadvantage. However, there are suitable devices available in the market at reasonable prices.

Web Wallets

In stark contrast with hardware devices, Web Wallets are the most insecure of all. The wallet’s data is usually stored on cloud services so that this kind of service provides access to a myriad of different devices as long as they have an Internet connection. This easy access is not always a good thing since it makes it very hard for users to keep full control over their private keys. The risk of exposure is very high.

The reason that so many users prefer web wallets despite the security challenges they present is, quite simply, that they are very convenient to use. They are probably the most comfortable way to manage your digital assets, but it comes at a price.

The pros are that these wallets are straightforward to use, highly practical, very convenient, accessible from anywhere in the world, and they don’t need any specific device because they’re usually on very versatile cloud networks. The cons are all about security. Most of the scams we’ve seen in crypto over the years have to do with loopholes in web wallets.

We find that kind of situation all the time when considering any digital wallet. You can have excellent security, or you can have fantastic convenience of use and accessibility, but you can’t have both at the same time. This problem can’t be solved, but you could have a hardware wallet to keep safe the portion of your capital you consider untouchable while also having a web wallet you used for relatively small quantities for everyday trade and payments.

Desktop Wallets

Similar though desktop wallets may seem to web wallets, they’re a different animal in several ways. They have much better security features for a start. You can download and install a desktop wallet to your PC or laptop computer quickly and easily, no strings attached.

Most of these wallets need an internet connection, so they’re usually considered to be hot storage. The problems arise when there are virii on your computer. When that happens, the risk is to lose all your digital wealth to the hackers that control a given virus.

While desktop wallets are very convenient and easy to use, we go back to the problem of security vs. convenience. If you are going to choose a desktop wallet, you must first make sure your computer is adequately protected against cyber infections that can give away your private keys to external parties.

Mobile Wallets

If you have a mobile banking app on your phone, then you’re all set to start using a mobile digital wallet. Both apps are almost identical. A mobile wallet enables you to use your cryptocurrency to pay for goods and services. It’s quite popular in Asia and the Pacific.

As things stand right now, you can even get a physical plastic debit card associated with your wallet that you can use in settling payments in just the same way you can use any Mastercard or Visa. Security in this kind of wallet is not optimal, not because of holes in the software, but simply because there’s always a risk of losing a mobile phone, or that malfunctions can arise.

Mobile wallets are the most convenient ones by far — yes, even more than web wallets — as they enable you to use your digital wealth on the go. However, if security is your top priority, you’d be better off using hardware or desktop wallets.

Paper Wallets

Yes, paper wallets are a thing in cryptocurrencies. It’s hard to believe that one of the most advanced digital technologies in human history could still need physical pieces of paper to work. That said, some paper wallets do have excellent security features.

As the name implies, this is a wallet that made out of ink and paper. It’s basically a slip in which the public and private keys associated to you are printed. The term also refers to the software or web platforms that generate the keys, as well as the digital version of the paper that you’re supposed to print. The keys are stored offline, so paper wallets are cold storage, and they’re utterly immune to cyber-attacks. Hackers are not a danger for paper wallets at all. Things can only go wrong if you lose your slip or if it’s stolen from you.

While paper seems rudimentary and anachronistic in the era of Bitcoin, it’s as well protected as you want, and if you wish to keep your Bitcoins safe and away from the net for a very long time, paper can indeed be the way to go. The problem is the lack of convenience. Settling a transfer needs to scan a QR code or to type by hand your encryption keys which is a bit of a bore, and it’s prone to errors.

The chosen ones

In this last section, we tell you which are the six digital wallets we regard most highly.

Coinbase: the best web wallet

It’s is the path of least resistance if you want to buy and sell digital tokens using several devices. It allows you to link your digital wallet directly into a bank account so you can move money freely between both services. Token purchases are instantaneous, so it’s an optimal choice for beginners.

Trezor: the best hardware wallet

In the most secure wallet category, Trezor is the safest option. It’s a physical device you need to plug into your computer every time you want to manage your digital wealth.

The device supports several currencies, and it includes many other useful features like a password manager and two-factor authentication. Just make sure not to lose your password because, while there is a recovery process, it’s a very long one. That’s not a bad thing. The wallet is supposed to keep your tokens safe, so the toy is doing the job correctly.

Electrum: the best desktop wallet

Electrum is available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. It can connect with hardware wallets. It’s an offline (cold) wallet with excellent security. It offers something for everybody. Its advanced features are delightful to the more experienced users while beginners find that it’s easy to run, install, and used.

Crypto.com: the best mobile wallet

It’s an innovative platform when it comes to cryptocurrency and payment systems. It offers the Metal Visa cards at real cost and with a 5% cashback on all spendings. If that doesn’t impress you, there’s more. The users can instantly apply and get crypto loans by depositing digital assets into their accounts.
It’s innovative, catchy, and it has a comprehensive feature variety. Crypto.com stands out from the rest.

Bitcoin Paper Wallet: the best paper wallet

If long-term security and immunity from digital attacks are your top priority, then paper key storage is the way to go.

Bitcoin Paper Wallet generates unique addresses as well as public and private encryption keys, and it prints them out for you. Thus your long-term digital capital remains offline, safe, and ready for you to use when the time comes. Is it a bit too old fashioned for the current times? Yes. That’s why it’s immune to technological problems.

Final thoughts

So now you know. The market is flooded with apps, software, and websites that purport to be the one wallet you’ll ever need to navigate the cryptosphere safely and conveniently. Unfortunately, not every option is reliable nor safe.

Getting involved in the cryptocurrency market is very exciting, but profiting from it is a tough thing to achieve. That’s why you should never hesitate to do enough research before you pick a wallet. It could be the difference between total success or becoming one of the many scam victims we’ve seen over the years.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Never miss our daily cryptocurrency news, price analysis, tips, and stories. Join us on Telegram | Twitter or subscribe to our weekly Newsletter.

Five Top Cryptocurrencies to Buy in Q3 2019: LTC, TRX, EOS, BNB, BTC

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Those who are looking to invest in cryptocurrencies in Q3 here is a list of five top digital assets to go after which could be a wholesome investment.

The crypto market is shaping really nicely, and it is anticipated that by the end of 2019 it will hit with maximum gains of the year. Though the cryptocurrency market is still volatile and we cannot be sure about what actually will happen, but the trends are favoring for a bull run before the beginning of next year.

Litecoin (LTC)

Since the beginning of 2019, Litecoin has made a massively climbed. Litecoin began the year at $31 price mark and touched the highest of the year at $137.40 by the end of June. LTC has made a huge impact so far.

In a recent tweet by the co-founder of Litecoin Foundation, Xinxi Wang mentioned that LTC has been declared as a payment token by the United Nations Department of IMF. Admittedly, this is an excellent advancement for Litecoin, and it will boost up its worth in the crypto market.

Moreover, the halving of Litecoin that took place on 5th Aug, it was expected that the privacy coin would make hefty returns to the investors; it didn’t make such an impact. But due to this event occurring LTC has dropped afterward as it seems that the short-term investors anyhow have taken out their investment with a little margin of profit. Despite all this, Litecoin has firmly moved in the upward direction all this year with slight ups and downs. So, this is one of the top cryptos to look for.

Bitcoin (BTC)

Still, the master of all, Bitcoin as always leads the market with sweeping dominance of 69.3%. This would be no such investor who understands the game of trading and haven’t made an investment in BTC. The tough time seems to have taken off, which caused a damaging effect on the entire market since last year.

This year comparatively has been the year of recovery, and Bitcoin recent showing of reaching $12K has once again whooped that it could potentially reach all-time highs by the end of 2019. In that case, it can be a serious investment.

Binance Coin (BNB)

Binance Coin may seem a bit surprising in this list, but making its way to 6th place in the market has left no doubt in the potential of BNB. For most of the altcoins, this year was a period of recovery so far, but for Binance Coin it has turned to be a super year. The native coin of Binance exchange hit the highest price mark of $39.30 on 22nd June.

Binance Coin was one of few cryptos which kept on rising when the market was bearish. This has seriously attracted investors in huge numbers. The developments made by Binance exchange indirectly boosts up BNB changes to go further up. As it is expected that the market will have a bull run swing, BNB can break its previous highest price mark. So, looking for low-cost crypto which anticipates a promising future, BNB is the asset to go for.

EOS

Another crypto which should amuse investors is EOS based on its basic analysis. As we go through from a technological viewpoint, EOS is ahead of some top digital assets such as BTC and ETH. It is much faster (million transactions per second), reliable, scalable, costs zero-fee, and also allows developers to build DApps.

Despite having not much good time, recently as compared to other altcoins, EOS still pushes to break the resistance levels and once again cross $10 mark in coming days. At the time of press, it trades at $3.93, which gives investors a good chance to jump in and buy EOS at a low price, which can make them gain high returns.

Tron (TRX)

With the rumors of Justin Sun involved in some corruption cases, Tron has faced a rough time, latterly. Though Tron is one of those crypto projects with a lot of capability and capacity. In such less time, Tron has made a serious impact on crypto users and aims to focus on further developments.

In specific, Tron has a far-reaching influence on the gaming industry. The critical aspect to look forward is that Tron plays a vital role in the development of transparent gambling products and wants to add blockchain impact in the gambling industry. This will attract a broad audience in long-term progress.

One advantage in investing in Tron is that it will not have a massive loss in case the market crashes, but if it rallies a bull run, it will be a fruitful investment for TRX investors.

TRX price will more likely rise shortly as more and more blockchain-based online gambling mediums emerge. One prominent platform among such is 1xBit.

The leading crypto betting site is a fully crypto-oriented sportsbook as well as an online casino that accepts Tron among more than twenty-one cryptocurrencies. The platform adheres to the anonymity principles at full by offering a simple one-click registration. Players get showered with promos, offers, and bonuses, such as a whopping 100% welcome bonus.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

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What to follow in Bitcoin bull market? Anthony Pompliano shares best suggestions

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With the new week, Crypto market is also showing new figures adding impressive sentiments around. With Bitcoin price hovering over $11700 after surging by 9.22 percent within the past 24 hours, other cryptocurrencies are also trading with quite impressive values today.

Is it a New Bull Run?

At the time of reporting, Bitcoin trades at $11,764.84 against US Dollar with 9.97 percent for the past 24 hours. Nevertheless, it’s market cap has already touched $210 billion marks on August 5, 2019.

It’s worth to note that the BTC dominance counts at 67.7 percent with Ethereum (ETH) lifting its value by 6.38 percent. Subsequently, XRP is up by 2.83 percent, Litecoin (LTC) 9.22 percent, and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) stands in the green by 5.33 percent today.

While the market is moving upwards, prominent crypto figure Anthony Pompliano shares a quick checklist of best practices to apply. He believes, it’s the next bitcoin bull market and hints following tips;

  • BTC is ‘very’ volatile
  • You can lose all the money
  • Only invest what you can afford to lose
  • Twitter should not be considered as investment advice
  • Don’t buy BTC or any other cryptocurrency with credit cards
  • Keep low (as much as you can) time preference
  • Do your very own research

Checklist to Follow in Bitcoin Bull Market

Pomp’s quick checklist is likely the best help or advice for newbies in the crypto market. As bitcoin is the world’s most tremendous crypto asset, it is becoming the major attraction for traders, enthusiasts, and investors across the globe. Newbies and those who’re dealing with bitcoin must understand that BTC is very volatile.

Its price may fluctuate any time; sometimes reasons can quickly be determined whereas it may not be rapidly analyzed in other cases. However, for those who’re dealing with Bitcoin and decide to buy/sell based on the current price must know that the price may vary/fluctuate anytime. If they see the price is falling short and act quickly, they may lose their money.

Many analyst/traders and enthusiasts talk about BTC, its next possible move in terms of price but that shouldn’t have to consider as the trading advice. However, you can check out the market sentiment with the statements by analysts/ other crypto community members, but it is not the definite advice one should act upon over their money in the crypto industry.

Also, you’re likely to come across with several news announcements or rumors claiming the big future of particular cryptocurrency thus to encourage you to invest/trade. Always “DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH” to ensure you’re making a sound decision and not relying on any rumor.

As the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fluctuate quite often, one should start trading/investment with the small amount because if the price starts declining, he/she may lose the money invested.

But of course, yes, if the market started soaring, the same amount might turn into a profitable and potential approach – and it all depends on the price of crypto-asset at a particular period.

Moreover, pomp suggests not to buy crypto with credit cards – this is quite true because buying crypto with credit card is quite trickier. Besides, it is a more expensive option than buying BTC from local bank transfers.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Never miss our daily cryptocurrency news, price analysis, tips, and stories. Join us on Telegram | Twitter or subscribe to our weekly Newsletter.

Bitcoin, XRP, XMR and more: Top 10 cryptos that you can actually use

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As we write this article, coinmarketcap.com lists more than 2100 cryptocurrencies in total. And that’s not an extensive list by any means. Some digital wallets support more than 3000 coins. If you compare that with the number of tokens listed by the same site as 2017 was beginning, which was of 860, you’d have to conclude that the cryptosphere is growing faster than asparagus –at least regarding token variety.

Bitcoin, mother, and father of all cryptocurrencies, is still responsible for most of the value in the market, as well as for most of the trading volume. That’s no surprise at all, and no other digital asset is even close to challenging Bitcoin’s dominance in the foreseeable future.

It would be only too easy to think that none of those coins other than Bitcoin are worth anything, or useful at all. Given Bitcoin’s overwhelming relevance, that misconception would be understandable, but it would remain a misconception, nevertheless. True, Bitcoin remains the coin with most adoption in the world, and the best option for wealth storage purposes. As a payments system, it already rivals Visa and Mastercard. But as Goliath learned the hard way, size isn’t everything.

Bitcoin was created with a clear purpose in mind: to substitute fiat money once and for all in such a way that central authorities and irresponsible bankers could never again create a global financial crisis for which we all have to pay. That’s a very general (and ambitious) objective to be sure, but some analysts believe it could happen.

The thing is that not all blockchain projects want to change the world so radically.

Among so many cryptocurrencies, one finds that many of them are little more than pet projects from a bunch of bored developers. They are worth little or nothing, they don’t solve any problem better than Bitcoin, or any other coin and, consequently, they are not making any progress in achieving adoption because they are utterly useless.

But if you look more carefully into the market, you’ll find a few blockchain projects that were created with a particular purpose in mind, and they were deployed and developed in such a way that they are handy when dealing with the problem they’re meant to solve.

In this article, we will tell you about those projects. The ones created to be useful. Some of their applications could even be useful to you, right here, right now, if you only knew you had the option to use them. So let’s start.

Bitcoin: The Genesis

Bitcoins remains king, as it’s been from day one.

Created in 2009 by the elusive computer and cryptography developer Satoshi Nakamoto, it came to life to become an alternative to fiat currencies and to empower economically those who are left out of the traditional financial system.

Satoshi saw (as many more people did in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis) that central banks and governments had become complaisant, insidious and inflationary. Colluded, even. Little more than enablers for the world’s biggest banks incompetence and greed.

But unlike almost everybody back then, he tried to find a way to solve that situation. And his solution was to use decentralization to guarantee trust. Centralized ledgers would no longer act as arbitrary central authorities that can do anything they please and charge anything they want when it comes to transferring funds.

But besides creating a global payments system that now rivals both Mastercard and Visa, Satoshi created a new way to store value. As long as there’s a Bitcoin network online, the value of every token is preserved.

The network is comprised of more than 10.000 active nodes running in full, managing and validating transfers and creating new blocks for the chain  – and thus, new Bitcoins. This attests the protocol’s power, as well as the power of decentralization as Satoshi imagined it. And it keeps growing so it will only become bigger and better.

Calculating the SHA-256 collision that allows creating a new block and a few new coins is, of course, enormously tricky. That’s been a problem because it’s made the network slow when transacting directly on the chain, and transaction fees can be high depending on the currency’s value. But even that problem has been solved for the most part by the Lightning Network, a protocol designed by the developing community to deal with those issues and that’s already delivering results and improvements.

As the oldest cryptocurrency in the world, Bitcoin has passed the test of time with flying colors.

Ethereum: The smart contracts and decentralized applications pioneer

It all started with an announcement by the project’s creator and leader, the Russian Vitalik Buterin, in 2014.

Ethereum extended the horizons of blockchain technology. Mr. Buterin found a way to use blockchains as a programmable platform that enabled users to develop and deploy decentralized applications and smart contracts. This was revolutionary in itself, it was the dawn of second-generation blockchain technology.

So why use blockchains to develop apps and contracts? Because blockchain technology ensures that they won’t have the weakest link that could bring the platform or the contract down, which is not only possible but common in centralized technology. That’s the power of decentralization.

On top of that, a truly decentralized application can’t be brought down by any means at all. Once it’s running, it will remain running as long as the network is active. That is, of course, the ideal scenario and we still don’t have many – if any – of those.

Ethereum has been incredibly successful in implementing its distinctive technology. It helped that it was the only game in town for dApps and smart contracts until last year. But regardless of the competition it now faces from third-generation platforms (Tron, EOS and others), the sheer reputation it enjoys in the cryptoverse is second to none but for Bitcoin’s.

The platform’s success regarding dApps has been challenged by Tron and EOS over the last few months, but when it comes to smart contracts, it remains the go-to project in the world.

The network has some issues to be sure. Scalability, transfer speeds, and gas prices have been a common complaint among users for a while now. This is normal in a network that’s about to become five-years-old which is an eternity in the blockchain world.

But the reason we’re including Ethereum as a project and its cryptocurrency (ETH) is that it has a practical use for sure. Also, because it’s become so important as the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, ETH shares almost every use case Bitcoin has. For the most part, wherever you find support for Bitcoin, you also find it for Ethereum. So while it’s not a payment system as extensive as BTC’s, it’s still a large and viable one.

Monero: Anonymity’s champion

Bitcoin’s ledger and blockchain are not private nor anonymized. As a matter of fact, it’s public and transparent. Any internet user can use the network’s block explorer and track down any specific wallet’s activity if he’s willing to put in the time and the work. Oh, you didn’t know? Well, that’s not surprising. There’s been so much misinformation floating around about BTC uses for criminal endeavors that imply almost complete anonymity that it’s comprehensible if lots of people, even some relatively familiar with the cryptosphere, incorrectly assume that Bitcoin’s network isn’t public.

Monero’s creators do know that Bitcoin is not as private as people think so they set out to create a new blockchain in which anonymity is the core value. Thus Monero was born in 2014, and this blockchain is indeed authentically anonymous, private and fungible.

The project’s kept making progress. More recently, in 2017, it’s managed to implement stealth addresses successfully, ring signatures and ring CT-like technologies (which is quite technical and we won’t go into the dirty details, so you’ll have to take our word for this: it’s suitable for anonymity). The only pending issue is hiding IP addresses.

That would be a good thing to include in the protocol and, once it’s implemented, your transactions with Monero’s cryptocurrency (XMR) would be genuinely impossible to track. The technology is so effective that some countries, notably France, are considering banning XMR (and other projects with privacy in mind) because it really takes away the government’s power to know what you’re doing with your own wealth.

That being said, you don’t really need this feature to be included to have it. If you just transact with XMR through Tor or the onion network, you’ll have the best of both worlds. Yes, Tor can be slowish. But how much time is privacy worth to you?

A Twitter by one of Monero’s leading developers, Ricardo Spagni, is very illustrative of Monero’s power to keep you off the grid (kind of). After the AlphaBay debacle, government investigators were unable to figure out even the number of XMR tokens in the platform. In his words, “Monero is so private that law enforcement can’t figure out how much the AlphaBay owner had; not so with the other cryptocurrencies.”

So this project’s practical use should be self-evident by now. It’s all about privacy and anonymity. And that is controversial insofar as it’s a useful tool for misbehavior. Let’s not beat around the bush. Monero is good for criminals, there’s no doubt about it. Does it make it a bad thing? Not at all. If WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden have taught us anything at all is that privacy is a precious resource that some of the world’s governments are not willing to grant us as private citizens. So why should we not use every support available to keep a step ahead in the game?

Factom: The blockchain’s Akashic records

It’s a low profile project that came online during 2014. It aims to be the world’s perpetual record keeper, which is no mean ambition.

Peter Kirby founded this project. In his view, Bitcoin’s design hardwires some limitations into the system that can’t be solved creatively. And yet, it’s demonstrated that it’s the most reliable and indelible record system ever known to mankind.

Factom is all about using Bitcoin’s security and immutability for information other than financial transactions.

Once the Factom platform learns a new piece of data, nothing can change it. It becomes written in stone (digital stone, in this case) because Factom anchors it to Bitcoin’s blockchain. That acts like something of an existence certificate for the piece of information in question which can be anything digital at all. Videos, documents, audios, probably even software. In this way, you can use the platform to verify the item in question and keep it safe.

Factom’s blockchain has nothing new about it. It’s quite merely Bitcoin’s SHA-256 chain (if such chain can be considered simple) and a native blockchain developed by the project. There are three things on the menu:

“Proof of Existence”
“Proof of Process”
“Proof of Audit”

It works, and it’s become the world’s premier decentralized notary.

The project’s practical value is attested by the 126+ million records it currently holds.

So far, Factom has secured over 126,485,400 records, which is a testimony to its practicality.

Dash: Digital money

Dash came to life on January 18th, 2014 under the name of “XCoin.” It was developed by Evan Duffield. On February 2014 it was renamed as “Darkcoin,” and then, on March 25th, 2015 it was renamed again as “Dash.”

The creator’s idea is for Dash to be easy to use as well as anonymous for users who care a lot about privacy.

Dash examines the best things that the traditional financial system and fiat currencies have to offer and then tries to adapt them in the cryptoverse in the most user-friendly way possible. Dash doesn’t want to be in the spotlight, but it’s instead content to be the powering engine under the hood of a user interface that looks very much as traditional banking.

Dash’s strength is in its practical use cases, which make it a good investment. The work that the management team puts in daily is also remarkable. InstantSend and PrivateSend are noteworthy characteristics that set a robust fundamental value for the project.

If your current cryptocurrency portfolio lacks at least a bit of Dash in it, you should reconsider your positions and find a way to include it.

Golem: Decentralization in computing power

Can you imagine an open-sourced, decentralized super-computer working on blockchain technology? That’s what the Golem project is, and it’s the first of its kind in the industry. It’s power by the network’s native cryptocurrency (Golem or GNT, Golem Network Tokens) which is Ethereum-based. The token’s value is not as vulnerable to inflationary pressure and speculation because the total number of coins in circulation is fixed.

Golem’s computing power comes from all kinds of computers distributed all over the planet. From small laptops and portable devices to large data centers. If you use Golem’s platform, you can use all that power to run your website, do a problematic scientific calculation, run a long piece of code, render CGI. You can even use it to run mining software.

It’s not for free. You have to pay for your usage with GNT tokens which you can get at some cryptocurrency exchange platforms, or you can get them by renting out that extra computing power that you have laying around at home or at work and that you’re not really using.

Golem’s roadmap is planned for the next 4-5 years which is an eternity in the cryptoverse. But there’s a lot of potential in a project that can make a supercomputer available to anyone in the world cheaply and effectively. Just imagine how now, any isolated scientist can have at his hands as much computing power as the world’s big boys (think NASA or some o the world’s top universities) to develop an exciting project that couldn’t take off otherwise because of lack of computing resources.

Siacoin: Decentralized clouds

This is a very down-to-earth project with a convenient usage which is to use to harness the blockchain’s power into a decentralized cloud storage system. Cloud storage is becoming more common by the minute so it will be fascinating to see how Siacoin develops in the next few months.

Sia enables users to make some passive income by renting out their unused storage space to the network, and there’s plenty of them. The system has 1.7 PetaBytes in storage space, of which it’s using only 212 TeraBytes currently.

You could wonder if the world really needs yet another cloud storage system when we already have services like Google Drive, Dropbox or Amazon Cloud. And the answer would be yes because of two main reasons. Firstly, Sia is decentralized and blockchain-based, which sets it apart from the mentioned commercial options in terms of reliability, and privacy. Secondly, Sia’s service is way cheaper. Both things are achieved by storing data on the blockchain, instead of using expensive centralized servers.

Also, centralized storage services have bottlenecks. We’ve all had that episode in which Google Drive takes ages to erase a bunch of small files or to synchronize with your computer, and it’s just useless in the meantime.

The nature of this project means that success is something that can only be achieved (or judged) in the long-term. And also, it’s the service itself what’s essential, more than the project’s native cryptocurrency’s value (it’s called Siacoin, SC), so the Siacoin project has a long way ahead.

Success would be to become a competitive option to the major centralized services we all know already. But it also has to face competition from the cryptoverse with projects such as Storj and MaidSafe offering similar options. Sia’s strengths are in improved decentralization and encryption.

The developing team is entirely satisfied with their ability to come up with an exceedingly competitive product. So much so, that they are not interested in marketing.

This is one of the most “real” blockchains in the crypto world, and it will be worth it to keep an eye on it in the months and years to come. And who knows? Even to use it if you need some extra space for storage or to rent out some space, if you have it.

IOTA: The internet of things

Many new (and not so new) blockchain projects maintain they’re the crypto verse’s next generation. IOTA is one of them, and we’ll give you some information so you can decide if they are.

The project aims to turn its cryptocurrency into the most used one on the internet.

One of IOTA’s unique features is the transaction price: there isn’t one. Transactions are entirely free which doesn’t happen at all in other projects (small as the transactions fees may be).

Also, we made a mistake in the first paragraph. We’re not talking about a blockchain project because IOTA doesn’t use a blockchain at all. Instead, it’s powered by Tangle technology.

IOTA’s adoption is chained to the adoption of IoT devices so it could grow very slowly, but when that market becomes relevant, it will already be in IOTA’s pocket which is why we shouldn’t ignore it.

Expect a slow adoption rate for IOTA because it will only grow as more and more people start using IOT things and smartphones/smart devices.

Ripple: Blockchain for remittances

Few blockchains get as much attention (both positive and negative) than Ripple and its currency, XRP.

Ripple was founded with a very definite purpose in mind, which it has pursued relentlessly for almost seven years. It’s not something that you and I can use directly, but we could still feel its benefits in years to come. Ripple wants to get rid of all the friction and red-tape that characterize sending money across borders using the company’s blockchain, software solutions, and cryptocurrency. Because of the company’s mission, its clients and partners are not individuals, but banks and remittance services and the currency’s retail use cases have been rather scarce (but that is changing quickly).

Payments issued through Ripple’s technology are settled in a matter of minutes, they cost fractions of a penny, and they’re very reliable. The traditional system (which bears the involuntarily sarcastic name of SWIFT) takes days, and it’s quite expensive, usually requiring a fee of around USD 25 or a percentage of the payment.

So Ripple’s idea is to become the engine under the hood for the world’s banks and remittance services, and it’s succeeding. It already has more than 200 strategic partners in the globe which include some of the world’s largest and more influential banks such as Banco Santander.

Besides that use case, XRP has proven to be a sound investment option. It was the most profitable coin among all during both 2017 and 2018 (which were, respectively a year of bonanza and a year of winter, so it’s the coin for all seasons), and it’s also becoming a retail currency available to end users. In the last few months, several fintech projects have been issuing debit cards funded by XRP tokens (among other currencies which include Bitcoin and Ethereum), which means that, if you have one of those plastics, you can pay your groceries, or beer or cigarettes, using your digital assets.

Ripple is growing steadily at a time in which most other blockchain projects are shrinking because of the prolonged crypto winter, it’s well managed, and it’s been a sound project from any angle you could adopt. And that’s all based on a single successful practical application.

Civic: ID service for the world at large

Civic’s mission is to use the blockchain to create a decentralized digital identity for everyone in the world. This may not sound as sexy as the previous projects on the list, but it could be incredibly useful.

Civic’s digital identity would comply with the variegated rules imposed by different governments all around the planet.

The first step is to secure data using Civic’s blockchain. Then, the stored data is verified meticulously by Civic or one of its business partners. Once the data’s validity is ensured, it’s attested and included in the blockchain as un-decryptable data. And this data can only be exchanged between a user and the party to whom he’s trying to demonstrate his identity through the use of Civic tokens (CVC).

If the project succeeds, you wouldn’t need to keep typing your info in every site you visit or use. Or every bank, or every hospital, or every insurance company, etc. The process would become frictionless if Civic’s technology succeeds, and the strength in blockchain technology would make identity theft problems impossible.

This could be the most controversial use case among those already explained in this article. But there’s no doubt that it would have practical value.

Digital assets and practicality

The crypto verse is going to keep growing in the present and the future. As it matures as a market and a system, some cryptocurrencies will consolidate, and some others will go away. And that will tell us which were the ones that are actually useful in the real-life (even if in the digital real-life only).

Our list is incomplete, of course. The cryptosphere is enormous, and covering every potentially useful asset would take a book and not just an article. So we left some excellent projects out such as EOS, Tron, Cardano, Electroneum, Binance and many others. Tron alone has several currencies with massive potential within its network (like the BitTorrent Token, USDT-Tron, and TRX itself).

But the thing to learn from all this information is this: Bitcoin was created to be useful, and not just a toy for investors to have fun speculating. And its value stems from its ability to solve problems. And the same goes for any other blockchain currency in the market. Market cycles will come and go, and we will always have incredible years such as 2017 and catastrophic years such as 2018.

But the long-run is going to be all about real-life value. That will be the one factor that boosts any token’s value in the market which is why locating the projects that have that potential and those strong fundamentals is essential for anybody who wants to dive into the cryptocurrency market.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

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Get to know blockchain tech with Tron (TRX) as the base

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Fewer people know about Tron, Ripple, Litecoin and other virtual assets as yet. Bitcoin is the primary word still associated with the crypto space for most curious folks about cryptocurrency most of the times. However, over the past few years, blockchain has started to gain distinction from bitcoin with a lot of promises that the technology is poised to fulfill.

Yes, blockchain technology has promised heaven, which we’re slowly realizing. But there’s a concern.

How familiar are you with blockchain technology? Or simply how sophisticated is the technology? One thing for sure, blockchain technology is indeed complicated. But wait, the internet is as well complicated, right? But now how far can you go using it?

Different people may have a different understanding of the technology, but the most important thing is to understand the technology vividly to feeling confident in the crypto ecosystem.

Therefore, to help understand what the technology entails and how it works, let’s take Tron as a base.

MainNets and TestNets

To start with, each crypto or rather any blockchain project has to operate on a Testnet and a Mainnet. Using Tron is indeed easy (perhaps to some it can be difficult, especially a beginner), thanks to the Mainnet where all transactions are recorded as they occur.

A testnet is the sandbox blockchain where developers submit test code as well as explore possibilities of new projects. Tron incorporates the testnet feature.

In the Mainnet is where every hash, timestamp as well as the wallet is stored. Literally, a MainNet is any project’s blockchain network and available to the public.

Possibly the Next Big Step – TronLink

Just like your wallet for fiat, TronLink is a secure Tron wallet where you can store the tokens. Accessing your tokens is pretty easy by the use of a private key. It is merely a Google Chrome extension that you install in a few seconds.

How About Explorer?

Talking about cryptocurrency, anonymity tops the list. Also, cryptocurrency is auditable. You can see all the wallet addresses of other people, transactions, and token balance. Besides, you can access blockchain explorer like TronScan and have a look at all the transactions on the network.

Therefore, cryptocurrencies are decentralized, and every transaction is verifiable and immutable.

Essentially, explorers help in tracking all transactions, check balances, see mined blocks as well as provide a plethora of valuable data.

All Going Well Thus Far, right?

Thus far, there’s nothing complicated, right? You’ve already played with some TRX and hopefully getting some understanding of blockchain without getting deep into layers of abstraction.

Furthermore, Tron has a freezing mechanism to obtain Power, Bandwidth, and Energy used for various functions on the technology. If you have some curiosity on balance, you can calculate it in USD or SUN using a unit calculator.

Cryptocurrencies are mainly a payment option without third-parties – you control your money. Sending any amount of funds any time anywhere has been made easy and quick.

Many say that cryptos will at some point displace fiat currency. Perhaps, only the time will tell, but now that you have an insight, do you think banks are necessary? In some countries like Australia, cryptos are being accepted as a payment option. One thing is for sure, crypto is here and going nowhere.

That was a brief overview of Tron blockchain as we wanted to keep it simple and while using it as the core thing to make you understand the blockchain tech better. But if you wish to know about blockchain technology in more details, detailed Tron guide will give you the idea about the broader picture of it.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

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Top 4 Monero wallets to keep your XMR tokens safe

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Bitcoin’s dominant status in the crypto verse is no secret at all. It’s the king. It’s the mother and father of all digital assets. It dominates the conversation both within and without the cryptosphere. It also dominates the market because of its price, capitalization, trading volumes. In fact, BTC is so important that people outside the crypto world often consider crypto and Bitcoin to be synonymous and BTC the only game in town very much like jello and gelatine.

There’s nothing wrong with Bitcoin’s reputation and influence, of course. And it’s a fact, even if there was something wrong indeed. But any cryptonaut knows that BTC is not the only game in town. Many other cryptocurrencies exist, and some of them are exciting projects with advantageous features and solid fundamentals. They’re rising in value and adoption because they have concrete use cases that can complement Bitcoin’s sheer power. One of those coins is Monero (XMR).

CoinMarketCap ranks Monero as the world’s 13th most tremendous digital asset by market capitalization, and it the project’s core values, especially its emphasis in privacy and anonymity, are helping XMR to become increasingly popular.

XMR came to life when a group of Bytecoin community users led by Johnny Mnemonic decided to take over a somehow failed cryptocurrency project called “BitMonero” which was started by a user known as thankful_for_today who started the ball rolling but then disappeared from the stage

Every transfer settled within XMR’s chain is anonymous, private, and untraceable. That’s why users trade their BTC or any other coins they may hold into XMR, then back into BTC. That conversion breaks links between transactions. Trading in Monero means being basically invisible within the crypto verse.

Monero’s innovative nature is also shown by the fact that it’s not based in Bitcoin at all (as so many other projects are), but it’s instead based on CryptoNight as a hashing algorithm. Every transference is shielded by cryptographic technology, so only the parties directly involved in each transfer know precisely what’s going on.

The unique specifications Monero has make it a favorite for every privacy expert and enthusiast in the world. And also for criminals, which is unfortunate but unavoidable. That’s how many governments around the globe are justifying their attempts to ban Monero as well as other privacy-focused digital coins.

BitOasis is delisting XMR as this month ends and, while it’s not explained why, chances are it’s just because it wants to avoid the controversy that comes with supporting a blind spot for governments and authorities.

Yet, Monero remains a rising star in the crypto horizon, and lots of new traders are coming in to become holders.

As we hope you know, you should never keep your hard-earned digital wealth in any exchange platform for more time than strictly necessary to complete a trade. Especially not in centralized exchanges, which still are the rule. The purpose in exchange platforms is to trade, not to store tokens, so if you own Monero (or any other cryptocurrency), you should have a wallet that can hold your tokens. If the wallet is cold, an offline one, then it’s even better.

In this article, we’ll tell you about four good options for wallets that you can use to keep your XMR coins, and many other currencies as well. You shouldn’t use our information to support a final decision, though, but as a starting point for your own research.

Ledger Nano S

This is a hardware wallet which has quickly become one of the favorites in the cryptosphere. It supports a lot of different tokens, it’s small and portable, safe, easy to use, and it’s not free, but it’s one of the cheapest (and best) devices of its kind in the market. Of course, it supports Monero, and it can handle it very well.

The device itself looks very much like your run-of-the-mill USB stick, except that it includes a tiny screen. This cute little toy keeps your XMR offline and safe until you decide to use them by just connecting it to a computer, which you can do anywhere.

Ledger Nano S supports all the big players in crypto and also many lesser-known altcoins, so it’s very versatile and useful. But if you like XMR, the chances are that you are quite concerned with safety, privacy, and anonymity and this device is your friend in that regard. Ledger has two-factor authentication, a PIN code, and recovery seed accessibility. It’s as tight as wallets can be.

No, it’s not free. But no hardware wallet is free anyway. And this one is priced very competitively if you take into account how fully featured it is.

Monero GUI Wallet

This is not just any wallet, free or otherwise. This is Monero’s official wallet. It’s a desktop app that includes a graphical user interface with all the bells and whistles you could expect or want. The robust security features in the software mean that downloading it and syncing it is not a quick process, but you need to download it only once, and your patience is rewarded by having one of the most robust XMR wallets in the market.

Besides its robustness, it’s quite easy to use, especially for crypto-rookies. So this is the ideal choice for a user who wants to get involved with the Monero environment but doesn’t want to complicate things any more than it’s strictly necessary or spend money on a commercial wallet such as Ledger Nano S.

My Monero

MyMonero is a perfect web-based XMR wallet with good credibility as it’s developed by one of Monero’s original team members. This wallet is the friendliest to users, but maybe it’s not as safe or as fully-featured as some would like.

It’s a web platform, so you get there, open up an account, and manage your Monero wealth via the web. A 13-word password protects your security as a user, which you need to keep secure in the long run.

The fact that you need an account on a website is probably this service’s primary drawback. Anonymity is one of Monero’s hallmarks, and that purpose is kind of defeated by the need to have your wallet in a web account that’s directly traceable to you. Still, it has other advantages.

Monerujo

Last but not least, we have an Android wallet called Monerujo. This is an open-source project. All your data is stored locally, on your Android device. The app can manage several different wallets at the same time, and it can transfer funds back and forth using Monero to settle payments. It’s unique in that regard.

As it happens with most Android apps, it’s effortless to use, and the interface is very intuitive for all kinds of users.

Of course, increased portability brings a lot of convenience to the table, but if you lose your mobile phone, then you’ll have a tough time recovering your XMR tokens. So if you’re going mobile, you need to also invest the attention and energy in being extra careful about not misplacing your tablet, or phone or whatever device you’re using.

Other options

Many other wallets of all kinds support XMR because it’s becoming one of the crypto verse’s more popular (and useful) currencies. Chances are you’ll find one that suits your needs very quickly. But when it comes to keeping your XMR safe, specifically, the options we described are indeed the best in the market. This applies especially to the first two because Ledger Nano S is indeed one of the best hardware wallets and because Monero GUI Wallet is the project’s official wallet.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.