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Cardano (ADA)’s Treasury System: Governance for the blockchain

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When Satoshi Nakamoto published the now legendary Bitcoin whitepaper, he gave us the recipe to create a blockchain network and a cryptocurrency. However, he said nothing about how to keep them going.

Any blockchain network is, at its core, an organization. The software that sustains it needs maintenance, as does the system. Improving the technology’s performance requires research and development. It’s mostly not different from any enterprise you know. In short, blockchains need governance, and so far, it’s unclear what’s the best way to implement it.

Private companies, such as Ripple govern some blockchains and digital assets. Some others are backed up by non-profit organizations such as Bitcoin, LiteCoin and many others.

Cardano is proposing to solve this puzzle through something called “Cardano’s Treasury System.” The project’s development is in charge of Dr. Binshang Zhang, of the University of Lancaster. Cardano’s governance option seeks to solve two problems t the same time.

First, it provides a sustainable system to fund research, development, and maintenance, and other unavoidable expenses. Currently, organizations such as the Bitcoin Foundation do have research and development that keep improving the project. But they rely on sponsorships and donations to get the money they need to pay their developers, marketing, and other expenses related to the project’s administration.

While this is working fine at present, one has to wonder (as Cardano did) what happens in the long run? What if sponsors are not so generous in the future and the money to keep maintenance and developing going on dries up? The Cardano Treasury System is designed to avoid this problem and guarantee sustainability in the long term.

Second is the problem of governance. The project’s leadership, of course, must have a say in the decision-making process. But shouldn’t all those who keep the network going have a say as well? For instance, what would happen if the Bitcoin Foundation suddenly decides that SHA256 is not the best option for BTC anymore and it moves to another hash function, say SHA3, or any other?

That would put all the BTC miners of the world out of business overnight, and it would slow the network down considerably until the new mining process becomes as widespread as the old one. Such a radical scenario is highly unlikely, but it illustrates the need for a more democratic approach.

The Cardano governance model seeks to prevent authoritarian impositions from the leadership by introducing a form of democracy that’s neither direct nor representative. It’s called “liquid democracy.” In this scheme, actors with a right to vote have the right to either cast their vote directly or to delegate it to somebody else. The idea is to facilitate a process in which those who vote will always (or, at least, as often as possible) experts who understand the technology and the consequences of any decision.

As usual, Cardano is a force for innovation in the crypto verse. Its prospective governance and funding system is indeed very interesting, and it could become the rule for blockchain projects in the future. We’ll have to wait and see if other organizations in the blockchain community choose to adopt Cardano’s model and implement it in their respective organizations.

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.

Is cryptocurrency investment for you?

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Bitcoin is the year’s best-performing asset class in the world so far. Say what you want about volatility, weird markets, lack of regulation or any of the other objections usually wielded by crypto-skeptics but the fact remains that, during this year, if you were out to make some money, there’s been a no better option.

Interest in digital assets, Bitcoin, in particular, is one of the pursuits that are pushing the financial world forward. Cryptocurrencies can be an alternative to the economic chaos that fiat currencies can be, especially during times of crisis. They also offer the possibility to be more inclusive and bring to the table some of the millions of people in the world who remained unbanked and out of the traditional financial system.

The problem is that the price of digital coins is highly volatile, which is not a problem when all the numbers are green, but that scares people off when the numbers are red, and the market is sinking like a led balloon. So a fair question would be, is Bitcoin (or cryptocurrencies) still a worthy investment?

The answer is decidedly affirmative. There are many reasons for that. For a start, Bitcoin is very likely to rise in value. We’re not talking about the dramatic increase we’ve seen over the last few weeks but in the long-term. Even during the 2018 bear market, it remains evident that Bitcoin’s price is always going to go up significantly, given enough time.

There’s no way of pinning down a date for when it will reach, say, USD 100k (if it goes that high), but chances are it will get there. That’s why Bitcoin is an excellent choice for those investors who are all about the fundamentals, discipline, and patience; but not always the thing for those who want to get rich quickly.

The media has had a lot to do with all the hype surrounding digital coins. The hype creates false expectations, and it can even affect the market’s performance. Fortunately, the media never pays a lot of attention for long. It’s usually only when things are either great or terrible. Then the dust sets down, and things go back to normal. That’s when you can see how the market really is behaving.

Accessibility to Bitcoin has improved dramatically. In the beginning, it was incredibly challenging to get ahold of some. You had to be part of a selected club of specialized technology aficionados, so to speak. These days, you can use your credit or debit cards, and even Paypal.

Mining bitcoins, on the other hand, is now a lot more complicated. The Bitcoin’s protocol increases the difficulty in the collision calculation that allows creating new blocks for the chain by design. But on top of that, a lot more people are mining BTC now, so it’s become a very competitive field. It takes a lot of expertise and high initial investment. And if the Bitcoin market isn’t doing well, mining won’t be profitable, unless you’re in China, like most miners are.

However, if you look at the big picture, Bitcoin does have the edge over the traditional legal tender currencies of the world. It’nd s about versatility and security. Completing international transfers with BTC is quick, cheap, reliable. And if you keep your digital wealth in a safe offline digital wallet, there’s just no way in which your tokens could be stolen, unlike your analog wallet which you could forget anywhere.

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.

Freelancing and the Blockchain: Top platforms to earn money online

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Over the last two years, interest in cryptocurrencies has grown slowly but steadily, so they’re gently penetrating into the mainstream. Also, the inherent advantages in decentralized applications and technology become increasingly evident outside the cryptosphere. Blockchain technology keeps proving its worth as a new resource capable of tackling old problems in new ways. It’s showing it will disrupt many industries in the world and that it will ultimately change it.

Most recently, we’ve witnessed blockchain’s effect on fintech corporations and projects. It’s reshaping them and also the industries that touch on them. But it’s also impacting seemingly unrelated fields such as education, aid organization, charity, ride sharing, politics, real estate, logistics, and healthcare.

Blockchain and freelancing

There’s another environment that blockchain technology promises to reshape, and that’s the freelancing business. Freelancing was not a good thing a decade ago. People frowned upon it as a general rule. These days, freelancing is reshuffling many professional fields in which workers are gaining freedom, and employers are increasing versatility. Freelancing evolves very quickly, and it’s increasingly globalized.

Blockchain is instrumental at some things. One of those things is cutting the middle man off. That’s one of the reasons why it’s making an entrance into the freelancing community. It enhances flexibility in working agendas, it makes payments swifter (another blockchain specialty), and it lowers fees vary significantly.

An emerging problem for freelancers is the continually growing number of freelancing platforms that seek to capture the five or six million freelancers working in the world today. The platforms must verify new jobs, offerings, the closing of deals, and all the dirty details that are somewhat unique to freelancing.

The processes are not very transparent in most sites, and they’re usually not automatic either –both things that could be fixed immediately with a good smart contracts platform. Unfair payment systems and fake reviews are also common problems that affect both freelancers and potential employers. And these problems could also be solved by the proper use of blockchain technology.

The good news is that some freelancing sites are taking advantage of the blockchain to make life better for everybody involved. They’re still not among the industry leaders; they’re not exceedingly popular. They’re still marginal, as the blockchain and cryptocurrencies remain. But that only means that you are just in time to rip the benefits of early adoption.

If you’re a freelancer, or if you’re looking for freelancers to employ, you should go to any or all of the following sites which bring the freelancing and the blockchain worlds together.

Blocklancer.net

Blocklancer promises to solve “all problems of current freelancer platforms.” Talk about high ambitions! The platform is based on blockchain technology (Ethereum’s blockchain to be more specific). And it’s all about putting right all that’s wrong with most of the currently available centralized freelancing platforms.

There’s a strong focus on getting rid of excessive rigidity, abusive payments, and false reviews. The system is decentralized, and it includes a native token that helps keep the platform honest. Token holders can vote on decisions and settle a broad variety of disagreements. The dispute settling system is automatic, so it ensures fair play for all involved.

Another characteristic in this platform is the fee system, which is quite low (only 3%). There’s no tolerance for censorship either.

Going by appearances you’d think that this is just your typical freelancing system in which freelancer just look for work, develop a reputation, and get new clients based on that reputation. But this is an innovative platform in which the difference is under the hood, so it’s normal not to notice it all that much. The gap should be in your experience as a user, though.

FreelancerCoin.io

This platform, like the ones mentioned above, runs on the Ethereum blockchain. It could very well be the most technologically advanced blockchain freelancer platform in the world because it combines blockchain technology with artificial intelligence and smart contracts. It also has a native token, which is the means of payment between employers and employees within the system.

It has every feature you typically find in freelancing websites. So there’s a long list of available projects posted by prospective employers for freelancers to apply on the ones they like. However, there’s added value in the site’s service as it enables users to create smart contracts that automate the payment process. The site’s native token is instrumental in this.

Ethlance.com

The Zero-fee in this platform helps it be one of the most popular blockchain-based freelancing platforms in the world. The only fee is the usual “gas fee” you find in every application or contract that runs on Ethereum, which is necessary to transact in the network.

The user interface in this platform is amicable so freelancers can search the available projects to find work very efficiently. The searching process can be shortened by applying the available filters. Prospective employers can look for freelancers too (not always the case in these platforms) and select one based on the feedback they’ve had so far, language, hourly rates, ratings, and skills.

A limiting factor in this platform is that you must use it using MetaMask and Ethereum’s Mist browser, which are not precisely the most widespread applications in the world. But they’re worth installing if you’re interested in joining this market.

CanYa.io

Like other projects, CanYa also issues a cryptocurrency (CanYaCoin) which freelancers and employers can use to pay for the standard 1% fee this platform collects. It’s accessible from anywhere in the world, open, and decentralized. It’s in a position to build a good reputation in a business in which reputation is everything.

CanYaCoin incentivizes the platform’s growth, and it intends to guide user behavior so that everybody enjoys a service of the highest quality.

Steemit.com

It’s more known as a blockchain-based social network, but it’s also a freelancing platform. It’s a good example that illustrates how the trend is shifting towards blockchain-powered environments. As most platforms of its kind, it links freelancers with their potential clients.

A unique feature in Steemit is that it allows all users to post anything they want in the platform, in a way reminiscent of Facebook. The difference is that high-quality content is rewarded with the platform’s tokens instead of “likes.”

Final thoughts

There are many more freelancing platforms in the cryptosphere, of course. We haven’t mentioned them all because we’re not about to write a book. But you can browse around their websites and decide if you like them. Atlas, Cryptotask, Orbinetwork, Ethearnal, and Dream are good examples of places to visit and, if you want them, open an account.

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology remain marginal and far away from any meaningful mainstream adoption. But it’s platforms like these, which provide a service that is useful for people on both sides of the crypto border that can really help the cryptosphere to join the mainstream successfully.

Mainstream adoption is a long process that can’t rely on a single use-case, of course. Yet, these platforms are obviously useful even for users that are not very tech-savvy, which is one of the limitations we often find on many blockchain projects. Some of them are very cool indeed, but they need a degree of expertise that people in the mainstream just don’t have.

Disclaimer: 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.

Why is the price of Bitcoin (BTC) so eruptive?

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Why bitcoin price is volatile? That’s the question a lot of cryptonauts would like to have answered, right? It’s an important issue, of course, and it merits some serious discussion and an explanation that makes sense, and it’s rooted in reality. In this article, we’ll offer you an answer (or, at least, part of a solution) to that question.

Maybe the most similar conventional market to the cryptocurrency market is the foreign exchange (Forex). That would be because of both markets trade in currencies (digital in crypto, fiat in Forex), but that’s where every similarity ends.

The Forex market capitalization is, quite literally, all the money available in the world while crypto’s is of roughly USD 245 billion, which is a drop in the sea by comparison. Forex moves about USD five trillion daily, by contrast. There’s just no comparison. Forex is the world’s largest market, while crypto remains very small. And that’s why crypto is so volatile. Let us explain.

It’s all about liquidity

Any Forex trader worth their salt will tell you that the main reason behind any currency’s volatility is lack of liquidity (aside from natural disasters, tragic news, and things of the sort). Higher liquidity begets higher stability in prices. That’s why, for instance, fiat currencies in Forex move by fractions of a cent when they do. That’s in stark contrast with Bitcoin, for example, which has doubled in value in only a few weeks.

Crypto’s volatility makes it an exciting market in which there are many opportunities to get rich quickly. But high gains only come at the cost of higher risks, so there are also plenty of opportunities in crypto to lose everything up to your shirt. Because of low liquidity.

So what is liquidity? It’s a high volume of trade, availability, and activity in a market. Here we go back to the Forex vs. crypto volumes (6 trillion vs. 245 billion). The enormous amount of traders, assets, and value that’s traded in Forex all the time makes it impossible to disrupt the markets by dumping money or withdrawing it. The cryptocurrency market’s volume, on the other hand, can be affected by a single large order, even when it comes to Bitcoin.

We don’t need to search too hard to find an example of this. The current bullish run on Bitcoin (if that’s what it really is, the jury is still out on that) started when an unknown Japanese investor placed a single large order to buy Bitcoin. That movement alone raised the Bitcoin price by USD 1000,00 in only sixty minutes, and that’s how the ball started rolling.

Bitcoin is the market’s giant, it’s the one coin that’s really hard to affect because it’s capitalized at USD 145 billion. That’s a large number, for sure. But not enough to guarantee the market’s stability. Imagine what a large order could do in cryptocurrencies with a capitalization that’s in the tens of millions of dollars of which there are hundreds.

This is not to say that the cryptocurrency market is fraudulent. But it’s indeed quite obscure, and it’s amenable to manipulation.

So what would it take to have a stable market for digital assets? Liquidity, of course. It will be hard to achieve, but it’s not impossible. Maybe it’s unavoidable. When (and if) digital currencies as Bitcoin (along with the market’s larger ones) achieve capitalization in the order of trillions, chances are we’ll never see the wild fluctuations we’re used to so far. That’s years in the future, however. The prospects for higher profits by facing higher risks will stay with us for quite some time yet.

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.

The Lightning Network’s role in Bitcoin adoption

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The crypto verse has had a fantastic month as Bitcoin’s price has risen considerably and it’s dragged the rest of the market along, as it usually does. The reasons behind Bitcoin’s increase in value is hard to pin down, and the chances are that it’s not just a single thing. But one of the factors that must be taken into account for sure is the Lightning Network because it’s increasing adoption significantly.

A mature technology

The Lightning Network is not just getting started anymore. Yes, it’s on Beta testing still, but it’s active in 8.375 nodes in the world. So it’s grown by 4.36% in the previous 30 days. It boasts 37.652 channels with a total capability equivalent of 1.038,31 Bitcoins.

Pushing Bitcoin Adoption

The Lightning Network has been growing from both the user and the development sides in a way that’s been a force for Bitcoin adoption for the last half a year. A new report shows how the new network and adoption correlate and why the trend will continue.

Without going into lots of technical details, the Lightning Network enables faster and cheaper transfers between parties in the Bitcoin network, compared to transferences settled directly on the chain. It’s no surprise that Bitcoin users like both things.

Increasing options

Getting started in the Lightning Network is easier now than ever. The environment includes a vast selection of Lapps, hardware, and plenty of cool projects. One example is using the Blockstrem Satellite network. Users can now take their trading activities offline and use the said network instead of transacting on the internet.

Developers for the LN project were not precisely abundant in the beginning. The small nucleus of the initial developers had one thing in mind. It was to find a cheaper and faster way to transact in Bitcoin regardless of UX. That was fine to start. It is even needed so that the project’s central features could be developed.

But it didn’t take into account the lack of expertise of the least technically inclined users. But over the last twelve months, lots of new developers have joined the project. The increased availability in brain power allowed for the removal of the initial technical barriers.

The Breeze wallet, for instance, allows you to transact in LN without setting up a node. The job is done in the background, under the hood, so to speak, so users need not mind what’s happening at all. And that’s just one of many new Bitcoin resources that take advantage of the LN network.

The Extended Lightning Network Community

We must also mention another crucial factor. The expanding community. Meet-ups are becoming familiar. One of the largest is the Munich Lightning Network Hack Day. This conference promotes innovation within the LN community.

Lightning the future

It looks like the cryptosphere is finally leaving behind a very long crypto winter, so it behooves it to take notice of all the circumstances that helped it move forward. The Lightning Network is a driving force in the current crypto verse. Expect this new technology to keep bringing more new users, investors, and traders into the crypto world as its economy and markets expand.

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.

The best Dash wallets (Android, iOS, hardware and software) 2019

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The Dash (DASH) cryptocurrency is quite the popular cryptocurrency. Its features are similar to Bitcoin’s. That’s natural since it started as a Bitcoin fork, but it’s more advanced in many ways because it’s a newer project. The coin’s peculiarities include decentralized governance and fast transaction speeds that also allow for untraceability.

It gives full power to its users to transfer tokens into their wallets as they wish. So if you want to use your Dash coins to pay for your coffee, or to recharge your mobile, pay at a restaurant or any operation of the sort, you can just open your Dash wallet and do it whenever you want, wherever you want.

And to make things even better, the services in the Dash network are high-quality but very cheap. It enjoys worldwide adoption by both individuals and businesses because transfer fees are low, and transactions are settled almost in real-time.

In this article, we’ll offer you a guide to some of the best Dash wallets, which enable you to store or use your Dash tokens.

Dash Core

You can find this wallet at www.dash.org. It’s a desktop wallet, effortless to use, safe and free. If an excellent Dash wallet is what you want, you should be considering this one. It offers all of the features in Dash (despite being free) including InstantSend or PrivateSend, also management for master nodes and governance.

It gives you complete control over your Dash currency and enables you to verify the source code and binaries if you’re so inclined. Full validation is supported out-of-the-box, so you don’t need to trust the platform because there’s no bridge between your service and the dash blockchain. There’s a catch. The high security and features in this wallet require quite a bit of space in your hard-drive.

The point in Dash is to bring you all the goodies you have with other digital assets while avoiding some of the limitations they have. The user interface is intuitive without losing security, and the user’s freedom and control over the assets are paramount. It transacts directly from Dash’s network, which means that receiving, sending, and storing the coins is as safe as you can get. Other exciting features include:

  • Transacting with dash coins in a matter of seconds, whether online or not.
  • Payment facilitated by Face ID recognition.
  • Easy recovery phrase so your funds can be recovered when the device is unavailable.
  • Hardware encryption that secures storage.
  • No extra or hidden fees.
  • Open-sourced.

If Dash is your go-to cryptocurrency, this is the wallet you need.

Coinomi

Head to coinomi.com to find this easy to use mobile wallet. It’s not as safe as Dash Core, but it’s good enough, and it’s also free.

It’s one of the best wallets to store Dash as well as other digital assets. It, fortunately, lacks Know-your-customer red tape, which makes everything agile. You can use your tokens whenever you want without the typical KYC restrictions. It doesn’t track transactions; it doesn’t link to your identity or associates the wallet to an IP address.

Operating by hiding IPs means that every user’s request is anonymous in the network, so there’s no need to worry about leaving a track behind. Another exciting feature is the ability to convert between several cryptocurrencies in real-time and privately inside the wallet. This is facilitated by the project’s strategic partnerships with Shapeshift and Changelly.

The security is built around the Hierarchical Deterministic Wallet protocol (BIP44) which allows for high security without hampering accessibility. It uses a single sturdy passphrase which needs single backup only.

Unlike Dash Core, this wallet doesn’t transact directly on Dash’s blockchain, so you have to rely on the provider’s services for your transactions to be completed. This wallet’s users should make sure there is no malicious code when they download this particular wallet because that could hazard your device’s integrity.

This project is always moving forward and innovating. This is a wallet that can serve both rookie and experienced cryptocurrency users, whether they use Dash or other altcoins.

Jaxx Liberty

It’s very safe, free, easy to use, and more versatile because it’s available in both mobile and desktop versions. It’s at https://jaxx.io/support.html.

The wallet was created and is maintained by Decentral, a Canadian software company. It’s one of the best wallets in the Dash environment. Users who want a multi-coin wallet will be particularly pleased with this one, as it supports upwards of ten already, and it keeps adding support for other assets. The restore funds option is particularly easy to use as it only takes a 12-word security seed key for backup.

The best overall feature in Jaxx is probably the control it gives to users to export and import encryption keys whenever you like. The interface is easy-to-use. The developing community is very active. ShapeShift integration also allows converting assets instantly without leaving the wallet.

The dash-centric features missing in Jaxx are InstantSend and PrivateSend, so while the wallet works very well and it’s safe, free and reliable, you will lose some of the dash flavors if you opt for it.

It’s available on Mac, Windows, and Linux as a desktop application. It’s also available as a mobile app for both mobile phone giants (Apple and Google). If you’re the kind of guy who prefers wallets as browser extensions, you can get this one for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

The wallet is good, for sure. But you have to trust the vendor’s server (because you’re not transacting on the blockchain directly) and you must be sure that there is no additional malicious code upon downloading and installing.

Trezor

Trezor is widely regarded to be the best hardware cryptocurrency wallet in the market. While it’s powered by open-source software, it’s not a free service because you can only use it if you buy the device. But it’s probably the safest wallet. It’s small, not too expensive, and very reliable.

The advanced cryptographic technology in Trezor allows users to store their private keys and carry out transactions securely without revealing any private keys. So a Dash user controls its coins in total. Simple Payment Verification allows users to confirm transactions with minimal trust if transfers were settled.

This impressive piece of hardware comes from SatoshiLabs, in the Czech Republic. It’s small, portable, and very sturdy because of a body made from aluminum and plastic. It comes in three colors (gray, white and black) and it includes an OLED screen so users can see their 9-digit code and the 24-word passphrase.

The offline storage characteristic of Trezor (cold storage) adds an extra security layer.

The device supports many different cryptocurrencies, including all the most popular options. It doesn’t support InstantSend or PrivateSend, but maybe that’s a small price to pay for the high degree of security offered by the cryptoverse’s most reputable hardware wallet.

Ledger Nano S

This is another hardware wallet. While it’s not as highly-reputed as Trezor, it’s still trendy because it has a familiar form factor (it looks like a run-of-the-mill USB stick) and it’s very reasonably priced.  If you have lots of Dash, this is a good option for you. And it also supports many other tokens. It’s a perfect multicurrency wallet.

Once you buy one of these cute little toys, you’ll get it out of the box, and you’ll have to set it up with a passphrase. You will use the phrase to create your own private keys, and you will own them for good. That ownership increases security significantly so you can keep using your wallet even in a hacked device. The whole setup process takes no more than three minutes. You can send Dash to other wallets using the wallet’s web version.

The hardware includes a tiny screen that enables you to regulate your transactions. It’s a very friendly device, even for beginners. Its reputation is excellent, and it’s compatible with the web.

Exodus

The last wallet in our list is a desktop one you can find at https://www.exodus.io/. It’s very safe, easy to use, and free of charge.

It supports many altcoins as well as exchange functions within the wallet. Access to your funds is protected by fully encrypting your transaction and private keys. In this wallet, you do away with accounts, third-parties, and information sharing. It works in Windows, Mac, and Linux. It’s a good option for Dash users.

The wallet’s main feature is how easy it is to use. If you’re not an expert and you’re just getting started as a cryptonaut looking to perform your first cryptocurrency transfers, this could be the option for you. Of course, you’d need to master the necessary steps.

Exodus’ user interface is nothing short of beautiful, and it gives users all the information they need about their portfolio. It’s 100% free of charge, and you can download it at any time you wish. It supports, Dahs, of course, but also all of the crypto’s top currencies.

We’ve mentioned ShapeShift’s integration into other wallets several times in this article, so it bears saying that Exodus was the first one to include that service into its platform.

Guarda

Guarda wallet was created to provide users with a better experience in the cryptocurrency industry. The wallet supports over 45 chains and over 10,000 tokens. The wallet has reiterated its focus on a multi-platform approach and has web, desktop, Google Chrome and mobile devices versions available

Guarda also offers the multi-signature facility, staking, and support for privacy-oriented coins such as Monero and ZCash.Using Guarda, people will have the first-hand experience with an in-built exchange service as well as a lowered exchange amount for some cryptocurrencies trading pairs.

Guarda, which already supports Tron based tokens, also allows users to buy Tron coins using an inbuilt purchase service.

Conclusions

Digital technology changes very quickly, and so does the cryptoverse, and you can’t seize the power of crypto if you’re not updated.

Dash, however, has been around for several years already and it’s achieved full maturity, which translates into stability. In other words, this project is set, and while it will undoubtedly continue to be innovative, the fundamentals are hardly going to change in the next few months or years.

So how should you choose a wallet for your Dash? If you have a lot of Dash coins, security would be more vital for you so hardware wallets would be the best way to go. No, they’re not free, but they’re not that expensive either (especially Ledger Nano S), and they will give you peace of mind regarding your Dash and any other cryptocurrencies you may hold.

If you own smaller amounts of Dash and flexibility and convenience are your main priority, but you still want to have a reasonable degree of security, then mobile wallets could be the way to go. They’re very convenient. But then you’d have to very very careful not to lose or damage your phone.

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.

Learn how to buy anything on Amazon with Bitcoin

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Rumors about the adoption of digital assets by online giant retailer Amazon have been floating around for ages in the crypto verse. Nothing’s happened yet, and Amazon’s native payment system still supports fiat currencies only. That, however, needs not to stop you from using your digital assets to pay for goods and services on Amazon. No matter if you’re in India, USA, Singapore or at any other place where Amazon ships, you can shop with Bitcoin on it. In this article, we’ll tell you how.

What you need

Like any good recipe, this one needs some ingredients. Here they are:

  • You need to own some BTC.
  • A BTC wallet where you store your coins. A mobile wallet that supports capturing QR codes with your phone’s camera makes everything much faster, but any BTC wallet will do.
  • Having the Moon browser extension installed in your browser (which can be Chrome and a couple of others).
  • Having a Moon account.
  • An Amazon account.

Every ingredient is crucial. If you own even a single Satoshi, the chances are that you already have all the ingredients ready except for the Moon extension and account, so let’s talk about that in a little more depth.

Moon is a cryptocurrency-based payments platform. It integrates into your Google Chrome browser as a browser extension, which means that it’s free and quick to install. It won’t take you more than half a minute to do so. You can find it at https://paywithmoon.com. Once your extension is installed and ready to go, you’ll also need to get a moon account.

Moon supports Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether, and Bitcoin Cash ABC as means of payment. It integrates seamlessly into Amazon’s user interface. But you do need to have the extension and an account.

The procedure

It’s fast; it’s easy. You’ll be surprised. It goes like this.

First, you log into your Amazon account and add the notebook (or pen, or book, or whatever you fancy) to your shopping cart. Once your cart is ready, just click as if you were buying your stuff in the standard way.

Keep going as if nothing until (you know, pick your delivery method, make sure your physical address is correct, etc.) you hit the payments option. This is where things get interesting.

At this point, you’ll notice the Moon extension working at the upper right sector of your Amazon webpage. There will be a payment option in Bitcoin which you can identify because the Bitcoin logo is there, and the amount to pay in Bitcoin will be quoted. Just click it.

A dialogue will pop. It will include a BTC address as well as a QR code. This is the address to which you must send your BTC. This is when you load your mobile wallet app on your phone (or you use your desktop app, it’s up to you).

If you’re on your desktop wallet, you can just copy and paste the address and send the BTC. If you’re using your mobile, then you can use your phone’s camera to scan the QR code and send the coins as well.

Once your payment is sent, you need to wait for a little while. Moon processes payments using the new Bitcoin’s lighting network so that it won’t take minutes but just a few seconds.

That’s it!

Amazon will tell you your order is placed, in the usual way, and you’re all done! You’ve bought stuff on Amazon using cryptocurrency! It really is as simple as that.

Disclaimer: We have no relation with paywithmoon and have not been compensated for this article. Also, always remember to do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies, please. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Scandals and crypto: 3 of the best-known cases

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Bitcoin and many other digital assets hold great potential for the good and the bad. They could make you rich in a heartbeat. They could also make you lose your shirt just as quickly. Cryptocurrency investing is very risky, which is why it can be highly profitable, and very exciting.

One of the things that make cryptocurrencies so exciting and open to the possibilities is also one of the things that make them so dangerous. That’s the lack of regulations from governments and institutions in general.

Lots of new exchange platforms, as well as wallet services, are popping out in the crypto verse all the time. And they remain unregulated. That’s why the risk of fraud, hacking and other misbehaviors remains real. Take the Bitfinex fiasco, for instance, which saw the platform lose USD 66 million. So the risks are here, they’re real, and every cryptonaut should be aware of them. And the Bitfinex example is not even among the most important ones.

And the lack of legal codes is not the only problem. The very nature of the beast makes it prone to moral hazard. It’s a situation that allows for huge risks, which, in turn, mean that equally big profits could be in the cards, which is why recklessness is present around the crypto verse.

In this article, we recapitulate for you some of the greatest scandals we’ve seen so far in the cryptosphere.

QuadrigaCX

It could have been a Sherlock Holmes novel. A dead CEO, fraud accusations, millions of dollars lost. It shook the Bitcoin world, and while it looked like something out of thriller fiction, the nightmare was genuine for all those holders who lost their wealth.

It was 2018 and QuadrigaCX’s CEO, Gerald Cotten was enjoying his honeymoon in India. But he didn’t make it back. After Mr. Cotten’s death, the company found that it couldn’t manage the company’s cryptocurrency portfolio. So the bells rang, and the alarm was widespread.

QuadrigaCX’s wallets were cold. That means that the company’s cryptocurrencies are stored offline, which is a good thing when it comes to security because it makes hacks so much harder. But only Mr. Cotten was privy to the passwords, so the company suddenly was unable to give its customers their coins back.

The situation prompted an investigation on QuadrigaCX, and then new disturbing facts started to emerge. Once the investigators got hold of Mr. Cotten’s personal computer, the firm Ernst & Young found a way to locate all the wallets owned by the company. And the wallets were empty, which meant that from USD 140 to US 190 million were missing.

As the auditing company followed the money, they found that the wallets had been regularly emptied over a full year before Mr. Cotten’s honeymoon. So the investigators (and the customers) had the remains of a company and no assets to recover.

The highly irregular situation described above lead to all kinds of theories. For instance, some said that Mr. Cotten faked is own demise so he could get away with millions of dollars to enjoy with his new wife. His widow says that he actually died.

But what happened to the company’s deposits? Good questions. Nobody has been able to find out so far.

Mt Gox

This cryptocurrency exchange was started by Jed McCaleb who enjoys an excellent reputation in the crypto world. Mt Gox stands for “Magic the gathering online eXchange.” No, we don’t understand what that means either. But the weird name didn’t stand in the way of Mt Gox becoming the world’s largest Bitcoin trader very quickly.

The platform was responsible for about 70% of the world’s trading in Bitcoin at some point. But things were never quiet for the company. It suffered from persistent security problems, it was always under attack by hackers, the CEO wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box, and they even got a lawsuit from the US government. So Mt Gox was always in the news for all the wrong reasons.

But painful as life was for the company, it was manageable. Then a real catastrophe hit. In 2014 the company had to go bankrupt because it lost half a billion USD in Bitcoins. Hackers had been emptying the company’s wallets over a long, and the company security team was none the wiser. Then, as users tried to withdraw their funds, they found they didn’t have any left.

The users complained, of course. The company answered by going silent and disappeared from all social media. The story isn’t over yet. It’s been almost five years already, and creditors are still trying to get their money back from Mt Gox. Some of them have been able to sell the debt at discounted prices, and the legal fight remains ongoing.

NiceHash

This company started in Slovenia. It was a crypto mining platform shared by both miners and investors. In December 2017, when Bitcoin was most attractive than ever, the platform had to face a very advanced hack attack. The hackers succeeded and went away with BTC 4,736,042 in their digital pockets. That’s the most significant number we’ve seen when referring to Bitcoins.

The token’s price was around USD 20k by then, so the hackers got away with trillions of dollars. And, to make things even worse, not a single Satoshi was recovered. So the unavoidable happened, and every member of the managing team had to resign.

Incredibly, and unlike most stories of this kind, the company survived. It remained in business and was able to rescue what was left of its heavily damaged reputation. They’re still in business trading BTC and other digital assets.

Final thoughts

There is something to learn from these stories.

The cryptosphere can be lucrative in the extreme. But “gainful” always means risky as well. If you take on too many risks, you’re going to have to pay the price, sooner or later. So take advantage of your opportunities, but remind yourself of staying safe and use prudence. We wouldn’t like to know that you become part of a story such as the ones in this article.

Disclaimer: 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.

John McAfee and Satoshi’s true identity

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McAfee

John McAfee is a very successful technological businessman who also has something of a reputation as a Maverick. He founded the company that bears his name, and that was a pioneering force in digital security. He’s smart, colorful, controversial, rich, and he likes to speak when he feels like it, using his Twitter account from his home at the Bahamas.

The new fork in the Bitcoin Cash project was very annoying for Mr. McAfee. Bitcoin Cash became two different blockchains. One is Bitcoin Cash ABC (which recovered pretty quickly from the split and has been performing reasonably well in the market) and Bitcoin SV (SV stand’s for Satoshi’s vision) which has been an unmitigated disaster.

Craig Wright

Bitcoin Cash Satoshi’s Vision is named like that because it came to life because of Craig Wright’s influence within the Bitcoin Cash community. This is the man who’s claimed to be none other than Satoshi Nakamoto, the man behind Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency revolution.

While most cryptonauts (as far as we can tell, there’s no hard data on this) are more than skeptic about Mr. Wright’s claims, there is a small number of people in the world who actually take Mr. Wright at face value. That’s given him quite a bit of prestige and influence in certain circles, and this annoys the hell out of John McAfee.

Mr. McAfee has used his Twitter account to express his discontent. He says that he personally knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is. The hacking expert is sick of scammers trying to hijack Nakamoto’s name and merits and using them to deteriorate the cryptosphere as a whole.

He’s got a particular beef to pick with Wright as he said in a tweet. He believes that the alleged Satoshi’s enhanced reputation is the only reason that he was able to come up with BSV which is a “scam that hurt us all.”

So he decided to do something about it: to push things so that Satoshi Nakamoto finally comes forward and reveals himself.

For several days he started offering clues about Satoshi’s real identity so that his true identity can be narrowed down or so that he stops hiding. So what do we know so far? He’s not the CIA, or any agency, or any of the world’s governments.

While that seems a silly thing to clarify, it’s the notion of choice for conspiracy theorists. He lives in the USA. There is no single man behind the development of Bitcoin’s network and launch, but it was instead done by a group of people. But the Bitcoin whitepaper has only one author.

And that’s as much as we know from Mr. McAfee. And then the manure hit the fan.

Further suspense

It turned out that Mr. McAfee is wanted by the IRS because of tax-related problems. Since he lives in the Bahamas, he could face an extradition process if the American government wants him badly enough. That hasn’t happened yet, but as the tycoon’s lawyers advised him that keeping up the Satoshi things could only complicate his legal status, he’s desisted from telling us all who the Bitcoin creator really is. At least for the time being. You can actually read the letter from the lawyer (Mario A. Gray, an expert in extradition processes) at the Twitter account in question.

So when will we find out who Nakamoto is? We have no idea. But it seems we could learn his identity before we expected.

Disclaimer: 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.

What will blockchain technology do for us besides its current uses?

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It’s a good question. Blockchain technology has been hailed as one of the most revolutionary pieces of new technology ever to grace mankind. The blockchain was invented by the mysterious and legendary Satoshi Nakamoto with one objective in mind: to have it as the underlying technology that allows for the creation of a digital currency that would end up doing away with the traditional fiat currencies and with the conventional banking and money management system.

So cryptocurrencies were the reason for the blockchain to be created. They are still the blockchain’s primary application, but even that application has evolved over time. Vitalik Buterin created a second-generation blockchain implemented as Ethereum which was more than the substrate for a digital asset. It’s a programmable platform that allows for the development and deployment of smart contracts and decentralized applications.

Then arrived third generation blockchains (Tron, EOS, Steemit, and others) which include a native cryptocurrency in the network but that are not all about supporting a coin. Tron, for instance, wants to use blockchain technology to decentralize the world wide web. The Tron Foundation also bought BitTorrent a few months ago, and it’s working hard to merge BitTorrent (the world’s largest decentralized and P2P network by far) into Tron’s blockchain.

So far we’ve described the following use cases for blockchains besides issuing cryptocurrencies: smart contracts, decentralized apps, content sharing through BitTorrent and web content decentralization. But there’s a lot more. There’s a web site that uses a custom-made blockchain to feed chickens in farms, just to give you an example of a use case that’s 100% down to earth and in an industry that’s not very usually thought to be very tech-savvy.

What else is there? David Schwartz speaks

Blockchains are powerful, versatile, and very new in the world. They empower computers and the internet in a way we’ve never seen before so it would behoove us to wonder what else they could do that they’re not doing yet.

The Quora website asked this question recently, and they had a new answer authored by one of the world’s foremost authorities regarding blockchains. We refer, of course, to David Schwartz, Chief Technological Officer for Ripple.

Mr. Schwartz has been working on blockchain technology for years, and he’s the man responsible by Ripple’s astounding success (at least about the technical part), and he’s also responsible for keeping Ripple’s blockchain network current, updated, and working correctly. While he’s not the project’s founder (let’s not forget that the actual founder left Ripple behind so he could start Staller Lumens), Mr. Schwartz’ work is critical for Ripple, and his expertise is beyond any doubts.

So what did he answer? We’ll tell you.

Currently obvious uses

Settling payments and storing value would be the most evident use cases for the blockchain according to Mr. Schwartz. This, of course, is quite obvious as it was the way the blockchain ball started rolling and it remains the technology’s primary application.

Then expanding a little the blockchain’s power within the same industry it’s useful in settling securities, trade finance, lending and all kinds of other financial applications that are a tiny bit more complex than a simple payment system. Those instances are payment and a little additional feature that can also take advantage of a blockchain.

Thus, such apps can evolve to become more workable as the payment system, which is at the heart of such operations, is better, faster, more reliable. Mr. Schwartz explained that Ripple has been focused on settling international payments for years (since its inception, really) because of that reason.

But those use cases are not in the future. Among the applications mentioned in the previous paragraph, payments and storage of value have been there since Bitcoin came online, and the other cases are already a reality implemented, among other blockchain projects, by Ripple (and by Mr. Schwartz in person).

The future

If we start looking for use cases other than settling payments, continued Mr. Schwartz, “things can get more speculative.”

Private blockchains could offer zero-knowledge proof to solve problems such as tracking luxury goods, vaccines and all kinds of delicate merchandise or commodities. Zero-knowledge proofs are an application of cryptographic technology (and let’s not forget that blockchains are cryptography-based) that allows two parties to settle a discussion regarding what one of them can do. It works like this: let’s say you and I want to do business together.

But before we get the ball rolling, you need to know if I have the expertise actually to do what I say I can do. Traditionally there are two ways of dealing with a situation with this. You can trust my word, or I can give you a demonstration. Both options are detrimental to one of us. If you believe my word, it’s possible that I’m not as good as I said, so you’ll be involved in a losing partnership for you.

On the other hand, if I give you a demonstration and you observe carefully what I’m doing, then you could learn to do it yourself, so I’m no longer needed in the partnership, and I lose an opportunity to do business.

Cryptography solves this situation with zero-knowledge scenarios. In this context, I would be able to show you I can do what I say in a way that you wouldn’t need to have any doubts at all, but without you learning any of the details of what I’m actually doing. This is nothing short of magic, and it’s one of the most amazing applications scientists have found for cryptography, but it’s real, and it works. So in that way, we eliminate the need for you to trust me or the risk I have to expose my expertise. And this could be done on a blockchain network.

Another compelling use case would be the ability to create a consortium without all the hard work and complications that usually come with that kind of enterprise.

Mr. Schwartz emphasized the blockchain’s benefits as enhancing security and reliability. The inherent decentralization of a blockchain means that a blockchain computing system doesn’t have a downtime, which is something you can never say about a traditional database running on a central server (even if the server is in a cloud) which can go offline if something happens to the central authority that owns and manages the database.

Also, a blockchain needs not to worry about so-called “bad data” because every node in the network verifies the information in the ledger (the ledger is the pieces of useful data shared and maintained by the system as a whole through a variety of algorithms designed to achieve consensus and guarantee consistency). And this actually makes things simpler and cheaper because you don’t need to put all your resources on a central repository that you need to protect and manage.

So there you have it. Ripple’s answer was short and to the point. But it’s the opinion of an authority so it’s worth to know and to keep in mind what a crypto personality such as Mr. Schwartz is thinking because that’s how blockchain technology could develop in the months and years to come.

It’s all a bit technical and, as he said, speculative. Maybe a little Sci-Fi so far. But remember: before Bitcoin came online the blockchain didn’t exist even as a speculative idea except in Satoshi Nakamoto’s mind so we could see all these things develop and become a reality sometime soon.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

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.