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  • An Insight to Decentralized Technologies: Understanding the Applications and Challenges

    An Insight to Decentralized Technologies: Understanding the Applications and Challenges

    Decentralized technologies solve Illiquidity problems | App Developer Magazine

    Revolution to the traditional fiat currency can be traced back to almost eleven years when new and innovative blockchain technology was introduced. Back then, only a single application was revealed to the world that we now recall as cryptocurrency. Some of us may refer to blockchain as a distributed registry technology. Over the years, this distributed registry technology or called DRT further popularized what we now call distributed ledger technology DLT.

    Now, what is DLT? For a better understanding of the blockchain, this electronic database (DLT) must be thoroughly overviewed. Spread over multiple devices or better known as nodes; this electronic database can be accessed over multiple channels as the system is closely interconnected. A node consensus technique is utilized for proper functioning. This interconnection and spreading over several networks ask for privacy and intense security; for this, every single update over the network is encrypted by a distinctive cryptographic signature. All in all, this is what makes the process secure.

    The earliest triumph

    Foreseeing a great potential in the initial stages, many people adopted this unconventional technology. Proving its worth through the creation of private and public networks, the decentralized technologies altered the whole financial industry. Bitcoins are the best example of it. People made billions of dollars by investing in bitcoins. For the best investment tips, visit https://buyshares.co.uk/cryptocurrency/bitcoin-prime-review/.     

    Millions of users are constantly mining cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoins to decode various complex financial problems. In mining, certain algorithms are developed to decipher complex and unique mathematical equations that cannot be solved by traditional finance.

    The sudden inclination of users towards this technology is since there is zero state and bank involvement in the process. State and its regulated banks are commonly involved in the traditional financial opportunities that make it quite difficult for the general public. Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, are free of any government or legal entity’s involvement. It makes them quite cheaper and more secure than the traditional fiat. Therefore, we may refer to blockchain as a proficient second to banks.

    Due to the excessive adaptations, this proxy economy terrified politicians and all the stakeholders that come under the umbrella of the economy especially the financial institutes. The developed countries with a stable economy accepted this innovative and unfamiliar economy. But, the developing and under-developed countries still think of technology as a radical alternative to their traditional payment systems. As a result, an absolute ban was imposed on cryptocurrencies in certain countries. However, noticing the trends, the governments are trying to make amendments to the legislation.

    Various applications of decentralized technologies

    This widespread decentralized technology i.e. blockchain is not only limited to cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies are just a single successful scenario that requires this technology. Blockchain technology can be used for:

    Public health

    Imagine you can share your reports and consult any doctor across the world. This can be done by using a decentralized registry system. In such a way, all the patient’s credentials from medical history to various lab reports can be accessed from doctors across the globe. Besides, different logistics companies and airlines can use this innovative technology for drug shipment tracking. The drugs can be delivered more quickly and securely to remote and needy areas. As a result, the widespread of diseases can be controlled timely.

    Administration

    For administration such as supply chain and logistics; a decentralized network can increase the overall efficiency. The transparency of multiple parcels, couriers, and products will prevent swindlers. Even the military industry can gain numerous benefits due to the solid encryption and protection. Certain oil manufacturing and agriculture producing industries can also avail such benefits. However, the telecommunication industry is the one gaining the most from decentralized technologies.

    Elections

    A country’s future always depends upon how fairly its elections are carried out. Using a decentralized technology, more confidential and transparent elections can be carried out. The results concluded from such voting would be fair. It is because it’s almost impossible to tamper with the results to get the desired outcomes.

    Some common challenges

    There are some challenges associated with the decentralized technologies that organizations must thoroughly undermine.  

    The swift changes in an organization’s culture

    Decentralized technologies like blockchain eliminate the traditional tools and methods. One of the primal things inside an organization that gets affected in the process is the organization’s culture. Eliminating the need for centralization means the loss of control. This may result in some unsettling outcomes. New imaginative approaches to complex situations are required to understand new opportunities.

    Complexity

    One of the fundamental challenges that come with decentralization is its complexity. Not realizing the need for adaption and complexity may result in a loss of investment and time. However, strongly coping with the technology may bring new ideas and revenues.

    By-passing of regulations

    Decentralization comes with the by-passing of conventional regulations. In the case of bitcoins, all the inefficiencies related to conventional payment methods are tackled. The centralization in the financial sector despite its disadvantages acts as a cushion against various challenges. Decentralization, on the other hand, provides less cushion against bottlenecks. Therefore, all the stakeholders involved in the process are affected directly. To tackle such a situation, proper guidance on the related process is necessary.

    Costly

    The high speed and effective decentralized technologies such as blockchain networks come at a cost. The high transaction cost for peer-to-peer agreements cannot be avoided. By any means, if you are looking to avoid the high costs, the organization encounters inefficiency in all processes. It is since a decentralized system works on an integrated node system. And if you try to override one network, all the others associated with it become irregular.  

    The bottom line:

    The revolution in decentralized technologies offers certain opportunities to various sectors. The benefits that come with adopting this innovative technology are high-end encryption and secure transactions. Understanding the applications and certain challenges, the adaptation process becomes quite easier.

  • Want to own Bitcoins? Follow these 5 steps

    Want to own Bitcoins? Follow these 5 steps

    Countries Where Bitcoin Is Legal & Illegal (DISH, OTSK)

    Cryptocurrency is still the most discussed and is still receiving close reviews in the financial world. With having ample knowledge, it is the proper time to invest in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoins. The article probes into different ways in which you can invest in bitcoins and own some. Follow these simple yet meaningful steps to own bitcoins.

    Start with owning a digital crypto wallet

    The process begins with a digital wallet. The wallet serves multiple purposes including stashing the bitcoins. Like an ordinary or physical wallet, you can utilize a digital crypto wallet for storing bitcoins. And like any electronic wallet such as bank credit card’s mobile applications; you can send or receive bitcoins from anywhere in the world. Ordering or getting one is not a complex task, various websites offer crypto wallet services. And there are various bitcoin trading websites like the Bitcoin Prime app where you can invest and earn insane profits.

    An online bitcoin wallet ensures high-end encryption from the user side making it quite secure, however, swindlers and hackers can break into your wallet to steal or transfer money into their desired accounts. Therefore, the companies offering 100 % encryption are lying to attract potential customers.

    Certain desktop wallet applications are also available that can be accessed using a computer or a laptop. In such cases, the digital cash is stashed over the desktop crypto wallet’s applications. But these applications are easier to hack than any cloud storage mobile applications. Therefore, it is often recommended by the companies to regularly backup the data.

    An online wallet works similar to any standard website i.e. owning a unique IP or Bitcoin address. Every single wallet has a unique id that is different from any other. This distinct address serves various functions like it offers high-end encryption. Secondly, by sharing this peculiar bitcoin address, you can receive bitcoins from anyone. Furthermore, the address is quite complicated which makes it somehow impenetrable.

    After owning a crypto wallet, start to store bitcoins. However, many analysts recommend thoroughly read all the best practices to overcome any potential risk involved in the process. In addition to owning a digital crypto wallet, there are multiple ways in which you can store or even produce bitcoins on your own like:

    Sell products and accept bitcoins in return

    Own any retail outlet? Even a small bakery offering customized cakes. You can start to accept bitcoins (the fractions) from your customers instead of dollars. There are multiple ways you can tell your customers. A neon-lit board hanging above the cash counter is a good option. Or you can chat it up with your customers while trying to show them the discounted products. Flyers or email newsletters are another way of spreading your messages. However, before beginning such promotional or informative campaigns, it’s better to choose a bitcoin merchant first. Bitcoin merchants offering such processing services that enable you to convert the received bitcoins into your desired fiat currency.  

    And if invoices are your mode of payment, then mentioning your bitcoin address on the bottom of the invoice is a good practice. However, practicing such methods, you must never share your private key. The private key is high end encrypted password that enables you to transfer bitcoins.

    Search for adjacent traders or friends

    Another good practice to trade or buy bitcoins is to search for adjacent traders or your friends. Numerous websites offer such services where you can find the bitcoin owners and traders just by highlighting your city. All the traders in that radius will be highlighted. And also, these websites offer the opportunity for connection with these people. After connection, you can trade your bitcoins.

    Also, by chatting with that specific person, you can choose a public place for a physical meeting. But be cautious in such scenarios as sharing your closet location or meeting a stranger in person or for the first time can be a bit risky. It is not the best-recommended practice.

    It is better to use online platforms as they also offer bank transfer exchanging options. They (websites) have PayPal or Western Union on their electronic payment panels. However, such services come at a small cost. They charge a small fee as per transaction like a standard bank.

    But the best way to trade bitcoins is to look for close friends who are holding bitcoins. Why spend hours looking for unknown bitcoins traders when you can just simply ask your nearest and closest colleagues or friends for small fractions of bitcoins in exchange for dollars.

    Mine the crypto!

    It is one of the most complex ways to collect bitcoins. People using such methods are commonly called miners. They do not recommend the beginners dabble in this method. By utilizing specific software and high end and modern computers, complex mathematical problems are solved. In exchange, a single bitcoin is produced. However, if you still consider yourself tech-savvy and want to take a ride on this adventure, go prepared.

    Purchasing bitcoins from crypto-exchange

    It is one of the easiest and general options to fatten up your digital crypto wallet. This straightforward method works like any standard stock exchange where you can sell or purchase. The bitcoin exchange offers users to exchange (buy or sell) bitcoins using any local currency. There is a standard market rate. For entering such an exchange, it is mandatory to own a traditional bank account and link it with a bitcoin exchange. In such away, you can transfer the funds between the two accounts.

    However, the process can require a couple of days. As the standard banks are involved in the transactions, usually it takes three to four days for the bitcoins to fill up your crypto wallet.

    The bottom line

    With every day passing, new digital currencies are being invented such as Pi. But the trading and investment process is still the same. Therefore, concluding the article, the mentioned steps will assist you in purchasing your cryptocurrencies especially bitcoins. 

  • Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 5

    Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 5

    The end of January 2021 was marked by the amazing uprise of retail investors who organized themselves on the r/WallStreetBets (WSB) subreddit. Their goal was not to make as much profit as they could, but to stick it up against major players on the financial markets, such as big hedge fund managers. The tech savvy millennials and members of Generation Z bought up stocks of GameStop (GME) and AMC Theatres (AMC) with no intention to sell, aiming to perform a short squeeze and pressure investors, who held short positions to either buy more stocks of liquidate their positions. The market battle between David and Goliath got even less fair when platforms such as Robinhood, often utilized by WSB investors, restricted the buying of aforementioned stocks. While this move lifted a lot of dust it also acted as free advertisement for cryptocurrency space and DeFi, where the risk of this sort of market interference is significantly lower. Last but not least, the WallStreetBets movements sparked the creation of its cryptocurrency-themed copycat r/SatoshiStreetBets, whose promotions contributed to the fact that two of the coins in this week’s selection skyrocketed so high.

    1. Dogecoin (DOGE)

    The cryptocurrency Dogecoin was introduced as a joke in December 2013 by Billy Markus. Markus built the cryptocurrency project around the Shiba Inu doge meme that went viral in 2013 and the Dogecoin even uses the Doge meme as its official logo. Surprisingly, the currency took off. Even more, it developed a relatively large community on social platforms such as Reddit, which used Dogecoin to tip other members of the community and for performing similar micro-transactions. The Dogecoin community also raised funds to sponsor their own NASCAR racer for a few races and pay for a physical gold Dogecoin to be delivered to the moon via crowdfunding. Although the currency is regarded as a joke by more serious investors, Dogecoin is currently the 13th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization with almost 130 billion Dogecoins mined since 2013.

    Buy/Sell DOGE

    Subreddits r/WallStreetBets and r/SatoshiStreetBets pump DOGE

    Users on r/SatoshiStreetBets, a cryptocurrency-themed version of the r/WallStreetBets, the subreddit which kickstarted the GameStop phenomenon, started posting memes about Dogecoin and encouraging each other to buy the coin. The campaign promoting to buy Dogecoin soon spread across other platforms, such as TikTok and Twitter. Largely (if not even solely) because of this movement, DOGE displayed triple-digit gains on January 29, when the price spiked from $0.0076 to an all-time high of $0.077 within 24 hours. Such pump (and dump) campaigns are nothing new for DOGE. Let’s remember the viral TikTok video from July 2020 that attempted to push the price of DOGE to $1. Dogecoin also tends to pump when Elon Musk promotes the meme coin on Twitter. It happened on March 3, 2020, December 20, 2020, and Musk may have referred to Doge in his recent tweet too:

    At the time of writing, DOGE is trading at $0.0358, which is 55% lower than the ATH price but at the same time, over 500% higher than prior the pump. Does DOGE hold enough oomph to justify the price or will DOGE drop back to where it was changing hands prior to the rally – below $0.008?

    2. Ripple (XRP)

    XRP is a cryptocurrency that was launched in 2012 by Chris Larsen, Jed McCaleb and Arthur Britto. Ripple’s network uses a unique consensus protocol, which is neither proof-of-work nor proof-of-stake to facilitate very fast and cheap transactions. The maximum supply of XRP is 100 billion coins, which were all created at launch. At launch 80% of the total XRP supply was given to fintech firm Opencoin, a company that was later renamed to Ripple Labs in 2015. As of today, Ripple still holds more than half of the total XRP supply. However, most of the company’s XRP holdings are locked in escrow and can only be accessed periodically.

    Buy/Sell XRP

    WallStreetBets Causes 60% XRP price increase amidst turmoil with the SEC

    Ripple has recently found itself amidst a legal war with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  The SEC officially revealed that they filed a lawsuit alleging that Ripple, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse and its executive chairman Chris Larsen raised $1.3 billion through the sale of unregistered securities Ripple, on December 22, 2020. The filing triggered a massive sell-off of XRP, which was additionally amplified by the fact that many exchanges, including Coinbase, Binance.US, Bitstamp, Crypto.com, Bittrex and OKCoin announced the delisting and halt of XRP trading. Affected by the restricted trading on exchanges and the uncertainty surrounding the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit, the price of XRP stayed below $0.30 for most of the time. However, on January 30, Reddit investors got involved. Much like it was the case with DOGE, the r/Wallstreetbets cryptocurrency-focused off-shoot r/Satoshistreetbets started promoting XRP. The subreddit was apparently very successful with its pump, as XRP ended the day 60% higher, making XRP the best performing asset of the day by far. XRP rose from $0.28 to a peak at $0.51 before profit selling pulled the price back to $0.41. However, the coin has since almost doubled its value, reaching a high of almost $0.75, before it dropped back to around $0.40. XRP is currently changing hands at around $0.365 and is still up by 35% compared to 7 days ago.

    In addition, the legal battle with the SEC has entered a new chapter, as Ripple filed its official answer on January 29.  Stu Alderoty, the General Counsel at Ripple, shared the summary of the company’s preliminary response on Ripple’s official blog. At multiple points in the documents, Ripple aims to debunk SEC’s claims that XRP is an unregistered security. The “Answer” explains that there was no “investment contract” with the XRP holders whatsoever and tries to prove that XRP is solely a virtual currency and thus, outside the SEC’s jurisdiction. In addition, Ripple never held an ICO or offered future tokens to raise money. Holding XRP also does not entitle the holders to a portion of Ripple’s revenue or profits.

    3. Alpha Finance (ALPHA)

    Alpha Finance Lab is a researching and innovation-focused blockchain project that works on the frontiers of the decentralized finance space. The main goal of the project is to fill in the market gaps in the DeFi section with a simple yet novel solutions.

    Buy/Sell ALPHA

    Alpha Honora V2 Is Live

    The Alpha Finance team have recently announced that Alpha Honora V2 was set to launch on February 1. The upgraded version of the Alpha protocol, which is already live, features an integration with leading DeFi protocols including Uniswap, SushiSwap, Balancer, Curve Finance, and Cream Finance. Consequently, users will be able to lend ETH (ibETHv2), USDT (ibUSDTv2), USDC (ibUSDCv2), and DAI (ibDAIv2). In addition, Alpha Honora V2 supports leveraged pools such as the Curve’s 3pool allowing CRV farming with leverage on USDT/USDC/DAI, Balancer’s PERP/USDC pool enabling PERP farming with leverage on USDC, SushiSwap’s SUSHI/ETH pool enabling SHUSHI farming with leverage on ETH, and Uniswap’s UNI /ETH pool with leverage on ETH. To celebrate the launch of the upgrade a meme competition with rich rewards was set in place. All the details about the launch can be accessed here.

    In the expectation of the V2 launch, ALPHA soared towards its new all-time high price of $2.36, achieved on January 30. It will definitely be interesting to see how it will the platform’s native cryptocurrency will perform in future weeks. ALPHA is currently changing hands at $2.03, with support levels lying at $2.02, $1.90 and $1.80.

  • Algorand is Expanding the Creation of Blockchain-Based Innovations With new Capabilities

    Algorand is Expanding the Creation of Blockchain-Based Innovations With new Capabilities

    Blockchain technology has gained substantial attention over the last few years as its use cases continue to emerge. Various institutions and business organisations are interested in integrating this technology in their operations to benefit from its efficiency, cost effectiveness and improved performance. The crypto community insiders even consider this breakthrough to be the panacea for humanity’s problem whether financial, political, or environmental.

    But, the technology’s limitations have been laid bare in the past couple of years as more people, projects and organisations experiment with the existing blockchains. These shortcomings often referred to as the blockchain trilemma have made the adoption of the technology across various sectors difficult. This is because the consensus mechanism used by various blockchain cannot provide the necessary security, scalability and decentralisation to support its adoption across various mainstream institutions.

    However, this should not be a problem any longer as Algorand has developed a highly innovative blockchain that effectively tackles the trilemma and introduces new inventions that greatly extend the technology’s applicability across multiple sectors.

    Algorand blockchain

    Algorand has built and developed the world’s first open, permissionless, pure proof-of-stake blockchain protocol that, without forking, provides the necessary security, scalability, and decentralization needed for today’s economy. The protocol enables interested parties to create decentralised layer 1 applications directly on Algorand through the power of smart contracts. This grants them the same speed, scale, finality and security as the Algorand blockchain itself.

    The Algorand blockchain has a sophisticated and robust network architecture that is ideally designed to extend its application across multiple sectors like finance, governance, ecommerce, and gaming among many others.

    Among these use cases, advancing finance is the immediate focus of Algorand’s award-winning Algorand team. They are keen to use this ground-breaking blockchain to facilitate frictionless finance for both legacy and decentralised financial businesses. Algorand blockchain is specifically designed to support the creation of financial instruments and other tools that make capital more accessible across the globe.

    The team recently affirmed their dedication to enabling frictionless finance with the launch of Algorand 2.0. This upgrade further advanced the protocol’s technology and introduced these new features to pave the way for the development of sophisticated applications:

    • Smart contracts – Comprehensive smart contract capabilities enable DeFi solutions and dApps that can scale to billions of users, tens of millions of daily transactions, with negligible transaction fees
    • ASA – Algorand Standard Assets are standard blockchain assets with customizable options, directly in Layer-1
    • Atomic transfers – Secure transfers and immediate transaction settlement for multiparty transactions built in Layer-1

    These new inventions will, individually or combined, expand Algorand’s applicability in different economic sectors that will further push the technology towards mass adoption.

    Algorand partnerships 

    Algorand’s breakthrough creation has blown a breath of fresh air into the crypto space that has reignited the flames of disruption, shining a light on the technology’s limitless possibilities. Crypto insiders and outsiders have all taken note of these developments, spurring an interest in this new blockchain. This has spiralled into some high-level partnerships with the likes of Tether, USDC and the Marshall Island government.

    Tether (USDT) became the first stablecoin to go live on Algorand following the platform’s partnership with the blockchain company on Feb. 10, 2020. The launch brought new capabilities to Tether users in the form of instant confirmations, micro payments and automatic wallet support.

    On Sept. 9 2020, blockchain consortium, Centre announced that Algorand will begin supporting their stablecoin, USDC, through their newly formed partnership. This made Algorand only the second blockchain to support USDC, after Ethereum, and it is with good reason. It enables users to transfer the stablecoin faster and cheaply at over 1,000 TPS and 1/20th of a cent.

    The blockchain entered into perhaps one of its greatest partnerships on March 2, 2020 following an announcement that the Marshall Island government had chosen Algorand as the platform on which they would develop their CBDC named SOV. SFB Technologies, the company contracted by the Marshallese government to create the SOV cited Algorand’s speed, scalability and security as the reasons behind their choice.

    Besides these, Algorand has an impressive list of high-profile partnerships that include IDEX, World Chess, Society of Authors and Publishers (SIAE), the International Blockchain Monetary Reserve (IBMR), AssetBlock, and CERN among others.

    ALGO price performance 

    Algorand’s recent developments have had a similarly positive impact on the market. ALGO, the blockchain’s native token, has performed remarkably well over the past few months reaching a new high of $0.62 in over a year.

    ALGO is currently trading at around $0.55, a 18% weekly growth.

    ALGO’s price is currently on an upward momentum having hovered around the $0.2 level for a long time, since Oct. 2019. The token experienced a brief price surge in Aug. 2020 that was quickly corrected back to the $0.2 region. This setback provided the foundation for the current rally that began towards the end of 2020. This is properly indicated by an approximate price increase of 130% over the past 90 days, 67% in the last 30 days and 18% a week-to-date.

    Put into context, ALGO is on a sustained bull run as its price has risen by about 136% year-to-date.

    To sustain this momentum, ALGO needs to stay above the critical support level of $0.5. A decline below this level could signify a trend reversal while a surge beyond $0.6 is an encouraging bullish sign. Therefore, traders should watch out for its key resistance levels at $0.40, $0.60, $0.65, and $0.70.

    Looking forward, the market is exhibiting generally positive sentiments about Algorand as they await to see the direction that this blockchain takes. As the protocol’s use cases continue to grow and with new partnerships on the horizon, ALGO has the potential to break out past its current resistance levels and even set a new all-time-high price.

  • Alphabit Digital Currency Fund Deploys Initial Investment into Stratis Protocol and Initiates Coverage

    Alphabit Digital Currency Fund Deploys Initial Investment into Stratis Protocol and Initiates Coverage

    Bitcoin Press Release: Stratis’ innovative blockchain solutions have attracted the attention of the digital asset investment fund, Alphabit, who have injected an initial investment while commiting to a further 7 figure investment over the next 24 months for growth and development of the BaaS ecosystem.

    1st February 2020, London, United Kingdom: Blockchain as a Solution (BaaS) service provider Stratis makes decentralized adoption easier for any firm with its innovative products designed to fit seamlessly with legacy operations, by allowing companies access to the Stratis blockchain via the widely-used C# programming language. The platform allows seamless running of smart contracts, multiple sidechains, and houses a full-scale ICO platform.

    Alphabit, A billion USD AUM fund and one of the world’s first regulated digital asset investment funds focused on delivering turn-key solutions and assisting projects with end-to-end partnerships, enters into this venture to rapidly scale Stratis’ development and help deploy cutting edge products that allow mainstream organizations to use blockchain in their day to day operations. The significant commitment by Alphabit is a testament to the groundbreaking approach of Stratis’ offerings.

    CEO of Alphabit Liam Robertson commented on the partnership: 

    “Stratis Protocol, after analysis, fits neatly into our investment thesis and we believe the potential for growth for Stratis to be exponential. We are delighted to welcome Stratis into our portfolio and look forward to supporting them over the coming months and years.”

    Stratis CEO Chris Trew said the following: 

    “We are thrilled  to partner with Alphabit, one of the world’s first regulated digital asset investment funds. Alphabits initial injection, in conjunction with their further investment commitment, will unquestionably assist in accelerating the adoption of Stratis Technologies, while cementing Stratis as the go-to platform for Microsoft .NET Blockchain development.”

    With the expertise and backing of Alphabit, Stratis will be empowered to develop ever-better solutions for the b2b market. Coupled with their C# support, Stratis’ solutions will increase the onboarding of blockchain solutions in the global market.

    About Stratis

    Stratis offers unprecedented levels of security, reliability and performance through leveraging blockchain. First of its kind, the platform’s native C# ecosystem enables firms all over the world use their existing IT infrastructure and tools to adopt the technology by providing access to the Stratis blockchain’s features, in a language which is familiar to the everyday developer.

    • Stratis Identity: A decentralized KYC and AML check to make it easier for businesses to verify client identities and comply with regulations.
    • Supply Trust: A turnkey solution for supply chain management, providing full visibility in a trustless and decentralized environment.
    • STO Platform: Regulation-compliant digital securities for businesses launching STO’s
    • Stratis Smart Contracts: Secure and auditable digital contracts that are developed in the industry-standard Microsoft C# language, fit for the DeFi age.

    About Alphabit

    Alphabit specializes in investments in blockchain and distributed ledger technology projects. They offer a wide range of advisory services and act as the Investment Advisor to the Alphabit Fund; one of the world’s first regulated digital asset investment funds. 

    Their goal is to share their expertise with promising projects and advance the cryptocurrency movement as a whole, and to date, Alphabit has successfully brought to market projects like Metal Pay, The Sun Exchange, and Suterusu.

    To find out more about how Stratis is bringing the next generation of blockchain to businesses, visit their website, or to see how Alphabit is empowering Blockchain businesses to reach new heights, visit their website.

    Follow Stratis on Twitter – https://twitter.com/stratisplatform
    Join the Stratis Developer Academy – https://academy.stratisplatform.com/
    Check out Stratis on GitHub – https://github.com/stratisproject
    Read the latest Stratis news – https://www.stratisplatform.com/news/

    Media Contact Details
    Contact Name: Bitcoin PR Buzz Press Team
    Contact Email: press@bitcoinprbuzz.com

    About Bitcoin PR Buzz: Bitcoin PR Buzz has been proudly serving the crypto press release distribution needs of blockchain start-ups for over 8 years. Get your Bitcoin Press Release Distribution today.

  • How to Start Investing in Cryptocurrencies?

    How to Start Investing in Cryptocurrencies?

    Feeling comfortable with making a Bitcoin or altcoin purchase, setting up a cryptocurrency wallet, and even finding trustworthy information can seem like a high barrier to overcome when first starting out. Keep in mind that every person involved with crypto was at one point in a similar position – a novice looking to improve his or her knowledge.

    We’ve put together a list of useful tips to make your first foray into the cryptocurrency space as easy as possible.

    Understanding the cryptocurrency basics

    Perhaps the best thing to do, even before investing any money, is to get familiar with basic terminology and concepts that underpin the crypto ecosystem. Understanding terms like blockchain technology, cryptocurrency mining, decentralized finance (DeFi), altcoin, and stablecoin is a good starting point to get accustomed to the way digital currencies work.

    Check our cryptocurrency FAQ at the bottom of our homepage for easy to understand and concise definitions of these terms. Head to the Crytpo Questions section for access to more detailed descriptions, ordered by a number of different categories and question tags.

    Stay up to date with the latest news

    You should try to find credible news sources that you can trust to be objective and that are updated frequently. You don’t want to make rash, uninformed decisions, like buying a random coin you actually know nothing about just because you fear missing out on potential gains.

    At CoinCheckup you will find up to date news for major cryptocurrency-related events, useful articles and guides that will help you on your crypto journey. Other major crypto portals, such as CoinCodex, CoinDesk, and Cointelegraph are also great sources of information. Additionally, there are many reputable Twitter commenters and Youtube channels that provide useful information. 

    Whichever source of information you prefer keep in mind that things in the cryptocurrency space change on a daily basis so try making a routine out of checking different news sources. 

    Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or on any other major social media platform for easy access to up to date news in the world of crypto.

    Making your very first investment

    The best and easiest way to get exposure to the crypto market is to buy some Bitcoin. The amount can be very small, just a couple of dollars are enough to make a purchase and get familiar with how things actually work in practice. Let the steps below guide you through the process:

    1. Pick an exchange – Coinbase, Gemini, Bittrex, Bitfinex are some of the most popular crypto exchanges on the market. Each of the exchanges we have listed offers the ability to buy Bitcoin. The exchange platforms vary greatly in terms of features and in the selection of coins they offer. Coinbase is a great pick for beginners, with its combination of a straightforward user interface and the selection of most popular cryptos. 
    1. Buy some Bitcoin – Owning Bitcoin is a great place to start your crypto journey. Firstly, you will get to experience how buying cryptocurrencies work in practice. Secondly, Bitcoin provides an easy transition towards buying so-called altcoins, such as Ethereum or Litecoin.

    Check our step-by-step guide on how to buy Bitcoin on Coinbase for further assistance.

    1. Setting up a crypto wallet – Leaving your crypto holdings on an exchange is not advised. Making use of a software crypto wallet (or hardware variant, if you are looking for maximum security) should be your top priority as wallets provide an extra layer of security for your digital assets. 

    Check our top recommendations for the best crypto wallet in 2021 to find the one that best suits your needs.

    Pick the right investing strategy for you

    There are many viable strategies for investing in crypto. Since each person has his or her own goals when it comes to crypto investing, there are many different but still viable approaches to choose from. Below you will find the most common investing tactics, their descriptions, and recommendations based on your experience level:

    • Buy and hold – Perhaps the most popular and probably the easiest to employ is the so-called “buy and hold” strategy. It basically means that you buy an asset believing that it has great potential for long-term gains; in other words “time in the market” beats “timing the market”. People opting for this strategy don’t trouble themselves with short term price volatility and instead choose to hold to an asset for years, sometimes even decades. It is the best strategy for newcomers.
    • Dollar-cost average – Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) is another strategy that is perfectly suited for newcomers, but widely used even among more experienced investors. It is yet another approach to mitigate the effects of short-term price swings. Instead of investing your funds all at once and trying to find the perfect time to buy an asset, you divide the total investment amount into smaller pieces and make periodical purchases of a target asset in an effort to reduce the impact of short-term volatility.
    • Day trading – Once you acquire the required experience and get more comfortable with making trades, you can try to execute shorter-term intraday strategies to profit off of price changes of a given crypto asset. To become a successful day trader, you need not only to poses a deep understanding of technical analysis, which allows you to spot market inefficiencies, but also a great deal of self-discipline and objectivity.
    • Leverage trading – The last investing strategy on our list has by far the highest risk to reward ratio. It allows investors to gain more exposure to market assets via credit provided by a broker at a premium of leverage fees and liquidation risks. It is absolutely not recommended to beginners. However, leverage trading can be a very lucrative strategy for experienced investors who can withstand the high degree of volatility that is associated with it.

    Be comfortable with taking calculated risks

    Cryptocurrency space is still relatively new and thus prone to quick changes. Because of this fact, savvy investors have the opportunity to make highly profitable trades and to participate in creating a new currency system. On the other hand, there is a higher degree of risk associated with cryptocurrency investing than in traditional markets, since the swings are bigger and especially long-term predictions harder to make. 

    No matter how diligent you are in your research it is pretty much a guarantee that you will make mistakes along the way, either by missing on a great opportunity or investing in a project that will ultimately not pan out as you had hoped it will. Don’t view crypto as a get-rich-quick scheme, instead, try to make calculated moves, don’t invest more than you are comfortable losing and remember to have fun along the way.

  • ROFX Review: The Automated Trading Robot for Regular Profits

    ROFX Review: The Automated Trading Robot for Regular Profits

    Introducing RoFx

    Developed by experts, RoFx was introduced in 2009 as a robot which would help in making profits and generating passive income. Ever since its launch, the robot has never failed to deliver profits as per the expectation of the users. The robot has offered 10% monthly returns on an average ever since its launch. The robot uses the original investments and aims to offer a stable passive income source. Traders are assured of complete transparency when using the robot.

    RoFx is also referred as Expert Advisor and works mainly on the basis of artificial intelligence. The developers mention that the software offers low drawdown rate and aims to compensate users for losses. This is done mainly by utilizing the reserve fund of the company. We decided to investigate a bit further when we came across so many positive reviews which RoFx has managed to gather in the past few months.

    So, first let us understand what automated forex trading is?

    As evident by the name, it is about using forex robots or EAs for trading a specific pair of currency. Now, this can include copy/social trading and trading signals. Any trading robot is developed in a special way. It can carry out trading decisions independently on the behalf of the trader. This robot can also work as an indicator which points out to the user when to buy or sell a product. Majority of developers mention and advertise that their specific robot will bring in unusual trading success. However, this is far from reality and does not usually happen. Most EA’s we come across these days are not successful. There are several reasons for this – one reason being that the market situation can change anytime. It also indicates that any specific EA might have performed well under some conditions, but in another condition, it may not perform that well.

    How does RoFx work?

    Any EA is generally installed with the MT’s expert’s directory. It works on the basis of a set algorithm. This trading software usually closes or opens trades automatically which are based on some set inputs. There are a few demo accounts, which have a back-testing feature that can simply evaluate if an EA is profitable or it is not.

    Forex Robots and Scams – The Association?

    With the popularity of forex trading, scams are getting quite common as well. Scammers come in disguise to dupe the traders in the form of forex robots. They come with some unusual ‘get rich schemes’ or offer opportunities like ‘earn big money without working’. These offers are quite enticing for traders who wish to get rich in a short time. It is seen that amateur and novice traders usually fall prey to such scams. In fact, it is seen that there are also some software which are advertised in a way to assure traders that their money is in safe hands. The truth is that most such robots or software is fake and might be capable of generating just 10% profit. Most of these robots are extremely poorly managed automated trading systems which do not consider many things, which includes the changes in market conditions.

    What are the benefits of using automated forex trading robots?

    • They are a good source of passive income generation.
    • With robots, there is no influence of emotional trading
    • Ensures better risk management. There are many EA’s which allow users to make changes in settings for take-profit orders or stop-loss.
    • They help in quick backtesting. It takes just a few minutes or seconds to get results.
    • The robot does all work for the user. Thus, there is no specific time requirement.
    • There is no need for additional expertise or knowledge to use the robot. The EA does it all.

    Disadvantages of Automated Forex Trading:

    • The majority of robots do not consider political and economic news.
    • There is a negative effect on trading when there is internet connectivity failure.
    • There are many EA’s which function without a stop-loss. This can put the trader’s account at risk.

    How Legitimate is RoFx

    RoFx is a Fintech Company and has offices in the UK, Hongkong and US. Anyone is free to visit their headquarters located in the UK. This can be done by just making an appointment in advance. There is also an annual conference and the company invites several VIP clients.

    RoFx does not need any financial regulation as it is a software company engaged in the development of AI. It has links with some of the top brokers of America, Europe and Asia which does testify its legitimacy.

    RoFX and Other Trading EA’s – Understand the Primary Differences

    If you consider RoFx with others, you will realize that it has an automated approach. Traders have to deposit their money and sit back. The robot does the rest. Money can be deposited in the Euro, USA or Bitcoin. RoFx also does not require a long installation process.

    • Continuously Updated Trading – RoFx uses superior technology for trading which has been continuously updated and modified in the last 10 years. The robot takes help from a neural network which helps this software in adjusting according to conditions of the market. There is continuous scanning of charts to understand the changing market conditions. It is a completely automated trading process which requires little cash and an internet connection.
    • Easy to Use Service – Traders can access the services from the website. There are many interesting packages. The base package offers 50% daily profit. This might increase to 95% as the trader increases the investment.
    • Past Performances – Over the last 10 years, RoFx has accumulated impressive track records. It is proof that the robot performs quite consistently. Total transparency is assured on the website as the traders get an overview of their trading activities which include daily profits & monthly gains. The statistics are all verified through MyFxBook.
    • Efficient Customer Support – The customer support team offers convenient and instant services. They are reachable and offer solutions. This kind of service is mostly absent from other services which include GPS and Odin.
    • Risk-Free – When anyone chooses to invest in RoFx, it is totally risk-free. The chances of losing money are less as well. You can easily find their monthly analytics at myfxbook. Here you will find the algorithm of the robot in the past few years. The robot did not incur any loss and even if it incurs losses, it will be compensated by the reserve fund. There is a stop loss system and no leverage trading involved.

    Some other details about RoFx

    This is an automated software & does not need download. You simply must visit the website & register. To get started, you can fund the account. The minimum amount needed is $1000. The profit calculator is available which helps in determining the gains you will receive.

    Several easy methods of withdrawal are available. The minimum withdrawal is $1000 cash. Those who wish to withdraw an amount that is lower than this, can use Bitcoin and use the ‘exchange’ option. No withdrawal fees are charged by RoFx. When any user withdraws after the expiry of the package, a commission is charged by the bank. There are multiple deposit options available for users which include bank transfers, credit cards and Bitcoin.

    Conclusion

    There are several trading robots these days and each promise to perform well. However, when it is for an extended time, most of them do not perform. There are many robots that advertise that they offer 200% gains and attract amateur and local traders. RoFx has a user-friendly and straightforward approach. It offers a growth of up to 10% monthly and traders are quite happy with it.

    OP-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. CoinCheckup does not endorse nor support views, opinions or conclusions drawn in this post and we are not responsible or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the article or for any damage or loss to be caused by and in connection to it.


  • Optimistic Rollups for Ethereum Scaling have been Unveiled by Cartesi

    Optimistic Rollups for Ethereum Scaling have been Unveiled by Cartesi

    Some exciting news has just come onto the blockchain marketplace about Cartesei and their new optimistic roll ups and how they impact Ethereum scaling. The great thing about these rollup solutions is they have gone through a rigorous process of assessment and are now even thankfully endorsed by Vitalik himself, one of the founders of the Ethereum blockchain protocol.

    About Cartesi

    Founded in 2018 by Erick de Moura, Augusto Teixeira, Diego Nehab and Colin Steil, Cartesi has seen a monumental rise in its popularity and is now ranked in the top 600 cryptocurrencies in the world. It is expected however that in the weeks and months following this announcement that the price of the asset will rise well into the higher market capitalisation levels.

    Cartesi is special in the blockchain universe because it allows decentralized applications to run within a Linux environment. Complex processing can therefore be implemented outside of the blockchain environment. The result of this is there are no restrictions based on computational limits of blockchain and the transactional costs can also be avoided. Cartesi is chain-agnostic which means it isn’t linked to only one particular blockchain protocol and therefore developers don’t need to worry about a particular blockchain surviving in the long run when using Cartesi.

    Cartesi has the vision of making decentralised app development easy, scalable, and cost-efficient. The company plans to achieve this by incorporating tools developers already use into its structure as these tools have evolved over the past 30 years and are therefore more efficient than newly developed tools as they are already fit for purpose. Cartesi is all about broader blockchain adoption and it is aiming to make decentralised apps just as prominent in the marketplace as conventional applications.

    Cartesi has solved the urgent Ethereum scalability problem and huge fees by implementing an optimistic rollups variant.

    Optimistic Rollups for Etherum

    Cartesi is essentially a layer two project that runs on Ethereum at this time. The company has just announced their optimistic rollups for the Ethereum side chain and blockchain which aims to drive the cost of interacting with the Ethereum network way down. This is great news for blockchain enthusiasts and Etherum enthusiasts as it makes the entire blockchain ecosystem more accessible to the masses. The optimistic roll ups that have been designed by Cartesi will highly substantially lower fees by amounts unthought of before. Along with this the optimistic rollups will also take computational demands on the blockchain off chain which means that the speed of the blockchain should be substantially improved.

    Cartesi is using this release as a follow up to one of their earlier releases, Cartesi Machine. This is a viral machine that is completely unique as it allows Ethereum smart contracts to run their heavy and computationally intensive programs on a Linux server. Optimistic roll ups are just the second wave intended to speed up the process of running computationally intensive software on the Ethereum blockchain.

    Cartesi CEO Erick de Moura said:

    “Optimistic rollups represent more than just an incremental improvement to decentralized applications. They are a vital step toward the maturity of the whole blockchain ecosystem. Allowing mainstream programmability means that DApp developers have an entirely new expressive power to create from smart contracts.

    The availability of optimistic roll ups also opens the door for extensive adoption by regular developers who have never programmed for blockchain, who can now create decentralized applications with a coding experience similar to desktop or web.”

    Ethereum’s congestion has reached an all time high and as a result the fees have spiralled out of control in recent months and years. Optimistic rollups offer a solution to these by promoting decentralised finance projects that may have layer two scalability options. These layer two projects could potentially result in layer one ramifications of speed and scalability that was considered impossible prior to exploring that possibility. 

    Summing up their contributions

    After this news this company is definitely one to watch in the future. If they can do this for the Ethereum network who knows what they will be able to do for other protocols and for the blockchain ecosystem as a whole.

    We need more companies like Cartesi to start tackling the challenges of scalability as the only way blockchain as a whole will gain a sustainable competitive advantage over fiat currency is if we can address the issues currently permuting the entire blockchain industry. These issues are mainly around speed and cost and thankfully cost and speed have both been addressed here by Cartesi.

    Furthermore this news story highlights how important it may be to start looking to level two side chains and companies in the Ethereum ecosystem to find the solutions to existing problems of scalability.

  • 27th January: BTC/USD Breaks below 31,000, ETH/USD Dips below 1,300

    27th January: BTC/USD Breaks below 31,000, ETH/USD Dips below 1,300

    Konstantin Anissimov, Executive Director at CEX.IO

    BTC/USD

    BTC/USD began the trading session of 27th January, Wednesday, at 32,501 as per the exchange rate on CEX.IO. From the day’s start the pair began slipping down with a determination to break down below the 2.618 Fibonacci retracement level positioned at 31,000. The pair was trending down in a steadily going downside move with two flag formations clearly visible on the 15-minute timeframe between 06:00 and 08:00 UTC and between 09:00 and 11:00 UTC.

    BTC/USD was starting the 11th hourly candlestick of the day at 31,556 and was in a good position for a attacking the 2.618 Fibonacci retracement level, which it successfully did, closing the hourly candlestick at 30,724 on the 4-hour timeframe as well. The move was the second successful breakdown since 21st January, but this time there was no hammer on the 4-hour timeframe to pull the price back, and it was starting to look like a proper breakdown that would not be retraced.

    Between 12:00 and 13:00 UTC, the BTC/USD trading pair edged a few paces up at the close of the hourly candlestick but remained well under 31,000 at the close. At 13:00 UTC, the pair continued the downswing with another bearish candlestick and fell once more in the hour between 14:00 and 15:00 UTC to 29,600, with the lower wick touching the 50-day SMA for the first time since 9th October 2020. The subsequent bounce took it up to 30,654 with the upper wick reaching up to 31,000. After that another downswing drove the pair below 30,000 and to a close of 29,750 between 18:00 and 19:00 UTC.

    The breakdown below 31,000 is an important and highly anticipated stepping stone to lower price regions and a continuation of this downside corrective move. It opens the path to the region of 18,500 –20,500, where big buying volumes will be concentrated by the time the BTC/USD trading pair reaches that price range.

    Presently, with the breakdown below 31,000 we are eligible to expect further downside dynamics until the specified price levels. But those might be expected to be attained in a somewhat medium term of up to six months. And, speaking of a less distant future, we expect the price to capitalise at 29,500 by the end of the week of 25th January.

    ETH/USD

    ETH/USD opened the trading session of 27th January at 1,367.3 as per the exchange rate on CEX.IO. The pair instantly began trending down, finding a resting point at 1,300 at 03:00 UTC. The pair moved sideways in the next couple hours and fell to 1,288 between 05:00 and 06:00 UTC. After a couple hours of sideways fluctuations between 06:00 and 08:00 UTC, ETH/USD took another dive to 1,261.3.

    Another two bullish hourly candlesticks between 09:00 and 11:00 UTC made up a little flag formation before another dive to 1,222 took place between 11:00 and 15:00 UTC. A sharp spike that happened in the next hours retraced the losses of the four previous hours, but another downswing between 16:00 and 19:00 UTC took ETH/USD to 1,230. Between 19:00 and 20:00 UTC the pared some of the losses, closing the hourly candlestick at 1,266.3.

    The ETH/USD uptrend is getting weaker, with the new high of 25th October just an inch above the previous one. If these dynamics continue, presently going uptrend may be halted by a flat trend for a couple of weeks. Presently, an intraday downswing to 1,165 looks to be a likely target level for the rest of the week of 25th January, which can then be a local turning point to send the ETH/USD trading pair higher, which will be a clear indication of a beginning flat trend.