Cryptocurrency news
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The value of bitcoin continues to hover above $8,000 after last week's dramatic price surge, which saw the world's most valuable cryptocurrency gain more than $1,000 in the space of an hour. Now Bitcoin is on the track and it is at $8332 with 1.57% gain.
This feels different than the previous 4-5 weeks of bouncing around the $8K mark. The weekend is almost upon us. Will markets see these moves as strength pulling more buyers in? Or will we get a Friday night dump from those taking gains out?
Stay tuned.
Alice Walker
Contributor
CRYPTO HEADLINES — April 20, 2018
1. Bitcoin Is About to Have Its First Back-to-Back Weekly Gain in 2018
Bitcoin bulls are celebrating the virtues of the biggest cryptocurrency again. The digital coin gained as much as 4 percent Friday, putting it on pace for its first back-to-back week of gains this year. The mini-rally is helping to ease the pain from the more than 50 percent loss in the first quarter that followed last year’s 1,400 percent surge. Read more at Bloomberg.
2. Bitcoin Cash is soaring as traders ready for another hard fork
Bitcoin cash was up more than 10% Friday, continuing its outperformance of other major cryptocurrencies, as a competing hard fork approaches on May 15. The fourth-largest cryptocurrency, which split from bitcoin in a similar hard fork in 2017, is now up more than 30% in the past week. Bitcoin, by comparison, is up 5% over that time. Read more at BusinessInsider.
3. South Korean Crypto Exchange Bithumb To Issue Own Token In Singapore
Bithumb, South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, has recently revealed plans to issue its own token, Bithumb Coin, in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). According to a report, the Bithumb token sale will be conducted in Singapore since ICOs are banned in South Korea. Read more at CoinTelegraph.
1. Bitcoin Is About to Have Its First Back-to-Back Weekly Gain in 2018
Bitcoin bulls are celebrating the virtues of the biggest cryptocurrency again. The digital coin gained as much as 4 percent Friday, putting it on pace for its first back-to-back week of gains this year. The mini-rally is helping to ease the pain from the more than 50 percent loss in the first quarter that followed last year’s 1,400 percent surge. Read more at Bloomberg.
2. Bitcoin Cash is soaring as traders ready for another hard fork
Bitcoin cash was up more than 10% Friday, continuing its outperformance of other major cryptocurrencies, as a competing hard fork approaches on May 15. The fourth-largest cryptocurrency, which split from bitcoin in a similar hard fork in 2017, is now up more than 30% in the past week. Bitcoin, by comparison, is up 5% over that time. Read more at BusinessInsider.
3. South Korean Crypto Exchange Bithumb To Issue Own Token In Singapore
Bithumb, South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, has recently revealed plans to issue its own token, Bithumb Coin, in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). According to a report, the Bithumb token sale will be conducted in Singapore since ICOs are banned in South Korea. Read more at CoinTelegraph.
On April 22nd-2018
Over the past seven days, the cryptocurrency market has increased in value from $324 billion to $385 billion, as the bitcoin price increased from $8,000 to $8,800 and other major cryptocurrencies also recorded gains in the 10 to 20 percent range.
Over the past seven days, the cryptocurrency market has increased in value from $324 billion to $385 billion, as the bitcoin price increased from $8,000 to $8,800 and other major cryptocurrencies also recorded gains in the 10 to 20 percent range.
Alice Walker
Contributor
CRYPTO HEADLINES — April 21, 2018
1. Bitcoin Price is Up 13.6% Since Tax Season Came to an End
Bitcoin is performing well in the market today as it tests the $9,000. The newfound bullish momentum is not a surprise for Fundstrat Global Advisors analyst Tom Lee, who said that tax filings were bringing the cryptocurrency market down and ‘Tax Day’ would eventually trigger an upside move for the bitcoin price. The bitcoin price has been steadily rising since April 12 after being buoyed at the $6,500-$7,000 range. Read more at NewsBTC.
2. Stellar Run: XLM, IOTA, ADA Spike in Good Week for Altcoins
Alternative cryptocurrencies shone bright this week, as the wider cryptocurrency market saw continued resurgence. The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies rose 25 percent week-on-week to $375 billion, according to CoinMarketCap — that’s up from below $250 billion just 10 days ago. Read more at CoinDesk.
3. Amazon Web Services Releases Blockchain Frameworks For Ethereum And Hyperledger Fabric
Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform has recently introduced its Blockchain framework for Ethereum (ETH) and Hyperledger Fabric allowing users to build and manage their own Blockchain-powered decentralized applications (DApps), AWS announced in a blog post Thursday, April 19. According to the statement, users will be able to create their own Blockchain applications via the AWS CloudFormation Templates tool to avoid the time-consuming manual setup of their Blockchain network. Read more at CoinTelegraph.
1. Bitcoin Price is Up 13.6% Since Tax Season Came to an End
Bitcoin is performing well in the market today as it tests the $9,000. The newfound bullish momentum is not a surprise for Fundstrat Global Advisors analyst Tom Lee, who said that tax filings were bringing the cryptocurrency market down and ‘Tax Day’ would eventually trigger an upside move for the bitcoin price. The bitcoin price has been steadily rising since April 12 after being buoyed at the $6,500-$7,000 range. Read more at NewsBTC.
2. Stellar Run: XLM, IOTA, ADA Spike in Good Week for Altcoins
Alternative cryptocurrencies shone bright this week, as the wider cryptocurrency market saw continued resurgence. The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies rose 25 percent week-on-week to $375 billion, according to CoinMarketCap — that’s up from below $250 billion just 10 days ago. Read more at CoinDesk.
3. Amazon Web Services Releases Blockchain Frameworks For Ethereum And Hyperledger Fabric
Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform has recently introduced its Blockchain framework for Ethereum (ETH) and Hyperledger Fabric allowing users to build and manage their own Blockchain-powered decentralized applications (DApps), AWS announced in a blog post Thursday, April 19. According to the statement, users will be able to create their own Blockchain applications via the AWS CloudFormation Templates tool to avoid the time-consuming manual setup of their Blockchain network. Read more at CoinTelegraph.
Tradebull coin
Contributor
If you’re looking for a secure platform then Tradebull is the place. A pioneer in hybrid exchange, it facilitates secure transactions through web wallet. It also uses two factor authentication and records digital signatures
of traders and investors. The Pre-ICO launch is on May 3, 2018. Tradebull is expecting to attract 1000 brokers by the end of 2019
of traders and investors. The Pre-ICO launch is on May 3, 2018. Tradebull is expecting to attract 1000 brokers by the end of 2019
Alice Walker
Contributor
CRYPTO HEADLINES — April 23, 2018
1. Iran bans banks from cryptocurrency trading
Iran is following in the footsteps of China and South Korea, announcing a ban from its central bank on the trading and promoting of cryptocurrencies. As reported by Reuters, Iranian state news agency IRNA issued a statement on Sunday claiming that banks, credit institutions and currency exchanges “should avoid any sale or purchase of these currencies or taking any action to promote them”. Read more at Alphr.
2. Early investor in Tesla, Skype and Hotmail says bitcoin will be bigger than all those combined
Venture capitalist Tim Draper says bitcoin will be bigger than his early investments Tesla, Hotmail, and Skype combined. “This is bigger than the internet. It’s bigger than the Iron Age, the Renaissance. It’s bigger than the Industrial Revolution,” Draper said at Intelligence Squared U.S. debate presented in partnership with Manhattan Institute’s Adam Smith Society on Saturday. “This affects the entire world and it’s going to be affected in a faster and more prevalent way than you ever imagined.” — He said in an interview. Read more at CNBC.
3. Wikileaks Claims Coinbase Has Shut Down Its Online Store’s Bitcoin Account
Wikileaks’ official online merchandise store claims that its account with Coinbase has been suspended by the cryptocurrency exchange. Wikileaks, a leaked documents depository that was central to a long string of international scandals even before the 2016 presidential election, is now calling for a boycott of Coinbase. Read more at Fortune.
1. Iran bans banks from cryptocurrency trading
Iran is following in the footsteps of China and South Korea, announcing a ban from its central bank on the trading and promoting of cryptocurrencies. As reported by Reuters, Iranian state news agency IRNA issued a statement on Sunday claiming that banks, credit institutions and currency exchanges “should avoid any sale or purchase of these currencies or taking any action to promote them”. Read more at Alphr.
2. Early investor in Tesla, Skype and Hotmail says bitcoin will be bigger than all those combined
Venture capitalist Tim Draper says bitcoin will be bigger than his early investments Tesla, Hotmail, and Skype combined. “This is bigger than the internet. It’s bigger than the Iron Age, the Renaissance. It’s bigger than the Industrial Revolution,” Draper said at Intelligence Squared U.S. debate presented in partnership with Manhattan Institute’s Adam Smith Society on Saturday. “This affects the entire world and it’s going to be affected in a faster and more prevalent way than you ever imagined.” — He said in an interview. Read more at CNBC.
3. Wikileaks Claims Coinbase Has Shut Down Its Online Store’s Bitcoin Account
Wikileaks’ official online merchandise store claims that its account with Coinbase has been suspended by the cryptocurrency exchange. Wikileaks, a leaked documents depository that was central to a long string of international scandals even before the 2016 presidential election, is now calling for a boycott of Coinbase. Read more at Fortune.
Denise Gallegly
Contributor
CRYPTO HEADLINES — April 23, 2018
1. Iran bans banks from cryptocurrency trading
Iran is following in the footsteps of China and South Korea, announcing a ban from its central bank on the trading and promoting of cryptocurrencies. As reported by Reuters, Iranian state news agency IRNA issued a statement on Sunday claiming that banks, credit institutions and currency exchanges “should avoid any sale or purchase of these currencies or taking any action to promote them”. Read more at Alphr.
2. Early investor in Tesla, Skype and Hotmail says bitcoin will be bigger than all those combined
Venture capitalist Tim Draper says bitcoin will be bigger than his early investments Tesla, Hotmail, and Skype combined. “This is bigger than the internet. It’s bigger than the Iron Age, the Renaissance. It’s bigger than the Industrial Revolution,” Draper said at Intelligence Squared U.S. debate presented in partnership with Manhattan Institute’s Adam Smith Society on Saturday. “This affects the entire world and it’s going to be affected in a faster and more prevalent way than you ever imagined.” — He said in an interview. Read more at CNBC.
3. Wikileaks Claims Coin base Has Shut Down Its Online Store’s Bitcoin Account
Wikileaks’ official online merchandise store claims that its account with Coin base has been suspended by the Cryptocurrency exchange. Wikileaks, a leaked documents depository that was central to a long string of international scandals even before the 2016 presidential election, is now calling for a boycott of Coin base. Read more at Fortune.
1. Iran bans banks from cryptocurrency trading
Iran is following in the footsteps of China and South Korea, announcing a ban from its central bank on the trading and promoting of cryptocurrencies. As reported by Reuters, Iranian state news agency IRNA issued a statement on Sunday claiming that banks, credit institutions and currency exchanges “should avoid any sale or purchase of these currencies or taking any action to promote them”. Read more at Alphr.
2. Early investor in Tesla, Skype and Hotmail says bitcoin will be bigger than all those combined
Venture capitalist Tim Draper says bitcoin will be bigger than his early investments Tesla, Hotmail, and Skype combined. “This is bigger than the internet. It’s bigger than the Iron Age, the Renaissance. It’s bigger than the Industrial Revolution,” Draper said at Intelligence Squared U.S. debate presented in partnership with Manhattan Institute’s Adam Smith Society on Saturday. “This affects the entire world and it’s going to be affected in a faster and more prevalent way than you ever imagined.” — He said in an interview. Read more at CNBC.
3. Wikileaks Claims Coin base Has Shut Down Its Online Store’s Bitcoin Account
Wikileaks’ official online merchandise store claims that its account with Coin base has been suspended by the Cryptocurrency exchange. Wikileaks, a leaked documents depository that was central to a long string of international scandals even before the 2016 presidential election, is now calling for a boycott of Coin base. Read more at Fortune.
Tim Draper has a lot to say about bitcoin. While I hope he is correct, how much of his comment is just hype because he owns a bunch of bitcoin or wants to drive bitcoin business to his companies?
Alice Walker
Contributor
Lightning network, simply explained!
Bitcoin moved the internet of things through its easy to use the platform and the accessibility of features it offers but its scalability is a big issue. It offers only 7 transactions per second and the transaction time differs according to the demand which does not make this as an optimum alternative to FIAT. A lightning network allows Bitcoin users to create a personal payment channel within the parties involved in the transactions. Through these channels or gateways, payments can be sent or received with minimal or no wait times.
https://blog[dot] coinswitch[dot]co/what-is-bitcoin-lightning-network-6f6110e371ca
Bitcoin moved the internet of things through its easy to use the platform and the accessibility of features it offers but its scalability is a big issue. It offers only 7 transactions per second and the transaction time differs according to the demand which does not make this as an optimum alternative to FIAT. A lightning network allows Bitcoin users to create a personal payment channel within the parties involved in the transactions. Through these channels or gateways, payments can be sent or received with minimal or no wait times.
https://blog[dot] coinswitch[dot]co/what-is-bitcoin-lightning-network-6f6110e371ca
Alice Walker
Contributor
TOP CRYPTO NEWS — April 26, 2018
www[dot] coindesk[dot]com
1. The 17 Millionth Bitcoin Is About to Be Mined
Bitcoin’s limited supply is about to get a bit more limited. Barring an unforeseen event, the 17 millionth bitcoin is likely to be mined in the coming day, data from Blockchain.info show, a development that would mark yet another milestone for the world’s first cryptocurrency. That’s because as per bitcoin’s current rules, only 21 million bitcoins can ever be created. Now only 4 more million Bitcoins left to be generated. Read more at CoinDesk.
2. Chilean Court Orders Banks to Re-Open Cryptocurrency Exchange Accounts
Chile’s anti-monopoly court recently ordered two major Chilean banks to re-open the accounts of one of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Buda. Buda’s lawsuit continues against 10 Chilean banks, including the two ordered to re-open its accounts. The exchange sued the banks after its accounts were closed in a move it dubbed “arbitrary” and “unjustified.” Read more at CCN.
3. Mt. Gox moves 16,000 BTC and 16,000 BCH coins out of its wallets
You can expect some serious volatility in the cryptocurrency market over the next few days if history is any indication. Mt. Gox, one of the most controversial exchange platform which was declared bankrupt and which went down in 2014, along with 850,000 of its user's Bitcoin — has moved another huge batch of its remaining funds to consolidated wallets. Mt. Gox has moved 16000 BTC from its cold wallet addresses today. The wallet has moved 2000 BTC eight times today and has been moved to various accounts. Read more at TheNextWeb.
www[dot] coindesk[dot]com
1. The 17 Millionth Bitcoin Is About to Be Mined
Bitcoin’s limited supply is about to get a bit more limited. Barring an unforeseen event, the 17 millionth bitcoin is likely to be mined in the coming day, data from Blockchain.info show, a development that would mark yet another milestone for the world’s first cryptocurrency. That’s because as per bitcoin’s current rules, only 21 million bitcoins can ever be created. Now only 4 more million Bitcoins left to be generated. Read more at CoinDesk.
2. Chilean Court Orders Banks to Re-Open Cryptocurrency Exchange Accounts
Chile’s anti-monopoly court recently ordered two major Chilean banks to re-open the accounts of one of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Buda. Buda’s lawsuit continues against 10 Chilean banks, including the two ordered to re-open its accounts. The exchange sued the banks after its accounts were closed in a move it dubbed “arbitrary” and “unjustified.” Read more at CCN.
3. Mt. Gox moves 16,000 BTC and 16,000 BCH coins out of its wallets
You can expect some serious volatility in the cryptocurrency market over the next few days if history is any indication. Mt. Gox, one of the most controversial exchange platform which was declared bankrupt and which went down in 2014, along with 850,000 of its user's Bitcoin — has moved another huge batch of its remaining funds to consolidated wallets. Mt. Gox has moved 16000 BTC from its cold wallet addresses today. The wallet has moved 2000 BTC eight times today and has been moved to various accounts. Read more at TheNextWeb.
Denise Gallegly
Contributor
TOP CRYPTO NEWS — May 1, 2018
1. Vitalik Releases Partial Proof-of-Concept for Ethereum ‘Sharding’ Tech
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said yesterday that ethereum’s in-house scaling solution, sharding, is moving closer to completion. Tweeting that “sharding is coming,” Buterin shared a new code repository that documents a partial proof-of-concept for what is called the “fork choice rule,” the code for how ethereum shards interact with the main blockchain. Buterin continued to tweet several further documents, including an early stage sharding specification, that forms an early picture of the new protocol. Read more at CoinDesk.
2. Hong Kong Report: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Have Little Impact on Organized Crime
The Hong Kong Financial Services and Treasury (FSTB) released a 132-page report entitled “Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment.” According to the report, cryptocurrencies have little impact on organized crime. Hong Kong is well known for its lack of capital controls and for capturing capital outflow from China. The report notes that cryptocurrencies may be more attractive in economies where people are trying to circumvent currency controls or beat high inflation rates. Read more at DailyHodl.
3. Australia’s Securities Regulator ‘Takes Action’ Against ‘Misleading’ ICOs
Australia’s Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said that it is “taking action” to protect consumers in the ICO space in a press release published today, May 1. The regulator says it will focus on investigating “deceptive” or “unlicensed” conduct from ICOs. According to the press release, on April 19 Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) delegated powers to ASIC to take action under the Australian Consumer Law relating to crypto-assets. This allows ASIC to intercede where it judges that an ICO is “misleading” investors, or else engaging in potentially unlicensed conduct, even where the ICO in question “does not involve a financial product.” Read more at CoinTelegraph.
1. Vitalik Releases Partial Proof-of-Concept for Ethereum ‘Sharding’ Tech
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said yesterday that ethereum’s in-house scaling solution, sharding, is moving closer to completion. Tweeting that “sharding is coming,” Buterin shared a new code repository that documents a partial proof-of-concept for what is called the “fork choice rule,” the code for how ethereum shards interact with the main blockchain. Buterin continued to tweet several further documents, including an early stage sharding specification, that forms an early picture of the new protocol. Read more at CoinDesk.
2. Hong Kong Report: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Have Little Impact on Organized Crime
The Hong Kong Financial Services and Treasury (FSTB) released a 132-page report entitled “Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment.” According to the report, cryptocurrencies have little impact on organized crime. Hong Kong is well known for its lack of capital controls and for capturing capital outflow from China. The report notes that cryptocurrencies may be more attractive in economies where people are trying to circumvent currency controls or beat high inflation rates. Read more at DailyHodl.
3. Australia’s Securities Regulator ‘Takes Action’ Against ‘Misleading’ ICOs
Australia’s Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said that it is “taking action” to protect consumers in the ICO space in a press release published today, May 1. The regulator says it will focus on investigating “deceptive” or “unlicensed” conduct from ICOs. According to the press release, on April 19 Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) delegated powers to ASIC to take action under the Australian Consumer Law relating to crypto-assets. This allows ASIC to intercede where it judges that an ICO is “misleading” investors, or else engaging in potentially unlicensed conduct, even where the ICO in question “does not involve a financial product.” Read more at CoinTelegraph.
Denise Gallegly
Contributor
A Beginner’s Guide to Zcash (ZEC)
Zcash is the first cryptocurrency that maintains the total privacy of the sender and the recipient which is achieved by making use of the zero-knowledge cryptography.
Bitcoin, the most famous cryptocurrency, gained popularity owing to the anonymity it brought in its transactions. But this is a misconception. Bitcoin actually exposes user transaction history to the public. Remember the blockchain? Remember how it is a ‘public ledger’? It’s fairly easy to identify and trace connections between bitcoin wallets, since all the transaction information is public.
So the quest for a truly private cryptocurrency continued.
This is where Zcash came in, another cryptocurrency to our rescue! Zcash is the first cryptocurrency that is completely permission-less, and maintains anonymity.
As it has such a fascinating concept, let’s understand how it works and its features in depth.
Zcash History
Originally named Zerocash, the project started back in 2014 by the developers of an existing Zerocoin project, and a group of cryptographers from MIT. The initial aim was to improve Zerocoin. During this process, whilst the team worked on improving security, a completely independent cryptocurrency called ZEC was born. Later, the project was announced by CEO Zooko Wilcox in January 2016.
A few improvements were added to the Zerocash project, and the all new Zcash was launched in October 2016. It became so popular that by April 2017, it was in the list of top 10 cryptocurrencies of the world.
How does Zcash work?
Zcash uses a different model to conduct transactions — known as Zero-Knowledge Proofs. “Zero-knowledge” proofs allow one party (the prover) to prove to another (the verifier) that a statement is true, without giving away any information except for the validity of your statement itself.
For example, given the hash of a random number, the prover could convince the verifier that there indeed exists a number with this hash value, without revealing what it is.
Imagine you know a secret of your friend’s, and you want to prove that you know it to someone else. In this case, you will find a way by which you would be able to convince your friend that you know the secret without revealing all of its details. You could perhaps mention a parameter of the secret you would never have known otherwise.
This is exactly how this method for Zcash works! Zk-Snarks, a variant of the zero-knowledge proof method, is used by Zcash in which the two parties never communicate with each other.
If the sender or recipient wishes to reveal their identity, Zcash also enables truly transparent transactions. Such transactions are allowed for users do not mind lack of privacy and do not want to enjoy the features of private transactions.
In such cases, the user can share a ‘view key’ using which the others are able to view the transaction details. This is different from the ‘spend key’ which is used to spend the available funds. These two different keys enable the user to give selected access to their details.
Zcash Features
Apart from the private transactions, which is Zcash’s USP, the cryptocurrency also has some other important features which are explained below:
#1 — It is a fungible cryptocurrency
For equal interchangeability, the units of an ideal cryptocurrency must be substitutable with any other unit. A crypto-currency that is “fungible” means that every single coin should always remain equal in value to all other coins, this is a very key part of having a proper financial system. In simpler terms — a 10 Dollar, Euro, Pound, or Rupee note should have the same value as any other 10, Dollar, Euro, Pound or Rupee note. This unfortunately hasn’t been the case with bitcoins. Since the blockchain is a public ledger, coins can be blacklisted, and rejected by recipients if they have come from a hack, or used for some illegal purposes.
This isn’t the case with Zcash, since the value of each coin is independent of the previous transaction and any such history. The blockchain technology used in Zcash eliminates any links from the previous transactions and provides a total fungible cryptocurrency.
#2 — Confidentiality
In a traditional financial system, it is assumed that the transactions will remain public — your banking history would be available for government of law enforcement scrutiny at any point. With Zcash, you can use the public blockchain network to do transactions and never worry about reliving your identity. It truly maintains the privacy of all your transactions.
How to use Zcash
Here’s what you’ll need to get started with Zcash:
#1 — A Zcash wallet
In order to Zcash you of course, need to have a compatible wallet. If you do not have one, visit this wallet page. Choose a wallet for your platform, and generate your wallet address.
#2 — Make a transaction with sZcash
Once you own a Zcash wallet, you can do Zcash transactions — send and receive. You’ll be able to perform all your transactions with total anonymity if required, or you can go for transparent transactions as well!
Buy Zcash Using CoinSwitch
With CoinSwitch, it is possible to buy Zcash even if your regular exchange does not support the cryptocurrency. With over 275 cryptocurrencies supported on the platform, it is possible to convert any of your existing cryptos to Zcash within minutes. All of this, at the best rates, since CoinSwitch aggregates rates from all the major exchanges of the world. Get started here!
The Future of Zcash
Though Zcash is completely secure, there’s scope to innovate. For example, generating shielded transactions demands significant computer time and memory, making it a difficult for daily transactions. It also affects the fungibility of Zcash meaning that some coins are more valuable than others at a particular time. Scalability is also one the of the major issues. Further work is being carried out by the development team to eliminate these limitations and make it perfect cryptocurrency. Fans can hope!
Zcash is the first cryptocurrency that maintains the total privacy of the sender and the recipient which is achieved by making use of the zero-knowledge cryptography.
Bitcoin, the most famous cryptocurrency, gained popularity owing to the anonymity it brought in its transactions. But this is a misconception. Bitcoin actually exposes user transaction history to the public. Remember the blockchain? Remember how it is a ‘public ledger’? It’s fairly easy to identify and trace connections between bitcoin wallets, since all the transaction information is public.
So the quest for a truly private cryptocurrency continued.
This is where Zcash came in, another cryptocurrency to our rescue! Zcash is the first cryptocurrency that is completely permission-less, and maintains anonymity.
As it has such a fascinating concept, let’s understand how it works and its features in depth.
Zcash History
Originally named Zerocash, the project started back in 2014 by the developers of an existing Zerocoin project, and a group of cryptographers from MIT. The initial aim was to improve Zerocoin. During this process, whilst the team worked on improving security, a completely independent cryptocurrency called ZEC was born. Later, the project was announced by CEO Zooko Wilcox in January 2016.
A few improvements were added to the Zerocash project, and the all new Zcash was launched in October 2016. It became so popular that by April 2017, it was in the list of top 10 cryptocurrencies of the world.
How does Zcash work?
Zcash uses a different model to conduct transactions — known as Zero-Knowledge Proofs. “Zero-knowledge” proofs allow one party (the prover) to prove to another (the verifier) that a statement is true, without giving away any information except for the validity of your statement itself.
For example, given the hash of a random number, the prover could convince the verifier that there indeed exists a number with this hash value, without revealing what it is.
Imagine you know a secret of your friend’s, and you want to prove that you know it to someone else. In this case, you will find a way by which you would be able to convince your friend that you know the secret without revealing all of its details. You could perhaps mention a parameter of the secret you would never have known otherwise.
This is exactly how this method for Zcash works! Zk-Snarks, a variant of the zero-knowledge proof method, is used by Zcash in which the two parties never communicate with each other.
If the sender or recipient wishes to reveal their identity, Zcash also enables truly transparent transactions. Such transactions are allowed for users do not mind lack of privacy and do not want to enjoy the features of private transactions.
In such cases, the user can share a ‘view key’ using which the others are able to view the transaction details. This is different from the ‘spend key’ which is used to spend the available funds. These two different keys enable the user to give selected access to their details.
Zcash Features
Apart from the private transactions, which is Zcash’s USP, the cryptocurrency also has some other important features which are explained below:
#1 — It is a fungible cryptocurrency
For equal interchangeability, the units of an ideal cryptocurrency must be substitutable with any other unit. A crypto-currency that is “fungible” means that every single coin should always remain equal in value to all other coins, this is a very key part of having a proper financial system. In simpler terms — a 10 Dollar, Euro, Pound, or Rupee note should have the same value as any other 10, Dollar, Euro, Pound or Rupee note. This unfortunately hasn’t been the case with bitcoins. Since the blockchain is a public ledger, coins can be blacklisted, and rejected by recipients if they have come from a hack, or used for some illegal purposes.
This isn’t the case with Zcash, since the value of each coin is independent of the previous transaction and any such history. The blockchain technology used in Zcash eliminates any links from the previous transactions and provides a total fungible cryptocurrency.
#2 — Confidentiality
In a traditional financial system, it is assumed that the transactions will remain public — your banking history would be available for government of law enforcement scrutiny at any point. With Zcash, you can use the public blockchain network to do transactions and never worry about reliving your identity. It truly maintains the privacy of all your transactions.
How to use Zcash
Here’s what you’ll need to get started with Zcash:
#1 — A Zcash wallet
In order to Zcash you of course, need to have a compatible wallet. If you do not have one, visit this wallet page. Choose a wallet for your platform, and generate your wallet address.
#2 — Make a transaction with sZcash
Once you own a Zcash wallet, you can do Zcash transactions — send and receive. You’ll be able to perform all your transactions with total anonymity if required, or you can go for transparent transactions as well!
Buy Zcash Using CoinSwitch
With CoinSwitch, it is possible to buy Zcash even if your regular exchange does not support the cryptocurrency. With over 275 cryptocurrencies supported on the platform, it is possible to convert any of your existing cryptos to Zcash within minutes. All of this, at the best rates, since CoinSwitch aggregates rates from all the major exchanges of the world. Get started here!
The Future of Zcash
Though Zcash is completely secure, there’s scope to innovate. For example, generating shielded transactions demands significant computer time and memory, making it a difficult for daily transactions. It also affects the fungibility of Zcash meaning that some coins are more valuable than others at a particular time. Scalability is also one the of the major issues. Further work is being carried out by the development team to eliminate these limitations and make it perfect cryptocurrency. Fans can hope!
CoinSwitch_co
Contributor
TOP CRYPTO NEWS — May 3, 2018
1. Goldman Sachs to Begin Bitcoin Futures Trading
Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs will use its own money to trade bitcoin futures on behalf of its clients, according to the New York Times. The Times reported Wednesday that while the exact launch date of the new trading operation is not yet set, the move came after the bank’s board of directors signed off on the initiative. Goldman is also set to “create its own, more flexible version of a future, known as a non-deliverable forward, which it will offer to clients,” according to the report. Read more at CoinDesk.
2. Reddit to Reintroduce and Expand Crypto Payments to Litecoin and Ethereum
The online social news forum Reddit appear to have plans to relaunch cryptocurrency payments in the future. The news comes less than two months after the platform initially stopped supporting Bitcoin as a funding method. The Reddit platform provided an early hub for those interested in Bitcoin. The site first began accepting Bitcoin for its premium membership back in 2013. Higher tier users would benefit from a lack of adverts, personalized avatars, and access to some private subreddits. The privilege would set them back around $30. Read more at NewsBTC.
3. Telegram cancels its much-hyped initial coin offering
Secure messaging service Telegram is canceling its initial coin offering (ICO), an anonymous source told The Wall Street Journal today, and it won’t be opening up its digital coins for public sale. The cancellation is a blow to public investors who hoped to get in on the ground floor of one of the largest cryptocurrency investment opportunities in history, with an estimated $1.7 billion already raised. Read more at The Verge.
1. Goldman Sachs to Begin Bitcoin Futures Trading
Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs will use its own money to trade bitcoin futures on behalf of its clients, according to the New York Times. The Times reported Wednesday that while the exact launch date of the new trading operation is not yet set, the move came after the bank’s board of directors signed off on the initiative. Goldman is also set to “create its own, more flexible version of a future, known as a non-deliverable forward, which it will offer to clients,” according to the report. Read more at CoinDesk.
2. Reddit to Reintroduce and Expand Crypto Payments to Litecoin and Ethereum
The online social news forum Reddit appear to have plans to relaunch cryptocurrency payments in the future. The news comes less than two months after the platform initially stopped supporting Bitcoin as a funding method. The Reddit platform provided an early hub for those interested in Bitcoin. The site first began accepting Bitcoin for its premium membership back in 2013. Higher tier users would benefit from a lack of adverts, personalized avatars, and access to some private subreddits. The privilege would set them back around $30. Read more at NewsBTC.
3. Telegram cancels its much-hyped initial coin offering
Secure messaging service Telegram is canceling its initial coin offering (ICO), an anonymous source told The Wall Street Journal today, and it won’t be opening up its digital coins for public sale. The cancellation is a blow to public investors who hoped to get in on the ground floor of one of the largest cryptocurrency investment opportunities in history, with an estimated $1.7 billion already raised. Read more at The Verge.
This is the first of what I expect to be many traditional financial institutions to bring money into cryptocurrency.
CryptoTC
Crypto Fat Cat
TOP CRYPTO NEWS — May 3, 2018
1. Goldman Sachs to Begin Bitcoin Futures Trading
Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs will use its own money to trade bitcoin futures on behalf of its clients, according to the New York Times. The Times reported Wednesday that while the exact launch date of the new trading operation is not yet set, the move came after the bank’s board of directors signed off on the initiative. Goldman is also set to “create its own, more flexible version of a future, known as a non-deliverable forward, which it will offer to clients,” according to the report. Read more at CoinDesk.
2. Reddit to Reintroduce and Expand Crypto Payments to Litecoin and Ethereum
The online social news forum Reddit appear to have plans to relaunch cryptocurrency payments in the future. The news comes less than two months after the platform initially stopped supporting Bitcoin as a funding method. The Reddit platform provided an early hub for those interested in Bitcoin. The site first began accepting Bitcoin for its premium membership back in 2013. Higher tier users would benefit from a lack of adverts, personalized avatars, and access to some private subreddits. The privilege would set them back around $30. Read more at NewsBTC.
3. Telegram cancels its much-hyped initial coin offering
Secure messaging service Telegram is canceling its initial coin offering (ICO), an anonymous source told The Wall Street Journal today, and it won’t be opening up its digital coins for public sale. The cancellation is a blow to public investors who hoped to get in on the ground floor of one of the largest cryptocurrency investment opportunities in history, with an estimated $1.7 billion already raised. Read more at The Verge.
Thanks for the updates. This raises the following questions.
Did the world need a telegram coin anyway?
Does the world care about premium Reddit service?
Will Goldman Sachs spur others into crypto investing?
CoinSwitch_co
Contributor
That's an interesting thing to notice but I would say its a similar thought process to that of "did the world need an iphone anyway?"
Old Man Crypto
Expert chainblocker
I don't think Telegram needed its own coin. Too many different platform coins used for only specific things. I don't want to use a separate coin on telegram and another on twitter, or Kin, or any other social media. It's just too many unnecessary coins. Of course, I'm old and cranky, and I don't like the use of tips and $$ rewards for some of the bad content out there. Good information probably shouldn't be free, you get what you pay for. But I don't want to pay in 20 different coins either.
Just my cranky old opinion though.
CoinSwitch_co
Contributor
TOP CRYPTO NEWS — May 7, 2018
cointelegraph.com
1. Bill Gates: I’d Short ‘Crazier, Speculative’ Bitcoin If I Could
Microsoft founder Bill Gates issued critical comments about Bitcoin May 7, telling CNBC it was a “greater fool” investment and he “would short it if he could.” The timing of Gates’ cautionary words is curious. In the year institutional investors can short Bitcoin using futures contracts, investment banking giant Goldman Sachs last week appeared to confirm it would not only join in on that arena, but seek to offer clients more direct exposure to Bitcoin specifically. Read more at CoinTelegraph.
2. Kenya Plans to Legitimize Land Ownership with Blockchain
Kenya is using blockchain and cryptocurrency to settle real estate sales as processing a land ownership title is a major problem due to corruption throughout the bureaucracy. Cases of ‘double ownership’ of land are common in many African and developing nations where property is an important store of wealth and officials can be easily paid to change documents. Kenyan Minister of information has been charged to investigate how Blockchain and Artificial intelligence technology can put an end to the theft of land. Read more at NewsBTC.
3. Thailand’s Top Exchange Plans Blockchain Funding Market
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has launched a crowdfunding marketplace that is built on blockchain technology in a bid to widen the access to capital funds for domestic startups. The new service uses blockchain to enable peer-to-peer trading in an effort to help startups access new capital from investors, including those drawn from the venture capital and institutional investor worlds. Read more at CoinDesk.
cointelegraph.com
1. Bill Gates: I’d Short ‘Crazier, Speculative’ Bitcoin If I Could
Microsoft founder Bill Gates issued critical comments about Bitcoin May 7, telling CNBC it was a “greater fool” investment and he “would short it if he could.” The timing of Gates’ cautionary words is curious. In the year institutional investors can short Bitcoin using futures contracts, investment banking giant Goldman Sachs last week appeared to confirm it would not only join in on that arena, but seek to offer clients more direct exposure to Bitcoin specifically. Read more at CoinTelegraph.
2. Kenya Plans to Legitimize Land Ownership with Blockchain
Kenya is using blockchain and cryptocurrency to settle real estate sales as processing a land ownership title is a major problem due to corruption throughout the bureaucracy. Cases of ‘double ownership’ of land are common in many African and developing nations where property is an important store of wealth and officials can be easily paid to change documents. Kenyan Minister of information has been charged to investigate how Blockchain and Artificial intelligence technology can put an end to the theft of land. Read more at NewsBTC.
3. Thailand’s Top Exchange Plans Blockchain Funding Market
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has launched a crowdfunding marketplace that is built on blockchain technology in a bid to widen the access to capital funds for domestic startups. The new service uses blockchain to enable peer-to-peer trading in an effort to help startups access new capital from investors, including those drawn from the venture capital and institutional investor worlds. Read more at CoinDesk.
CoinSwitch_co
Contributor
How to Find Your Next Cryptocurrency Investment?
If we take a glance at the financial world today, we will see that digital currency and plastic monies have created an upsurge and are giving a tough competition to the traditional fiat currencies. These virtual currencies popularly termed as Cryptocurrency are used by groups or private individuals for the digital means of exchange.
But these digital tokens are yet to be regularised by several national governments and as such these are regarded as an alternative currency that resides outside the realm of the monetary policies. Several new cryptocurrencies are evolving every month, but Bitcoin holds the largest position.
Table of Contents
An Introduction to Cryptocurrency
How Cryptocurrencies started?
Top Cryptocurrencies
Understanding how to invest in Cryptocurrencies
An Introduction to Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is accompanied with complex code system, i.e., cryptographic protocols utilizing which encrypted sensitive data are transferred.
These protocols are built on advanced mathematics and computer engineering which protects them from duplicity or counterfeiting of currencies. Using these protocols, Cryptocurrency users make transactions, thereby allowing the funds to flow to specific groups or individuals.
Cryptocurrencies are digitally created “coins” using cryptographic techniques that most people use in security / privacy fields.
How Cryptocurrencies started?
In the year 2008, a whitepaper submitted by Satoshi Nakamoto laid down the first outline of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency today. It is the first publicly used digital currency that uses a combination of user anonymity, decentralized control and record keeping using the blockchain technology.
Before we analyse how to pick the next Crypto winner, lets look at some Top Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin (Payments & Storer of Value)
Invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin was meant to be an alternative for central banks. Since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin has been effective in solving real-world perils. To overrule the inflations associated with the centralised ledgers, Bitcoin was invented to showcase that a decentralised currency can be created as a means of financial exchange. Moreover, Bitcoin is used as a reliable value storer, which can be preserved for ages just like gold.
2. Ethereum (Smart Contracts & dApps)
Vitalik Buterin founded Etheruem in 2014 for creating a one-stop shop for the smart contracts and decentralized applications. After three years of the struggle, the smart contract and DApps are successfully implemented in the real world.
3. Ripple (Bank’s cryptocurrency)
The cryptocurrency Ripple is especially for the banks. It is a payment mechanism which allows the banks to send real-time international payments without the requirement of clearance hub. It complies with the central banking institutions so that it can be implemented on the top of the swift infrastructure.
4. Monero (Anonymous, Private & Fungible Digital Money)
Bitcoin function on the blockchain technology where everything resides on a public forum and is transparent. Thus, Monero came into existence in 2014 with, a concept of making private, anonymous, and fungible digital currency. In 2017, Monero successfully implemented the ring signatures, stealth addresses, and ring CT technologies. But it is still left to implement the IP obfuscation.
5. Factom (Decentralized Notary)
In late 2014, Factom as an immutable universal record keeper came in the cryptocurrency market. Thus, once something is entered in the Factom platform it can’t be altered; thereby it acts like a trustable record keeper for the monetary transactions.
6. Dash (Digital Cash)
Incepted in 2014, Dash envisions studying about the best practices in the fiat world and help in the development of user-friendly products for the people. Although it is used in the backend users will not face any hassle while interacting with Dash because of the well-known traditional banking UI.
Understanding how to invest in Cryptocurrencies
First we need to understand why there are so many cryptocurrencies exist and how do you choose the winners.
As while investing in stock market one has to consider which sector(Financial, Aviation, Tech etc) the stock belongs to, in crypto you need to understand which asset class the cryptocurrency lies in. So that you can have a diversified portfolio with a better chance of good returns.
The cryptos which we explained above are just a few from the ocean of cryptocurrencies. Here are many more being developed to solve different real world problems. Following are the categories which are getting disrupted by the cryptos. We will talk about all these in details in coming posts.
1. Digital Cash (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Reddcoin)
2. Privacy Coins (Monero, Zcash, Bytecoin, Verge)
3. Smart Contracts and dApps (Ethereum, Neo, QTUM)
4. Blockchain As Service (Komodo, IO coin, FCT)
5. Entertainment (Game Credits, Funfair, ENJ, VIB, TIX)
6. Media and Communication ( TRON, Gifto, Vibe, Poet, STEEM)
7. Identity (Civic, SelfKey)
8. Infrastructure As Service (Golem, Siacoin, ELF, RLC)
9. Finance (Augur, ETHLend, Bytom, HMQ, NAGA)
10. New Tech (VOX, Vibe, MANA, Cindicator)
11. Governance (Crown, Wings, District0x)
12. Internet Of Things (IOTA, ITC, Waltonchain)
13. Exchange (Bancor, BNB, Kyber Network Token)
14. E-commerce/ Marketing (Syscoin, Bitbay, Phore, AdEx)
Picking the winners is hard, but if you invest in different crypto asset classes then the chances of your returns improve drastically. To understand more about the various crypto asset classes and the currencies we believe are the winners in that category subscribe to our investment series below.
If we take a glance at the financial world today, we will see that digital currency and plastic monies have created an upsurge and are giving a tough competition to the traditional fiat currencies. These virtual currencies popularly termed as Cryptocurrency are used by groups or private individuals for the digital means of exchange.
But these digital tokens are yet to be regularised by several national governments and as such these are regarded as an alternative currency that resides outside the realm of the monetary policies. Several new cryptocurrencies are evolving every month, but Bitcoin holds the largest position.
Table of Contents
An Introduction to Cryptocurrency
How Cryptocurrencies started?
Top Cryptocurrencies
Understanding how to invest in Cryptocurrencies
An Introduction to Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is accompanied with complex code system, i.e., cryptographic protocols utilizing which encrypted sensitive data are transferred.
These protocols are built on advanced mathematics and computer engineering which protects them from duplicity or counterfeiting of currencies. Using these protocols, Cryptocurrency users make transactions, thereby allowing the funds to flow to specific groups or individuals.
Cryptocurrencies are digitally created “coins” using cryptographic techniques that most people use in security / privacy fields.
How Cryptocurrencies started?
In the year 2008, a whitepaper submitted by Satoshi Nakamoto laid down the first outline of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency today. It is the first publicly used digital currency that uses a combination of user anonymity, decentralized control and record keeping using the blockchain technology.
Before we analyse how to pick the next Crypto winner, lets look at some Top Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin (Payments & Storer of Value)
Invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin was meant to be an alternative for central banks. Since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin has been effective in solving real-world perils. To overrule the inflations associated with the centralised ledgers, Bitcoin was invented to showcase that a decentralised currency can be created as a means of financial exchange. Moreover, Bitcoin is used as a reliable value storer, which can be preserved for ages just like gold.
2. Ethereum (Smart Contracts & dApps)
Vitalik Buterin founded Etheruem in 2014 for creating a one-stop shop for the smart contracts and decentralized applications. After three years of the struggle, the smart contract and DApps are successfully implemented in the real world.
3. Ripple (Bank’s cryptocurrency)
The cryptocurrency Ripple is especially for the banks. It is a payment mechanism which allows the banks to send real-time international payments without the requirement of clearance hub. It complies with the central banking institutions so that it can be implemented on the top of the swift infrastructure.
4. Monero (Anonymous, Private & Fungible Digital Money)
Bitcoin function on the blockchain technology where everything resides on a public forum and is transparent. Thus, Monero came into existence in 2014 with, a concept of making private, anonymous, and fungible digital currency. In 2017, Monero successfully implemented the ring signatures, stealth addresses, and ring CT technologies. But it is still left to implement the IP obfuscation.
5. Factom (Decentralized Notary)
In late 2014, Factom as an immutable universal record keeper came in the cryptocurrency market. Thus, once something is entered in the Factom platform it can’t be altered; thereby it acts like a trustable record keeper for the monetary transactions.
6. Dash (Digital Cash)
Incepted in 2014, Dash envisions studying about the best practices in the fiat world and help in the development of user-friendly products for the people. Although it is used in the backend users will not face any hassle while interacting with Dash because of the well-known traditional banking UI.
Understanding how to invest in Cryptocurrencies
First we need to understand why there are so many cryptocurrencies exist and how do you choose the winners.
As while investing in stock market one has to consider which sector(Financial, Aviation, Tech etc) the stock belongs to, in crypto you need to understand which asset class the cryptocurrency lies in. So that you can have a diversified portfolio with a better chance of good returns.
The cryptos which we explained above are just a few from the ocean of cryptocurrencies. Here are many more being developed to solve different real world problems. Following are the categories which are getting disrupted by the cryptos. We will talk about all these in details in coming posts.
1. Digital Cash (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Reddcoin)
2. Privacy Coins (Monero, Zcash, Bytecoin, Verge)
3. Smart Contracts and dApps (Ethereum, Neo, QTUM)
4. Blockchain As Service (Komodo, IO coin, FCT)
5. Entertainment (Game Credits, Funfair, ENJ, VIB, TIX)
6. Media and Communication ( TRON, Gifto, Vibe, Poet, STEEM)
7. Identity (Civic, SelfKey)
8. Infrastructure As Service (Golem, Siacoin, ELF, RLC)
9. Finance (Augur, ETHLend, Bytom, HMQ, NAGA)
10. New Tech (VOX, Vibe, MANA, Cindicator)
11. Governance (Crown, Wings, District0x)
12. Internet Of Things (IOTA, ITC, Waltonchain)
13. Exchange (Bancor, BNB, Kyber Network Token)
14. E-commerce/ Marketing (Syscoin, Bitbay, Phore, AdEx)
Picking the winners is hard, but if you invest in different crypto asset classes then the chances of your returns improve drastically. To understand more about the various crypto asset classes and the currencies we believe are the winners in that category subscribe to our investment series below.