Tag: blockchain

Cardano – The 3rd Generation Blockchain

October 11, 2019 David

Cardano – The 3rd Generation Blockchain

– Where Philosophy Meets Science And Technology

What is Cardano?

Cardano is not just another altcoin. It is an actual blockchain similar to Ethereum as it is a smart contract platform, however, Cardano offers scalability through a layered architecture. Cardano’s approach is unique in this space itself as it is built on scientific philosophy and peer-reviewed academic research. It was conceptualized by Charles Hoskinson who is a co-founder of the Ethereum Blockchain and a number of other projects.

While Ethereum does an admirable job as a smart contract platform, according to Hoskinson it is a second-generation blockchain and needed evolution. What makes Cardano extremely remarkable is the absolute amount of care that goes into its preservation. There are three organizations that work fulltime to develop and take care of Cardano. They are, 

The Cardano Foundation  
IOHK (Input Output Hong Kong)
Emurgo

These three organizations work in synergy to ensure the development of Cardano is tracking at a good pace. 

 

The Origin Of Cardano

Cardano started as a project in 2015 with real high aspirations. The model they chose to follow was a darker program that was a very risky, big, sexy, juicy, huge problem according to Charles Hoskinson when he spoke at the Cardano 2nd Anniversary meetup in Bulgaria on September 28th, 2019. The project focussed on lots of high-risk high return science with a view to see where it took Cardano and somewhere along this journey try to trim it down to a point where the company could build a product and commercialize it. 

After untold hours of research, enormous testing of protocols, 40 white papers and attending many rigorous academic conferences and highly scrutinized. Cardano found its niche and is positioned to be a force as its addressing the ongoing issues other cryptos and blockchains are inherently having.

Cardano was launched in Sept of 2017 Cardano and now on its 2nd anniversary is leading the charge doing great things in terms of development, communication and building a better crypto project.

The Three Generations Of Blockchain

Ist Generation Blockchain. Bitcoin and Money Transfer  – People were asking the questions, Is it possible to create a form of money that can be transferred between two people without an intermediary? Also is it possible to create a decentralized currency on a distributed ledger like a blockchain? Satoshi Nakamoto answered these questions by creating Bitcoin. However, there was a problem with Bitcoin and for all first-generation blockchains in that, they only allowed for monetary transactions and there was no way to add conditions to those transactions. 

For example, Tom can send Jerry 2 Bitcoin for a service he provides, but he couldn’t tell Jerry that he will get the payment only when he provides the service. These conditions would need extremely complicated scripts. “Something” was needed to make this process more coherent. 

  
2nd Generation Blockchain Ethereum and Smart Contracts – The “something” that was needed was a smart contract. Smart contracts assist you in exchanging money, property, shares or anything of value in a transparent, conflict-free fashion without the services of a middleman. Ethereum demonstrated to the world how the blockchain can evolve from a simple payment system to something a lot more powerful and significant. 

However, this generation had some issues too. As many more interesting use cases were being created they were obtaining much more recognition. The issue was the fact that this generation of blockchain ultimately didn’t have a good foundation for scalability. Also, the governance system was not particularly that well thought through. According to Hoskinson, the Ethereum and Ethereum Classic split is a prime example of bad governance.  

3rd Generation Blockchain – Cardano – Through years of experience along with trial and error, Charles Hoskinson knew that the blockchain needed to evolve even more. He took the positive elements from the first two generations of blockchain and added some elements of his own. Hence Cardano was born. The three elements Cardano needed and wanted to solve where,

  • Scalability
  • Interoperability
  • Sustainability  

I will get to the nuts and bolts of how Cardano will approach these three elements in the next article. It’s mind-blowing! It has to be said that Cardano is unique because it is essentially built on scientific philosophy and peer-reviewed academic research. It has the ultimate goal of being “High Assurance Code” and all the engineering that goes into it will ensure that there is a much higher belief in the quality of code used. This will prevent future cases like the ETH-ETC split from occurring, according to Hoskinson. At the end of the day, the project will be 250 times more decentralized than Bitcoin with much less power needed to run it, approximately 10 kilowatts to run a global system. This is classed as a miracle of science and the miracle of good engineering. 

The Philosophy Of Cardano

Cardano is a project in an effort to change the way cryptocurrencies are designed and developed. The overall focus beyond a particular set of innovations is to provide a more balanced and sustainable ecosystem that better accounts for the needs of its users as well as other systems seeking integration.

In the spirit of many open source projects, Cardano did not begin with a comprehensive roadmap or even an authoritative white paper. Rather it embraced a collection of design principles, engineering best practices, and avenues for exploration. These are taken directly from the Cardano website and they include the following, 

  • Separation of accounting and computation into different layers
  • Implementation of core components in highly modular functional code
  • Small groups of academics and developers competing with peer-reviewed research
  • Heavy use of interdisciplinary teams including the early use of InfoSec experts
  • Fast iteration between white papers, implementation and new research required to correct issues discovered during review
  • Building in the ability to upgrade post-deployed systems without destroying the network
  • Development of a decentralized funding mechanism for future work
  • A long-term view on improving the design of cryptocurrencies so they can work on mobile devices with a reasonable and secure user experience
  • Bringing stakeholders closer to the operations and maintenance of their cryptocurrency
  • Acknowledging the need to account for multiple assets in the same ledger
  • Abstracting transactions to include optional metadata in order to better conform to the needs of legacy systems
  • Learning from the nearly 1,000 altcoins by embracing features that make sense
  • Adopt a standards-driven process inspired by the Internet Engineering Task Force using a dedicated foundation to lock down the final protocol design
  • Explore the social elements of commerce
  • Find a healthy middle-ground for regulators to interact with commerce without compromising some core principles inherited from Bitcoin

 

Why Are We Here?

Below are excerpts from a Keynote Speech made by Charles Hoskinson, heading the Cardano Project. Passionate reasoning as to why we are in need of major change for the betterment of all on a global scale and its coming.

“The reason why we’re here and why this industry exists is because the world is changing. The philosophy of the world is changing, the way the governments work is changing due to the pressures of instantaneous, instant availability of information and value from the internet and also from globalization. We no longer live in our little silos or hierarchies with standard narrative fictions that have existed for centuries. The people in 3rd world countries can have just as much impact on the world as the people in the United States now. They have the same access to information as the rest of the world. This is changing everything, it’s creating friction and is why we have upheaval and unrest, financial collapses, etc. 

The point of our blockchain and crypto industry is we are providing a toolbox, a collection of visions of where we can take the world. Where we can collectively decide on how to solve problems whether it's environmental, governance, wars or resource allocations, without there being some central country in charge. Or without building some giant meta government that gets rid of a nation-state. 

The magic of the blockchain industry is that we in a completely decentralized, libertarian private way are having conversations about re-inventing money, consent, and property rights, in fact, the very structure of the world. The point of Cardano has been to be a model of how to do this.” 

As a whole, the protocol’s design is geared towards protecting the privacy rights of users, while also taking into account the needs of regulators. In doing so, Cardano is the first protocol to balance these requirements in a nuanced and effective way, pioneering a new approach for cryptocurrencies. 

Charles Hoskinson also pointed out that by definition, decentralized meant that no one was in charge and no one unilaterally could decide. However, for it to take the shape of a sustainable system, there should be clarity in terms of “who pays and who decides the future”. 

“…so basically if you're going to decentralize the system and hand it over to the people you need to build up a critical mass of people who are capable of running the system. There are two ways of doing this, you can just fork and say good luck, everybody, bye-bye, or you can go ahead and build a safe sandbox, and pay people in that sandbox, allow businesses and knowledge and domain expertise that build up within in it and at some point when you bubble over and get a critical threshold you can pull it into the main system.”  

In addition, while the platform has been solidly composed, Cardano also recognizes the need for it to evolve and adapt to changing needs. Consequently, they have designed a system that can be upgraded by way of soft forks, and are installing a treasury system that will ensure the sustainability of the protocol.

What’s In It For Markethive?

With Cardano’s latest technology resolving present-day blockchain issues, it makes sense to switch to the Cardano blockchain which will be ready in 2020. Markethive will still have its own blockchain but with the support and protocols of an exceptional 3rd generation project. Let’s face it, technology doesn’t standstill. It’s always progressing finding new and better ways to improve systems and this is a good thing. 

This negates any problems with scalability as Markethive and its coin grows, unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum. This also speeds up the development of the wallet and fits in perfectly with Markethive’s plans of quantum computers.  Markethive is currently on Cardano’s sandbox platform, testing the system, getting ready for the blockchain launch next year.  

Conclusion

Cardano is not only built on steadfast philosophy but also on dedicated science. That alone gives it a significant edge over its competitors. Being lead by Charles Hoskinson only adds more credibility. The platform is multilayered and gives the system the elasticity to be easily maintained. Cardano uses a Proof-of-Stake system, reducing the number of electricity requirements and improving its scalability. Another feature of Cardano is its Recursive InterNetwork Architecture that allows for the existence of a subnetwork within the main network, which also makes it easier for a network to grow.

Cardano aims to become an “Internet of Blockchain,” making it possible for all cryptocurrencies to exist side by side and be converted from one to another without intermediaries. Cardano will also allow users to attach metadata to their transactions if they want to, making the network friendlier to banks and governments.

Completely open-source and patent-free, Cardano was built in a spirit of collaboration. And engineered for efficiency and scalability, the Cardano ecosystem is developing out into the most complete and most useful cryptocurrency and blockchain ever constructed.

 

ecosystem for entrepreneurs

 

 

David Ogden

A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

 

 

David – http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Bitcoin price would rally after the 11500 mark

September 11, 2019 David

Bitcoin price would rally after the $11500 mark

BITCOIN PRICE The king of cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) down under and Bitcoin price action is throwing one disappointment after another at the investors since the 26th of June. That’s precisely when the price hit thirteen thousand and eight hundred dollars ($13800) mark and the volatility reached its peak. Albeit briefly, Bitcoin price hit the thirteen thousand dollars ($13000) mark twice since June 2019. While BTC price has been dwindling below eleven thousand dollars ($11000) for the better part of the last three months.

While Bitcoin price managed to hit the twelve thousand dollars mark on the 6th of August 2019, the better part of three months within the ten thousand dollars ($10000) range speaks for the current state of the crypto. Would Bitcoin price rally again? Well, regardless of what the world believes, analyst and investor Josh Ragers believe that BTC price can take another huge rally. Ragers is of the view that the BTC price is headed towards the eleven thousand and seven hundred dollars ($11700) mark once again. However, what’s different about it this time is the nature of rally that would allow the king to take the big run everyone is desperately waiting to happen.

The funny part is Ragers, hinted on this back in June as a joke, however, it turns out that the odds were in his favor. Now, months later, BTC price action has actually turned the tables in favor of his comic prediction.

The Ragers chart reveals that the launchpad Bitcoin price currently stands at the eleven thousand six hundred and ninety-eight dollars ($11689) mark. The chart furthers that breaking past this point Bitcoin price would take a huge rally similar to the one back in 2017. However, the price would not be rising up to a new all-time high this time around but rather raise up to the nineteen thousand six hundred and sixty-six dollars ($19666) mark. Bitcoin is hovering at the ten thousand and seventy-five dollars ($10075) at the time of writing.

 

By Saad B. MurtazaSEP 11, 2019

David – http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Who Will Have The “Edge” In 2019 And Beyond?

April 9, 2019 David

Who Will Have The “Edge” In 2019 And Beyond?

A lot has happened in 2018, the demise of ICO’s, the bear market that hasn’t quit, devastating for some, cathartic for others. All in all, it’s been a year to sort the wheat from the chaff. A year of experiences that had to happen to see the rise of companies and startups that have survived, follow through, particularly those that have utilized blockchain technology. Greater trends are materializing and 2019 will see them come to fruition. 

We are in the Web 3.0 phase and ultimately the companies that focus on ideology, as well as product-market fit, have the edge. They require and advocate their ideology from day 1 as the final product and from there all else follows. Web 3.0 companies then demonstrate a profit function along with early product-market fit. Given the not-so-savory crypto-based startups that have tainted the new upcoming technology, along with the scandal surrounding Social Media, the masses are looking for an alternative with ethics and humanitarian nuances. The norm of allowing social platforms to use your activities, content, and conversations for their benefit is over.

Your voice is yours and yours alone and you should benefit from it. 


 

Who and what is Markethive?

Markethive is recognized as the next phase having evolved from Social Networks. This is the next generation – Market Network. Built on the blockchain, it provides security, privacy to the entrepreneur, offers a fluid, collaborative culture that is a decentralized, autonomous environment which creates intellectual achievements, social habits, innovation, music, literature, technology, and commerce. This provides a social environment complete with all the inbound marketing tools of the latest technology, that champions the rise of the Entrepreneur.

The Ideology of Markethive

To have a predominantly free system that allows freedom of speech, total privacy and transparency, promoting education for the youth through to the seasoned entrepreneur providing support, network, tools and motivation to experience entrepreneurialism, sovereignty and success resulting in a complete ecosystem with universal income. 

Markethive is creating a social network that is integrated with state of the art blockchain, cryptocurrency, and inbound marketing technology. Because Markethive is decentralized, autonomous and controlled by its entrepreneurs and holders of MARKETHIVE, its coin (MHV), will share and benefit from its success.  The company has just started producing the Markethive Coin (MHV) and it’s interesting to note the total number of coins being mined is 8,888,888,888 to be exact. 


Markethive’s Product-Market Fit

With a history of over 20 years in Inbound Marketing, including SaaS, CRM, and CMS, Markethive does have the edge and is on track to bring proven products and services to a much needy market. It is essentially the process of attracting prospects via content creation, creating brand awareness and integrity leading to a healthy relationship with the customer. These marketing tools that have been consistently successful over the years are now integrated with blockchain technology which resolves the issues notorious with centralized platforms, making it a fairer, more autonomous experience for the entrepreneur. 

The free Inbound marketing platform built on a social media interface incorporates blogging, email marketing & automation complete with cutting-edge autoresponders, social media monitoring & publishing, SEO & analytics, landing page creation, all of which the Markethive member is paid to learn and utilize these products and services. In addition, the Entrepreneur 8 point program provides lucrative opportunities to manifest multiple streams of income, thus creating Universal Income. 

Markethive’s Focus Is On CLV –  the “Pièce De Résistance”

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is the amount of value a customer contributes to your business over their lifetime. It starts with a new customer’s first purchase, contract or subscription and ends when they cease buying the product or cancel their subscription. This is called the “moment of churn.”

Markethive has changed the playing field for what is known as the Customer Lifetime Value. As their ethos is about collaboration and relationships, they have blurred the line, or merged the line, between "customer" and "connection".

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter create "connections"
Ebay, Amazon, Freelancer, create "customers"

Markethive delivers "associates" that are both "connections" and "customers", so the value and longevity are far more valuable and more likely to build into long-term clients. Markethive has the technology that captures the information from leads that are worth a minimum of $200 each if you were to buy them. Their Loyalty Program makes the leads even more valuable.

Conclusion – The New Era

Blockchain technology provides new infrastructure to build the next innovative applications beyond cryptocurrencies. It'll drive profound, positive changes across business, communities, and society.  Simply put, there is privacy, transparency and any data or information stays the ownership of the user, not the company where it can be sold or shared for profit. Markethive, coupled with the blockchain has been implemented on a social media platform making it decentralized.  

It's becoming well-known the oligarchs have been in a data selling scandal and many users are up in arms about it and fed up. Facebook, Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all centralized and also need to make a profit for its shareholders somehow. Blockchain-based Companies like Markethive, derive their profit from the projects that are underpinning it, plus the products and services they deliver, therefore they are able to give back to its users in many forms, including remuneration for using the platform. In essence, they give the power back to the people. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Deb Williams 

Markethive Entrepreneur

I am a Writer for the Market Network and Crypto/Blockchain Industry. Also a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech.  I embrace "Change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

 

David – http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Japan’s Next Economic Boom Will Be Bitcoin And Blockchain Fuelled

June 27, 2018 David

Japan's Next Economic Boom Will Be Bitcoin And Blockchain Fuelled

 

Japan's economy — which for years has struggled to return to its 1980's growth levels — could be about to boom once again, thanks to bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

At the Japan Blockchain Conference this week in Tokyo (the first if what's expected to become a yearly event) the chief executive of financial services giant SBI Holdings Yoshitaka Kitao said he is betting that blockchain related technologies will fuel the next boom for the Japanese economy after decades of economic malaise.

In the 1970s, Japan had the world's second-largest GDP after the U.S. and this boom continued through to the 1980s. However, by the early 1990s Japan's economy had stalled, plunging the country into what has been called the "lost decade" of growth.

It has previously been suggested Japan's economy could be kick started by a "technological boom."

Improved mobile connectivity through the long-awaited 5G technology, along with the Internet of Things (IoT), rapid increases in computing power and artificial intelligence, could combine to trigger an economic boom, which Japan is well placed to lead the way in.

SBI is investing in companies in Japan and across east Asia through its $460 million so-called AI & Blockchain Fund, established earlier this year.

"We want to take blockchain beyond financial," Yoshitaka Kitao said. "There's a lot of speculative demand around cryptocurrencies, which is why the price is going up so quickly, but people need to think about how these technologies are being used in real life and how they can improve people's businesses."

Earlier this year it was revealed SBI is planning to launch a cryptocurrency exchange this summer and has also invested in a renewable energy wind farm to begin mining Bitcoin Cash — which Yoshitaka believes is more viable than the original bitcoin.

"Bitcoin is too expensive and people are just holding it and hoping it increase in value," said Yoshitaka.

Aaron McDonald, the chief executive of decentralised app marketplace Centrality (which closed a $80 million initial coin offering (ICO) earlier this year), expects Japan and east Asia to be the core driver of global bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and blockchain adoption.

New Zealand-based Centrality's ICO was predominantly bought by investors from Japan, where one third of adults have used a cryptocurrency wallet.

"We're focused on the region because people in Japan are far further ahead than the rest of the world when it comes to blockchain and crytocurrencies," said McDonald.

A spokesperson for blockchain investment advisory company CTIA, one of Centrality's major investors, said: "If blockchain is integrated into the Japanese market it will be a great tool and prevent the market from declining."

 

This week it was announced Centrality has secured a partnership with China tech giant InfiniVision and Japan-based Jasmy — founded by the former president of the Sony Corporation.

 

However, there are fears heavy-handed regulation could suffocate the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry in Japan, with the government clamping down on crypto exchanges earlier this year in the wake of a number of high-profile thefts.

Fears of a global regulatory crackdown have contributed to a sharp fall in the bitcoin price in 2018, after a rapid rise last year.

The likes of illegal ICOs, money laundering, tax evasion, thefts, exchange outages, excessive speculation have all become a worry for regulators this year.

While Japan has broadly chose a more accommodating approach to blockchain and cryptocurrencies, last year introducing a law that resulted in 16 licensed trading venues, in early March it also cracked down, penalizing six exchanges and telling another to revise its management structure among other changes.

 

Billy Bambrough , CONTRIBUTOR

David – http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Blockchain’s Once-Feared 51% Attack Is Now Becoming Regular

June 8, 2018 David

Blockchain's Once-Feared 51% Attack Is Now Becoming Regular

Monacoin, bitcoin gold, zencash, verge and now, litecoin cash.

At least five cryptocurrencies have recently been hit with an attack that used to be more theoretical than actual, all in the last month. In each case, attackers have been able to amass enough computing power to compromise these smaller networks, rearrange their transactions and abscond with millions of dollars in an effort that's perhaps the crypto equivalent of a bank heist.

More surprising, though, may be that so-called 51% attacks are a well-known and dangerous cryptocurrency attack vector.

While there have been some instances of such attacks working successfully in the past, they haven't exactly been all that common. They've been so rare, some technologists have gone as far as to argue miners on certain larger blockchains would never fall victim to one. The age-old (in crypto time) argument? It's too costly and they wouldn't get all that much money out of it.

But that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

NYU computer science researcher Joseph Bonneau released research last year featuring estimates of how much money it would cost to execute these attacks on top blockchains by simply renting power, rather than buying all the equipment.

One conclusion he drew? These attacks were likely to increase. And, it turns out he was right.

"Generally, the community thought this was a distant threat. I thought it was much less distant and have been trying to warn of the risk," he told CoinDesk, adding:

"Even I didn't think it would start happening this soon."

Inside the attacks

Stepping back, cryptocurrencies aim to solve a long-standing computer science issue called the "double spend problem."

Essentially, without creating an incentive for computers to monitor and prevent bad behavior, messaging networks were unable to act as money systems. In short, they couldn't prevent someone from spending the same piece of data five or even 1,000 times at once (without trusting a third party to do all the dirty work).

That's the entire reason they work as they do, with miners (a term that denotes the machines necessary to run blockchain software) consuming electricity and making sure no one's money is getting stolen.

To make money using this attack vector, hackers need a few pieces to be in place. For one, an attacker can't do anything they want when they've racked up a majority of the hashing power. But they are able to double spend transactions under certain conditions.

It wouldn't make sense to amass all this expensive hashing power to double spend a $3 transaction on a cup of coffee. An attacker will only benefit from this investment if they're able to steal thousands or even millions of dollars.

As such, hackers have found various clever ways of making sure the conditions are just right to make them extra money. That's why attackers of monacoin, bitcoin gold, zencash and litecoin cash have all targeted exchanges holding millions in cryptocurrency.

By amassing more than half of the network's hashing power, the bitcoin gold attacker was able to double spend two very expensive transactions sent to an exchange.

Through three successful attacks of zencash (a lesser-known cryptocurrency that's a fork of a fork of privacy-minded Zcash), the attacker was able to run off with about more than 21,000 zen (the zencash token) worth well over $500,000 at the time of writing.

Though, the attack on verge was a bit different since the attacker exploited insecure rules to confuse the network into giving him or her money. Though, it's clear the attacks targeted verge's lower protocol layer, researchers are debating whether they technically constitute 51% attacks.

Small coins at risk

But, if these attacks were uncommon for such a long time, why are we suddenly seeing a burst of them?

In conversation with CoinDesk, researchers argued there isn't a single, clear reason. Rather, there a number of factors that likely contributed. For example, it's no coincidence smaller coins are the ones being attacked. Since they have attracted fewer miners, it's easier to buy (or rent) the computing power necessary needed to build up a majority share of the network.

Estimated Profitability of 51% Attacks

Further, zencash co-creator Rob Viglione argued the rise of mining marketplaces, where users can effectively rent mining hardware without buying it, setting it up and running it, has made it easier, since attackers can use it to easily buy up a ton of mining power all at once, without having to spend the time or money to set up their own miners.

Meanwhile, it's grown easier to execute attacks as these marketplaces have amassed more hashing power.

"Hackers are now realizing it can be used to attack networks," he said.

As a data point for this, someone even erected a website Crypto51 showing how expensive it is to 51% attack various blockchains using a mining marketplace (in this instance, one called NiceHash). Attacking bytecoin, for example, might cost as little as $719 to attack using rented computing power.

"If your savings are in a coin, or anything else, that costs less than $1 million a day to attack, you should reconsider what you are doing," tweeted Cornell professor Emin Gün Sirer.

On the other hand, larger cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum are harder to 51% attack because they're much larger, requiring more hashing power than NiceHash has available.

"Bitcoin is too big and there isn't enough spare bitcoin mining capacity sitting around to pull off the attack," Bonneau told CoinDesk.

But, while Crypto51 gives a rough estimate, ETH Zurich research Arthur Gervais argued to take the results with a grain of salt, since it "ignores" the initial costs of buying hard and software. "Thus, the calculations are oversimplified in my mind," he added.

The solution: a longer wait

Gervais further argues it's worth putting these attacks into context. Though a 51% attack is perhaps the most famous cryptocurrency attack, it's not necessarily the worst in his mind.

He pointed to other malicious bugs, such as one found in zcoin, where, if exploited, a user would have been able to print as many zcoin as they would like. But 51% attacks are still troubling since they can still be worthwhile sometimes, impacting exchanges or whoever happens to be in the crosshairs of the attacker.

"As an industry, we have to put an end to this risk," Viglione said, pointing to efforts on zencash to stop this from happening again.

Either way, one way for users or exchanges to make sure they aren't defrauded is to only accept money that's older, or has been buried by more blocks of transactions, called "confirmations." The more confirmations there have been, the harder the funds are to steal in a 51% attack.

Initially, exchanges where bitcoin gold was stolen required only five confirmations, and the attacker was able to reverse all of them with their hashing power. In response to the attacks, they have upped the number of confirmations to 50, which has successfully plugged up the attacks, at least for now.

Because of this, developers and researchers contend bigger blockchains with more hashing power behind them are more secure since they require fewer confirmations.

As bitcoin entrepreneur John Light put it:

"Remember this next time someone tells you they use altcoins because they're 'cheaper' to use."

 

 

Alyssa Hertig Jun 8, 2018 at 04:00 UTC

David – http://markethive.com/david-ogden

JPMorgan Looks Into Crypto Months After Their CEO Called Bitcoin ‘Stupid’ and ‘Dangerous’

May 19, 2018 David

JPMorgan Looks Into Crypto Months After Their CEO Called Bitcoin ‘Stupid' and ‘Dangerous'

JPMorgan Looks Into Crypto Months After Their CEO Called Bitcoin ‘Stupid’ and ‘Dangerous’

Back in September of 2017, JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin “stupid” and “dangerous.” Dimon also said if he caught anyone buying or selling Bitcoin he would “fire them in a second.” His words carry heavy weight as one of the most prominent voices in the global finance world.

However, it appears his opinion changed. JPMorgan is looking into the use of cryptocurrencies despite their purported threat to the bank’s current business model.

Oliver Harris was the bank’s former head of developing new financial technologies – now, he is looking into the risks and rewards associated with digital assets and blockchain technology as Bitcoin moves towards mainstream adoption.

The move may be related to JPMorgan’s competitor Goldman Sachs’ decision to hire Justin Schmidt, a trader specializing in exchanging cryptocurrencies. However, JPMorgan’s decision to look into blockchain assets is surprising, especially considering Dimon’s harsh remarks towards Bitcoin only nine months ago.

In January of 2018, Dimon recanted his prior statements when he told Fox he is open-minded with regards to blockchain assets:

“The Bitcoin to me was always what the governments are gonna feel about Bitcoin as it gets really big, and I just have a different opinion than other people. I’m not interested that much in the subject at all. The blockchain is real. You can have crypto yen and dollars and stuff like that. ICO’s you have to look at individually.”

in addition to researching cryptocurrency assets for the banking giant, Harris will also be leading Quorum, the bank’s in-house blockchain project. According to a report from Reuters’ Anna Irrera, JPMorgan is considering turning Quorum into an independent company.

Bitcoin has been growing at a rate of 165% per year for the past six years, according to Pantera Capital’s CEO Dan Morehead. Cryptocurrencies are becoming a hot commodity, and institutions such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs’ are finally looking for ways to get in on the action.

The CME and CBOE recently launched Bitcoin futures trading platforms– now, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are investigating cryptocurrencies as well. The acknowledgment of large banks and corporations toward the vast potential of blockchain technology is significant because it will increase awareness of the crypto scene.

 

Author Jacob Tuwiner

 

Posted by David Ogden entrepreneur

David – http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Bitcoin Cash makes waves as it becomes available on Coinbase – and then halts trading

December 20, 2017 David

Bitcoin Cash makes waves as it becomes available on Coinbase – and then halts trading

Bitcoin Cash makes waves as it becomes available on Coinbase – and then halts trading

Bitcoin Cash, a fork of the more popular cryptocurrency that was created in August, is now fully supported on Coinbase’s exchange, so you can buy and sell the currency there – just not immediately.

Abbreviated as BCH, the currency showed Cash prices at roughly $8,500, or nearly three times higher than the value it commands on other exchanges (Coinmarketcap has it at $3,381 at the time of writing).

TechCrunch noted that the price surge was likely the result of a glitch, as no other exchange reflected a similar increase in value. Coinbase’s US-based sister exchange GDAX noted that it’s clearing BCH markets until 9AM PST on December 20. As such, Coinbase has halted BCH trading on its platform as well – though sends and receives are still possible.

The company noted that you should be able to buy and sell BCH again tomorrow, but didn’t say whether it determined what might have caused the hiccup.

Update: GDAX explained that it paused BCH trading owing to high volatility, and that order books will reopen on December 20 at 9AM PST.

 

Author ABHIMANYU GHOSHAL

 

Posted by David Ogden
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

David – http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Rise of Bitcoins causes stir but questions linger

November 26, 2017 David

Anthony Mburu and his fiancée Elizabeth John at Nation Centre on November 22, 2017 for an interview. Mburu paid part of his dowry using Bitcoin

Rise of Bitcoins causes stir but questions linger

Anthony Mburu and his fiancée Elizabeth John who recently attracted curiosity when he paid part of his dowry using Bitcoins, a form of digital currency, in Naivasha Kenya,considers himself a non-conformist.

Having quit university in 2010 after just one semester of his engineering course, 26-year-old Anthony Mburu does not fancy formal education, for instance.

“Formal education is good. It will give you an average life. You’ll eat, have your mortgage, car loan and all that — live an average life; struggle through life to the end,” he opined.

WALUBENGO: Kenya's uneasy dance with Bitcoin

DOWRY

He currently makes a living out of “mining” Bitcoins and he says that is the source of income that has enabled him buy a parcel of land in Naivasha, stay in a rented house and has given him something to buy and maintain his car among other fortunes.

“Everything is Bitcoin. Where I live, Bitcoin; what I drive, Bitcoin; investment, Bitcoin,” he said.

The computer-generated currency, he says, enabled him pay part of his dowry.

On November 11, as he headed to the home of his fiancée Elizabeth Chege in Naivasha, he had already negotiated with his in-laws that the goats portion of his dowry be settled with Bitcoins.

MOBILE APPLICATION

There are some components of the dowry process he paid for in hard cash.

His father-in-law, John Thion’go Chege, a retired KenGen employee, bought the idea.

They helped him download a mobile phone application that works as a Bitcoin wallet.

“We told him, ‘You just receive this and keep it. In a few months, you will have double the dowry. And if you keep [real] goats, they’ll still be the same goats,’” Mr Mburu said.

Ms Chege, the 6th born in a family of nine children, said her parents did not ask many questions despite the fact that Bitcoin is not a well-known concept in Kenya.

“They can’t refuse because they believe in me,” she said.

CBK

Mr Mburu’s unprecedented action has drawn mixed reactions since Bitcoin is a currency the Central Bank of Kenya has told the public to eschew because it is not backed by any regulator.

In a recent interview, Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge reiterated his disdain for Bitcoin, saying the way the currency’s value has shot up is proof that it could be a Ponzi scheme.

“Our point is that there is risk and it is important that everybody knows that those risks can come back to haunt us and have financial stability concerns,” Dr Njoroge said.

VALUE

Those who are in Dr Njoroge’s school of thought have been criticising the Bitcoin dowry deal.

“Ikicollapse nayo? Give back the bride…” a commentator on NTV’s YouTube channel joked.

Another viewer wrote: “That family better cash in on those Bitcoins. The Bitcoin bubble will burst… Eventually.”

But the currency is fast gaining prominence in Kenya as many people try their luck with this fortune whose value has been sharply rising, much that by Saturday , one Bitcoin was selling for close to Sh900,000 locally.

The value was barely Sh10,000 a year ago.

On the global scale, one Bitcoin was selling at $8,480 (Sh875,984).

SELLERS

On Saturday afternoon on localBitcoins.com, one of the platforms where Bitcoins are sold by Kenyans to other Kenyans, there were at least 10 active sellers.

One in Nairobi was selling 0.150544 of a Bitcoin for Sh140,000, which they wanted to be sent to him via M-Pesa.

Another one in Nakuru wanted Sh250,000 sent to his bank account before he could load any willing buyer’s Bitcoin account with 0.26153363 of Bitcoin.

There are many ways of making money though Bitcoin, and Mr Mburu’s preferred way is through “mining”.

PURCHASE SHARES

He is a member of Bitclub Network, which helps Kenyans and other people across the globe buy shares in the Bitcoin enterprise.

The Kenyan chapter of the club, which has more than 1,000 members, meets in Nairobi every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Asked what one needs to do to get into mining, Mr Mburu replied:

“Just buy shares. The company dealing with that is Bitclub Network. And one unit is going for $599 (Sh61,876).

"So, you buy Bitcoins worth that much and buy that mining capacity; like you buy a machine. It’s a real machine called Antminer S9.”

He adds: “Once you buy it, it’s stored in our facility in Iceland, and there’s a 30-day period of paying that you’ll not be earning.”

GOATS

Ever since he discovered Bitcoin — which he says brings him at least $5,000 (Sh515,500) per month — he has not looked back and he is planning for a wedding in April 2018. “It will be a Bitcoin wedding,” he said.

Mr Mburu was also dismissive of those who say he might have taken his in-laws for a ride.

“They don’t know what it is. Bitcoin has been there, and it’s going nowhere,” he said.

The Bitcoins he paid were and equivalent of 25 goats. He still has 75 to go “which are yet to be paid in Bitcoins” as he put it.

GROWTH

His fiancée runs a clothes shop in Nairobi and she has also been accepting payment via Bitcoin, though the mode of exchange is yet to gain ground in Kenya.

Mr Michael Kimani, the chairman of the Blockchain Association of Kenya, has been dealing with cryptocurrencies since 2012 and says the field will grow exponentially.

“A lot of opportunities are going to emerge from this and I’m trying to position myself with this industry because I honestly think in the next five years, this is going to be so big that people will forget how we used to live without cryptocurrency,” he said.

 

Author: ELVIS ONDIEKI

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

 

David – http://markethive.com/david-ogden

3 Reasons the Bitcoin Price Hit $8,000 Today

November 18, 2017 David

3 Reasons the Bitcoin Price Hit $8,000 Today

3 Reasons the Bitcoin Price Hit $8,000 Today

The bitcoin price touched the $8,000 mark on Friday morning (or Thursday night, depending on your time zone), enabling the flagship cryptocurrency to check another milestone off its to-do list before it reaches five-figure territory.
 

Bitcoin Price Touches $8,000

Just days prior, the bitcoin price had been trading below $6,000, but a mid-week rally raised bitcoin back to its pre-dip level and ultimately vaulted it to a new all-time high of $8,040 on cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.


BTC Price Chart | Source: BitcoinWisdom

At present, the bitcoin price is trading at a global average of $7,741, which translates into a $129.2 billion market cap.

 

3 Factors Behind Bitcoin’s Rally

While a multitude of factors contribute to the movement of the bitcoin price, three stand out as primary drivers of the present rally:
 

1. Wall Street’s Anticipated Entry Into the Markets

Ever since regulated U.S. derivatives exchange operator CME announced it would add bitcoin futures contracts to its product offering, analysts have been counting down the days until Wall Street makes its first major entry into the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Anecdotal evidence indicates that prominent institutional investors are eying the markets with interest — enough interest that Coinbase is launching a cryptocurrency custodial service specifically targeted at institutional investors with more than $10 million in crypto assets.

Related to this is the fact that Wall Street investors are increasingly bullish on publicly-traded companies that enter the bitcoin or blockchain space. Payment processor Square, for instance, received a significant bump to its share price after it rolled out a bitcoin pilot program to a limited number of users of its Square Cash app.

square-cash-bitcoin-price-nov17

2. Successful Lightning-Based Atomic Swap

Though less likely to make its way into the mainstream press, another factor influencing bitcoin’s rally is the successful completion of the first off-chain atomic swap. Accomplished using lightning network technology, developers at Lightning Labs traded testnet bitcoin for testnet litecoin trustlessly and without leaving a record of the transaction in either blockchain. Once the lightning network reaches mainnet implementation, this feature will enable the creation of decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges.

 

3. SegWit2x

Finally, some analysts believe that the bitcoin price received a small bump due to the fact that a minority percentage of miners continued to signal for SegWit2x even though the fork’s most prominent advocates had called for its cancellation. Spencer Bogart, head of research at Blockchain Capital, had told Bloomberg Quint that he believed “some capital is rotating out of other crypto-assets and into bitcoin to make sure they receive coins on both sides of the fork” in the event that it did execute as planned. However, the fork did not occur — or at least has not yet — and fork-compatible nodes remain stuck at block 494782.

 

Author: Josiah Wilmoth on 17/11/2017

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

David – http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Bitcoin Wallet Blockchain: ‘Buy Some Ether’ to Make Transactions After SegWit2x

October 17, 2017 David

Bitcoin Wallet Blockchain: ‘Buy Some Ether' to Make Transactions After SegWit2x

Bitcoin Wallet Blockchain: ‘Buy Some Ether’ to Make Transactions After SegWit2x

Crypto wallet Blockchain has announced its intention to join with Xapo in following the blockchain with the most accumulated difficulty following the proposed SegWit2x. The wallet service advised its users to “buy some ether” if they intend to make transactions immediately following the fork.
 

Blockchain Wallet to Follow Chain With Most Difficulty

In mid-November, the Bitcoin blockchain is expected to split into two, competing chains following SegWit2x, a hard fork designed to upgrade the Bitcoin network and enable it to scale more effectively. The proposal appears to have strong support from miners and crypto firms — although this support has steadily waned as the fork has gotten closer — but it is opposed by the Bitcoin Core developers, as well as many other businesses and users.

Consequently, bitcoin services have to decide how they will approach the hard fork. Some, such as Bitfinex, are treating the SegWit2x fork as a separate cryptocurrency, while others, including Xapo, state that they will assign the label “Bitcoin” to the blockchain with the highest accumulated difficulty.

Crypto wallet Blockchain — a SegWit2x supporter — has signaled its intent to follow Xapo’s example and determine which chain will receive the label “Bitcoin” based on the amount of accumulated difficulty each blockchain obtains.

Blockchain chief executive Peter Smith made the announcement in a blog post, stating that the service will provide users with access to the coins on the minority chain if they have “significant value”. Like Xapo, they will label the minority chain either BC1 (incumbent) or BC2 (SegWit2x)
 

‘Buy Some Ether’

Smith goes on to say that Blockchain may suspend outgoing bitcoin transactions following the fork until the networks have stabilized. He suggests users “buy some ether” if they plan to make transactions in late November following the fork.

During this period, it may be necessary to temporarily suspend outgoing bitcoin transactions for a period of time during network instability. However, even in this scenario, your funds will remain safe and you’ll be able to monitor them from within the wallet. You’ll also be able to use all Ethereum related functionality.

“If you have transactions to make around late November,” he adds, “we suggest you buy some Ether in our wallet today.”

 

Author: Josiah Wilmoth on 16/10/2017

 

Posted by David Ogden Entrepreneur
Davkid Ogden Cryptocurrency Entrepreneur

David – http://markethive.com/david-ogden