cryptonomics

As we all know, Bitcoin has had a glorious 2017 despite receiving heavy criticism from Jamie Dimon  ( cnbc ),  Warren Buffet  ( fox biz ), and even Saudi Prince Alwaleed  ( fortune ). Its most recent tailwinds: CME Group. First to the scene of Bitcoin Derivatives trading was  LedgerX , and now CME Group start  Bitcoin derivatives  ( bloomberg ) by the end of year. The entrance of CME Group pushed the price of BTC (Bitcoin) from ~$6,000  to ~$7,400. follow me on twitter   @postmattern  and   @bitfuturist

Bitcoin has become more than a currency. Not only will the value continue to increase (or drop to zero, who knows...) but it also continue to pay out dividends. You might be thinking, "a dividend? But, sir? I understand how a currency can fluctuate in value... but how can a currency also pay you a dividend?" Forks. When Bitcoin goes through a "fork" a group of developers take Bitcoin's Blockchain and tweak it to make a Blockchain that they feel will be better suite the general populace. In order to do so, they must use the exact blockchain up until the time they choose to fork at. Once they choose a block to fork at, and once Bitcoin's Blockchain reaches that block, a snapshot is taken. of the blockchain. Both Bitcoin's blockchain, and the forking blockchain will have an identical blockchain up until the time of the fork. So, if you are holding 10 Bitcoin when the snapshot is taken, you receive an additional 10 coins of the forked currency. Simil...

Hello again. It has been a while. Cryptocurrencies dealt blow with Ban in China in September sparking a sell off. However, Bitcoin quickly rebounded from a low of ~2,800 shortly after. Ethereum undergoes Byzantium hard fork, but struggles to advance against USD. Continues to trade ~$300. Bitcoin owners received a nice forking dividend from Bitcoin Cash  (BCC) (soon to have Bitcoin Gold and two others coming later this year). Don't worry about BTC Forks, just sit back and enjoy the dividend, but not with Coinbase .  It is true that Coinbase simplifies owning digital currencies, but Bitcoin forks, they hold the forking Currency. If you have any questions about BTC Forks, you may tweet me  @bitfuturist IBM teams up with Stellar. AMD crushes Q2 ER (earnings report), continues to stay humble on its GPU sales (despite the cryptocurrency mining boom), and moderately lowers guidance. When asked about AMD's reasoning behind lowing guidance, AMD's response was ...

When first looking in to buying Bitcoin, it can seem quite daunting. There are so many places to buy and sell. From my experience, I have found that the easiest way to buy and hold Bitcoin is to use Coinbase , even if our opinions don't align... The reason I have selected Coinbase is mainly because it is easy to use, and has a simplistic set up that doesn't require you to divulge, and verify, too much personal information. To set up, simply go to coinbase.com ,  or download the Coinbase app. Enter your First name, Last name, email, password, select your state, verify that you are not a robot, and agree to the 'terms and conditions'. Bam, that simple. *Update: they require more information including a photo ID Setting up a method of payment is quite easy, especially on the app. Once you add the card, and the card has been validated (which can take up to a few hours), then you can be a happy/unhappy Bitcoiner. I like coinbase for the simplicity, sleek design, a...

Bitcoin was highlighted on CNBC where the Bitcoin enthusiast set a target of 25,000 to 50,000 USD per coin, see it here BTC is trading around 3,575 USD and has had a steady ascent over the past week of 26% *BTC chart here BCH (Bitcoin Cash) seems to be continuing its wild ride, investers/traders still are uncertain of its future, as it has become another spinoff of Bitcoin. Current price is around .09 BTC. It is down 5% on the week, but up 12.8% on the day. It's intraday high peaked at .1 BTC *BCH chart here ETH (Ethereum) had a boost with other altcoins, which saw it peak at .094 BTC, since then it has had a pull back and is currently trading around .084 BTC or 300 USD. On the day it is down about 5% *ETH chart here ZEC (Zcash) had a nice little bump from ~.062 BTC ON 08.07, surged up to .075 BTC (08.08), but has erased almost all of its gains leaving it at a current level of .064 BTC *ZEC chart here LTC (Litecoin) although a one week chart has LTC down 13% against B...

Digital currencies see a light rally. At the time of writing this (08.08.17 3:45 pm PDT): ETH + 11% ZEC + 22% LTC + 6% BCH - 2.8% (Bitcoin Cash has had quite the roller coaster ride, trading between .06-.24 BTC) BTC surpassed its previous ATH of 3,000 USD on Aug 03, currently hovering around 3,400 USD and currently has a market cap of 56 Billion USD the real question is wether the bullish sentiment will hold. Also, there has been chatter of CBOE launching Bitcoin Derivatives (I'm rather psyched about this one) A question for the equities market is will this help boost AMD and NVDA shares since they produce GPUs that are great for mining. Also, I started using Kraken , and I love it. Data pulled from cryptowat.ch  and coinmarketcap.com

Cryptocurrencies will provide a missing piece in the global economy by providing a borderless currency. There is no currency that is accepted globally. If you take a US dollar to a different country, it is hard to use it at any given location. Instead, you need to swap them out for the local currency. As an individual, this can make traveling abroad a little painful; especially after paying currency exchange fees (not to mention having to carry around cash). This is also painful for global business as well. If a firm wants to send a payment outside their home market they need to go through a bank. Which then takes their home market's currency, exchanges it for the accepted currency in the other market, and then lets the payment process. This process can take days, and this is the most painless method of transferring payments. Payments through cryptocurrencies break the barrier, and remove the middle man. Firms can easily find where they need to send the payment, select how ...

There are copious amounts of websites that offer ways to exchange cryptos. A few that will be discussed are Coinbase, Bitstamp, Poloniex, Bittrex, Gatehub, and Bitfinex. These exchanges never close; so you can buy/sell anytime/any day. I also added Circle, just cause. *refer to end for abbreviation Coinbase Simple and clean user interface Buy and Sell BTC/ETH/LTC with local currency Instant credit card purchases, bank accounts take 3-5 days high fees Bitstamp.net Exchange BTC, XRP, USD or EUR 98% of digital funds stored offline If you want to try trading cryptos: Poloniex Exchange/Lending 2.5x leverage Chatbox (trollbox) which can be entertaining Two Factore Id *Sometimes Poloniex has issues, and their customer service seems inexistent  Kraken Offers 5x leverage trading tools *seems sluggish at times Bittrex Offers 190+ cryptos US Based (if you are into that, deals with US regulations Gatehub.net Trade multiple currencies...

If Bitcoin's destination is the moon, it hasn't started its launch sequence. Cryptocurrencies are not in a bubble. There are just over 16 million bitcoins in circulation today with a market cap of just under $40 billion (Crypto Currency Market Capitalizations). The US currently has over $1.2 trillion dollars in circulation today (How Currency...). Bitcoin can be used in the global market, while USD is mainly used in the US. 16 million bitcoins to help assist a global economy. Supply is there, and demand is slowly ticking up. Retailers and Banks haven't decided to accept cryptocurrencies yet. As cryptocurrencies assimilate into the global economy, the value for Bitcoins will continue to all time highs. Image from coinbase *You do not need to buy a full bitcoin/alt-coin. Exchanges let you buy less that .01 of a crypto.