Here at World of Crypto we strive to provide the best content regarding cryptocurrency as possible. Having said that, some posts are better than others! Here are my favorite blog posts since World of Crypto has been up and running!
1) How to Get Started in Cryptocurrency
Starting with the basics for every beginner. Every one needs to start somewhere, and that's nothing to be ashamed of. World of Crypto provides an in depth post on how anyone get get their hands on some beloved Bitcoin or Ethereum. This starting guide is sure to launch you on your way in your crypto journey.
2) The Mind of a Crypto Enthusiast
It is always interesting to pick the brains of someone who has been involved in the cryptocurrency community for the long run. Here we interview my brother, who interestingly enough introduced me to cryptocurrency.
3) The 11 Things You'll Need to Start Mining Ethereum
In this post, we provide you a list of the things you'll need to not only mine ethereum but many other alt-coins. If you've ever been interested in setting up your own mining rig, this is definitely something you'd want to check out.
4) Inspiration When Prices are Down
The crypto market is a wild ride. Often referred to as the Wild West in financial markets. We've seen prices fluctuate wildly and we've seen some major crashes. This post reminds you why its not the end of the World of Crypto when prices crash. In fact, it could be an opportunity.
Last but not least:
5) What if Bitcoin Breaks its ATH?
An article on past market trends on how cryptocurrencies will react when and if Bitcoin passes its all time high price.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Sunday, April 29, 2018
DEBATE: Buy A Mining Rig or Buy the Coin?
Many people in the crypto market have been internally debating whether they should put up the money to buy a mining rig or to use that money to buy the coin here and now. It really comes down to what will have the higher return on investment (ROI). There are benefits, drawbacks, and a whole lot of uncertainty in this debate.
I'll make this short and sweet: There is no definitive answer to this debate. Either choice could be the right choice depending on a whole lot of variables. These variables include what coin you are looking into, future prices, future mining difficulty, when you buy, and when you sell. Many of these things really can't be controlled for or predicted reliably.
So what are the benefits to both?
To start lets look at the benefits of mining:
I'll make this short and sweet: There is no definitive answer to this debate. Either choice could be the right choice depending on a whole lot of variables. These variables include what coin you are looking into, future prices, future mining difficulty, when you buy, and when you sell. Many of these things really can't be controlled for or predicted reliably.
So what are the benefits to both?
To start lets look at the benefits of mining:
- Usually profitable even when prices are down
- Hardware holds some of its value and has other uses
- Regular payouts
The negatives:
- Large upfront fixed costs to buy the hardware
- Produces a lot of heat
- Takes a long time to fully return your investment (Possible that you might not get it all back)
- Requires knowledge to set up and requires upkeep
The benefits of buying the cryptocurrency:
- Liquid investment
- ROI relies on price and not time
- Could appreciate quickly
Negatives:
- Very volatile market
- Could depreciate quickly
- Largely dependent on the market
I have no definite answer as both have their positives and negatives. The choice is ultimately up to the investor and their preferences.
Here is an article on this topic: https://www.reinisfischer.com/mine-or-buy-ethereumzcashmonero-2018
Here is an article on this topic: https://www.reinisfischer.com/mine-or-buy-ethereumzcashmonero-2018
Thursday, April 26, 2018
What if Bitcoin Breaks its ATH?
With Bitcoin still far from its all time high price near $20,000 this post will be all about speculation and hypothetical. Currently the price of Bitcoin is sitting near $8,800 (04/26/2018). The last time it was at its all time high was in December of 2017. Four months later we have seen a rapid fall in prices across the board in the cryptocurrency space. So what would happen if Bitcoin broke through its all time high?
1) First of all, alt coins would skyrocket.
The prices of alt coins have fallen harder than Bitcoin has. For example, the price of Ripple fell from an all time high of around $3 all the way down to the 47 cent range. I'm not saying that Ripple will return to $3 if Bitcoin breaks $20,000 but I'm sure Ripple will increase in value from its price today of 80 cents. It's hard to say where Ripple would end up, but a strong Bitcoin could bring along the rest of the market to test their all time highs as well.
Ripple is just an example. The large majority of alt coins would greatly increase in price as Bitcoin does as well. Currently, the health of the crypto market is largely based on the strength of Bitcoin.
2) Mining would become much more profitable.
Going off of the second point, an increase in prices would result in greater profitability for miners. Mining profitability is largely tied to both the difficulty and the prices of the coin. Monero, for example, recently saw a huge drop in mining difficulty as a hardfork in the blockchain's protocol eliminated ASICs. This saw a spike in profitability in mining the coin which was gone rather quickly as other miners switched to mine Monero. The other way to increase profitability is if the coin is simply worth more. With the recent dips in prices mining profitability has taken a big hit. If Bitcoin were to push past it's ATH, the rest of the market will be more profitable to mine as their prices get pushed up as well.
Here is an absolutely great article on Bitcoin's past ATH's and how long it took to break: https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@penguinpablo/how-long-will-it-take-for-bitcoin-to-reach-usd20-000-again
1) First of all, alt coins would skyrocket.
The prices of alt coins have fallen harder than Bitcoin has. For example, the price of Ripple fell from an all time high of around $3 all the way down to the 47 cent range. I'm not saying that Ripple will return to $3 if Bitcoin breaks $20,000 but I'm sure Ripple will increase in value from its price today of 80 cents. It's hard to say where Ripple would end up, but a strong Bitcoin could bring along the rest of the market to test their all time highs as well.
Ripple is just an example. The large majority of alt coins would greatly increase in price as Bitcoin does as well. Currently, the health of the crypto market is largely based on the strength of Bitcoin.
2) Mining would become much more profitable.
Going off of the second point, an increase in prices would result in greater profitability for miners. Mining profitability is largely tied to both the difficulty and the prices of the coin. Monero, for example, recently saw a huge drop in mining difficulty as a hardfork in the blockchain's protocol eliminated ASICs. This saw a spike in profitability in mining the coin which was gone rather quickly as other miners switched to mine Monero. The other way to increase profitability is if the coin is simply worth more. With the recent dips in prices mining profitability has taken a big hit. If Bitcoin were to push past it's ATH, the rest of the market will be more profitable to mine as their prices get pushed up as well.
Here is an absolutely great article on Bitcoin's past ATH's and how long it took to break: https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@penguinpablo/how-long-will-it-take-for-bitcoin-to-reach-usd20-000-again
Monday, April 2, 2018
Inspiration When Prices are Down
When the prices of cryptocurrencies were sky high, everyone was talking about them. Everyone was making large returns in the extremely bullish market that crypto was a few months ago and everyone had to brag about it. Well times have changed and they have changed fast.
With Bitcoin sitting under $7,000 and Ethereum under $400 it's hard to not be discouraged by the relatively low prices. Bitcoin was once near $20,000 per coin. Ethereum used to be $1,400 per coin. These are drastic dips in price no doubt. So why should you stick with crypto? Was it a bubble and did if finally pop?
Lets take a look at history. Bitcoin has been called a bubble for almost its whole existence. When Bitcoin first reached $1,000 it was called a bubble and quickly fell to the $200 range for a while. This was early 2014. That's a larger percentage dip then the current dip from all time highs. I'm sure many people took advantage of the lower prices then and enjoyed a huge upside when the market turned around.
Many people trade crypto just for short term gains. I think that's the wrong mindset. If you truly believe in the technology of the asset you would invest long term. The current prices are like heaven for any one that believes in crypto and is investing long term. This may very well be a great time to accumulate more and more cryptocurrencies of your choice at the relatively low price. Nothing is for certain, but if the market turns around like it has done so countless times, it can be very profitable. Timing the market is extremely difficult and prices may further go down. However, in the long term I believe the market is still profitable.
While you're here, check out this awesome "Just HODL" Mug:
https://www.cafepress.com/cryptoexpress.239691052
Here is an article on Ethereum's falling prices: https://slate.com/technology/2018/03/ethereum-prices-drop-explanation.html
With Bitcoin sitting under $7,000 and Ethereum under $400 it's hard to not be discouraged by the relatively low prices. Bitcoin was once near $20,000 per coin. Ethereum used to be $1,400 per coin. These are drastic dips in price no doubt. So why should you stick with crypto? Was it a bubble and did if finally pop?
Lets take a look at history. Bitcoin has been called a bubble for almost its whole existence. When Bitcoin first reached $1,000 it was called a bubble and quickly fell to the $200 range for a while. This was early 2014. That's a larger percentage dip then the current dip from all time highs. I'm sure many people took advantage of the lower prices then and enjoyed a huge upside when the market turned around.
Many people trade crypto just for short term gains. I think that's the wrong mindset. If you truly believe in the technology of the asset you would invest long term. The current prices are like heaven for any one that believes in crypto and is investing long term. This may very well be a great time to accumulate more and more cryptocurrencies of your choice at the relatively low price. Nothing is for certain, but if the market turns around like it has done so countless times, it can be very profitable. Timing the market is extremely difficult and prices may further go down. However, in the long term I believe the market is still profitable.
While you're here, check out this awesome "Just HODL" Mug:
https://www.cafepress.com/cryptoexpress.239691052
Here is an article on Ethereum's falling prices: https://slate.com/technology/2018/03/ethereum-prices-drop-explanation.html
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Comparison between Ripple (XRP) and Stellar Lumens (XLM)
Stellar Lumens and Ripple are similar yet different in many aspects. Stellar Lumens were created from a hardfork of the original Ripple protocol in 2014. Since then they have changed yet they still share many similarities.
Also many differences.
The similarities start by sharing the same founder, Jed McCaleb. The teams behind each cryptocurrency are different however. The Stellar Development Foundation is behind XLM while XRP is backed by the privately held company Ripple. The team behind XLM is nonprofit while Ripple is a for profit organization. Both XRP and XLM are designed to operate as underlying payment processing systems. They both do this extremely effectively with XLM having a transaction time of 2-5 seconds while XRP has a transaction time of about 4 seconds.
Some differences include the inflationary and deflationary nature of the cryptocurrencies. XLM increases at a fixed rate of 1% a year. This is in contrast of Ripple which is actually deflationary due to a variable "burn" rate. Essentially, some XRP are removed and the supply of XRP constricts.
Currently, there are 103 billion XLM in supply while XRP is slightly lower at 100 billion in supply. This does not mean these are all on the open market however. The Stellar Development Foundation holds 85 billion XLM and the foundation behind XRP holds a lower amount at 62 Billion XRP.
The difference in funding is extreme. Stellar has $5 million in funding for the ongoing development of the project while Ripple has a comparatively larger amount at $100 million.
Here is a great info graph that helps distinguish the differences between the two cryptocurrencies:
Also many differences.
The similarities start by sharing the same founder, Jed McCaleb. The teams behind each cryptocurrency are different however. The Stellar Development Foundation is behind XLM while XRP is backed by the privately held company Ripple. The team behind XLM is nonprofit while Ripple is a for profit organization. Both XRP and XLM are designed to operate as underlying payment processing systems. They both do this extremely effectively with XLM having a transaction time of 2-5 seconds while XRP has a transaction time of about 4 seconds.
Some differences include the inflationary and deflationary nature of the cryptocurrencies. XLM increases at a fixed rate of 1% a year. This is in contrast of Ripple which is actually deflationary due to a variable "burn" rate. Essentially, some XRP are removed and the supply of XRP constricts.
Currently, there are 103 billion XLM in supply while XRP is slightly lower at 100 billion in supply. This does not mean these are all on the open market however. The Stellar Development Foundation holds 85 billion XLM and the foundation behind XRP holds a lower amount at 62 Billion XRP.
The difference in funding is extreme. Stellar has $5 million in funding for the ongoing development of the project while Ripple has a comparatively larger amount at $100 million.
Here is a great info graph that helps distinguish the differences between the two cryptocurrencies:
Here is an article on Stellar and Ripple: http://bitcoinist.com/ripple-vs-stellar-coin-will-win/
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Illinois Considering Cryptocurrency for Tax Payments
A very interesting article I came across by Stan Higgins of Coindesk.com claims that legislators in Illinois have proposed a bill to accept tax payments using cryptocurrency. The state won't hold onto the cryptocurrency, rather it will convert it into USD within a day. The original article can be found here.
Bill
5335 states: "Amends the Department of Revenue Law of the Civil
Administrative Code of Illinois. Provides that, in addition to any other
method of payment provided for by law, the Department shall accept payment
for any tax imposed by the State and administered by the Department by
cryptocurrency. Provides that the Department shall convert such payments to
United States dollars at the prevailing rate within 24 hours after receipt
of the payment and shall credit the taxpayer's account with the converted
dollar amount."
It
will be interesting to see this develop and if it will pass in Illinois. Many
bills come up for a vote and many never get passed. If this bill passes, it
shows how cryptocurrency adoption is becoming more widespread and trusted. It
can be a huge step for blockchain technology.
One
issue I see with this bill is due to the volatility of cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrency can fluctuate significantly in 24 hours. If the government
takes 24 hours to convert the crypto into USD the amount paid by the taxpayer
can vary. If the tax payer is trying to pay a specific amount, it can not
be done so reliably using crypto. This can be avoided if the government credits
the taxpayer the amount the crypto was worth at the time the taxpayer sent it.
That way, the taxpayer would know exactly how much they would be paying rather
than hoping the market doesn't crash in 24 hours.
The
original bill can be found here.
While you're here, check out this awesome Bitcoin mug:
https://www.cafepress.com/cryptoexpress.239690774
While you're here, check out this awesome Bitcoin mug:
https://www.cafepress.com/cryptoexpress.239690774
Monday, March 5, 2018
Graphic Card Prices are TOO HIGH
As any cryptocurrency miner would know, the prices of graphic cards is absolutely insane right now. With mining currently being profitable, more and more people are looking into building or expanding their own mining rig.
This has caused a huge shortage in graphics cards. When they come back in stock at somewhat reasonable prices, they are almost all sold out within 30 minutes. It took me a couple months and a small premium to get the 10 graphics cards that I wanted to build my rig. My average price was about $300 per card, yet not too long ago, one could get their hands on great graphics cards in the $250-$300 range with out an issue.
For example, take a look at these outrageous prices currently listed on Newegg:
Almost everywhere I look, the graphics cards are either in stock for an outlandish price, or they are just out of stock entirely.
You can try your luck at the local Best Buy or electronics store but you probably won't find much of anything either.
Companies are also putting limits of how many you can buy. Which is usually one. This is in order to help gamers who rely on these graphics cards to run high end games. Nvidia has made an effort to favor gamers over miners. Which is fair. I'm sure gamers are much more upset of the prices than miners are.
One of two things will happen in the future to adjust for this shortage. Either demand goes down, most likely due to a drop in cryptocurrency prices, or production of graphics cards increases to meet the current demand of cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
Either way, it looks as if AMD, Nvidia, and second hand sellers are making a fortune right now.
Here is a great article on Ethereum's effect on graphic card prices: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ethereum-effect-graphics-card-prices,34928.html
This has caused a huge shortage in graphics cards. When they come back in stock at somewhat reasonable prices, they are almost all sold out within 30 minutes. It took me a couple months and a small premium to get the 10 graphics cards that I wanted to build my rig. My average price was about $300 per card, yet not too long ago, one could get their hands on great graphics cards in the $250-$300 range with out an issue.
For example, take a look at these outrageous prices currently listed on Newegg:
Almost everywhere I look, the graphics cards are either in stock for an outlandish price, or they are just out of stock entirely.
You can try your luck at the local Best Buy or electronics store but you probably won't find much of anything either.
Companies are also putting limits of how many you can buy. Which is usually one. This is in order to help gamers who rely on these graphics cards to run high end games. Nvidia has made an effort to favor gamers over miners. Which is fair. I'm sure gamers are much more upset of the prices than miners are.
One of two things will happen in the future to adjust for this shortage. Either demand goes down, most likely due to a drop in cryptocurrency prices, or production of graphics cards increases to meet the current demand of cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
Either way, it looks as if AMD, Nvidia, and second hand sellers are making a fortune right now.
Here is a great article on Ethereum's effect on graphic card prices: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ethereum-effect-graphics-card-prices,34928.html
Sunday, March 4, 2018
VEN Prediction
Disclaimer: I am currently invested in VEN for the long run.
Ven has been one of my favorite projects in the cryptocurrency space since I started researching it in December 2017. It is a relatively new cryptocurrency and still has much to prove. However, I see huge potential in this project.
Currently (03.04.2018) the price is hovering in the $4-$5 range. This is well below the all time high of around $9.
Current Chart:
As we can see, it is currently in a downtrend. It is always hard to predict short term movements in the market. However, I believe in the long term, Vechain will be priced much higher in the future.
Many companies are starting to adopt Vechain. Recently, BMW and Vechain officially announced a partnership. A large reason why the price of VEN is not higher is because the Vechain Enterprise Investor Pool is currently selling VEN directly to their partners. This artificially suppresses the price of VEN because it is not being bought on the open market. VEN tokens will only be available on the open market once the Vechain Enterprise Investor Pool sells their remaining VEN.
I believe this would lead to a significant increase in the price of each VEN token. I also believe this could take some time and may not happen until 2019. For this reason, I am holding VEN for the long term.
Remember to invest responsibly and only invest what you can afford to lose. Nothing is certain so only invest after you have done sufficient research into what you are buying and understand the risks involved.
Here is a link that shows some of Vechain's accomplishments: https://steemit.com/minnowsupportproject/@shaheerbari/vechain-potential
Ven has been one of my favorite projects in the cryptocurrency space since I started researching it in December 2017. It is a relatively new cryptocurrency and still has much to prove. However, I see huge potential in this project.
Currently (03.04.2018) the price is hovering in the $4-$5 range. This is well below the all time high of around $9.
Current Chart:
As we can see, it is currently in a downtrend. It is always hard to predict short term movements in the market. However, I believe in the long term, Vechain will be priced much higher in the future.
Many companies are starting to adopt Vechain. Recently, BMW and Vechain officially announced a partnership. A large reason why the price of VEN is not higher is because the Vechain Enterprise Investor Pool is currently selling VEN directly to their partners. This artificially suppresses the price of VEN because it is not being bought on the open market. VEN tokens will only be available on the open market once the Vechain Enterprise Investor Pool sells their remaining VEN.
I believe this would lead to a significant increase in the price of each VEN token. I also believe this could take some time and may not happen until 2019. For this reason, I am holding VEN for the long term.
Remember to invest responsibly and only invest what you can afford to lose. Nothing is certain so only invest after you have done sufficient research into what you are buying and understand the risks involved.
Here is a link that shows some of Vechain's accomplishments: https://steemit.com/minnowsupportproject/@shaheerbari/vechain-potential
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Let's Talk About Charlie Lee
Charlie Lee has been playing a huge part in the cryptocurrency field for quite some time now. He has a host of accomplishments and is generally well respected in the crypto community.
Charlie Lee is a former software engineer at Google and former director of engineering at the popular digital currency exchange Coinbase.
Most importantly, however, is Charlie Lee's success in creating the popular cryptocurrency known as Litecoin.
Litcoin is currently priced in the low $200 range with a market cap of $11.5 Billion and is the 5th largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap. Litecoin is also one of the oldest cryptocurrencies. It was released in 2011 when the cryptocurrency community was relatively small.
Obviously, Charlie Lee has done a lot to further the adoption of cryptocurrency. However, he is not without scrutiny.
Charlie Lee sold all of his holdings in Litecoin this past December. He also sold a portion while it was reaching all time high price levels of around $350 per coin. Here is Lee explaining when he sold:
Charlie Lee has often been accused of manipulating the price of Litecoin through his tweets and public appearances. Furthermore, a lot of investors lost trust in the Litecoin project when the founder of the coin sold all of his stake. Not to long after Charlie Lee announced that he sold all of his coins, Litecoin lost half its value.
Lee also claimed that after he sold, he donated all of the profit to charity. This is hard to verify, but if true, is very commendable of Lee.
All in all, I believe Charlie to be a positive force within the cryptocurrency community. I hope he does not stray away too far from the Litecoin project or crypto community.
Here is a link directly to Lee's announcement on Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/litecoin/comments/7kzw6q/litecoin_price_tweets_and_conflict_of_interest/
Here is a brief bio on Charlie Lee: https://medium.com/the-mission/brief-bio-on-charlie-lee-the-litecoin-creator-bb9e8df7e8fb
Charlie Lee is a former software engineer at Google and former director of engineering at the popular digital currency exchange Coinbase.
Most importantly, however, is Charlie Lee's success in creating the popular cryptocurrency known as Litecoin.
Litcoin is currently priced in the low $200 range with a market cap of $11.5 Billion and is the 5th largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap. Litecoin is also one of the oldest cryptocurrencies. It was released in 2011 when the cryptocurrency community was relatively small.
Obviously, Charlie Lee has done a lot to further the adoption of cryptocurrency. However, he is not without scrutiny.
Charlie Lee sold all of his holdings in Litecoin this past December. He also sold a portion while it was reaching all time high price levels of around $350 per coin. Here is Lee explaining when he sold:
Charlie Lee has often been accused of manipulating the price of Litecoin through his tweets and public appearances. Furthermore, a lot of investors lost trust in the Litecoin project when the founder of the coin sold all of his stake. Not to long after Charlie Lee announced that he sold all of his coins, Litecoin lost half its value.
Lee also claimed that after he sold, he donated all of the profit to charity. This is hard to verify, but if true, is very commendable of Lee.
All in all, I believe Charlie to be a positive force within the cryptocurrency community. I hope he does not stray away too far from the Litecoin project or crypto community.
Here is a link directly to Lee's announcement on Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/litecoin/comments/7kzw6q/litecoin_price_tweets_and_conflict_of_interest/
Here is a brief bio on Charlie Lee: https://medium.com/the-mission/brief-bio-on-charlie-lee-the-litecoin-creator-bb9e8df7e8fb
Monday, February 26, 2018
The Problem With Tron
Tron (TRX) currently has a market cap sitting slightly above $3 Billion. It has a circulating supply of 65.7 Billion coins with each coin being worth about 4.7 cents. This could be a huge problem and before you start to scream "FUD" let me explain.
I once invested a small amount in Tron on an extremely speculative play because my room mate suggested that there would be a huge run up. That's exactly what happened. The price ran up from 3 cents per coin to an insane 30 cents per coin before ultimately dropping back down. If one were to capitalize on this gain it would be a 1000% return, which is absolutely insane. Although this story sounds great, it really isn't supported by the fundamentals of the coin.
Here is my biggest issue with TRX:
Here is where I found the info graph above: https://www.trustnodes.com/2018/01/08/trons-whitepaper-copied-plagiarized
Check out this article on Tron: https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/01/15/cryptocurrency-startup-tron-disaster/
I once invested a small amount in Tron on an extremely speculative play because my room mate suggested that there would be a huge run up. That's exactly what happened. The price ran up from 3 cents per coin to an insane 30 cents per coin before ultimately dropping back down. If one were to capitalize on this gain it would be a 1000% return, which is absolutely insane. Although this story sounds great, it really isn't supported by the fundamentals of the coin.
Here is my biggest issue with TRX:
Its White Paper is almost completely copied or extremely basic. This coin is not bringing anything new to the cryptocurrency space yet it is ranked #14 and ahead of some cryptocurrencies that have strong potential such as VeChain.
My experience with TRX is that it is another coin that's susceptible to a pump and dump. Luckily, I was able to avoid holding a quickly depreciating asset when the inevitable dump occurred.
Maybe it will pump again but personally, I am not going to take that risk and I suggest everyone does their research before investing their hard earned money into TRX.
The general trend for cryptocurrencies has been in an upward trend and it may continue to bring TRX along with it. However, I suggest looking at cryptocurrencies that have stronger fundamentals and better technology backing it.
Here is where I found the info graph above: https://www.trustnodes.com/2018/01/08/trons-whitepaper-copied-plagiarized
Check out this article on Tron: https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/01/15/cryptocurrency-startup-tron-disaster/
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Top 5 Cryptocurrencies of 2018
With the year still relatively young I wanted to list my top 5 cryptocurrencies that I believe have potential. Heading into March, there are still 10 months in 2018 to make a solid profit for the year. So lets get to it.
- VeChain (VEN)
- Cardano (ADA)
- Stellar (XLM)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Dragonchain (DRGN)
I have already touched on VEN in a previous post which can be found here.
However, I will go over some of the positives here. The reason why VEN is ranked #1 on my list is because of the long list of partnerships that VEN has announced in their relatively short time.
Here is a list of the partnerships announced:
BMW was recently announced as well. I also recommend checking out their unofficial white pages here to learn more of the fundamentals of the project.
Cardano is one of my speculative plays. What I really like about this coin is the security and privacy aspect of the project.
XLM is another favorite of mine for the fast transaction speeds and low costs. This coin is similar to ripple but currently has a lower market cap giving it room to grow.
Ethereum is a proven coin and one of the most interesting projects in the cryptocurrency space. I believe it will have a solid year although it may not achieve the same growth rate as some smaller cap coins.
Dragonchain is another speculative favorite of mine. Originally created by Disney, it has a strong backing that I think can prove to be valuable. It has a relatively low market cap at $383 Million. This leaves it a huge amount of room to grow.
What are your top 5 cryptos for 2018?
Check out this article: https://medium.com/@realmarktaker/top-7-cryptocoins-to-watch-for-q2-2018-b661517f1026
Check out this article: https://medium.com/@realmarktaker/top-7-cryptocoins-to-watch-for-q2-2018-b661517f1026
Thursday, February 22, 2018
The Mind of a Crypto Enthusiast
As I've mentioned before in my About Me page, I was first introduced to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general by my brother a few years ago. He has been involved in the space for much longer than I have.
I wanted to share some of his insights with the readers here at World of Crypto.
I asked him a few general and some specific questions and the knowledge he shared is valuable.
The first question: "What are some things that people commonly overlook when thinking about starting a crypto mining rig?"
Response: "A lot of people don't account or understand how power hungry and demanding these rigs really are, and the heat that they produce. Like right now your rig is consuming 12 AMPS on a 15 AMP line, and that's after a 30% reduction in tweaking the voltage on the cards."
The heat is something I can personally attest to. A mining rig WILL heat up what ever room it is in. It is best to put it somewhere remote if you have the space for it. Definitely do not put it somewhere you will be spending a lot of time in. The heat will make it unenjoyable.
Second Question: "What are you holding?"
Response: "I have Bitcoin, Ethereum, Vechain, Stellar, and Nano. I want to add Litecoin to my portfolio really bad, and NEO. I'm just waiting to get in on a good dip but it (NEO) refuses to stop going up."
Follow up question: "At what price do you think you would buy NEO?"
Response: "I'm willing to be patient. Like if it hits $80 I'm in. I doubt it will though."
Check out this article on NEO: http://bitcoinist.com/why-invest-in-neo/
I wanted to share some of his insights with the readers here at World of Crypto.
I asked him a few general and some specific questions and the knowledge he shared is valuable.
The first question: "What are some things that people commonly overlook when thinking about starting a crypto mining rig?"
Response: "A lot of people don't account or understand how power hungry and demanding these rigs really are, and the heat that they produce. Like right now your rig is consuming 12 AMPS on a 15 AMP line, and that's after a 30% reduction in tweaking the voltage on the cards."
The heat is something I can personally attest to. A mining rig WILL heat up what ever room it is in. It is best to put it somewhere remote if you have the space for it. Definitely do not put it somewhere you will be spending a lot of time in. The heat will make it unenjoyable.
Second Question: "What are you holding?"
Response: "I have Bitcoin, Ethereum, Vechain, Stellar, and Nano. I want to add Litecoin to my portfolio really bad, and NEO. I'm just waiting to get in on a good dip but it (NEO) refuses to stop going up."
Follow up question: "At what price do you think you would buy NEO?"
Response: "I'm willing to be patient. Like if it hits $80 I'm in. I doubt it will though."
Check out this article on NEO: http://bitcoinist.com/why-invest-in-neo/
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Critique of Roger Ver and Bitcoin Cash
Roger Ver is an interesting case when it comes to the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency community in general. Roger Ver was initially hailed as "Bitcoin Jesus" and was largely a positive force for the adoption of Bitcoin. However, now things are quite different. Roger Ver is actively trying to undermine Bitcoin and push alternative coins that he helped hardfork off the original Bitcoin block-chain.
Essentially, Roger Ver is pushing for Bitcoin Cash to overtake Bitcoin. I will give credit, where credit is due. Roger Ver is a very good at marketing. He even got Coinbase to add Bitcoin Cash to their exchange. Coinbase is extremely selective with which cryptocurrencies they support. With Bitcoin Cash, they now support four cryptos in total.
Roger has also thrown his support among other potential hardfork alts such as Bitcoin Classic, Bitcoin XT, and Bitcoin Unlimited. Roger Ver is a big supporter of increasing the blocksize of Bitcoin. All of these hardfork attempts are attempts to undermine the original Bitcoin. Bitcoin Cash was his first successful attempt at hard forking Bitcoin.
Now, lets look into his shady history. In 2002 he was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for selling and mailing explosives. In 2005 he moved to Japan and later denounced his US citizenship. In 2017, Roger teamed up with Calvin Ayre. Calvin has warrents out for his arrest for running some sort of gambling site called "Bodog."
This is what Calvin had to say about Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash:
Check out this article on Roger Ver: https://medium.com/@WhalePanda/roger-ver-from-bitcoin-jesus-to-bitcoin-antichrist-69fc7a17c622
Essentially, Roger Ver is pushing for Bitcoin Cash to overtake Bitcoin. I will give credit, where credit is due. Roger Ver is a very good at marketing. He even got Coinbase to add Bitcoin Cash to their exchange. Coinbase is extremely selective with which cryptocurrencies they support. With Bitcoin Cash, they now support four cryptos in total.
Roger has also thrown his support among other potential hardfork alts such as Bitcoin Classic, Bitcoin XT, and Bitcoin Unlimited. Roger Ver is a big supporter of increasing the blocksize of Bitcoin. All of these hardfork attempts are attempts to undermine the original Bitcoin. Bitcoin Cash was his first successful attempt at hard forking Bitcoin.
Now, lets look into his shady history. In 2002 he was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for selling and mailing explosives. In 2005 he moved to Japan and later denounced his US citizenship. In 2017, Roger teamed up with Calvin Ayre. Calvin has warrents out for his arrest for running some sort of gambling site called "Bodog."
This is what Calvin had to say about Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash:
With Roger Ver, I get the sense that he is doing something shady.
Check out this article on Roger Ver: https://medium.com/@WhalePanda/roger-ver-from-bitcoin-jesus-to-bitcoin-antichrist-69fc7a17c622
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
The 11 Things You'll Need to Start Mining Ethereum
Building a mining rig is surprisingly easy. Anyone can do it with a little bit of learning. In this post I'll be listing the most important pieces you will need to get started.
Make sure you understand all the costs, risks, and rate of return before you start spending loads of cash on mining hardware.
While you're here, check out this awesome Ethereum mug:
https://www.cafepress.com/cryptoexpress.239694058
Also, Check out this article on ETH mining here: https://www.coindesk.com/information/how-to-mine-ethereum/
- A motherboard with multiple PCI-E slots.
- Multiple Graphics Cards (Up to how many your motherboard can support)
- A Power Supply
- PCI-Risers
- Ram
- WiFi Adapter
- SSD (Solid State Drive)
- A Processor
- Power Strip
- Mining Rig Frame
- Software (Linex or Windows)
Make sure you understand all the costs, risks, and rate of return before you start spending loads of cash on mining hardware.
Electricity will be one of the main variable costs in this investment. If you live in an area with high electricity costs it might not be worth your time to spend thousands of dollars on setting up a mining rig.
Many miners take months to see their initial investment returned. Everything after that is straight profit if done right.
When all is said and done it should look something like this:
While you're here, check out this awesome Ethereum mug:
https://www.cafepress.com/cryptoexpress.239694058
Also, Check out this article on ETH mining here: https://www.coindesk.com/information/how-to-mine-ethereum/
Saturday, February 10, 2018
The Future of Bitcoin
The start of the 2018 has shown to be an extremely volatile and testing time for Bitcoin. The largest cryptocurrency has seen it's value drop from $16,500 per coin all the way down to $6,000 before steadily climbing back up in the $8,000 range.
This is a very testing time for bitcoin with many questioning the value of bitcoin.
Bitcoin has some very serious issues that need to be resolved for it to remain the #1 cryptocurrency in the space. First, the community and developers need to decide on a consensus on what they want Bitcoin to become.
Is it a store of value or is it a currency made for daily transactions?
The argument that it is a store of value is a tough argument to make because of the large fluctuations in price in short periods of time.
The currency aspect of Bitcoin is being questioned as well with part of the community having enough support to create a fork, called Bitcoin Cash, that aims to be used for daily transactions. Bitcoin also has huge transaction fees making it economically impractical to be used for small ticket items such as a cup of coffee.
The implementation of the Lightning Network may be able to solve this issue and pave a way for Bitcoin to continue it's growth.
Only time will tell where Bitcoin ends up.
Check out this article by Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/03/29/the-problems-with-bitcoin-and-the-future-of-blockchain/#548dc9ef68dc
This is a very testing time for bitcoin with many questioning the value of bitcoin.
Bitcoin has some very serious issues that need to be resolved for it to remain the #1 cryptocurrency in the space. First, the community and developers need to decide on a consensus on what they want Bitcoin to become.
Is it a store of value or is it a currency made for daily transactions?
The argument that it is a store of value is a tough argument to make because of the large fluctuations in price in short periods of time.
The currency aspect of Bitcoin is being questioned as well with part of the community having enough support to create a fork, called Bitcoin Cash, that aims to be used for daily transactions. Bitcoin also has huge transaction fees making it economically impractical to be used for small ticket items such as a cup of coffee.
The implementation of the Lightning Network may be able to solve this issue and pave a way for Bitcoin to continue it's growth.
Only time will tell where Bitcoin ends up.
Check out this article by Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/03/29/the-problems-with-bitcoin-and-the-future-of-blockchain/#548dc9ef68dc
Friday, February 9, 2018
About Me
ABOUT ME:
Hi my name is Robert Kik
I have been involved in the cryptocurrency space as an investor for a few years now. I was first introduced to Bitcoin by my brother in 2016. Since then I have been expanding my knowledge on cryptocurrencies and their impact on the world while simultaneously pursuing a degree in Business Administration and Human Resource Management at Illinois State University. I have also expanded my cryptocurrency endeavors to include ethereum mining as well as investments into other lesser known coins.
The point of this blog is to help readers understand the world of cryptocurrencies, the potential, and the risks. Topics will include an in depth analysis on the fundamentals of certain coins, mining, and other general knowledge. I hope to share the knowledge I have accumulated from the past few years. I have made many mistakes that have taught me valuable lessons. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes! My main goal is to provide my readers with a space to find and share beneficial cryptocurrency information.
Here is a picture of an ethereum mining rig that I am currently working on:
Here is a picture of me:
If you wish to contact me, feel free to do so here:
Hi my name is Robert Kik
I have been involved in the cryptocurrency space as an investor for a few years now. I was first introduced to Bitcoin by my brother in 2016. Since then I have been expanding my knowledge on cryptocurrencies and their impact on the world while simultaneously pursuing a degree in Business Administration and Human Resource Management at Illinois State University. I have also expanded my cryptocurrency endeavors to include ethereum mining as well as investments into other lesser known coins.
The point of this blog is to help readers understand the world of cryptocurrencies, the potential, and the risks. Topics will include an in depth analysis on the fundamentals of certain coins, mining, and other general knowledge. I hope to share the knowledge I have accumulated from the past few years. I have made many mistakes that have taught me valuable lessons. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes! My main goal is to provide my readers with a space to find and share beneficial cryptocurrency information.
Here is a picture of an ethereum mining rig that I am currently working on:
Here is a picture of me:
If you wish to contact me, feel free to do so here:
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