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:

Here is an article on Stellar and Ripple: http://bitcoinist.com/ripple-vs-stellar-coin-will-win/

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

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

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