Payment processor Stripe is halting Bitcoin support, declaring that “there are fewer and fewer use cases for which accepting or paying with Bitcoin makes sense”. Stripe, the mobile payment processor with a $9 bln valuation, has announced that it is officially winding down its Bitcoin integration. Over the next three months, Stripe customers will be encouraged to migrate away from Bitcoin payments. After that, Bitcoin will no longer be accepted at all.
“Our hope was that Bitcoin could become a universal, decentralized substrate for online transactions and help our customers enable buyers in places that had less credit card penetration or use cases where credit card fees were prohibitive. Over the past year or two, as block size limits have been reached, Bitcoin has evolved to become better-suited to being an asset than being a means of exchange,” explained project manager Tom Karlo.
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4 Quick Ways To Buy Bitcoin With Cash
Buying Bitcoin can be a profitable decision to invest your money, but many people don't know how to buy Bitcoin, and for that reason, they hesitate to invest. Investing in Bitcoin can be complicated, but it is much easier when you crack the steps. Several platforms offer to buy various cryptocurrencies using your cash in a very few steps. You can buy Bitcoin in Davis CA, which offers a variety of coins you can choose according to your convenience.
Buying Bitcoin with cash sounds good as you don’t need to provide any personal information or KYC verification. You just need cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets that support buying crypto with cash. Below, we have mentioned detailed information about how you can buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin using cash.
4 Quick Ways To Buy Bitcoin From Cash
Four options are available to buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin with your cash. So, let’s explore these methods for better understanding before investing in cryptocurrency.
1] Peer-To-Peer Exchanges
Peer-to-Peer or, in short, P2P exchanges are escrow services that are a secure and comfortable way to buy Bitcoin through cash. Here, you just need to sign up for a good P2P exchange and find a reputable local Bitcoin buyer or seller.
Just visit the P2P marketplace and open an account using your Email address. Further, add your bank account to your wallet, and now you are ready to buy or sell your cryptocurrencies. You can directly fund to your bank account or transfer money to your bank account through online payment methods. Escrow features in these types of platforms provide safety for your money. These exchanges also contain hundreds of currencies other than Bitcoin, which you can manage very easily.
2] Buy Bitcoin With Cash In Person
You can find a person to deal with cash in Bitcoin if you don’t want to rely on third-party services. You can place ads on social media, local websites, advertisement forums, boards, or simply check with your friends. You can also visit Bitcoin meetups and search for the people who are interested in buying or selling Bitcoin in cash.
However, it is advisable that you should not reveal your actual name and location on those ads for safety reasons. And maintain a low profile if you visit Bitcoin meetups. If you get any person who is interested, then fix the meeting in a safe place like malls, shops, or local streets where people reside around you.
3] Through The Crypto Trading Platform
If you don’t find any person or a place for P2P Bitcoin trade, then you can visit the crypto trading platform. These platforms are available online, or you can download the app to connect with them.
These websites contain a portfolio of multiple cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, and you can buy them using cash. You just need to create an account with your email id, and the platform will direct you to the dashboard. Add your Bitcoin wallet, and now you are ready to trade with crypto coins like Bitcoin. You can purchase your Bitcoin directly from the website and transfer them to your wallet. And if you need to sell, you can use the same trading platform, and easily withdraw your money from the Bitcoin wallet.
4] Buy Bitcoin From The Bitcoin ATM
Another method is you can buy Bitcoin through the Bitcoin ATM. You can visit your nearby Bitcoin ATM and purchase Bitcoin using cash currencies.
Scan the QR code of your Bitcoin wallet in the ATM, through which you will get a paper wallet generated by the ATM. You will most likely be asked to scan your fingerprint or any other verification depending upon the ATM’s configuration or manufacturer. After giving all the details, the new portal will open, where you can select the number of Bitcoins that you want. And at last, you need to insert the required cash and wait for a few seconds until the coins are delivered to your wallet.
4 Easy Steps To Invest In Bitcoin
Now, if you have understood different ways to invest in Bitcoin using your cash, below are the steps to start your investment in Bitcoin.
1] Choose Crypto Trading Service
The first step in buying Bitcoin is choosing a cryptocurrency trading service or venue. The popular crypto services provide three features; cryptocurrency exchange, payment services, and brokerages. This platform offers a marketplace to purchase and sell coins, and you can manage your portfolio in one place.
2] Get A Bitcoin Wallet
The next step is to create a Bitcoin wallet to exchange all your coins from the trading platform to your bank account. It acts as a medium that connects the crypto trading platform and your bank account. You need to add this wallet to the trading platform, and you will be ready to sell and purchase the coins you want.
3] Place Your Bitcoin Order
Now, place the order of Bitcoin from a favorable platform or website. You can trade with P2P exchanges for secure trade. Just visit the website and choose the coin you want to purchase. Make payment through your credit and debit card or any other payment method and wait for some time. It can take a few minutes, and after verification, they will be transferred to your wallet.
4] Manage Your Bitcoin Investment
After investing enough Bitcoin, you can manage your coins straight from the website. You can track all the information on each coin in your dashboard. Sell them if you feel profitable using the same platform, or you can keep them for the future to make a huge profit.
Final Verdict
Buying Bitcoin with your cash was tricky earlier, but now several online trading platforms are available where you can sell or Buy Bitcoin in Davis 2002. It provides an easy and safe terminal for your trade. If you want to start your investing career, then cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin can be the option to grow your money.
How to Retrieve Bitcoin from Your Scammers – 2022 Guide
Bitcoin is regarded as one of the safest cryptocurrencies, but things do happen, and there are scammers who prey on cryptocurrency users. No one is safe, not even the most successful merchants. Even the best and most experienced traders have been duped, cheated, and lost their hard-earned money.
Despite the lack of information on scammers and their methods, the recovery possibilities are not wholly foreign. Let's look at the finest solutions for recovering bitcoins that have been lost or stolen. Let's also look at how to avoid painful circumstances in the future.
It is not an exaggeration to say that recovering fraudulent bitcoins was extremely difficult until recently. These proven techniques of reclaiming duped bitcoins are thank goodness, lifesavers.
BitQt is one of the best bitcoin trading platforms for avoiding these types of scenarios since they deploy solid defense mechanisms in the first place. Even if something undesirable occurs, they quickly respond and do what is necessary.
Prevent The Loss of Bitcoins by Backing Up Your Data:
Non-public keys to your visible bitcoin address are found in most bitcoin wallets. If you don't back up these keys and data, your prospects of retrieving lost or stolen bitcoin are slim. Even if it's a sizable sum, all you can do is mourn over your lost fortune. As a result, backing up your bitcoin data with your email address is critical to avoiding these circumstances and getting scammed. Always save these non-public keys connected with bitcoin addresses to your email as a backup. In this manner, your protection guards are up against coning and scamming.
Recovering fraudulent bitcoins was extremely difficult until recently. These proven techniques of reclaiming duped bitcoins are thank goodness, lifesavers. In this article, let's go over the best ways to retrieve your hard-earned bitcoins back after scammers have stolen them.
BitQt is one of the best bitcoin trading platforms for avoiding these types of scenarios since they deploy solid defense mechanisms in the first place. Even if something undesirable occurs, they quickly respond and do what is necessary.
Prevent The Loss Of Bitcoins By Backing Up Your Data:
Non-public keys to your visible bitcoin address are found in most bitcoin wallets. If you don't back up these keys and data, your prospects of retrieving lost or stolen bitcoin are slim. Even if it's a sizable sum, all you can do is mourn over your lost fortune.
As a result, backing up your bitcoin data with your email address is critical to avoiding these circumstances and being a victim of scammers. Permanently save these non-public keys connected with bitcoin addresses to your email as a backup. In this manner, your protection guards are up against coning and scamming.
Get in Touch With The Bitcoin Platform:
The first step will be to get in touch with the trading site where you lost your funds. There's no guarantee that you'll get your money back, but there's still hope, and you can warn them that you'll denounce them to the appropriate authorities.
Backups in Encryption:
Simply backing up data will only go you so far. Even backups are at risk when done online. There's still a danger that hackers will gain access to your accounts and cause damage before you discover it. How can you protect yourself against this danger? Encrypt your backups, at the very least. That will shield your bitcoins from being stolen in another fraud.
Hackers and scammers may find that PCs connected to a network are vulnerable. As a result, encrypting your backups is a wise security measure you may do right now to protect your revenue. In this manner, you may reclaim your assets while also preventing them from being stolen.
Furthermore, you can contact organizations like Chargebacking, a fund recovery service that allows customers to submit a complaint against a scammer and retrieve their funds. Their qualified team of experts can assist you recover your funds from any form of scam or cryptocurrency fraud. When you contact them, a team of professional agents from Chargebacking will be summoned to note down the situation, collect data, track your scammer's digital trail, and prepare a strong case against them to help you recover all of your valuable possessions or money that you have misplaced. From cyber investigation to digital tracking, they devise a mechanism that refunds 99.99 percent of a victim's lost money.
If You Think Money Is Real Then, You Don’t Understand Bitcoin
Let’s be genuine!
Do you understand what Blockchain, or Cryptocurrencies, or Bitcoin is?
I’m not belittling your intelligence-even the professionals hardly understand these concepts. But what you do understand is that real money-and bitcoin, including other cryptos, is undoubtedly worth a lot of it.
For example, if you exchanged real dollars for some of this virtual cash just last year, that amount of dollars would be worth almost ten times as many real dollars now.
So, What Don’t You Understand?
Bitcoin is just figures in cyberspace, a mirage, and flimsy as beer bubbles. Bitcoin isn’t supported by anything instead of trusting the traders who purchase it and the experienced traders who purchase it from less-experienced traders.
And you know what?
All this is true.
What may be simpler to understand is that United States dollars also consist primarily of figures out there in cyberspace. They’re stored in coins or papers at times, but while the coins and papers are materials, the dollars they portray aren’t.
U.S dollars aren’t supported by anything other than the trust of the users who adopt it as payment and other users who in turn accept it as payment from them. The primary distinction is that the usage of dollars is widespread and more fiercely believed at the moment.
Surprisingly, almost all of the current U.S dollars; approximately 90% are purely abstract-they only exist in virtual nature.
“Just about 10% of the U.S money supply roughly $1.5 trillion of approximately $13.7 trillion total is available in the nature of coins and paper cash,” James Surowiecki said in 2012, “nothing is hindering the banking system from printing more dollars when triggered by circumstances.”
Out of the $13.7 trillion in the M2 cash supply (classification of money supply that includes checking deposits, cash, and easily convertible near money) as of October 2017, $13.5 trillion was printed after 1959-that’s a 50 times expansion by M2.
The U.S money is commonly known as “fiat” currency. Fiat means “let there be” in Latin.
For example, let there be light, fiat lux; hence fiat denarii, let there be rubles, dollars, bolivars, and lire. The attempt by national leaders to print money has traditionally been practically compelling. One consequence of this wantonness is inflation. The buying power of $1 in 1959 is currently as low as 12 cents.
So, What Happens To Bitcoin After 2140?
The Bitcoin blockchain was designed, in part, to solve this traditional pitfall. After the 21 millionth Bitcoin is mined in 2140, the system will seize to produce.
Thieves and quacks will forever attempt to experiment with numerous systems to control and account for any monetary platform and any store of value. All valuable stores are targets. Using any exchange system via foul or fair means- fortunes can or will either be lost or made. And yet, surprising as it may appear, enough individuals act in good faith to block secure monetary structures from tragic downfall.
There’re slight radical distinctions between U.S dollars and cryptocurrencies.
For instance, the transactions performed in the bitcoin platform are recorded in an unfalsifiable ledger that does not depend on the governments or banks' authority but on the power of a public computer system that any individual is free to join. Moreover, the supply of bitcoin is fundamentally fixed. The anonymity of cryptocurrency isn’t, perhaps, quite as bulletproof as the anonymity of unmarked cash.
On the other hand, while many people work so hard to make money, grow it, and keep it, the only real thing concerning it is its symbolic power, which is indeed impressive, considered from a particular angle.
Our collective understanding of the value of that printed piece of paper is all that counts. And that common understanding lacks fixed meaning. It’s in eternal flux. The “value” of all stores of exchange, all money, is abstract and unstable, even in the presence of all attempts to protect it mainly to control its flow by adjusting interests’ rates. Cash is only changing system of agreements created in and on behalf of the hive, and that’s all it has ever been- a weak thread in a collection of human trust.
All the hitting debates against cryptos like bitcoin, and the blockchain technology that secure them, often fail to accept this reality — the fragile and provisional nature of the usual dollar into account.
Cryptos can’t be understood even by a small fraction by any individual who imagines money is real, solid, or supported anything apart from human trust in organizations whose stability is invariably uncertain. U.S dollar is backed by “the undisputable trust and credit of the U.S.” But what exactly does this entail?
Simple;
It entails that if you request the U.S Treasury to redeem for you one dollar, they’ll offer you one dollar. Or probably four quarters if you so wish.
When the Cypriot Government Sought To Clean the Country’s Banking Crisis
The unfortunate reality is that monetary calamity in unstable governments such as Spain, Venezuela, and Greece has already taken part in numerous spikes in the crypto ecosystem.
When the Cypriot government opts to settle the nation’s 2013 banking menace by subjecting its population’s bank deposits to almost a 7% reduction, bitcoin’s price boomed. Since that point, numerous southern European holders of euros with debt-ridden government suppose that bitcoin might represent a more reliable home for their cash than Cypriot banks could offer.
Therefore, Spanish bank depositors must question: Would their banks be next?
The existing financial organizations are genuinely faulty and permanently inclined to corruption, and this was long before bitcoin becoming a goldmine in its peculiar investor’s eye. Satoshi Nakamoto committed beginning it plain as day in what is considered genesis block that launch bitcoin rolling.
Bitcoin was a political influence project from the initial, a new system explicitly designed to offer a tamperproof digital exchange option. A better opportunity to present banking systems might be situated.
The Theoretical Tamperproof
The theory behind all cryptos such as Bitcoin is that the record generated by a distributed computer network can be designed tamperproof, thus theoretically assuring currency’s stability much better than the government. Besides some substantial difficulties, the blockchain platform on which bitcoin is designed has partially confirmed this theory. Surprisingly, since 2019, more bitcoins have gone missing, but the accounting system on which bitcoin is situated has so far remained incorruptible and stable.
The numerous ripoffs and thefts in bitcoin’s early days demonstrate how greed and corrupt humans are. There is no doubt that the anticipation of immediate wealth can push people insane. Unfortunately, the tendency of greed to generate crime and insanity didn’t trigger the value of gold to evaporate.
The actual caution here is that the bitcoin ledger’s integrity succeeded, not only due to the system's distribution or because of its brilliant cryptographic protection, but due to the good sense and good faith of personal developers who conducted the project via the infancy stage.
Bitcoin is successful today due to the relentless nature of the sangfroid of Gavin Andresen. Without it, the project might have easily collapsed. Even today, the numerous forks and developing pains still tormenting the bitcoin network are issuing a stress test type.
On the contrary, crypto investors ran the danger of getting ignored early on due to hurdles in designing secure storage and building systems for earning ordinary cash safely from cryptocurrency. Due to issues such as the crime of approximately 800,000 bitcoins, the entire system of Mt. Gox exchange got somehow a poor rap.
As a result, the public was convinced that bitcoin was, to some extent, hacked when, in a real sense, it was Mt. Gox exchange that got hacked. Just like Bangladesh’s Central Bank was short of a whopping $63 million in its Federal Reserve Bank’s account in 2018.
So, If Bitcoin Isn’t A Scam, Then What Is It?
Claiming that “bitcoin is a scam” because ill-hearted people have ripped others off is precisely like claiming “the financial services sector is a scam” because of corrupt commercial banks.
Bitcoin was utilized on dark sites to trade drugs! Now, by the virtue that’s, it’s used in illegal transactions delegitimize money?
No.
The fact is that cash is tarnished in its general nature.
Very soon, the blockchain network now in utilization to authenticate bitcoin payments will morph and blend with other networks since its value isn’t calculable. Speculators from Sand Hill Road to Wall Street have so far invested vast amounts of cash, time, and energy in blockchain-niched businesses. Every individual needs to be certain whether or not something occurred.
Blockchain technology can be coded to offers us trustworthy information concerning it. No matter the fault in the network introduced in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, and they’re still essential-he confirmed that there is a means for individuals to design foolproof, assured records of the human undertaking, totally without dependence on external authorities like government or banks.
And there’s no turning back from that!
The Bottom Line
Now, up to this point, do you understand how money is different from bitcoin?
Well, the struggle for solidity in any currency is often at the level of being defeated because wherever there’s an opportunity to build a transaction, it's human nature that some will attempt to gain the advantage of the others.
However, even the little and uncertain solidity we have in advanced nations needs attentiveness and operate on the side of innumerable conscientious individuals, and there’s never a conviction. The battle to conserve the confusion that cash is real is never-ending, and it never can be.
VerolianAuthor Bio
Verolian Opiyo is a former teacher of English turned content strategist. He specialises in writing about FinTech and Next-generation technology.
Using Blockchain for Distributed Data to advance Artificial Intelligence Frameworks
Let’s assume that we're able to give a super intelligent AI orders and it follows those orders; it may just take the quickest and easiest route to solve them. Just because we make a super intelligent AI, that doesn't mean that it's going to be wise.
There's a difference between intelligence and wisdom; Intelligence is more about making mistakes and acquiring knowledge and being able to solve problems through that. Wisdom, on the other hand, is about applying the correct knowledge in the most efficient way. Wisdom reflects on being able to see beyond the intelligence gained and being able to apply that to other things, hopefully, in a productive way. If we give AI an order to solve world hunger, the easiest way to solve world hunger is just to kill all life on the planet and then nothing would ever be hungry again.
The solution of such a problem comes down to Data and how we crunch the right Data to feed Artificial Intelligence concepts.
Nowadays Data and the way it’s distributed is one of the key fundamentals on which new solutions are built. Blockchain is clearly the buzzword of our age, and yet, few actually easily understood the principles behind it; especially how it differentiates itself from a traditional distributed database.
There is much confusion as to what a blockchain is and its dichotomy with a database. A blockchain is actually a database because it is a digital ledger that stores information in data structures called blocks. A database likewise stores information in data structures called tables. However, while a blockchain is a database, a database is not a blockchain. They are not interchangeable in a sense that though they both store information, they differ in design. There is also a difference in purpose between the two, which is perhaps what is not clear to those who want to understand why blockchains are needed and why databases are better suited for storing certain data.
Distributed Databases
A traditional database is a data structure used for storing information. This includes data that can be queried to gather insights for structured reporting used by entities to support business, financial and management decisions. Government also make use of databases to store large sets of data which scale to millions of records. Distributed databases have the goal of maintaining a consistent copy of a particular dataset across a number of nodes.
Blockchain
A blockchain (referring to the original Bitcoin whitepaper published by Satoshi Nakamoto) stores information in uniform sized blocks. Each block contains the hashed information from the previous block to provide cryptographic security. Blockchain uses a distributed network of nodes that is decentralized. Decentralization means that all nodes on the network store a copy of the blockchain. The nodes either store a full copy (full nodes) of the blockchain or perform mining operations or they can do both. There is no administrator to validate a block of transactions. Once the block has been added to the blockchain, the information is immutable and transparent to all. Blockchain transactions are non-recursive, meaning they cannot be repeated once validated in a block. A blockchain is highly fault tolerant since if one or more nodes are down, there will always be other nodes available that will run the blockchain. Another advantage of decentralization is that it can be permission-less and trustless, allowing people who don’t know or trust each other to transact. What the blockchain does is provide that trust through transparency by recording the transaction and providing a cryptographically secure way to exchange value. There are many types of blockchain solutions already in production mode, offering different attributes and variables, but will not go that deep.
The difference between Blockchain and Distributed Databases
These terms are often used carelessly, and, more often than not, incorrectly. Both blockchains and distributed databases have a similar goal of maintaining a consistent copy of a particular dataset across a number of nodes. Maintaining consensus on the data that is stored, as well as keeping redundant copies of this dataset, are the major similarities between the technologies. On the surface, their fundamental technology is quite similar, but that’s as deep as it goes. The core value of blockchain technology is not to provide rudimentary data services (like the decentralized database), but to build a new ecosystem of digitized data assets and automated trust services. The global blockchain updates its state autonomously, and data is traceable to its source. On the other hand, the core value of distributed database is to provide data storage and access services to business systems. The database is designed to provide operational-support, mainly for business products and development projects, with the data being stored with a focus on supporting analysis and retrieval. Public blockchains are a collaborative creation, with their ultimate goal being to create a world that is completely decentralized, and where the ownership of digital assets is protected and transferable at all times. On the other hand, distributed databases are centrally managed by a service provider. Their goal is to create a logical center, that can provide efficient, low cost services with great scalability. Both technologies face technical trilemmas, which is referring to the difficulty of optimizing a technology while balancing tradeoffs. For example, the blockchain trilemma is concurrently achieving high security, decentralization and scalability.
Let’s talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI)
We’re overwhelmed with information, articles and opinions on AI and Blockchain. Experts and non-experts alike, are attempting to envision a future driven by the rise of this exponential technology. Because of the constant flow of information on AI, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to pinpoint what exactly AI is. Few of us are able to actually define Artificial Intelligence. Many of us make the mistake of using it synonymously with other buzzwords, like “robots”. AI is not a single technology, but a diverse set of methods and tools continuously evolving in tandem with advances in Data Science, Chip Design, Cloud Services and End-User Adoption. The most common examples of AI methods and tools include Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), Computer Vision, Conversational Intelligence and Neural Networks. You can think of Deep Learning (DL), Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a set of Russian dolls nested within each other, beginning with the smallest and working out. DL is a subset of ML, and ML is a subset of AI, which is an umbrella term for any computer program that does something smart. In other words, all ML is AI, but not all AI is ML, and so forth.
Data as an Asset
Over the past decade, almost all aspects of how we work and how we live – from retail to manufacturing to healthcare – have become increasingly digitized. The internet and mobile technologies drove the first wave of digital, known as the Internet of People. However, analysis carried out by PwC’s AI specialists anticipates that the data generated from the Internet of Things (IoT) will outstrip the data generated by the Internet of People many times over. 7 of the 10 most valuable public companies in the world are using Deep Learning and AI at the heart of their operations. Most of them are in the process of reimagining every aspect of their operations, their business, their products, their services to deepen customer relationships, to grow new capabilities, or design better products. And nothing can help make a product or a service better, than data. That allows a company to attract more customers, more users, and better outcomes; Of course, that results in more data, and the cycle just repeats. Now companies are starting to use AI, ML, IoT, Neural Networks, Quantum Computing to crunch all that data more effectively. So bottom line, if AI is our rocket ship, Data is the fuel for this rocket. The more data we have, the more accurate AI, better learning, inference and better outcomes. When we get this right, it turns into what we call, Data Capital, and it becomes one of the most valuable assets. In this case, blockchain it’s just the right vehicle to drive Data Capital.
Data Architectures and Frameworks
AI & Data is emerging as one of the most potentially disruptive themes in the digital world. As the world’s data grows exponentially, AI capabilities are tracking close behind, the far-reaching implications of which are becoming clearer every day. AI powered by the current Data Architectures, will lead to a strong increase in labor productivity (by up to 40 %) due to innovative technologies enabling more efficient workforce-related time management. Secondly, AI will create a new virtual workforce – described as 'intelligent automation' in the report – capable of solving problems and self-learning. Third, the economy will also benefit from the diffusion of innovation, which will affect different sectors and create new revenue streams (EPRS, 2019). In the near-term, the biggest economic potential uplift from AI is likely to come from improved productivity. This includes automation of routine tasks, augmenting employees’ capabilities and freeing them up, to focus on more stimulating and higher value-adding work. Capital-intensive sectors such as manufacturing and transport are likely to see the largest productivity gains from AI, given that many of their operational processes are highly susceptible to automation. AI technologies differ significantly on the opportunities and risks they create, and therefore it’s important that organizations consider what type of AI is appropriate for their particular use case. Before starting an AI project, organizations should ensure that the following four conditions have been considered and met to the degree required for their specific use case: Ethics - The AI system needs to comply with ethical and social norms, including corporate values. This includes the human behavior in designing, developing and operating AI, as well as the behavior of AI as a virtual agent. This condition, more than any other, introduces considerations that have historically not been mainstream for traditional technology, including: moral behavior, respect, fairness, bias and transparency. Social Responsibility - The potential societal impact of the AI system should be carefully considered, including its impact on the financial, physical and mental well-being of humans and our natural environment. For example, potential impacts might include workforce disruption, skills retraining, discrimination and environmental effects. Accountability and Explainability - The AI system should have a clear line of accountability to an individual; Also, the AI operator should be able to explain the AI system’s decision framework and how it works. This is about demonstrating a clear grasp of how AI uses and interprets data, how it makes decisions, how it evolves as it learns and the consistency of its decisions across sub-groups. Reliability - The AI system should be reliable and perform as intended, this involves testing the functionality and decision-framework of the AI system to detect unintended outcomes, system degradation or operational shifts - not just during the initial training or modelling but also throughout its ongoing operation. Trusted AI frameworks emphasizes four attributes necessary to sustain trust: Bias: Inherent biases arising from data, the development team composition and training methods are identified, and addressed through the AI design. The AI system is designed with consideration for the need of all impacted and to promote a positive societal impact. Transparency: When interacting with an AI algorithm, an end user is given appropriate notification and an opportunity to select their level of interaction. User consent is obtained, as required for data captured and used. Resiliency: The data used by the AI system components and the algorithm itself is secured from unauthorized access, corruption and adversarial attack. Governance: Track emergent issues across social, regulatory, reputational and ethical domains to inform processes that govern data sourcing and management, the integrity of a system, its uses, architecture and embedded components, model training, and monitoring.
Conclusion
Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook all used very different business strategies to gain their current market dominance and global influence, but their common success is arguably their foresight in understanding the value of data and positioning themselves early. They worked from the inside out, placing continuous emphasis on capability building, alongside developing, testing and deploying the top technologies internally. They have opted for a freeware model for most of their services, for which we all pay in return with all our data. The value of our data is hard to be monetize within a personal business model, but we hope that it’s used in such a way to fuel cognitive technologies to deliver trust and future advantages for our society. Creating trust in AI will require both technical and cultural solutions. To be accepted by users, AI must be understandable, meaning its decision framework can be explained and validated. It must also perform as expected and be incorruptible and secure. We have endless amounts of data to compute and power the most creative minds and with an AI presence it sounds like an absolutely glorious future, but is it? With every promise of a breakthrough technology also comes the looming threat of widespread unemployment and job loss. In the past you could hedge against this, you could go to school, get a master's degree, PhD, you could also specialize by getting skills learn a trade, get a certification, but this time it's bit different. Algorithms and their computers can process thousands of images and hours millions of rows, of text, and minutes, and hundreds of millions of lines of data in seconds, so in a world already out read, out processed, out memorized and out analyzed by computers and their algorithms, and their chips, how do we differentiate ourselves from our silicon counterparts? As we have the historical data and we are constantly creating and updating it, we should focus on harnessing the power of AI and all its subsets to help people. On this note, the value of data that we own is priceless, and the main idea isn’t to replace people with machines, but to supplement human capabilities with the unmatched ability of AI to analyze these huge amounts of data and find patterns that would otherwise be impossible to detect. Using Blockchain to drive Data Capital and secure the right Data, is one of the right means to harvest best outcomes for AI solutions.
Andrei Popescu
Co-Founder of COSS.IO & SCX Holdings and Seasoned Blockchain Tech Start-Ups Investor/Advisor.
Vision-driven entrepreneur with career-long record of business growth and innovation.
Andrei helped in building great companies in Singapore, Austria, Italy and Romania with extraordinary people, while seeking continuous intellectual stimulation through a broad set of experiences in dynamic, challenging, and high-intensity environments. He has been engaged on helping organizations that evolve in challenging markets to break down the barriers that prevent them from reaching their potential, which operate in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, China and Asia-Pacific.
Andrei is an active participant in the FinTech sphere, Crypto & Alternative Assets Class Ecosystems and the Blockchain/DLT communities in Southeast Asia, Europe and the USA; who attends meetups regularly, speaks at the conferences and advises on Blockchain/DLT/IoT/AI/Alternative Investments & FinTech Projects.
As an Alternative Asset Class management, Andrei is bridging new FinTech instruments, with traditional world’s best corporate and institutional investors, where alternative FinTech assets are still in an early, immature, evolving stage of their existence.
Andrei believes that the introduction of Alternative FinTech Assets into the financial services sector, will not only stabilize the investment landscape, but will radically disrupt old-school ways of the financial world.
Thanks to the increasing offer of FinTech solutions, the segment of alternative investments is opening up the trading sphere to assets that, until now, could not be traded quickly and easily, also will enable us to create faster and more cost-effective financial instruments.
His focus and interest are on Strategic Investments in Disruptive Technologies & Innovations, FinTech, Financial Innovations, Blockchain, DLT, Crypto Asset Trading Systems, Digital Markets & Trading Platforms, Data Science, Data Capital, Artificial Intelligence (ANI, AGI, ASI, ML, DL) Applications, AI based Automated Trading Strategies, Business Strategy Implementations via AI systems.
Best Bitcoin mining hardware for 2020 – An in-depth review
Bitcoin - the currency that took the digital terrain by storm and paved a path for the cryptocurrencies, wallet and exchange. It is an innovative payment network and an open-source peer-to-peer (P2P) money.
Bitcoin originated in January 2009 by the mysterious and incognito developer or a group of developers that goes by the name Satoshi Nakamoto. The official identity is yet to be revealed.
What makes Bitcoin so popular? The lower transaction fees, decentralized authority and open-source is what makes Bitcoin an innovative payment network.
Bitcoins are released into circulation by a process called Bitcoin Mining. What does Bitcoin mining mean? Read on to grab all the requisite details or call on Bitcoin support phone number for any kind of help regarding bitcoin transactions.
Introduction
Hearing the word Mining would direct your mind to extract minerals by digging deep down into the earth’s crust. And Bitcoin mining might compel you to think that it is the process of extracting bitcoins. But NO! It’s a whole different story.
Bitcoin mining is the process of creating bitcoin currency. Bitcoin cannot simply just be printed (unlike real money; Note and Coin) when more is needed. It has to be mined through different mathematical processes. The transactions are verified and added to the blockchain digital ledger.
In layman terms, Bitcoin maintains a public ledger, Blockchain, which includes past transactions whereas mining is the process of adding new transactions to this ledger. The process introduces more coins into the system.
The primary role of mining is to -
- Allow bitcoin nodes to become secure and unforgeable.
- Forged to be resource-intensive and difficile such that the number of blocks discovered each day is kept steady.
Why the name ‘Bitcoin mining’? The process is called so because it resembles the real mining of other material resources.
It requires great efforts to create a new currency that is sold at rates comparable to gold and silver.
Chapter 1: Understanding Bitcoin mining equipment
Bitcoin mining is a way to get involved with the bitcoin frenzy. In the previous section, we have already discussed the basics of Bitcoin Mining. In this section, we will be discussing how Bitcoin mining can help you make money.
To begin with, Bitcoin charts high on popularity. It stimulated the launch of hundreds of other virtual currencies who are collectively referred to as Altcoins. Then came Bitcoin mining, the backbone of the bitcoin network. Miners provide protection and reaffirm Bitcoin transactions. Also, without Bitcoin miners, the network would be vulnerable to virtual attacks.
Bitcoin mining does -
- Issuing of new bitcoins
- Providing security
- Confirming transactions
The internet claims “Mining is a Profitable and Promising Industry in a Slow Global Economy.” The major profit factors of Bitcoin mining are - Access to cutting-edge ASIC mining hardware, Low electricity costs and Deep knowledge of Bitcoin and business.
1.1 How does the equipment help you make money?
Though Bitcoin mining has so many beneficial determinants, you can make money through bitcoin mining only at the times when the price of bitcoin happens to be high. Also, you would require quick access to equipment/energy supply that lets you mine faster as well as cheaper than other people can.
To mine, if you are buying new equipment, you have to pay for it as well as get it working while conditions for mining are still good. You are solely responsible to pay for the electricity you utilize and the weathering of your equipment.
Remember: You are most likely to mine as part of a pool of miners, and the pool, in turn, will take its little cut.
To complete one unit of mining, the mining reward lessens from time to time since the amount of computing work keeps being adjusted upward in order to keep constant the bitcoin production rate. The power of the world's computing stock increases simultaneously.
The network miners are required to solve more and more complex problems to confirm transactions in order to check how frequently bitcoins are generated. For this, the miners must have more and more powerful equipment to keep abreast. In order to have a chance at being profit-making, miners need to adopt any one of the two approaches -
1) buy exclusive hardware (a bitcoin mining rig)
OR
2) Connect with a cloud mining pool.Only if you have a lot of money to spend, you may begin with bitcoin mining.
To figure out of bitcoin mining is actually profitable for you or not, you should run some calculations. Use a Bitcoin mining calculator to get an idea. The calculator calculates the profitability of bitcoin mining. You simply just need to enter your hardware's hash rate (Gh/s), its power use in watts, and your electricity cost in dollars per kilowatt-hour. Further, it enters current bitcoin difficulty, bitcoin block reward, and bitcoin price automatically.
1.2 What makes hardware better than cloud mining or other forms of earning BTC?
In this section, we are going to study about the Bitcoin mining hardware and why it is better than cloud mining or other forms of earning BTC.
To begin with your mining rig, you need to buy and set up hardware designed for mining bitcoin, and allow it to run 24x7 for solving bitcoin transactions. In turn, this results in a steady flow of payments without your interruption. Easy to use and easy to set up is the major factor that makes hardware a better choice. However, making money is a challenge.
On the other hand, cloud mining requires purchasing time on someone else’s rig. Companies (like Genesis Mining and HashFlare) charge the user based on a hash rate—in simpler terms, your processing power. Some companies also charge a maintenance fee. All in all, cloud miners, that allow you access to bitcoin, come at elevated rates. You might also be required to sign a year-long contract, locking you in. Worse of all, if the value of the cryptocurrency drops, you could be stuck in an unprofitable contract.
Please note - You might be required to replace the hardware in a year or so. Now that you have got the fairer idea on the details of Miners and Mining hardware, let’s proceed to the next section where we will discuss the best BTC miners.
Chapter 2: Best BTC miners
In this section, we have discussed the top 12 BTC miners to help you narrow down the choice. Let’s get acquainted with them along with their features -
- AntMiner L3+
AntMiner L3+ comes with four boards each having 288 chips (double of its predecessor). AntMiner L3+ is an easy to use mining hardware which comes with a hash rate of about 504 MH/s and utilizes around 800 watts and sports efficiency of 1.6 J/MH.
- BitMain AntMiner S5
Bitmain AntMiner S5 has a power supply of 115 Volts which draws about 560 Watts. The power consumption is low and the unit produces about 1 GH/s for every 0.51 watts consumed in terms of efficiency. The hardware is one of the best Bitcoin miner hardware in 2019.
- BitMain AntMiner S7
BitMain AntMiner S7 gained popularity the moment it launched in 2015. It is one of the most popular Bitcoin mining hardware due to its lower power consumption factor. The power utilized is 1600 watt APW3, which is undoubtedly one of the best available in the market. Its efficiency depends on the effectiveness of the ambient temperature and the power supply used.
- BitMain AntMiner S9
End your search at Bitmain Antminer S9. With the highest hash rate of about 14 TH/sec, it is currently one of the best and most efficient Bitcoin mining hardware available in the market. The 3 circuit boards featuring a total of 189 chips sums up this high hash rate. It consumes 300 watts which are twice as efficient with about 0.1 Joules per Gigahash.
- AvalonMiner 741
If you are looking for the affordable Bitcoin mining hardware, AvalonMiner 741 is the one. It was created by a company called Canaan. With a good hash rate of about 7.3 TH/s, efficiency of 0.16 J/GH and an air forming cooling system that allows 88 chips to function as a single unit, it helps keep the miner running all the time.
- BitMain AntMiner D3
AntMiner D3 is the best bitcoin mining hardware when it comes to Dash ASIC miners. The hardware is mostly used to first mine dash coins that are converted into Bitcoins and whilst doing so, make increased profits.
It has a hash rate of 15 GH/s and utilizes around 1200 Watts.
- AntMiner T9
AntMiner T9 is a bit expensive as compared AntMiner S9. It consumes around 1450 watts for approximately 11.5 TH/s for Batch 23 and has an efficiency of 0.126 J/GH.
The quality chips of S9 were of a lower quality but the T9 Miner fixed this problem of lower quality.
- Dragonmint T16
Dragonmint T16 is the first BTC mining hardware with the hash rate of 16 TH/s hence being exceptional. The hardware requires 1600 W power supply but consumes only 0.075J/GH.
The dragonmint T16 efficiency can be boosted by 20% since it is equipped with the ASICBOOST algorithm.
- Pagolin Miner M3X
Pagolin Miner M3X might not be as energy-efficient or effective as compared to other hardware, but it is a bigger unit because of its embedded ASIC chips. It has a draw rate of between 1.8 kilowatts and 2 kilowatts and hence the most power demanding Bitcoin mining equipment. It has a high hash rate of 13 TH/s.
- Avalon6
If you are about to begin with BTC Mining, Avalon6 is the best choice. The hardware is easy to set up and is one of the most profitable ones. It utilizes the power of 1050 W and produce 3.5 TH/s.
Avalon6 doesn’t come with its own power supply. You are required to buy it separately. The Avalon6 makes a good unit to run in an office or at home. It secures the network like no other.
- USB Bitcoin Miners
You may buy USB Bitcoin miners, but they don’t contribute to any significant profits. If you want to play and just do a timepass then it is a good choice. You can buy one to learn how mining works. Check out the profitability of a USB miner by using the mining calculator.
Best Bitcoin miner 2020
Before jumping to the best bitcoin miner 2020, we are going to get you acquainted with the factors you should keep in mind while buying the best mining hardware -
- Hash rate
Hash rate is measured in Megahashes/Gigahashes/Terahashes per second. It is a crucial factor as a high hash rate increases the chances of solving the complex mathematical computations which are important for earning Bitcoin as a reward.
Higher the hash rate, the more profitable the mining.
- Energy consumption
Investing in Bitcoin mining can cost you enough. Energy cost is one such expense you would have to bear with.
The more powerful hardware you use, the more power it is bound to consume. Consider electricity consumption (in Watts) before purchasing mining hardware. This will give you an idea of the energy costs consumed by the unit. It will also help you determine the viability of Bitcoin mining using the said hardware.
- Price
The mining hardware comes with a huge amount of price. If you go for a cheap one, the hardware will collect only a few Bitcoins. The Bitcoin mining hardware which is expensive is unique, fast and efficient. Be ready to shell out some extra money if you wish to make a fortune from the Bitcoin mining business. Go for value and quality in your purchase.
Once you have got the idea of the factors above, you are ready to buy the best bitcoin mining hardware. Read on to figure out the best miner hardware to start with BTC Mining.
The top Bitcoin miners on the market today are:
- Antminer S17 Pro
This miner is 7nm long. With a power consumption of around 2790 watts, the miner can reach 62 Th/s. It has two modes – normal and Pro.
- Terminator T3
This powerful miner in the market can supply up to 43TH/s. It has a power consumption of 2100 Watts.
- EBIT E12+
Till date, this miner is one of the most impressive miners yet. It is the most efficient miner with an ideal hash rate of 50TH/s and a power consumption of around 2500 Watts.
You can opt for one of the three hardware blindly. However, according to the reviews, Antminer S17 Pro emerges as the best-priced option displaying good performance.
Bonus: Cheap bitcoin mining hardware
If you are determined to mine but tight on budget, USB Miners is the one for you. As mentioned earlier, they are a good choice if your sole purpose is to play with Bitcoin mining. You may also check ASICMiner Block Erupter USB 330MH/s Sapphire Miner, Avalon Nano 3 and 21 Bitcoin Computer.
If you really want to make a profit, check out other Bitcoin mining hardware listed in the blog.
Conclusion
Mining Efficiency is rising day by day and is constantly improving. The mining hardware has evolved from computer CPUs to graphics card GPUs to FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Array) and now to ASICs (Application-specific Integrated Circuit).
To make your mining venture profitable, you can consider the listed hardware. The Dragonmint T16 is the best option (as of now) for someone getting started with mining.
It is highly recommended to dive into the details before making the ultimate choice or call on Bitcoin contact number.
Moreover, if you are confused and require more briefing, kindly post your query in the comment section below. We would be happy to answer you!
Chest Thumping Supremacy Between Programmed Bots And Creative Humans
Verolian Opiyo
From self-driving vehicles joining the growing city taxi force to digital support booking restaurants reservations, Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is stamping its authority continuous in our daily lives.
Therefore, it’s perhaps no surprise to you that these incredibly powerful bots are now being primarily used as auto trading robots in the cryptocurrency market.
Scores of people are lured to the markets by hopes of earning easy tokens through trading robots. Trading bot or robot is an automated trading program that runs on your computer and trades on your behalf in your account. They operate using various signals and indicators, such as moving indices and averages.
Selling bots online has become a massive business, but before you dive into the idea, there are things to factor in:
The concept is simple: to assist customers in generating tokens/ money in the markets, while not consuming most of their time. The underlying notion is that computers are much better at trading as opposed to human because trading is all about complex calculations of probability and mathematics.
While this may either be true or false, it’s hectic to find real performance reviews of trading softwares. Besides, anecdotal evidence intends to suggest that several traders either don’t outperform the markets or lose money. This is actually true in the crypto-space, where there are no easily accessible strategies to outwit the market, making price booms is the only feasible option.
Investing in cryptos isn’t for the faint-hearted, because there’s often the shortcoming of losing cash, especially when you lack in-depth knowledge of the market. Sometimes, even seasoned and professional traders lose their hard-earned cash on some trade since it’s really hectic to gain money every time. For instance, Wall Street Hall of Famer Warren Buffet lost approximately $23 billion during the 2008’s financial crisis.
In short, humans aren’t flawless when it comes to trading. It’s becoming notorious nowadays for individuals to invest cash into trading robots, but how effective is this method?
First, let’s dive into some of the features that fuels hostility between the two rivals.
24/7 Economy
While ordinary stock markets are only actively operational during the daytime, the crypto market operates 24/7, every day. This indicates that with a robot, you can maintain impressive trading into your working or sleeping hours.
Whereas changes in price for outdated markets can be down to fractions of a cent, fluctuations in price in crypto space can be significantly more dramatic-24 hours a day. For traders, the best cryptocurrency trading bot provides a platform to stamp authority on the market around the clock. It also secures their assets if they’re away from their place or are asleep.
While it’s true that bots can help you make good cash, it’s also true that it can make you lose money based on the trading strategies you incorporate.
Unpredictable Emotional Issues
Crypto trading can cause mixed reactions of emotions that might sometimes interrupt your progress.
For instance, fear catalysed by negative news may trigger one to emotionally trade at a loss instead of holding onto it for a lengthy period until the markets stabilize. Alternatively, making a rushed decision fueled with greed and fear of missing out may influence an individual to invest in just a single token or coin heavily.
It’s public knowledge and always advisable not to put all your eggs in a single basket regardless of how flashy the basket appears. So you perhaps shouldn’t place all your cash on Bitcoin, or whatever attractive altcoin is booming right now.
Speaking of unpredictable emotional issues, there’s no doubt that bots shut doors for absolute psychological or emotional pressure of trading. Although, individuals using bots still need to understand when to intervene and when to relax, which is always a mental skill or strength.
Time Conservation
Trading becomes monotonous with all it’s price verification and button clicking or pressing.
A trading bot can handle all those tasks with countable clicks. You can issue your bot some instructions before you take a nap and find that a few positive trades have been conducted when you wake up.
Bots react faster than human beings. When a trade signal appears (to enter or exit), there is no delay on the side of the bots. Humans, on the other hand, may question or freeze the trade. The lightning-fast period of the bots is advantageous in a fast-moving market environment.
Automated robots can access far broader markets than a human can. At any moment, a human can only effectively access a few markets, but bots can access hundreds. Once released, bots can seek opportunities in all the markets it’s designed to access; hence, taking more chances than a human can.
Paradox of Choice
There’re hundreds of cryptocurrency bots out there and finding the perfect one may be confusing. In other words, it requires the same amount of mental and emotional labour as you would when purchasing you’re next laptop or phone. Furthermore, as with everything crypto, there’s a chance that the bot you’re evaluating may be a scam.
Bots differ widely in terms of user fees or costs. Some of these bots are free, while others charge substantial subscriptions every month based on the number of features a client requires. Some such as Gimmer and Gekko are free to use, but might not provide the standard of convenience you need for your investment strategy. Others such as Cryptotrader would be more advanced but command a fee to use.
What makes a piece of software unique is the number of exchanges on which trades can be made, its usability, and the standard of analysis it provides to traders.
When done correctly, bots can be software that assists crypto traders to remain on top of the curve when it comes to market trends. They can either conduct transactions focused on the parameters of traders or developers themselves. Some bots also offer the opportunity to imitate/ emulate more established analysts and traders- and monitor their track record in full.
Heavy Maintenance
The trades are focused on analysis as opposed to emotions, and this can be advantageous for traders to influence to the odd bout of panic purchasing. All these require heavy maintenance to function correctly.
Off-the-shelf bots often operate based on set algorithms which are usually configured by developers. As a result, their performance often depends upon the designers understanding of how the crypto globe works.
The devices can sometimes be confusing for advanced traders who have their own understanding of the market, as individual pieces of software have a limited stretch for personalisation. Bots can’t purchase from a guess or suspicion as humans can. They purchase after evaluation with the technical indicators. If your selected indicators portray a purchase opportunity, it will accompany them blindly if designed to do so. Unless you connect your bot to a different professional trader, which is possible, you have no option but to learn how to conduct technical analysis yourself.
When it comes to trading, the sales of the coins can be ignited when the profit margin is attained, or a “stop-loss”-where cryptos are automatically traded. However, those tokens must elapse a stipulated value or a pre-defined figure of percentage points.
Besides, they also utilise other features such as “trailing stop-loss,” which monitor the price of a position upwards. If after a particular level of profit, the token starts to decrease, the bot will automatically sell it in profit.
The advantage of a bot is that it can maintain both a tight and rational appearance at all the present investment. At the same time, it can hunt for the latest opportunities using professional indicators. However,
greed usually hinders a trader from selling on time, a situation which a bot can avoid easily.
The bot’s potential to successfully generates profits has, however, been restricted by the notion that market movements usually depends on developments in the news. Or a single tweets from cryptocurrency influencers.
Given how bots are relying on historical performance and raw data, expecting these softwares to act upon trending events can be the stuff of a tall order.
Strategy limitation
Crypto bots can’t factor in crucial insider knowledge, breaking news, fundamental analysis, and a multitude of other factors that drive markets movement. In other words, techniques on offer could be somewhat simplistic. For instance, the bot could just be conducting arbitrage.
Arbitrage is concurrently purchasing various tokens of different exchanges to take advantage of distinct prices for the equal asset. So the bot may buy for you some ether at an affordable rate and sell it back at a higher cost at a different exchange automatically. However, the standard profit margin for this appears to be slightly lower than 1%.
While arbitrage is beneficial, one may question whether this is actually the perfect technique to maximise profits. For instance, would you be contented if you can make only a 2% return on $1000, but you have to control the investments yourself? Instead of only gaining less than $10 daily, you could be earning $20.
Will Trading Bot Outsmart Humans One Day?
There is no doubt that machine learning and AI assist trading bots in developing and evolving continuously. But there’s still an uphill task to outsmart human instinct.
It’s doubtful if a bot will ever be able to predict a catastrophic danger to the crypto space or weigh the implication of emerging technologies. Furthermore, if everybody were to utilise the same measures set up by a trading bot, no one would have all vital edge which leads to profitable scenarios.
In fact, some custom-developed bots are being built with the potential of searching social media for news utilising keywords. Although this could assist flag up a significant development to an investor, it would be risky for the bot to function on its own. The situation can worsen when the mentioned post turns out to be “fake news”- or even over-optimistic contention from an emerging startup.
As a result, specific bots are attempting to attain the best of both platforms. Services such as Cryptohopper allow investors to trade automatically utilising professional indicators, the primary type of technical analysis.
This bot also offers access to third-party technical analysts, who spread out alerts concerning promising investments that the bot can operate upon automatically on behalf of the users. This opens more room for the human touch that’s needed for critical analysis. It could be debated that such a hybrid can offer a much-required edge in terms of speedy transactions.
The Bottom Line
Because of all that can be gained by either using trading bots or humans, the cryptocurrency trading market has continued to thrive and grow. However, doing your homework and due diligence can be a crucial indicator of whether particular trade will fail or succeed.
Therefore, it’s crucial recalling that past performance isn’t often a precise indication of what will occur in the future. It’s always essential to have an open mind concerning the cryptos you invest in and monitor the latest activities in the market.
Lastly, it’s imperative to follow the trend on the performance reports of analysts before you take the initiative to trade a particular token.
Genuine traders will often issue well-researched details of their previous results, including how they’re performing currently. Some individual websites are highlighting their strategies and features regarding the technology that underpins their trading assessments.
Verolian Opiyo is a former teacher of English turned content strategist. He specialises in writing about FinTech and Next-generation technology.
What is an Exchange Rate and What Does It Mean?
This article was originally published by SendFriend
The exchange rate is defined as “the value of one nation's currency versus the currency of another nation or economic zone.” For example, the value of $1 US is the equivalent of £0.80 British.
Exchange rates change day to day, and for anyone traveling or working abroad, the exchange rate can have significant impact on your living expenses and budget. For many people, however, the exchange rate is somewhat opaque. Understand the exchange rate to maximize your earnings and get the full value of your money each time you need to convert one currency to another. Here’s what an exchange rate means and how it can impact your budget.
Types of exchange rates
There are two broad categories of exchange rate: flexible and fixed.
A flexible exchange rate is the biggest category and the most likely type of exchange rate you will encounter when traveling. A flexible exchange rate rises or declines on a daily basis, based on a variety of economic factors and market forces. These dips and peaks are incremental from day to day, but can impact your budget over time. For example, in 2018 the Euro to USD conversion rate peaked at 1.2508 (meaning, one Euro was worth approximately $1.25) in February, 2018. But, in November 2018, the rate hit an year-long low of 1.1226. If you were traveling in November versus February, your US dollars would have been worth a whole lot less.
A fixed exchange rate is an alternate option that some governments use in lieu of leaving their currency exchange exposed to macro-economic market forces. Some nations choose to control the exchange rate of their currency “against outside monetary units.” For example a Cuban Convertible Peso is fixed to equal one American dollar. Another term for this is a “currency peg”; the Chinese government “pegs” their currency against the US dollar, seeking to maintain a stable, consistent exchange rate by controlling how much a foreign currency is worth.
Other variations on exchange rates include onshore v. offshore rates, in which an exchange rate can change within the same country. Broadly speaking, a better exchange rate is the “onshore,” rate within a country’s borders. Some exchange rates have a “spot rate,” a cash value which is the current market value. This is the opposite of a forward value, a value based on the expected fluctuations based on interest rates in one country versus another.
The main exchange rate types you need to know about are the fixed and flexible exchange rates. Here’s how they work.
Who sets the exchange rate?
A fixed exchange rate is set by the national government that issue the currency. A flexible, or floating exchange rate, is determined by a foreign exchange market (forex). These markets set and regulate the prices that investors purchase one currency than another. The goal of a forex is to make more money when a nation’s currency gains strength.
Flexible exchange rates between currencies are determined by a foreign exchange market, or "forex" for short. These markets regulate the prices by which investors are purchasing one currency with another, with the hopes of making more money when that nation's money gains strength.
There are three key factors that influence an exchange rate. The first is the “interest rate paid by a country's central bank is a big factor. The higher interest rate makes that currency more valuable.” Therefore, an investor seeks to exchange their currency for the one with the higher paying interest rate.
The second influence on an exchange rate is money supply, or the amount of cash in circulation. If the government prints too much money, that can lead to inflation; this devalues one currency versus another.
Lastly, a country’s economic growth and financial stability affect its exchange rates. When a national economy is growing and strong, investors see an opportunity to buy more of the country’s good at a lower risk profile. They will need more of it’s currency to do so, driving up the value of the currency versus another currency.
How to get the best exchange rate
Though there isn’t much you can do to control for these macro-economic forces that impact exchange rates, there are some ways to exchange currency that are better than others.
Overall, experts recommend exchanging currency at your bank or credit union: there may be a small fee, but it’s often better to exchange at a financial institution than at an airport kiosk. Some banks have no foreign transaction or ATM fees, allowing you to withdraw cash straight in the currency of the country you’re visiting. Make sure you let your bank know before you travel abroad to ensure they don’t lock your card for seemingly fraudulent charges. Try to avoid using airport kiosks, as they will add on fees and are not likely to give you the best rate.
Exchange rates and money transfers
If you’re seeking to send money home, do a little research on how a money transfer agent considers exchange rates. A transfer agent like OFX, for example, has an exchange rate markup of less than 1% – in comparison with MoneyGram, which can charge up to 4% on exchange rate markups. A good alternative is a blockchain money transfer option, which doesn’t rely on banks to send money faster and at a lower cost. Shop around to find the best transfer option that won’t take advantage of an exchange rate to bill you more.
Against All Odds – The Rise of Crypto Based Investment Opportunities
The concept of arbitrage is one that has been around for ages, and thousands of gurus have made a career out of making hedged trading decisions on these price differences which appear on different exchanges and markets.
A quick search for Cryptocurrency Arbitrage on Youtube will result in many video results, on excellent channels such as explainers on Bitcoin for Beginners, Bitcoin Wednesday, Crypto Wizards & Bitcoin Trading Challenge.
These videos serve to explain the mechanics and workings of turning a profit of cryptocurrency arbitrage trades.
I then searched and scoured the web for anyone providing Cryptocurrency arbitraging classes and came across one platform, Jubilee Ace, which was not only involved in crypto arbitrage but also in other various arbitraging also. I contacted the Marketing Team and went ahead to see for myself.
Here’s my 2 cents worth on the Jubilee Ace Project.
1. Go and See for Yourself
As with any investment platform out there, the internet is filled with both positive and negative news about any opportunity. The best banks have had their products thrown out the window by supposed dedicated flaming sites whose sole purpose is to generate traffic to their sites by preying on the fears of the general public.
Yet I see entirely different, incredibly positive reviews from Japanese fans who have been to their seminars and seen the live demonstrations and are diehard supporters of this technology.
Verdict: See for yourself and make your own decision. I was fortunate enough to get my own Binance account to them for the live demo and I have seen for myself that this bot of theirs works.
2. Make an Informed Decision
My friends are split two ways regarding my quest to seek out and find for myself an interesting way to invest.
I have a group of friends who are saying how they missed the rise of Bitcoin and are doing day trading to make some profits, and that arbitrage is definitely doable but time consuming for the everyday life. This group of friends support my exploration to the Jubilee project but are asking me not to throw my life savings into it, but to use a comfortable 5000 to 10000 bucks only on this.
My other group of friends are telling me to just buy Altcoins and HODL because these altcoins are priced cheaply and we stand to make many times the capital when these prices rise.
Verdict: Why not do both? I am going to allocate 70% of my small capital into Jubilee Ace and use the tools they provide to learn the business, while keeping 30% to do some trading for myself.
3. Platform or Tokens
One interesting conversation I had was whether to invest in just a few tokens that I like, or to invest with platforms such as Jubilee Ace or Bitfinex Funding.
My OG group of crypto friends are telling me to continue to read and evaluate teams, whitepapers, the credibility of tokens and their teams, and just to buy and hold good tokens for the long run.
I however prefer not to be overly attached to one, two or five tokens. At the end of the day, all cryptocurrencies are digital assets with a risk of their plans not taking off. If I were to allocate my funds, I would very much prefer to go with a platform like Jubilee Ace or Bitfinex, firms who have a clear game plan to me, a game plan that they have demonstrated to work to me, instead of just buying and holding tokens and leaving every execution and progress to the management team’s hands.
Verdict: I guess this is a personal preference, but I would rather be near the action with trades and arbitrages happening every day, instead of buying and holding a token and waiting for the token price to rise.
What do you think? Do you have any interesting crypto based investments to share?
Hit me up and let’s take this discussion further, together.
Written by Amit Gupta
[VIDEO] EcomToken, The Gate of Cryptocurrencies to the Real World
Hello fellow investors and influencers and welcome to our channel if you are watching our videos for the first time! I am Maura, the Last Black Unicorn from Coin Info News and I would like to take a closer look into EcomToken, The Gate of Cryptocurrencies to the Real World
https://youtu.be/e7c1iwVPwIA
[VIDEO] Wortheum, the first DPoS based News Platform
Hello fellow investors and influencers and welcome to our channel if you are watching our videos for the first time! I am Maura, the Last Black Unicorn from Coin Info News and I would like to take a closer look into Wortheum, the first DPoS based News Platform.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AoAb9rMfGw
[VIDEO] Slothee, the World’s first Business Networking mobile app on Blockchain
Hello fellow investors and influencers and welcome to our channel if you are watching our videos for the first time! I am Maura, the Last Black Unicorn from Coin Info News and I would like to take a closer look into Slothee, the World's first Business Networking mobile app on Blockchain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B7hvFx0yac
Bitcoin has reached $5 000 for the first time in the past quarter
The new month brings good news to the entire crypto industry! The snow has melted and with it, the hard winter has passed, and with the upcoming of spring, the bear market is expected to recover.
It's been a rough ride for Bitcoin as its price has drastically dropped in the past year. However, its price has became the only topic of interest as today, Bitcoin finally hit the $5000 mark for the first time in five months.
[caption id="attachment_3095" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
Bitcoin price, April 2, 2019[/caption]After reaching $5 000, BTC's price rolled back to $4 750, where it is trying to stabilize. The next crucial step for Bitcoin is to consolidate its rate on the corridor between $4 500 and $4 700, in order to rise back to $5 000 and above.