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| Cryptos, gold and silver |
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Posted by: Hugues - 2018-12-08, 08:59 PM - Forum: Bitcoin and Altcoin
- Replies (6)
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The next crisis has yet to begin and social unrest is already rising.
Journalists believe that Gele Hesjes (protest in Belgium and France) only protest against the higher fuel prices, but that is no more than the symbolic drop.
These people are tired of being squeezed out as lemons. The bucket with taxes is running.
The government is so greedy that two-income families can barely come around.
How ironic is it that working people can no longer pay the gasoline to go to work?
At the same time, they do see that politicians put their signature under the Marrakech agreement, which means that they will also be allowed to pay for a new load of fortune-seekers.
There is no money left for the own population, but to give the rest of the world a future here.
The political elite has no feeling whatsoever about what is happening to the citizens and only seems to be working on their own career.
The endgame has now been used.
The population can no longer pay the taxes to keep the large government apparatus running.
The limits have been reached.
Couple this with a towering debt burden and an aging population, and you immediately realize that it will be very difficult to straighten this out.
Saving money seems to be the only option, but as a government you will once again fall short, so the protest will only increase.
Politicians have made unfeasible promises for decades and financed the "welfare society" with debts.
That dream is now bursting out and that will be very painful.
The social unrest that breaks out is an important signal. Investors seem to have understood that already.
Several trade fairs score 20% below the top prices and this puts an end to the longest bull market in history.
My idea is that the next crisis will be worse than 2008.
After all, the world is deeper in debt and central banks have already largely faded their ammunition.
As an investor, safety now comes first.
My advise is to reduce stock positions to a minimum, at least for a while.
Portfolios should consist of precious metal, cash, cryptos and mining shares.
It is also remarkable that the gold mines performed extremely well this week. GDX, the ETF of the gold mines, rose almost 6%.
But the foundation of a crisis portfolio must first and foremost consist of precious metal (I own gold, silver, platinum and rhodium), cash and cryptos.
Silver is unlikely cheap and ready to break out.
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| Scalability |
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Posted by: Hugues - 2018-12-06, 08:14 PM - Forum: Bitcoin and Altcoin
- Replies (5)
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Look what I found on the internet
Mimblewimble Explained
Mimblewimble is a protocol that was put forward by an anonymous user in a Bitcoin developers chatroom by the name of Tom Elvis Jedusor (the French name of fictional Harry Potter character Voldemort). Mimblewimble itself is the name of a spell used to tongue-tie victims in Harry Potter. Jedusor left a link to a whitepaper in which he outlines that by using the Mimblewimble protocol, the scalability, as well as the privacy of the Bitcoin network could significantly be enhanced.
What is Mimblewimble
In order to understand the Mimblewimble protocol, the manner in which Mimblewimble transactions are conducted must first be understood.
Mimblewimble transactions are a derivation of another transaction type known as, confidential transactions. Developed by Bitcoin developer, Gregory Maxwell, confidential transactions allow senders to encrypt the number of Bitcoins they want to send using what are known as, blinding factors. Blinding factors are simply strings of numbers used to encrypt Bitcoin amounts in a transaction. In a confidential transaction, only the two parties involved are cognisant of the amount of Bitcoins being transacted, onlookers cannot know. However, onlookers can still ensure that the transaction is valid by comparing the number of inputs and outputs; if both are the same, then the transaction will be valid. Such a procedure ensures that no Bitcoins have been created from nothing and is key in preserving the integrity of the system.
Mimblewimble transactions function in a similar way, except, it is the receiver of the Bitcoins that generate the blinding factor. This blinding factor is then used as proof of ownership by the receiver, thus, permitting them to spend the Bitcoins.
In addition, Mimblewimble transactions also leverage another piece of cryptographic innovation known as CoinJoin. Also proposed by Gregory Maxwell, CoinJoin is a mechanism by which transactions are simply combined which results in the obfuscation of inputs and outputs. This has the effect of making it impossible for anyone to determine which Bitcoins were sent from any of the participating Bitcoin addresses. Therefore, in relation to Mimblewimble transactions, when combined together, a block would simply consist of: a list of inputs, a list of outputs, and signature data. This offers significant space savings in blocks because other transaction data no longer need to be stored, only inputs and outputs. By subtracting the total inputs from the total outputs, and ensuring that the result is zero, a blockchain built from such a system will be valid. This is in contrast to how transactions, and therefore the blockchain, is proved to be valid in Bitcoin. In this instance, the whole blockchain must be downloaded and the history of a transaction output analysed in order to ensure its validity.
The space savings as well as the privacy offered through the use of the Mimblewimble protocol is clear. By pruning the blockchain of unnecessary transaction data, scalability becomes less of an issue because more transactions can be included in a single block. Due to the obfuscation of inputs and outputs, as well as the elimination of public addresses in Mimblewimble transactions, true anonymity, as opposed to pseudonymity, is achieved.
Implementation of Mimblewimble
In the same way Bitcoin is a protocol and Bitcoin Core is an implementation of it, Mimblewimble is also a protocol, with the Grin project being an implementation. Grin is a project that utilizes its own blockchain along with its own cryptocurrency. The founder is unknown and currently operates under the pseudonym, Ignotus Peverell (another fictional character from the Harry Potter series).
Grin is paving the way in the implementation of the Mimblewimble protocol, and it is hoped that the lessons learned can be taken and applied to Bitcoin.
Currently, Mimblewimble can only be integrated into the Bitcoin network as a soft fork, or as a sidechain. On this sidechain, users would be able to move Bitcoins onto it and transact with an increased level of privacy.
Conclusion
To conclude, through the use of cryptographic innovations such as confidential transactions and CoinJoin, Mimblewimble offers a strong scaling solution, as well as increased privacy for the Bitcoin protocol.
Further testing is still underway in ensuring the validity of the technology, but along with other cryptographic developments such as Schnorr signatures, the issues of scalability and privacy may be becoming less of a problem for Bitcoin.
source: https://www.mycryptopedia.com/mimblewimble-explained/
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| Cryptocurrency Adoption |
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Posted by: Hugues - 2018-12-05, 09:50 PM - Forum: Bitcoin and Altcoin
- Replies (4)
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Worldwide Cryptocurrency Adoption is about to take place — But not in the way you think it will!
These companies are solving the biggest problem faced by all cryptocurrencies — Adoption. And the solution is brilliant!
Quote:
[b]The biggest problem faced by all cryptocurrencies is adoption.[/b]
In January 2009, Bitcoin was created. It’s initial users were only a handful of cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
Today one of the largest exchanges Coinbase already has over 13 million users. It’s estimated there are over 22 million bitcoin wallets and already an estimated 5% of American’s already hold Bitcoin.
Although this growth is impressive, we still have yet to see widespread worldwide adoption of cryptocurrency as a means of payment.
This is about to change.
Why we have yet to see worldwide adoption:
At it’s core, cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange but lacks an important component — practical and convenient use.
It’s only when cryptocurrencies replace traditional payment methods that we will start to see worldwide adoption.
This will only take place when transacting in cryptocurrency is seen as more convenient than transacting in tradition online methods.
We are already seeing mobile messaging payments in China as the preferred payment method when compared to online payment by over 78%.
The next step in this evolution is the use of cryptocurrency as the medium of exchange for mobile payments.
The Problem with Existing Cryptocurrencies:
For the longest time, cryptocurrencies worked under the assumption of building a cryptocurrency to satisfy a market need with the hope that users will naturally and organically adopt cryptocurrency as the medium of exchange.
This approach has worked well for bringing in innovators and early adopters to the cryptocurrency market but has done little in the way of bringing in the majority of users into the market.
To cross the chasm and bring in majority of users into this space, a new approach would need to be created.
Crossing the Chasm:
Social networks over the last few years now have the largest user based ever recorded in history. With literally billions of active users on popular social and messaging networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp, SnapChat and Wechat.
TechCrunch
Looking to China for the Latest Trends
As of 2018, WeChat has over 1 billion active users. WeChat is a Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media and [b]mobile payment app[/b].
What makes WeChat unique is the widespread adoption by the users of it’s mobile payment app.
The Chinese mobile payments market is exploding where over 74% of payments are made on the app instead of cash or debit cards. Additionally, this platform is expected to grow over 68% in the next two years.
The North American and European markets have yet to see comparable adoption simply because mobile payments aren’t integrated into any of the popular North American or European messaging apps. Many analysts suggest it’s just a matter of time before it does.
Telegram
That is, until now.
Enter: The Largest ICO in History
In February of 2018, Telegram launched launched a private ICO raising $850 million from 81 investors and later the month held a second private sale from 94 investors, raising a total of $1.7 billion in March between the two sales.
Telegram also stated in their SEC filing that they may also be pursuing subsequent offerings beyond these first two sales which could potentially breaking the $2 billion mark for this ICO.
[b]Why such huge interest in Telegram?[/b]
Telegram has over 200 million users and growing at a rate of over 350,000 new users daily.
Telegram + Cryptocurrency Mobile Payment = Killer App
It’s not just Telegram…
The telegram ICO gives an idea of the interest and scale of widespread use and adoption of cryptocurrency as a payment mechanism within messaging apps.
It’s not just Telegram that is adopting cryptocurrency as a payment mechanism. Zuckerberg has confirmed his commitment to studying the potential of cryptocurrency within Facebook and Facebook alone could drive mass adoption of cryptocurrency as a common payment method.
With Telegram, Facebook and many other popular messaging looking to cryptocurrency as a payment method — this may very well be the catalyst for worldwide adoption.
Are YOU Ready for Worldwide Adoption?
In China, Messaging apps have proven to be fertile grounds for mobile payment processing with over 75% of payments taking place via messaging apps (when compared to online payments).
Mobile Messaging + Cryptocurrency = Worldwide Adoption
These messaging apps have the ability to solve the biggest problem currently facing massive worldwide adoption.
It will be at least a few years before we will know if cryptocurrency payment within mobile messaging apps will be the right catalyst for worldwide adoption.
For now, we do know that some of the largest investors in the world are betting on this and if the trend in China is any indication, it’s likely going to result in worldwide adoption of cryptocurrency as major player in online payments.
[b]Emerging Opportunities for Investors & Entrepreneurs[/b]
With mobile messaging apps, chat-bots and soon cryptocurrency as a payment method, a whole new market is opening up for intrepid investors and entrepreneurs.
We are able to peak into a world where potentially entire ecosystems will exist within messaging apps and with this new shift in adoption and technology, immense investment and business opportunities exist for those willing to enter this untapped marketplace.
Are you ready to profit from this new marketplace?
By Richard Black on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE
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| Nodes and Masternodes |
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Posted by: Hugues - 2018-12-05, 09:36 PM - Forum: Uncategorized
- Replies (5)
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Blockchain: What are nodes and masternodes?
Nodes and masternodes are an increasingly discussed subject in blockchain lately. And rightfully so, because nodes are a critical component of a blockchain’s infrastructure. Without nodes, a blockchain’s data would not be accessible.
Infrastructure
A blockchain exists out of blocks of data. These blocks of data are stored on [b]nodes [/b](compare it to small servers), and can be any kind of device (mostly computers and laptops). Nodes form the infrastructure of a blockchain. They store, spread and preserve the blockchain data, so theoretically a blockchain exists [b]on[/b] nodes. A [b]full node[/b] is basically a device (like a computer) that contains a [b]full copy[/b] of the transaction history of the blockchain.
Our world knows many different networks, connected to themselves and to each other through billions of nodes (networks).
What do nodes do?
When a miner attempts to add a new block of transactions to the blockchain, it broadcasts the block to all the nodes on the network. Based on the block’s legitimacy (validity of signature and transactions), nodes can accept or reject the block. When a node accepts a new block of transactions, it saves and stores it on top of the rest of the blocks it already has stored. In short, here is what nodes do:
- Nodes check if a block of transactions is valid and accept or reject it.
- Nodes save and store blocks of transactions (storing blockchain transaction history).
- Nodes broadcast and spread this transaction history to other nodes that may need to synchronize with the blockchain (need to be updated on transaction history).
The difference between a miner and a node
A miner [b]always[/b] needs to run a full node in order to select valid transactions to form a new block. Without a full node it cannot determine what proposed transactions are valid according to the current blockchain’s transaction history (aka if all balances involved in the transactions are sufficient enough to perform the proposed transactions), because it does not have access to the full blockchain history. Therefore, a miner is always also a full node. A node however, is not necessarily simultaneously a miner. A device can run a full node by receiving, storing and broadcasting all transaction data (much like a server) without actually creating new blocks of transactions itself. In this case it functions more like a pass point with a directory, whereas a miner is the same but simultaneously tries to create new blocks of transactions as well.
Definition of a node in blockchain: [b]A full node is a full copy of the blockchain transaction history on any device[/b].
How nodes secure the blockchain
Nodes can be online or offline. Online nodes are receiving, saving and broadcasting all the latest blocks of transactions from and to other nodes, while offline nodes do not. When an offline node comes back online, it will need to catch up with the rest of the blockchain first by downloading all blocks that were added to the blockchain ever since the node went offline. This process is often referred to as synchronizing with the blockchain.
Ethereum node synchronizing with the Ethereum blockchain.
An entire blockchain can theoretically run on a single node, but since it would be stored on only a single device, it would be extremely vulnerable to things like power outages, hackers or systemic crashes. The more full nodes a blockchain is running on, the better its resilience against such catastrophes is. When the blockchain data is spread across so many devices, it will be very hard for a corrupt entity to wipe all this data out at once. Even if a large amount of nodes suddenly drops out and becomes inaccessible because of a global crisis, a single node can theoretically keep an entire blockchain operational. And even if all nodes go offline, it only takes one node with the full blockchain history to come back online to make all the data accessible again.
Who can run a node?
Some blockchains have thousands of nodes simultaneously online. Anyone can run a node by simply downloading the transaction history of a blockchain. Many crypto and blockchain enthusiasts are running nodes voluntarily. They do this to contribute to a blockchains community, its development, security and integrity, but also simply because it’s their hobby and makes them feel part of something. Running a node is considered fairly simple for someone slightly tech savvy, and does not require a lot of resources. Some blockchains however, now contain such a large amount of transaction data that it actually requires a lot of memory on a device to run a full node. A lot of crypto users therefore prefer to use a [b]wallet application [/b]to send new transactions instead, as this does not require them to download the entire blockchain history on their own device.
What are masternodes?
And finally, some blockchains also feature [b]masternodes[/b]. Masternodes are usually much heavier equipped than normal nodes. Next to validating, saving and broadcasting transactions, masternodes sometimes also facilitate other events on the blockchain dependent on their nature, such as governing voting events, providing execution of protocol operations and enforcing the laws of the according blockchain. Masternodes are generally [b]always [/b]online (24/7), and facilitate much more memory than normal nodes. Because hosting a masternode usually requires much more resources (electricity, up-time, maintenance, storage space, memory), hosting one generally provides payment in the form of interest.
Who can run a masternode?
Not just anyone can run a masternode though. The power of controlling a masternode can be abused, and therefore it requires the host to deposit a minimum (often quite large) amount of crypto as collateral. This collateral is taken hostage when the masternode host violates the rules of the blockchain. The interest rate a masternode host receives is calculated over their collateral deposit.
DASH masternodes per country worldwide.
Dash (DASH) is one of the most common blockchains that has a masternode feature built in. However, hosting a masternode on the Dash blockchain doesn’t come cheap — the minimum collateral to qualify for hosting a masternode on this blockchain is currently a staggering 1,000 DASH. It can still be an attractive investment though, as the DASH blockchain returned a yearly interest rate of 11% in 2016 for example.
A websitescreening the live number of masternodes currently running on the DASH network claims there are up to 4,941 masternodes running, of which 1284 in the United States and 1038 in the Netherlands.
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