The three billion dollar firm will be investing in the cryptocurrency market and projects. Founded in 1969, the grandson of John D. Rockefeller brought his siblings together to form the company. The company started with a one million dollar capitalization, but after multiple successes, they’ve grown into a huge three billion dollar firm.

Venrock is known for its abilities to find extremely successful start-ups. Their long list of clients is very impressive. They’ve invested in Intel and Apple before they were household names. Even recently, they’ve had prominent success. Nest and the Dollar Shave Club are clients of Venrock, and they’ve grown to be multi-billion dollar firms.

Since Venrock has such impressive success, cryptocurrencies being added is a huge sign. They’ve done their research and have found crypto to be a huge space in the future. This is an extremely bullish sign. Many venture capital firms will follow in Venrock’s footsteps, investing in crypto.

When asked about cryptocurrencies, David Pakman, a Venrock partner, had an interesting response. He said Venrock wasn’t interested in short-term gains, but rather the long-term future of crypto. Venrock is making a multi-million dollar bet on cryptocurrencies being part of our daily lives in the future.

Venrock will be partnering with CoinFund, a fund that specializes in the cryptocurrency industry. CoinFund is a venture capital firm that invests in companies that use blockchain technologies. One of CoinFund’s greatest successes is Kik, a widely-used chat platform that recently created its own cryptocurrency.

[three main categories]

Everyone who enters the crypto-exchange community, first of all, encounters the storage of bitcoin and crypto-currency. And it does not depend on whether you are going to accept coins as payment, use them for calculations or store as an investment.

An important difference between crypto currency in general and bitcoin in particular, from bank money, is decentralization. What does this mean in practice?

Each node of the network (node) keeps a full history of transactions in the network. And each network node can create a transaction on its own and send it to the network. That is, there is no single center that monitors what is happening and conducts payments.

On the one hand, this provides the same security and anonymity. No one can stop the payment or block the user's money. On the other hand, such a system generates some technical problems. Today, the volume of blockchain bitcoin exceeds 120 gigabytes, and it will grow. Such a volume is already problematic to store even on an average laptop, and on mobile devices it goes beyond the real. In addition, the first download of blockchain takes up to several days.

In addition, an important component of any crypto currency is the storage of private keys.

Since crypto currency is different from banks and electronic money, such as webmoney, and wallets for them differ, both technically and their use philosophy.

Conditionally, all decisions for today can be divided into three main categories

-Cases, installed on the computer in the form of a special program

-Online wallets and storage

-Password Wallets

We describe in more detail each of the options and consider its merits and demerits.

Purses installed on the computer in the form of a special program

When creating bitcoin, the developers immediately provided a program through which the user could manage their funds from their computer. The Bitcoin Core team supports and continues to develop the Bitcoin-qt wallet and its "console" version of bitcoind / bitcoin-cli. The latter is more intended for deployment in the Internet of a full node and for IT professionals. The wallet is cross-platform, that is, exists for most common operating systems: Windows, Linux, macOS. You can download it on the official website. Such crypto-currencies as DASH, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash use almost the same software, with modifications to the corresponding crypto currency.

Also, most serious altcoyins - such as Monero and Ethereum - also have similar programs in their arsenal, created by the developers of these crypto-currencies.

In addition to programs from the developers themselves, crypto currency, there are solutions from third-party developers, such as Electrum, Armory and Jaxx.

The advantages of software purses are, of course, a higher level of security and full control of the user over their means. If you store significant amounts in the crypto currency, then this will be an acceptable solution.

Disadvantages are firstly large amounts of disk space, which is not always convenient. Secondly, this is the big traffic that they create. With mobile connection to the Internet, synchronization of such a purse with the network becomes a very long process. You also need to remember that when you use a local wallet, anyone who gets access to your computer can access your money.

Online wallets and storage

This category includes various services available on the Internet, such as bitgo, xapo, bitpay, blockchain.info, (not to be confused with blockchain technology). Such services allow you to register online-purse, which looks like online banking or electronic payment systems like webmoney or Yandex.Money.

This wallet is usually available from any web browser, and often in the form of a mobile application. When using such a service, you do not need to download the blockchain of the crypto currency you are interested in, the entire infrastructure is provided by the platform creators. Often such wallets support several crypto-currencies, for example, blockchain.info at the time of this writing supports Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash.

Often, crypto-currency exchanges provide such functionality, allowing you to use your account as a purse.

The advantages and convenience of such services are obvious: when using mobile devices and weak computers, the user still has full access to the capabilities of crypto currency. Also often enough, these services combine the ability to exchange one crypto currency for another. And finally, some platforms offer functional, embedded in the crypto-currency protocol, but not implemented in the basic local purses. For example, for bitcoin it is possible to create wallets with a multi-signature.

But the shortcomings of online storage often can significantly exceed their advantages. The first and most, perhaps, main drawback is that you actually transfer your money to a third party. And if the bank, for example, has licenses, is checked by the state and should have a certain reputation, then in the case of the online wallet, users in the bulk are not even interested in who is the owner, is there a legal design for this enterprise, and how safe is the software for such a service.

The second, obvious minus of such a decision is that all transactions occur through the Internet, and if the creators of the wallet are not concerned with a sufficient level of security, your funds are under threat.

Summarizing, we note that online-purses are suitable for storing small amounts for current expenses, which should be at hand for quick calculations.

Hardware Wallets

This category of solutions is the most reliable in terms of security, and in fact combines the features of local software purses and sometimes online services.

Hardware wallets are special devices, usually connected via USB to a computer. Sometimes such devices are supported by the same smartphones.

Examples of such devices: Trezor, KeepKey, Ledger. The sizes of such devices rarely exceed the size of the credit card.

The main task of such devices is the safe storage of wallet keys. Of course, a small device does not store the entire blockchain, so you need to install special software on your computer or smartphone. Often, such wallets interact with online services. However, private keys never leave the device itself.

This category is perhaps the safest for storing large sums, approaching its "cold storage" security.

The main drawback of hardware wallets is the loss of access to money in case of physical destruction or failure of the device, as well as the possibility of its banal theft. But the same danger exists in the case of a software purse. However, almost all hardware wallets support the technology of archiving and recovery in various ways.


And so, in principle, we considered all the basic solutions for storing crypto currency. I hope that this information will be useful for beginners in the field of crypto-currency and cryptotrading.

Уже в ближайшее время криптовалютные операции будут облагаться налогом – Госдума и Минфин готовятся внести соответствующие поправки в законодательство. Об этом сообщает издание «Коммерсант».

Так, майнеров будут рассматривать как предпринимателей, и они, в свою очередь, должны будут вести отчетность и уплачивать сборы, в том числе и налоговые. Что касается физических лиц, которые проводят операции с криптовалютами, особый порядок налогообложения не предусмотрен, однако если эти действия приносят им финансовую выгоду, то они тоже должны будут платить налоги и подавать декларации. Все это указано в письме Минфина от 13 октября 2017 года.

В ближайшее время законодатели намерены официально прописать обложение операций с криптовалютами НДФЛ по ставке 13%, а также возможность включения криптовалют в конкурсную массу имущества должника-банкрота.

Но, по мнению экспертов, работать это начнет не сразу – например, налоговая пока не знает, как будет выявлять майнеров и инвесторов в криптовалюту.

«У ФНС просто нет ни наработанного опыта по данному направлению, ни понимания, как работает биржа криптовалют. К тому же, государственное регулирование идет вразрез с принципами анонимности и независимости функционирования электронной валюты», - говорится в материале.

Russia plans to tax cryptocurrency transactions in the near future.

The State Duma and the Ministry of Finance are preparing to introduce the legislation according to the publication Kommersant.

Miners will be considered entrepreneurs, and they will have to keep records, and pay taxes/fees. Cryptocurrency transactions themselves will not be taxed unless the transaction "brings the individual financial benefits."

Lawmakers intend to set the tax rate on cryptocurrencies to 13%.

But, according to experts it will not be implemented immediately. For example, taxation does not yet know how it will identify miners and investors of cryptocurrency.

"The FTS simply does not have any experience in this area, nor understanding of how cryptocurrency exchanges operate. In addition, state regulation runs counter to the principles of anonymity and independence regarding the functioning of electronic currency," according to a letter from the Ministry of Finance addressing cryptocurrency dated October 13, 2017.

Japanese online broker Monex Group Inc said on Tuesday it is considering buying Coincheck Inc, the local cryptocurrency exchange hit by a high-profile $530 million theft earlier this year.

The deal could be worth “several billion yen” and an announcement is likely to happen this week.

The deal would allow Monex to access Coincheck’s customer base, which saw a spurt in users as the cryptocurrency sector grew rapidly last year.

Coincheck, which in January suffered one of the biggest digital money heists ever, was asked by the Financial Services Agency to improve risk management and prevent further criminal use of digital money.

Coincheck had been applying for a license from regulators when the theft took place in late January. The FSA has held the view that Coincheck alone would not be able to continue its operations. The regulator is expected to examine how a partnership with Monex would improve Coincheck's practices.

Monex said in a statement that it is considering a takeover of Coincheck, but nothing had been decided.

Bitfinex, the world's 2nd largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume according to data from coinmarketcap, and has announced plans to transfer its business location to Zug, Switzerland.

The CEO of Bitfinex is “looking for a new domicile for Bitfinex and the parent company iFinex, where [they] want to merge the operations previously spread over several locations.”

According to settlement authorities in Switzerland, Bitfinex will be integrated as a public company in Switzerland, and moved from the British Virgin Islands. The current management team intends to land in Switzerland and the technical, legal and financial departments subsequently would operate from Switzerland too.

While London could be option B for the project, van der Velde says that Switzerland is “on top of the list of jurisdictions.” He continued to express his willingness to keep all above board, saying that they “want to be the most transparent of all exchanges and meet the requirements of the Swiss regulator.”

[Год консенсуса Proof-of-Stake]

В рамках биткоин-конференции «Satoshi Vision», которая прошла в Токио, глава исследовательской группы IC3 Корнелльского университета Эмин Гюн Сирер (Emin Gün Sirer) рассказал о своей роли в индустрии и том, какой механизм консенсуса выйдет на первый план в ближайшие полтора года.
Эмин Гюн Сирер - известный исследователь, специализирующийся на компьютерных сетях и P2P-системах. Он преподает в Корнелльском университете и возглавляет в нем исследовательскую группу Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts (IC3). Исследователь всегда громко высказывался по вопросам масштабирования блокчейна и не боялся критиковать участников криптовалютного сообщества. На конференции «Satoshi Vision» Гюн Сирер говорил об академической стороне технологии блокчейна и криптовалютных решений.

«Эта сфера действительно очень захватывающая, потому что она пересекается со многими другими направлениями, и объединяет в себе элементы формирования систем, экономики, теории игр, языков программирования и баз данных. А также много других элементов из спектра компьютерных наук», - сказал Гюн Сирер во время интервью.

Исследователь, что его работа по большей части фокусируется на внедрении и создании концепций, которые приносят реальную пользу.

«Мое особое место в индустрии относится к области реализаций. Все сообщество можно разделить на теоретиков и мечтателей, и тех, кто занимается реальным внедрением. Я очень горжусь тем, что могу отнести себя ко второй группе – что я занимаюсь созданием и внедрением продуктов, которые реально работают», - отметил Гюн Сирер.

Год консенсуса Proof-of-Stake

Гюн Сирер также объяснил, что он в восторге от новых механизмов консенсуса и полагает, что в ближайшие полтора года в майнинге произойдут значительные изменения.

«Моя группа изучает, какой должна быть инфраструктура блокчейнов. Мы живем в очень интересное время, и люди чуть ли не ежедневно придумывают новые протоколы консенсуса, и я за этим внимательно слежу. Мне кажется, что в ближайшие полтора года станет популярным механизм Proof-of-Stake (PoS), - отметил Гюн Сирер. «Те протоколы, которые существуют сегодня, по-прежнему невероятно сложны, и даже в моей области не чувствуется, что эта сложность оправдана для обеспечения достаточной безопасности. Примерно через полтора года мы увидим, как PoS действительно начинает обретать очертания - я в восторге от этого».