Latest posts of: Vertex

Over the last few years, cryptocurrencies have gained in popularity and in their impact on global financial markets. Many financial experts have concluded that because cryptocurrencies are thriving, government and other major institutions, including Fintechs, are going to have to accept them as legitimate forms of currency. Here we’re looking at the top Fintech companies utilizing cryptocurrencies.

What is a Fintech company?

So, what exactly is a Fintech company? In short, Financial Technology (Fintech) is the term used to describe new technology that works to improve and automate financial services. Fintech is used by companies and business owners to manage various aspects of their businesses and lives, usually through software on smartphones and computers.

Fintech companies are businesses that work to develop the software and algorithms behind Fintech, and help supply new technology-based financial services and solutions to businesses and consumers. Over the last few years, Fintech has also started to include the development and utilization of cryptocurrencies and blockchains such as Bitcoin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EoNrg_DR3s

What is Cryptocurrency?

A cryptocurrency is a form of digital money, it is decentralized and operates outside of a central authority, like a bank or a government. The first cryptocurrency every invented was Bitcoin (BTC), which made way for the 1000s of coins that we see today (such as Ripple, Ethereum, and Litecoin). Cryptocurrencies can be used for so many different things — cross border transactions, online payments, investments — you name it, there’s a coin for that!
What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is the technology that a cryptocurrency is based on. Essentially, it’s a distributed ledger that records and allows for the transaction of its cryptocurrency. With that being said, blockchain tech can be utilized in so many different ways — including in Fintech.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSo_EIwHSd4

How can Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Benefit the Fintech sector?

Maybe you’re asking yourself exactly how blockchain and cryptocurrency can benefit the Fintech sector. To start, Blockchain technology could help to speed up bank-to-bank transactions. For example, Bitcoin’s secure cross-border transactions are completed much faster than any bank-to-bank transactions that currently exist (which can take from 24 hours to several days). In a Fintech scenario, using a blockchain would help to mitigate this problem by improving both transaction speeds and security.

Fintech companies would also be able to build smart contracts on a blockchain, which would allow the facilitation of any transaction that could be digitally represented (cryptocurrency, fiat currency, even physical goods). This could open up a world of opportunities within the finance and banking realms.

Some Fintech Companies already using Cryptocurrencies

We have already seen some of the world’s top Fintech companies utilizing cryptocurrencies — and it’s only the beginning. Seba Crypto AG, a Swiss financial services company, gathered over $104 million USD from investors in order to set up the first cryptocurrency bank in the world. Their idea is to allow their customers to access, and trade with, both crypto and fiat currency from the same bank account.

JPMorgan Chase announced in the beginning at 2019 that they were planning to launch their own coin, JPM. JPMorgan Chase stated that their coin would allow their customers to engage in instant transfers over a blockchain, and to have a lower risk of fraud. The coin can be redeemed for USD, and can only be transferred to other JPMorgan Chase clients.

Cryptocurrencies: The Future of Fintech?

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain are finally being taken seriously by governments as well as the banking and financial services industries, and it’s about time! Cryptocurrency has massive potential particularly within the Fintech industry, as it can make for vastly more safe, efficient and faster transactions within the sector.

Many businesses are sitting up and taking notice, with top Fintech companies utilizing cryptocurrencies and blockchain for the very first time. This technology can have massive beneficial impact on the Fintech industry, and it seems that they’re finally catching on to just how useful crypto can be.
So, are cryptocurrencies the future of Fintech? Judging by the top fintech companies utilizing cryptocurrencies, we’re inclined to agree. They certainly have a vital role to play. Find a selection of over 1000 cryptocurrencies fuelling several industries (not just fintech) on Vertex.Market. This peer-to-peer platform allows anyone to trade crypto no matter where in the world you might be.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/top-fintech-companies-utilizing-cryptocurrencies-9bf9dd31590f

The struggles of Bitcoin seem to be unending, with many uncertainties hovering over the new technology. Earlier this year, the Chinese government intensified efforts towards the banning of Bitcoin mining. Some of the reasons stated includes the electricity consumption, and the environmental threats of the mining process. This has raised a lot of questions as to what could become of the technology, considering the role of China when it comes to Bitcoin mining. So we ask, what happens if China bans Bitcoin mining?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6sc-XRY3RA

How Relevant is China in Bitcoin Mining?

Over 75% of the mining pools in the Bitcoin network are located in China. This has automatically made the region a very important one for Bitcoin as a whole. It now looks as if Bitcoin depends on China to survive. This is why every rumour, news or event coming out of the Asia-Pacific region as a whole is usually of great concern to the industry.

China is home to the biggest mining equipment manufacturing company in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry. Bitmain, which is a hardware manufacturing company that specialises in computer chips, is located in Beijing. When it comes to Bitcoin mining equipment, Bitmain has no competition. It is responsible for shipping billions of ASIC mining rigs to different parts of the world. This accounts to over 75% of the equipment that is available in the industry.

As a matter of interest, most of this equipment doesn’t go too far from the source. Favourable weather and affordable electricity mean that many Bitcoin mining farms prefer to setup in and around the China region. Hydroelectricity and coal are cheaper sources of power, although the environmental implications of coal do not go down well with the immediate society. The pollution that it causes is among the reasons why China is considering the ban, as mentioned above.

Why are Bitcoin Mining Farms located in China?

The Bitcoin mining industry of today exists more in the form of mining pools. Instead of having individuals, or small companies running independent mining platforms, resources are contributed in a unified front. An example of this is Bitclub Network. Different units come together and contribute resources so that they can compete effectively in finding blocks. When they do, the rewards are then shared based on individual contribution. This is what informs the need for building gigantic farms, and why a region like China with favourable atmospheric and cost tolerance is preferred.

https://twitter.com/business/status/1117205198684823552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com%2Fwidgets%2Fmedia.html%3Ftype%3Dtext%252Fhtml%26key%3Da19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07%26schema%3Dtwitter%26url%3Dhttps%253A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbusiness%2Fstatus%2F1117205198684823552%26image%3Dhttps%253A%2F%2Fi.embed.ly%2F1%2Fimage%253Furl%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fpbs.twimg.com%25252Fmedia%25252FD4EcM_5UwAEY75R.jpg%2526key%253Da19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07

Regulatory tolerance has also enabled this attraction towards China, even though the ban on different aspects of the crypto industry have been pointers towards a similar take on Bitcoin mining. Exchanges have been banned, and so have other areas that have to do with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. What most practitioners in the affected areas did was simply relocate their businesses.

When it comes to Bitcoin mining, things can be a bit more complicated. Finding another conducive region that would tolerate the kind of mining activities that go on in China will not be easy. Also, moving the gigantic infrastructure that is used for mining will not be an easy task either. These are some of the issues that come to mind when considering what happens if China bans Bitcoin mining.

Are There Other Options Apart From China?

If China goes ahead to ban Bitcoin mining, a number of scenarios are likely to play out. The network will temporarily lose over 75% of mining power or hash rate that comes from the region. What this means, is that for that while fewer transactions will be carried out, and the rate of creating new Bitcoins will drop significantly. Once new rigs have been formed and implemented, network activity can return to normal.

From an economic perspective of supply and demand, if supply drops, there will be scarcity, and the price of Bitcoin will be expected to grow. But there is more to these things than meets the eye.

In view of the implications and possibilities, just like other aspects of the industry found new grounds to operate from, Bitcoin miners are already beginning to look elsewhere. Bitmain has already set up operations in inner Mongolia, Iceland is becoming home to some major mining companies, and Canada is being studied as a possible destination for others.

Is Bitcoin Really Bigger Than China?

Indeed, the role of China in the industry cannot be neglected, it has served as one of the most vibrant regions for Bitcoin development so far. However, the level of uncertainty that emanates from this same region, and the tendency of the government of China to dish out instant regulatory measures, is a threat to the technology.

Definitely, any ban on Bitcoin mining in China will cause some shake up in the industry. The possibility of it alone is already causing some movement as described above. But like the changes that we have seen before now, as much as the role of China has been significant, Bitcoin is designed to be bigger than one particular country or region.

With peer-to-peer trading platforms like Vertex.Market catering to people in over 200 countries, maybe it already is.

In considering what happens if China bans Bitcoin mining, if it goes through there will likely be some shake-up in the industry. However, just like we have seen before, the technology has the capacity to shake off the effects, and move on with development. It could be another reminder of “the many lives of Bitcoin”.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/what-happens-if-china-bans-bitcoin-mining-7f0dfa276ded

The Bitcoin USD market opened at $9,607 on 1st September 2019. By 30th September 2019, the price had fallen to $8,072 in what appeared to be a bearish market. This slump in price represents a significant drop since the beginning of the bullish trend of early Q2 2019. A report from the Binance research team notes that Bakkt was behind the Bearish month of September for Bitcoin.

After the previous launch dates were shifted, the Bitcoin futures trading platform Bakkt finally launched on 23rd September 2019. The platform now opens shop for institutional merchants to trade Bitcoin in a secure and trusted system, according to its website.

The Bakkt platform aims to offer a digital asset custody system that leverages on high level physical and cybersecurity technologies for custodial services. The platform also aims at enhancing other areas like the markets, payments systems, and compliance to provide a convenient platform for big players to enter into the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency ecosystem.

What Did The Crypto Community Expect From Bakkt?

The general opinion ahead of the Bakkt launch was that it will open up the industry to more adoption. The entry of institutional investors is expected to bring in some huge volume into the market. A development that most people believe will reflect in a more bullish market for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f7cMdYsuq0

In contrast to what most crypto users had anticipated, a few days after the launch of Bakkt, the markets took a bearish turn from which it is struggling to stage a comeback.

A section of the report by Binance Research, the exchange’s analytic arm reads:

“Bakkt was touted by many "crypto-observers" as an additional primary channel to bring large institutional flows into cryptocurrency and digital asset markets. It may certainly still do so in the future, as illustrated by the CME futures sluggish start and subsequent pick-up in volumes. Short-term wise though, Bakkt’s disappointing start seems to have been a contributing factor to the recent price decline.”

What Is The Prediction For Bitcoin?

There is an overall bullish anticipation for Bitcoin in the coming months. A number of key factors suggest that the industry might be setting up for another significant run to the upside.

https://twitter.com/vigorstablecoin/status/1180230462473719808

The next Bitcoin Halving in due for May 2020 and the market behaviour has not deviated from its historical pattern. This has made many Bitcoin enthusiasts confident that holding an upside perspective is their best bet. Besides halving, other channels that would allow the influx of large volumes into the market are being lined up. An example of this is the confirmation of CME to launch Bitcoin options in Q1 2020.

A lot of traders and investors, especially the very confident ones are seeing the present slump in price as an opportunity to build up their portfolios. Using a platform like Vertex.Market, buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is easy and straightforward. On Vertex, purchases can be done using bank transfer in an OTC marketplace. The platform’s high liquidity offer makes it possible to buy even high volumes of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Perhaps, what is playing out in the Bitcoin marketplace at the moment is the common market behaviour of “buy the rumour and sell the news”. In the short term, the after effect of the Bakkt launch may have given rise to a bearish market. This doesn’t take away the validity of an eagle-eye view of the market which appears to suggest an upward behaviour in Bitcoin USD price. All the same, everything seems to uphold the report by Binance Research that says Bakkt was behind the Bearish month of September for Bitcoin.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/bakkt-was-behind-the-bearish-month-of-september-636d959265b5

Many Bitcoin enthusiasts are of the opinion that cryptocurrency is unstoppable. The basis for this belief stems mainly from the decentralized protocol that maintains the Bitcoin network. From its original design, the distributed ledger of Bitcoin is maintained by participating computers from different parts of the world. A perceived alteration of this system is what has generated fear among many Bitcoin users. Some people even believe that the reason behind this fear is the one thing that could stop Bitcoin.

There is a perceived original structure of the Bitcoin network, at least by the early adopters. This perception is that individuals across the globe will be able to run Bitcoin nodes and mine the cryptocurrency on their personal computers. This was the system in Bitcoin’s early days. However, because Bitcoin mining is now a competitive exercise, specialized equipment began to find their way into the industry.

Can I Still Mine Bitcoin As An Individual?

Gradually, mining Bitcoin with a regular PC became a wild goose chase. Within one decade of Bitcoin’s existence, miners have moved from PC, to GPUs, FPGAs, and today ASIC miners have dominated the industry. With time, what was expected to be a level playing ground with minimal entry requirements became more and more sectionalized. Unless you have an ASIC miner, it has become almost impossible for you to compete in the mining network. The competition did not stop there, as even among the ASIC hardware users, the bar has been raised.

The fear of many Bitcoin users is that the regional balance of mining power has become chronically one-sided. Because of infrastructural availability and other fundamental factors, over two-thirds of the mining hashrate emanates from China. What this means is that most of the mining equipment within the Bitcoin network is installed in and around the Chinese region. Is China the one thing that could stop Bitcoin?

https://twitter.com/PlattsburghBTC/status/1175970888006733826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com%2Fwidgets%2Fmedia.html%3Ftype%3Dtext%252Fhtml%26key%3Da19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07%26schema%3Dtwitter%26url%3Dhttps%253A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fplattsburghbtc%2Fstatus%2F1175970888006733826%26image%3Dhttps%253A%2F%2Fi.embed.ly%2F1%2Fimage%253Furl%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fpbs.twimg.com%25252Fprofile_images%25252F638232680639823873%25252FZ60ZA2Of_400x400.png%2526key%253Da19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07

Why Are Most Bitcoin Miners Located in China?

Although Bitmain, the main manufacturers of ASIC miners, is based in China, other factors that attract most of the Bitcoin mining to the region include the cold weather and cheap electricity. While these are the infrastructural reasons for locating Bitcoin mining equipment in China, it only halfway explains why so much hashrate is concentrated within the region. The majority of the hashrate (over 70%) is shared among just a few mining pools and many consider this so contribute to why China could be the one thing that could stop Bitcoin. Here is why:

Since Bitcoin mining has become very competitive, many independent miners find it difficult to carry out Bitcoin mining activities profitably. It became common that individual miners were running their equipment and consuming electricity without getting any rewards. The more efficient machines seemed to be taking all the money in the network. This gave rise to what we know today as Bitcoin mining pools. Individuals or groups are now pulling resources together to build gigantic mining farms. This results in more efficient machines that can mine blocks more frequently and the rewards are shared among the participants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8kua5B5K3I

The Bitcoin mining pool system has become so organised that an individual from any part of the world can simply subscribe to a Bitcoin mining company and their mining exercise. What interests us here is that the biggest of these companies and their Bitcoin mining farms are located in China. Technically, this looks like a structure that defeats the original design of a decentralized network. To worsen the case, it is happening in a region that is spontaneous with regulations and sanctions, as we’ve seen before.

Why Is China So Powerful In The Bitcoin Industry?

China has had a strong presence in the Bitcoin ecosystem, especially from the early days. Most of the big exchanges had strong bases in China, and the awareness of the technology in the region was second to none. The regulatory stampede on exchanges in the country in 2017 was a sudden move that did not necessarily come as a surprise. The socio-political atmosphere of China and the way its government executes economic policies is giving Bitcoin users reasonable concern. With about two-thirds of the Bitcoin mining hashrate based in China, it technically leaves the entire network at the mercy of the government’s policy makers.

F2Pool, AntPool, BTCC, BW Pool are some of the biggest Bitcoin mining pools in the Bitcoin network, and are all located in China. It is also suspected that a reasonable share of the unknown pools within the network are also situated there.

Although many Bitcoin users do not care too much about where the Bitcoins are mined, their concerns remain mainly on where to buy the mined Bitcoins. Platforms like Vertex.Market (https://vertex.market) which offers peer-to-peer trading allows traders to stay within the original protocol of the network, and trade Bitcoin seamlessly with traders around the world. And the network’s protocol must not be neglected.

Bitcoin is created as a decentralized peer-to-peer network. Anything that threatens this protocol will not be good for the cryptocurrency. Although many people seem not to be distracted by the lopsided regional hashrate allocation, there are those who really think that it is one thing that could stop Bitcoin.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/the-one-thing-that-could-stop-bitcoin-3bb9da7c0772

From the beginning, the Bitcoin network created by Satoshi Nakamoto was designed to be improved on with time. This is the major reason why it was released as an open source code. This is also why, down the road, we have had several forks of the original Bitcoin code, giving us many new cryptocurrencies. The essence of carrying out a Bitcoin fork is usually to create something new that addresses certain issues that the original network may not cover adequately. Here is the history of all the BTC hard forks that have been carried out since the creation of Bitcoin.

What Is A Bitcoin Fork?
The term fork is commonly used in the cryptocurrency industry. It describes the process where changes are made to an existing blockchain. The reason for making such changes could vary. In some cases, it is implemented to protect against a hack, and in other cases it is used to enable some unique qualities.
There are two kinds of forks in the blockchain industry, soft fork and hard fork. These forks are individually defined by how they are executed and how much a blockchain is affected afterwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LxsofIujcw

A soft fork involves the modification of an existing blockchain. It requires a consensus agreement from the majority of the participating nodes in the blockchain network. This implies that all the participating nodes will update their software to remain relevant. After a soft fork, the blockchain continues to record transactions on the same chain. Past history is retained and the new protocol continues.
A hard fork on the other hand creates a new blockchain altogether. Very often, this happens when the community of an existing network fails to agree on a particular proposal. Anybody or group can implement a hard fork. It does not require a consensus opinion, and there are several of such cases in existence today.

With this in mind, let us now take a look at the history of all the BTC hard forks.

Bitcoin XT
This is the first notable hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain. It was initiated by Mike Hearn in 2014 with the purpose of increasing the network transaction speed. The feature added by Hearn was to make Bitcoin more scalable. While the original blockchain has the capacity of executing 7 transactions per second, Bitcoin XT was proposed to perform up to 24 transactions per second.
To achieve this implementation the block size of Bitcoin XT was increased to 8MB, as opposed to Bitcoin’s 1MB. This fork gained some reasonable traction at the initial stage, but ran out of steam in a matter of months.

Bitcoin Classic
Not too long after Bitcoin XT went quiet, a part of the Bitcoin community came up with another fork with a similar aim. Bitcoin Classic was forked out of Bitcoin Core in early 2016. The difference between this fork and the defunct Bitcoin XT was in terms of block size. Bitcoin Classic proposed a smaller block size of 2MB in comparison to the 8MB of Bitcoin XT.
Just like the previous fork, after some early signs of success, Bitcoin Classic also faded in terms of popularity. The protocol still remains in existence, but with a diminished adoption level.

Bitcoin Unlimited
During the period in the life of Bitcoin when the scalability argument was at its peak, a number of options were thrown into the mill. Bitcoin Unlimited became one of those forks. It is a proposal that did not restrict miners to a particular block size. Rather they could decide the size of their blocks, up to 16MB.
This particular fork seemed to float in the background for a while without making any significant impact. It also sailed past without being significantly accepted.

Segregated Witness (SegWit)
In the history of all Bitcoin forks, it is important to note that almost all of the proposals revolve around making Bitcoin scalable and reducing transaction fees. These attributes are key towards Bitcoin and cryptocurrency becoming adopted in the mainstream.
Segregated Witness (SegWit) is a proposal that suggested the separation of transactions on the Bitcoin network from the actual data. This proposal would allow transactions to occur more quickly, and their data updated later when the block is filled.
SegWit was proposed as a soft fork, but the role that it played over the period when scalability was a big issue within the Bitcoin community, earns it a mention in this article. It led to other hard forks that followed.

Bitcoin Cash
After SegWit was proposed, a segment of the community that opposed the proposal came up with what is known today as Bitcoin Cash. This particular proposal, among other features, allowed the blocksize to be increased to 8MB. The rate of transaction was also increased to 60 transactions per second, as opposed to Bitcoin’s 7 transactions per second.

https://twitter.com/HoloIslandNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com%2Fwidgets%2Fmedia.html%3Ftype%3Dtext%252Fhtml%26key%3Da19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07%26schema%3Dtwitter%26url%3Dhttps%253A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fholoislandnews%2Fstatus%2F1100048467781660675%26image%3Dhttps%253A%2F%2Fi.embed.ly%2F1%2Fimage%253Furl%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fpbs.twimg.com%25252Fmedia%25252FD0Qn6KWW0AADTur.png%25253Alarge%2526key%253Da19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07

Bitcoin Cash remains the most successful fork of Bitcoin at the time of writing. It is also the 4th biggest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization. The Bitcoin Cash project is championed by Roger Ver (a.k.a the Bitcoin Jesus) and a number of developers.

Bitcoin Gold
Bitcoin has been criticized for becoming centralized. The main reason for this is because it has become extremely difficult for anyone to independently mine Bitcoins using a CPU or GPU. With specialized mining equipment, most miners pool assets together to form gigantic pools, with statistics showing that the majority of the pools are located in China.

Bitcoin Gold was forked out of the Bitcoin Core blockchain in 2017 to return the industry back to its perceived original structure. Another improvement in the Bitcoin Gold network is that transactions are confirmed in 2.5 minutes. Four times faster than Bitcoin which has a 10 minutes transaction confirmation time.

Conclusion
Bitcoin was created in 2009 as an alternative payment system. As stated in the beginning of this post, the original creator of Bitcoin did not insist that is was a finished product. Since then, the Bitcoin Core blockchain has experienced a couple of modifications, while many independent cryptocurrencies have been created.

The adjustments and new creations all point towards an improved system that will encourage peer-to-peer transactions that do not rely on third parties. What we have covered so far are the first generation forks of the Bitcoin Core blockchain.

There are second generation forks that have come to life from cryptocurrencies that were forked from Bitcoin Core. Examples are Bitcoin SV and Bitcoin ABC, both of which are forks of Bitcoin Cash. All of these forks and those of other unrelated blockchain can be purchased on trading platforms like Vertex.Market.

We expect to see more hard forks happen down the road to add to the history of all the BTC hard forks that we already have. All of this will either be in the attempt of improving the existing products or the creation of purpose specific cryptocurrencies that will serve the community.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/the-history-of-all-the-btc-hard-forks-8d8e43fabdb1

Bitcoin has developed over a series of repetitive events, paramount among which is halving. The Bitcoin halving occurs roughly once every 4 years. It is an event designed to combat inflation, where the block reward for mining a block reduces by 50% from the previous cycle. The next Bitcoin halving event is a couple of months away and users are asking why Bitcoin is in short term accumulation stage before halving FOMO.

https://youtu.be/p3K44SKfmNg

What is the relationship between Halving and FOMO?

The acronym FOMO is as popular among Bitcoin and cryptocurrency users as it is college students. It means “Fear Of Missing Out”. In the crypto sense, it is used to explain the behaviour of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency traders who attempt to position themselves ahead of an anticipated rise in price. Based on the historical behaviour of the Bitcoin price, users appear to behave in a certain way ahead of the Bitcoin halving.

As mentioned above, every Bitcoin halving event reduces the amount in block reward by 50%. This happens roughly every 4 years and the ecosystem is getting set for the 4th halving in the life of Bitcoin. The estimated date for this is May 24th, 2020, at block number 630,000.

Since the recovery of Bitcoin from the crypto winter of 2018, the Bitcoin price has spent a lot of time around the $10,000 region. The up and down movement has remained in a side-ways channel that is a typical characteristic of an accumulation. Analysts and experienced traders describe this behaviour as something natural for the pre-halving season. The price seems to stall, before embarking on a major rally during such periods.

What Is The Implication Of The Bitcoin Halving?

Several factors come into play when considering this behaviour, particularly the “Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)”. This brings up the question: the Fear Of Missing Out on what?

When the Bitcoin halving occurs, it means that the rate of introducing new Bitcoins into the marketplace drops by as much as 50%. From an economic perspective, this means a drop in supply which creates scarcity. The implication of this is that there will be a rise in demand, the result of which would mean a surge in price.

Currently, the block reward for miners in the Bitcoin network is 12.5 BTC. By the next halving, it will become 6.25 BTC. Therefore, assuming that everything else remains the same, the demand will be expected to rise by 50%. But then, a lot of people expect that the demand of Bitcoin would be even greater, due to increasing awareness and adoption.

Bitcoin Price Predictions

There are bullish predictions already from top analysts suggesting that Bitcoin is in short term accumulation stage before halving FOMO. Rekt Capital predicts an increase within the range of 12,000% and 13,000% for Bitcoin after the next halving. This suggests that by the end of 2024, the Bitcoin price would be around $400,000.

Another popular analyst known as Crypto Michael recently shared his opinion on his Twitter handle about what he thinks about the current Bitcoin price behaviour. He also made a prediction about how the next Bitcoin halving will affect the price of the leading cryptocurrency.

https://twitter.com/CryptoMichNL/status/1171075957928710149?

Based on his analysis, the next stop for Bitcoin will be around the $25,000 region, a price that he thinks will be achieved by May 2020. Hence, most traders are currently sitting on their hands and avoiding any form of selling pressure in a FOMO situation. Rather, traders are accumulating Bitcoin on platforms like Vertex.Market that make purchases easy and seamless. The peer-to-peer platform provides liquidity and a flexible trading environment for users to buy Bitcoin.

At the moment, Bitcoin accumulation is very clear and obvious. The pioneer cryptocurrency is trading within a narrow horizontal channel, reflecting typical pre-halving behaviour. Many participants seem reluctant towards letting go of their holdings. For anyone willing to get into the market, the last quarter of 2019 appears to be a perfect opportunity in anticipation of the impending halving event. This also gives us an explanation as to why Bitcoin is in short term accumulation stage before halving FOMO.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/why-bitcoin-is-in-short-term-accumulation-stage-before-halving-fomo-6dcf8ab27316

According to CoinmarketCap, Bitcoin dominance stands at exactly 69.7% at the time of writing. However, more critical analysis suggests that Bitcoin dominance is actually over 90%. This piece of information may come as a surprise to many, but let’s take a closer look and find out how this figure was arrived at.

Bitcoin dominance refers to the ratio of Bitcoin capitalization to the overall market capitalization of cryptocurrencies. During the altcoin boom that characterized the days when ICOs were popular, Bitcoin dominance was much lower than what we have today. Until the beginning of 2019, Bitcoin dominance was around 33%. The turnaround in fortune suggests that funds are moving away from altcoins into Bitcoin. At least for the time being.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRPp9nRZpqI

Bitcoin Dominance Is A Tool For Technical Analysis

This price and market capitalization behaviour is a tool used by a lot of traders in the marketplace. Sometimes, it serves as a pointer towards what direction the big monies are moving. It is assumed that it is always safe to stay with the big monies when navigating the trading environment. Some traders put it this way: “The Whales control the Wave”.

The idea that Bitcoin dominance is actually over 90% comes from a more critical analysis of the factors that determine valuation. Most crypto users derive their information about price, volume and market capitalization from websites like CoinmarketCap.

The formula used by these platforms is simply a multiplication of price and circulating supply. A closer look will tell you that this system can be flawed because anyone can simply trade a premined coin for any price. Multiplying the price by the total supply will not give us a realistic value, since the coins aren’t serving any utility yet.

Liquidity Is More Critical Than Price

The argument for a different method of calculating market capitalization suggests that the liquidity of the cryptocurrency in question must be considered. This is the basis of the assumption that
Bitcoin dominance is actually over 90%.

Here is a summarized explanation of this idea:

It is safe to say that every token that is being traded in the cryptocurrency market today depends on Bitcoin for a large percent of its liquidity. Almost all, if not every single token that is listed on an exchange has a Bitcoin trading pair associated with it. This places Bitcoin as a universal cryptocurrency. It is the lubricant that makes it possible to exchange many altcoins in the market.

Take for instance, when trying to trade between altcoins that are not directly paired against each other in an exchange. What most traders do is to exchange the initial altcoin with Bitcoin, and then secondarily use the Bitcoin to purchase the second altcoin. This is a very regular occurrence on normal exchanges. This practice puts Bitcoin everywhere and contributes immensely to the high liquidity level.

https://twitter.com/codeyisfun/status/1169621923812335616?

Volume Provides Better Information Than Price

The only platforms that provide direct exchange between altcoins are the more unconventional peer-to-peer platforms like Vertex.Market. Here, you wouldn’t need to go through multiple stages to fulfill your altcoin trades. It could even save you value in terms of time and fees.

Considering how complex it could be to measure liquidity, the closest index that can be used is volume. Therefore, the trading volume of a given cryptocurrency, factored with the current supply should produce a better valuation. This method puts Bitcoin dominance over 90%, in comparison with the rest of the market.

Bitcoin is known as the “Big Brother” of cryptocurrencies. It has sustained its leadership despite the various challenges that it has encountered along the way. As mentioned above, a significant part of Bitcoin’s huge demand is because other cryptos need it to survive. When this is put into consideration, we will tend to agree that Bitcoin dominance is actually over 90%.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/bitcoin-dominance-is-actually-over-90-cdf244989368

There used to be a time when buying Bitcoin was one of the most complicated processes on the internet. Then, you had to know the seller directly, or know an in-between who can carry out the trade with cash or pay to a bank account. The process used to be very manual and cumbersome. Despite all that, people still made efforts to acquire Bitcoin. Today, platforms like Vertex.Market have simplified the process by providing several automated options for users to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Listed below are the most popular payment methods to buy Bitcoin in 2019.

Vertex has created a simplified process whereby Sellers can sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, accepting payment only through their preferred payment method. Likewise, Buyers can choose offers based on their preferred payment method. Therefore, the list below which shows the most popular payment methods to buy Bitcoin in 2019 includes the offers that are well represented on Vertex.

Paypal

PayPal is one of the most popular online payment systems. It is well adapted to suit online merchants and can be connected to users’ credit/debit cards. Paypal is widely used, but is restricted in some countries around the world.

Alipay

This is an electronic wallet that enables fiat payments. It is also well adapted with online merchants. Most users of Alipay simply use the app on their devices to scan QR codes when making payments. Same applies when using it to buy Bitcoin.

Wechat Pay

This is a popular kind of electronic payment system in China. Wechat Pay has an eWallet similar to Alipay, only that this one is connected to the Chinese bank account of the user. This makes it somehow restricted to Chinese users only, or users that are affiliated to China.

TWINT

This is a mobile payment app of Swiss origin. The TWINT app enables you to pay for products and services using your smartphone. All you need in order to buy Bitcoin using TWINT on platforms like Vertex is the ability to scan the QR Code, and a five-digit payment code. Others are your personal security settings like your password and PIN. Here is a short video of how to use TWINT:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WwerVn7ajbw

PayTM

This is another system that made it onto our list of the most popular payment methods to buy Bitcoin in 2019. PayTM originated in India and remains a popular means of making payments over the internet in the Asian country. It is a versatile payment system that is being used in the region to settle all kinds of bills. People can now use it buy Bitcoin (on Vertex).

Neteller

This is a payment method that is better known as an online transfer system. Many people use Neteller to send money across the globe. It is widely accepted in many countries and is one of the most popular methods to buy Bitcoin in 2019.

Skrill

Like Neteller, Skrill is also known as an online money transfer system. Over 20 million people are using Skrill around the world to send money. It is also adaptable as a payment system by merchants. It is common to find sellers requesting Skrill as a method of payment when selling Bitcoin.

Payoneer

Here is another electronic payment system that has grown in popularity recently. Many online transactions use Payoneer today as it is versatile and good for business. Many Vertex users advertise their sales to include their preferred payment method as Payoneer when selling Bitcoin.

WebMoney

Webmoney was founded in 1998 and has sustained its relevance as an online payment system ever since. The platform was able to achieve this due to its ability to adapt to technological changes and evolve with the trend. The payment system was founded in Russia, but is popular in almost every part of the world.

Payza

Payza was founded in 2012 in Montreal, Canada. Right now, the headquarters of Payza are in London. This payment system has spread to many parts of the world, including Africa and Asia. It has become a very popular payment method on Vertex for buying and selling Bitcoin.

Transferwise

This is one of the solutions that has encouraged borderless payment. With Transferwise, you can pay sellers in your local currency, and they get settlement in their own local currency. It is used by many people today to buy Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.

Revolut

This is a payment method that is a little over 4 years. It seems like a purpose built system for a time like this. It is a UK fintech platform that offers banking services that extends even to cryptocurrency exchange. The platform’s mobile app supports spending and ATM withdrawals in 120 different currencies.

Yandex Money

This is another product out of Russia. It has been around since 2002, and in 2016 a survey by TNS classified it as the largest electronic payment service. Yandex money serves for both individual and merchant payment. Many people are using this payment system to buy Bitcoin.

Apple Pay Cash

This is the native money of the Apple brand. However, its use goes way beyond the Apple platform. This kind of money is stored in the user’s Apple wallet and can be used to make payments online. People are using this payment method to buy Bitcoin.

https://twitter.com/Vertexplatform/status/1168906430822453248

Google Pay

This is another payment method that was developed by one of the most popular brands on the internet. Also in this case, using Google Pay extends beyond the brand’s circle. It can be used to make payments on websites or through its mobile app. Again, many people are adopting this as a payment system to buy Bitcoin.

Venmo

Venmo is a mobile payment system that can only be used by people in the US. To be able to use Venmo to buy Bitcoin, both you and the seller must be based in the US. The payment app is a product of PayPal and is responsible for huge volumes of transactions that are taking place over the internet.

Local Bank Transfer

This is one of the most traditional systems for making transactions. Many Bitcoin sellers who want to be paid in fiat would use the local bank transfer system. It is a system that is popularly used on the Vertex platform.

STC Pay

This is an app that is used for transferring funds. It works in the UK and Saudi Arabia. If you want to buy Bitcoin and you are in any of these two countries mentioned above, the STC Pay could be a viable option for you.

Cryptocurrency

Using other cryptocurrencies to buy Bitcoin is one of the most popular transactions that happens across exchanges. It happens during speculative trading and also when building a portfolio. Many people also follow this route when they want to extract value from those altcoins that cannot be traded with fiat directly. They use such an altcoin to buy Bitcoin first, and then sell the Bitcoin for fiat.

Conclusion

Platforms like Vertex, an peer-to-peer marketplace, provide avenues to buy Bitcoin using any of the above listed methods. No matter your means of payment, or in what form your money is, chances are that you will find a suitable method that fits your circumstances among the list above.

Very large volumes of Bitcoin change hands every day, and the methods of transactions that are used to execute these trades vary. The list above gives us a comprehensive compilation of the most popular payment methods to buy Bitcoin in 2019.

A major update is about to take place on the Ethereum blockchain. This update is aimed at making the network faster for transactions and cheaper to use. These updates are necessary if Ethereum wants to scale and become a useful technology for mainstream transactions. Below is an overview of what’s new in Ethereum 2.0.

The first version of Ethereum was launched in 2015, and since then a lot of events have taken place in the life of the versatile blockchain. Not long after its launch, the fame of Ethereum spread across the entire blockchain ecosystem. It’s native cryptocurrency Ether (ETH) became the second biggest cryptocurrency, next to Bitcoin, within the same short period.

The growth of Ethereum has been linked to the fact that it serves as a platform where other projects can build their own decentralized applications (DApps). This use case alone has attracted a lot of users simply due to the fact that it provides the tools and environment to create blockchain solutions easily and at reduced costs.

The hardfork that caused a split in the Ethereum blockchain, giving rise to two versions, Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC), happened in 2016. These two, and many other tokens, can be purchased on Vertex.Market via a peer-to-peer marketplace. This was after the infamous DAO breach. The hardfork that will give rise to Ethereum 2.0 later this year is the next big event for the network and community.

What is Ethereum 2.0?

As mentioned above, for Ethereum to go mainstream, it has to scale in order to be able to compete with existing systems. Take for instance Visa, which needs a capacity of only 4,000 transactions per second (tps), yet it can perform as much as 24,000 (tps). That is the kind of competition that Ethereum faces to thrive in the payment settlement circle.

In the video below, Danny Ryan, core researcher at the Ethereum Foundation explains what Ethereum 2.0 is all about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tvw3_vvOek

Another area of interest is the cost of settling these transactions, which is the same thing as the cost of mining. Currently, Ethereum runs a Proof-of-Work (PoW) protocol, like Bitcoin. This is highly energy consuming and has an impact on the environment as well. This is what the Ethereum community and developers are about to change. Ethereum 2.0 is a new version of Ethereum, whose network will be maintained using a Proof-of-Stake protocol.

PoW vs PoS

The PoW protocol is the first to be introduced in the blockchain ecosystem. It is the same kind of protocol that is implemented on the Bitcoin network. Here, miners compete to find answers to math problems through the processing powers of their CPUs. The process was straightforward and highly decentralized from the beginning. However, as time passed certain deficiencies began to show up in the PoW system.

Due to the high level of competition, massive mining farms and pools began to emerge. Instead of the normal system where individuals can quietly mine away in the privacy of their rooms, Bitcoin mining became an industry of its own. This caused a lopsided effect, and the network is quickly becoming vulnerable to the 51% attack. This is a scenario where any individual or group that controls over 51% of the nodes can take over control of the network. This is anti-decentralization.

By running the same system, even Ethereum is not spared. Therefore, the network is moving away from the PoW system to the PoS protocol. A protocol that is maintained using the masternode system where members of the community contribute stakes in ETH tokens. The amount of reward that anyone gets will also depend on the percentage of stakes held.

The PoS masternode system gives room for a more distributed ownership. This is because the cost of mining is drastically reduced. There will be no need for expensive infrastructure or high energy consumption. This is the new direction that Ethereum is going and a strong element in the overview of what’s new in
Ethereum 2.0.

The Benefits of Ethereum 2.0

The implementation of the new version of Ethereum will be in stages. The PoS revolution will not be sudden. Instead, through a gradual process the existing PoW system will be eased out as a new era emerges. This means that we will have a period where both PoW and PoS protocol will be functional on the Ethereum network.

https://twitter.com/sassal0x/status/1169441335004164097?

Some of the features that will be enabled by Ethereum 2.0 include the following:
- Even though the network might become less efficient, the extent of complexity will become highly minimized.
- The risk of downtimes will be eliminated, especially during network partitioning or even when a large number of nodes go offline.
- The new protocol will accommodate more validators and encourage the participation of a larger part of the community.
- It will lower the barrier of entry, making it possible for smaller users with just their laptops to become stakeholders and be involved in decision making processes within the Ethereum network.

Conclusion

Apart from the PoS implementation on the Ethereum network, several other basic solutions have been lined up to be added on the Ethereum network. Under the mining processes are solutions like Beacon and Casper. These two will address the security of the system and how the coins are created.

The other solutions that will address various aspects of the Ethereum network include Sharding, eWASM, Plasma, Raiden, etc. These are all part of the elements that are involved in the overview of what’s new in Ethereum 2.0 which is set to be launched in the near future.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/overview-of-whats-new-in-ethereum-2-0-ab8e7bc9d27a

Almost every cryptocurrency user is attached to one crypto exchange or another. Exchanges represent a key sector of the crypto ecosystem. This is mainly because they represent the most available channel of transacting or extracting value from the industry. There are different kinds of cryptocurrency exchanges, depending on how they operate. This post is about making comparisons among the three categories of exchanges that we have today in the industry. That is: Centralized vs Decentralized vs Hybrid Exchanges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La3nMp1I_ec

Centralized Exchanges
This is the most popular type of exchange that exists in the cryptocurrency industry. Over 99% of crypto transactions today occur on centralized exchanges. Examples of this kind of exchange includes Binance, Bitterex, Coinbase and Poloniex.

The characteristics of centralized exchanges are listed as follows:
- High liquidity and trade volumes
- Quick transactions
- Supports multiple users at the same time
- Transactions are controlled by exchange operators
- User funds are deposited into exchange accounts before trading can occur
- Order execution is the responsibility of the exchange
- Users do not have access to private keys
- Prone to attacks from hackers and thieves
- Serves both as a trading platform and as a crypto storage platform

Decentralized Exchanges
The concept of decentralization simply revolves around the elimination of intermediaries. It provides for direct interaction between parties that are involved in a transaction. This makes the process relatively transparent and is also supposed to be cheaper in terms of the cost of processing.
Although there are exchanges today that aim to be decentralized, in the actual sense of it, even these ones possess some element of centralization. There is hardly any infrastructure in the industry today that provides for an absolutely decentralized exchange. Even those that operate a peer-to-peer system are hosted on centralized servers.

For the decentralized servers that we have in the industry today, the following features are common:
- Independent of intermediaries
- No central pool of funds
- Unbeatable by hackers
- Relatively low volume and liquidity
- Speed of transaction depends on participants
- Does not serve as a storage platform for users

Hybrid Exchanges

The above features of both centralized and decentralized exchanges provide for both individual strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, rather than focusing on the centralized vs decentralized vs hybrid exchanges comparisons, this system chooses a combining model. Incidentally, these strengths and weaknesses of centralized and decentralized exchanges occur in alternating and supplementary areas. Attempting to harness the strengths of both systems in a complementary arrangement is what has given rise to hybrid exchanges.

This category of exchange explores the liquidity, accessibility and speed of centralized exchange, with the security of the decentralized exchange. This is the kind of solution that Vertex.Market ( https://vertex.market ) is offering its customers. A combination that satisfies every class of traders within the cryptocurrency marketplace, especially large institutional investors who want to be cautious in their dealings.

Hybrid exchanges focus on minimizing risk and maximizing opportunities within the ecosystem. On Vertex.Market, a peer-to-peer platform, volume and liquidity are exceptional. There are no off-market periods where trades stay pending. Rather trades are executed instantly between buyer and seller, with tokens sent directly to the buyer’s personal wallet once the seller confirms receipt of the funds. At the same time, you do not have to leave your funds on the exchange. They remain with you, in a system that demystifies the centralized vs decentralized vs hybrid exchanges comparison.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/centralized-vs-decentralized-vs-hybrid-exchanges-8bc3759e6280

In a piece of reality that looks like a huge joke, it is on record that Bitcoin sold for $1 in August 2019 on certain exchanges in the Asian region. The news of this development broke on 23 August 2019 when some of the major exchanges within the region reported a malfunction within their systems.

Apparently, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) network experienced an outage which affected those platforms that were connected to it. Some of the exchanges that were affected include Binance, KuCoin and BitMax.

On the said day, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) announced through Twitter that his exchange was experiencing some difficulties.

CZ tweeted:
“AWS is having an issue, mostly with caching services, affecting some users globally. We are working with them and monitoring the situation closely.”

During the malfunction, deposits and withdrawals were disabled on the Binanceplatform. Many replies followed the tweet from CZ with some of them expressing panic. He however continued to reassure his followers until the issue was eventually resolved. From his responses, it was clearly an issue with Amazon’s AWS, which he remained in contact with until it was resolved.

Some traders who played what looked like a wild card took advantage of the situation to buy Bitcoin for less than $1 during the outage. This was reported to have happened on BitMax exchange. Reports claim that these traders had set limit orders at extremely low prices. The hope of these traders was on some off-chance event like what just happened.

According to information that spread on social media, as much as 45 Bitcoins were purchased at sub $1levels during this period on BitMax. The exchange announced immediate freezing of deposits and withdrawals shortly afterwards. Although it did not confirm that the said transactions had occurred. It’s safe to say that

BitMax will never forget the day that Bitcoin sold for $1 in August 2019.

Another exchange that wasn’t spared during this outage is KuCoin. The exchange also disabled part of its services and posted a notice on its website, which read:

“Due to the overheating of part of our chassis in the machine room we deployed in AWS, Tokyo, part of our services might become unavailable. The engineering operation team is currently deploying relevant resources of high availability across regions to deal with any possible emergencies that might happen. Some services might be affected during the deployment.”

The purchase of cheap Bitcoins was confirmed by the founding partner at crypto asset fund Primitive

Ventures, operators of KuCoin, Dovey Wan who tweeted:

“Many Asian exchanges see price instability (and trades were able to execute, yes you can buy extremely cheap Bitcoin if you had limit orders there).”

Beyond the three exchanges mentioned so far, several other exchanges within the same region seemed to have encountered the same problem.

The Bitcoin price, which appeared to be finding stability above the $10,000 region seems to have struggled a bit since this development. Although Amazon has resolved the issue and the exchanges have returned to normal services, the Bitcoin price is still struggling below $10,000 (at the time of writing).

Issues like this are some of the limitations that confront centralized exchanges as we have them today. This is where peer-to-peer platforms like Vertex.Markethave the upper hand. Risks such as the AWS issue are completely eliminated because trading is not based on an order book that is hosted on a third party platform.

Although all of us will remember the day that Bitcoin sold for $1 in August 2019, not everyone will remember it with regrets.
https://medium.com/@official_83664/bitcoin-sold-for-1-in-august-2019-dda66ba532

Litecoin experienced its second halving on 5 August 2019. This means that the rewards for producing a block on the Litecoin network are now 12.5 LTC, half of the previous 25 LTC reward. Halving on the Litecoin network occurs roughly every four years. What usually interests users is the overall effect that a halving has on a network. Hence, the question, what were the unexpected effects of the Litecoin halving?
Coin halving is usually a big occasion for cryptocurrency users, for miners and traders alike. The halving event is a major fundamental indicator to price and other elements within the network of the concerned cryptocurrency.

Pre-Halving Analysis of Litecoin (LTC)

Analyses and predictions come ahead of the halving of any given cryptocurrency. This was the same with Litecoin as many members of its community expected that there would be a surge in price for the first fork of Bitcoin.
Ahead of the event, even the creator of Litecoin (LTC), Charlie Lee, explained why he expected the price of Litecoin to go up after halving. Away from organic reasons, Lee tied his expectations to community sentiments. He explained how the behaviour of people will determine price movement, rather than actual economic factors of demand and supply.

He said;
“So a lot of people are buying in because they expect the price to go up and that’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. So, because they’re buying in, the price does actually go up.”

So, did Litecoin price actually go up after halving?

At the beginning of 2019, LTC around $30. This was as a result of the general bear market that greeted the crypto industry after the ICO boom of 2017. From boom to present, Litecoin dropped from an all time high price of $375. As the market picked up after Q1 2019, Litecoin also joined the recovery trend trading around the $100 region before dropping below it ahead of the impending halving.

The Litecoin Halving Effect

Just before the halving, the Litecoin price was at $79. As the news broke of the halving the Litecoin price jumped to $100. This is the initial answer to the question “how has the halving affected Litecoin”. The surge did not last though, as soon afterwards, a retracement kicked in and overall market sentiments seemed to overshadow the effects of the halving.

Halving implies that the reward for miners in producing a bock drops by 50%. The amount of work involved does not change, nor does the electricity consumed. Therefore, many miners seem to go out of business when halving occurs. Some of the smaller miners who may not be able to keep up with the cost implications may go out of business and engage is selling off a part of their holdings. This could lead to a bear market in the short run.

A contrary view suggests that the decreasing supply of Litecoin in this case will create scarcity. By economic laws, this means that there will be increased demand for the Litecoin, hence engineering a hike in the price.

No matter your position on the argument, you must consider the overall market conditions as well, especially with respect to Bitcoin, the pioneer of cryptocurrency. For instance, a few weeks after the Litecoin halving, when a lot of people expected prices to soar higher, it fell below the pre-halving mark. At the time of writing, the Litecoin price is around $70.

What’s Next After The Unexpected Effects Of The Litecoin Halving?

The prevailing sentiment is that funds are currently moving away from altcoins into Bitcoin at the moment. Proof of which lies in the Bitcoin dominance which stands at 69%, at the time of writing.

In this industry, everything is usually factored into the price of the token; hashrate, mining difficulty, community sentiment and other elements. Therefore, if you want to understand the market conditions, you need to consider a robust approach that involves numerous factors.

Price is a product of demand and supply. However, other factors which most industry participants consider to be temporary have suppressed the Litecoin price so far. Many traders are using this opportunity to jump into the market, using peer-to-peer platforms like Vertex.Market to purchase Litecoin at its suppressed price. This is in anticipation of an eventual response to the natural forces of demand and supply.

In paying attention to the unexpected effects of the Litecoin halving, it is very clear that a wide perspective must be assumed, and the analysis must also consider a long term effect. Hence, at the time of writing, we may not assume that the effect of the Litecoin halving has fully kicked in. Until the Bitcoin dominance subsides, the crypto market will still maintain a partial lopsided outlook.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/the-unexpected-effects-of-the-litecoin-halving-a6c8fde3c62a

Bitcoin is a hot topic today in every investment circle. What with the debt-laden global financial system and the fear of an imminent meltdown, top investors are already looking for alternatives to secure their wealth. A look into the top 10 billionaires discussing Bitcoin will give us an idea as to what direction the world’s money might be leaning toward in the near future.

Nobody wants to be caught up in the crossfire of poor economic management by the government. It is an experience that a lot of people have had before and won’t want to have again in the same lifetime.

The emergence of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies has generated a lot of interest, and seems to introduce a different method of preserving wealth. For this class of people, things may not be very clear yet, in terms of understanding what the industry has to offer. Nevertheless, the fact that they are showing interest in crypto is enough to make you and I consider the options available within the system.

Among the top 10 billionaires discussing Bitcoin are the following:

10. Eric Schmidt

Eric Schmidt is the Executive Chairman and former CEO of Google. As at 2019, Schmidt’s net worth was calculated to be $13.3 billion. By profession, he is a software engineer and a renowned American businessman.

In May 2018, Schmidt described Bitcoin as a remarkable achievement and something that has enormous value. Here is what he said.

“Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement and the ability to create something that is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value”

9. Abigail Johnson

Abigail Johnson is an American businesswoman whose net worth is rated at $15.7 billion. She is the CEO of Fidelity Investments, and the Chairman of Fidelity International. The firm has nearly $2.7 trillion in managed assets, and Johnson owns 24.7% stake there.

Johnson has embraced cryptocurrencies and, in 2018, Fidelity launched a platform that allows institutional investors to trade Bitcoin and Ether.

8. Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio is popularly described as a self-made billionaire. He is currently worth a whopping $19.4 billion. Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates, which he founded, manages $160 billion in investments, making them the world’s biggest hedge fund firm.

Dalio Bridgewater entered into a partnership in 2018 and gave employees more stake in the firm. This is a move that he carried out in order to plan the life of Bridgewater after his departure.

Dalio is seen as one of the controversial figures when it comes to Bitcoin, however he’s still talking about it. He is known for calling Bitcoin a bubble while speaking on CNBC. Here’s what he said:

“It’s not an effective storehold of wealth because it has volatility to it, unlike gold, Bitcoin is a highly speculative market. Bitcoin is a bubble.”

7. Elon Musk

Elon Musk is the CEO and Chairman of Telsa which is popular for revolutionizing the transportation industry with the introduction of electric cars. Musk’s revolution in transportation transcends cars and earth. His SpaceX project also focuses on doing something unique in the area of space travels.

On the topic of Bitcoin, Musk calls the pioneer cryptocurrency a brilliant innovation. He made his belief that cryptocurrency is a better alternative to paper currencies public by describing the Bitcoin structure as “quite brilliant”.

Musk said:
“It (Bitcoin) bypasses currency controls … Paper money is going away. And crypto is a far better way to transfer values than a piece of paper, that’s for sure.”

6. Michael Dell

Michael Dell’s net worth is $33.2 billion, and he is the Chairman of Dell Technologies. This company was formed in 2016, after a merger between Dell and EMC, a computer storage giant.

Even before the merger, Dell has been a supporter of Bitcoin with his original company, Dell. In July 2014, he tweeted that his [then] company started accepting Bitcoin for payments. Nothing more describes a classic adoption of the cryptocurrency. In the tweet he said:

“Dell now accepts Bitcoin. More information about today's announcement

(link: http://www.dell.com/bitcoin)”

5. Jack Ma

Jack Ma is the cofounder and Chairman of Alibaba Group, one of the world’s largest e-commerce businesses. The company raised $25 billion dollars in an IPO in New York back in 2014, setting the record as the world’s biggest public stock offering.

Ma has publicly stated that he is not necessarily a fan of Bitcoin, but is fully interested in the technology that powers it. Here are his words:

“When it comes to Bitcoin, I'm not so interested in it myself. What I want to know is, what can Bitcoin bring to society? After some thought, I myself think that the technology behind Bitcoin is tremendous, so at Alibaba and Alipay we are using it to help build our roadmap to a truly cashless society.”

4. Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg has gone beyond just discussing, but even creating a whole cryptocurrency on its own, which has become a huge subject of controversy lately.

Zuckerberg’s net worth is estimated at $72 billion which is linked to his primary company, Facebook and every other subsidiaries that are attached to it.

Facebook was taken public in 2012, however, Zuckerberg still owns 15% stake in the company. Zuckerberg has never hidden his affection for cryptocurrency. However, the proposed launch of Libra coin is the loudest statement anyone can ever make on the subject matter.

3. Larry Ellison

Here is the cofounder of renowned global database management company, Oracle. Ellison’s net worth is estimated at $68.2 billion. Today at Oracle he serves as the Chairman of the board and the company’s Chief Technology Officer.

Ellison is optimistic about Bitcoin and the technology behind it. His only concerns were about blockchain being used only in the context of Bitcoin and digital currencies. However, he is optimistic that companies outside of finance will implement the technology on a wider scale.

2. Warren Buffett

When it comes to investments, the name Warren Buffett is one of the loudest across the globe. He is a serial investor whose present net worth is estimated at $81.2 billion. Buffett, who is nicknamed the “Oracle of Omaha” runs Berkshire Hathaway, which owns more than 60 companies, including insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen.

Buffett is not one of those who are optimistic about Bitcoin. In the past, he even described the cryptocurrency as “rat poison squared”. However, the technology upon which Bitcoin is built is something that he is excited about. Buffett believes that blockchain holds some promise. We’ll have to wait and see if he may change his mind following his infamous lunch with TRON CEO Justin Sun, and other crypto heavyweights.

1. Bill Gates

Bill Gates has a net worth of $103.9 billion. He is the co-founder of Microsoft and till date owns a little over 1% of the company’s stake. Bill and his wife Melinda chair the world’s largest charitable foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

Gates is another critic of Bitcoin who does not expect the pioneer cryptocurrency to succeed. Here is what he had to say when asked of his opinion in 2018:

“As an asset class, you're not producing anything and so you shouldn't expect it to go up. It's kind of a pure 'greater fool theory' type of investment”.

Conclusion

One way or the other, the top names in business and investments have had a look at the emerging technology of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Whether in support or against, the fact that there is a show of concern is a matter of interest.

Many people across the globe today are exploring liquidity providing platforms like Vertex.Market to gather hands-on information about the industry. Besides, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies on their own, are constantly breaking new grounds and proving naysayers wrong in several ways.

Therefore, it is only ideal that even as we consider such information like top 10 billionaires discussing Bitcoin, we take our time and engage in hands-on processes. This is the only way not to be left behind after the train has left the station in this era of emerging technologies.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/top-10-billionaires-discussing-bitcoin-4619961f2aa

When Bitcoin was created, one of the features celebrated by enthusiasts and early adopters is the fact that it is a decentralized network which permits a deregulated transaction system. Breaking down the complexities of the industry, we will explore various aspects in a clarified manner. Our 3 key facts about centralized cryptocurrency will first delve into what is decentralization, look into the relationship between blockchain and cryptocurrency, as well as how a cryptocurrency can be controlled by a central authority.

1. What is Decentralization?

Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin, states “by definition, a decentralized cryptocurrency must be susceptible to 51% attacks whether by hashrate, stake, and/or other permissionlessly-acquirable resources. If a crypto can’t be 51% attacked, it is permissioned and centralized.”

A simple definition describes decentralization as the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group.

With regards to Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies, this was a major factor that differentiated them from fiat currencies that were issued by central banks. This particular class of cryptocurrencies are produced, used and managed by the very users who belong to their networks.

Regular fiat currencies that are issued by central banks are operated within the rules of the said banks. The value attached to them, even though they are based on certain economic standards, are under the control or regulation of the banks. But in the case of Bitcoin and other similar cryptocurrencies, their values are determined both by normal economic forces of demand and supply and as a result of the network activity of its users. Hence power and control does not emanate from any central point. This is what we know as decentralization.

While this system was popular among cryptocurrencies, various debates on the possible cons of a decentralized and deregulated system prompted a different kind of innovation in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. This innovation is not particularly new, but it became popular among establishments who cherished the benefits of the technology behind Bitcoin and other cryptos, but had reservations about decentralization and deregulation. These reservations lead to the inquisition of 3 key factors about centralized cryptocurrency.

Therefore, today we can find a good number of “Closed” blockchain networks that are being used by companies to facilitate internal operations, but are not deregulated or decentralized. In other words, they are blockchains that have central control.

2. What is the Relationship Between Blockchain and Cryptocurrency?

Tokens are a fundamental aspect of blockchain technology. They are the fuel that enable participation and transactions within or across blockchain networks. In order to play any kind of role on a blockchain, whether decentralized or otherwise, you need to have the tokens of such blockchains.
Therefore, when a blockchain attracts reasonable demand, thereby creating value for its tokens based on the economic factors that we have mentioned above, and gets listed in a marketplace where they can be purchased or exchanged for fiat or other cryptocurrencies, then they can be regarded as cryptocurrencies. So, centralized cryptocurrencies can be described as the tokens of those blockchains that are controlled by a central authority. In essence, those cryptocurrencies are controlled by a central authority.

3. How Can a Cryptocurrency be Controlled by a Central Authority?

Just like the example we gave above using central banks, when the minting of a currency and the rules governing its network and community are under the control of a central body, it is centralized. This is exactly the case with centralized cryptocurrencies.

Unlike decentralized networks whose rules are set from the beginning and cannot be changed, centralized networks are subject to change. The tokens are not mined by the participants of the network, they are rather issued by the governing authorities based on agreed terms. These governing authorities are in charge of the centralized server and are responsible for its maintenance.

Although the blockchain industry would easily boast of being a decentralized ecosystem, investigation reveals that majority of the existing cryptocurrencies possess elements of centralization. This simply means that the creators of these cryptos have some level of influence over their networks. As a matter of fact, as much as over 80% of the cryptocurrencies in the market today are either fully or partially centralized. The biggest among them being Ripple’s XRP.

Centralized or not, all of these tokens can be found on https://vertex.market/home for anyone who wants to participate in the cryptocurrency marketplace. The Vertex platform provides extensive liquidity in a peer-to-peer marketplace for all levels of buyers. A subject of interest is that even tokens that are yet to be listed, but have been properly researched and certified for market viability can be purchased on Vertex. Transactions on the platform are possible using bank transfer or directly linking you to over 20 different payment gateways.

We hope you found this piece on the 3 key facts about centralized cryptocurrency insightful, for more understanding of anything and everything in the cryptocurrency space, see our Medium account here -----> https://medium.com/@official_83664/3-key-facts-about-centralized-cryptocurrency-b21ddf3c55b9

What are Virgin Bitcoins and Where Can I Buy Them?

You might be hearing this for the first time and may never have imagined that there is anything called a “Virgin Bitcoin”. Yes, you heard right.
First of all, one of the characteristics of Bitcoin is that it is a transparent network, and every transaction on the network can be traced. On top of that, the history of transactions can never be deleted. Another point to note is that every particular Bitcoin is unique, including the ones that are yet to be mined.
Based on the information above, you will understand that it is possible to find out how any particular Bitcoin has changed hands right from when it came into existence. For the want of an appropriate term, I would refer to older Bitcoins as “regular Bitcoins” in this post.

Back to the Subject Matter. So, What is a Virgin Bitcoin?

In simple terms, Virgin Bitcoin is a term used to refer to any freshly mined Bitcoin that has not been used for any transaction at all.
This should be a normal development, at least based on the fact that every Bitcoin today was once a Virgin Bitcoin.

So why do we have to specially talk about a freshly mined Bitcoin? Of what importance is it in the industry today?
The idea of Virgin Bitcoins has generated a lot of interest, based on the premium status that is being associated with it, especially in the cryptocurrency marketplace. This class of Bitcoins are currently being traded at higher costs, with mark ups of between 10% and 30% across different platforms. The reason for this is not far-fetched, as a matter of fact, it is because of their status of “no history”, so they can be assumed as the safest kind of Bitcoins to hold.

How Safe Are My Bitcoins?

As already explained above, the history of every Bitcoin in existence today can be traced back to the point of mining. All wallets where they have been can be identified and singled out. It is true that Bitcoins are termed to be ideal for anonymous transactions. This anonymity is only to the limit of not knowing the particular identity of a wallet holder. Apart from this, we cannot categorically assume Bitcoin transactions to be anonymous. Rather, it can represent the most open way of making transactions.

Having this in mind, and putting into consideration the vices in the crypto industry, it means that some Bitcoins can actually be risky to hold as investment. The implication of this is that it is possible to buy Bitcoins from the open market that have been used for illicit transactions, or some other criminal transactions.

Imagine being caught in the crossfire of a criminal investigation that you know nothing about, and have your Bitcoins blacklisted because it was used by someone you know nothing about to commit an offense. This is exactly why people are becoming more careful around the “regular Bitcoins”, and are ready to pay even more for Virgin Bitcoins.

The identification of Bitcoins is not yet so popular in the industry, however, there are signs that for purposes of regulation and security, we may soon be seeing increased activity in this area. This is the same sentiment held by Flex Yang, CEO of Babel Finance who spoke after the recent G-20 summit. He explained what could happen as soon as the already agreed adoption of the standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) kicks in.

Yang Said;
“When these standards go into effect, interexchange transactions will require transparency regarding senders and receivers of cryptocurrency. This opens doors to a wide berth of scrutiny as regulators probe different ledgers to determine what wallets participated in illicit crypto exchanges, hacks, etc. Bitcoin remains of interest to institutional investors, but their threshold for risk is much lower. With uncertainty as to how the crypto world will conform to the FATF standards, many traditional investors feel it best to air on the side of caution.”

Therefore, it is in line with airing on the side of caution that most people who can afford it are going for Virgin Bitcoins. After all, you wouldn’t want to lose your investment over something that you know nothing about. But then, it is one thing to want to buy Virgin Bitcoins, and another thing altogether to know how and where to purchase them.

Where Can I Buy Virgin Bitcoins?

Thanks to platforms like Vertex.Market, buying Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies has become very simplified and flexible. The platform provides all the liquidity you may need to trade effectively in the highly dynamic marketplace. Apart from that, if you want to differentiate and classify between Bitcoins or any other cryptocurrency, Vertex affords you that opportunity.

It is a peer-to-peer platform that allows customers to make purchases using bank transfer. Even tokens that are yet to be listed can be purchased on Vertex, and the coins sent directly to the users wallet.

On Vertex, everyone is treated specially and every transaction need that you may have is adequately addressed, even if it has to do with Virgin Bitcoins.

https://medium.com/@official_83664/what-are-virgin-bitcoins-and-where-can-i-buy-them-d6eab0f669e0

The role of the United States in global money methods has been outstanding since the introduction of the civilized currency system. For every time money has evolved, the United States has one way or the other found itself around as a key influencer of the system.
It can be argued that the strength of the economy of the United States relies more on its monetary policies, in line with the global money system, rather than actual internal productivity within the country.
Read More here: https://medium.com/@official_83664/understanding-the-usas-history-with-cryptocurrency-4ade6c35199b

Vertex.Market is announcing the start of the WEEKLY LOTTERY Program!
Every week during the next 4 weeks until September 6, 2018, random 6 members of the Vertex.Market group on Telegram will become the winners of the weekly lottery and receive the following rewards:
🏆 1st place — 1 ETH + 500 VTEXP
🏆 2nd — 0.5 ETH + 250 VTEXP
🏆 3rd — 0.25 ETH + 100 VTEXP
🏆 4th to 6th – 0.1 ETH each
⚙️ How to Apply:
1. Join the Vertex.Market group on Telegram.
2. Wait for the next lottery round (weekly).
🔥 No forms to fill out! Just stay in the group and hope to become a lucky winner!
(One of @Vertexmarkeplace admins will PM all the winners immediately after each round of the lottery and ask them to provide their (1) wallet address and (2) email. Each winner must reply with this information BEFORE the next week's round or will lose the right to get the reward. The lottery rewards will be given to 6 random group members that are not bots. Additional terms may be announced for the next weeks.)
Thank you for your continuous support and we look forward to seeing you on our Telegram group!

Thanks to all who have joined and are joining our Weekly Lottery! ⭐️ By the way, we also have Airdrop: invite new members to our Telegram group (only those who wants and agrees to join) and get generous rewards at the end of the token sale! Airdrop campaign thread on Bitcointalk.

VERTEX.MARKET WEBSITE | BITCOINTALK THREAD

Vertex.Market is announcing the Airdrop Contest.
Invite new members until September 6, 2018 (using "add member" Telegram function) to the Vertex.Market group on Telegram (only those who want and agree to be invited) and get 6 Vertex.Market tokens for EACH invited member!
🏆 6 VTEXP = 1.86 USD (i.e. about 0.0045 ETH), for everyone you've successfully invited!
🏆 Furthermore, the TOP 20 participants will receive a 20% bonus in addition to how many VTEXP tokens they will have earned for invites by September 6, 2018!!
🏆 And also... Wait for it... The THREE MOST ACTIVE participants will get an exciting ETH bonus!!!
• 3 ETH for the 1st place in the leaderboard!
• 2 ETH for the 2nd place!
• 1 ETH for the 3rd place!
Join now and invite more and more to earn more and more!
⚙️ How to Apply:
1. Join our Telegram Group by yourself!
2. Fill this quick online form. (You won't receive your reward if you skip this step.)
3. Start inviting!
🔥 The more new members you'll successfully invite, the bigger reward. The results will be announced within 1-2 weeks after September 6, 2018.
(You may invite new members using different Telegram accounts. Just fill in the same application form for your every account from which you are inviting and don't forget to put the same email address as in your previous registrations.
Tokens will be given only to the members found in the group on September 6, 2018, and only for the invited members found in the group on September 6, 2018. Tokens will not be given to or for bot users.)
Check Spreadsheet: here
Thank you for your continuous support and we look forward to seeing you on our Telegram Group!

VERTEX.MARKET WEBSITE | BITCOINTALK THREAD

SIGN-UP BONUS
Create an account on the Vertex.Market website https://vertex.market/register and get extra 6 VTEXP tokens = $1.86 USD — it's very easy and available for everyone!
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you very much for your continuous strong support! 💪 We will be happy to reward you generously! 🎁

Vertex
A UNIQUE ECOSYSTEM FOR INVESTORS, THE COMMUNITY AND ICOS
The world's first ICO aftermarket

WHO are WE?

Vertex is a decentralized Token Market and the first ICO aftermarket in the world. Vertex offers OTC ICO tokens before they are listed on exchanges for a preferential price. Listed tokens will also be for sale on Vertex for a lower price than on the exchanges.

Vertex is a consortium of investors, traders, VCs and developers that have taken action to form a new ICO investment ecosystem and offer it to the public.

Our vision
Our vision is to create an ecosystem within the ICO market to increase its reputation and help non-accredited investors to invest in this thriving market. Vertex will become THE aftermarket and source for tokens either

1.) For non-listed utility and security tokens
2.) Tokens that are not listed yet but will be soon
3.) Listed tokens

Vertex is a major player. The Vertex market attracts Funds and Venture capitalists and offers them an exit of an ICO, without the need to sell the tokens on an exchange and hurting the project. On the other side, it attracts hundreds of thousands of users that want to buy evaluated, great tokens for
a lower price then it was sold, or it is traded on exchanges.

Vertex Public Sale Info

START DATE
01.10.2018

END DATE
15.02.2019

MARKET

The market platform grants users access to sold-out ICO tokens or ICO tokens that are no longer for sale without the need to be listed on cryptocurrency exchanges. The users will benefit from preferential prices and allow them to buy into highly evaluated, promising tokens.

The market is decentralized and all a user has to do is transfer VTEX tokens from his wallet of choice to an address given by the tool. Vertex validates if the sender address is registered for this user and once validated, the tokens will be sent directly to his wallet.

Vertex.market will change the way the ICO lifecycle works. The Investment consortium behind vertex has high liquidity but will continuously onboard other Funds, VCs and Family offices to join the ecosystem and increase the overall liquidity.

WHY VERTEX WORKS

01.) Time to Exchange
ICOs that closed their public funding (if applicable) will increasingly have longer between the end of ICO and their exchange listing. This is a good development since there is no logical reason, a freshly funded business should be subject to speculation. Vertex.Market fills this gap

2.) Exchange, not the right instrument
An exchange is a place where established business should be traded, not a 5-month-old start-up. However, contributors that missed the crowd-sale, now have the opportunity to buy these tokens at preferential prices before it launches on an exchange.

3.) Exit door for VC’s and Funds
If an ICO did not plan to get listed on exchanges, most VC’s and Capital Investors would not perform an investment because they don’t have an exit-door. Vertex.Market offers the perfect exit-door, without pressuring the price of the token.

4.) A boost for every ICO
Every ICO would like to be evaluated, listed and provided with investments. The Vertex platform has high liquidity through its investors and partners. The Vertex vetting process rules out scams and projects that are not yet ready, which in turn gives contributors and Vertex token holders a clear advantage in the market.

5.) All Private Sale ICOs
Many ICOs that have a high chance of success are usually not sold publicly, which means ordinary people would not get access to these tokens at ICO prices. The Vertex Platform changes this by buying into successfully vetted ICOs in private sale phase and then offering the tokens to the public on the Vertex.Market platform.
The Vertex token market will be the first ICO aftermarket which offers ICOs investment opportunities or access to its investment consortium, which is a substantial advantage that is more than just an investment.

The community gains a new instrument and a new way of buying ICO tokens they can trust, for lower cost.

Funds and VCs finally get a second way of selling part of their investment and no longer have to force the ICO to conduct a fast
exchange listing and buyback of their own tokens.

Meet the team!

Alessandro Pecorelli
CEO

Abdullah Al Othaim
President of Vertex Capital

Fahad Al Rajhi
Head of Business Development

Saud Al Jomaih
CIO

Investors

Naif Al Rajhi
Investor & Partner

Mohammed Al Othaim
Investor & Partner

Abdulaziz Bin Sultan
Investor

Sulaiman Al Rajhi
Investor & Partner

Roadmap

July 2, 2018
Private Sale

October 01 2018
Public Sale

October 29 2018
Launch alpha version

January 15, 2018
Launch of Vertex BUYBACK

February 15, 2019
Closure of Public Sale

March 5 2019
VTEX Premium Security Token

June 03 2019
Launch of Release 3

October 01 2019
First vertex.market exclusive ICO’s

December 01 2019
Round 2 Vertex Premium Token

BUDGET ALLOCATION

3 000 000

Business Development
25%

Partners
10%

Legal & expenses
10%

Software Development
30%

Operational
15%

Reinvestment
10%

11 000 000

Business Development
20%

Partners
10%

Legal & expenses
8%

Software Development
20%

Operational
12%

Reinvestment
30%

21 000 000

Business Development
14%

Partners
10%

Legal & expenses
8%

Software Development
15%

Operational
10%

Reinvestment
43%
31 000 000

Business Development
12%

Partners
10%

Legal & expenses
8%

Software Development
12%

Operational
8%

Reinvestment
50%
40 000 000

Business Development
11%

Partners
10%

Legal & expenses
7%

Software Development
11%

Operational
7%

Reinvestment
54%

Vertex ICO & Vertex TOKEN DISTRIBUTION

Token Sale
60%
Public & Private sale

12%
Limited Company

5%
Bounty Program

8%
Strategic partners

15%
Team & Investors

JOIN US!!!