Alternative Block Chains : be safe!

[amd6678]

People with only one computer can still securely isolate different wallets & apps from each other by using privilege separation. For example on Linux, run bitcoin/namecoin/i0coin/etc under separate user accounts, and chmod 700 their home directories.

[taylor.cwf]

there is always a risk when you enter crypto world. the biggest problem is who to trust and who do not. see USDT example lol..

[bhrum]

Hello. Maybe someone knows what kind of coin, I can not find. This coin on the block, already on the exchanges, not the top ones, will soon be released on good exchanges. The use of the coin will be in the field of land design

[thuat86]

I haven't seen anybody post about what would be my biggest worry if I were trying out alternative block chains. I realize this may be perceived as "Gavin is FUD'ding anything that isn't bitcoin!"  (FUD == Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt)  But I think some of you might be forgetting some basic computer security fundamentals in the excitement to be early adopters.

When I first heard about bitcoin, my questions were:

1) Can it possibly work (do the ideas for how it works make sense)?
2) Is it a scam?
3) If it is not a scam, could it open my computer up to viruses/trojans if I run it?

I answered those questions by:

1) Reading and understanding Satoshi's whitepaper.  Then thinking about it for a day or two and reading it again.
2) Finding out everything I could about the project.  I read every forum thread here (there were probably under a hundred threads back then) and read Satoshi's initial postings on the crypto mailing list.
3) Downloaded and skimmed the source code to see if it looked vulnerable to buffer overflow or other remotely exploitable attacks.

If I were going to experiment with an alternative block-chain, I'd go through the same process again. But I'm an old conservative fuddy-duddy.

If you want to take a risk on a brand-new alternative block-chain, I'd strongly suggest that you:

1) Run the software in a virtual machine or on a machine that doesn't contain anything valuable.
2) Don't invest more money or time than you can afford to lose.
3) Use a different passphrase at every exchange site.

Thank you a lot for suggestion. But I am not a technician or developer, so I don't know any source code. How can I do?

[Evushko]

It is difficult to save the data correctly. Anti-virus systems are not what you need to save; you should always carefully study the information before investing.

[Amberum]

I am noticed that my PC become more slowly in this year, especially web browser , antimalware and antivirus programs show that all is ok. Does anyone know or can recommend programs to check new malware type.

[Noah14]

You need to make something if you got money on the machines and wasting energy for " nothing ".

[kbcoin]

Alternative block chain History has a method for rehashing itself. Over and over this opinion has demonstrated that humankind and its individual false notions have been a rehashed issue. It was with the help and arduous endeavors of Satoshi Nakamoto and his/her/their formation of the block chain (Wiki) that began this all. Bitcoin, the originator of conveyed open records, fills in as a prime case of the sorts of developments that can emerge when individuals get together behind a mutual shared trait. The Bitcoin "biological system" all in all conveys an opinion, and that is "we need to decentralize". I for one need to face a daily reality such that nobody is prohibited from interest in the forward fight that is carrying this mechanical development under the control of the majority.

[Wylokel]

This is exceptional display on the other hand nearly humans get clamoured to Crypto's with extremely small mechanical recognise -how, which is fairly abject , on the other hand nearly humans would not all the more recognise where to start with seeking to safety check the series themselves.

[boled]

this is good advice, although not too detailed but very helpful, the key to everything is learning and reading. This can also be used as a guide for friends who like to invest, learn first before deciding to invest in the ICO. learn about products, technology, whitepapers and also the team that works inside. The ICO with a large target does not guarantee success, even some successful projects are successful but do not succeed in maintaining prices and launching products.

[WillyAp]

this is good advice, although not too detailed but very helpful, the key to everything is learning and reading. This can also be used as a guide for friends who like to invest, learn first before deciding to invest in the ICO. learn about products, technology, whitepapers and also the team that works inside. The ICO with a large target does not guarantee success, even some successful projects are successful but do not succeed in maintaining prices and launching products.

One give away for newcoins is their dead followers on FB, Twitter.
Recent creations, 1000 followers and hardly any activity.

There are way to many coins and most are just there to make its creators rich, or so they hope.  

[elnanex]

Good Work

[kiranarora]

If a person thinks he can make any code,but the lol does not ask the programmer to do such things.

[Insufficient]

Love that you brought this up as there is so much new blockchain popping up,and to be honest just like everything there is a positive and negative sides to it. The way i see it though if a person is really interested in certain blockchain e.g. plug ., we can always research about it and perhaps see if there are already successful transactions using the blockchain that way we can decide to ourselves if its worth taking the risk.

[Gurjasmeet]

I think crypto currency had most popular and attractive. so there are more alternative working on same pattern. but huge of  alternative coins make a way for scamming.thinking. we should be aware for investment.

[HoryouToken]

A lot’s changed since the 1990’s … everybody is connected to everybody else, computer’s run everything like our banks and financial markets…


but something’s still haven’t changed, like, when Alice needs to send Bob some money, they each need people to record the transaction, then validate it, and then tally it with the other side’s recording….over and over, every time some change is made. That’s a lot of work just to make sure what Bob sees is the same as Alice.

Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) allows Bob and Alice to stay in sync, while making sure that nobody can change the data for their own agenda.

The most common use case of DLT is blockchain. There are a lot of DLT products out there who store and share their data on the blockchain which is neat but takes a toll in terms of scalability because everybody has a copy of what Alice and Bob did. That’s a lot of duplicate copies and then there’s privacy to think about it i.e. when Bob and Alice make a transaction the only people should know about it are … Bob and Alice


There are other DLT use cases like Corda which uses the Corda ledger keeping scalability in mind. When Bob and Alice make a transaction on the Corda ledger the transaction is not put into a block with everybody else’s. Each deal is individual in itself, and both parties are in control as to whether they want to include a third party service for things like validation and recording.


Another distributed ledger technology is hashgraphs which gives weight to scalability more than a public consensus.


“All blockchains are distributed ledgers, but not all distributed ledgers are blockchains”

For more information check out these few blogs and videos.

[Sane_Thane]

Gavin's right, we must be careful to what we invest in. But they do not need to access our computer to scam us. A scam may just be a shitcoin. The nature of the project should help us to know if it is a good one or not. How long would it take to achieve it. Their roadmap of course. If their roadmap is full of promises, shortly delivered, either they are lying, either they will scam. Good work takes time, a lot of time, nobody can achieve big goals in two months. Project who promise to change the world in more than one way will never change the world.
A good project will focus on one aim at a time. It will be a long term project working on something that has a real impact, on the technology or on a political side. Political projects, real one, are good to invest in. Because the teams are really willing to bring some improvement to our world and they'll work for this. Ideas over money is a good way to earn money.

[henry.108]

This is true, a lot of block chains have actually emerged in the internet. As always people never change, despite the ease of earning money through cryptocurrencies, they still want an easy and illegal way to earn. That's why we need to be more mindful on the block chains that we want to use when we are dealing with our coins.

[LCNPLATORM]

This paper is awesome. I enjoyed it so much. I hope many people will keep an open minding as to adopting new innovations. This is the only way any technology could be grown.
Thanks.

[nuamah]

Great advice. I really the part about not investing more than you can afford to lose. CryptoCurrencies are not scam but can be used for scam so we all need to beware