Cryptocurrency markets are volatile enough without making simple, easily avoidable mistakes.
Investing in cryptocurrencies and digital assets is now easier than ever before. Online brokers, centralized exchanges and even decentralized exchanges give investors the flexibility to buy and sell tokens without going through a traditional financial institution and the hefty fees and commissions that come along with them.
Cryptocurrencies were designed to operate in a decentralized manner. This means that while they’re an innovative avenue for global peer-to-peer value transfers, there are no trusted authorities involved that can guarantee the security of your assets. Your losses are your responsibility once you take your digital assets into custody.
Here we’ll explore some of the more common mistakes that cryptocurrency investors and traders make and how you can protect yourself from unnecessary losses.
Losing your keys
Cryptocurrencies are built on blockchain technology, a form of distributed ledger technology that offers high levels of security for digital assets without the need for a centralized custodian. However, this puts the onus of protection on asset holders, and storing the cryptographic keys to your digital asset wallet safely is an integral part of this.
On the blockchain, digital transactions are created and signed using private keys, which act as a unique identifier to prevent unauthorized access to your cryptocurrency wallet. Unlike a password or a PIN, you cannot reset or recover your keys if you lose them. This makes it extremely important to keep your keys safe and secure, as losing them would mean losing access to all digital assets stored in that wallet.
Lost keys are among the most common mistakes that crypto investors make. According to a report from Chainalysis, of the 18.5 million Bitcoin (BTC) mined so far, over 20% has been lost to forgotten or misplaced keys.
Storing coins in online wallets
Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges are probably the easiest way for investors to get their hands on some cryptocurrencies. However, these exchanges do not give you access to the wallets holding the tokens, instead offering you a service similar to banks. While the user technically owns the coins stored on the platform, they are still held by the exchange, leaving them vulnerable to attacks on the platform and putting them at risk.
There have been many documented attacks on high-profile cryptocurrency exchanges that have led to millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency stolen from these platforms. The most secure option to protect your assets against such risk is to store your cryptocurrencies offline, withdrawing assets to either a software or hardware wallet after purchase.
Not keeping a hard copy of your seed phrase
To generate a private key for your crypto wallet, you will be prompted to write down a seed phrase consisting of up to 24 randomly generated words in a specific order. If you ever lose access to your wallet, this seed phrase can be used to generate your private keys and access your cryptocurrencies.
Keeping a hard copy record, such as a printed document or a piece of paper with the seed phrase written on it, can help prevent needless losses from damaged hardware wallets, faulty digital storage systems, and more. Just like losing your private keys, traders have lost many a coin to crashed computers and corrupted hard drives.
Fat-finger error
A fat-finger error is when an investor accidentally enters a trade order that isn’t what they intended. One misplaced zero can lead to significant losses, and mistyping even a single decimal place can have considerable ramifications.
One instance of this fat-finger error was when the DeversiFi platform erroneously paid out a $24-million fee. Another unforgettable tale was when a highly sought-after Bored Ape nonfungible token was accidentally sold for $3,000 instead of $300,000.
Sending to the wrong address
Investors should take extreme care while sending digital assets to another person or wallet, as there is no way to retrieve them if they are sent to the wrong address. This mistake often happens when the sender isn’t paying attention while entering the wallet address. Transactions on the blockchain are irreversible, and unlike a bank, there are no customer support lines to help with the situation.
This kind of error can be fatal to an investment portfolio. Still, in a positive turn of events, Tether, the firm behind the world’s most popular stablecoin, recovered and returned $1 million worth of Tether (USDT) to a group of crypto traders who sent the funds to the wrong decentralized finance platform in 2020. However, this story is a drop in the ocean of examples where things don’t work out so well. Hodlers should be careful while dealing with digital asset transactions and take time to enter the details. Once you make a mistake, there’s no going back.
Over diversification
Diversification is crucial to building a resilient cryptocurrency portfolio, especially with the high volatility levels in the space. However, with the sheer number of options out there and the predominant thirst for outsized gains, cryptocurrency investors often end up over-diversifying their portfolios, which can have immense consequences.
Over-diversification can lead to an investor holding a large number of heavily underperforming assets, leading to significant losses. It’s vital to only diversify into cryptocurrencies where the fundamental value is clear and to have a strong understanding of the different types of assets and how they will likely perform in various market conditions.
Not setting up a stop-loss arrangement
A stop-loss is an order type that enables investors to sell a security only when the market reaches a specific price. Investors use this to prevent losing more money than they are willing to, ensuring they at least make back their initial investment.
In several cases, investors have experienced huge losses because of incorrectly setting up their stop losses before asset prices dropped. However, it’s also important to remember that stop-loss orders aren’t perfect and can sometimes fail to trigger a sale in the event of a large, sudden crash.
That being said, the importance of setting up stop losses to protect investments cannot be understated and can significantly help mitigate losses during a market downturn.
Crypto investing and trading is a risky business with no guarantees of success. Like any other form of trading, patience, caution and understanding can go a long way. Blockchain places the responsibility on the investor, so it’s crucial to take the time to figure out the various aspects of the market and learn from past mistakes before putting your money at risk.
Bitcoin is a monetary good — a new form of money. As Bitcoin is a money, it must be compared to other monies to consider the comparative advantages of Bitcoin and from that consider further the probabilities of Bitcoin winning ground or not in the competition between monies.
Brief summarization of the monetary properties
Summarization of the monetary properties of Bitcoin compared to precious metals and fiat currencies
As the exhibit above showcases, Bitcoin offers many different distinct and compelling competitive advantages to the alternatives.
These include, but are not limited to:
1. Bitcoin is the first asset in the human history to provide any holder a very sure case of unseizability and censorship- and judgment-resistance for their funds.
◦ Unseizability: With precious metals and fiat currencies, the custodianship is mostly in the hands of trusted custodians that is subject to any intervention by a government or authority.
Bitcoin, with self-custody being orders of magnitude easier than with precious metals and fiat currencies, and access to the corresponding private key of funds being the sole way to access and move funds, no one can seize your bitcoins.
◦ Censorship- and judgment resistance: With precious metals and fiat currencies, the payment clearing for small value transactions can with not much hassle be somewhat censorship resistant if the involved parties are willing to transact in the physical units of precious metals and fiat currencies and to self-custody the funds going forward.
However, with non-small value transactions it is exceedingly inconvenient and costly for transactions of precious metals and fiat currencies to happen in the offline, with physical units and self-custody going forward, leaving the centralized intermediaries as the only option and these are subject to any intervention by a government or authority.
Bitcoin, with the payment clearing involving no centralized intermediaries but instead a decentralized and distributed setup requiring no AML/KYC, the result is that of a the payment clearing process being permissionless, allowing anyone with cryptographic access to funds to move them at their will.
2. Bitcoin provides an inherently apolitical global monetary unit. It is truly border-less, with no recognition of any jurisdictional rules and laws, allowing the jurisdiction of a counterpart in any transaction to be of no relevance.
◦ Fiat currencies are highly political and precious metals are less political than fiat currencies, but still much more political than Bitcoin.
◦ Bitcoin is truly border-less: any bitcoin funds can be accessed anywhere on the planet by having access to information that can even be stored inside a human brain and reliably retrieved at small effort — and, crucially, with no intermediary and no permission required the bitcoin funds can be moved to anywhere in the world with final settlement in the next block.
3. Bitcoin provides scarcity and salability through time characteristics vastly superior to any other monetary options, including fiat currencies and precious metals.
◦ The non-discretionary monetary policy of the bitcoin networking allowing for the asymptotic money supply* of 21 million BTC is built into the literal definition of the protocol. This is a drastic contrast to the arbitrary scarcity of fiat currencies governed by politics.
The scarcity of precious metals is much better than fiat currencies, but Bitcoin with the strictly fixed money supply outperforms any precious metal.
Bitcoin provides any holder a reassurance stronger than any other asset in the world that their ownership stake in the total quantity of Bitcoin on the market will never diluted.
One BTC of 21 million will always be one BTC of 21 million.
◦ Bitcoins are infinitely durable, impossible to counterfeit or dilute, can be stored at no cost and at no degradation.
* By inventing Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto created the first example of a digital good (in this case, monetary good) that is impossible to reproduce ad infinitum, thereby creating the first instance of human history of digital scarcity.
Less talked about it, but perhaps more important, Satoshi Nakamoto with Bitcoin also created the first example of a good being absolute scarce.
Previously, any consideration of scarcity of a good was relative. Any physical good is never absolutely scarce, onlyrelatively scarce when compared to other goods — simply because any limit on a physical goods is a function of the time and human effort put towards producing the good.
Bitcoin, with the asymptotic monetary supply built into the protocol, is therefore the first example of absolute scarcity in a liquid commodity and good that cannot have its fixed quantity of supply increased.
People’s MoneyPower to the PeopleThe seed has been planted… Make it Thrive !!!ChooseVeritas non Auctoritas …Choose Wisely
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The relative value of any two curren- cies—the exchange rate—is determined through their sale and purchase on the global foreign exchange market. If government policy interferes with this market by changing the relative supply or demand of currencies, the exchange rate is managed.
The trilemma of international finance, is a restriction on government policy that follows immediately from the interaction of exchange rates, monetary policy and international capital flows.
Trilemma of International Finance
The trilemma states that any country can have only two of the following:
(1) Unrestricted international capital markets.
(2) A managed exchange rate.
(3) An independent monetary policy.
If the government wants a managed exchange rate but does not want to interfere with international capital flows, it must use monetary policy to accommodate changes in the demand for its currency in order to stabilize the exchange rate.
In the extreme, this would take the form of a currency board arrangement, where the domestic currency is fully backed by a foreign currency (as in the case of Hong Kong).
In such a situation, monetary policy can no longer be used for domestic purposes (it is no longer independent).
If a country wishes to maintain control over monetary policy to reduce domestic unemployment or inflation, for example, it must limit trades of its currency in the international capital market (it no longer has free international capital markets).
A country that chooses to have both unrestricted inter-national capital flows and an independent monetary policy can no longer influence its exchange rate and, therefore, cannot have a managed exchange rate.
Pieters and Vivanco (2016), government attempts to regulate the globally accessible bitcoin markets are generally unsuccessful, and, as shown in Pieters (2016), bitcoin exchange rates tend to reflect the market, not official exchange rates.
Should the flows allowed by bitcoin become big enough, all countries will have, by default, unrestricted international capital markets.
Thus, with bitcoin, (1)unrestricted international capital markets is chosen by default.
Therefore, the only remaining policy choice is between (2)managed exchange rates or (3)independent monetary policy.
If the country chooses (1) and (2), it must use reactive monetary policy to achieve the managed exchange rate.
If the country chooses (1) and (3), it must have a floating exchange rate because it has no remaining tools with which to maintain a managed exchange rate.
Ali et al. (2014), the European Central Bank (2015) and the Bank for International Settlements (2015) all concur that cryptocur- rencies may eventually undermine monetary policy.
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• Individually, each of these technologies deserves all the attention they’re getting as enablers and disruptors
• But, taken together?
• Their transformative effect becomes multiplicative
• A future driven by machine connectivity, data exchange and commercial services:
IoT connects billions of machines and sensors generate unprecedented quantities of real-time data
AI enables the machines to act on data and trigger services
Blockchain functions are the transaction layer where data and service contracts are securely stored and payments for services are settled
How does blockchain support intelligent connected machines?
• Smart Contracts enable self-executing and self-enforcing contractual states
Custom financial instruments (tokens), records of ownership of an underlying physical asset (smart property), any
complex business logic that can be programmable
Can such applications be ideal for intelligent (AI) and connected (IoT) machines?
These machines are intelligent enough to negotiate contracts, but need a technology allowing them to securely sign and enforce them
• Digital currencies create new forms of money
Programmable and active
Will such money be ideal for intelligent (AI) and connected (IoT) machines?
These machines will need digital currency to pay for services assigned through the smart contracts
How will the three technologies work together?
IoT – Internet of Things
Sensors allow us to cost-effectively gather tremendous amounts of data.
Connectivity allows us to transmit/broadcast these data.
But, there is a missing element: intelligence to process these data.
AI – Artificial Intelligence
Intelligence at the very edges of the network (mini-brains).
Combine with IoT and you have the ability to recognize meaningful patterns buried in mountains of data in ways that would be impossible for most humans, or even non-AI algorithms, to do.
But, there is a missing element: a secure storage layer for data and a transaction layer for services
DLT (blockchain) – Distributed Ledger Technology
Decentralized governance, coupled with no single point of failure, disintermediation, unalterable and searchable records of events.
Digital currencies and tokenized custom financial instruments.
Combine with AI and IoT and you have a new world of autonomous systems interacting with each other, procuring services from each other and settling transactions.
The technology stack of the future
Technology Stack of the Future
Toward a world of machine commerce
A world of Machine Commerce
M2M will need SSI (self-sovereign identities) – for objects!
Human Identities types
Object identities can be SSI by default
Multi-source, multi-verifier
Digitally signed, verifiable credentials that can prove issuer, holder and status
Secure peer-to-peer connections (permanent or session-based)
Exchange full credentials, partial credentials or ZKPs derived from credentials
Next milestone: Decentralized Organizations (DOs)
DOs are good at:
Coordinating resources that do not know/trust each other (including hybrid
H/M)
Governing in a geography-agnostic, censorship-resistant manner
Enabling short-term or informal organizational structures (networks/communities)
Tracking and rewarding contribution
Challenges
Jurisdictional issues
Legislating new types of work for humans and work rules for machines
Governance modalities, including external supervision
Challenges
New/upgraded system architectures
• From legacy to blockchain/AI/IoT-native systems • Integration, interoperability, backward compatibility • ROI obvious ex post, difficult ex ante – Bootstrapping
Advanced analytics capabilities
• As devices at the edge become smarter, the smart contracts enabled by blockchain platforms will require more advanced data analytics capabilities and gateways to the physical world.
New Business Models
Disruptive innovation will dominate – but not without boom-and-bust cycles and big failures along the way.
Winners will NOT be the ones focusing on efficiency gains, but on disruptive models.
Key takeaways
• IoT, AI and DLT (blockchain) are foundational and exponentially growing technologies
When combined, they will create a new internet of connected, intelligent and commercially transacting machines
An era machine-to-machine (M2M) and human-to-machine (H2M) commerce is likely to emerge, with profound consequences on social and economic dynamics
New forms of corporations or organizational formats (code-only, autonomous) will emerge
• There are numerous challenges that must be overcome
IoT has outpaced the human internet, but is still a largely passive, insecure and privacy-vulnerable network
AI has made huge leaps, but still requires immense computational resources and is largely incompatible with edge computing
DLT is a new technology, largely untested at scale; both smart contracts and digital assets lack the regulatory clarity required for mass adoption
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The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex bordering present-day Giza in Greater Cairo, Egypt.
Egyptologists conclude that the pyramid was built as a tomb for the Fourth Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu and estimate that it was built in the 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years.
Initially standing at 146.5 metres (481 feet), the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure in the world for more than 3,800 years.
Over time, most of the smooth white limestone casing was removed, which lowered the pyramid’s height to the present 138.5 metres (454.4 ft).
What is seen today is the underlying core structure. The base was measured to be about 230.3 metres (755.6 ft) square, giving a volume of roughly 2.6 million cubic metres (92 million cubic feet), which includes an internal hillock.
The dimensions of the pyramid were 280 royal cubits (146.7 m; 481.4 ft) high, a base length of 440 cubits (230.6 m; 756.4 ft), with a seked of 5+1/2 palms (a slope of 51°50’40”).
The Great Pyramid was built by quarrying an estimated 2.3 million large blocks weighing 6 million tonnes total.
The majority of stones are not uniform in size or shape and are only roughly dressed.The outside layers were bound together by mortar.
Primarily local limestone from the Giza Plateau was used. Other blocks were imported by boat down the Nile: White limestone from Tura for the casing, and granite blocks from Aswan, weighing up to 80 tonnes, for the King’s Chamber structure.
There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid. The lowest was cut into the bedrock, upon which the pyramid was built, but remained unfinished. The so-called Queen’s Chamber and King’s Chamber, that contains a granite sarcophagus, are higher up, within the pyramid structure. Khufu’s vizier, Hemiunu (also called Hemon), is believed by some to be the architect of the Great Pyramid.
Many varying scientific and alternative hypotheses attempt to explain the exact construction techniques.
The funerary complex around the pyramid consisted of two mortuary temples connected by a causeway (one close to the pyramid and one near the Nile), tombs for the immediate family and court of Khufu, including three smaller pyramids for Khufu’s wives, an even smaller “satellite pyramid” and five buried solar barges.
Flavian Amphitheatre a.k.a Colloseum Rome – Italy
The Colosseum (Colosseo[kolosˈsɛːo]) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum.
It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world today, despite its age.
Construction began under the emperor Vespasian (r. 69–79 AD) in 72 and was completed in 80 AD under his successor and heir, Titus (r. 79–81).
Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian (r. 81–96).
The three emperors that were patrons of the work are known as the Flavian dynasty, and the amphitheatre was named the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium; Italian: Anfiteatro Flavio[aɱfiteˈaːtro ˈflaːvjo]) by later classicists and archaeologists for its association with their family name (Flavius).
The Colosseum is built of travertine limestone, tuff (volcanic rock), and brick-faced concrete.
The Colosseum could hold an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 spectators at various points in its history having an average audience of some 65,000; it was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles including animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Roman mythology, and briefly mock sea battles.
The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era.
It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.
Although substantially ruined because of earthquakes and stone-robbers (for spolia), the Colosseum is still an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome and was listed as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.
It is one of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions and also has links to the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit “Way of the Cross” procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum.
The Colosseum is also depicted on the Italian version of the five-cent euro coin.
Several walls were built from as early as the 7th century BC,with selective stretches later joined together by Qin Shi Huang (220–206 BC), the first emperor of China.
Little of the Qin wall remains. Later on, many successive dynasties built and maintained multiple stretches of border walls. The best-known sections of the wall were built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).
Apart from defense, other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration.
Furthermore, the defensive characteristics of the Great Wall were enhanced by the construction of watchtowers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor.
The frontier walls built by different dynasties have multiple courses. Collectively, they stretch from Liaodong in the east to Lop Lake in the west, from the present-day Sino–Russian border in the north to Tao River (Taohe) in the south; along an arc that roughly delineates the edge of the Mongolian steppe; spanning 21,196.18 km (13,170.70 mi) in total.
Today, the defensive system of the Great Wall is generally recognized as one of the most impressive architectural feats in history.
As history has left behind, monumental architectural constructions that we can admire and reamain in awe as we look at them, after thousands of years since the first stone was put, in today’s world our digital PoW can be seen and admired the same as the Great Wall of China or the Piramid of Giza !!!
Wich brings us to the question, what is Free talking about ?!?
Long Live the CypherPunksCypherPunks Write CodeGenesisBitcoin Genesis Block Mined 03 January 2009The Times January 3, 2009Bitcoin – Proof Of Work
Bitcoin-type Proof Of Work
In 2009, the Bitcoin network went online. Bitcoin is a proof-of-work digital currency that, like Finney’s RPoW, is also based on the Hashcash PoW.
But in Bitcoin, double-spend protection is provided by a decentralized P2P protocol for tracking transfers of coins, rather than the hardware trusted computing function used by RPoW.
Bitcoin has better trustworthiness because it is protected by computation. Bitcoins are “mined” using the Hashcash proof-of-work function by individual miners and verified by the decentralized nodes in the P2P bitcoin network.
The difficulty is periodically adjusted to keep the block time around a target time.
Since the creation of Bitcoin, proof-of-work has been the predominant design of peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. Studies have estimated the total energy consumption of cryptocurrency mining.
The PoW mechanism requires a vast amount of computing resources, which consume a significant amount of electricity. Recent estimates from the University of Cambridge put Bitcoin’s energy consumption as equal to that of Switzerland.
History modification
Each block that is added to the blockchain, starting with the block containing a given transaction, is called a confirmation of that transaction.
Ideally, merchants and services that receive payment in the cryptocurrency should wait for at least one confirmation to be distributed over the network, before assuming that the payment was done.
The more confirmations that the merchant waits for, the more difficult it is for an attacker to successfully reverse the transaction in a blockchain—unless the attacker controls more than half the total network power, in which case it is called a 51% attack.
2ASICs and mining pools
Within the Bitcoin community there are groups working together in mining pools.
Some miners use application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for PoW. This trend toward mining pools and specialized ASICs has made mining some cryptocurrencies economically infeasible for most players without access to the latest ASICs, nearby sources of inexpensive energy, or other special advantages.
Some PoWs claim to be ASIC-resistant, i.e. to limit the efficiency gain that an ASIC can have over commodity hardware, like a GPU, to be well under an order of magnitude.
ASIC resistance has the advantage of keeping mining economically feasible on commodity hardware, but also contributes to the corresponding risk that an attacker can briefly rent access to a large amount of unspecialized commodity processing power to launch a 51% attack against a cryptocurrency.
Plant the Seed The choice is YoursChoose Wisely The Choice is Yours
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The Times – January 3, 2009Bitcoin Genesis Block Mined 03 January 2009Cypherpunks Write CodeCODE IS LAW THE SOONER HUMANKIND ACCEPTS IT, THE SOONER IT CAN BUILD AROUND ITYeah.. I wonder Why 😂Bitcoin made easyHow a Bitcoin transaction worksA humble MinerHow Bitcoin Mining WorksMining DifficultyBitcoin HalvingBitcoin Previous HalvingsPoolsBitcoin WalletsBitcoin StakeholdersBitcoin FactsPower to the PeopleTotalitarian Governments can kiss my 256-bit keyBitcoin – People’s MoneyBitcoin cannot be Shut DownThe power of the long tail…Central Bank’s 3 StrategiesF**k them, Enough !!!Upcoming Smart Contracts NetworksBitcoin Yearly CandlesBitcoin Price History – Log ScaleBitcoin Mining Ecosystem MapDefi Ecosystem in EthereumDeFi Stack: Product& Application ViewSyscoin EcosystemSyscoinBSC EcosystemPopular CryptocurrencyCrpto EcosystemPublic Companies that own BitcoinTop Banks investing in CryptoBitcoin Inflation vs. TimeWhen you’re Ready…Choose WiselyMake bitcoin thrive, let fiat become humus…Veritas non Auctoritas Facit Legem
Most people misunderstand what bitcoin miners actually do, and as a result they don’t fully grasp the level of security provided by bitcoin’s hashrate.
In this article, we’ll explain proof of work in a non-technical way so that you’ll be able to counter the misinformation about supercomputers and quantum computers attacking the Bitcoin network in the future.
Simply put, mining is a lottery to create new blocks in the Bitcoin blockchain. There are two main purposes for mining:
To permanently add transactions to the blockchain without the permission of any entity.
To fairly distribute the 21 million bitcoin supply by rewarding new coins to miners who spend real world resources (i.e. electricity) to secure the network.
To understand what is actually happening in this lottery system, let’s look at a simple analogy where every Bitcoin hash is equivalent to a dice roll.
Luck, Gambling, and SHA-256
Imagine that miners in the Bitcoin Network are all individuals gambling at a casino. In this example, each of these gamblers have a 1000 sided dice. They roll their die as quickly as possible, trying to get a number less than 10. Statistically, this may take a very long time, but as more gamblers join the game, the time it takes to hit a number less than 10 gets reduced. In short, more gamblers equals quicker rounds.
Once somebody successfully rolls a number less than 10, all gamblers at the table can look down and verify the number. This lucky gambler takes the prize money and the next round begins.
Ultimately, the process of mining bitcoin is very similar. All miners on the network are using Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), which are specialized computers designed to compute hashes as quickly as possible.
To “compute a hash” simply means plugging any random input into a mathematical function and producing an output.
More hashes per second (i.e. higher hashrate) is equivalent to more dice rolls per second, and thus a greater probability of success.
Miners propose a potential Bitcoin block of transactions, and use this for an input. The block is plugged into the SHA256 hash function which yields a fixed-sized output, known as a hash. A single hash can be computed in less than a millisecond, as it involves no complex math.
If the hash value is lower than the Bitcoin Network difficulty, then the miner who proposed the block wins. If not, then the miner continues trying by computing more hashes.
The successful miner’s block is then added to the blockchain, the miner is rewarded with newly issued bitcoin for their work, and the “next round” begins.
Sources :
https://wikipedia.com/
https://braiins.com/
https://blockdata.com/
https://coin98analytics.com/
https://scoopwhoop.com/
https://stakingrewards.com/
https://syscoin.org/
https://galaxydigitalresearch.com/
https://surveycrest.com/
The Times
The Economist
"Internet of Money" - Andreas Antonopoulus
Hal Finney Quotes
Timothy C. May Quote
Free Spirit Digital Art
!°! If I forgot someone, sorry ! Do tell and I'll add you as a source of inspiration on the list !!! Thanks for understanding !!!
Questions, opinions, critics and requests always welcomed and as time allows will be accomodated !!! 🤓 🙂 😉
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Power to the People No more Excuses You have a Choice NowCode is LawThis is about the other 6 billion…Arise, you have nothing to lose but your barbed wired fences !!!Veritas non Auctoritas…Choose!FreedomLet the Bitcoin seed thrive…Bitcoin – People’s MoneyPeaceLoveBitcoin cannot be Shut DownVeritas non AuctoritasWhen you’re Ready…
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The chess grandmaster expects a basket of coins to replace the dollar within a decade.
Garry Kasparov (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Garry Kasparov knows math. He knows logic, strategy and decision-making. Widely regarded as the greatest chess player in the history of mankind, the Russian grandmaster – ranked No. 1 from 1984 to 2005 – sees the world with a certain clarity.
So it will delight many in the blockchain industry to learn that Kasparov, easily one of the smartest people alive, is now a champion of cryptocurrency. And it’s partly because of math. Kasparov has spent his “retirement” opposing Russian President Vladimir Putin (a defiance that once got him tossed in jail), fighting for humanitarian causes and serving as chairman of the Human Rights Foundation (a nonprofit that strongly supports bitcoin as a freedom-giving tool). Now he views crypto as a way to check government power. Bitcoin offers protection against rampant government spending, says Kasparov, “because you’re protected by math” – by the logic of the code itself.
Kasparov also sees merit in non-fungible tokens. In December, in partnership with 1Kind, he dropped a series of 32 NFTs that showcase iconic moments from his life: the 1985 match that crowned him as the youngest world chess champion, the epic battle against International Business Machines’ artificial intelligence-powered “Deep Blue” and speeches against totalitarian governments.
It’s this battle against totalitarianism that has defined the current chapter of his life, and Kasparov sees crypto as part of that struggle. Or as the grandmaster puts it, “I believe that supporting crypto is an important part of my contribution to the future of humanity.”
CoinDesk: How’d you get into the crypto space?
Kasparov: If you followed my career and read about my early interest in computers and technology, you should not be surprised that I was very excited when I recognized the value of cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
This goes all the way back to the ‘80s; I always tried to be at the cutting edge. It started with chess. But I also saw an opportunity to use computers and new tools to advance individual freedoms. It’s my belief that technology should help people fight back against the power of the state.
How do cryptocurrencies fit into that?
Cryptocurrencies become an inseparable part of or progress, because the whole world is moving digital.
And if the economy becomes more digital, so does the money. Another philosophical reason is that … governments [have] unlimited opportunities to print money. And printing money is the most exquisite form of borrowing from us and from future generations.
And I believe that cryptocurrencies – with bitcoin as a standard – offer a protection against this onslaught of the government, because you’re protected by math. You’re protected by the limited number of any code behind the respective currency. Cryptocurrencies, and all the products related to cryptocurrencies, are absolutely vital for the future development of our world.
How, specifically, did you first get involved?
My first indirect involvement was through the Human Rights Foundation. Because in the Human Rights Foundation, we had a few experts that have been advocating cryptocurrencies at a very early stage. And as an organization, we offer support to the dissidents around the world.
We thought about using crypto as a way to help them to get material help, because in many countries it was impossible – and it’s still impossible – to actually get proper funding. So crypto offered an opportunity to support these activists indirectly. And the more I learned about it, the more interested I got in the whole mechanism.
Can you elaborate on why this is important to you?
Look, crypto is a controversial thing. Because you hear a lot of people say, “Oh, that’s money laundering. That helps bad guys.” True. I mean, no technology is uniquely good, because it’s technology. Humans still have a monopoly for evil.
So, I’ve been doing a lot of talks about it, and I’ll say, “Look, it’s not the magic wand or the terminator. It’s not a harbinger of utopia or dystopia. It’s a tool.” Crypto is a tool. And of course it could benefit some bad guys with maligned intentions. But it’s about the balance, it’s about trade-offs. And I think the balance is so much in favor of progress.It’s like the dot-com bubble. 99.9% will be gone. But those that survive will become the Googles of the world.
You mentioned crypto’s ability to help protect human rights in undemocratic countries. What do you see as the benefits in democratic countries?
In the democratic countries in America and Europe, trillions of dollars will be printed. I’m an American taxpayer. And I understand that you need to build new infrastructure. But I’m not happy to see that the government has a free hand to use my taxes, basically to devalue [the dollar].
So I think it’s very important that technology would offer me an opportunity to fight back, to protect my hard-earned fortune. And I think that bitcoin – which I believe is online gold – and other cryptocurrencies are the way to the future. I’m not a financial expert, but I would not be surprised if, I would not be surprised if, in 10 years’ time, the dollar will be replaced by the basket of coins as a standard.
I’m guessing it’s safe to say you own bitcoin?
I’m a great believer in the future of coins.
I suppose if you believe that, then it would almost be foolish not to be buying Bitcoin?
Yes.
Thoughts on the future of bitcoin?
Well, I think bitcoin will remain as a standard. But of course it cannot stay alone. So that’s why you have more coins coming in. It’s a natural process. Now we have thousands and thousands of coins. It’s like the dot-com bubble. Ninety-nine point nine percent will be gone. But those that survive will become the Googles of the world. I’m not here to judge which one, but there will be few that will survive – that’s why I said basket of coins.
In the past, your championing of human rights has gotten you in trouble with the Russian authorities. Given that background, are you concerned that your support for cryptocurrency can get you in hot water?
Well, this is definitely a no. [In the past,] I was in hot water. To give you an idea, one of the NFTs is a picture of my first arrest in Russia. So it’s all reflected in my NFT. Look, this is much less perilous than to attack Putin directly.
I grew up in the Soviet Union, and learned from my mother and my teacher the motto of Soviet dissidents, “Do what you must, and so be it.” And I believe that supporting crypto is an important part of my contribution to the future of humanity. And, again, I [view it] as a much less risky endeavor than speaking publicly about Putin or other dictators.
I don’t pretend to be a great expert in NFTs, but I’m not aware of anything similar that exists. It’s a collection of 30-plus NFTs that are related to special events in my life and special people in my life. This is a story that connects you to very personal moments. Every NFT has a video message.
It’s all connected to the physical assets, like my notebooks from the ‘70s. Thanks to my late mother, who preserved this archive, you can actually look at me scribbling in 1973.
The NFTs all reflect the moments of me growing up, learning from my mother, and from my teachers, and then fighting for the title, and then shifting my life and moving into human rights and computers.
Interesting. This feels almost like a memoir, in a sense. I’ve worked with CEOs before to collaborate on their memoirs, and one thing I’ve found is that the process can almost be emotional, or even a bit therapeutic. Did you have any sense of that?
The whole story starts from a very emotional moment, though it’s a tragic one. My mother died on Christmas day last year, from COVID. And I couldn’t be next to her, and that was a really big blow because we were so close.
While she was alive, I didn’t even know that she preserved all these archives. She was not happy to talk about the past. That’s why I [held off] on any major publication that would highlight [the past]. I wrote two books, but not the one that could tell everything.
After she died, I thought it would be right for me [to honor] her memory to actually start doing things. I’m doing a documentary now; it’s in Russian. The first segment will be ready early next year. And I hope I can cover my entire chess career, and it’s for her. It’s dedicated for her. And this [NFT] project was inspired by this tragedy. I thought it was very important to show my personal life and her connection, and why she was so important.
Join Honorary Chair Fran Finney and the Running Bitcoin Challenge Committee as we honor legendary cypher punk, Hal Finney. This is THE EVENT that combines Hal Finney’s love of running and Bitcoin and … Continue reading Running bitcoin – Hal Finney→
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January 3rd 2023 – Bitcoin 14th Anniversary Happy Genesis Block Day! January 3 is the 14th anniversary of Bitcoin’s Block Zero, its anchor in time. The first sentence of the email has become … Continue reading Happy Genesis Block Day→
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Cryptoassets being held, generally as longer-term plays; sometimes used self-deprecatingly for soft or losing positions one should close, but can’t for whatever reason. “Too bad none of my alt bags saw the moon that I did today. #cryptoeclipse”
Bitcoin Maximalists
The truest believers in bitcoin’s original mission and design, often paired with a disdain for altcoins.
Block
Blocks are found in the Bitcoin block chain. Blocks connect all transactions together.
Transactions are combined into single blocks and are verified every ten minutes through mining.
Each subsequent block strengthens the verification of the previous blocks, making it impossible to double spend bitcoin transactions (see double spend below).
BIP
Bitcoin Improvement Proposal or BIP, is a technical design document providing information to the bitcoin community, or describing a new feature for bitcoin or its processes or environment which affect the Bitcoin protocol.
New features, suggestions, and design changes to the protocol should be submitted as a BIP.
The BIP author is responsible for building consensus within the community and documenting dissenting opinions.
Black Swans
A black swan is an event or occurrence that deviates beyond what is normally expected of a situation and is extremely difficult to predict.
Black swan events are typically random and unexpected.
The term was popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a finance professor, writer, and former Wall Street trader.
Block Chain
The Bitcoin block chain is a public record of all Bitcoin transactions. You might also hear the term used as a “public ledger”.
The block chain shows every single record of bitcoin transactions in order, dating back to the very first one.
The entire block chain can be downloaded and openly reviewed by anyone, or you can use a block explorer to review the block chain online.
Block Height
The block height is just the number of blocks connected together in the block chain. Height 0 for example refers to the very first block, called the “genesis block”.
Block Reward
When a block is successfully mined on the bitcoin network, there is a block reward that helps incentivize miners to secure the network.
The block reward is part of a “coinbase” transaction which may also include transaction fees.
The block rewards halves roughly every four years; see also “halving”.
BTFD | #BTFD
“Buy the Fucking Dip” Advice to other traders to pick up a coin that’s presumably hit its bottom.
“$GNT Golem making moves. Underpriced @ 7.5K If U are buying GNT under 10K still a good price 3 X LETS GO $ETH #CRYPTO #trading #BTFD”
Change
Let’s say you are spending $9.90 in your local supermarket, and you give the cashier $10.00. You will get back .10 cents in change.
The same logic applies to bitcoin transactions.
Bitcoin transactions are made up of inputs and outputs.
When you send bitcoins, you can only send them in a whole “output”.
The change is then sent back to the sender.
Cold Storage
The term cold storage is a general term for different ways of securing cryptocurrency offline (disconnected from the internet).
This would be the opposite of a hot wallet or hosted wallet, which is connected to the web for day-to-day transactions.
The purpose of using cold storage is to minimize the chances of your bitcoins being stolen from a malicious hacker and is commonly used for larger sums of bitcoins.
Cold Wallet and Hot Wallet
Cold storage is an offline wallet provided for storing cryptocurrency.
With cold storage, the digital wallet is stored on a platform that is not connected to the internet, thereby, protecting the wallet from unauthorized access, cyber hacks, and other vulnerabilities that a system connected to the internet is susceptible to.
Confirmation
A confirmation means that the bitcoin transaction has been verified by the network, through the process known as mining.
Once a transaction is confirmed, it cannot be reversed or double spent.
Transactions are included in blocks.
Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is the broad name for digital currencies that use blockchain technology to work on a peer-to-peer basis.
Cryptocurrencies don’t need a bank to carry out transactions between individuals.
The nature of the blockchain means that individuals can transact with each other, even if they don’t trust each other.
The cryptocurrency network keeps track of all the transactions and ensures that no one tries to renege on a transaction.
Cryptocurrency 2.0
Also known as a decentralized app,(Dapp) a cryptocurrency 2.0 project uses the blockchain for something other than simply creating and sending money.
They typically involve decentralized versions of online services that were previously operated by a trusted third party.
Cryptography
Cryptography is used in multiple places to provide security for the Bitcoin network.
Cryptography, which is essentially mathematical and computer science algorithms used to encrypt and decrypt information, is used in bitcoin addresses, hash functions, and the block chain.
Cypherpunk
1. A person with an interest in encryption and privacy, especially one who uses encrypted email.
2. Cypherpunk, a term that appeared in Eric Hughes’ “A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto” in 1993, combines the ideas of cyberpunk, the spirit of individualism in cyberspace, with the use of strong encryption ( ciphertext is encrypted text) to preserve privacy.
Cypherpunk advocates believe that the use of strong encryption algorithms will enable individuals to have safely private transactions.
They oppose any kind of government regulation of cryptography.
They admit the likelihood that criminals and terrorists will exploit the use of strong encryption systems, but accept the risk as the price to be paid for the individual’s right to privacy.
Dark Web
The part of the World Wide Web that is only accessible by means of special software, allowing users and website operators to remain anonymous or untraceable.
The Dark Web poses new and formidable challenges for law enforcement agencies around the world.
Decentralized
Having a decentralized bitcoin network is a critical aspect.
The network is “decentralized”, meaning that it’s void of a centralized company or entity that governs the network.
Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer protocol, where all users within the network work and communicate directly with each other, instead of having their funds handled by a middleman, such as a bank or credit card company.
Difficulty
Difficulty is directly related to Bitcoin mining (see mining below), and how hard it is to verify blocks in the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin adjusts the mining difficulty of verifying blocks every 2016 blocks.
Difficulty is automatically adjusted to keep block verification times at ten minutes.
Dogecoin
Dogecoin is an altcoin that first started as a joke in late 2013. Dogecoin, which features a Japanese fighting dog as its mascot, gained a broad international following and quickly grew to have a multi-million dollar market capitalization.
Double Spend
If someone tries to send a bitcoin transaction to two different recipients at the same time, this is double spending. Once a bitcoin transaction is confirmed, it makes it nearly impossible to double spend it. The more confirmations that a transaction has, the harder it is to double spend the bitcoins.
DYOR | #DYOR
“Do Your Own Research.” The trader’s caveat that advice shouldn’t be taken at face value.
“$BCY has an appealing risk/reward here. Could take a few months to play out, however, and will require patience. #DYOR”
Exit Scam
Traditionally a term for darknet markets and vendors that, after building up a good reputation, accumulate bitcoins and disappear; exit scams are also feared by ICO participants who worry that, once they’ve raised hundreds of millions in hard-to-trace money, the developers will take the money and run.
Fiat
Government-issued money.
Full Node
A full node is when you download the entire block chain using a bitcoin client, and you relay, validate, and secure the data within the block chain.
The data is bitcoin transactions and blocks, which is validated across the entire network of users.
FOMO | #FOMO
“Fear of Missing Out.” When a coin starts to moon, dumb money rushes in. “$LGD on a TEAR right now!!! It has major highs right now! Some major #FOMO going on!!! Sell while it’s high. It WILL drop before fight!!!”
FUD
“Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.”
Another non-crypto term that describes attempts to scare weak-handed coin-holders into selling their positions, often with rumors of exit scams or hacks; the cheap, dumped coins are then picked up by the FUD-ers.
Fungibility
Fungibility is a good or asset’s interchangeability with other individual goods or assets of the same type.
Assets possessing this fungibility property simplify the exchange and trade processes, as interchangeability assumes everyone values all goods of that class the same.
HODL
HOLD ON FOR DEAR LIFE!
The intentionally misspelled word hodl has its roots in a December 2013 post on the Bitcoin Talk forum, “I AM HODLING”; when the author, GameKyuubi, couldn’t be bothered to fix his typo, the community instantly turned it into a verb: to hodl.
Along with other terms, hodl is an effective litmus test for sussing out newcomers, carpetbaggers, and tourists.
Halving
Bitcoins have a finite supply, which makes them scarce.
The total amount that will ever be issued is 21 million.
The number of bitcoins generated per block is decreased 50% every 210,000 blocks,roughtly four years.
This is called “halving.”
The final halving will take place in the year 2140.
Hash
A cryptographic hash is a mathematical function that takes a file and produces a relative shortcode that can be used to identify that file.
A hash has a couple of key properties:
• It is unique.
Only a particular file can produce a particular hash, and two different files will never produce the same hash.
• It cannot be reversed.
You can’t work out what a file was by looking at its hash.
Hashing is used to prove that a set of data has not been tampered with.
It is what makes bitcoin mining possible.
Hash Rate
The hash rate is how the Bitcoin mining network processing power is measured.
In order for miners to confirm transactions and secure the block chain, the hardware they use must perform intensive computational operations which is output in hashes per second.
Then, try changing just a letter in the input text to see how the resulting hash varies significantly
Hard Fork
A hard fork is when a single cryptocurrency splits in two.
It occurs when a cryptocurrency’s existing code is changed, resulting in both an old and new version.
Meanwhile a soft fork is essentially the same thing, but the idea is that only one blockchain (and thus one coin) will remain valid as users adopt the update.
So both fork types create a split, but a hard fork is meant to create two blockchain/coins and a soft fork is meant to result in one.
Segwit was a soft fork, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, and Segwit2x are all hard forks.
Immutability
In object-oriented and functional programming, an immutable object (unchangeable object) is an object whose state cannot be modified after it is created.
This is in contrast to a mutable object (changeable object), which can be modified after it is created.
Lambo | #Lambo
A running joke among traders, you’re cryptorich when you can buy a Lamborghini; though absurd, it’s not unheard of — when Alexandre Cazes, the suspected founder of a major darknet marketplace, was found hanged in his Bangkok jail cell, Thai media reported that he owned four Lamborghinis.
Mining
Bitcoin mining is the process of using computer hardware to do mathematical calculations for the Bitcoin network in order to confirm transactions.
Miners collect transaction fees for the transactions they confirm and are awarded bitcoins for each block they verify.
Moon | #Moon
A rapid price increase.
Peer-to-Peer
Typically, online applications are provided by a central party that organizes all the transactions.
Your bank runs its own computers, and all the customers log into the bank’s computer to handle their transactions.
If Bob wants to send money to Alice, he asks the bank to do it, and the bank controls everything.
In a peer-to-peer arrangement, technology cuts out the middleman, meaning that people deal directly with each other.
Bob would send the money directly to Alice, and there wouldn’t be any bank involved at all.
Pool
As part of bitcoin mining, mining “pools” are a network of miners that work together to mine a block, then split the block reward among the pool miners.
Mining pools are a good way for miners to combine their resources to increase the probability of mining a block, and also contribute to the overall health and decentralization of the bitcoin network.
Private Key
A private key is a string of data that shows you have access to bitcoins in a specific wallet.
Think of a private key like a password; private keys must never be revealed to anyone but you, as they allow you to spend the bitcoins from your bitcoin wallet through a cryptographic signature.
Proof of Work
Proof of work refers to the hash of a block header (blocks of bitcoin transactions).
A block is considered valid only if its hash is lower than the current target.
Each block refers to a previous block adding to previous proofs of work, which forms a chain of blocks, known as a block chain.
Once a chain is formed, it confirms all previous Bitcoin transactions and secures the network.
Pump
A rapid price increase believed to be the result of market manipulation, a.k.a. pump and dump.
Public Address
A public bitcoin address is cryptographic hash of a public key.
A public address typically starts with the number “1.”
Think of a public address like an email address.
It can be published anywhere and bitcoins can be sent to it, just like an email can be sent to an email address.
Private Key
A private key is a string of data that shows you have access to bitcoins in a specific wallet.
Think of a private key like a password; private keys must never be revealed to anyone but you, as they allow you to spend the bitcoins from your bitcoin wallet through a cryptographic signature.
Rekt | #Rekt
Meaning “wrecked”.
“I never sell because of #FUD, and I never buy because of #FOMO.
That’s the easiest way to get #Rekt”
Sats
Satoshis, currently the smallest unit of a single bitcoin, useful for tracking coin prices. “At the rate $XRP’s moving, I wouldn’t be surprised if it hits 10K sats by the end of the day.”
Security Tokens
A security token (sometimes called an authentication token) is a small hardware device that the owner carries to authorize access to a network service.
The device may be in the form of a smart card or may be embedded in a commonly used object such as a key fob.
Shitcoins
Pejorative term for altcoins, especially low-cap coins, often affectionately used by shitcoin hodlers.
SEGWIT
SegWit is the process by which the block size limit on a blockchain is increased by removing signature data from Bitcoin transactions.
When certain parts of a transaction are removed, this frees up space or capacity to add more transactions to the chain.
Transaction
A transaction is when data is sent to and from one bitcoin address to another.
Just like financial transactions where you send money from one person to another, in bitcoin you do the same thing by sending data (bitcoins) to each other.
Bitcoins have value because it’s based on the properties of mathematics, rather than relying on physical properties (like gold and silver) or trust in central authorities, like fiat currencies.
Wallet
Just like with paper dollars you hold in your physical wallet, a bitcoin wallet is a digital wallet where you can store, send, and receive bitcoins securely.
There are many varieties of wallets available, whether you’re looking for a web or mobile solution.
Ideally, a bitcoin wallet will give you access to your public and private keys.
This means that only you have rightful access to spend these bitcoins, whenever you choose to.
Whale
Anyone who owns 5 percent of any given coin, often used as a boogeyman to explain unwanted price movements.
“Nice support $NEO. Clear whale manipulation.”
Blue Pill vs. Red PillChoose wiselyWhen You’re ready …
Join Honorary Chair Fran Finney and the Running Bitcoin Challenge Committee as we honor legendary cypher punk, Hal Finney. This is THE EVENT that combines Hal Finney’s love of running and Bitcoin and … Continue reading Running bitcoin – Hal Finney→
It’s been 4 years already and it seems I haven’t done nothing at all… With the little time I could spare to work on this blog, I hope I bought a tiny seed … Continue reading 4th Year WordPress Anniversary→
January 3rd 2023 – Bitcoin 14th Anniversary Happy Genesis Block Day! January 3 is the 14th anniversary of Bitcoin’s Block Zero, its anchor in time. The first sentence of the email has become … Continue reading Happy Genesis Block Day→
So – You want to be a Computer Dude? The word / expression “Dude” is not a reference to being male, female, or whatever, it is a designation of “Skill Level.” When we … Continue reading Computer Dude Inc.→
Mining Pool Payouts explained: PPS vs. FPPS vs. PPLNS vs. PPS+
What is a Mining Pool?
Mining Pools
A Mining pools is a hub where a group of Crypto currency miners share their processing power to the network in order to solve the blocks quicker.
The rewards will be split equally based on the amount of shares that they contributed in finding a block.
Pool mining was introduced during early Bitcoin mining days when solo mining became non-viable.
The more powerful your hardware is, the more shares you’ll submit, the more shares you submit, the more you’ll earn.
In order for the pool to pay its miners each pool uses its own payment scheme. Two of the most popular option is PPS and PPLNS.
Pay-Per-Share (PPS)Pay-Per-Last-N-Shares (PPLNS)
The first thing a miner has to decide is which pool mining payout is best for their requirements.
PROP (proportional), FPPS (Full Pay Per Share), SMPPS (Shared Maximum Pay Per Share), ESMPPS (Equalized Shared Maximum Pay Per Share), CPPSRB (Capped Pay Per Share with Recent Backpay), PPS (Pay Per Share), PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Share) and lastly PPS+ (Pay Per Share Plus).
Among them PPS and PPLNS are the two types of payment models that are mostly used by mining pools currently. Before we explain both PPS and PPLNS we’ll make a short note on mining pool.
There are numerous payment systems (over 15), but the vast majority of the pools operate on a PPS, FPPS, PPS+ and PPLNSbasis.
However, before trying to understand the different settlement models, it is important to come to a consensus on some terms used in crypto mining.
Block Reward: Block reward refers to the new coins issued by the network to miners for each successfully solved block.
Hashing Power: Hash rate is the speed at which a computer completes an operation in the cryptocurrency’s code. A higher hashrate increases a miner’s opportunity of finding the next block.
Luck: Luck, in mining, is the probability of success. Imagine that each miner is given a lottery ticket for a certain amount of hashing power they provide. If they are to provide 1 TH/s hashing power when the overall hashing power in the network is 10 TH/s, then they would receive 1 of 10 total lottery tickets. The probability of winning the lottery (in this case finding the block reward) would be 10%.
Transaction Fees: Some networks (like Bitcoin) also have substantial amounts of transaction fees rewarded to miners. These fees are the total fees paid by users of the network to execute transactions.
Pay-Per-Share (PPS)
PPS offers an instant flat payout for each share that is solved. With this payment method, a miner gets a standard payout rate for each share completed. Each share is worth a certain amount of mineable cryptocurrency.
After deducting the mining pool fees, the miners are given a fixed income every day. Therefore, under the PPS mode, the returns are relatively stable. Miners are exposed to risk here. They may not get the transaction fees.
It is ideal for low priced orders for an extended period. This model becomes lucrative during a bearish run of a particular coin.
Pay-Per-Last-N-Shares (PPLNS)
With this payout, profits will be allocated based on the number of shares miners contribute. This kind of allocation method is closely related to the block mined out. If the mining pool excavates multiple blocks in a day, the miners will have a high profit; if the mining pool is not able to mine a block during the whole day, the miner’s profit during the whole day is zero.
Notably, in the short term, the PPLNS model is highly correlated with a pool’s luck. If the luck factor of a particular mining pool decreases in the short term, the miner’s income will also decrease accordingly (the opposite case of the mining pool being lucky in the short term is possible too). However, in the long term, the luck factor tends to average out to the mean.
Hence, this model is ideal for fixing orders on a big pool that has a high chance of finding a block within the order time limit. Or a standard order which will have miners connected for a longer time.
Pay Per Share + (PPS+)
PPS+ is a blend of two modes mentioned above, PPS and PPLNS. The block reward is settled according to the PPS model. And the mining service charge /transaction fee is settled according to the PPLNS mode.
That is to say, in this mode, the miner can additionally obtain the income of part of the transaction fee based on the PPLNS payment method. This was a major drawback in the PPS model.
Full Pay Per Share (FPPS)
With this pool payout, both the block reward and the mining service charge are settled according to the theoretical profit. Calculate a standard transaction fee within a certain period and distribute it to miners according to their hash power contributions in the pool. It increases the miners’ earnings by sharing some of the transaction fees.
With the PPS and FPPS payment methods, you will get paid no matter if the pool finds a block or not. This is the most significant advantage over PPLNS. The risks and rewards are higher with the PPLNS plan.
The decision on which mining plan to choose from needs to be preceded by the decision of choosing the right mining infrastructure.
Difference between PPS vs PPLNS payment models?
PPLNS
PPLNS stands for Pay Per Last (luck) N Shares. This method calculates your payments based on the number of shares you submitted during a shift.
It includes shift system which is time based or by number of shares submitted by the miners on the pool.
Your pool may find blocks consistently or in overtime it may have huge variations in winning a block and that ultimately affects your payments. PPLNS greatly involves luck factor and you’ll notice huge fluctuations in your 24 hour payout.
If you maintain your mining on a single pool then your payouts will remain consistent and it only differs when new miners join or leave the pool.
PPS
Pay Per Share pays you an average of the number of shares that you contributed to the pool in finding blocks.
PPS pays you on solid rate and is more of a direct method which completely eliminates luck factor.
In PPS method regardless of the pools lucky at winning blocks you’re going to get 100% payout at the end of the day. This is because there is a standard payout set for each miners based on their hash power.
It won’t be more than 100% or less than that and with this PPS method you can easily calculate your potential earnings.
On the other hand with PPLNS payment system on average you can either get more than 100% or less than that. It is based on how lucky the pool is at finding blocks.
Should I choose PPS or PPLNS?
This is one of the common questions most miners have initially.
Should I choose Pay Per Share or Pay Per Last N Share pools?
If you are the person who don’t switch pools often then PPLNS is definitely for you as such pools are good at rewarding its loyal miners.
Pay Per Share: No matter what, if you need a fixed payouts at the end of the day to liquidate or for whatsoever reason then your choice would be PPS.
Pay Per Share works well for large mining farms who can calculate and have statistics based on their mining power.
PPS is good for large miners but really bad for pool owners as there is a guaranteed payout for work no matter if the pool hits the block or not.
For this reason and because of pool hoppers (not loyal miners of the pool) most of the mining pools have switched to PPLNS payment model.
Pay Per Last N Shares: If you are the one that is looking to accumulate and hold more coins then PPLNS is recommended.
For each block that your pool finds you’ll get a share based on your hashrate.
Unlike PPS, in PPLNS you’ll get payouts more often and in the long run you’ll be rewarded more with PPLNS than PPS.
However due to huge variance it’s really hard to calculate your mining income.
PPLNS is good for both mid-range miners and pool owners as the payouts is only based on the blocks found.
If your pool is more lucky then you’ll see payments more often. This is the reason why miners stick to a pool where there is more hash power assuming the pool finds block very often.
You can find more comparison of mining pools payment system here.
How to find out if a pool is PPS or PPLNS?
Cryptocurrency mining can be a lucrative process. However it’s very important that you find out what payment scheme your pool is using before committing your hashing power.
Most of the mining pools has this information listed on FAQ page or at payouts page. If you’re unable to find this information then the only option is to contact the pool support.
Hope the information on this page is helpful for you to decide the right mining pool.
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On January 3rd, 2009 Satoshi Nakamoto published the Genesis Block with the first 50 Bitcoins on Sourceforge. He also left a message on the blockchain at the time, quoting the headline in the British newspaper Times:
On January 3, 2009, the minister was on the verge of bailing out the banks.
Nakamoto started writing the white paper in 2008 and published it in October of that year.
The concept of a decentralized, anonymous, trusted currency emerged after the 2008 financial crisis, which left responsibility for the banks.
Satoshi neither supports the modern banking system nor does he like partial reserve banks.
A partial reserve bank is a bank that takes deposits and issues loans or investments, but only has to reserve a fraction of its liabilities for deposits. Basically, the bank is using money that it doesn’t own.
Satoshi wants to get rid of banks and seedy middlemen whom he believes are corrupt and unreliable. As such, he created a more community-centric digital currency.
13 years later, Bitcoin is still going strong with a market cap of nearly $ 900 billion. It is currently held by billionaires, banks, celebrities, governments, and corporations. This is evidence of how far BTC has come in its brief existence.
The precarious banking situation and economic uncertainty are also in crisis again.
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