1. Learn how blockchain works
Goldman Sachs says blockchain technology “has the potential to redefine transactions” and will “change everything”. But anyone who claims to fully understand how blockchain works, and is not named Satoshi Nakamoto, is probably lying to you. And anyone who claims to be Nakamoto himself, is probably also lying to you. Fortunately, just like the internet, you don’t need to know how blockchain works to use it.

But here are the basics… a blockchain is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography. By design, blockchains are inherently resistant to modification of the data, and serve as a public ledger of transactions between two parties. To date, the best analogy I’ve heard for blockchain compares it to a Google Document

“The traditional way of sharing documents with collaboration is to send a Microsoft Word document to another recipient, and ask them to save the document, make revisions to it, and send it back. The problem with this scenario was that you needed to wait to receive a return copy before you could see or make changes to the document. You are locked out of editing it until the other person is done with it. That’s how banks work today—they maintain money balances and transfer money by briefly locking access to the account (or decreasing the balance) while they make the transfer, then they update the other side, then re-open access (or update the balance).
With a Google Doc, all parties have access to the same document at the same time, and the most up-to-date version of that document is always visible and editable to all parties. This real-time shared Google Doc is just like a distributed blockchain ledger. The “real version” of the transaction is verified by analyzing all the available blocks on multiple computers and taking “the average”.
The decentralized and transparent nature is what makes blockchain highly secure and almost impossible to hack, because a hack to one ledger would cause a discrepancy in the entire network that will be ignored. Functionally, to hack the ledger one would have to hack all the computers on a network at the exact same time in order to change the “average”. For a currency like bitcoin, this would mean millions of computers. So the larger the network, the more stable the currency.


2. Learn the top currencies
Bitcoin is here to stay. But the world of virtual currencies is getting crowded with many other “altcoins”. There are over 100 types of cryptocurrency that sell for more than $1 USD, according to CoinMarketCap. Even more are in penny-stock range, but I don’t recommend trading them right now.

There are over 100 cryptocurrencies trading over $1 USD, with a market cap just under $150 billion. Bitcoin accounts for over 50% of the entire market. Source: CoinMarketCap
What’s important to note is that bitcoin accounts for about 50% of the entire cryptocurrency market, and has the highest volume. It is undoubtedly the most important currency today. You’ll also notice a difference between the original version of bitcoin, Bitcoin Classic (BTC), and a newer version of bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Bitcoin Cash is a spinoff off of the original bitcoin blockchain. I’m not going to get into the technical differences between Bitcoin Classic and Bitcoin Cash, but understand they are separate currencies. So far, Bitcoin Classic seems to be favored by the public over Bitcoin Cash, and has an 8X higher market cap. But when people say “bitcoin” (lowercase) they could be referring to to either currency.

The other two currencies I would pay attention to are Ethereum (~40% the size of Bitcoin, also known as “Ether”), and the smaller and more volatile Ripple and Litecoin. Despite a smaller market cap, Litecoin enjoys higher trading volume than Bitcoin Cash and Ripple, likely because it’s one of the three currencies accepted by the #1 digital currency wallet, Coinbase.

3. Understand all inherent risks
Bitcoin is more volatile than practically any other type of asset, including gold or the stock market. Cryptocurrency is still a young technology, and faces many challenges. While I believe the overall trend for bitcoin is upwards, trading this currency comes with considerable risk. Bitcoin prices are highly impacted by public sentiment about the currency. It will continue to fluctuate as companies and financial institutions make decisions of how to incorporate (or not incorporate) it into their businesses and workflow. It’s also highly sensitive to regulatory changes, as I will get to in a minute.

To give an example, in early June 2017, Bitcoin was trading at $2,983, before losing 30% of its value a month later in July—crashing to $1,992. Then it climbed up to $4,764 in September, posting an impressive 139% gain.

What goes up must come down, eventually.
Then as I sit here and write this on September 3rd, 2017, the Chinese government announced a few hours ago that they are banning all organizations and individuals from raising funds through Initial Coin Offering (ICO). They barred all banks and financial institutions from doing business related to ICO trading. This is significant news, although not a surprise to many people, as representatives from the People’s Bank of China and China Securities Regulatory Commission had previously criticized ICOs as an unauthorized fundraising tool that may open the door to financial scams. (I will explain ICOs in the last section).

The news of the ICO ban in China had bitcoin trading down 12%, Ethereum down 23% and Litecoin down as much as 32%, as shown below. So don’t go throwing your entire savings account into Litecoin just yet, and being bullish long-term doesn’t mean it will get there smoothly.

High risk, high reward in trading cryptocurrencies.
There is also risk inherent to the exchange itself. Just like the cash in your wallet, the safety of your bitcoins or other currencies depend on your own diligence. While your bitcoins cannot disappear, the transactions are permanent and can only be refunded by the recipient. This means you should only do business with people and organizations you know and trust, or who have an established reputation.

Remember, bitcoin transactions are stored publicly and permanently on a network, which means that anyone can see the balance and transactions of any bitcoin address. However, only the bitcoin exchanges and/or the parties involved in the transaction can attach the addresses to a real person. So for the most part, the transactions are anonymous.

Other trustworthy exchanges I considered before deciding on Coinbase were (in no particular order): Bitsquare, Bitstamp, ShapeShift, Kraken, Poloniex, CoinMamma and Gemini.

4. Read bitcoin news every day
Don’t miss a day learning about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Here are some great websites to bookmark for bitcoin news and discussion boards. The combined content here could keep you busy for at least a year.

5. Open a brokerage account
Coinbase is one of the most trusted and well-known exchanges for buying and selling Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. They are essentially a digital wallet for your cryptocurrencies, and their iPhone and Android app make sending currency and tracking prices super simple.

Coinbase’s iOS app for buying/selling bitcoin.
What I like about Coinbase is they meet all the regulatory requirements in the countries they operate, and they have two distinctly separate but integrated products: Coinbase for buying and selling bitcoin or sending them to friends, and Global Digital Asset Exchange (GDAX) for more advanced and precise trading.

Previously, the GDAX was called the Bitcoin Exchange, but mid-2016 they decided to rebrand. From a product standpoint, you can tell they built GDAX with their own engineers, as the user experience is similar to Coinbase.

You can signup for Coinbase using my referral code, and you’ll get $10 in free bitcoin to play around with.

I would start by making a Coinbase account, then graduate over to GDAX once you feel comfortable. You can instantaneously transfer currencies between the two exchanges for free, which is really nice.

6. Fund your account
Once you create an account on Coinbase (or another exchange), you will need to verify your identity by uploading a picture of your drivers license or passport. This only takes a few minutes, then you can fund the account.

To add a new payment method, go to “Settings” and “Payment Methods” on the dashboard. You can choose a bank account or a credit/debit card. The bank account has higher limits, but takes longer for the funds to settle. The credit/debit card has lower limits, but the transactions happen instantly. If you go bank account route, you will need to verify two deposit amounts on your account. I personally did both—I funded the account with a few grand from my checking account, and thanks to my impatience I also put few grand on my credit card just so I could get started right away.

Keep in mind, Coinbase charges a 3.99% processing fee for all credit card transactions. I’d recommend using a credit card that gives you at least 3% cash back so you can offset some of the fees (I’ll cover the fee structure in more detail in the next section). You can use PayPay for selling currency, buy not buying currency; for PayPal the funds are available instantly but have lower payout limits. The bank account is usually your best bet.

7. Buy and sell some bitcoin!
Once your account is funded, you can go ahead and make your first purchase. Remember, you do not have to purchase coins in full units. You can buy coins in fractions as low as one hundredth of a millionth, or about less than one-tenth of a cent at current prices. That makes bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies easy targets for speculation.

Coinbase does not charge to transfer bitcoin from one user to the other, which is the point of blockchain. But if you want to transfer money to or from an outside exchange, such as a US bank account, Coinbase charges a small conversion fee. The charge is 1.49% with a $0.15 minimum if you are using a bank account and 3.99% if you are using a credit/debit card. I’d try to avoid funding with a credit card unless you get ample reward points to offset the higher fees.

For a full breakdown of their fees, click here.

Source: Coinbase.com
Lastly, if you choose the bank account payment method, the funds take 4–5 days to settle, and you are locked into the market price of BTC at the time of purchase. In the case above, I am buying 0.2233 BTC at a price of $4,411.93, totaling $985.32, and I’m losing $14.68 in fees. I am guaranteed that price regardless how long the funds take to settle. Coinbase essentially buys the bitcoin at that time and saves them for you in a virtual vault, and releases them in your account once they receive the funds from your bank.

8. Graduate to GDAX
Once you’ve bought and sold a few bitcoin on Coinbase, you should graduate to the big leagues. Coinbase’s more advanced trading platform is called the Global Digital Asset Exchange (GDAX). It uses the same login and password as Coinbase, and you can easily transfer currency between the two platforms, which is really convenient. The GDAX features a pretty interface with real-time pricing data, order book, charting tools, trade history, and a simple buy/sell order process so you can at least pretend to be a pro.

GDAX offers institutions and professional traders the ability to trade a variety of digital currencies on a fully regulated U.S. based exchange with lower transaction fees.
Once you’re comfortable with GDAX, you probably won’t use Coinbase anymore. GDAX charges lower transaction fees than Coinbase—ranging from 0.1% to 0.25% for “takers” (buyers) and 0% fee on “makers” (sellers), with the fees varying based on monthly trade volume.

The advantage of the Coinbase system, however, is that it is more simple, instant, and your order is guaranteed to fill, in exchange for a higher fee. On the GDAX market, the “maker” order is free, but you risk the order not getting filled and having to set a new price.

Below is a short Reddit post comparing GDAX vs Coinbase.


9. Study charts to find trends
If you, like me, believe that bitcoin and the entire market capitalization of cryptocurrencies will increase in value over time, then the goal is to collect as many coins as possible, getting in at the right prices, and build a strong diversified portfolio of crypto assets that you can hold.

In order to do this, you must “buy the lows” and let the profits run. I’d recommend entering and exiting positions gradually in case the lows get lower or the highs get higher. Avoid buying/selling in big emotional or reactionary swoops, and try not to trade more than a few times a week to keep fees down and give your bets a chance to perform.

One way to tell if a stock price is over/undervalued is by reading moving averages. Moving averages are plotted on stock charts to help smooth out volatility and point out the direction a stock may be trending. As short-term moving averages (red line below) cross over long-term moving averages (black line), this sometimes is followed by accelerated movement in the price. Also pay attention to spikes in trade volume, as this may imply that strong sentiments of fear or excitement just entered the market.

There are many other strategies traders use to predict trends, which I won’t get into today. These include Head and Shoulders, Trend Lines, Support and Resistance patterns and Candlesticks. Here’s a great article explaining each of these in a little more detail. Within the GDAX dashboard, you will find a price chart that looks similar to the one above, accompanied by four other sections in the same viewport:

The Price Chart in GDAX shows historical prices and volume data in two views: a line chart and candlestick chart (recommended) over various historical time frames.
The Depth Chart right below the Price Chart shows a detailed visual representation of the bid and ask prices over a range of prices. You can increase or decrease the price range for the chart by using the plus or minus buttons at the top of the chart. The price in the middle of the chart is the midpoint price between the best bid and ask prices. Moving the cursor over the prices will allow you to select a price in which you can create an order. Clicking the price will fill in the buy/sell price for you automatically in the left sidebar. This chart is a useful to see how close buyers are from sellers in their ask/bid prices; the greater the surface area under the curve, the more bids there are at that price.
The Order Book shows a live view of open orders on the entire Coinbase exchange, in what’s called an order ladder. There are three columns that show the market size, price and order size of each order. You can click any row and it will fill in the buy/sell price for you automatically in the left sidebar. Once you confirm the order, it will immediately show up on the order ladder and attempt to get filled.
The Open Orders section shows status of each of your open orders. It also shows filled orders. You can easily cancel any order at any time.
The Trade History on the right shows all completed orders.
On the upper-left (below) you will see a dropdown to change the currency, with nine different options. The most common views will be BTC/USD (Bitcoin), ETH/USD (Ethereum) and LTC/USD (Litecoin).

GDAX allows users to see the Price Chart, Depth Chart, Order Book, Open Orders and Trade History all in one view.
The primary goal of these charts is to determine the general direction of the currency over a specified time period, and the prices at which you would be willing to buy and/or sell the currency before it takes a correction.

It’s important to specify a time horizon for your investment—such as short term (7–14 days), medium term (1–2 months) or long-term (6–12 months). I don’t recommend trading on time horizons shorter than 7 days unless you have access to margin (you probably don’t) or have large amounts of money to play with; otherwise, the fees will be too high relative to the returns.

10. Set limit orders, and be patient.
Once you are ready to place an order, you will accept the market price or set what’s called a limit order. Limit orders provide investors and traders with a means of precisely entering a position without being victim of fluctuating prices. For example, a buy limit order can be place for $2.40 when a stock is trading around $2.50. If the price dips to $2.40, the order is automatically executed. If it’s a GTC (good ’til canceled) order, it will remain open until manually cancelled by the investor.

Once the limit order is set, be patient. Give the price time to fluctuate—testing highs and lows—and see if your limit order catches a buyer (or seller). There is no hurry to cancel you limit orders, so resist the urge to rapidly change your limit order prices. Many experienced investors will set multiple limit orders at consecutively lower prices to take advantage of a big selloff or take some profits when the price tests a new high. Limit orders are your best friend, use them.

There are other more advanced limit order options you can make such as IOC, FOC and Stop Orders that are explained in this article below.

Entering Market, Limit and Stop Orders

On the order panel, you can choose to place a market, limit, or stop order. A market order will execute immediately at…
support.gdax.com   
Conclusion
In future articles I will discuss in more detail some of the strategies I’m using to set my limit orders. But hopefully this article serves as a comprehensive guide to getting started trading cryptocurrencies on an exchange.

One advice I’d give beginner traders is to avoid falling for ICOs, or Initial Coin Offerings, in the short term and stick with the more established currencies like Bitcoin, Eurotheum and Litecoin. According to MarketWatch, an ICO is “a fundraising means in which a company attracts investors looking for the next big crypto score by releasing its own digital currency in exchange.” The ICO is similar to a initial public offering (IPO), but with a crypto twist and (as of now) no regulatory hoops to jump through.

A total of $1.6 billion have been globally raised via ICOs already, but as I mentioned, ICOs were recently banned in China, so the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is receiving immense pressure to propose similar rules to regulate the ICO phenomenon as well. So any US-based companies planning their ICO might want to reconsider. You can find a comprehensive list of upcoming ICOs on CoinSchedule.com, although I recommend that you look but don’t touch. Now it not the time for ICOs.


Chamath Palihapitiya, founder of venture fund Social Capital, in response to China’s ban on ICOs.
For more information about ICOs in the US market, check out “Around the Coin” fintech podcast with Faisal Khan and Mike Jones, CEO of Science Inc, who talks about their $50M blockchain fund ICO coming later this year.


Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin have enjoyed some of the highest returns in modern investment history (Litecoin +1,762.97% since last year), so there’s really no reason not to trade them. If you’re patient and disciplined, you will have a good shot at making money, or at least have some fun trading.

There are two questions one should think through.

1. Will Bitcoin become a long-term trusted store of value?

Whether one should invest in bitcoin or not depends on whether you think Bitcoin will become a long-term trusted store of value.

If it does become a long-term trusted store of value, BTC should trade around $2,000,000 a coin (depending on how many coins are lost and are actually in circulation). That is over 100x the price of where BTC is today.

If BTC does not become a long-term trusted store of value, its likely price will be close to zero (unless it becomes a “cool” collectible… which is a possibility).

So if you think BTC has a 10% chance of becoming a long-term trusted store of value, it is a good investment with a nice expected return. It is still very risky but professional investors should invest some small portion of their portfolio in this case.



If you think BTC has a 1% chance of becoming a long-term trusted store of value, you should not invest.

If you think BTC has a 0.001% chance of becoming a long-term trusted store of value, you might consider a short.

2. Bitcoin is a religion… how good are the evangelists?

Like all stores of value and collectibles, Bitcoin is a religion. It is like gold or a Rembrandt painting… it has no cash flows so its value is only what others think it should be.

And like all religions, Bitcoin has evangelists and early disciples.

Bitcoin has a few things going for it in this regard:

1. The savior, Satoshi Nakamoto, is unknown and potentially not alive anymore. So we can only attribute wonderful things to Satoshi and cannot see her/his faults. If Satoshi Nakamoto eventually becomes known, it will make it harder for Bitcoin to become a true religion and this harder to become a long-term store of value.



2. Early bitcoin disciples and enthusiasts are super smart, great at marketing, and mostly were already very wealthy before bitcoin. There are about 1000 people that were very early public Bitcoin backers… at least 50 of whom were already worth over $100 million before they got into Bitcoin (and a few were billionaires). These people are incredible connected, smart, media savvy, good at PR, and tapped into the world of finance (some run large financial institutions). They are “rebels” in a sense but they are also very much part of the establishment. They have the ability to help get Bitcoin to go mainstream.

Should you invest in Bitcoin?

I’m not going to give advice on that. In even the best-case scenario, Bitcoin is incredibly risky … so if you do invest, you should go in expecting to lose all of it.

As of my opinion, Bitcoin is an asset as well as an currency. Because currency has no long-term expected return because, although it is a risk exposure, it is not an economic asset for which a long-term risk premium exists. Investors do not invest in currencies to capture a risk premium; instead, they invest in international assets denominated in a foreign currency.
THANK YOU!!

As of my opinion one can make bitcoin in a month or two, it is hard but not impossible if we chose the options given below :

Day Trading Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies - This is just one of the most popular mechanisms to make bitcoin on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. There are even paid services like CoinData that analyze the market to let you know when a particular coin is likely to increase in value so you know when to buy in. I have a friend who trades using this and he is up 91% since April 1st so it is well worth the average $2 a day that this service costs.

Arbitrage - This is a bit more tricky but the opportunity is there. This is where you buy bitcoin at an exchange and sell it at a higher price at a different exchange. I'm still trying to figure out how to do this effectively.

Generating Ad Revenue - if you have some sort of blog or online following you can put ads on your site that only pay out in BTC. It would take a lot of traffic to earn 1 btc in a month but it is definitely possible. Check out anonymous ads to learn more about this.

Mine Bitcoin - I don't think that this is particularly profitable but if you have a mining rig that puts out enough computing power, you can generate 1 btc of profit in a month. Visit CoinWarz to learn how to best allocate your mining power for the most profitability.

Good luck and I would love to hear any feedback that you have on any of this. Thanks.

Rest assured, in the event of an apocalypse or massive internet shutdown, bitcoin will survive using offline technologies.

Some would say that Bitcoin is outdated because there are cryptocurrencies that work faster and have more functionality implemented on the protocol level. And these people would be right. Others will emphatically assure that Bitcoin is and will always be the number one cryptocurrency, no matter what new Altcoins appear. Hard to argue with that, as well. So, how can this be possible? Why do we outline Bitcoin among other cryptocurrencies? Is it just trivial or the best?

The appearance of Bitcoin
 

Most of you have probably heard the story about the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, who invented and “launched” Bitcoin in 2009 and, yet, remained unknown.

What’s impressive, is that eight years ago Bitcoin was perceived as some weird and doubtful notion that just appeared, as if it fell from the moon. Who would trust it? The answer is: “no one.” However, less than a decade later, Bitcoin has formed a new industry as well as a new branch and approach to business. It has changed the way we think about our property and the approach to things we own. All because of a person whom we don’t even know. It takes your breath away when you dive deep into this idea.

In a short lapse of time, Bitcoin came all the way from being called a pyramid or simply some weird ‘program that deals with non-existent money’ to the Greatest Discovery of the 21st Century. Moreover, we are only at the very beginning of its long path…

Hardships of Bitcoin
 

The core problem of the Bitcoin network now is the scalability issue. That is to say, the network is overwhelmed with users, thus you have to wait longer and fees are higher.

The necessity of an upgrade has provoked a hard fork (chain split). August 1st was the day when the Bitcoin blockchain was split. Meanwhile, some Bitcoin holders gained a great profit due to this hard fork. Especially, those who held their money on exchanges that did the coin splitting. Among them, CEX.IO exchange gave its users the same amount of Bitcoin Cash coins (forked Bitcoin) as the amount of BTC they had had before the hard fork and launched the trading of the ‘second’ Bitcoin (BCH).

It was hard to say what would be the end result. However, the credibility of the first of its kind cryptocurrency has surpassed everyone’s expectations. So, days after the fork, Bitcoin’s price rocketed up more swiftly than anyone could imagine.

Cryptocurrency market
 

Bitcoin has triggered an unstoppable chain reaction – the invention of hundreds of cryptocurrencies, the entire number of which have recently reached a thousand. The market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies, notionally, can be divided into two major groups: Bitcoin and Altcoins, where Bitcoin takes more than a half.

Bank of America recently said in a report that Bitcoin could become 'a major means of payment for e-commerce,' and as an avid observer of digital currencies, I believe this to be a major step toward globalized finance. The recent controversy surrounding Bitcoin, however, lies within the fact that 90 percent of Bitcoin buyers are market speculators, according to Nicholas Colas of the ConvergEx group.

While Bitcoin is an ideal proof of concept for what digital currencies might look like in the future, I think entrepreneurs should be thinking big picture. The explosive popularity -- and price -- of Bitcoin is temporary, but understanding the brass tacks value behind Bitcoin and its upstart competitors are where you'll find the next-level thinking that will shape the future.


The Good: Digital currency needs a champion. The most exciting element of Bitcoin -- and most dangerous for speculators -- is that technology is iterative and Bitcoin is only the first wave. While there is a hard cap of 21 million Bitcoins available to be mined, the number of routes digital currency can take are infinite. Alternative cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Peercoin and Namecoin have been gaining traction by offering users separate systems of economic growth and even simulating inflation. A mainstream competitor is already in the works, and the Let's Talk Bitcoin blog recently uncovered a patent filed by JPMorgan Chase to develop a solution to the primary issue of international online money transfers that independently produced digital currencies could potentially solve.

“Gold remain a relevant asset class in modern portfolios, despite their lack of yield,” analysts including Jeffrey Currie and Michael Hinds wrote. “They are neither a historic accident or a relic.” Looking at properties such as durability and intrinsic value, they are still relevant even with new materials discovered and new assets emerging, such as cryptocurrencies.

Investors boost the amount of gold in their portfolio as uncertainty increases, making fear the key medium to short-run driver, Goldman said. Wealth is the long-term driver, especially in emerging markets such as China, where growing income levels over the next few decades will support prices.


Bitcoin has put in a phenomenal performance this year, soaring toward $6,000 after starting the year around $1,000. In contrast, gold is up 12 percent. The bank listed several characteristics to compare them, adding that it’s focusing on the currency, not the blockchain technology. They include:

Durability: While both require expertise for correct long-term storage, gold wins because cryptocurrencies are vulnerable to hacking through online wallets or the user’s computer or smartphone, are subject to regulatory risk, and network and infrastructure risk during a crisis.

Portability: Transferring bullion can be expensive, given its weight, need for a high level of security and high import taxes in some countries, such as India. In contrast, it’s much faster and cheaper to move bitcoins.

Intrinsic value: There’s a limited supply of gold and other precious metals in the Earth’s crust, whereas in the case of cryptocurrencies, it’s easy to create alternatives, meaning there’s effectively no control over supply at a macroeconomic level and no intrinsic value due to rarity.

Unit of account: Gold is better at holding its purchasing power, and has much lower daily volatility. Bitcoin/dollar volatility has averaged almost seven times that of gold in 2017, the bank said.

The direct answer to your question, is yes, you can “destroy” bitcoin but not in the traditional sense.

The blockchain holds a record of the coins that get sent in and out of an address. The only way to send coins out of an address is to use the private key that created that address. No private key, no ability to send or verify those coins.

One could potentially “destroy” coins by sending them to an address that has no private key, or to simply send it to yourself and erase all copies of your own private key. This will result in those coins being lost in that address forever effectively destroying them.

Though technically speaking, there’s no real way to confirm that you’ve deleted all copies of a private key

User: BTC AND ETH
Position: jr member
Post count : 33
Address :1599c839-7f09-4577-ab75-2f814afafe23
Hello sir i wont give you any chance to gett dissapointed and i will be the most active person .
So pls update me as soon as possible.

   

No one knows for sure (with any degree of certainty). Having said that, most agree the future is bright. That statement does have a few caveats. The following is my prediction:

Bitcoin itself as a protocol will evolve. Many people forget the simple fact that it is a protocol first and the money part just happens to be the first app written over it. Think of it like the Netscape browser written for (predominantly) HTTP. It was good at its time, but then other browsers took the mantle and Netscape was dethroned. The same analogy could apply to bitcoins (the money). It could be dethroned and for all we know Dogecoin or  Litecoin could prevail.
The Buying process of Bitcoins will have to be made much more simpler than it is at present. All indications point that the process will get more streamlined, so buying bitcoins will be an easy task.
In most countries (US included), companies that trade Bitcoins onto the local currency would be regulated. More exchange companies will mushroom.
Acceptance. Until and unless Buyers keep pressing / asking Merchant to accept Bitcoins, merchants will be oblivious to the demand. If you walk into a store and ask if they accept Bitcoins and they answer No, this is the expected answer. Repeat this scenario with 10 other Buyers asking the same and the Merchant will think differently. They just might start looking at Bitcoin acceptance.
Much of the developed world where payment systems that enable instantaneous person-to-person payment are not available, would love to adopt Bitcoin. The barriers are the regulators and the almost near vacuum of local Bitcoin exchanges. Look at India - no exchange in India. Same can be said of Pakistan, Bangladesh, GCC, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand (though there are a few players in Thailand who are selling Bitcoins), North Africa, etc. There is a very large population that simply does not have access to buying bitcoins. Since they cannot buy it - they cannot trade with it. This will be changing in the coming months/years.
Volatility will minimize. I won't say it will disappear, the public at large is too sensitive to everything the media spews out relating to Bitcoins.
Arbitrage will almost be negligible.
You will see the movement pickup speed with a few authoritative anchor users accepting Bitcoins.

Bitcoin is a blockchain-based cryptocurrency that shares some properties with its gold counterpart. In fact, many have called Bitcoin “digital gold” in the past due to its weak relationship with all other assets–stocks especially. Market participants may remember last year when the price of one Bitcoin surpassed that of a single troy ounce of gold for the first time. Currently, Bitcoin’s price is near $18,000 , but how is it so valuable? More importantly, should those running from stocks consider investing in the cryptocurrency?

Like gold, there is a limited amount of Bitcoin. It must be mined , though not with drilling machinery. Instead, the digital currency is mined with the total computer power of its vast network of users, who process transactions on the blockchain for a small amount of Bitcoin. At an estimated cap of 21 million Bitcoins, demand has a magnified effect on the cryptocurrency’s price.

Comparing the Two
For hundreds of years, gold has dominated the safe-haven asset arena, and it is yet unknown if Bitcoin presents a real threat. There are some small, but potentially significant differences between Bitcoin and Gold in 2017:

Transparency, Safety, Legality
Gold’s established system for trading, weighing and tracking is pristine. It’s very hard to steal it, pass off fake gold, or otherwise corrupt the metal. Bitcoin is also difficult to corrupt, thanks to its encrypted system and complicated algorithms, but the infrastructure to ensure its safety is not yet in place. The Mt. Gox disaster is a good example of why Bitcoin traders must be wary. In this disruptive event, a popular exchange went offline, and all but stole its users’ Bitcoins, totaling around $460 million. Legally, there are few consequences for such behavior, as Bitcoin remains  difficult to track with any level of efficiency.

Rarity
Gold can continue to be mined, but eventually there will be no more Bitcoin. The algorithm that manages the blockchain rewards miners for verifying and processing transactions, but in as little as 10 years, the supply will run out. This higher level of scarcity means that Bitcoin could have a higher price ceiling than gold and is the most important catalyst for the current speculative bubble.

Baseline Value
While gold is physically useful for jewelry and industry, Bitcoin’s applications are not yet clear. So far, it is a digital instrument of speculation and value transferability, but it is difficult to buy things with and has limited utility as currency. Being an exclusively faith-based currency is price-positive when there is popular support, but the opposite might also be true. There’s not much stopping Bitcoin from hitting $0 other than belief. As the world saw during the Dutch Tulip Mania, this could have adverse consequences.


Volatility
Largely due to the properties above, Bitcoin is more volatile compared to gold. As price increases, people’s opinions on the revolutionary currency become stronger than ever. This newfound confidence will accordingly cause wild price swings. “There have been very volatile days on the market since Bitcoin crossed the $2000 rate”, says Yoni Berger, analyst at CryptoPotato, a news site dedicated to exploring current issues regarding Bitcoin and other alternative cryptocurrencies.

Liquidity
It’s much easier to get cash for gold than cash for Bitcoin. In the limited number of exchanges that allow fiat withdrawal, all impose daily limits, meaning that Bitcoin is not as liquid as it could be. People world-wide gold and are willing to pay for it while Bitcoin’s market is limited.


How to Balance Your Portfolio?
In the face of a declining stock market, which is better for one’s portfolio: Bitcoin or gold? Gold is still a winner though that could change soon. Gold is always a smart addition to any portfolio due to its historical reliability and real value, but Bitcoin is starting to become a worthwhile option. Modern investors would be smart to keep a small amount of both in their account, but should also be wary of over-investing in a currency with an opaque future. If Bitcoin can prove its value, however, gold may have a real competitor for the safe-haven asset of choice.

 01

Overstock.com

 Buy home goods.Overstock.com was the first big online retailer to start accepting bitcoins in January of 2014. The company allows its customers to pay for everything from laptops and television sets to throw pillows and ottomans with bitcoins. In fact, Overstock.com allows customers to use all the major cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Monero, and the new Bitcoin Cash.

To use a cryptocurrency on Overstock.com, at checkout simply select your preferred currency to complete your purchase. The payment system will convert the currency into bitcoins and finalize the purchase. Editor's note: Overstock subsidiary tZero is part of a joint venture trading digital coins launched during initial coin offerings.

02
Expedia

 
Expedia is one of the world's largest online travel booking agencies, and since June of 2014 users have had the option to pay for their hotel bookings with bitcoins.

Like Overstock.com, Expedia teamed up with Coinbase to implement the new payment option. Bitcoin payment is only accepted for hotel bookings at the moment, but may be expanded to include payments for flights, activities and more.



03
eGifter

 Get gift cards for thousands of companies. eGifter.com
You can't spend bitcoins at every website or offline store, but you can use your bitcoins to purchase gift cards for places that don't directly accept bitcoins.

eGifter is a popular gift card site and mobile app that lets users buy gift cards for all sorts of places, including Amazon, JCPenny, Sephora, Home Depot, Kohl's and more. eGifter uses Coinbase as their bitcoin partner.

04

Newegg

 Get your tech on. Newegg.com
Are you a gadget junkie? If yes, then you'll be happy to hear that electronic retail giant Newegg accepts bitcoin. Newegg has chosen BitPay as its payment processing partner for the digital currency.

Note: The bitcoin option at checkout may be unavailable if you are purchasing an item from a seller other than Newegg but that sells through the Newegg site.


05

Shopify stores

If you're not familiar with Shopify, all you really need to know is that it's an ecommerce platform that allows merchants to set up their own online shops to sell their products similar to Etsy or eBay. In November of 2013, all 75,000+ Shopify merchants received the option to start accepting bitcoin payments with the help of BitPay.

06

Dish

 Watch TV using bitcoins. Dish Network
Satellite television and Internet service provider Dish Network accepted its first bitcoin payment in August 2014. Dish is one of the largest companies so far to adopt any kind of cryptocurrency, and also the first subscription-based TV provider to do so.

Dish has partnered with Coinbase for its bitcoin transactions.

07

Roadway Moving Company

 Move across the country. screenshot/Roadway Moving
At the end of 2017, Roadway Moving Company became the first moving company to accept Bitcoin as a valid form of payment by customers. Citing the lack of sales tax as a plus for the payment system, the company accepts Bitcoin payments for customers who have a hot wallet (digital assets connected to the internet). Cold wallet payments are not accepted.

08

PizzaForCoins

 Buy pizza with bitcoin. Get your pizza fix using bitcoins and more than 45 other cryptocurrencies at PizzaForCoins. Once the site verifies it has a pizza joint (Dominos, Pizza Hut or Papa John's) that is close to your location, you can order your pizza and pay for it with digital currency. A small fee for the service is included in your final payment amount. Yum!

Altcoins are also known as alternative currencies. These are bitcoin clones, bitcoin rivals (boo, hiss!). There are well over 4,000 different altcoins in existence. If you do not like to trade or speculate on the bitcoin against fiat currency markets, you could trade against altcoins instead.

Altcoins seek to improve on the ideas bitcoin represents. Some people feel the need for more anonymity, whereas other developers want to explore the boundaries of the underlying blockchain technology. Rather than submitting their ideas to the bitcoin developers, they use the bitcoin code, change the name, make some minor tweaks, and launch it as a brand new digital currency.

Over the years, only a dozen or so altcoins have managed to stay relevant over time, mostly thanks to a strong community and the integration of some unique features that have not made it to bitcoin core (yet). Nevertheless, none of these altcoin communities is as large or as supportive as the bitcoin community. But that doesn’t mean there is no speculation going in the altcoin scene either. And this is why so many day traders prefer to speculate on the altcoin markets, as there is a lot of room for quick profits and quick losses.

Most altcoins are created by pump-and-dump groups. What this means is that developers create a lot of hype for their coin and promise unique and interesting features. As people find out about these promises, they are more eager to buy coins at a low price, which in turn pushes the price upward. A few altcoins that have people who are actively working hard outside of pump-and-dump groups include Litecoin, CasinoCoin, and Guldencoin.

Rather than pushing up the price by buying coins, some altcoin developers encourage community members to put down a lot of money for a valueless altcoin. And once the price is high enough, these developers cash out, take their money, and work on a new coin for next week.

There are many altcoins to go around, and most of them will never serve an actual purpose. However, if you can catch a few cheap coins before the price increases, there is a nice amount of profit to be made. Never become too greedy though, as prices can plummet even faster than they rise

Bitcoin is changing the way people think about money by planting a seed of doubt in people’s minds — in a positive and thought-provoking way. Mind you, given the financial crises over the past decade, it’s understandable that some people are trying to come up with new and creative solutions for a better economy. Bitcoin, with its transparency and decentralization, may prove to be a powerful tool in achieving that goal.

One thing bitcoin does is bypass the current financial system and could therefore potentially provide services to unbanked and underbanked nations all around the world.

Whereas most people in the Western world find it normal to have a bank account, the story is quite different elsewhere. Some countries in Africa, for example, have an unbanked population of anywhere from 50 to 90 percent. Do these people have less right to open and own a bank account than Americans or Europeans do? Absolutely not, but doing so may come with rules so strict as to be unobtainable for many citizens.

For a while now, society has been evolving toward a cashless ecosystem: More and more people use bank and credit cards to pay for goods and services both online and offline, for example. Mobile payments — paying for stuff with your phone — are now on the rise, which may become a threat to card transactions. Bitcoin has been available on mobile device for years now.

People are slowly starting to grasp the concept of blockchain technology’s potential and future uses: A blockchain can do pretty much anything; you just have to find the right parts of the puzzles and fit them together.

Here are some examples of what bitcoin technology is capable of:

Taking on the remittance market (transfers of funds between two parties) and coming out on top in every aspect.
Sending money from one end of the world to the other end in only a few seconds.
Converting money to any local currency you desire.
Overriding the need for a bank account, making bitcoin an incredibly powerful tool in unbanked and underbanked regions of the world.
What if you live in an unbanked region and have no reliable access to the Internet? There’s a solution for that as well: Some services allow you to send text messages to any mobile phone number in the world in exchange for bitcoin or a few other digital currencies. Once again, bitcoin proves itself a very powerful tool in underbanked and unbanked regions of the world.

Perhaps the most impressive showcasing of what bitcoin can do is the bitcoin network itself. All transactions are logged and monitored in real time, giving users unprecedented access to financial data from all corners of the world. Furthermore, the blockchain enables you to track payments’ origins and destinations, even as money is on the move in real time. Such valuable insight will hopefully be adopted in the current financial infrastructure, even though there may be a period of adjustment while that takes place.

For true devotees of Bitcoin, the price of the digital currency is almost irrelevant. They believe in its inherent value or, more frequently, cannot see any value at all in the alternative of government issued fiat currency. Price is therefore not a concern. At the other end of the spectrum, for those that harbor what appears to be an irrational hatred of Bitcoin and anything to do with it, the exchange rate also matters little. They were screaming that it was all worthless when the price was at over $1000, and somehow convince themselves that an exchange rate of over 200 times what it was before that bubble proves their point. For the vast majority of people somewhere in the middle, however, the price of the currency in Dollar, Euro, Yuan or whatever terms is important.

Many hold out hope that over time Bitcoin will perform as it should in theory and become a store of value, while others simply cannot bear the thought of losing purchasing power in the short term. Even if their motivation for buying crypto-currency in the first place was convenience or just curiosity they can’t stop themselves looking at it as an investment. Whatever the reason, if you see Bitcoin purely as a currency, price matters.

There are other, more subtle ways in which price matters as well. At the start of this year I wrote that I expected Bitcoin, following a short continuation of volatility, to settle into a tighter range. In that respect it is no different to any other commodity or currency; volatility following a bubble is normal (think gold on the way down or, more recently the Euro) but eventually it subsides. The potential advantage that I saw then was that when that happened it was likely that at least one of the major companies toying with Bitcoin would commit fully, and begin keeping the coin received in payment rather than immediately converting to Dollars. Over the last couple of months we have experienced relative calm on the exchanges and while that transition hasn't happened yet, the calm has at least cut down on the number of uninformed “It’s all a scam!” stories in the mainstream media.

That in turn has probably been a contributing factor in two very important developments this quarter. Yesterday it was announced that the Princeton professor Ed Felten will join the White House Office of Science and Technology. Of course there is nothing new in a Princeton professor becoming a White House advisor, but this particular one is known to be somewhat “bitcoin friendly.” That probably had little to do with his appointment but it certainly won’t hurt to have somebody in the White House who both understands and appreciates Bitcoin and the technology surrounding it. If the price of Bitcoin hadn't stabilized to some degree, however, his association with the currency would probably have made the appointment less likely.

Similarly, some degree of stability also helps when academic institutions seek to expand their study of crypto currencies, and Bitcoin in particular. Is it likely that MIT would have been able to offer a home to three Bitcoin core developers if we were in the midst of a full on crash or another bubble-like spike? Given the politics that is ever present in academia, probably not. The fact that MIT has a Digital Currency Initiative at all should say a lot to Bitcoin’s critics, but the fact that its director Brian Forde thought it important to give these developers a place to continue their work after the Bitcoin Foundation ran out of funds speaks volumes.

Like it or not, if Bitcoin is to really fulfill its potential, it has to achieve some degree of mainstream acceptance. The events of the last few months have shown that that is far more likely if the price is at least relatively stable. If for no other reason than that, whatever those on the extremes may say, price does matter.

Yes.

Bitcoin (BTC) is a decentralized cryptocurrency payment system designed by Satoshi Nakamoto. The software-based currency was released to the public in 2009. Since then, updates and improvements have been made by a network of developers, partially funded by the Bitcoin Foundation.

It was not until 2013 that Bitcoin became a hot topic of interest. The virtual currency gained over 300% from 2011 to 2012 and since August of last year, Bitcoin has increased in value around 400%. While its recent performance has been lackluster, (down around 34% since January 1st), venture capital firms and investors around the world continue to bet on the cryptocurrency.




In the first 6 months of 2014, venture capitalists firms made Q1 investments of 57 million and Q2 investments of 73 million for a total of $130 million placed in Bitcoin, an increase of almost 50% from last year’s total of $88 Million. Interesting to note, back in 2012, Bitcoin firms were only able to raise $2.2 Million. Despite the price decline this year, the cryptocurrency continues to experience growth in both users and merchants that accept it as payment. So how can you be part of the action?

Investing in Bitcoin for the Average Joe

The simplest way the Average Joe can invest in Bitcoin is to outright buy some. Buying BTC today is simpler than ever, with many established firms in the US and abroad involved in the business of buying and selling bitcoins. For investors in the USA, the simplest solution is Coinbase. The company sells BTC to customers at a mark-up that is usually around 1% over the current market price.




For Americans, Coinbase has an option to link your bank account to your Coinbase wallet. This makes future payment transfers easier. The company also offers automatic bitcoin buying at regular intervals. For example, say you want to buy $50 in bitcoins every 1st or 2nd of the month, right after you get your paycheck. You can setup an auto-buy for that amount on Coinbase. Take into account a few caveats before you start using this service. If you issue an automatic buy order, you will not have control over the price at which the BTC is bought. Next thing to note is that Coinbase is not a bitcoin exchange, you are buying/selling your coins directly from the firm, which in turn has to source them from other buyers. This creates issues or delays when executing orders during fast market moves.

For traders that want a traditional bitcoin exchange, BitStamp may be a better option. With BitStamp, you are trading with other users and not the company, which only acts as a middleman. Liquidity is higher and you can almost always find another person to take the other side of your trade. The fees start at 0.5% and go all the way down to 0.2% if you have traded over $150,000 in the past 30 days.

 



Other Ways to Buy Bitcoins


Exchanges are not the only way you can acquire bitcoins. A popular route for buying BTC offline is with Local Bitcoins. The website pairs up potential buyers and sellers. When buying BTC, the bitcoins are locked from the seller in the escrow. The seller can only release them to buyers (in case of a problem, file a dispute after 24 hours). When buying bitcoins offline, you should take the usual precautions as you would when meeting a stranger. Meet during the daytime at a public place and if possible, bring a friend.

The Bottom Line

Bitcoin is hot right now and investors and venture capital firms are betting that it is here to stay. For the average person, numerous ways exist to get into investing and buying Bitcoin. In the U.S., the most popular avenues are CoinBase, Bitstamp and Local Bitcoins. Each have their advantages and disadvantages, so do your research to find the best fit for you.

Why use bitcoin? What are its benefits? Why is it better than cash or credit cards? We get asked these questions all the time so we thought we’d put together a quick list of five reasons why you, or anyone, will find bitcoin to be beneficial to have and use.

It’s made for our generation

What we mean by that is bitcoin is made for the Internet-generation. We are quickly moving past the days of carrying around paper cash or pulling out your credit card. Bitcoin goes several steps further than the convenience of credit cards by equipping users with a payment option that is significantly lower in fees, provides virtually instantaneous transaction time, and is accessible through the dozens of bitcoin wallets.

On top of convenience, bitcoin offers credit card users freedom from the concerns of fraud, identity theft, and crippling interest rates. It’s no surprise that a recent report from Goldman Sachs discovered that 33% of millennials do not think they will need a bank account in 5 years.

It’s fast, secure and global

Bitcoin doesn’t discriminate. You can use it anywhere in the world, to send value almost instantly, nearly for free. Transferring bitcoins costs just a few pennies and you can send as much value as you want. It’s important to remember that bitcoins can’t be counterfeited or duplicated.  The cherry on top is that transactions are conducted in a peer-to-peer method, without the need for a bank or third party to oversee it.

Bitcoin was designed with your privacy in mind

Our Block Explorer, along with other bitcoin block explorers, display the entire history of bitcoin transactions for all to see. Bitcoin transaction history can be searched by anyone with online access. At first glance, you might consider this level of transparency the opposite of private. In reality, it means that users can choose whether they want to be completely transparent with their finances or keep them very private.

The bitcoin protocol does not require people to identify themselves in order to transact though some businesses may need to for compliances reasons. Unlike a bank where people often have one or two accounts, you can create as many bitcoin wallets as you like.

Bitcoin is not subject to inflation

The total number of bitcoins are capped at 21 million, which is different than other currencies. As the total number of dollars in circulation rises, this creates inflation. Inflation is where the value of your dollar for example, decreases over time due to an increasing supply. Bitcoin on the other hand is scarce and fungible, which gives it interesting properties.

Below is a chart of the average price of bitcoin year over year.

With an average price of less than a US penny in 2009, the Bitcoin price increased an average of over 3000% between 2010 and 2014.

If you don’t have access to a bank account, you are part of the “unbanked.” Bitcoin can allow you to be your own bank. Bitcoin is simultaneously an open financial protocol and a currency required in order to transact freely on the protocol.

Internet marketing also called online marketing, it is the process of promoting a brand, products or services over the Internet. Its broad scope includes email marketing, electronic customer relationship management and any promotional activities that are done via wireless media.

It also combines the technical and creative aspects of the World Wide Web such as advertising, designing, development and sales. Moreover, Internet Marketing also deals with creating and placing ads throughout the various stages of customer engagement cycle.

Online marketing is divided into different types:

Affiliate Marketing

It is a marketing practice wherein a business pays an online retailer, e-commerce site or blog for each visitor or sales that these websites make for their brand.

Display Advertising

This refers to advertisement banners that are displayed on other websites or blogs to boost traffic for their own content. This, in turn, can increase product awareness.

Email Marketing

From the name itself, this is a marketing process that involves reaching out to your customers via email.

Inbound Marketing

This type of Internet marketing involves sharing of free valuable content to your target market to convince them to become your loyal customer. This could be done by setting up a business blog.

Questions about the value of bitcoins as an investment will likely differ depending on who you ask.

Those with a vision of a fully-distributed future in which the lack of a centralized overseer becomes key to an asset’s value will tell you that, yes, bitcoins are poised to become only more valuable in the future. Others who put more value in the traditional trust afforded by banks and government institutions would likely steer you away from bitcoins as an investment.

While determining how “good” any investment will be is ultimately a guessing game, there are some tried and true ways to determine an asset’s worth. One of the simplest ways to think about bitcoin as an investment is to consider its rise against the U.S. dollar. Recently, bitcoin prices eclipsed $1,000 and have reached beyond $1,500. If you had invested in the digital currency when its worth was still hovering around $150 just a few years ago, or when it was first introduced in 2009 and worth nothing against the dollar, you would probably be convinced that it made for a good investment.

Furthermore, an underpinning concept behind Bitcoin is that there will only ever be 21,000,000 tokens, meaning that it may stay consistently valuable or increase in value relative to other types of currency which can be printed endlessly. Other reasons that the asset seems like a good investment include its growing popularity, network effects, security, immutability and status as the first ever in a growing world of digital currencies.

That being said, there is at least one significant argument for limiting bitcoins to a small portion of your portfolio at the most. Bitcoin is known for stark jumps in price, high peaks and deep valleys that would make it difficult to have confidence in the asset as a long-term money maker that can be depended on. Tying every dime you have to such a volatile asset would be imprudent. A good rule to follow is never to invest more than what you would be willing to lose.