Here’s Why Your Bitcoin Transaction is Stuck

Bitcoin has transactional limits to what it can achieve, so when there is a high demand for the cryptocurrency, the network clogs up, causing mempool spikes. The mempool is where unconfirmed transactions await their inclusion in the blockchain. During normal operations, Bitcoin is capable of keeping up with the demands. Bitcoin transactions naturally gather in the mempool before miners record them on the blockchain.

Bitcoin’s popularity is the most influential factor in the equation. When Bitcoin is not trending, the blockchain usually avoids overflowing the mempool and regularly zeroes out the mempool. However, when Bitcoin is receiving a lot of hype, people make more transactions, pushing the block size limits beyond what is possible in one block and a mempool spike is inevitable.

Mempool spikes have been a long-standing issue with great efforts made by Bitcoin Core developers to minimize their effects through updates such as Segwit.

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However, demand-related mempool spikes are difficult to combat. If you need to make an urgent transaction during a mempool spike, you have to pay more than the majority to get in the next block.

Changes in network mining power

The Bitcoin network is constantly changing a few parameters to preserve the ten minute average for blocks. The main parameter called mining difficulty determines the validity of cryptographic results produced by miners. Miners must find a valid result before they can write data on the blockchain.

Mempool spikes provide additional incentives for miners to return to the network as they increase the rewards for solving a block. Users are competing to get their transactions on the next block, each paying more in transaction fees.

Let’s consider this short case study we did on a mempool spike that happened in early November 2020.

Bitcoin’s network experienced a mempool spike as a result of migrating hashpower from Sichuan to the rest of China and beyond. The lowest hashrate recorded in the past 30 days at the time was between October 26th and November 4th. During the same period, transactions kept on coming, and the lower block throughput resulted in a major mempool spike on Bitcoin’s network.

Network conditions leading up to the mempool spike were ideal for the situation. The network had its difficulty adjusted for 142 EH/s on October 17th, but the network only had 116 EH/s on the onset of the mempool spike on October 26th, further falling to 90 EH/s in the next couple of days.

Miners leaving the network for the expected physical migration, left the network hanging with a power vacuum, resulting in hundreds of thousands of transactions filling up in Bitcoin’s mempool, awaiting confirmation.

Crypto news media outlets quickly picked up on the development, noticing the amount of activity on the network being the highest it’s been since 2017. Users on Twitter also reacted noticing the slow confirmation times, and bloated mempool.

Jameson Lopp, a former Bitcoin Core developer noticed that transactions in the mempool require additional memory due to the (unserialized) data structures used to store them. This resulted in nodes rejecting relaying some transactions by default, due to low transaction fees.

The most notable peak in the period between October 28th and November 4th was 151,842 simultaneously unconfirmed transactions, totaling 54.255 BTC in transaction fees, or rather 35,731 satoshis on average per transaction.

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Dealing with Mempool spikes as a Bitcoin user?

One Bitcoin feature that you may not be familiar with is the “Replace by Fee” (RBF) transaction. This type of transaction is designed to be able to change the transaction fee for a previously broadcast Bitcoin transaction that got stuck in the mempool.

The easiest way to do this is to use the http://www.pushtx.com tool to get it done fast. You just need a transaction ID and some Bitcoin to boost your transaction. Produced by one of the leading mining pools, Poolin, this tool, and its users are protected by the brand’s impressive reputation.

Safe to say, it’s both popular and safe.

Alternatively, you can download a variety of local software wallets to help you achieve the same goal, such as Electrum or Bitcoin Core. While it’s a great way to learn more about Bitcoin, this is only useful if you are ready beforehand.

Don’t get your transaction stuck in the first place

Mempool spikes happen and it’s up to Bitcoin users to determine the best timing for their transaction. Sometimes a transaction is urgent and you are willing to pay almost any price to get it where it needs to be, but other times, you may be better off waiting for a few hours, or even a day.

Make sure that you pay enough as a transaction fee to get a probabilistic guarantee of getting your transaction confirmed in the next couple of blocks. Once again, one of the best tools for the job comes from Poolin.

Mempool spikes are an important part of Bitcoin

Bitcoin miners use a transaction fee method to decide which transactions are included in the next block. Transactions willing to pay the highest fees are considered a priority. Current Bitcoin wallets often suggest reasonable transaction fees to ensure transaction inclusion in the next one, three, or six blocks, i.e. 10 to 60 minutes of real-time.

Without mempool spikes, Bitcoin transaction fees wouldn’t exist. With Bitcoin rewards getting lower and lower, transaction fees will eventually turn out to be more profitable than block rewards.

The mempool and its quirks are an important and integral part of Bitcoin, and it’s up to us, the users, to familiarize ourselves with the network and learn how to anticipate challenges.

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What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonymous person or team who outlined the technology in a 2008 white paper. It’s an appealingly simple concept: bitcoin is digital money that allows for secure peer-to-peer transactions on the internet.

Unlike services like Venmo and PayPal, which rely on the traditional financial system for permission to transfer money and on existing debit/credit accounts, bitcoin is decentralized: any two people, anywhere in the world, can send bitcoin to each other without the involvement of a bank, government, or other institution.

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Every transaction involving Bitcoin is tracked on the blockchain, which is similar to a bank’s ledger, or log of customers’ funds going in and out of the bank. In simple terms, it’s a record of every transaction ever made using bitcoin.

Unlike a bank’s ledger, the Bitcoin blockchain is distributed across the entire network. No company, country, or third party is in control of it; and anyone can become part of that network. There will only ever be 21 million bitcoin. This is digital money that cannot be inflated or manipulated in any way.

At what price did Bitcoin start?

One BTC was valued at a fraction of a U.S. penny in early 2010. During the first quarter of 2011, it exceeded a dollar. In late 2017, its value skyrocketed, topping out at close to $20,000. You can track the price of bitcoin here.

Bitcoin is digital money that allows for secure and seamless peer-to-peer transactions on the internet

What Is Bitcoin? by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Buy your first Bitcoin Start with as little as $25 Get started

Bitcoin Basics

Since Bitcoin’s creation, thousands of new cryptocurrencies have been launched, but bitcoin (abbreviated as BTC) remains the largest by market capitalization and trading volume.

Depending on your goals, bitcoin can function as

– an investment vehicle

– a store of value similar to gold

– a way to transfer value around the world

– even just a way to explore an emerging technology

Bitcoin is a currency native to the Internet. Unlike government-issued currencies such as the dollar or euro, Bitcoin allows online transfers without a middleman such as a bank or payment processor. The removal of those gatekeepers creates a whole range of new possibilities, including the potential for money to move around the global internet more quickly and cheaply, and allowing individuals to have maximum control over their own assets.

Bitcoin is legal to use, hold, and trade, and can be spent on everything from travel to charitable donations. It’s accepted as payment by businesses including Microsoft and Expedia.

Is bitcoin money? It’s been used as a medium of exchange, a store of value, and a unit of account—which are all properties of money. Meanwhile, it only exists digitally; there is no physical version of it.

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Who created Bitcoin?

To really grasp how bitcoin works, it helps to start at the beginning. The question of who created bitcoin is a fascinating one, because a decade after inventing the technology—and despite a lot of digging by journalists and members of the crypto community—its creator remains anonymous.

The principles behind Bitcoin first appeared in a white paper published online in late 2008 by a person or group going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto.

This paper wasn’t the first idea for digital money drawing on the fields of cryptography and computer science—in fact, the paper referred to earlier concepts—but it was a uniquely elegant solution to the problem of establishing trust between different online entities, where people may be hidden (like bitcoin’s own creator) by pseudonyms, or physically located on the other side of the planet.

Nakamoto devised a pair of intertwined concepts: the bitcoin private key and the blockchain ledger. When you hold bitcoin, you control it through a private key—a string of randomized numbers and letters that unlocks a virtual vault containing your purchase. Each private key is tracked on the virtual ledger called the blockchain.

When Bitcoin first appeared, it marked a major advance in computer science, because it solved a fundamental problem of commerce on the internet: how do you transfer value between two people without a trusted intermediary (like a bank) in the middle? By solving that problem, the invention of bitcoin has wide-ranging ramifications: As a currency designed for the internet, it allows for financial transactions that range across borders and around the globe without the involvement of banks, credit-card companies, lenders, or even governments. When any two people—wherever they might live—can send payments to each other without encountering those gatekeepers, it creates the potential for an open financial system that is more efficient, more free, and more innovative. That, in a nutshell, is bitcoin explained.

Bitcoin creates the potential for an open financial system that is more efficient, more free, and more innovative.

How Bitcoin works

Unlike credit card networks like Visa and payment processors like Paypal, bitcoin is not owned by an individual or company. Bitcoin is the world’s first completely open payment network which anyone with an internet connection can participate in. Bitcoin was designed to be used on the internet, and doesn’t depend on banks or private companies to process transactions.

One of the most important elements of Bitcoin is the blockchain, which tracks who owns what, similar to how a bank tracks assets. What sets the Bitcoin blockchain apart from a bank’s ledger is that it is decentralized, meaning anyone can view it and no single entity controls it.

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Here are some details about how it all works:

Specialized computers known as ‘mining rigs’ perform the equations required to verify and record a new transaction. In the early days, a typical desktop PC was powerful enough to participate, which allowed pretty much anyone who was curious to try their hand at mining. These days the computers required are massive, specialized, and often owned by businesses or large numbers of individuals pooling their resources. (In October 2019, it required 12 trillion times more computing power to mine one bitcoin than it did when Nakamoto mined the first blocks in January 2009.)

The miners’ collective computing power is used to ensure the accuracy of the ever-growing ledger. Bitcoin is inextricably tied to the blockchain; each new bitcoin is recorded on it, as is each subsequent transaction with all existing coins.

How does the network motivate miners to participate in the constant, essential work of maintaining the blockchain—verifying transactions? The Bitcoin network holds a continuous lottery in which all the mining rigs around the world race to be the first to solve a math problem. Every 10 min or so, a winner is found, and the winner updates the Bitcoin ledger with new valid transactions. The prize changes over time, but as of early 2020, each winner of this raffle was awarded 12.5 bitcoin.

At the beginning, a bitcoin was technically worthless. As of the end of 2019, it was trading at around $7,500. As bitcoin’s value has risen, its easy divisibility (the ability to buy a small fraction of one bitcoin) has become a key attribute. One bitcoin is currently divisible to eight decimal places (100 millionths of one bitcoin); the bitcoin community refers to the smallest unit as a ‘Satoshi.’

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Nakamoto set the network up so that the number of bitcoin will never exceed 21 million, ensuring scarcity. There are currently around 3 million bitcoin still available to be mined, which will happen more and more slowly. The last blocks will theoretically be mined in 2140.

Cryptocurrencies and traditional currencies share some traits — like how you can use them to buy things or how you can transfer them electronically — but they’re also different in interesting ways. Here are a few highlights.

How to Choose a Cryptocurrency Exchange?

Cryptocurrency exchanges let you buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies. Without access to a cryptocurrency exchange, you are unable to buy or sell digital assets. Though, there are some alternatives.

Even so, that doesn’t mean that any cryptocurrency exchange is a good one. If you asked any seasoned crypto OG or trader to tell you a story about their first Bitcoin purchase, they are likely to tell you how they wasted significant amounts of money and time dealing with incompetent, buggy, or simply expensive exchanges at the beginning. It takes time to learn how to separate the wheat from the chaff, but you came to the right article.

This guide will show you how to choose the right cryptocurrency exchange for you right of the bat.

What to consider when choosing a crypto exchange

Before jumping into any random exchange someone recommended, you should consider many factors. The most important ones include exchange security, liquidity, fees, history, markets, and user experience. Finding the best cryptocurrency exchange for you can take some time and effort, but it is totally worth it.

One easy way to do it is by reading expert reviews. To see our reviews and comparisons of top exchanges follow this link.

It’s also important to distinguish crypto-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat exchanges. The crypto-to-crypto exchanges list only cryptocurrency pairs, while fiat-to-crypto exchanges are let you buy and sell cryptocurrencies with dollars, euros, pounds, yen, and other currencies.

How to pick the best cryptocurrency exchange?

When choosing an exchange, keep in mind that your mileage may vary. You may want an exchange that supports specific altcoins, trading pairs, and additional features such as margin trading or over-the-counter (OTC) deals. Once you find an exchange that meets your basic requirements, check these other aspects as well:

Security is by far the most important factor of an exchange. If an exchange is insecure, your funds could be stolen, leaving any other advantages it offers worthless. No one wants to lose his or her money, so In this respect, consider the following aspects.

Technology:

— The exchange’s web address should start with HTTPS. Avoid HTTP connections.

— For login safety, it should use two-factor authentication (username and password plus a piece of information only you have).

— Customer deposits should be stored offline, in “cold storage.”

— Auditing programs that monitor exchange activity 24/7 and SMS and email alerts all give exchange customers additional security guarantees.

— You may want to whitelist your IP address or withdrawal wallet addresses for the maximum security.

Legal aspects:

— It’s recommended you use an exchange from the same country you are, as that can make it easier to comply with regulatory changes. It’s also possible, though, to use other exchanges in other countries. Note that some exchanges support only a limited number of countries.

— Some exchanges may insure their funds, meaning that in case they lose your funds, you may be reimbursed.

Transparency:

— Does the exchange reveal its owners, headquarter address, and the members of its team?

— Transparent exchanges also publish their cold storage address or help check their reserves in other ways, like audit information.

In any case, don’t leave your funds on any cryptocurrency exchange longer than necessary. Keep only the funds you need for trading. Most exchanges are like honeypots for hackers. Since they must keep many digital assets in one place, hackers create the most elaborate schemes to steal exchange user’s funds. Hence, it’s better to store the rest of your bitcoin in your private wallets. (You can also read more about Bitcoin wallets here.)

Other important things to consider for when you are learning how to choose a crypto exchange are:

Liquidity:

The higher the trading volume is, the more liquid specific exchange is. Liquidity makes it possible to complete transactions faster, more easily and without having to deal with price volatility. Also, see whether an exchange offers “locked-in” pricing, which guarantees you the price at the time of your transaction even if it doesn’t settle immediately.

Be aware that liquidity can be different for different trading pairs. It can be high for BTC/EUR, for example, but low for BTC/GBP. You can check the exchanges with the highest trading volumes here.

Fees:

— Compare all the fees an exchange charges. They’re usually less than 1% per transaction and may decrease if your trading volume increases.

— Check the withdrawal fees. Some exchanges are known to offer unreasonably high withdrawal fees for specific altcoins.

— Look into deposit fees, too. Many exchanges offer a quick and convenient way to buy cryptocurrencies with a credit or debit card, but such purchases also come with a 5% or higher fee.

User experience:

— If you care about anonymity, you probably won’t choose an exchange that requires you to reveal much about your identity;

— Is the user interface simple and easy to use on both a desktop and a mobile device?

— What do other users say about the benefits and drawbacks of a specific exchange, the support it offers and so on? Check community forums like Bitcoin Reddit or Bitcoin Forum.

Bitcoin Pros and Cons

Many are attracted to Bitcoin due to its independence and pseudo-anonymity. But its convenience of use, speed, and fees may not be as pleasing as one would like. In this article, we outline the most common pros and cons of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Pros and Cons

The main advantage of using Bitcoin is that it is both digital money and the payment network. Bitcoin’s blockchain cannot function without BTC, and vice versa. Such a system can operate without any middlemen, government officials, monetary economists, and other intermediaries or regulators. Essentially, Bitcoin is the first successful implementation of global peer-to-peer cash that lets everyone store and exchange value with others, no matter who or where they are.

However, Bitcoin does have regulatory oversight and the convenience of traditional financial instruments. Bitcoin price is quite volatile, and that is unlikely to change in the near-term. Besides, the network is still being developed and does not match the efficiency and ease of use offered by banks and related financial services.

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Here are the most commonly brought up Bitcoin advantages:

Bitcoin is the most open financial system to date. You can make payments with Bitcoins 24/7 all over the world, even where there’s no banking system.

International money transfers with Bitcoins can be faster and cheaper than with traditional banking and services.

Bitcoin is the only asset ever-created that cannot be seized from you by force (if taken proper precautions). Besides, BTC transactions are uncensorable, so no one can stop you from conducting transactions.

Bitcoin is pseudonymous, and anyone can open its wallet via the internet without any verification or credit history. It is especially beneficial in underbanked regions and third-world countries where most people struggle to get access to money.

You can spend Bitcoins in the same ways you spend traditional digital money – from a desktop computer, a mobile phone or a debit card.

Unlike fiat currencies, Bitcoins are deflationary, meaning that their value is set to appreciate by design.

Bitcoin is the most portable asset ever-created and can be transferred through satellites or even radio waves.

Bitcoin has valuable features for business, too, such as multi-signature authorization and accounting transparency. Multi-signature means that several people need to sign off on a payment, which provides more security. And the very nature of a blockchain – where all transactions are public – improves a business’s transparency.

Compared with other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin has the most brand recognition, liquidity, most developed ecosystem, and most acceptance among various retailers and organizations.

The Lightning Network enables Bitcoin usage for small, low-fee everyday retail transactions like buying tea, groceries or simply tipping someone online.

Bitcoin introduces a concept of programmable money, which enables further financial innovations like “smart contracts.”

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Not every shop or service provider accepts Bitcoins. The number is growing, though.

Bitcoin transactions are immutable, meaning that once the money leaves your wallet, there is no way to get them back. Although many reputation management tools are being developed, “buyer’s protection” is not the thing with Bitcoin yet. Conversely, it can benefit merchants since accepting BTC eliminates the opportunity of fraudulent chargebacks.

Most people are not ready to take full responsibility for their assets and could not manage their private keys securely. Many private Bitcoin keys have been lost beyond recovery, thus contribution to Bitcoin’s deflation and appreciation in value.

Learning all the existing ins and outs of the Bitcoin ecosystem presents a steep learning curve. The user interface in most Bitcoin apps is still not foolproof, and the network is not ready for serving everyone in the world.

Securing Bitcoin requires basic cybersecurity knowledge and awareness. While the network is virtually unhackable, organizations and individual users are.

The core ideology of Bitcoin goes against the most powerful institutions, governments, politics, banks, regulators, and censorship, and is likely to meet much resistance before these players can tolerate or approve it.

These are the most commonly brought up advantages and disadvantages (pros and cons) of Bitcoin. As you can see, the revolutionary technology behind Bitcoin doesn’t come without tradeoffs. For every advantage, there is a considerable disadvantage, too. Despite that, Bitcoin is an evolving system which doesn’t stand still. Its open-source developer community is actively seeking for improved solutions.

Hopefully, this article has made things clearer for you and sparked further interest in cryptocurrencies and traditional finance. Always do your due diligence when it comes to sensitive matters like money and investing.

Inflation speeds up in April as consumer prices leap 4.2%, fastest since 2008

Inflation in April accelerated at its fastest pace in more than 12 years as the U.S. economic recovery kicked into gear and energy prices jumped higher, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

The Consumer Price Index, which measures a basket of goods as well as energy and housing costs, rose 4.2% from a year earlier. A Dow Jones survey had expected a 3.6% increase. The month-to-month gain was 0.8%, against the expected 0.2%.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core CPI increased 3% from the same period in 2020 and 0.9% on a monthly basis. The respective estimates were 2.3% and 0.3%.

The increase in the annual headline CPI rate was the fastest since September 2008, while the monthly gain in core inflation was the largest since 1981.

Energy prices overall jumped 25% from a year earlier, including a 49.6% increase for gasoline and 37.3% for fuel oil. That came even though most energy categories saw a decline in April.

Prices at the pump, which fell 1.4% in April, have resumed their climb in May, with the national average eclipsing $3 a gallon for the first time since November 2014, according to AAA. Further rises are likely from Friday’s cyberattack that shut down Colonial Pipeline’s main transmission line from Houston to New Jersey.

Used car and truck prices, which are seen as a key inflation indicator, surged 21%, including a 10% increase in April alone. Shelter, another key CPI component, was up 2.1% year over year and 0.4% for the month.

In addition to rising prices, one of the main reasons for the big annual gain was because of base effects, meaning inflation was very low at this time in 2020 as the Covid pandemic caused a widespread shutdown of the U.S. economy. Year-over-year comparisons are going to be distorted for a few months because of the pandemic’s impact.

For that reason, Federal Reserve policymakers and many economists are dismissing the current round of numbers as transitory, with the expectation that inflation settles down later this year around the 2% range targeted by the central bank.

Fed officials repeatedly have said they will not raise interest rates or pull back on monthly bond purchases until inflation averages around 2% over an extended period.

“As the cyclically-sensitive components of CPI are still rising at a modest pace, we doubt this report will change the view of officials that inflationary pressures are ‘largely transitory,'” wrote Michael Pearce, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics. “It’s just that there’s a lot more ‘transitory’ than they were expecting.”

Stock market futures briefly reached session lows after the release of the CPI numbers and pointed to a negative open on Wall Street. Government bond yields were mostly higher.

Price surges also have come amid supply bottlenecks caused by a number of factors, from production issues with the ubiquitous semiconductors found in electronics products to the Suez Canal blockage in March to soaring demand for a variety of commodities.

Lumber prices alone have risen 124% in 2021 amid persistent demand for building materials. Copper, often seen as a proxy for economic activity, has jumped nearly 36%.

BITCOIN BEWARE, ETHER PRICE RISE IS A THREAT FOR YOU

Ether price rise can be a threat to Bitcoin

Cryptocurrency Ether price went beyond $4,000 on 10th May, Monday, hitting an all-new record high. Though it is the second-largest cryptocurrency, this new record seems to try to outbeat Bitcoin for the world’s largest cryptocurrency.

According to Coin Metrics, the Ether price today went upto $4,196.63 at 12:15 p.m. ET. Today, the market valuation of Ether is $483.4 billion, which is less than half bitcoin’s $1.09 trillion.

Ether runs on the ethereum blockchain and has acquired parabolic gains recently as more and more investors are looking forward to investing in cryptocurrencies. However, Ether isn’t the only cryptocurrency that has witnessed a surge in prices. Other cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin are in the race of price surge.

If we look back a year, the price of Ether went down due to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. In one year, the price of Ether has grown ten times. Isn’t that phenomenal? One of the reasons we can credit for such a huge price surge is due to new features and numerous developments in recent times.

Ethereum is a decentralized software platform that is used primarily for DApps (Distributed Applications) and smart contracts that function in a secure manner without any third-party intervention.

With the world shifting to the digital mode, developers are embracing the Ethereum network due to its increased applications. Business and banks are also turning their heads to the decentralized ledger technology.

If we compare Ether and Bitcoin, the latter took a dip of over 2% in April, whereas the former grew more than 40%. One key differentiation between Ether and Bitcoin is that Bitcoin is limited to empowering digital, decentralised money.

This means that there is no central institution involved to issue money. However, Ethereum, on the other hand, can host both decentralised applications as well as digital coins.

Leading investors and some corporate purchasers like Tesla ran to bitcoin recently, seeing the digital coin as a potential inflation support as national banks throughout the planet print cash to assuage Covid-battered economies. Significant Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have additionally looked to furnish their well-off customers with bitcoin exposure.

Further, Ethereum is getting popular due to the rise of NFTs, which resemble digital assets created to have the possession of unique virtual items like art and sports memorabilia. CryptoKitties and CryptoPunks are widely popular NFTs that run on Ethereum.

The launch of Ethereum 2.0 is also one of the reasons to boost the price of Ether. This version aims to solve major concerns and bring a variety of changes to the current version of Ether. Particularly, it aims at reducing transaction fees, which is quite beneficial in DeFi trading, where every transaction can wind up costing what could be compared to several US dollars.

Ethereum is also trying to reduce the amount of power needed to process transactions and mining. At the end of this year, we can see a reduction in industrial mining warehouses.

WHY SHOULD INDIA REGULATE AND NOT BAN CRYPTOCURRENCIES?

Industry leaders are panicking as the Indian government prepares to enact a new bill to outlaw private cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and create its own authorized digital currency. They are encouraging the government to include them in the decision-making procedure. Many digital currency trading platforms have expressed their concerns, claiming that an outright prohibition will be detrimental and that enforcement is a safer way to prevent illicit cryptocurrency operations.

As per a report by the Economic Times, ICICI bank has told a few payment gateways that it will be shutting down its net banking services for merchants who are engaged in cryptocurrency trading, such as selling or purchasing.

Other large banks may follow ICICI Bank’s lead, according to industry experts who spoke on the condition of anonymity to The Quint.

According to The Quint, the move of ICICI blocking transaction related to cryptocurrencies has come after a report published by Reuters on 14 March, which states that trading, mining, and holding cryptocurrency could soon be illegal in India as the Indian government is proposing a new bill that could ban all transactions related to cryptocurrencies.

According to a report by Reuters, the new Bill proposes to criminalize possession, issuance, mining, trading, and transferring crypto-assets including Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and other cryptocurrencies. The report further suggests that if this becomes law it’ll make India the first country to officially make holding cryptocurrency assets illegal.

Why should India not ban cryptocurrencies?

If India follows through on a rumored cryptocurrency ban, it would not be the first time the nation has attempted to enforce currency controls. However, a ban is less likely to be effective this time and the repercussions for India’s economy may be much worse. The country should not repeat the same error.

Numerous industry bodies and players are actively lobbying India’s finance ministry and regulators to reconsider the total ban on cryptocurrencies, while emphasizing the benefits of their use, according to industry officials.

The Indian government should not prohibit the use of cryptocurrency indefinitely. Any complete ban on cryptocurrency will just demonstrate a lack of awareness of the technologically powerful cryptocurrency’s positive effect on India’s economy. Many governments are concerned about tokens because there is no centralized entity to monitor their value or oversee their exchange. The concern arises from the failure to control the cryptocurrency sector, monitor its price, or track its transfer. Governments can do all of the above with fiat currency.

Also, Finology mentioned, “Look at it from a business and employment perspective. A ban could eliminate investments in Indian blockchain startups. Venture Capital firms like Sequoia are investing in Indian blockchain startups, and banning cryptos would make them shut down and move overseas. Moreover, these over 300 Indian blockchain companies employ many software developers and also pay taxes to the government. Banning cryptos would essentially mean mass unemployment and loss of revenue for the government.”

TODAY’S DEAL: TOP 10 CRYPTOCURRENCIES RULING THE MARKET

I know while reading this you are probably well-aware of the crypto market and how it has got a sudden boom all over the world. Not your fault, top cryptocurrencies are stealing the media highlights as well as investors and next-gen’s attention. Wondering if this is the future of how we transact, then you are right. Cryptocurrency will largely dominate how we make transactions in the future.

Bitcoin is the best cryptocurrency but did you know that there are more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies in the market? The underlying principle of cryptocurrency is to make purchases. However, many people are viewing it as a long-term investment.

Nonetheless, if you don’t know about cryptocurrency trading, here’s a guide for you. Moreover, the cryptocurrency market is highly volatile. So, carry out proper research and analyze trends before investing.

Some of the attributes that you can consider before investing are the performance of the cryptocurrency over the years, consistency in prices, growing traction, speed of the transactions, related fees, etc.

While you may find many articles talking about the top 10 cryptocurrencies, this article will focus on the top 10 cryptocurrencies of today. Please note that since prices keep fluctuating constantly, these cryptocurrencies are ranked at the time of writing this article. We have used CoinMarketCap analysis and trends for this article.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin, founded in 2009 is the largest cryptocurrency in the world. The current price of Bitcoin is 43,372.99 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of 65,906,428,346 USD. However, it dipped down by 9.48% in the last 24 hours. It is still the most powerful cryptocurrency in the world.

Ethereum

Following Bitcoin, Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world. Ethereum supports Ether, which is widely known for facilitating smart contracts. The current price of Ethereum is 3,237.06 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of 47,984,200,362 USD. Similar to Bitcoin, Ethereum is down by 15.25% in the last 24 hours. However, the volume has grown by 8.51%.

Binance Coin

Binance Coin is regarded as one of the largest crypto exchanges worldwide. It aims to introduce a new realm of global finance. The current price of Binance Coin is 511.44 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of 4,314,478,358 USD. In the last 24 hours, the price has gone down by 11.51%. However, the volume has gone up by 25.63%.

 Cardano

A proof-of-stake blockchain platform, Cardano aims at creating a secure and transparent society by redistributing power from unaccountable structures to the margins of individuals. The current price of Cardano is 2.05 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of 12,398,620,134 USD. In the last 24 hours, the price has gone down by 10.74%. Even the volume has gone down by 17.74%.

Dogecoin

Our favorite meme-inspired cryptocurrency has witnessed a surge in prices in the last few weeks. The current price of Dogecoin is 0.465184 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of 8,557,030,339 USD. However, the price has gone down by 12.66% in the last 24 hours. The volume has also gone down by 14.56%.

Tether

Tether is a stable coin that replicates the price of the U.S. dollar. It was initially built as a second-layer cryptocurrency token formed on top of Bitcoin’s blockchain using an Omni platform. The current price of Tether is 1.00 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of 161,688,816,509 USD. The price of Tether has gone up by 0.03% in the last 24 hours. The volume is also up by 0.93%.

XRP

Many people are confused between XRP, Ripple, and RippleNet. XRP is a currency that operates on RippleNet, which is a digital payment platform. RippleNet is operated by the company Ripple. The current price of XRP is 1.35 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of 11,536,277,367 USD. The price and volume both have gone down by 12.24% and 25% respectively.

Internet Computer

While many of us don’t know about this cryptocurrency, it is the world’s first blockchain that operates on web speed with unlimited capacity. After Bitcoin and Ethereum, it is considered a significant blockchain innovation. The current price of the Internet Computer is 207.82 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of 363,107,074 USD. The price and volume have gone down by 18.47% and 20.28%.

USD Coin

USD Coin is again a type of stable coin, which is basically designed to encourage cashless transactions. It is valued as to the U.S. dollar on a 1:1 basis. The current price of USD Coin is $1 with a trading volume of 3,954,377,061 USD. It has been fluctuating rapidly at the time of writing. The price has gone by 0.03% and the volume by 17.03%.

IS IT ETHER VS BITCOIN NOW? WHERE IS THE CRYPTO MARKET HEADED TO?

Recently, a relatively new cryptocurrency soared by hitting record heights in value. Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum platform, reached USD3,500 on May 6th. The market cap of Ethereum reached USD375.13 billion compared to 22.9 billion last year. Does this mean that Ethreum is going to gain supremacy over Bitcoin?

Bitcoin vs Ether

Bitcoin is still the largest digital currency, followed by Ethereum being the second-largest in the world. Bitcoin has always been the center of attraction and has maintained supremacy over other digital currencies all these years. Once cryptocurrency and blockchain technology was introduced, bitcoin became the most valued digital currency because of its peer-to-peer transaction facility. Bitcoin can be transferred over the internet through a decentralized, transparent network that eliminates the need for a centralized authority like banks.

Launched in 2009, Bitcoin and those engaging in the trade of this crypto through a distributed ledger system do not have to establish trust in each other for smooth transactions. Another reason for its popularity is the less risk of fraud involved, the ease, and the minimum transaction fee. Bitcoins have a market cap of more than USD1 trillion and it has a growing number of institutional investors. Recently, Elon Musk’s Tesla invested USD1.5 billion into Bitcoin making its value soar high. Other companies include Square, MicroStrategy, and many more.

Ether on the other hand is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency today. Ether enables smart contracts that are faster, resilient, and better than other digital currencies. It also has Decentralized Finance (DeFi) characteristics with high scalability, which makes it desirable among businesses. The recent proliferation of Ethereum has made its Co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, the youngest billionaire. Ethereum is an open-source, blockchain-based platform, which also allows building applications with its programming languages. Unlike the peer-to-peer network of Bitcoins, Ethereum offers the transfer and development of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), which can be uniquely processed and transferred by individual users. With a current market cap of more than USD397 billion, Ethereum is being largely adopted. Ethereum has been shining bright since mid-last year.

Where is Crypto Headed?

The crypto market is always volatile with fluctuating prices and values. Hence, it is always advised to be careful while investing in cryptocurrencies, be it Bitcoin or Ether. However, many new cryptocurrencies are popping up every day. Some popularly known cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Ripple, and Zcash (XRP).

Although blockchain was initially recognized with crypto, it has now expanded its capabilities. Thus, crypto use cases will continue to diversify and there will be a growing number of crypto assets and investments. India recently passed a new bill stating the regulations in cryptocurrency trading in the country. The country has not legally banned cryptocurrencies, but it also does not work in favor of it.

There has been an increased institutional interest in cryptocurrency investments. There is no surety in the consistent growth of cryptocurrencies, but it is not going to vanish soon. The underlying technology behind cryptocurrency, blockchain, has gained wide popularity and will see more use cases and industry-wide adoption.

A FULL GUIDE TO BITCOIN TRADING SITES

Bitcoin is soaring at the moment. It is valued at more than $50,000 and experts even believe that the best is yet to come. This statement is based on the historical data that Bitcoin provides us with. Here’s the evidence. So far, there have been three halving events, with the latest one being in May 2020. The previous two were in mid-2012 and mid-2016. Both of these events led to spikes in value exactly a year and a half after they ended. After the 2012 halving event, Bitcoin spiked at $713 in January 2014, and after the 2016 halving, Bitcoin spiked at more than $19,000 at the end of 2017.

Since the third halving event took place in May 2020, experts believe that Bitcoin will spike at around autumn of 2021. That is the reason why so many people are now registering at trading sites and are looking to make a profit with Bitcoin. With that thought in mind, we decided to provide you with a full guide on how to use trading sites. Let’s check it out.

Step 1- Researching the Best Sites

The first step of the process requires you to do research. Not every trading site can guarantee you profit and not every trading site can maximize your profits. Check out which platforms are the most suitable for your region, read some reviews, and see how do they operate. The research will provide you with vital information on whether the site is credible and trustworthy or not.

Step 2 – Registering

After you’ve done your research and found the perfect trading site, comes the second step – registering. This process is pretty simple because all you have to do is provide the trading site with some basic information about yourself and select a payment method through which you will deposit money. In most cases, registering lasts just a minute.

Step 3 – Using its Services to Maximize Your Profits

Many reputable sites like Bitcoin Compass are not just marketplaces where you can buy and sell Bitcoins. They provide the traders with an additional service which is considered a powerful tool. This service includes an AI system that platforms like the one we just mentioned use to collect data about Bitcoin from the market.

After all the data is gathered, artificial intelligence analyzes it makes accurate predictions on what the future price of Bitcoin will be. The results are then shared with the traders who now possess vital information on when is the best time to sell their assets and maximize their profits. So, if you want to generate the highest possible revenue, make sure you use these types of services.

Why is the AI System Important and Beneficial to You?

Lastly, we are going to explain why it is important to use the AI system and how does this system help you earn the highest possible profit.

We all know that Bitcoin is a highly volatile cryptocurrency. That means that its price is subject to frequent changes. In this case, Bitcoin can go up and down in a matter of days. Let’s take Tesla and their investment as the perfect example. After Tesla announced that they have invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, its price went from $47,000 to over $50,000 in just a few days. There are tons of factors that affect the value and traders alone are not able to predict how this cryptocurrency will fluctuate.

But, the AI system can and does it with great precision because it can collect and analyze terabytes of data in minutes. It is very efficient and effective in what it does. The fact that the daily profitability rate at platforms like the one mentioned above is very high speaks just how good it is.

FORGET BITCOIN, INVEST IN SQUARE AS IT WILL ALWAYS WIN

Everybody seems to be talking about cryptocurrency. It is so much in talks that even I tried investing in a few cryptocurrencies over the last week, following the hype of long-term investments. However, while analyzing trends and reading more about cryptocurrencies, I came across Square that is leading the race of securing cryptocurrency transactions. I found that Square can be the best way to invest in cryptocurrency.

Square crypto (NYSE: SQ) is a financial services provider founded by Jack Dorsey, CEO, Twitter. It enables merchants to process card payments through hardware as well as point-of-sale software. What’s more? It also provides analytics related to payments.

It is majorly known as the Bitcoin exchange market and custodial wallet that derives profits from a variety of transactions. Its flagship product Cash App – a mobile payment service that encourages peer-to-peer digital payments.

In June 2019, Square Cash App crypto introduced bitcoin deposits. Users can use this mobile service to buy and sell bitcoins as well as transfer cryptocurrency to other wallets. In the first quarter of 2019 itself, Square earned $65.5 million in revenue. In the last year, revenue from bitcoin was $1.8 billion, a staggering 10X increase over 2019’s revenues.

Square’s prosperity has been accelerated by Bitcoin. Besides the gigantic investment Square in 2020 by buying BTC worth $500 million, some portion of the Cash App’s allure is for the simple way users can purchase and sell bitcoin.

With so many cryptocurrencies like Ether, Dogecoin, etc. reaching new highs constantly, Square crypto is set to keep harnessing the benefits. However, as we all predict, Bitcoin is inclined to go up a lot, yet those periods are normally trailed by episodes of huge pullbacks. Wondering what happens when the most recent Bitcoin bubble explodes and how it will affect Square and cryptocurrency?

If we look back a year, Square moved rapidly to address the developing requirements of its users as repercussions of COVID-19 were faced by businesses as well as people. Square Cash App was well-situated to assist users in adapting to the changing landscapes. Moreover, its resilience is supported by its ability to facilitate multiple use cases and an extensive customer base.

Further, according to Mizuho expert Dan Dolev, Bitcoin’s pullbacks cannot touch Square’s growth.

He points out that a sensational positive inflection in user engagement guarantees that SQ’s Bitcoin revenue should grow whether Bitcoin value levels dip down or increase. He gauges that if Bitcoin comes to $100,000 by year-end, this could drive a 9x increment in Bitcoin gross profit. Notwithstanding, if Bitcoin dropped to $10,000, its GP, in any case, will twofold, supported by a growing user base and higher engagement.

For example, Bitcoin’s average quarterly cost dropped from around $10,600 to $3,800 somewhere between the time period of 1Q18 and 1Q19. All things considered, during that same time period, Cash App’s Bitcoin GP quadrupled from $0.2 million to $0.8 million as Bitcoin GP for each user multiplied to $0.5.

Once more, somewhere in the time range of 3Q19 and 1Q20, Bitcoin’s average cost declined from around $10,400 to $8,300, however in general GP from Bitcoin expanded more than triple from $2.1 million to $6.7 million, while GP per user-developed from $0.4 to $1.2.

These numbers and a fantastic analysis clearly point out Square is powerful and the safest option to invest in cryptocurrency.

Simultaneously, Bitcoin has brought a huge number of users into Square’s Cash App platform, which is vital to its two-sided financial platform. In March, Square said that 7 million Cash Cards were initiated through the Cash App and that it is driving record cash inflows and profits for the app.

On the user front, Square is attempting to make the Cash App into the core of our financial lives. It tends to be utilized for transfers, bitcoin, deposits, and stock investments. Regardless of whether Bitcoin disappears, Square is adding a huge number of users to its Cash App who could ultimately be banking or investment clients that can buy crypto on Cash App. What’s more, regardless of whether Bitcoin recoils insignificance, it has been key in pulling in these users to the platform.

Nonetheless, what drives volume in crypto transactions in the future would probably be security, choice of crypto assets, and extra significant services that can be brought to bear. From this perspective, who’s your winner after reading this article?

Is It Safe To Use Bitcoin?

Is it safe to use Bitcoin? Can you trust a decentralized computer network with your money? Most people still treat Bitcoin as a mythical pandora box which contains thieves, money launderers, scammers, terrorists, other people of the worst kind.

However, outside the realm myths and fantasy, such statements are entirely false and misleading. Thousands of programmers develop the Bitcoin network every day, and mostly for free in their spare time, as it is an open-source community-driven project standing for personal freedom and financial inclusion. It is not perfect yet, but it gets better every day.

The answer to the question “is it safe to use Bitcoin” is yes, but it also depends on how well can you manage your security.

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Is it safe to use Bitcoin?

In its ten years of history, Bitcoin, when used and stored correctly, has proven itself to be a reliable financial instrument when it comes to storing value, secure borderless peer-to-peer money transfers, and accessibility.

The protocol itself is sturdy enough to withhold even the most sophisticated attacks, and most of the bad news surrounding Bitcoin hacks are due to the third-party service providers like centralized exchanges, wallet developers, or private key mismanagement.

Of course, as with every other type of money, there are certain issues Bitcoin users need to know if they want to protect their wealth. These include Bitcoin price volatility, secure storage of cryptocurrency, use of insecure third-party services, and cybersecurity threats like hacking.

At the same time, we could also raise a question whether it is safe to use dollars and other traditional finance tools, as most of the money laundering and other nefarious activities are still conducted using traditional money. The conventional financial systems have proven to be prone to economic bubbles and crises, and the government-backed money tends to significantly devalue over time.

Therefore, it is safe to use Bitcoin, especially if you’re willing to take responsibility for protecting your funds on your shoulders. And since the technology is still in development, it requires time and effort to learn how to handle it.

These are the vital steps to ensure that you’re following the best Bitcoin security practices:

Rule number one is to take good care of your secret “private key” – the password for accessing and using your Bitcoins. (For more on choosing a wallet, follow this link ). If the private key is secure and no one else can get to it, then your Bitcoins are safe. But keep in mind that if you lose your private key, even you yourself won’t be able to access your funds.

Choose a reliable wallet that fits you, as it will act as a bank account to access your funds. They can be stored both online or offline.

When spending or exchanging your Bitcoins, it’s important to choose the most reliable and trustworthy services. If you fall victim to fraud using a traditional bank card, laws and regulations may help you recover any losses. For Bitcoin, such protection is yet to come. Also, remember that payments with Bitcoins are non-repudiable – once you pay, the money’s gone. If you make a mistake – say you pay USD 222.2 instead of USD 22.22 or send the Bitcoins to the wrong address – you can only rely on the goodwill of the receiver to get your money back.

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Anonymity issues

You may have heard about the anonymity Bitcoin users enjoy. Well, it’s only partly true. While everyone can track any wallet and its content on the network, they can’t identify the owner of the wallet. Bitcoin wallets and transactions aren’t linked to personal data or identity. But there are alternate ways to find out the owners identity. For example, you may be required to reveal your identity when registering on a cryptocurrency exchange. That way all your transactions from the exchange may be traced back to your wallet. Still, if you need stronger privacy, the TOR browser, and other privacy solutions. There are many privacy-oriented Bitcoin wallets, too, as well as other cryptocurrencies with integrated privacy and anonymity features, such as Dash, Monero and Zcash.

Other Bitcoin risks are somewhat hard to control, but it’s still important to know them and follow the latest news since the technology is still in development.

One theoretical risk is a 51% attack on the Bitcoin blockchain. In theory, if a group of Bitcoin miners controlled 51% or more of all the hashing power running the Bitcoin blockchain, they could potentially undo several latest transactions.

In fact, there was a moment, in 2014, when the mining pool Ghash.io came close to obtaining 51% of the whole Bitcoin network. But then some members of the pool voluntary left, decreasing its share and influence. Still, Bitcoin experts believe a “51% attack” is unlikely as its cost would exceed the potential benefits of the attack, and it would do little to no harm for more than 99% of the blockchain users. Such attack can’t be used to steal Bitcoins or change older transactions. It affects only the most recent transactions, and the efficiency of the network could be disrupted for a moment, too. Essentially, any 51% attack would last for a short time before being quickly fixed by the Bitcoin community. The biggest damage would be done to the cryptocurrency’s image.