Things That Look Positive for Cryptocurrencies

This week’s news is that several banks in the US and UK have banned the use of credit cards to purchase cryptocurrencies (CCs). The stated reasons are unbelievable – like money laundering, trying to curtail gambling and protecting retail investors from excessive risk. Interestingly, banks will allow debit card purchases, making it clear that the only risks covered are their own.

With a credit card you can play in a casino, buy guns, drugs, alcohol, pornography, everything and anything you want, but banks and credit card companies want to ban you from their facilities to buy crypto currency? There must be some compelling reasons, and these are NOT stated reasons.

One thing banks fear is how difficult it would be to confiscate CC shares when the credit card holder defaults on payment. It would be much more difficult than repossessing a house or a car. The private keys of a crypto-wallet can be stored on a memory stick or paper and easily removed from the country, with or without a trace of its whereabouts. Some crypto-wallets can hold a lot of value, and the credit card debt will never be paid off, leading to a bankruptcy declaration and a significant loss to the bank. The wallet still contains the cryptocurrency, and the owner can then access the private keys and use a local CC Exchange in a foreign country to convert and pocket the money. A nasty scenario indeed.

We certainly do not advocate such illegal behavior, but banks are aware of this possibility and want to shut some of them down. This can’t happen with debit cards, as the banks never take it out of pocket – the money comes straight out of your account, and only if you have enough money to begin with. We struggle to find honesty in the bank’s story about downsizing and taking risks. Interestingly, Canadian banks are not jumping on this bandwagon, perhaps realizing that their stated reasons for doing so are false. The result of these actions is that investors and consumers are now aware that credit card companies and banks have the ability to limit what you can buy with their credit card. This is not the case with the cards they advertise, and it is likely to be a surprise to most users, who are quite used to deciding what to buy themselves, especially for CC Exchanges and all other merchants who have established Commercial Agreements with these banks. The exchanges haven’t done anything wrong – neither have you – but fear and greed in the banking sector are causing strange things. This further shows the degree to which the banking industry feels threatened by Crypto Currencies.

There is currently little cooperation, trust or understanding between the fiat money world and the CC world. The CC world has no central control body where rules can be set across the board, which leaves each country around the world trying to figure out what to do. China has decided to ban CCs, Singapore and Japan are embracing them, and many other countries are still scratching their heads. What they have in common is that they want to collect taxes on CC investment gains. This is not so different from the early days of digital music, as the Internet has made the dissemination and distribution of unlicensed music essential. Eventually, digital music licensing schemes were developed and accepted because listeners were willing to pay a little something for their music, rather than endless piracy, and the music industry (artists, producers, record companies) accepted reasonable licensing fees rather than nothing. Could there be compromise in the future of fiat and digital currencies? As people around the world grow weary of the exorbitant bank profits and the banks overrunning their lives, there is hope that consumers will be treated with respect and not stuck with forever high costs and unreasonable cuts.

Crypto Currencies and Blockchain technology increase worldwide pressure for fair compromise to happen – this is a game changer.

Stay tuned!

The wave of banks banning the purchase of cryptocurrency using credit cards is growing as Wells Fargo joins these types of bans. Several other banks such as Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and more are part of this new trend that is limiting the purchase of cryptos.

Debit cards can still apparently be used to buy crypto (check with your bank to confirm their policy), but using credit cards to buy crypto has taken a turn with these bans on purchases by these banks, and it probably won’t be long before this ban becomes standard. until

Apparently, overnight purchases began to be canceled when credit cards were used to buy crypto, and people who had never had a problem with credit cards before buying crypto began to notice that they were not allowed to make such purchases. Volatility in the cryptocurrency market is the culprit here, and banks don’t want people to spend a lot of money that will turn into a fight to get back if there is a big cryptocurrency drop like earlier this year.

Of course, these banks will also lose the money to be made when people buy cryptocurrency and the market is booming, but they seem to have decided that the bad outweighs the good when it comes to taking this gamble with their credit cards. This also protects the consumer by limiting their ability to get into financial trouble by using credit to buy something that could leave them with cash and poor credit.

Most investors who used credit cards to make cryptocurrency purchases were probably looking for short-term gains, and had no intention of staying long-term. They expected to get in and out quickly, then pay off their credit cards before the high interest started. But with the constant volatility of the cryptocurrency market, many who bought, considering this plan, lost a huge amount. assets with market decline. Now they are paying interest on their lost money, which is never a good thing. This, of course, was bad news for banks, and led to the current and growing trend of banning crypto purchases with credit cards.

The lesson here is that you should never have the highest line of credit to invest in crypto, and only use a percentage of your hard assets to make crypto purchases. These funds should be funds that you can lock away for the long term without hurting your budget.

So don’t get caught out only to find that a downturn in the cryptocurrency you’ve been putting money into that you’ll soon need has taken money out of your pocket. There’s an old saying, “Don’t gamble with money you can’t afford to lose,” and that’s the lesson banks want people to learn as they venture into this new frontier of investing.

Investing in the Crypto Currency market space can be a little overwhelming for the traditional investor, as investing directly in Crypto Currency (CC) requires using new tools and embracing some new concepts. So if you decide to dip your toes into this market, you want to have a very good idea of ​​what to do and what to expect.

To buy and sell CCs, you need to choose an Exchange that deals in the products you want to buy and sell, be it Bitcoin, Litecoin or the 1300+ other tokens in the game. In previous editions we have briefly described the products and services available in some exchanges, to give you an idea of ​​the different offers. There are many exchanges to choose from and everyone does things their own way. Find things that are important to you, such as:

– Deposit policies, methods and costs of each method

– Withdrawal policies and costs

– Which fiat currency they use for deposits and withdrawals

– The products they sell, such as crypto coins, gold, silver, etc

– Costs of operations

– Where is this Exchange? (USA / UK / South Korea / Japan…)

Be prepared for a detailed and lengthy Exchange setup procedure, as Exchanges generally want to know a lot about you. It’s similar to setting up a new bank account, as Exchanges are brokers of value, and they want to make sure you’re who you say you are and a trustworthy person to deal with. “Trust” seems to be earned over time, as Exchanges usually only accept small investment amounts to begin with.

Your Exchange will store your CCs for you. Many offer “cold storage”, which means your coins are kept “offline” until you indicate you want to do something with them. There are many news that exchanges have been hacked and many coins have been stolen. Think of your coins as sitting in an Exchange bank account, but remember that your coins are digital only and all blockchain transactions are irreversible. Unlike your bank, these Exchanges do not have deposit insurance, so be aware that hackers are always out there trying their best to get hold of your Crypto Coins and steal them. Exchanges generally offer password-protected accounts, and many offer two-factor authentication schemes – something to seriously consider to protect your account from hackers.

Considering that hackers love to capture Exchanges and your account, we always recommend using a digital wallet for your coins. It is quite easy to move coins between your Exchange account and wallet. Make sure you choose a wallet that handles all the coins you want to buy and sell. Your wallet is also the device you use to “spend” your coins with merchants that accept CC for payment. The two types of wallets are “hot” and “cold”. Hot wallets are very easy to use, but they expose your coins to the Internet, but only on your computer, not on the Exchange server. Cold wallets use offline storage media such as specialized hardware memory sticks and simple paper printing. Using a cold wallet makes transactions more difficult, but they are the most secure.

Your wallet contains a “private” key that authorizes all transactions you wish to initiate. You also have a “public” key that is shared online so that all users can identify your account when they engage in a transaction with you. Once hackers get hold of your private key, they can take your coins wherever they want, and it’s irreversible.

Despite all the challenges and wild volatility, we are confident that the underlying blockchain technology is a game-changer that will revolutionize how transactions are done going forward.

the back

Initial Coin Offerings on blockchain platforms have painted the world red for tech startups around the world. It is revolutionizing and rewarding a decentralized network that can award tokens to users who support an idea with money.

Profit-spinning turned Bitcoin into an “asset” that delivered huge returns to early investors in 2017. Investors and Cryptocurrency exchanges around the world seized the opportunity to offer themselves huge returns, leading to the rise of multiple online exchanges. Other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Ripple and other ICOs promised even better results. (Ethereum grew more than 88 times in 2017!)

With ICOs getting millions of dollars in the hands of startups within days, government governments initially decided to look at the fastest ever fintech development, which had the potential to raise millions of dollars in a very short period of time.

Countries around the world are thinking about regulating cryptocurrencies

But regulators became cautious as the technology and its underlying implications gained popularity, as ICOs began to scrutinize funds worth billions of dollars… That too in proposed plans written in white papers.

At the end of 2017, governments around the world seized the opportunity to intervene. While China completely banned cryptocurrencies, the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) highlighted the risks to vulnerable investors and proposed treating them as securities.

A recent warning statement from SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, released in December, warned investors:

“Please also recognize that these markets span national borders and that significant trading may occur on systems and platforms outside of the United States. Invested funds may travel abroad without your knowledge. As a result, risks, including market risk, may increase. Regulators such as the SEC, we may not be able to effectively track down bad actors or recover funds.”

This was followed by India’s concerns, where Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in February that India was not familiar with cryptocurrencies.

A circular issued by the Central Bank of India to other banks on April 6, 2018 asked banks to sever ties with companies and exchanges involved in cryptocurrency trading or transaction.

In Great Britain, the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) announced in March that it had formed a cryptocurrency task force and would enlist the help of the Bank of England to regulate the cryptocurrency sector.

Different laws, tax structures between nations

Cryptocurrencies are mostly coins or tokens launched on a cryptographic network and can be traded worldwide. Although cryptocurrencies are more or less valuable around the world, countries with different laws and regulations can provide different returns for potential investors who are citizens of different countries.

Different laws for investors in different countries would make calculation of returns a tedious and cumbersome exercise.

This would mean an investment of time, resources and strategies, causing unnecessary prolongation of the processes.

the solution

Instead of many countries enacting different laws for global cryptocurrencies, a uniform global regulatory authority should be formed, with laws that apply across borders. Such a move would play a major role in improving legal cryptocurrency trading around the world.

Organizations with a global purpose, such as UNO (United Nations), World Trade Organization (WTO), World Economic Forum (WEF), International Trade Organization (ITO) have played an important role in uniting the world on various fronts.

Cryptocurrencies were created with the basic idea of ​​worldwide fund transfer. They have more or less similar value in exchanges, except for negligible arbitrage.

A global regulatory authority to regulate cryptocurrencies worldwide is the need of the hour and can set global rules to regulate the newest funding idea. Right now, all countries are trying to regulate virtual currencies through legislation, which is in the process of being written.

If other economic superpowers can agree to introduce a regulatory authority with laws that do not recognize national borders, then this would be one of the biggest advances in designing a crypto-friendly world and promoting the use of one of the most transparent fintechs. system ever - blockchain.

Universal regulations consisting of subsections related to laws related to cryptocurrency trading, refunds, taxes, penalties, KYC procedures, exchanges and penalties for illegal hacks can provide us with the following. advantages.

1. Profit calculation can be very easy for investors worldwide as there would be no difference in net returns due to uniform tax structure.

2. Countries around the world may agree to share a certain portion of profits as taxes. Therefore, the countries’ share of taxes collected would be uniform throughout the world.

3. When forming a large number of committees, bills and debates in the legislature (like the Indian Parliament and the US Senate) could save time.

4. There is no need to go through the harsh tax laws of each country. Especially those involved in multinational trade.

5. Companies offering tokens or ICOs would also comply with the said “international law”. Therefore, the calculation of after-tax income would be a cakewalk for companies

6. A global structure would require more companies with better ideas, thus increasing employment opportunities worldwide.

7. The law may be supported by an international watchdog or global currency regulator, which may have powers to blacklist an ICO offering that does not comply with the rules.

It’s not all good when it comes to a law that would regulate cryptocurrencies worldwide. There are for sure disadvantages as well.

Getting the world’s financial leaders together to draft a law can be time-consuming. Discussions and consensus can be difficult

1. Countries or economies that offer tax-free structures may not agree to pass a law that establishes a universal tax policy.

2. Global watchdogs or regulatory authorities tracking ICO-related regulatory developments may not sit well with some countries.

3. Universal law can cause the world to divide into factions. Countries that don’t accept cryptocurrency like China may not be part of it.

4. Law may be the brainchild of economically powerful nations who can design it in their own interests.

5. This law would be centralized, unlike cryptocurrencies which are decentralized in nature, with a global regulatory body.

Conclusion

The world has been together for the better. Be it making a peaceful world after World War II, or coming together for better trade laws and treaties.

The International Trade Organization (ITO), the World Trade Organization and the World Economic Forum have some of the best brains defining the global economy.

They can be part of a body that would come together and define the economic prosperity of the world. They would help draft cryptocurrency rules around the world and could be part of the regulatory body that would be the guide and beacon for thousands of ICOs around the world. It takes time in the beginning, but it would make things easier for the times to come.

Bitcoin Risks Investors Should Be Aware Of

One risk-Bitcoin’s volatility

Everyone knows how volatile bitcoin is and those who invest in it will see the value of this cryptocurrency fluctuate significantly. Unless you can handle the rise and fall of bitcoin, investing in bitcoin is not for you. Little is gained if losing your capital will cause you to lose sleep. I cannot stress enough the importance of using your discretionary spending money to play the cryptocurrency market.

What is discretionary spending?

This is money spent on travel, dining, entertainment, hobbies and sports.

You would never spend rent money or retirement savings on entertainment, such as a day at the races, so you shouldn’t use that money to play the cryptocurrency market either.

Risk bi-Hacking

A company called “Cryptopia”, which was an online bitcoin trading platform, had funds invested in Bitcoin. It got hacked and everyone who had bitcoin invested with crypto lost their money. There were some sad stories about the large amount of money lost by some. individuals

It bears repeating that you should never play cryptocurrency with funds you cannot afford to lose or put too many eggs in one basket as many of these investors seem to have done.

The other thing I should add is that the actual amount of money lost by crypto investors is likely to be wildly inflated by the rise in the price of bitcoin. If someone invested $1,000 in bitcoin and this rose to $10,000 in a few years, they have a lot to lose. This person will be recorded as having lost 10k when in fact they have lost 1k.

Risk of losing three passwords

An Australian man is locked out of his bitcoin wallet because he can’t remember his password. The website that holds his bitcoin will permanently lock him out of his wallet after ten failed login attempts. He has done eight. He has more than 300k in his bitcoin wallet.

The lesson here is to write down your password and keep it in a safe place.

The other tip is to diversify your portfolio so you don’t lose too much in one fell swoop if something goes horribly wrong.

Risk four-Government controls

Governments have the ability to ban crypto trading; China has done just that. Several Chinese agencies have joined forces to ban what they describe as “illegal” cryptocurrency activity. This does not mean that other countries will follow suit, but it does show a point that governments have the power to do so.

Risk five-Tax

Two things are certain in life, death and taxes. Rest assured that at some point the taxman will want a piece of your bitcoin pie. Whether it’s in the form of Capital Gains Tax or the increased value of bitcoin. It’s worth remembering that if you’re being taxed on your bitcoin capital gains, it may be possible to get a tax refund on capital losses. A good accountant will advise you here.

Regardless of the capital gains you are investing in, keep in mind that when there is a potential for capital gains, there is also a capital loss. Investing in cryptocurrencies is risky, so it cannot be stressed enough that the money you invest in bitcoin should be money you can afford to lose.

This year we can see cryptocurrencies move up and down by 15% in value every day. Such price changes are known as volatility. But what if… this is completely normal and sudden changes are one of the characteristics of cryptocurrencies that allow you to make good profits?

First of all, cryptocurrencies only recently became popular, so all the news and rumors about them are “hot”. We see big price movements after every announcement by government officials about possibly regulating or banning the cryptocurrency market.

Second, the nature of cryptocurrencies is similar to a “store of value” (as gold was in the past) – many investors view them as an investment option backed by stocks, physical assets such as gold and (traditional) fiat currencies. Transfer speed also has an impact on cryptocurrency volatility. With the fastest ones, the transfer takes even a couple of seconds (up to a minute), which makes it an excellent asset for short-term trading, if the current trend in other types of assets is not good.

What everyone should keep in mind – this speed as well as trends in the lifetime of cryptocurrencies. While trends in normal markets can last months or years, here it happens in even days or hours.

This brings us to the next point – although we are talking about a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars, it is still a very small amount compared to the daily trading volume compared to traditional currency or stock markets. So a single investor making 100 million transactions on the stock market will not cause a huge price change, but on the scale of the cryptocurrency market this is a significant and significant transaction.

Because cryptocurrencies are digital assets, they are subject to technical and software updates to cryptocurrency functions or the expansion of blockchain collaboration, which makes them more attractive to potential investors (for example, the activation of SegWit essentially doubled the value of Bitcoin ).

These elements combined are the reasons why we are seeing large price swings in cryptocurrency prices over the course of a couple of hours, days, weeks, etc.

But to answer the question in the first paragraph – one of the classic rules of trading is to buy low, sell high – so having short but strong trends every day (rather than weaker patterns that last for weeks or months) allows for much more opportunities. if used properly to make a decent profit.

When trading cryptocurrencies, you have to speculate whether your chosen market will go up or down in value. And the interesting thing is that you never own the digital asset. In reality, trading is done with derivative products like CFDs. Let’s take a look at the benefits of cryptocurrency trading. Read on to find out more.

Volatility

Although cryptocurrency is a relatively new market, it is quite volatile because speculative interest is short-lived. The price of Bitcoin fell to $5851 in 2018 from $19,378 in just one year. However, the value of other digital currencies is quite stable, which is good news.

What makes this world so exciting is the volatility of cryptocurrency value. Price movements present many opportunities to traders. However, this has many risks. Therefore, if you decide to explore the market, be sure to do your research and put a risk management strategy in place.

Business hours

Usually, the market is open for trading 24/7 because it is not regulated by any government. Moreover, transactions are made between buyers and sellers from all over the world. There may be brief outages when infrastructure updates are performed.

Improved liquidity

Liquidity refers to how quickly a digital currency can be sold for cash. This feature is important because it enables faster transaction times, better accuracy and better prices. Generally, the market is illiquid, as financial transactions take place on different exchanges. Therefore, small trades can lead to large changes in prices.

Leveraged exposure

Since CFD trading is considered a leveraged product, you can open a position on what we call “margin”. In this case, the value of the deposit is a part of the trade value. So you can enjoy great exposure to the market without investing a lot of money.

The loss or gain will reflect the value of the position at the time of closing. Therefore, if you trade on margin, you can make huge profits by investing a small amount of money. However, it also increases losses that can exceed your deposit in one trade. Therefore, be sure to consider the full value of the position before investing in CFDs.

It is also important to ensure that you follow a sound risk management strategy, which should include appropriate limits and stops.

Fast account opening

If you want to buy cryptocurrency, make sure you do it through an exchange. All you have to do is sign up for an exchange account and store the currency in your wallet. Keep in mind that this process can be restrictive and require a lot of time and effort. However, once the account is created, the rest of the process will be quite smooth and uncomplicated.

Long story short, these are some of the prominent benefits of cryptocurrency trading in the here and now. Hopefully, you will find this article quite helpful.

Cryptocurrency Exchange or Digital Currency Exchange is a business that involves exchanging cryptocurrency for other assets, such as money or any other digital currency. It is a web service that offers electronic transactions in electronic forms and takes fees for them.

Any transaction or operation for digital currency exchange can be done by debit and credit cards, postal receipt or any other form of money transfer. This article discusses crypto exchanges that facilitate cryptocurrency trading for beginners and what they offer in terms of availability, ease of use, security, deposit/withdrawal methods, and fees. We hope this guide to cryptocurrency trading can help you get started with cryptocurrency exchanges.

Coinbase/GDAX

Coinbase is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges based in San Francisco, California. It is available in 32 countries and currently serves more than 10 million customers. Launched in 2012, it has an easy-to-use interface that makes Digital Currency Exchange an easy task for a non-technical person. It is also available for iOS and Android. Unfortunately, Coinbase does not offer cryptocurrency mining for beginners and is only an exchange.

So far, it offers four coins, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin. It exchanges digital currency with US Dollars, Euros and Great British Pounds. With minimal transfer fees, Coinbase has never experienced a security breach, making it the perfect digital currency exchange platform. In addition, Coinbase also offers a fully advanced exchange called GDAX. It offers more advanced features and different and better trading fees than Coinbase.

Jewelry

Bitstamp is another platform that offers digital currency exchange. It is quite easy to use and offers more advanced features through TradeView. Bitstamp offers coins like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and ripple. It exchanges digital currency with US dollars and Euros. In this exchange you can practice all the latest techniques of cryptocurrency trading.

It offers flat deposits via bank transfer and accepts debit/credit cards. Perhaps the only drawback that can be found in Bitstamp is the slightly high fee and the fact that it has suffered a security breach in its 7 years of operation. However, it is one of the most reliable exchanges. It is available on both iOS and Android.

Gemini

Gemini is a UK company, launched in 2015 by the Winklevoss twins. It is available in a few countries, including the US, Canada, Hong-Kong, Singapore and South Korea. One of the downsides of this platform is that it is not particularly user-friendly. So beginners are not advised to use this platform.

It offers two coins and 1 FLAT currency Bitcoin Cash, Ehtereum and US Dollars. Gemini follows strict protocols when it comes to security and as of 2018, has not encountered a single security breach, thus becoming one of the most secure and trusted digital currency platforms. However, it is important to have digital currency investment strategies before you start trading.

Digital ticks

Digital ticks is a modern crypto exchange that aims to be a game changer in this sector. They have implemented many latest techniques which makes it easy for anyone to start trading.

It has a unique feature called Single Portfolio View that will allow traders to view all positions in a single portfolio. It would be easy for traders to make informed decisions about cryptocurrency trading using this unique feature. It also supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Dashcoin.

the kraken

Kraken is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchange platforms. Launched in 2011, kraken is the largest exchange in terms of volume and liquidity among euro trading pairs. Valid worldwide including the US.

Kraken offers a variety of coins including Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Monero, Augur, Litecoin and many more. It also supports deposits/withdrawals via bank transfer and cryptocurrency. With a less friendly user interface, it also suffers from stability and performance issues, but it is still a good platform for cryptocurrency exchanges.

Bitfinex

Bitfinex is the largest cryptocurrency exchange platform. Launched in 2012, it has an easy-to-use interface and offers advanced features such as margin trading, margin financing, etc. It is available for both iOS and Android platforms. It offers BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, IOTA, XMR and NEO.

Like previous cryptocurrency exchanges, it accepts withdrawals using US dollars and euros via bank transfer. Bitfinex has suffered two security breaches, the first of which was in May 2015, which resulted in losses of $330,000. And the second resulted in losses of $72 million in August 2016.

EtherDelta

EtherDelta is a decentralized exchange that directly supports peer to peer connection. It is very different from the previously discussed cryptocurrency exchange platform. Here, funds are stored in a smart contract on the Ethereum network, which you are solely responsible for depositing and withdrawing. Currently, EtherDelta only supports Ehtereum based tokens.

EtherDelta has a rather confusing interface which makes it difficult for users to perform cryptocurrency exchange operations. Once, someone tried to buy 750 Kyber for 0.007 ETH each, but ended up buying 0.007 KNC for 750 ETH.

Conclusion

After looking at different cryptocurrency exchange platforms, we can safely say that Coinbase and Bitstamp stand out for their good features like security, friendly user interface, multiple withdrawal/transfer methods and much more.

I wouldn’t call them perfect, but I’d recommend them as the safest bet you can make. Each cryptocurrency exchange platform is unique in its own way and has advantages and disadvantages. All we have to do is select the one that suits our needs. We hope this guide to basic cryptocurrency exchange and trading will kickstart your Cryptocurrency trading journey.

Introduction: To Invest in Cryptocurrencies

The first cryptocurrency to be created was Bitcoin, which was built on Blockchain technology and was probably launched in 2009 by a mysterious person named Satoshi Nakamoto. At the time of writing this blog, 17 million bitcoins have been mined and it is believed that a total of 21 million bitcoins can be mined. Other popular cryptocurrencies include Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Golem, Civic and hard forks of Bitcoin such as Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold.

Users are advised not to put all their money into one cryptocurrency and to avoid investing at the peak of the cryptocurrency bubble. The price has been seen to drop suddenly when the crypto bubble is at its peak. Since cryptocurrency is a volatile market, users have to invest the amount they can afford to lose as there is no government controlling the cryptocurrency as it is a decentralized cryptocurrency.

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, predicted that Bitcoin is a real gold and in the future it will dominate all currencies like USD, EUR, INR and ASD and become a global currency in the coming years.

Why and why not to invest in Cryptocurrencies?

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to be created and since then around 1600+ cryptocurrencies have been launched with a unique feature for each coin.

Some of the reasons that I have experienced and want to share, cryptocurrencies are created on a decentralized platform; therefore, users do not need a third party to transfer cryptocurrency from one destination to another, unlike fiat currency, which a user needs. Bank-like platform to transfer money from one account to another. Cryptocurrency is built on a highly secure blockchain technology and the possibility of your cryptocurrency being hacked and stolen is almost nil until you don’t share critical information.

You should always avoid buying cryptocurrencies at the peak of the crypto bubble. Many of us buy cryptocurrencies at their peak hoping to make a quick buck and fall victim to the bubble hype and lose money. It is better for users to do a lot of research before investing their money. It is always good to put your money in more than one cryptocurrency as it has been observed that few cryptocurrencies grow, some average, while other cryptocurrencies go into the red zone.

Cryptocurrencies to focus on

In 2014, Bitcoin has 90% of the market and other cryptocurrencies the remaining 10%. In 2017, Bitcoin is still dominating the crypto market, but its share has greatly decreased from 90% to 38% and Altcoins like Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple have grown rapidly and taken most of the market share.

Bitcoin is still dominating the cryptocurrency market, but it’s not the only currency you should consider when investing in cryptocurrency. Some of the top cryptocurrencies you should consider:

Bitcoin

Litecoin

Wave

Ethereum

throne

civic

golem

monero

Where and how to buy Cryptocurrencies?

A few years ago, it was not easy to buy cryptocurrencies, but now users have many platforms available.

In 2015, India has two major bitcoin platforms Unocoin wallet and Zebpay wallet where users can buy and sell bitcoin only. Users must only buy bitcoin from their wallet, but not from another person. There was a price difference in the buying and selling rates and users have to pay a nominal fee for completing the transactions.

In 2017, the Cryptocurrency industry grew tremendously and the price of Bitcoin grew by itself, especially in the last six months of 2017, forcing users to look for alternatives to Bitcoin and it crossed 14 lakhs in the Indian market.

Unodax and Zebpay the two leading platforms in India were dominating the market with 90% of the market share – it was only in Bitcoin. It allows other organizations to grow with other altcoins and has also forced Unocoin and others to add more currencies to their platform.

Unocoin, one of the leading cryptocurrency and blockchain companies in India launched an exclusive UnoDAX Exchange platform for their users to trade various cryptocurrencies in addition to Bitcoin Unocoin trading. The difference between the two platforms was that Unocion offered instant buying and selling of bitcoin, on UnoDAX, users can place an order for any available cryptocurrency and if it matches the recipient, the order will be executed.

Other major exchanges available for trading cryptocurrencies in India are Koinex, Coinsecure, Bitbns, WazirX.

Users need to open an account on any exchange by registering with email ID and submitting KYC details. After verifying their account, you can start trading the coins of your choice.

Users should do their research before investing in any coin and don’t fall into the cryptocurrency bubble trap. Users should research the credibility, transparency, security features and many more of the exchange.

All exchanges charge a nominal fee on each transaction. There are two types of charges: Maker fee and Taker fee. In addition to the transaction fee, a transfer fee must be paid if you wish to transfer your cryptocurrencies to another exchange or to your private wallet. Charges are coin and exchange dependent only, as different exchanges have a price difference module for transferring coins.

Top Non-Bitcoin Altcoins

As mentioned above, Bitcoin is dominating the market with a market share of 38% followed by Ripple, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash. Exchanges like UnoDAX, Bitfinex, Kraken, Bitstamp have listed Golem, Civic, Raiden Network, Kyber Network, Basic Attention, 0X, Augur, Monero, Tron and many other coins. If any of the coins match your wallet, you must buy it.

But, you have to put the money in the market because the cryptocurrency market is very volatile and no one has control over it.

When to buy?

There are no hard and fast rules for when to buy your favorite cryptocurrency. But the stability of the market needs to be investigated. You shouldn’t buy cryptocurrency at the peak of a bubble or when the price is constantly falling. The best time is always considered when the price is relatively stable at a low level for some time.

Cryptocurrency storage method

Before buying any cryptocurrency, it is important to understand how to keep your cryptocurrency safe.

Generally, all exchanges offer safekeeping facilities where you can safely store your coins. No need to share its user details, password, 2FA when you have cryptocurrency on exchanges.

Paper wallet, Hardware wallet, Software wallet are some of its cryptocurrency storage channels.

Paper Wallet: A paper wallet is an offline cold storage method to hold your cryptocurrency. It prints your private and public key on a piece of paper where the QR code is also printed. The QR code must be scanned for future transactions. Why is it safe? No need to worry about your account being hacked or malicious malware attacks. You should keep your piece of paper in a cupboard and if possible keep two or three paper portfolios under your control.

Hardware Wallet: A hardware wallet is a physical device where you keep your cryptocurrency securely. There are many types of hardware wallets, but the most commonly used hardware wallet is the USB. When you keep your cryptocurrency in your hardware wallet, you must keep in mind that you should not lose your hardware wallet, because once lost you cannot recover your cryptocurrency.

A famous incident where a person mined 7000+ bitcoins and stored it in his hardware wallet and stored it with another hardware wallet. One day he dropped the hardware wallet that stored his cryptocurrency in place of the damaged hardware and lost all his bitcoin.

What can be bought from cryptocurrencies in India?

Most people think that buying and selling any cryptocurrency is only for long and short term investment and high returns. Influencers and bitcoin investors believe that in the coming years Bitcoin will dominate all fiat currencies and be accepted as an International currency.

Dell is one of the largest e-commerce businesses that accept bitcoin as payment. Other examples are Expedia and UNICEF.

In India, Sapna Book Mall accepted bitcoin as payment using merchant service Unocoin. People used to book movie tickets through BookMyShow or recharge their mobile through the Unocoin platform. According to the report, they have suspended the service but plan to resume it in the near future.

Conclusion:

Cryptocurrency is one of the growing investment sectors and in the past it has given better returns than real estate, gold, stock market etc. You can buy and hold cryptocurrency for the long term for nice returns or for a quick short term return as we have seen many coins grow by 1000%+ in the past. Since cryptocurrency is a volatile market and no government controls the industry. One should invest in any cryptocurrency that one can afford to lose.

You can store your cryptocurrency in a hardware wallet, paper wallet, software wallet if you don’t want to store it on the local exchange where you are trading.

Although there have been market corrections in the cryptocurrency market in 2018, everyone agrees that the best is yet to come. There have been many activities in the market that have changed the tide for the better. With proper research and the right dose of optimism, anyone investing in the crypto market can make millions. The cryptocurrency market is here for the long haul. Here in this article, we give you five positive factors that can drive cryptocurrency innovation and market value.

1. Innovation at scale

Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency in the market. It has the highest number of users and the highest value. It dominates the entire value chain of the cryptocurrency system. However, it is not without problems. Its main bottleneck is that it can only handle six to seven transactions per second. By comparison, credit card transactions average a few thousand per second. Apparently, there is room for improvement in transaction scaling. With the help of peer to peer transaction networks on top of blockchain technology, it is possible to increase the transaction volume per second.

2. Legitimate ICOs

Although there are crypto coins in the market with a stable value, new coins designed for a specific purpose are emerging. Coins like IOTA are meant to help the Internet of Things market exchange power coins. Some coins address the issue of cybersecurity by providing encrypted digital vaults to store money.

New ICOs are creating innovative solutions that disrupt the existing market and bring a new value to transactions. They are also gathering authority in the market with easy-to-use exchanges and reliable backend operations. They are innovating in terms of technology in terms of the use of specialized hardware for mining and the financial market, in return giving investors more freedom and options.

3. Clarity about the regulations

In the current scenario, most governments are looking into the impact of cryptocurrency on society and how its benefits can be achieved for the community at large. We can expect that there may be reasonable consequences depending on the outcome of the examinations.

Few governments are already taking the path to legalize and regulate crypto markets like any other market. This will prevent ignorant retail investors from losing money and protect them from harm. 2018 is expected to see the emergence of topical regulations that drive cryptocurrency growth. This will pave the way for future expansion.

4. Increase the application

There is a lot of excitement about the application of blockchain technology in almost every industry. Some startups are coming up with innovative solutions like digital wallets, cryptocurrency debit cards, etc. This will increase the number of traders willing to trade through cryptocurrencies which in turn increases the number of users.

The popularity of crypto-assets as a transaction medium will strengthen as more people trust this system. Even if some startups do not survive, they will positively contribute to the overall health of the market by creating competition and innovation.

5. Investment by financial institutions

Many international banks are watching the cryptocurrency scene. This may lead to institutional investors entering the market. The influx of large institutional investments will drive the next phase of cryptomarket growth. It has caught the interest of many banks and financial institutions.

As the uncertainty and hurdles around cryptocurrencies are reduced, their use by traditional investors will increase. This will bring great dynamism and liquidity to the growing financial markets. Cryptocurrency will become the defacto currency for worldwide transactions.