This is a continuation of the most frequent questions I am asked by friends, colleagues, and family as I try to teach them more about cryptocurrencys exciting new role in our world. The previous article has already covered the basics from legitimacy to acquisition, I wanted to focus on the questions I get asked after newcomers have gotten some coin.

This is great! But where can I even spend these?

While Bitcoin and other altcoins may not have as wide an adoption by retailers and service providers as various fiat currencies have, there are still many places that accept Bitcoin and other cryptosas a form of payment. Airline booking agencies, computer hardware and software sites, VPN services, and many brick and mortar businesses all accept Bitcoin, with the list growing everyday. My friends and I are gamers, so many of the people who ask this question usually are thrilled when they find out that Steam accepts Bitcoin as a payment option now. Im sure that Steam saw a fair share of my friends coins coming in during the Steam winter sale this past year.

I also explain that Bitcoin and other altcoins thrive as a peer to peer currency as well, for personal debts. For example, this past weekend I was having a few beers with some of my Bitcoin holding friends and I ordered a pizza for the group. One of them didnt have any cash, but we both had our mobile wallets and he sent me some bitcoin to pay for his share of the pizza. This example may be even more powerful than just telling someone they can spend coins with online, because you get to participate in the process with them.

Why is my transaction taking so long to confirm?

This is a problem almost exclusive to Bitcoin. I have no intention on having this post become a catalyst for the blocksize debate, but I do have to field this question often. Usually this problem for the newcomer comes from a lack of understanding how transaction fees work in the Bitcoin network.

Since miners have to process transactions and only so many transactions can be processed in a block, fees are required by the miners to put the transactions through. If you pay too low of a fee (as many of the Bitcoin neophytes I speak with do), the chances of the transaction being painfully slow and/or outright orphaned increase exponentially. While theyve usually paid enough that it will eventually get confirmed, this is can be frustrating for the new coin user.

From my experience, such a mistake is rarely made again. However this is one reason that I usually that the new user does a practice run with a seasoned cryptocurrency user by say, paying for your share of a pizza with Bitcoin. This way the veteran can help out, and usually waiting a bit longer for someone to pay you back for pizza will not break the bank.

Between these two posts, these are the five most common cryptocurrency questions that I encounter. As always, I hope my experiences are helpful to all the other cryptocurrency evangelists out there.

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Most Frequent Cryptocurrency Beginner Questions Part 2 - The Merkle

Bitcoin volumes rise on LocalBitcoins amid increasing regulatory hurdles imposed by government agencies. Read more...

The increasing interest in Bitcoin has got the community looking for ways to overcome the roadblocks set by government agencies. As regulatory issues affect conventional methods of buy and selling cryptocurrencies over established platforms, the community members seem to have migrated to peer-to-peer platforms like LocalBitcoins.

The market charts published by Coin Dance platform shows increasing Bitcoin trade volumes on LocalBitcoins. The surge in Bitcoin demand on the peer-to-peer trading platform appears to be driven by the recent developments in the Chinese cryptocurrency industry.

The region wise demand trend shows the cryptocurrencys volumes surge to record levels in the Chinese market. The volumes in Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Mexico, Norway, and Venezuela have also exhibited similar trends. Out of all these markets, China, Mexico, and Venezuela hold a special significance.

The Chinese Bitcoin exchanges have recently frozen Bitcoin withdrawals from the platforms as they work on implementing new AML and compliance systems. The limited functionality on these exchanges has almost brought trading activity to a standstill. It is during these times the peer-to-peer exchanges score over centralized platforms like BTCC, OKCoin, Huobi and others. People have resorted to using LocalBitcoins to continue trading.

Similarly, amid the worst financial crisis, Venezuela has been cracking down on Bitcoin mining and exchange activities. SurBitcoin, a leading Venezuelan exchange recently suspended services after its banking partner decided to withdraw support. Mexico, on the other hand, seems to be preparing itself to face any unexpected executive orders by the US President Donald Trump that might affect remittances between the two nations.

President Trump has already hinted about a possible disruption of remittances along with increased import taxes between the United States and Mexico. As he plans to pressurize Mexico into sharing the costs of the controversial border wall between both countries, Mexicans are preparing to deal with any eventualities by adopting Bitcoin as an alternative.

These developments show that no matter what the governments do, Bitcoin cant be completely taken off the equation. With no improvements in regulations at sight for the immediate future, the cryptocurrency trade volumes of LocalBitcoins is expected to go up further.

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Regulations Push Cryptocurrency Traders to LocalBitcoins - newsBTC

Cryptocurrency hardware wallet KeepKey announced in a press release sent to CoinReport that it has integrated cryptocurrency dash.

Those using KeepKey can now receive, store and send their dash on their KeepKey devices, and via the built-in ShapeShift function, swap between other digital currencies like bitcoin, dogecoin, namecoin and litecoin.

Dash currently has a market capitalization of over $120 million and stands seventh on the most valuable digital asset list. In September and October last year, the median 24-hour volume trading of the cryptocurrency was about $680,000. In November and December, the amount almost doubled. Now, in the first quarter of 2017, its averaging about $2 million per day.

KeepKey founder & CEO Darin Stanchfield

Partnering with Dash is the natural next step for KeepKey since our wallet is purely focused on security, mobility and convenience; attributes that Dash shares, said KeepKey CEO Darin Stanchfield in the release.

KeepKey protects digital assets from hackers by limiting their exposure to the internet. With this integration, we are extending our utility, and adding one more asset users can transfer to or from directly on our device.

Dash director of finance Ryan Taylor said on the occasion, As the ecosystem of services integrated with Dash continues to grow and mature, solutions to ensure user funds are stored as securely as possible is more important than ever. Because of Dashs unique capabilities and the announcement and execution of our software upgrade, weve experienced triple digit price appreciation, so many of our users will love having this option available to secure the growing value of their Dash.

We partnered with KeepKey because we aim to create the best overall experience for our users. The peace of mind and convenience that KeepKey can provide makes them a valuable addition to our family of partners. Their products also align well with our belief that the user experience should be a focus.

This beta release by KeepKey, however, will not support dashs InstantSend and PrivateSend functions.

We like to listen to the community and implement new technology in response to community requests and feedback. While hacks in todays global information age are pervasive, and so too is the rise of cryptocurrency, more and more people are investing in a digital vault for their valuable cryptocurrencies. Crypto assets vary in their characteristics, and attract the use of different audiences for different reasons. One thing we are certain of though is the trend for investing and holding multiple types of assets is becoming increasingly popular and KeepKey helps makes this both simpler and safer, Stanchfield added.

The entire digital currency market has almost tripled in value in a year, from $7 billion in January 2016 to more than $19.9 billion now.

Images courtesy of KeepKey via PR firm Wachsman PR

Continued here:
Cryptocurrency hardware wallet KeepKey integrates dash - CoinReport

Ticino, the southernmost canton of Switzerland, is planning to issue its own local digital currency for everyday use. Its circulation may be confined to Ticino territory.

The future cryptocurrency called ticinocoin (TIC) is a brainchild of computer scientists Claudio Rossini and Michele Fiscalini. The developers have already tested the currency: the pilot phase of the project was completed last week, reports Tribune de Geneve. Regional virtual currency based on the blockchain technology is expected to stimulate the local economy offering faster, more transparent and less expensive transactions. According to Fiscalini, circulation of TIC may be limited to local services and products from Ticino.

The expected exchange rate of TIC is one Swiss franc. However, operations with ticinocoin may require obligatory authorisation by FINMA, the Swiss monetary regulator.

Ticinocoin is not the first local currency in Switzerland. In 2015, Lmanic Arc introduced the regional currency Lmans. Now it accounts for more than 100,000 units in circulation. The launch of the electronic version of Lman is due in March. Another Swiss region, Valais, may introduce its own complementary currency Farinet in 2017.

Switzerland, the home of Xapo, Ethereum and ShapeShift, is regarded as a haven for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. In May 2016, the City Council of Zug in the east Switzerland launched a pilot project allowing to pay for municipal services with bitcoin. During the initial phase of the programme, the maximum amount payable with the cryptocurrency was limited to 200 Swiss francs. The city authorities are not opposed to extending the experiment to other cryptocurrencies.

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Swiss canton to launch its own cryptocurrency - Finextra - Finextra

BitBay is a free software program that provides the security you need to protect all of your online transactions, especially at places like Craigslist, Hoobly and eBay Classifieds.

After keeping a low profile for some time, BitBay, the cryptocurrency software suite offering unbreakable smart contracts is now back with the most advanced and secure wallet in cryptocurrency space. The software suite is capable of supporting an entire smart contracting interface with decentralized markets and other features.

BitBay is a free software program that provides the security you need to protect all of your online transactions, especially at places like Craigslist, Hoobly and eBay Classifieds. It removes any centralized services from online transactions and allows buyers to interact directly with sellers safely and securely.

The platform offers unbreakable smart contractsfor important real world applications. These contracts are secured by collateral deposits from both parties, making them unbreakable. Further, there is no fear of fraud as the collateral funds will be burnt in case a party cheats or exits the contract with the intention of defrauding the other.

Arbitrators, biased third parties, escrow and even fees have been eliminated on BitBay due to their smart contracts system. Without any middlemen, it can create coins for cash contracts like a decentralized LocalBitcoins, where cash payments are completely trustless. It can also be used to create employment contracts, decentralized eBay-like delivery contracts, and even barter contracts.

The many user-friendly templates on BitBay let people create smart contracts by just entering few details. The pre- existing templates like Cash for Coins are already being used successfully and many new ones like buy/sell anything contract template are to be added to the platform shortly.

BitBay has a decentralized marketplace in place and the completely anonymous marketis built right into the client which allows users to create their own public and private markets. There is also the option to simply check different contracts already available in the main market.

The BitBay software allows communication between users by supporting email with end to end encryption like Thunderbird and it also supports Bitmessage for a more decentralized option.

Finally, BitBay also plans to launch their secret star feature soon, that will eliminate the cryptocurrencys volatility.

Read the original:
BitBay Resurfaces with the Most Advanced and Secure Wallet in Cryptocurrency Space - newsBTC

One thing a lot of people do not like about bitcoin is how it takes n average of 10 minutes before a transaction receives a network confirmation. Various other cryptocurrencies, also known as altcoins, try to improve this block time by quite a margin. Some projects focusing on faster block times are more successful than others, though.

Litecoin is often referred to as the silver to bitcoins gold. Albeit not everyone may see it that way, Litecoin brings some very intriguing developments in the world of cryptocurrency, that much is certain. Compared to bitcoins block time, Litecoin generates network blocks 4 times as fast on the network. It takes an average of 2.5 minutes for this process to complete, which is quite an improvement.

For a cryptocurrency that offers privacy and anonymity features, Monero has proven to be quite a quick altcoin when it comes to generating new blocks on the network. With an average block time of just two minutes, Monero succeeds in providing users with anonymity features at 1/5th of the time bitcoin generates a block, which does not include any anonymity features.

It is interesting to note Monero used to have an even faster block time at one point in time. The developers decreased the block time to 60 seconds when Monero was first launched, yet they reverted it back to 120 seconds once the network started to settle. While 60 second block times may sound more preferable, 120 seconds does the job just fine for Monero.

Many people believe Ethereum is the worlds fastest cryptocurrency in terms of block generation time, but that is not the case It has to be said, Ethereum is somewhat in a league of its, with the average block time sitting at the 14 second mark ever since April of 2016. It is quite an impressive feat to see Ethereum keep the block time so low. Bitcoin users would like to see a similar strategy introduced by the developers, albeit it is doubtful that will happen anytime soon.

When it comes to generating blocks quickly, there is no competition for Ripple right now. Although Ripple is targeting a very different crowd compared to bitcoin,Monero, or the other coins mentioned above, the technology powering this network has proven to be quite solid. The average Ripple network block is generated in as little as 3.5 seconds.

Considering how Ripple is aiming to change the world of finance by collaborating with financial institutions all over the world, that 3.5 second mark is quite important. Blockchain-based assets are designed to make transactions more efficient. Ripple succeeds in allowing for very fast transfers at minimal fees, whereas bitcoin seems to get slower and more expensive until the scalability issue is addressed.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

Original post:
4 Cryptocurrencies With Much Faster Block Times Than Bitcoin - The Merkle

MENAFN Press - 19/02/2017 (MENAFN Editorial) LONDON, Feb. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Centurion is a unique cryptocurrency launching today on February 9, 2017. The new cryptocurrency draws lessons from Bitcoin and other altcoins to offer an efficient and easy-to-use option for the cryptocurrency community. As the Bitcoin network struggles to clear the transaction backlog while waiting for a scalability solution,Centurion can process and confirm transactions in under 6 minutes.

Also, the cryptocurrency protocol has a block size of 2 MB, which is twice the Bitcoin block size. Just like in the Roman saga, Centurion is the protector of children and the cryptocurrency strives to help kids worldwide through its very own charity Centurion4Children; which will receive an initial donation of 5 million Centurions.

Specifications

Mining and Mining Pools

The cryptocurrency differentiates its users into two distinct groups, the specialist group comprising of experienced cryptocurrency community members who have a better understanding of mining process, software, and various other aspects. The other group consisting of casual users who are not well-versed with the technicalities but are known to use cryptocurrency for transactions and trading purposes.

Centurion4Children

Centurion4Children is donating 5 million Centurion coins to well-established charity organizations. It is also raising funds within the community and through thewebsite. The foundation is already represented in India, as well as Africa and Europe with official charity partnerships being revealed in March, 2017. Centurion4Children' is currently raising funds for following causes:

To cover promotion costs and to kick-start the donations distributed by Centurion4Children, the coin has reserved 50 Million of its tokens.

Centurion will donate 5 million of its reserved coins to charity and the remaining 50% will be used to reward early adopters, investors, related projects and talented individuals within the community working to improve the Centurion cryptocurrency.

Centurion is cryptocurrency that focuses mainly on the ease of use, ease of mining and faster transactions. The platform gives importance to existing cryptocurrency users and newbies alike. It has also partnered with Cryptonetwork ltd to increase usage and adoption of Centurion tokens.

Learn more about Centurion4Children at http://www.centurion4children.foundation

Contact Name:Sharon Kennedy Contact Email: Location:London, UK

Related Links

Centurion

https://vimeo.com/198023903

SOURCE Centurion

MENAFN1902201700701241ID1095253836

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Centurion Cryptocurrency Launches Today, Offering Extremely Fast Transactions While Supporting - MENAFN.COM

BlockchainOS, a blockchain technology company from Korea, has announced an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) of its native cryptocurrency BOScoin from April 17th to May 31st, 2017.

To unlock the Asian market, register now to the iFX EXPO in Hong Kong.

BOScoin utilizes ontology language and timed automation technologies to try and solve persistent issues in decentralized systems. Itspresale in the Korean market already gathered over BTC2,000 (approximately $2 million) during a two-month period.

Yezune Choi, the BlockchainOS CTO and General Executive Director, commented, There are two primary issues that need to be solved in the cryptocurrency and blockchain fields. The first issue is the integrity of the Dapps (Decentralized Applications) on the blockchain.

The second issue is the consensus mechanism needed for confirming data on the blockchain and the decision-making process for revising policies implemented in the core blockchain algorithm. We have been working on these core problems for over 2 years and are now opening our research to the public.

BOScoin is a fixed supply cryptocurrency that unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, BOScoin sends a portion of the coins issued to a public account called the Commons Budget. Coins held in the Commons Budget can be used through the voting system to decide on future BOScoin policies. And since voting right is given to only the node operators who invested in the coin, the developers expect that funds from the Commons Budget are likely to be used for the betterment of the coin.

Trust Contracts are pre-defined programs or rules that users can create. Similar to Ethereum, the BOScoin team is also aiming to create a general-purpose language on top of the blockchain so anyone can write, upload, and execute contracts. However, BOScoins approach is technically different from Ethereum.

The BOScoin team believes security is the most important principle for smart contracts on the blockchain. As decentralized systems become more complex, these systems are bound to make mistakes and break. They say that the failure of DAO project from Ethereum is the exact case of it.

BOScoin say they believe in the importance of being cautious when dealing with digital assets. This is the reason they selected the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and TAL, the timed automata language, for the development of Trust Contracts. By using OWL and TAL for building contracts, due to the nature of the languages, they promise that Trust Contracts can be mathematically proven to be trustworthy and operate without any unintended consequences.

See the original post here:
Cryptocurrency Startup BlockchainOS Seeks Crowdfunding to Challenge Ethereum - Finance Magnates

Ever since I began learning about cryptocurrency in 2012 (and more seriously in 2014), I knew that it was going to fundamentally change the way that we think about money, commerce, and contracts. I was surprised by just how few of my friends and colleagues knew what even the most well known coin, Bitcoin, was.

Since then, Ive taken every opportunity to teach others about crypto and make myself available for questions that they have. These are without a doubt the most frequent questions I have heard while talking to newcomers about blockchain based currenciesand how Ive answered them.

So this is fake, Internet money?

One of the most challenging aspects of speaking to people new about Bitcoinis helping them navigate beyond the dichotomy of real vs digital. Since physical cryptocurrency tokens are extremely uncommon, many of those Ive spoken to have a difficult time viewing digital currencyas legitimate. To counter this, I usually question whether they feel the same way about direct deposit checks, credit cards, and online banking. Demonstrating to people that something they already trust and use is virtual as well often helps them realize that cryptos are indeed as real as the assets they already have.

So, how do you get Bitcoins and the other ones?

Acquisition of Bitcoinseems to be a particularly mysterious concept for the cryptocurrencyneophyte. I have found that this is especially true for non-investors. Since most people do not have assets in the form of stock positions or forex positions, the idea of having to buy an asset on an exchange may be foreign to them.

Mining and minting are also an interesting ideas to explain, and understandably so. Telling someone that they can receive money for running a program on a computer usually turns some heads. I do explain that mining is almost entirely not profitable if youre a solo miner or do not have access to free electricity. This means that I often warn individuals from trying to acquire coins in this way and suggest faucets -even though those have all but dried up- to get acquainted with small amounts of coins.

The method of getting coins people are most readily able to understand is payment. Companies and individuals are more than willing to pay for your services in the form of cryptos. Most people are familiar with the concept of paid work, so this is usually the quickest part of my answer to this question.

Isnt Bitcoinfor buying drugs and other dubious goods and services?

Cryptos have been plagued in the past by scandal. Sites on the deep web that accepted cryptos as payment methods gained some attention on news stations when some of those sites were shut down, and they brought crypto under the same scrutinous light. For these reasons, some approach the idea of crypto with trepidation. However, it is easy to explain that Bitcoinjust acts as tender for debts, much like fiat cash. What an individual uses the tender for is not the fault of the currency itself. In fact, many philanthropic endeavors have been funded in part or whole by cryptos as well.

So the next time you are speaking with someone who does not know what cryptocurrency is, or they have a poor understanding of it, keep questions in mind. I hope my experiences and answers better equip you to tackle the questions of new arrivals to the world of cryptocurrency.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news

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Most Frequent Cryptocurrency Beginner Questions Part 1 The ... - The Merkle

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

BlockchainOS, a blockchain technology company in Korea, announced the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) of BOScoin* from April 17th, 2017 to May 31st, 2017.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170216005500/en/

BOScoin, the first global cryptocurrency issued in Korea, is a cryptocurrency that utilizes the blockchain, ontology language, and timed automation technologies to solve persistent issues in decentralized systems. BOScoins presale in the domestic market already gathered over 2,000BTC (approximately 2 million USD) during a two month period.

*BOScoin - A congressional decentralized cryptocurrency platform for Trust Contracts based on ontology language and timed automation.

Yezune Choi, the BlockchainOS CTO and General Executive Director, outlines the current state of blockchain, "There are two primary issues that need to be solved in the cryptocurrency and blockchain fields. The first issue is the integrity of the Dapps (Decentralized Applications) on the blockchain. The second issue is the consensus mechanism needed for confirming data on the blockchain and the decision making process for revising policies implemented in the core blockchain algorithm. We have been working on these core problems for over 2 years and are now opening our research to the public.

BOScoin, Trust Contracts and the Congress Network operate on top of the alternative blockchain called OWLchain. By the OWLchains integration of ontology language and timed automata into blockchain, the BOScoin and Trust Contracts will serve as digital currency and smart contract with inherent security assurance. And governance through the Congress Network ensures that adequate proposals on blockchain will be discussed and applied within desired time.

The Currency BOScoin

BOScoin is a fixed supply cryptocurrency that will be issued over the next 141 years. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, BOScoin sends a portion of the coins issued to a public account called the Commons Budget. Coins held in the Commons Budget can be used through the voting system to decide on future BOScoin policies. And since voting right is given to only the node operators who invested in the coin, the funds from the Commons Budget are likely to be used for the betterment of the coin.

The Currencys Programming Framework Trust Contracts

Trust Contracts are pre-defined programs or rules that users can create. Similar to Ethereum, the BOScoin team is also aiming to create a general purpose language on top of the blockchain so anyone can write, upload, and execute contracts. However, BOScoins approach is technically different from Ethereum. The BOScoin team believes security is the most important principle for smart contracts on the blockchain. As decentralized systems become more complex, these systems are bound to make mistakes and break. The failure of DAO project from Ethereum is the exact case of it.

BOScoin Team believes in importance of being cautious when dealing with digital assets. This is the reason they carefully selected the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and TAL, the timed automata language, for the development of Trust Contracts. By using OWL and TAL for building contracts, due to the nature of the languages, the Trust Contracts can be mathematically proven to be trustworthy and operate without any unintended consequences.

Decision Making System Congress Network

The Congress is the governance system inside the BOScoin platform. Many decentralized organizations suffer from a poor decision making process. This is why in BOScoin, all node operators are given a vote to decide on how to distribute the Commons Budget. With this vote, node operators can accept or deny proposals brought up from within the community. Anyone can make proposals for using BOScoin. BOScoin believes this kind of democratic system is key to sustaining and growing BOScoin.

Learn more about the BOScoin ICO at https://boscoin.io .

Related Links

Whitepaper :

http://www.boscoin.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/boscoinwhitepaperv20170202.pdf

Bitcointalk : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1759662.msg17777617#msg17777617

Slack : https://boscoin.slack.com

Facebook : https://facebook.com/boscoinio

Twitter : https://twitter.com/boscoin_ico

Reddit : https://www.reddit.com/r/boscoin

Medium : https://medium.com/boscoin

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170216005500/en/

MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE:http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170216005500/en/

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BOScoin, a New Cryptocurrency, Introduces "Trust Contracts" to Overcome the Shortcomings of Ethereum Smart ... - Yahoo Finance