Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

BitCoin, LiteCoin, etc.

Thought of the Day – 01 / 28 / 2014 – CryptoCurrency – Dogecoin – What is this? – Video

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Thought of the Day - 01 / 28 / 2014 - CryptoCurrency - Dogecoin - What is this?
So today I will dicuss Crypto currency and what it is, and how it work and well what this newbie knows and doesnt know. If you wanna tip this newbie.. send d...

By: Shimey013

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Thought of the Day - 01 / 28 / 2014 - CryptoCurrency - Dogecoin - What is this? - Video

Dogecoin – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Dogecoin Date of introduction December 6th, 2013 User(s) International Inflation Limited release, production rate before this limit re-evaluated with the production of every block (at a rate of approximately 1 block per minute) based on the difficulty with which Dogecoins are produced, eventually leading up to a final total of 100 billion. Subunit 0.001 mDOGE (millidoge) 0.000001 DOGE (microdoge) Symbol D, Nickname Doge Plural DOGE, Dogecoins

Dogecoin (/do.kn/,[1] code: DOGE, symbol: and D), is a Litecoin-derived[2]cryptocurrency that features the Shiba Inu from the "Doge" Internet meme on its logo.[3][4][5][6] Of the 100 billion total, 36,244,688,154 (36.24%) Dogecoins have been mined as of the 25th of January 2014.[7] While there are currently few commercial applications for Dogecoin, the currency is gaining traction as an Internet tipping system, in which social media users grant Dogecoin tips to other users for providing interesting or noteworthy content.[8] Dogecoins are associated with the motto "To the moon!".[9][10][11]

Dogecoin was created by programmer and former IBM engineer Billy Markus of Portland, Oregon. He was originally trying to tinker with an existing cryptocurrency of Markus's called "Bells" based on Nintendo's Animal Crossing. His hopes were reaching a broader demographic than the investors who made up Bitcoin's economy and something that wouldn't be involved with the controversial history behind Bitcoin (namely its association with the Silk Road).[12]

At the same time, his friend Jackson Palmer, a worker for a marketing department in Sydney, Australia for Adobe Systems, and the original individual who first conceived of the idea for Dogecoin, was encouraged by a student at Front Range Community College on Twitter to make the idea reality.[13]This led Palmer to reach out to Markus.[14]

After getting several mentions on Twitter, Palmer bought the domain dogecoin.com, which was shown to Markus and quickly began the partnership between Markus and Palmer, launching the coin shortly after the development of Markus' Dogecoin wallet was done.[15] Within a couple weeks of launching the currency, a significant portion of available DOGE had already been mined. Over 6% of the total amount of 100 billion DOGE was already mined by December 17, 2013,[16]. On December 19, Dogecoin had jumped more than 300 percent in value, rising from $0.00026 to $0.00099,[17] with a volume of hundreds of Bitcoins per day[18] during a time when Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies were reeling from China's decision to forbid Chinese banks from investing Chinese Yuan into the Bitcoin economy.[2] On the 22nd of December, Dogecoin experienced its first major crash by dropping by 80% due to large mining pools seizing opportunity in exploiting the very little computing power required at the time to mine the coin.[19]

On December 24, 2013 The Reserve Bank of India cautioned users of Dogecoin and other virtual currencies on the risks associated with them.[20] On Christmas of 2013, the first major theft attempt of Dogecoin happened when millions of coins were stolen during a hacking attempt on the online wallet platform Dogewallet,[21]. The hacker gained access to the platform's filesystem and modified its send/receive page to send any and all coins to a static address.[22][23] By January 2014, the trading volume of Dogecoin surpassed that of Bitcoin and all other crypto-currencies combined.[24]

Markus based Dogecoin on the existing currency Litecoin,[2] which also uses scrypt technology in its proof-of-work algorithm, meaning that miners cannot take advantage of specialized Bitcoin-mining equipment to mine at higher speeds. The Dogecoin network was originally intended to produce 100 billion Dogecoins.[25][26][27] Despite Dogecoin's original purpose as a proof-of-concept and a play on the internet meme of the same name, there are communities dedicated to it and several minor exchanges that trade it for other established crypto-currencies like Litecoin or Bitcoin. The currency's popularity and value are rapidly growing;[28] the baseline price on January 7, 2014 was approximately 4600 DOGE to 1 United States dollar. As of January 20, Dogecoin is trading on cryptocurrency exchanges at an average high of approximately 0.00000260 BTC per DOGE, or about 500 DOGE to 1 USD.

On January 19, a fundraiser was established by the Dogecoin community to raise $30,000 for the Jamaican Bobsled Team, which had qualified for, but could not afford to go to, the Sochi Winter Olympics; $30,000 was donated by the second day,[29] and the Dogecoin to Bitcoin exchange rate rose by 50%.[30]

While there is only one DOGE/USD [31] and one DOGE/CNY [32] exchange, there are several online exchanges that handle DOGE/BTC [33] and DOGE/LTC [34] trading. The price is highly volatile due to the relatively short existence of the currency. As of Dec 19th 2013, the price for one DOGE was $0.00095,[17] although this hasn't been a deterrent for exchange since people are trading real-world items in exchange for DOGE on major online communities such as Reddit and Twitter.[35][36]

As of January 25, 2014, 1,000 Dogecoins are valued at $1.78[37]

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Dogecoin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How Cryptocurrency, Crowdfunding And A Little Internet Altruism Saved Jamaica’s Hopes For Bobsled Gold

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Just in case you missed it, a heart-warming story unfolded this week involving an unlikely combination of bobsled, Jamaica, virtual currency, crowdfunding and generosity. It has all the makings of an inspiring Disney movie er, an inspiring Disney sequel. Last Sunday, news began trickling out that a two-man bobsled team from the island nation of Jamaica had qualified for the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

The countrys official Twitter account for the 2014 games announced the news that the team had qualified, including an image that appeared to be a reference to Cool Runnings, the John Candy-led cult film that loosely chronicled Jamaicas debut in bobsled for the 1988 Olympic Games in Alberta, Canada.

The world apparently loves a sequel. In a plot twist seemingly right out of Cool Runnings, despite qualifying for the 2014 Olympics, team captain Winston Watts told the New York Times that the team hadnt been able to raise the necessary funds to make it to Russia. Watts said that he had essentially been self-funding the teams efforts thus far, and had even dug into his personal savings to fly the team to the U.S. for the bobsledding qualifiers. Nevertheless, after finding little help from the Jamaican Olympic Association or private investors, the team was forced to turn elsewhere.

In the world of bobsled, and perhaps sports in general, there has never been a more quintessential underdog story. First of all, the Jamaican bobsled team is from, well, Jamaica. Second, the team is competing against teams with significant some financial backing (and actually hail from more arctic climes). Not only that, Winston Watts came out of retirement to lead the 2014 bobsled team, and if the team were to compete in Sochi, Watts would be second-oldest bobsled pilot in Olympic history at age 46.

Luckily, the citizens of the Internet are sympathetic to an underdog story and were not about to let the team sit this one out due to lack of funding. And thats when Jamaican bobsledding had its first introduction to the altruistic power of both virtual currency and digital crowdfunding proponents alike. Fittingly, it was a joke currency or a virtual currency inspired by a dog meme that came to the rescue. Yes, the very peer-to-peer cryptocurrency loved by Lassie, the worlds pooches and geeks alike, and the very currency that began as a joke but has since been hailed as a potential successor to Bitcoin: The noble, Dogecoin.

In a movement that began on Reddit, the Dogecoin Foundation seized the opportunity to promote its virtual currency on the world stage and help send the Jamaican bobsled team to Sochi. Over a matter of days, the Dogecoin community raised over 27 million Dogecoins, the equivalent of $30,000 for those without a canine cryptocurrency analyst on hand.

That, in and of itself, is something to behold, but the Internet wasnt done yet. Just as the Dogecoin campaign began to hit full steam, word of the Jamaican bobsled teams plight got to the founders of Y Combinator-incubated, group-funding platform, Crowdtilt. A Jamaican bobsled fan launched a campaign on Crowdtilt to pool funds for the team from sympathetic fans and, before long, the startup got wind of the campaign, as did the teams president, Chris Stokes, and founding member of the original Cool Runnings team, Devon Harris.

The team made the Crowdtilt effort its official fundraising campaign, and the Crowdtilt founders worked with the Dogecoin Foundation to convert the $30K raised in Dogecoin (from 1,600 Dogecoin supporters) into Bitcoin and then combine it with the money raised on Crowdtilt.

As one might expect, the campaign quickly surpassed its goal and then some. After three days live, the campaign raised just under $130K ($129,587, to be precise) more than 12 times the campaigns goal including the contribution from the Dogecoin community.

Crowdtilt co-founder James Beshara tells us that it was one of the fastest campaigns to reach its goal in the platforms history and there were points when as much as $3,000 was donated in 60 seconds. The average donation was $34.60, with nearly 3,000 individuals contributing to the campaign from 50 states and 52 countries.

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How Cryptocurrency, Crowdfunding And A Little Internet Altruism Saved Jamaica’s Hopes For Bobsled Gold

The rise and rise of dogecoin, the internet’s hottest cryptocurrency

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Jackson Palmer, co-founder of Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that uses the Shiba Inu dog character from the 'Doge' Internet meme as its mascot.

Forget about bitcoin. The latest go-to cryptocurrency is called dogecoin, a digital denomination that began life less than two months ago as a jokey tweet made by 26-year-old Australian Jackson Palmer.

That's true virality. [Dogecoin] grew a mind of its own

But his joke has now taken on a life of its own. The total value of the market for dogecoin (pronounced dough-je coin) has just topped $US60 million ($68 million) and it has spawned a community comprising thousands of buyers, sellers, merchants, beggars, speculators and "miners", the people who mint the money.

Virtual economics: Jackson Palmer's jokey tweet took on a life of its own. Photo: Tony Walters

The current value of the bitcoin market is $US10 billion.

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This week, transactions worth a total of $US14 million were made, including one Chinese investor who bought $US5 million worth of the virtual currency. And on a daily basis dogecoin transactions are outstripping those in the more established bitcoin market, albeit for a smaller overall value.

Mr Palmer, who is a product manager based in the Sydney office of the software company Adobe, is both amazed and elated by the experience of introducing so many newcomers to virtual economics.

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The rise and rise of dogecoin, the internet's hottest cryptocurrency

What is Bitcoin anyway?

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What is Bitcoin?

Its an electronic cash system that allows online payments to be sent directly from one person to another without going through a financial institution (like a bank) or a third party (like PayPal).

Dan Zak

Boosters of the cryptocurrency make their case on Capitol Hill and want an ATM within easy reach

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Bitcoins are an unregulated, underground online currency and the FEC may permit political campaigns to receive them as contributions.

Whos in charge of it?

No one. Or, rather, everyone who uses it. Bitcoin functions on a peer-to-peer computer network based on cryptography rather than a trusted third party. It is an open-source and self-governing system. A software code maintains a public ledger that records and verifies each transaction without revealing the identity of the users. Users who provide hardware and bandwidth for these transactions are rewarded by the algorithm with new denominations of bitcoin to save or sell into circulation. This process of earning new bitcoin is called mining.

How much bitcoin are in circulation, and what are they worth?

Thursday afternoon there were nearly 12.3 million bitcoin in circulation. The value of a single bitcoin fluctuated between $848.53 and $868.93 through 5 p.m. Thursday, according to CoinDesk, a digital currency news site that averages the price of bitcoin across several high-volume exchanges. One year ago a single bitcoin was worth about $13. Bitcoin are released into circulation at a predictable but diminishing rate based on a software algorithm that caps circulation at 21 million bitcoin (which the system is expected to reach in 2140). Bitcoins are currently divisible by eight decimal points; $1 (USD) equaled about 0.0012 bitcoin on Thursday.

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What is Bitcoin anyway?