Covesting Announces Partnership with Arbitrage Crypto Trader
Covesting, the Cryptocurrency copy-trading platform, has announced this week that they have partnered with Arbitrage Crypto Trader. Aribtrage CT is a project which focuses on a program they have already designed and tested which allows arbitrage between two exchanges. In the current Crypto-trading environment, there often exists vast differences between prices for the same token on different exchanges. This largely happens because of geographical differences. For instance, Bithumb, the largest exchange in Korea, had ETH selling for over $900, while GDAX, American, priced ETH over $100 lower at $780 just several days ago.
Arbitrage CT’s program allows traders to conveniently place inter-exchange arbitrage trades to take advantage of market variation. The working product has already been tested on several exchanges.
Arbitrage Crypto Trader program is designed to automate this entire process. Once a trader connects his two accounts, on two different exchanges, it will automatically monitor the coins with the highest spread. With a few clicks, the trader can purchase from one exchange, transfer to another exchange, and sell it with ease, speed, and accuracy. Currently bot is in testing mode and you can see daily stats of the product in action at prototypestat.arbitragect.com.
The opportunity for Covesting lies in exclusive rights to use the arbitrage bot on an agreed upon list of crypto-pairs. Covesting will be integrating the Arbitrage CT bot into its system and users will be able to take advantage of price differences between exchanges, apart from subscribing to professional traders. Upon launch, users will be able to profit whenever a coin is selling at two significantly different prices on two different exchanges, using the Covesting platform itself.
Covesting’s own ICO recently completed, raising over $20m. The partnership with Arbitrage CT comes as more good news before their exchange listing on HitBTC on January 20th.
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The Foreign Exchange or Forex is the biggest and most dynamic currency trading market in the world. The introduction of crypto currencies like Bitcoin has further added a new dimension to this liquid market.
Forex traders make a profit by exploiting the volatility in exchange rates. The more the variation with other currencies, the higher is the profit. With some traders now allowing digital currency for exchange trading, the forex market is looking to change for good.
Let us first understand how standard forex works. Imagine you are an Indian trader betting on the U.S. Dollar/Indian Rupee currency pair (USD/INR). You deposit INR100 with your forex trader. Assuming the rate of INR1 = $0.5, you will receive $50 for your INR100. If the USD/INR rate shifts to 0.45, you will receive INR111.11 (50/0.45), making a profit of 11.11% over your original INR100 deposit.
How Does Forex Work With Bitcoin?
Let us assume you deposit 2 Bitcoins to the digital wallet of a forex broker. Assume that the Bitcoin to U.S. dollar rate is 1 Bitcoin = $500, so your 2 Bitcoins equal to $1,000. Now, if you want a position in INR, given the exchange rate is $0.5 = INR1, you will receive $500. If the rate USD/INR changes to 0.45 after some time, you will get $1,111.11 in your account, making a profit of 11.11%. However, assume that the Bitcoin to U.S. dollar rate now changes to 1 Bitcoin = $560, you will receive 1.984 Bitcoins ($1,111.11/$560) when you withdraw in Bitcoins.
Thus, despite earning a profit on INR, the variation in the Bitcoin to USD rate sets you back by.016 Bitcoin (2 Bitcoins - 1.984 Bitcoins). Conversely, if the Bitcoin to USD rate altered to 1 Bitcoin = $475, you would receive 2.339 Bitcoins ($1,111.11/$475), a profit of 16.95%. In other words, you would make a profit from the forex exchange as well as the Bitcoin trade.
With an understanding of how forex works with digital currency, let us move on to learning how Bitcoin trading will impact Forex’s activities:
Supply
While foreign currency is regulated by specific central banks, an exponential algorithm controls the creation of the. This automated method decreases volatility and gives you an idea about how many Bitcoins will be created in all.
Inflation
Bitcoin is unaffected by monetary inflation as Bitcoin’s algorithm limits mining once it reaches the upper limit of 21 million Bitcoins. On the other hand, foreign currencies are government regulated and hence, are not immune to monetary inflation. However, price-level inflation impacts both Bitcoin and Forex. Multiple factors including interest rates, nation’s public debt, political stability, and economic health cause steep derivatives that result in foreign currency inflation.
Demand
A centralized currency is uniformly in demand but, Bitcoin’s demand is determined by factors like public approval, emerging marketplace, and the public’s trust in Bitcoin value. The increase in public approval together with emerging markets has expanded the popularity of Bitcoin. In spite of criticism by media, Bitcoin’s demand continues to rise progressively.
Volatility
The volatility in Forex market is around 0.5% to 1% while volatility is around 5% to 15% for Bitcoin. For this reason, Bitcoin appeals to high-risk traders.
Trading Platform
Forex and Bitcoin can be traded over different exchange platforms. The main difference is the alternative currencies such as Litecoin and Dogecoin that are offered for trading. Forex platforms do not incorporate these crypto currencies but replace them with lesser known currencies.
Bitcoin is yet to reach its potential as it has given rise to a risky trading market. Other than the market fluctuations, there are several advantages and disadvantages of trading Bitcoin in forex.
Advantages Of Bit coin Trading
Decentralized valuation
Since there is no central authority that can unpredictably change Bitcoin valuation, the Bitcoin is not influenced by free from geopolitical and country-specific macroeconomic issue.
Low trading cost
In order to attract new Bitcoin traders, forex brokers offer very low brokerage costs.
Global reach
Bitcoin transactions have abolished global borders. A trader living in USA can trade forex with Bitcoin through a broker living in the UK.
Each Bitcoin transaction is electronically entered on public networks. Since banks or clearing agencies are not involved,Bitcoin trading is free from transaction costs.
Leverage
For Bitcoin trading, forex offers high leverage up to 1:1000. If approached sensibly, traders can benefit from the huge margins.
Small deposit amount
New traders can start Bitcoin trading with just $25. Some forex trading firms offer a corresponding deposit amount to new members.
Security
Bitcoin transactions don’t require you to disclose your credit card or bank account details to withdraw or deposit money. This is a huge benefit with
regard to financial security.
Disadvantages Of Bitcoin Trading
The exchange rates for Bitcoins vary on different exchanges. Traders should understand which exchange rates will the forex broker use.
High leverage puts new traders to risks as they cannot comprehend the exposure.
Bitcoin exhibits high volatility. Since there is no central authority, unregulated brokers use high volatility to their advantage and put traders to disadvantage.
Deposited Bitcoins can be stolen from broker’s digital wallet by hackers. To avoid this, traders should seek brokers who are insured against theft.
The majority of brokers sell Bitcoins as soon as they receive the Bitcoin deposits from customers. A trader is exposed to the rate risk of Bitcoin to U.S. dollar from deposit to withdrawal.
Conclusion
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are becoming popular but there are several related risks. Dealing in decentralized currency offers several advantages and risks. If traders are willing to take these risks, Bitcoin trading can be a lucrative market.
Popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and new currencies like GDC coins are set to change the forex landscape forever. Given its global accessibility and low transaction costs, trading cryptocurrencies in forex can impact you in unanticipated ways.
Original article and pictures take 78.media.tumblr.com site
Building an Ethereum mining rig is really like growing your own money tree. The rig will run and crank away and create wealth (in digital currency) while you sit back and reap the rewards. It takes a little tech savviness but anyone can learn how to build their own rigs.
This guide will show you step-by-step instructions on how to easily build an Ethereum mining rig.
What is Mining? Why Does Ethereum Need to be Mined?
Mining is the glue that holds Eethereum’s ‘decentralized app store’ together by ensuring that it comes to consensus on each change to any of the applications (dapps) running on the network. Essentially mining helps verify and validate transactions within Ethereum’s network.
But what do miners get in return for doing all the heavy lifting? Ether reward coins. The catch is that mining tends to require more and more power over time, as more people invest in more powerful hardware. This is called mining difficulty and increases exponentially with the number of people mining and competing for their Ether reward.
So If that is the case why does everyone continue to mine? Doesn’t it become unprofitable? Yes and no.
Yes in the sense that if difficulty gets too high, the number of Ether coins you get in reward doesn’t offset the cost of electricity and/or cooling. But usually, when that happens, people tend to stop mining or move to another coin. Once that happens, difficulty drops down and Ethereum becomes profitable again to mine.
Another reason why people continue mining even when it’s unprofitable to mine Ethereum is because of their belief that Ethereum will be worth much more in the future. Even though Ethers are worth around $300-$350 now, in 5 years they might be worth $3000-$3500. So even if mining now is unprofitable, the coins will rise in value as time goes on.
How is an Ethereum Mining Rig Different From a Normal Computer?
Looks awesome right? A mining rig is made up the same components that go into normal desktop computer. But there are a few differences. In a normal desktop computer, you kind of have a good balance between CPU, RAM, GPU, and HD. With gaming computers, you have higher clocked versions of CPU, loads of RAM, one or two GPUs and SDDs.
With mining rigs, you want the lowest clocked CPU, bare minimum RAM, 5,6 or 7 GPUs and a very basic HD. Oh, and as you can see from the picture, you don’t want nor can you fit all those GPUs instead of a normal case. You can use a nice custom made case as you see above or something cheap like a milk crate.
Picking the Parts for an Ethereum Mining Rig
Graphic Cards (GPUs) for Mining
When it comes to picking GPUs, you want the select the best bang for the buck. You’re looking for something with high hash rate, low cost, and low power usage. You can start with as little as 1 GPU or as much as 7 GPUs within one rig. Normally you see 5-6 in a mining rig as 7 is incredibly hard to make stable.
The best balance is for the GPU to have a high hash rate (the speed which it can mine) with a low power consumption.
Below are the best GPUs for mining Ethereum. Listed from best to worst considering hash rate and power consumption.
Case
As I mentioned above, you can choose to build your mining rig with a nice custom built case or you can save money and use a plastic storage crate or milk crate. Both work equally as well except one won’t look nearly as good.
But if you want something cool and professional looking, you can buy mining cases such as this one.
The standard power supply in a desktop computer can be anywhere from 300W-500W. But when your mining and you are powering up to 6/7 GPUs, you want to make sure you have enough power. 1200W+ is what you’re looking for and you want to make sure that it is Gold or better certified for efficiency. Also, modular power supplies allow you to configure your cables individually which helps greatly when building out your rig.
Or another option is to use dual power supplies and use an adapter cable like this Thermaltake Cable.
Motherboard + CPU Combination
For mining, you want to maximize the number of GPUs your motherboard will support. Most motherboards inside computers can handle 1 or 2 GPUs, you want to use ones that support up to 6 or 7.
These are usually hard to find in stores so getting them online will be your best bet. As for CPU, you just want something basic such as the Celerons.
In order to mount the GPUs within the crate or case, you’ll need riser PCI cables to extend the PCI-e connection from the motherboard. Get as many PCI Express 1X to 16X Powered Riser Cables as you can to match up with the number of GPUs you have. There are many different variants, like this one or this or this.
SSD Hard Drive
Get a basic 60GB SSD or 120GB SSD drive for installing the OS and running your mining software.
Accessories
You’ll need a basic Monitor and Mouse/Keyboard combo to configure all the software and mining settings. Also, don’t forget about a Kill A Watt usage monitor.
Box Fan
You’ll need at least one box fan per rig to make sure the GPUs do not overheat.
Operating System
If you’re into Linux, Eth OS is a 64-bit Linux OS that mines Ethereum, Zcash, Monero, and other GPU-minable coins. If you’re a windows guy, here is Windows 10. If you’re going to be using Windows, you’ll need mining software. Take a look at this Ethereum Mining on a Windows PC guide.
Build an Ethereum Mining Rig Step-by-Step
Ok so now that you have all the parts, how do you put it all together? If you’ve built your own desktop computer before, this will be easy. If not then take a look at this awesome video on YouTube that shows you step by step on how to put it all together. The video shows them using Eth OS.
You’ll need an Ethereum Wallet
Make sure you get an Ethereum wallet ready to store all the ethers you ming. I suggest getting a hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano S. It is immune to malware and nearly impossible to hack.
The screens also provide extra security by verifying and displaying important wallet details. The hardware wallet also supports a wide support of coins (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Zcash, Dash, Stratis) and most importantly an attractive price tag. HOW TO SETUP AND CONFIGURE A LEDGER NANO S
Optional: Mining Pool
Mining solo, while sometimes more profitable, it’s usually not the right choice for most miners. When mining solo, you are doing all the work alone which means that you’ll receive the entire block reward, the problem is that mining is also based on a luck factor, which means that if your hashpower isn’t high enough, you may never see a reward come your way. With pool mining, however, this variance is eliminated and you receive payments that correspond to the portion of the work that you have done.
MinerGate is an established smart-mining multipool that allows users to mine the most profitable cryptocurrency at the time.
MinerGate allows users to mine coins through a smart-mining option (auto switches to most profitable coin) or choosing your favorite cryptocurrency manually. Merged-mining is available for FCN and MCN, allowing you to mine two currencies at once without the loss of hashrate for the main coin.
If you didn’t want to use a smart-mining pool and wanted something more basic, then check out Ethpool.
What Kind Of Miner Are You?
Now that you have all the information you need to start mining Ethereum, the sky is the limit on what type and how many rigs you have. Do you want to stick being a beginner or do you want to become a farmer? Building mining rigs are computer nerd’s version of building a car. It is extremely satisfying and as we know rewarding. Make sure wherever you plan on running the mining rig to have enough air flow. GPUs running at 100% 24/7 generate a ton of heat!
Original article and pictures take cryptosrus.com site
Bitstamp Announces Operational Changes to Handle Influx of New Users
Various cryptocurrency exchanges have seen their fair shares of issues over the past few months. When it comes to scaling infrastructure, a lot of new challenges have arisen due to an influx of new users. Bitstamp, one of the bigger cryptocurrency exchanges out there, plans to introduce some much-needed upgrades. Not only will the site add more staff, but several operational changes will take place as well.
Bitstamp Wants to Remain Ahead of the Curve
Like most other cryptocurrency exchanges, Bitstamp has seen spectacular growth throughout late 2017 and early 2018. It almost seems as if the whole world only now realizes cryptocurrencies are a real thing. While opinions on this new form of money may still be somewhat divided, it is evident there is genuine interest in buying, selling, and trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and other assets. However, companies will need to upgrade their infrastructure to cope with this increasing demand.
So far, that has proven to be a very steep challenge for most exchanges. Kraken is a notorious example of this, as its service has degraded quite severely in the past 12-18 months. With orders not being filled, trades not being executed, and a wide range of error messages being encountered when accessing the platform, scaling is its top priority right now. Although Kraken had planned to introduce some big changes in December 2017, it seems not much has happened yet.
For its part, Bittrex has taken some interesting measures in this regard as well. Due to some instability, the company halted the creation of new deposit addresses for a while. Binance, another popular exchange, even disabled the registration of new user accounts altogether. All of this further confirms that exchanges are dealing with a massive influx of new users they haven’t properly prepared for. To be fair, no one expected the cryptocurrency industry to grow as quickly as it did last year.
Rather than shutting down its service or preventing users from signing up, Bitstamp has taken active steps to counter these problems well in advance. More specifically, the company has hired additional staff members. It is unclear if this was just for customer support purposes, but that seems likely. Additionally, the improvement of the site’s overall infrastructure will require additional manpower over time. Business is picking up for Bitstamp and its competitors; that much is rather evident.
Moreover, the company announced several undisclosed “operational changes”. For the time being, it remains unclear what these entail exactly, but we can only assume they will ensure that Bitstamp’s services remain operational at all times. Whether or not this platform can be more successful than Coinbase in this regard has yet to be determined. Coinbase has suffered from wire transfer issues, cryptocurrency deposit and withdrawal delays, and lengthy ID verification procedures.
All things considered, it is good to see Bitstamp take a proactive approach to handling these issues before they become problematic. Whether or not Bitstamp’s current countermeasures will be sufficient is very hard to predict. If cryptocurrency’s popularity continues to accelerate, a lot of companies may struggle to cope with demand despite their best intentions.
Original article and pictures take 99altcoin.com site
In a release on its website the platform said the shutdown is attributed to “continuous bad press” surrounding the platform, two cease and desist letters from both Texas and North Carolina’s securities boards, and continuous DDoS attacks on the platform.
While the platform says they’re refunding all outstanding loans at a rate of $363.62 USD (an average of the token’s price over the last 15 days), the Bitconnect token is currently trading down ~80% and worth less than $40, so while users may have been made whole on a BCC-equivlent, many are certainly suffering severe financial losses in terms of USD or Bitcoin (which is how they made their original investment).
The platform was powered by a token called BCC (not to be confused with BCH, or Bitcoin Cash), which is essentially useless now that the trading platform has shut down. In the last The token has plummeted more than 80% to about $37, down from over $200 just a few hours ago.
If you aren’t familiar with the platform, Bitconnect was an anonymously-run site where users could loan their cryptocurrency to the company in exchange for outsized returns depending on how long the loan was for. For example, a $10,000 loan for 180 days would purportedly give you ~40% returns each month, with a .20% daily bonus.
Bitconnect also had a thriving multi-level referral feature, which also made it somewhat akin to a pyramid scheme with thousands of social media users trying to drive signups using their referral code.
The platform said it generated returns for users using Bitconnnect’s trading bot and “volatility trading software”, which usually averaged around 1% per day.
Of course profiting from market fluctuations and volatility is a legitimate trading strategy, and one used by many hedge funds and institutional traders. But Bitconnect’s promise (and payment) of outsized and guaranteed returns led many to believe it was a ponzi scheme that was paying out existing loan interest with newly pledged loans.
Below is the chart that would determine how much users would make the using the platform.
All Bitconnect loans were denominated in U.S dollars but had to be made in BCC, the platform’s native cryptocurrency. So in order to make a loan users would have to deposit bitcoin into the platform then exchange it for BCC at whatever the market rate was. And loan interest and principal was also only paid out only in BCC, meaning users would have to convert it back to bitcoin (and then if desired, USD) after the loan term was finished.
The requirement of having BCC to participate in the lending program led to a natural spike in demand (and price) of BCC. In less than a year the currency went from being worth less than a dollar (with a market cap in the millions) to a all-time high of ~$430.00 with a market cap above $2.6B.
Bitcoin vs. Litecoin vs. Peercoin vs. Ripple vs. Namecoin
While many are still being turned on to the perks of Bitcoin as a speculative asset, platform, and currency, there are other players in the game. Here is a brief look at how these cryptocurrencies stack up in terms of features. Also, if you’re interested in the rest of the top 10, be sure to check out Quarkcoin vs. Megacoin vs. Protoshares vs. Worldcoin vs. Feathercoin.
Bitcoin – First and Biggest (but Maybe Not the Best)
Capitalization: 12 Billion Dollars. Price as of 12/2/12: ~$1000
• Transactions take a long time to confirm. Three confirmations (usual minimum) takes at least 15 minutes, but closer to an hour on average in my experience.
• Scarcity and finitude means BTC is inherently deflationary. Some feel this is bad, but this really only for people who think BTC could plausibly take over Fiat completely — not plausible in my opinion and therefore irrelevant.
• Mining is expensive, costing some $150,000 a day reports Bloomberg. Mining costs may be prohibitive in future growth and transaction verification. This could lead to fees on Bitcoin transactions.
• For speculative growth, Bitcoin is perceived as expensive, people don’t like to own one or two of something, but rather 10s or 100s, but this may be solved by a naming convention, calling Bitcoin, mBTC, or millibitcoin. In this way, people could buy a thousand milliBitcoins for the price of one Bitcoin. It’s psychological, but it is a real factor in valuation and adoption.
Litecoin – 84 Million Coins Faster Than Bitcoin
Capitalization: 734 Million Dollars. Price as of 12/2/12: ~$30
Pros:
• At .5 billion dollars, it has the second or third biggest market cap, depending on whether or not you consider Ripple to be cryptocurrency (as of (11/25/13).
• Transaction times happen 4x faster than Bitcoin.
• Still affordable to a lot of people as an investment whereas Bitcoin is seen as too expensive. It has a good combination of momentum and affordability right now.
• Theoretically, one Litecoin should be worth 1/4 Bitcoin since there will be 4x as many coins. Right now LTC is around $20, and BTC is almost at $1000. It could be argued that Litecoin is therefore undervalued by an order of magnitude (1/50 when it should be 1/4).
• More coins than Bitcoin means that Litecoin may be more future-proof than Bitcoin.
Cons:
• Cannot be purchased directly with USD or other currencies as easily as Bitcoin, ultimately meaning its price is directly connected to Bitcoins.
• Ultimately, Bitcoin has more momentum and support from the community. Litecoin may be the second biggest cryptocurrency, but many feel similar to one pundit who said, “There can only be one. The Network effect is simply too strong. Bitcoin has orders of magnitudes more adoption, acceptance and use compared to any other cryptocurrency on the market. The game is over and Bitcoin won.”
Peercoin – The Environmentally Friendly Standout
Capitalization: 122 Million Dollars. Price as of 12/2/12: ~$6
Pros:
• Said to be sustainable and long-term environmentally friendly because mining will require orders of magnitude less power than Bitcoin and Litecoin.
• Distinguishes itself from other coins by using “Proof-of-Stake/Proof-of-Work” hybrid. Proof of stake requires less energy.
• .01 Peercoin Transaction fee (on every transaction) is said to render Peercoin a better “store of value,” and it may be used as a backbone cryptocurrency according to some, and its creator, Sunny King.
• In terms of speculative value, Peercoin has attractive branding and an excellent logo. This may increase early adoption.
• Peercoin is inflationary, tantamounting to each user’s number of Peercoins growing 1% per year. This means that the number of Peercoins is technically limitless. This may be seen as a con for speculation, but for real-world use is more comparable to modern money systems.
Cons:
• .01 Peercoin transaction fee means that Peercoin is less liquid and less multifaceted in use than competitors. It would be impractical to use in everyday transactions, a stock market, or anything with high transaction volume. This will only become more true as its value increases.
• Not truly decentralized. Peercoin uses “centralized checkpointing,” but Sunny King, Peercoin’s creator, says this feature will be removed with future versions and when the cryptocurrency stabilizes.
• Peercoin is inflationary which some feel is intrinsically bad. Others have said that “the rich get richer” with peercoin, but the reality is that Peercoin users all stand to benefit equally from Peercoin’s inflation.
Ripple – Venture Capital’s Electric Money
Capitalization: 5 Billion Dollars. Price as of 12/2/12: ~$.05
• Non-decentralization means simpler legal integration and likely government adoption, but has invoked the wrath of decentralization fans who call it “the Ripple Scam.”
• Versatile platform is said to allow conversion between any currencies.
• Ripple platform allows for issuing debt via “IOUs,” Bitcoin can also do this as a platform, but this feature has yet to be explored.
• 100 billion total Ripples (XRP) with all of them “pre-mined,” as Ripple is not a cryptocurrency.
• Ripple Labs possesses some 50 billion Ripples in hopes they will increase in value.
• Muddled marketing strategy. Ripple Labs stated they would give away Ripple and even did so to some extent to build awareness. This has led to many thinking their Ripples may be worthless and will hurt price increase. Some have said that Ripple Labs will no longer be used this strategy.
• Largely perceived by crypocommunity as a scam. Adoption and use will have to be from other, mainstream avenues.
Namecoin – Cryptocurrency, Buy Now, Get One Free Internet
Capitalization: ~60 Million Dollars. Price as of 12/2/12: ~$8
Pros:
• 21 Million total means that Namecoin will be relatively scarce, exactly the same as Bitcoin’s scarcity level.
• Versatile platform can be used to recreate decentralized, unregulated Domain Name System, sort of like its own internet. Can also be used for messaging, voting, and login system – all within the cryptocurrency.
• Uses identical cryptography to Bitcoin protocol meaning Bitcoin miners could mine Namecoin profitably should Bitcoin mining become unprofitable.
Cons:
• Permitting for an uncensored internet means Namecoin could lead to illegal activities online, beyond even the scope Bitcoin, such as child abuse or similarly illegal websites.
• While an alternate DNS system is useful, Namecoin as a cryptocurrency distinguishes itself in no other way from Bitcoin.
• Namecoin vulnerability revealed that underminds domain name registration service. Vulnerability will be repaired in a future block, however.
Questions/Comments/Corrections please email danny at heavy dot com.
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Original article and pictures take heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com site