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Curious about cryptocurrency and blockchain? AMA

Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain are becoming more and more popular and as of 07/09/2017 the current market cap for cryptocurrency is a staggering $163billion,

Never heard of cryptocurrency or the blockchain? Ask me anything about it here and I'll do my best to explain it. Some aspect are extremely technical and I simply may not have a good answer but I'll try and do my best.
(edited 6 years ago)

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Original post by Command&Conquer
Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain are becoming more and more popular and as of 07/09/2017 the current market cap for cryptocurrency is a staggering $163billion.

Never heard of cryptocurrency or the blockchain? Ask me anything about it here and I'll do my best to explain it. Some aspect are extremely technical and I simply may not have a good answer but I'll try and do my best.
How do I find these fascinating objects?:holmes:
Original post by 04MR17
How do I find these fascinating objects?:holmes:


Well the coins which are digital can be "mined" using a lot of computers. When your computer solves a cryptographic puzzle, you get rewarded with a digital coin automatically which you can sell for real world money.

Or you can just buy them from other people and resell them at a later date with the hopes that the price would have gone up by then.
Original post by Command&Conquer
Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain are becoming more and more popular and as of 07/09/2017 the current market cap for cryptocurrency is a staggering $163billion.

Never heard of cryptocurrency or the blockchain? Ask me anything about it here and I'll do my best to explain it. Some aspect are extremely technical and I simply may not have a good answer but I'll try and do my best.

:beard: Wow. Also no I haven't.
Gimme another fact though pls :ahee:

P.S You said anything so... :colondollar:

Spoiler

(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 4
To follow up @04MR17's question. How can I *safely* buy BTC today with a UK debit/credit card?

And what is the difference between, say, Bitcoin and Ethereum?
Original post by CheeseIsVeg
If Thomas has a green waterbottle and Cassie doesn't like cucumber, what is the probability that Megan will get a tattoo before she is 24 years old?
Explain in detail. A bonus mark is available for a reference to dental fillings. You will be marked on your spelling, punctuation and grammar. [10 marks]


147 cherry flavoured cheeseburgers.

Original post by Doonesbury
To follow up @04MR17's question. How can I *safely* buy BTC today with a UK debit/credit card?

And what is the difference between, say, Bitcoin and Ethereum?


The most reputable site is coinbase but they have quite high fees unless you go through their trading exchange GDAX, which is what I do.

The difference between bitcoin and ethereum is that ethereum is a network, it's more of an infrastructure than simply a cryptocurrency. All you can do with bitcoin is buy and sell with it, steam for example accepts bitcoin :smile:

Ethereum on the other hand is much much more than that. Ethereum runs on its own blockchain and it acts as a platform for other cryptocurrencies to sit on top of and run on. Ethereum also has build in programming functionality so you can actually create decentralised apps on the network as well as issue things called "smart contracts" which are just like normal contracts, but digital, executed completely autonomously by their code.
Reply 6
Original post by Command&Conquer
147 cherry flavoured cheeseburgers.



The most reputable site is coinbase but they have quite high fees unless you go through their trading exchange GDAX, which is what I do.

The difference between bitcoin and ethereum is that ethereum is a network, it's more of an infrastructure than simply a cryptocurrency. All you can do with bitcoin is buy and sell with it, steam for example accepts bitcoin :smile:

Ethereum on the other hand is much much more than that. Ethereum runs on its own blockchain and it acts as a platform for other cryptocurrencies to sit on top of and run on. Ethereum also has build in programming functionality so you can actually create decentralised apps on the network as well as issue things called "smart contracts" which are just like normal contracts, but digital, executed completely autonomously by their code.


confused.com.... so if I have BTC can I move it onto Ethereum?
Original post by Doonesbury
confused.com.... so if I have BTC can I move it onto Ethereum?


Not bitcoin cannot run on ethereum. Every currency is independent of each other but some currencies can sit on the Ethereum network. Think of it like the app store on iphone, the app store is a platform for other apps to run on. Some apps cannot run on the app store though, like android apps.

If you have bitcoin and you want ether, which is the currency ethereum uses, you can just trade it with someone you know and trust or you can trade it online using a trade exchange.

Another thing with ethereum is to use the network, you have to pay "gas" which is the network fee which goes to the miners as a reward. The transaction fee is incredibly small though.
What do you think will happen if/when BTC crashes? Could you predict the pandemonium? :tongue:
Buy high

sell low
Original post by LibertyMan
Buy high

sell low


Far easier said than done. Cryptocurrencies are simply too volatile so I think a better strategy is to simply buy and hold. Invest for the long term. Trading cryptocurrency is notoriously difficult compared to trading fiat currency.
Original post by Command&Conquer
Far easier said than done. Cryptocurrencies are simply too volatile so I think a better strategy is to simply buy and hold. Invest for the long term. Trading cryptocurrency is notoriously difficult compared to trading fiat currency.


This is what poor people actually think. Sad!
Reply 12
Original post by Paracosm
What do you think will happen if/when BTC crashes? Could you predict the pandemonium? :tongue:


What makes you think it will crash...

Screen Shot 2017-09-08 at 14.23.37.jpg

:afraid:
Original post by Doonesbury
What makes you think it will crash...

Screen Shot 2017-09-08 at 14.23.37.jpg

:afraid:


:wink:
Reply 14
Original post by Mathemagicien
Why does Etherium mining require GPUs, when Bitcoin had some special device?


You can mine BTC with a standard PC... v v v slowly.

AFAIK, most BTC miners use dedicated ASICs because they are hyper efficient. But I last looked at it a couple of years ago - so I'm probably (definitely) behind the curve on the latest miner tech.
Original post by Mathemagicien
Why does Etherium mining require GPUs, when Bitcoin had some special device?


Different coins are mined in different ways. Ethereum is mined via GPU's and bitcoin used to be able to be mined with a standard GPU or CPU but the difficulty became too high so special mining machines were created called ASIC's which are specifically designed to do only one thing, solve SHA-256 hashes.
Original post by Paracosm
What do you think will happen if/when BTC crashes? Could you predict the pandemonium? :tongue:


Original post by Paracosm
:wink:


I actually don't think it will "crash" like it did in late 2013. It's not uncommon for cryptocurrencies to undergo huge drops in price, bitcoin and most of the crypto market recently underwent a ~50% price correction but for some reason it always bounces back, it's like it's on a spring :lol:

Could the whole thing come tumbling down and never recover? Possibly, but I think it's unlikely because every hurdle bitcoin has faced it's overcome and only become stronger. I think in about 10 years bitcoin will be valued at around $100,000 minimum.

Ethereum is a whole new beast because unlike bitcoin, ethereum has business application and in fact if you check the link in my signature (entethalliance) you'll see a list of some of the biggest companies in the world who have joined the alliance to help innovate and develop business solutions using ethereum. JP Morgan in fact created their Quorum blockchain on the ethereum network :smile:

Meanwhile Microsoft just recently finished it's alpha development of the Coco framework which is also on the ethereum network. I can see a future with ethereum is as common in business as Oracle databases.
Should I buy litecoin?
Original post by CuriousGuy777
Should I buy litecoin?


I'm not going to suggest anyone buy anything, that's something only you can decide :smile:
Original post by Ninja Squirrel
I'm not going to suggest anyone buy anything, that's something only you can decide :smile:


Ohk. So do you think that it would be profitable to buy litecoins?

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