Benefits of Digital Currency

If you are a technology reader, you know about the new type of currency that has been created. You may have read about Bitcoin for instance. If you have not gone into the details, you may be asking yourself questions about the benefits of this digital currency. If you have no idea about it, you should read this article.
The Benefits of Digital Currency
Inexpensive transactions
The transaction fees with digital currency are a lot lower than the transactions made with PayPal or credit cards. At times, you don't have to pay any transaction fee. So, this saves you plenty of money.
No fees for international transfers
Since digital money is used on the Net, no borders are involved. Typically, you have to pay fees should you want to send money abroad, which excludes the costs for currency conversion. On the other hand, sending digital currency to anywhere in the world costs nothing. You will pay nothing as long as you can wait for a while for the currency to be sent.
No Account fees
Today, most banks charge their clients a fee on a monthly basis. At times, some banks also charge hidden fees from time to time. As a matter of fact, anyone can sign up for a free digital wallet online without paying any fees or hidden charges.
Simple account creation
You know that opening an account with a bank is a laborious process since you have to provide a lot of personal details, such as address and identity proof. Aside from this, they carry out backgrounds checks as well.
On the other hand, you can create a currency account without providing personal details as long as you don't want to benefit from a service that asks for personal details. And the beauty of the system is that it offers 100% acceptance rate. All you have to do is open the digital currency site on your computer or mobile phone and then create the account. You don't have to go to the office of a company for account creation. Within a few minutes, the account will be created.
It's an Investment
The conventional form of money tends to lose its value with the passage of time because of several factors, such as inflation. However, the digital currency is a form of investment. Most types of currency features a fixed period upon the creation of new coins.
When more and more people go for digital currency, the demand goes up. As a result, the value of your digital money goes up. This is kind of the return on your investment. So, you don't have to go to a rich country just to see the value of your money go up. Since the digital currency is growing at a rapid pace, the number of users is increasing. So, it's the right time to make the investment and reap the benefits.
The takeaway
So, if you have been looking forward to investing in digital currency, we suggest that you re-read this article again. Hopefully, you will be able to get the most out of your investment down the road.

Bitcoin has been the buzz word in the financial space. As of a matter of fact, Bitcoin has exploded the scene in the last few years and many people

Can Blockchain Co-Exist With GDPR?

On May 25th, 2018 a new privacy law took effect in Europe. The GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation, and it gives EU citizens control over who controls their personal data and over what happens with it. It's the reason why you are bombarded with popups asking your permission to gather and process your personal data. It's the same reason that e-mail newsletters ask you if you're still interested in them and why a lot of companies are suddenly making it easier to grab a copy of the data they have on you.

Companies from all over the world are working quickly to make sure they are GDPR compliant because otherwise, they face the risk of paying heavy fines. However, Blockchain technology is changing everything so what happens when a blockchain contains personal data? The problem with the data on blockchains is that it is:

1. Open


2. Transparent


3. Immutable ie. data stored on a blockchain cannot be changed or erased.

These are properties of this technology that cannot be changed and at the same time, don't look very good for enforcing privacy.

Understanding the General Data Protection Regulation

Before we dive into the compliances of the GDPR let's understand a few commonly used terminologies:

1. Data Controllers - According to EU law, companies that store your data are known as data controllers. Common examples would be Facebook, Google, Apple, etc.


2. Data Processors - Companies that work with your data to analyze it are known as data processors. For example, Google Analytics, Moz Analytics, Socialblade, etc.

In most cases, the Data controller and the Data processor are the same entity, however, the burden of complying with the GDPR lies with the Data controller. Let's also make a note here, that the GDPR is only in play when the personal data of EU citizens are involved. Any company storing information of EU citizens have to follow the regulation, including Facebook or Apple.

EU law states that personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person ('data subject'); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person. 

This is a broad definition, which essentially means any data such as an IP address, a Bitcoin wallet address, a credit card or any exchange, if it can be directly or indirectly linked to you, it can be defined as personal data.

The 3 GDPR Articles that conflict with Blockchain properties

There are three articles in GDPR namely Articles, 16,17 and 18 that make life difficult for companies that are planning to use a distributed ledger network for carrying out their business.

1. Article 16: This article in the GDPR allows EU citizens to correct or change data a data controller has on you. Not only can you change existing data that they have on you but you can also add new data if you feel that the current data is inaccurate or incomplete. The problem is, in a distributed network, adding new data isn't a problem but changing it - is.
   
   


2. Article 17: This article refers to the "right to be forgotten". It's not possible to delete data from a blockchain and therefore this article immediately conflicts with the data protection regulation.
   
   


3. Article 18: This article refers to the "right to restrict processing". Basically, this prevents companies from using your data if the data is inaccurate or if it was illegally collected.

One of the major concerns of blockchain is the fact that they are completely open, so anyone can get a copy of your data and do anything they want with it. So, you don't have any control over who is processing your data.

Possible solutions for co-existence!

Encryption - A popular solution would be to encrypt personal data before storing it on a distributed network. This means, only those with the decryption key have access to the data. The moment this key is destroyed, the data becomes useless. This is acceptable in some countries such as the UK however, there are others who argue that strong encryption is still reversible. With advances in computing, it's only a matter of time when encryption could be broken at faster rates and the personal data would be available again. The debate for encryption still rages on.

Permission Blockchains - In a public chain, anyone can put new data on the chain and the data is visible for everyone to see. However, in a permission blockchain, access is controlled and only given to a few known and trusted parties. This makes permission distributed network Article 18 compliant. But unfortunately, it doesn't comply with Article 17, and the right to be forgotten. Even in a permission chain, the data is still immutable and cannot be deleted or edited. A possible solution to this would be to store the data on a secure server with reading and write access. We then store a reference to that data on our blockchain via a link using a hash function. We can store this hash on the blockchain. Hash functions are popular for verifying the integrity of the files on our secure server. Also, hash functions cannot be reverse engineered to reveal data. If we delete the data on the server, the hash function becomes useless and is no longer becomes personal data.

This isn't an elegant solution because blockchains are used because they are decentralized, and by using a secure server, you are back to centralizing again.

Zero-Knowledge Proof - Zero-Knowledge protocol is a method by which one party (the prover) can prove to another party (the verifier) that they know a value x, without conveying any information apart from the fact that they know the value x. This is quite perfect for verifying things like age-gates for example without revealing birthday information with Data collectors. Zero-knowledge proof may be a possible solution to GDPR outside of blockchains.

Bitcoin has been the buzz word in the financial space. As of a matter of fact, Bitcoin has exploded the scene in the last few years and many people

The Basics of Cryptocurrency and the Way It Works

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In the times that we're living in, technology has made unbelievable advancement as compared to any time in the past. This evolution has redefined the life of man on almost every aspect. In fact, this evolution is an ongoing process and thus, human life on earth is improving constantly day in and day out. One of the latest inclusions in this aspect is cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency is nothing but digital currency, which has been designed to impose security and anonymity in online monetary transactions. It uses cryptographic encryption to both generate currency and verify transactions. The new coins are created by a process called mining, whereas the transactions are recorded in a public ledger, which is called the Transaction Block Chain.

Little backtrack

Evolution of cryptocurrency is mainly attributed to the virtual world of the web and involves the procedure of transforming legible information into a code, which is almost uncrackable. Thus, it becomes easier to track purchases and transfers involving the currency. Cryptography, since its introduction in the WWII to secure communication, has evolved in this digital age, blending with mathematical theories and computer science. Thus, it is now used to secure not only communication and information but also money transfers across the virtual web.

How to use cryptocurrency

It is very easy for the ordinary people to make use of this digital currency. Just follow the steps given below:

• You need a digital wallet (obviously, to store the currency)



• Make use of the wallet to create unique public addresses (this enables you to receive the currency)



• Use the public addresses to transfer funds in or out of the wallet

Cryptocurrency wallets

A cryptocurrency wallet is nothing else than a software program, which is capable to store both private and public keys. In addition to that, it can also interact with different blockchains, so that the users can send and receive digital currency and also keep a track on their balance.

The way the digital wallets work

In contrast to the conventional wallets that we carry in our pockets, digital wallets do not store currency. In fact, the concept of blockchain has been so smartly blended with cryptocurrency that the currencies never get stored at a particular location. Nor do they exist anywhere in hard cash or physical form. Only the records of your transactions are stored in the blockchain and nothing else.

A real-life example

Suppose, a friend sends you some digital currency, say in form of bitcoin. What this friend does is he transfers the ownership of the coins to the address of your wallet. Now, when you want to use that money, you've unlock the fund.

In order to unlock the fund, you need to match the private key in your wallet with the public address that the coins are assigned to. Only when both these private and public addresses match, your account will be credited and the balance in your wallet will swell. Simultaneously, the balance of the sender of the digital currency will decrease. In transactions related to digital currency, the actual exchange of physical coins never take place at any instance.

Understanding the cryptocurrency address

By nature, it is a public address with a unique string of characters. This enables a user or owner of a digital wallet to receive cryptocurrency from others. Each public address, that is generated, has a matching private address. This automatic match proves or establishes the ownership of a public address. As a more practical analogy, you may consider a public cryptocurrency address as your eMail address to which others can send emails. The emails are the currency that people send you.

Understanding the latest version of technology, in form of cryptocurrency is not tough. One needs a little interest and spend time on the net to get the basics clear.

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Source by Arnabesh Ray

How to Buy Bitcoins?

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As bitcoin is the brand new currency that has recently come forward, many people are not actually aware of what it is and how it can be useful. It is similar to the US Dollar, Peso, and even Euro but the only difference is that a single government or a single company cannot control it.

Bitcoin is a decentralized peer to peer currency. It is connected to the computer of every individual working with it. In short, it is digital currency and there is no need of a central bank for performing transactions using this currency. It has now become a hot commodity among the spectators. The transactions using digital currencies happen instantly and there is no transaction fee involved. The best part is that nobody can manipulate the bitcoin network.

If you are interested in digital currencies then you must know how to buy bitcoins too. Some people say that it is really difficult to deal with bitcoins but the truth is that getting bitcoins is very easy. It is even easier than opening a bank account.

If you want to know how to buy bitcoins, you will have to start learning how to use the wallet software. Then you will have to learn how to send and receive money so that you can actually buy bitcoins. First of all, you will need a wallet. You can do this by registering yourself with any exchange that hosts a wallet. When you will get into the exchanges, you will need more wallets. You should have one at your own PC too in order to understand bitcoins because some experimental exchanges will be involved. If you want to keep your money safe, it is best to keep on moving it by exchanging coins.

The most common method of buying bitcoins is to buy them from an exchange. There are plenty of websites available today that facilitate in the purchase of digital currencies. These exchanges do not actually sell the bitcoins themselves. They pair a buyer with a bitcoin seller. These exchanges ask the user to provide some personal information before the exchange can actually take place.

Another way to acquire bitcoins is to mine them. Every bitcoin that exists today was once mined through the Bitcoin Mining Network. However, mining can be extremely risky. It's difficulty increases with time and it becomes almost impossible for a user to gain profits.

That's not all; you can buy digital currency from a private broker too. You can enter into an exchange with the broker to get bitcoins but this comes with some drawbacks. The exchange is going to be anonymous. You don't even know any real details about the broker except for his wallet number but you still have to transfer funds in order to make the exchange happen. There is a risk of getting ripped off if the bitcoin exchanges disappear. That will make you lose your bitcoins too.

In short, bitcoins can help you earn money and for this, you just need to know the right time to make the exchange.

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Source by Emma A John

Bitcoin Transaction Malleability, Zero Change Inputs and How It Affects Bitcoin Exchanges

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Transaction malleability is once again affecting the entire Bitcoin network. Generally, this causes a lot of confusion more than anything else, and results in seemingly duplicate transactions until the next block is mined. This can be seen as the following:

• Your original transaction never confirming.


• Another transaction, with the same amount of coins going to and from the same addresses, appearing. This has a different transaction ID.

Often, this different transaction ID will confirm, and in certain block explorers, you will see warnings about the original transaction being a double spend or otherwise being invalid.

Ultimately though, just one transaction, with the correct amount of Bitcoins being sent, should confirm. If no transactions confirm, or more than one confirm, then this probably isn't directly linked to transaction malleability.

However, it was noticed that there were some transactions sent that have not been mutated, and also are failing to confirm. This is because they rely on a previous input that also won't confirm.

Essentially, Bitcoin transactions involve spending inputs (which can be thought of as Bitcoins "inside" a Bitcoin address) and then getting some change back. For instance, if I had a single input of 10 BTC and wanted to send 1 BTC to someone, I would create a transaction as follows:

10 BTC -> 1 BTC (to the user) and 9 BTC (back to myself)

This way, there is a sort of chain that can be created for all Bitcoins from the initial mining transaction.

When Bitcoin core does a transaction like this, it trusts that it will get the 9 BTC change back, and it will because it generated this transaction itself, or at the very least, the whole transaction won't confirm but nothing is lost. It can immediately send on this 9 BTC in a further transaction without waiting on this being confirmed because it knows where the coins are going to and it knows the transaction information in the network.

However, this assumption is wrong.

If the transaction is mutated, Bitcoin core may end up trying to create a new transaction using the 9 BTC change, but based on wrong input information. This is because the actual transaction ID and related data has changed in the blockchain.

Hence, Bitcoin core should never trust itself in this instance, and should always wait on a confirmation for change before sending on this change.

Bitcoin exchanges can configure their primary Bitcoin node to no longer allow change, with zero confirmations, to be included in any Bitcoin transaction. This may be configured by running bitcoind with the -spendzeroconfchange=0 option.

This is not enough though, and this can result in a situation where transactions cannot be sent because there are not enough inputs available with at least one confirmation to send a new transaction. Thus, we also run a process which does the following:

1. Checks available, unspent but confirmed inputs by calling bitcoin-cli listunspent 1.


2. If there are less than x inputs (currently twelve) then do the following:




1. Work out what input is for around 10 BTC.


2. Work out how to split this into as many 1 BTC transactions as possible, leaving enough space for a fee on top.


3. Call bitcoin-cli sendmany to send that ~10 BTC input to around 10 output addresses, all owned by the Bitcoin marketplace.

This way, we can convert one 10 BTC input into approximately ten 1 BTC inputs, which can be used for further transactions. We do this when we are "running low" on inputs and there twelve of less remaining.

These steps ensure that we will only ever send transactions with fully confirmed inputs.

One issue remains though - before we implemented this change, some transactions got sent that rely on mutated change and will never be confirmed.

At present, we are researching the best way to resend these transactions. We will probably zap the transactions at an off-peak time, although we want to itemise all the transactions we think should be zapped beforehand, which will take some time.

One simple technique to decrease the chances of malleability being an issue is to have your Bitcoin node to connect to as many other nodes as possible. That way, you will be "shouting" your new transaction out and getting it popular very quickly, which will likely mean that any mutated transaction will get drowned out and rejected first.

There are some nodes out there that have anti-mutation code in already. These are able to detect mutated transactions and only pass on the validated transaction. It is useful to connect to trusted nodes like this, and worth considering implementing this (which will come with its own risks of course).

All of these malleability issues will not be a problem once the BIP 62 enhancement to Bitcoin is implemented, which will make malleability impossible. This unfortunately is some way off and there is no reference implementation at present, let alone a plan for migration to a new block type.

Although only brief thought has been given, it may be possible for future versions of Bitcoin software to detect themselves when malleability has occurred on change inputs, and then do one of the following:

1. Mark this transaction as rejected and remove it from the wallet, as we know it will never confirm (potentially risky, especially if there is a reorg). Possibly inform the node owner.


2. Attempt to "repackage" the transaction, i.e. use the same from and to address parameters, but with the correct input details from the change transaction as accepted in the block.

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Source by Marc Warne

Bitcoins - Should You Use Them?

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Bitcoin was launched as a private initiative in 2009. Unlike traditional currencies, such as the Euro, Sterling and Dollar, it is not controlled by a central monetary authority. Instead, it is underpinned by a peer-to-peer network of its users' computers. This is similar to how Skype, a video chat service, operates.

The basic unit of value is the bitcoin. However each bitcoin can be subdivided into satoshies. One satoshi is equal to one hundred millionth of a bitcoin (ie, a bitcoin divided to eight decimal places).

Bitcoins and satoshies can be transferred from one internet user to another in order to pay for goods or services at virtually zero cost. This allows you to make international transfers without having to mess around with exchange rates and onerous bank charges. Bitcoins can be bought and sold for traditional cash at special exchanges.

Bitcoin wallets

In order to use Bitcoin, you need a wallet, a special piece of software in which you store, send and receive bitcoins. There are three kinds of wallets, software wallets, mobile wallets and web wallets.

Software wallets are installed on your computer and they give you full control over your wallet. Mobile wallets are installed in your smartphone or tablet and allow you to use Bitcoin for daily transactions in shops and supermarkets by scanning a quick response (QR) code. Web wallets are located on the World Wide Web, ie they are a form of cloud storage.

Payments using bitcoins are super easy. They can be made from wallets on your computer or smartphone just by entering the receiver's address, the amount and then pressing send. Smartphones can also obtain a receiver's address by scanning a QR code or by bringing two phones that contain near-field-communication (NFC) technology, a form of radio communication, close to each other.

Receiving payments is just as easy... all you have to do is give the payer your bitcoin address.

Protecting your wallet

A bitcoin wallet is like a wallet full of cash. To reduce the risk of loss, you should keep only small amounts of bitcoins in your computer or smartphone and keep the bulk of your bitcoins in a safer environment, such as an offline wallet. Provided your wallet has been encrypted, an offline back-up will allow you to recover your wallet, should your computer or smartphone be stolen.

Encrypting your wallet allows you to set a password that must be input before funds can be withdrawn. However, recovering a bitcoin password is impossible if it is lost. That is why you need to be absolutely sure you can remember your password. If the value of your bitcoins is significant, you could store the password in a bank vault or wherever you store important papers.

In order to be as secure as possible, you should store off-line back-ups in several locations using various media such as USB flash drives and CDs.

Because bitcoin runs on software you download to your computer (PC or laptop) or smartphone, you need to update this software regularly in order to keep your wallets and transactions safe.

Advantages of bitcoins

Bitcoins have several significant advantages:

1-you can send and receive limitless amounts of money instantly at any time to and from anywhere in the world.

2-processing does not cost any fees or only very small fees.

3-bitcoin transactions are irreversible, which protects sellers from the fraudulent chargebacks that are increasingly common with credit cards.

4-payments are made without personal information being exchanged, which provides strong protection against identity theft.

5-the receipt and payment process is completely neutral, transparent and predictable.

Disadvantages of bitcoins

However, using bitcoins has several disadvantages:

1-they are not yet accepted universally and thus cannot be used everywhere.

2-their value is volatile because the number of bitcoins in circulation is quite small so relatively small transactions can affect their price significantly.

Should you use bitcoins?

The short answer is NO or, at least, not in a major way yet.

Bitcoins are fungible assets with durability, portability, divisibility and scarcity, ie they have all the characteristics of conventional money (Euros, Dollars, Pounds etc). They have value so they can be exchanged for other currencies at exchanges.

Therein lies the danger. There are times when the value of the bitcoin can fluctuate widely, by 50% in one day. So, as a store of value, they are not for the faint-hearted. In other words, you should not have more money than you can afford to lose in the form of bitcoins.

However a wallet with small amounts of bitcoin in it could be used for minor day-to-day transactions which would help familiarise you with internet currencies. As the amount of bitcoins in circulation increases, their value viz-a-viz other currencies should stabilise and you can start using them for larger transactions.

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Source by Paul D Kennedy

A Brief Introduction About How to Buy Bitcoins As a Traded Currency These Days

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Being a popular form of currency, bitcoins are gaining a worldwide acclaim nowadays,as a result, many people have shown their interest in buying them. Although many financial heads are suggesting people not to indulge in this form of crypto-currency,due to its fluctuating value,yet it is being accepted at a fast pace. In order to purchase bitcoins, one can sign up with the wallet system for free by filling up all the online details or download a mobile application and start investing in them. Once the people have it simple banking payment method could be used to exchange them. However,since security is the prime factor it is necessary that these wallets remain safe and it is due to this reason one should be able to choose a bitcoin service such as the coin base wallets that are of high standards and easy to use.

Although an online wallet is a convenient method for buying bitcoins there are several other options such as selecting a bitcoin trader. It is also important to choose the right one as there are traitors and one should be careful about them. Whereas there are numerous established exchanges that offer the wallet services to the users while looking for a bitcoin wallet system the individual should opt for the one that has a multi-signature facility. The users can also use the bitcoin exchange search in the respective computers or mobile phones and by putting some general information such as typing one's own country name the person can find out a wide range of available exchanges across the world as well as check out its current status. The users can also use the liquid money they have since there are various options available in the marketplace such as local bitcoin services that helps the users to exchange them with cash. Such areas allow the users to visit the nearest bank branch for depositing the cash amount and receive the bitcoins after sometime.

Many people believe that bitcoins represent a new era of digital currency and often get confused with them. However, since the bitcoin chain system is totally computerized it is quite simple and easy to buy and use them especially they are hell cheap when it comes to international transactions. Since exchanges demand a variety of payment processes such as credit or debit cards, the purchasers can also buy online by opening an account on the basis of the respective geographical location. Once the exchanges receive the payments after verification they would save the bitcoins on behalf of the individuals and submit them in the respective wallets. For this,they charge some fees. The entire process might be time-consuming. Many people who are learning how to buy bitcoins can also use the PayPal method for financial interactions.

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Source by Osemudiamen Okoh