In 2008, Bitcoin entered the post-financial crisis market with a gleaming promise of revolutionizing the finance world as we knew it. Built on the desire to modernize conventional banking institutions and change the economics of the internet, it rose to success and eventually ran on a 17-fold price increase throughout 2017. At its peak, a
Recent Cryptocurrency Stories
What is Bitcoin Gold? The latest (October 26, 2017) of Bitcoin’s hard forks, Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is not a favorite in the crypto community, despite its seemingly laudable goal of making sure Bitcoin can’t be taken over by companies running huge mining computers. There are no obvious problems with the tech itself, and BTG is
What is Ethereum Classic? Ethereum Classic (ETC) is to Ethereum as Bitcoin Cash is to Bitcoin—the product of an intense practical and philosophical disagreement within the crypto community. In most respects, it is identical to Ethereum, though this will become less true over time as the two currencies continue to pursue different development goals after
What is Bitcoin Cash? One of the most controversial events in crypto history was the “hard fork” that created Bitcoin Cash (BCH) from the base Bitcoin blockchain in August of 2017. Scalability has been one of Bitcoin’s biggest challenges, with transaction fees and times skyrocketing as the network is put under more and more strain.
What is Ethereum? If Bitcoin was the template for the first generation of cryptocurrencies, Ethereum (ETH) is the template for the second. While Bitcoin and many of the coins it inspired are primarily used as money, Ethereum and its crypto offshoots see this as function as secondary to the main goal: putting the whole world
What is Basic Attention Token? The phrase “attention economy” may sound as if it belongs in a Black Mirror episode, but like it or not, it is what fuels the internet. The single best way to monetize online content is advertising, which can slow down load times, eat up a surprising amount of mobile data,
What is TRON? Digital media has almost completely replaced physical media, and while this is a welcome revolution in terms of convenience and efficiency, it can possibly be centralized and censored even more easily. TRON (TRX) is a cryptocurrency that claims to offer a solution: a decentralized digital media platform capable of connecting creators and
What is Ripple? Banking technology seems to be moving forward at a snail’s pace compared to other fields. In an age where almost anything is just a few clicks away, money transfers still take days, and exchanging between currencies is even more of a headache. Ripple (XRP) aims to fix that by main transfers nearly
What is Bitcoin? Blockchains as we know them are still less than a decade old. Bitcoin (BTC) popped up in 2009, two whole years after the first modern smartphone, but, like the smartphone, its breakneck rate of progress and fast worldwide adoption make it feel like it’s been around a lot longer. Some already see
What is Steem? Steem is a blockchain which enables users to reward content creators for quality content posted on the Steem social media site. It has tokens and can be traded on exchanges, but rather than being mined, it is given out according to activity on this website. The whole project can be thought of
This infographic on Bitcoin has long been overdue because I've been meaning to do one on the founder of all cryptocurrencies. I came across some interesting stories on the web about Bitcoin why I figured why not compile them into a fun graphic just cause? Anyhow, I hope you guys enjoy the graphic. If you
I thought I'd do another infographic for Ethereum seeing how much people like them. I know the title for the infographic is a bit sensationalist, but it was intentional to poke some good fun at crypto memes, jokes and puns on the cryptocurrency that sort of started all the “to the moon” memes. But in
What is Bitshares? Many cryptocurrencies are targeted at improving aspects of the current financial system—payments, contracts, speed, privacy—but Bitshares (BTS) aims to have it all: a universal asset exchange equivalent to something like the NASDAQ, a price-stable cryptocurrency, a lightning-fast transaction network, a corporate finance platform, and more. Bitshares has a lot of complex layers,
What is Bytecoin? Though it has recently experienced a resurgence of interest, Bytecoin (BCN) has been largely stuck on the sidelines since its creation in 2012. Nonetheless, it is one of the earliest cryptocurrencies developed and is the first to be based on the Cryptonote protocol—a technology also used by its more successful heir, Monero.
What is Siacoin? Data stored in the cloud generally heads straight to one of a few big companies that put it on machines in a few big warehouses. Siacoin (SC), on the other hand, is one of several cryptocurrencies that plans to make the cloud much more cloud-like by taking your data, encrypting it, splitting
It has been a while since I've posted about Ripple XRP. The last time I posted about Ripple XRP was January 6, 2018 on the piece called Why I am Bullish on Ripple XRP Solving the Cross-Border Payments Problem. Rest assured, I am still a Ripple supporter as much as the next guy. In light
What is Zcash? The “Z” in Zcash (ZEC) stands for “zero,” as in “zero-knowledge proof.” This refers to the cryptocurrency's main feature: the ability to prove that a transaction is valid without any information about that transaction actually being revealed. Users can make their transactions virtually untraceable—unlike Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, where the history is
What is Dash? It started out as “XCoin,” then became “DarkCoin,” and in 2015 it came to its current name: “Dash,” (DASH) which is a portmanteau of “digital cash.” Its naming history sums up its purpose: it is focused on both privacy and speed and is only meant to be used as a currency (no
What is Monero? While most cryptocurrencies are fairly anonymous, Monero’s (XMR) goal is to make every transaction completely untraceable. It is arguably the most private cryptocurrency available at this time, which has made it, for better or worse, the cryptocurrency of choice for users with an interest in avoiding the law. It is hardly surprising
What is Lisk? “Decentralized apps” (dApps) have been growing in popularity since Ethereum made it possible to put programs on a blockchain. However, not many apps have actually been designed yet, and average users do not have an easy way to find the programs that do exist. Lisk (LSK) is attempting to solve these problems
Cryptocurrency startup Tether Limited, as well as one of the world’s largest exchanges, Bitfinex, were reportedly issued subpoenas by U.S federal regulators on December 6th, 2017. This news came to light after the company ended its relationship with Friedman LLP—an auditing firm it had employed to confirm its financial stability—on January 27th. What is this
What is OmiseGO? Founded by a Southeast Asian fintech group operating primarily in Thailand, OmiseGO (OMG) has been generating significant buzz since Vitalik Buterin (creator of Ethereum) declared it his favorite token. The reasons he gave boil down to this: it’s a token with a purpose that goes beyond money replacement and has a clear
What is Dogecoin? Originally started as a “joke currency” based on a meme about a happy-looking Shiba Inu (known as “Doge”), Dogecoin (DOGE) has gradually been building in value and can be easily traded on a wide variety of exchanges. It gained notoriety for its sponsorship of the Jamaican bobsled team in the 2014 Sochi
What is Request Network? Smart payment applications, like Venmo or Stripe, are growing increasingly popular, but they are typically limited to a few main functionalities and currencies. Request Network’s (REQ) mission is to, as their whitepaper says, “become the backbone of world trade” by making payment possible between anyone, anywhere, using any currency, with invoices