According to data from TechMayan, the global block-chain technology market is expected to grow to over $3 billion dollars. This conservative estimate gives you a clear idea of lust how popular block-chain technology is about to become and why business owners need to wake up to the future of their companies.
Many of today’s business owners prefer to bury their heads in the sand and think of block-chain technology as just something for geeks and hackers Nothing could be further tom the truth. Block-chain technology will change how consumers communicate with one another, how they pay for purchases, and especially how they conned with brands. Failure to understand and prepare for a block-chain future is akin to setting a match to your business and watching it bum. If you’re a business owner who needs further convincing as to block-chain's impact on your company, read on.
As block-chain grows in popularity, intermediaries will be eliminated In numerous business verticals. If a consumer and a supplier/provider can conned directly via block-chain technology, why do they need an intermediary facilitating a transaction? Think of businesses that purchase their goods from a wholesaler overseas and then sell their products to consumers at retail price.. When that same consumer can purchase directly from a wholesaler and have their purchase authenticated via a block-chain transaction, there is no need for the retailer to be part of the transaction.
Ever since the price of Bitcoin began to surge, there has been speculation that the popular cryptocurrency has more In common with past bubbles than with real currencies. Skeptics have pointed out that there is nothing behind Bitcoin — no gold, so silver, not even paper. They point out that for all intents and purposes, Bitcoin does not even exist.
Despite the lack of tangible benefits, the price of Bitcoin has defied the odds and risen to all-time highs. Through It all, however, naysayers have continued to claim that Bitcoin is a bubble, albeit one of the largest and most highly valued in history. Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan has famously called Bitcoin Investors stupid — and predicated an enormous financial reckoning to come. Now UBS has joined die chorus of Bitcoin nonbelievers, claiming that Bitcoin is a speculative bubble — and that it is unlikely to ever become a real currency.
The bubble moniker from UBS is noteworthy, since UBS Is one of the biggest Investment banks In the world. Specifically, the bank said that It Is highly doubtful that Bitcoin will ever become a mainstream currency. Despite the widespread adoption of Bitcoin by mainstream retailers, UBS argues that market penetration is still relatively light.
It should be noted, however, that while UBS is doubtful about the future of bitcoin, they are bullish on the possibilities inherent in the block-chain that underlies it. Indeed, UBS feels that block-chain technology will have a significant impact on a number of industries going forward. What we are left with, then, is the age-old question of how to value Bitcoin and other blockchain-based crypto currencies.
How trustworthy are Bitcoin payments?
If you run an online store, you’ve probably had some of your customers ask if you take bitcoins as a form of payment. Reading around the web, you know that It’s a digital form of currency, but it’s also used for nefarious reasons on dark-net market. Bitcoin popularity has increased as more people want a way to pay without using credit cards or traditional debit cards, so offering it could be a way to attract more customers to your store.
Adding bitcoins to payment options have advantages and disadvantages, but ifs mainly a benefit. For e-commerce store owners that ship physical products, it’s a huge advantage because customers aren’t able to reverse their payments. However, bitcoins have a reputation for being an underground, shady currency that only criminals use.
What are Bitcoins?
Digital currency is mined by allowing your computer to spend time calculating mathematical formulas. You “loan” your computing power and get rewarded with bltcolns. When your computer completes a calculation, your wallet receives credit for a minor amount of currency (usually a fraction of a penny). Unfortunately, to run a large warehouse of computers that generate bitcoins takes more money in electricity and hardware than the average person can make mining coins, so it’s better to buy them from a vendor.
You can buy bitcoins from a supplier or even just a friend who has some to spare. The bitcoin market is completely unregulated by the government, so their value goes up and down daily. Currently, bitcoin value has continued to rise, so some Investors have even bought them to make money fror their increased value.
It’s Important to know that bitcoins can be transferred into real cash, so taking bitcoins as a form a payment is a legitimate way to add profit to your business. Some customers only want to work with bitcoins, so by adding them as an option, you attract these customers who would otherwise never buyfrom your store. You don’t need even to buy bitcoins to start taking them as a form of payment. All you need Is a digital wallet.
How do Payments Work?
You first need to set up a digital wallet. For an online business a cloud wallet might be best, because it is available from anywhere in the world. Just remember that if the cloud provider gets hacked, your wallet is in jeopardy. You can also install a desktop wallet, which makes it more secure but It’s only usable on your desktop.
Mobile wallets are available as well, but most people use them to make payments from a smartphone. When you choosE type of wallet, make sure it’s one that doesn’t limit your ability to take payments or even make payments when you aren’t in front of your computer.
Your wallet has a public and private key. Users pay you using a public key that’s linked to your wallet. Your private key is kept secure, and it’s how you can access your wallet for payouts. Ni payments are logged on a digital ledger called the block-chain. Your public key is view-able on the block-chain, so users can see your balance provided that they know your public key. Public keys are sent with payments, and both the sender and you must agree to the transaction before it completes.
Are There Any Dangers with Bitcoins?
Every legitimate payment method online has a scam attached to it. If you take PayPal, you might get chargeable from people whose PayPal accounts have been hacked. If you take credit card payments, you can have charge backs from stolen card numbers Every payment method has its risks, and you have to account for them.
With credit card payments, you can verify shipping addresses and ask people to input their billing address to validate the card. You have no way to know if a digital wallet is a stolen one. As long as the person in control of the wallet has public and private keys, then they can pay for the product.
Even if you can’t verify the real owner, your risk as a seller is minimal. Once a buyer transfers bitcoins to your digital wallet, they cannot reverse the transaction. As an honest seller, this means you are not at risk when sending a product after you’ve received payment with bitcoins.
Because people can use bitcoins to buy products on the black market, the cryptocurrency has acquired a bad reputation. Black marketers also accept credit cards, so it makes no difference which payment method someone uses to pay for a product. When using bitcoin, the block-chain is encrypted and private there Is no government regulation, and no one’s identity Is linked to a particular wallet unless they choose to make it public Because of bitcoin’s association with anonymity, some people consider them a shady way to receive payments However, It’s an irrational stereotype given to cryptocurrency.
What are the Fees for Bitcoin Payments?
As a seller, you get to choose the fees that you want to pay for each transaction. You might ask yourself why you would ever pay fees if you can get it for free, but the bitcoin market has made it so that people can choose fees based on the speed at which they want to receive payments If you decide to pay no fees, then your payment is processed at a low priority, and it can take days before you receive it.
Waiting too long to receive payment is not a viable option for most business owners so your next option is to pay a fee. Paying fees bumps your priority level up, so you can receive payments more quickly. You don’t need to pay high fees to get your payments quickly. You can pay a few cents for each transaction to get your money quicker, which is what most business owners opt for.
Most payment processing companies charge several dollars per transaction or a percentage of the amount. Bitcoin payments are much cheaper, and you don’t have a third-party controlling your payments. That is one major advantage of using bitcoins for payments over credit cards. You still need to take credit cards to appease the masses, but you add a payment option for those people who prefer it, and It’s a low cost investment.
Should You Take Bitcoins as a Payment Option?
If you run an e-commerce store, the hardest part about collecting bitcoin payments is the wallet setup and programming that Integrates It into your store. You can find plugins for Word Press that help you work with bitcoins without much programming experience. You can also find a developer that can code bitcoin into your payment processing pages.
Don’t let bitcoin myths drive you away from cryptocurrency. It’s a great way to reduce risk when you ship the product after payment. You no longer need to worry about chargebacks. You can easily integrate it Into your e-commerce store, and it’s a cheap way to drive additional revenue for your site without paying high commission fees to third-parties.
Ethereum Market Reads Positively to Byzantium Fork
There Is always fear and trepidation when a cryptocurrency enters a hard fork, a mixture of enthusiasm and worry as a new phase begins increasingly, however, hard forks are being greeted not with fear but with an almost blind optimism.
Bitcoin has been experiencing a real price surge recently, with many cryptocurrency watchers citing fork-based enthusiasm as part of the reason. Ethereum has seen a similar rise In the lead-up to the Byzantium fork, a level of optimism that sent the currency to recent highs Now that the Byzantium hard fork has been completed, the price of Ethereum is once again on the rise. So what does it mean for the future of the cryptocurrency market in general and the finances of Ethereum investors in particular? The facts — the Byzantium hard fork was of dally locked in at block 4,370,000 on October 16, 2017. After some last minute security concerns, the latest hard fork went of without a hitch, much to the relief of worried Ethereum fans.
How Much Is Bitcoin Worth: BoA Claims it is impossible to tell
It has been the number one question since &Rein first appeared. How much is the cryptocurrency really worth? Should Bitcoin be valued on the strength of its currency? On the number of vendors that accept the payment? On the technology behind its famous block-chain? On supply or demand? Or on some other, less tangible factor?
So far, the only consensus on the value of Bitcoin is the one the marketplace has assigned. Even as some Wall Street notables claim the true value of Bitcoin Is zero and that cryptocurrency is a criminal ponzi scheme, other wall-street types are coning around, admitting that there is something to this new form of payment after all.
Unfortunately, even the best brains in Wall Street have been able to determine just how much Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies we really worth. Bank of America has come right out and said so, essentially stating that it is impossible to tell how much Bitcoins are worth, or even on which criteria it should be valued. That is a problem, especially if Bank of America and other Investment banks when they decide to jump into the Bitcoin market.
Initial coin offerings (ICOs) are an emerging class of investments which are generating a lot of interest. Powered by blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, ICOs have attracted the interest of huge financial firms and celebrities such as Floyd Money Mayweather. While firms such as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan say they’re receiving a lot of interest from big-money investors who want to get involved in ICOs there are a lot of dangers associated with this time of investment.
Unlike initial public offerings (IPOs), ICOs are almost completely unregulated. Anyone with a working knowledge of blockchain technology can offer one. The ease of setting up an ICO has made them a magnet for scammers. The problem is big enough that it was one of the main motivations in the Chinese government completely banning Bitcoin exchanges.
So how can investors distinguish between ICOs with huge potential and those that are quick money-making scams? The biggest difference between an IPO and an ICO is that companies launching an IPO usually have some kind of track record that they’re required to provide information on. Strict regulations mean that potential investors can take a good look at the company’s past performance before committing. Where IPOs see shares issued in a pre-existing company, ICOs offer tokens which investors hope will appreciate over time.
Where companies offering IPOs are required to provide access to their accounts, ICOs usually release a white paper explaining their plans for future growth. The white paper lays out what the company plans to do and why. Investors should scrutinize the vision outlined in the white paper just as closely as they would the performance indicators and asset information contained in a publicly-traded company’s accounts.
Why NEO Might Explode In Value?
New cryptocurrencies are created every day. Some are pump-and-dump scams that generate a quick profit for their creators while others are tech experiments that ultimately go nowhere. Few become serious, long-term projects that can compete with the big-impact cryptos such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Since its launch in August 2017, NEO has shown several signs of being one of those few.
Dubbed by some as “the Chinese Ethereum” NEO is an innovative new cryptoarrency with a lot of advantages over competing coins. NEO’s value has already more than tripled In value since Its launch. We believe there are few reasons that its value may be poised to rise a lot higher.
The Chinese government sent shock waves through cryptocurrency markets when they amounted they were banning all initial coin offerings and Bitcoin exchanges. China’s influence over the emerging cryptocurrency field is enormous Most experts predict China’s economy will eclipse the United States’ to become the world’s largest within the next few years. That will obviously have huge implications for global economic instruments such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
In some ways, it’s strange that the Chinese government would move against established cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Around 60% of global Bitcoin mining occurs within China’s borders, and the country, therefore, exerts greater control over Bitcoin than any other nation. NEO night be the key to understanding the Chinese government’s intentions. NEO is an entirely Chinese venture, and soon after NEO’s launch, the value of a coin jumped from 8% to 12% after the team announced they were partnering with major Chinese financial institutions.
There’s a long history of Chinese entitles copying foreign innovations and putting a Sno spin on them. Just as Baidu became the Chinese Google and Sna Welbo became the Chine. Twitter, NEO will have government backing that could help its value climb past foreign competitors such as Bitcoin and Ethereum innovation.
NEO Is far more than just a Chinese clone of Bitcoin or Ethereum. NEO is taking an innovative approach to block chain technology that gives it several advantages over other cryptocurrencies. All major crypto currencies operate through a centralized ledger where all transactions are recorded “on chain” NEO is the first cryptocurrency to offer the possibility of off-chain transactions.
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