Cappasity(CAPP)

Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted last year. Here's how his trial came together.

Miner reserves saw continued net outflows since bitcoin ETF debut, falling to its lowest level since June 2021, CryptoQuant data shows.

Analysts from JPMorgan Chase think the downward pressure on Bitcoin’s price has been capped as profit-taking on the crypto investment vehicle, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), has now likely concluded.

Bitcoin (BTC/USD) continued to trade around key technical levels early in the Asian session as the pair was capped around the 43112.62 area, representing a test of the 61.8% retracement of the depreciating range from 45000 to 40150.

The immediate price reaction showed that bitcoin's price might be capped if a real approval arrives, one analyst noted.

The business intelligence firm has capped off the year with the acquisition of an additional 14,620 Bitcoins, totaling approximately $615.7 million.

TLDR Rebel Satoshi ($RBLZ), a meme coin inspired by Satoshi Nakamoto, disrupts crypto conventions, uniting a community around decentralized principles and meme ethos. $RBLZ, capped at 250 million tokens, fuels stake rewards, marketing, and liquidity pools. The presale saw immense demand, selling 10 million tokens in 48 hours. Rebel Satoshi’s […]

[PRESS RELEASE – Tulum, Mexico, November 17th, 2023] CKB, the blockchain of the Nervos Network, is set to mark a significant milestone with its first halving on November 19th. This event will cut CKB’s hard-capped base issuance rate in half, bringing real inflation down from 7.92% to 3.77%, among the lowest across major Layer 1 […]

South Korean crypto exchanges with “real-name” bank accounts must hold $2.3 million in reserve funds according to new mandates to improve customer protection. Starting in September, South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges must comply with a new mandate that states they must reserve a minimum of three billion won ($2.3 million) to safeguard consumers. Exchanges With “Real-Name” Bank Accounts to Comply with Reserve Requirements According to the “Virtual Asset Real-Name Account Operation Guidelines” published by the Korea Federation of Banks (KFB) in July, the reserve requirement applies to crypto exchanges that have been issued with accounts from “real-name” local banks. These accounts refer to clients that comply with Know-Your-Customer (KYC) requirements and use the same name with the exchange as they do with the banks. Under the KFB’s guidelines, exchanges are to set aside 30% of their daily average deposits or three billion won – whichever amount is more significant- in reserve. Reserves are, however, capped at 20 billion won. The KFB’s guidelines further introduce enhanced KYC procedures and additional authentication for collection transfers. While the new minimum reserve requirement takes effect in September, the additional KYC and verification measures are set to take effect in January 2024, Finance Magnates reports. South Korea Introduces Clarity for the Crypto Sector South Korea recently issued many new measures to enhance consumer protection. The country is also actively introducing more precise regulatory guidelines for the industry as it tries to fight crime and fraud and prepares to introduce new taxation guidelines. The South Korean government initially sought to introduce a 20% tax levy on all cryptocurrency earnings but has postponed its plans until 2025. The government explained that it would first introduce regulations to protect investors and provide clarity for the industry going forward. As such, the government recently introduced an interagency investigation team to help it manage crypto regulation and as part of its efforts to address the rising number of illicit crypto-related activities in South Korea. In a bid to fully regulate the industry, South Korea’s Financial Service Commission issued draft rules requiring companies holding or issuing cryptocurrencies to disclose their holding in financial statements from 2024. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The United States Securities Commission (SEC) is all set to greenlight the first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on Ether (ETH) futures in a big win for the crypto space. Nearly a dozen companies have expressed interest and filed applications with the SEC to launch ETFs. Big Win For Crypto According to sources familiar with the matter, the regulator will not block or oppose products. This comes as a major relief to companies who have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Bitwise, Roundhill, ProShares, and Volatility Shares. However, it is still unclear which funds would receive the nod from the SEC. Officials and sources close to the matter have stated that approvals could come as early as October, but the SEC has yet to comment on the matter. Ether (ETH) is the native token of the Ethereum blockchain and is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, second only to Bitcoin. The SEC’s Changing Stance The Securities and Exchange Commission has repeatedly blocked previous attempts at an ETF based directly on a cryptocurrency. However, in late 2021, the regulator began permitting trading in a fund that involved Bitcoin futures contracts trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Since then, speculation has been growing that the Securities and Exchange Commission would allow a product with Ether futures which would also be traded on the exchange. However, despite the buzz and excitement, the Securities and Exchange Commission has dragged its feet when it comes to approvals for a product that involves derivatives in Ether. Data from CoinGecko shows that ETH commands a market value of just under $200 billion, second only to Bitcoin, which has a market value of nearly $700 billion. Hope For Bitcoin ETFs? However, the Securities and Exchange Commission is still pushing back against Bitcoin-based ETFs and is locked in a tense standoff with the crypto industry on the matter. Grayscale Investments has already challenged the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rejection of its application to convert its Bitcoin trust into an ETF. A panel of US federal appellate court judges will be deciding on the matter soon. On its part, the Securities and Exchange Commission has argued that the crypto space is fraught with several hazards. The regulator has repeatedly expressed concerns about price manipulation and insufficient liquidity when it comes to crypto. The regulator has also flagged Bitcoin’s volatility as a threat, especially to newer investors. However, several firms, including BlackRock, have filed applications with the Securities and Exchange Commission to list ETFs based on Bitcoin. BlackRock’s filing had a considerable impact on the market, pushing the price of Bitcoin above $31,000. However, since then, the price has hovered around the $29,000 mark. Valkyrie’s ETF Filing Asset management firm Valkyrie has also submitted an application to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for an Ethereum (ETH) futures exchange-traded fund. The application signals the asset manager’s intention to move beyond just offering Bitcoin futures ETFs. Valkyrie had filed the application on the 16th of August. The application stated that the ETF would not directly invest in ETH, purchasing ETH futures contracts instead. The application also outlines a specific limit on the ETF’s investment in ETH futures contracts. As per the application, the investments are capped at 8000 contracts per month. This has been done to comply with position limits set by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. If the Securities and Exchange Commission approves the application, investors will be able to speculate on ETH’s future price movements via the ETF. Valkyrie also plans to invest in cash, cash-like instruments, or high-quality securities. These include government-issued bonds, bills, notes, money market funds, and corporate debt securities. Valkyrie is one of several asset managers looking for approval for an Ether futures ETF. Others include VanEck, Grayscale, Bitwise, ProShares, Volatility Shares, and Round Hill Capital. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The United States Securities Commission (SEC) is all set to greenlight the first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on Ether (ETH) futures in a big win for the crypto space. Nearly a dozen companies have expressed interest and filed applications with the SEC to launch ETFs. Big Win For Crypto According to sources familiar with the matter, the regulator will not block or oppose products. This comes as a major relief to companies who have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Bitwise, Roundhill, ProShares, and Volatility Shares. However, it is still unclear which funds would receive the nod from the SEC. Officials and sources close to the matter have stated that approvals could come as early as October, but the SEC has yet to comment on the matter. Ether (ETH) is the native token of the Ethereum blockchain and is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, second only to Bitcoin. The SEC’s Changing Stance The Securities and Exchange Commission has repeatedly blocked previous attempts at an ETF based directly on a cryptocurrency. However, in late 2021, the regulator began permitting trading in a fund that involved Bitcoin futures contracts trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Since then, speculation has been growing that the Securities and Exchange Commission would allow a product with Ether futures which would also be traded on the exchange. However, despite the buzz and excitement, the Securities and Exchange Commission has dragged its feet when it comes to approvals for a product that involves derivatives in Ether. Data from CoinGecko shows that ETH commands a market value of just under $200 billion, second only to Bitcoin, which has a market value of nearly $700 billion. Hope For Bitcoin ETFs? However, the Securities and Exchange Commission is still pushing back against Bitcoin-based ETFs and is locked in a tense standoff with the crypto industry on the matter. Grayscale Investments has already challenged the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rejection of its application to convert its Bitcoin trust into an ETF. A panel of US federal appellate court judges will be deciding on the matter soon. On its part, the Securities and Exchange Commission has argued that the crypto space is fraught with several hazards. The regulator has repeatedly expressed concerns about price manipulation and insufficient liquidity when it comes to crypto. The regulator has also flagged Bitcoin’s volatility as a threat, especially to newer investors. However, several firms, including BlackRock, have filed applications with the Securities and Exchange Commission to list ETFs based on Bitcoin. BlackRock’s filing had a considerable impact on the market, pushing the price of Bitcoin above $31,000. However, since then, the price has hovered around the $29,000 mark. Valkyrie’s ETF Filing Asset management firm Valkyrie has also submitted an application to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for an Ethereum (ETH) futures exchange-traded fund. The application signals the asset manager’s intention to move beyond just offering Bitcoin futures ETFs. Valkyrie had filed the application on the 16th of August. The application stated that the ETF would not directly invest in ETH, purchasing ETH futures contracts instead. The application also outlines a specific limit on the ETF’s investment in ETH futures contracts. As per the application, the investments are capped at 8000 contracts per month. This has been done to comply with position limits set by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. If the Securities and Exchange Commission approves the application, investors will be able to speculate on ETH’s future price movements via the ETF. Valkyrie also plans to invest in cash, cash-like instruments, or high-quality securities. These include government-issued bonds, bills, notes, money market funds, and corporate debt securities. Valkyrie is one of several asset managers looking for approval for an Ether futures ETF. Others include VanEck, Grayscale, Bitwise, ProShares, Volatility Shares, and Round Hill Capital. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

BTC/USD Confounded Around 29529: Sally Ho’s Technical Analysis – 12 August 2023 Bitcoin (BTC/USD) looked to add to recent gains early in the Asian session as the pair ascended to the 29534.14 area before encountering technical resistance, around a level that represents the 23.6% retracement of the depreciating range from 30128.88 to 29344.16. Buying pressure intensified around the 29309 area after selling pressure emerged around the 29709 level. Technical trading was recently evident when buying pressure strengthened around the 28754 area, a previous downside price objective associated with selling pressure around the 29526 and 29344 areas. Large Stops are cited below the 27991.29 area, representing the 23.6% retracement of the broader appreciating range from 15460 to 31862.21. Additional areas of technical support and potential buying pressure in these appreciating ranges include the 27466, 27166, 26428, 26272, and 25715 areas. Above the market, upside price objectives include the 30526, 30611, 30762, and 31145 areas. Upside price objectives related to other levels of buying pressure include the 32125 and 33569 areas, and Stops are cited above additional upside price objectives around the 32043, 34531, 34658, and 35912 areas. Additional downside price objectives linked to recent selling pressure include the 28432, 28213, 28137, 27979, 27757, 27430, 27409, 27338, 27312, 27246, 26501, 26348, and 26199 levels. Also, the 28095.44 area represents the 23.6% retracement of the historic depreciating range from 69000 to 15460. Traders areobservingthat the50-bar MA (4-hourly)isbearishly indicating below the 200-bar MA (4-hourly)andabove the100-bar MA (4-hourly). Also, the 50-bar MA (hourly) is bullishly indicating above the 100-bar MA (hourly) and above the 200-bar MA (hourly). Price activity is nearest the200-bar MA(4-hourly) at 29274.73 and the100-bar MA(Hourly) at 29461.23. Technical Supportis expected around24440.41/ 23270.10/ 22769.39 withStopsexpected below. Technical Resistanceis expected around31986.16/ 32989.19/ 34658.69 withStopsexpected above. On4-Hourlychart,SlowKis Bearishly below SlowDwhileMACDis Bearishly below MACDAverage. On60-minutechart,SlowKis Bearishly below SlowDwhileMACDisBullishly above MACDAverage. Disclaimer: Sally Ho’s Technical Analysis is provided by a third party, and for informational purposes only. It does not reflect the views of Crypto Daily, nor is it intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, or financial advice.

BTC/USD Confounded Around 29529: Sally Ho’s Technical Analysis – 12 August 2023 Bitcoin (BTC/USD) looked to add to recent gains early in the Asian session as the pair ascended to the 29534.14 area before encountering technical resistance, around a level that represents the 23.6% retracement of the depreciating range from 30128.88 to 29344.16. Buying pressure intensified around the 29309 area after selling pressure emerged around the 29709 level. Technical trading was recently evident when buying pressure strengthened around the 28754 area, a previous downside price objective associated with selling pressure around the 29526 and 29344 areas. Large Stops are cited below the 27991.29 area, representing the 23.6% retracement of the broader appreciating range from 15460 to 31862.21. Additional areas of technical support and potential buying pressure in these appreciating ranges include the 27466, 27166, 26428, 26272, and 25715 areas. Above the market, upside price objectives include the 30526, 30611, 30762, and 31145 areas. Upside price objectives related to other levels of buying pressure include the 32125 and 33569 areas, and Stops are cited above additional upside price objectives around the 32043, 34531, 34658, and 35912 areas. Additional downside price objectives linked to recent selling pressure include the 28432, 28213, 28137, 27979, 27757, 27430, 27409, 27338, 27312, 27246, 26501, 26348, and 26199 levels. Also, the 28095.44 area represents the 23.6% retracement of the historic depreciating range from 69000 to 15460. Traders areobservingthat the50-bar MA (4-hourly)isbearishly indicating below the 200-bar MA (4-hourly)andabove the100-bar MA (4-hourly). Also, the 50-bar MA (hourly) is bullishly indicating above the 100-bar MA (hourly) and above the 200-bar MA (hourly). Price activity is nearest the200-bar MA(4-hourly) at 29274.73 and the100-bar MA(Hourly) at 29461.23. Technical Supportis expected around24440.41/ 23270.10/ 22769.39 withStopsexpected below. Technical Resistanceis expected around31986.16/ 32989.19/ 34658.69 withStopsexpected above. On4-Hourlychart,SlowKis Bearishly below SlowDwhileMACDis Bearishly below MACDAverage. On60-minutechart,SlowKis Bearishly below SlowDwhileMACDisBullishly above MACDAverage. Disclaimer: Sally Ho’s Technical Analysis is provided by a third party, and for informational purposes only. It does not reflect the views of Crypto Daily, nor is it intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, or financial advice.

Solana-based protocol Parrot Finance will buy PRT tokens from all sellers at $0.0045 apiece.

The legislation would have capped the industry's participation in demand response programs.

The bank expects digital asset trading volumes to remain subdued, with retail investors remaining on the sidelines.

The total supply of the SUI token is capped at 10 billion coins, with tokens running on delegated Proof-of-Stake, or dPoS, consensus algorithm.

So far in this series, we've already talked about what Bitcoin is, about how you can buy it, and how you can spend it, but how is it actually made? Bitcoin vs. Gold The short answer is that new Bitcoins are mined. However, since that is just giving a label, rather than a definition, you’re probably going to want to know a bit more than that. It’s perhaps easiest to compare Bitcoin to its nearest physical equivalent: gold. Just as existent banking systems are (or at least were) based on the quantity and value of gold in a given country’s banks, the security and validity of Bitcoin based on the quantity of Bitcoins currently available in the network. Likewise, the production of new amounts of both gold and Bitcoin meet the same paradox. As mining equipment becomes more and more powerful, so the amount of material to be mined becomes less and less, meaning that more effort is being pumped in to get the same net returns. However, this leads to a predictable and sustainable growth of the amount of either resource in the real world. Of course, in the case of gold, this is just how it worked out. Gold is an element, and therefore cannot be produced or created out of something else, no matter what any budding alchemist might tell you. Recent estimates hold the total amount of mined gold in the world to be somewhere in the region of 187,000 tonnes, with a further 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes being produced as a result of mining every year. As it becomes ever more scarce, new mining techniques and equipment must be discovered and invented in order to maintain that level of production. Bitcoin follows the same pattern, and deliberately so. Being a cryptocurrency, creating new Bitcoins could have been as easy as pressing the hash key on your laptop, but that would have been pointless: a free, abundant, and infinite supply of any commodity leads to devaluation and hyperinflation, and your billions and billions of Bitcoins would be worth less than the laptop that allowed you to make them. As with gold, scarcity and reliability are the cornerstones of Bitcoin. In a white paper that he published in 2008, Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto stated that the availability of Bitcoins would be capped at 21 million. By best estimates, almost 17 million of those Bitcoins have been created (or mined) as of 2017. But what of the mining itself? We can picture the notion of mining for gold – massive drills and diggers clawing out a mountainside to release the gold ore within, and so on – but what are we actually mining for when it comes to a pseudo-currency? To understand that, we need to talk about transactions, blocks, and blockchains. Transactions A transaction is any activity involving Bitcoins. If you buy a Bitcoin from a vendor, then that is a transaction. If you sell a Bitcoin to a buyer, then that is a transaction. If you purchase goods or services with a Bitcoin, then that is also a transaction. Think of each of them as being a line in a physical ledger, denoting money in and money out. Blocks If a transaction is a line in a ledger book, then a block is a page in the same book, essentially a collection of transactions. In real terms, a block is 1 megabyte (Mb) worth of transactions on the Bitcoin network. As each block (or page) is completed, the next transaction to be undertaken will fall into the next available block. A block is a permanent record of transactions on the Bitcoin network, and one that cannot be erased, removed or amended. Blockchain Again, if a transaction is a line in the ledger and if a block is a page in a ledger, then the blockchain is the ledger itself. Every ‘page’ filled in is a new block, or a new link on the chain. This blockchain stretches all the way back to the beginning of the Bitcoin revolution and the Genesis block that Satoshi Nakamoto released in 2008. If you purchase a Bitcoin from a vendor, then it is entirely possible, given enough time and patience, to trace the life of that Bitcoin all the way back along the blockchain, working your way through blocks (or pages, to return to our ledger analogy), all the way to the point where your Bitcoin was first created, or mined. Which leads us back to our original question: how is a Bitcoin made, and what is Bitcoin mining? Mining First of all, it’s important to realise that mining is just a piece of Bitcoin terminology. What Bitcoin miners are actually doing is auditing and verifying transactions on the network, specifically preventing a thing called double-spending, whereby someone could create an electronic copy of a Bitcoin, and spend it twice. Because every single Bitcoin transaction is held somewhere along the blockchain, the blockchain itself becomes the verification of legitimacy. If a transaction has made it into a block, and that block has made it on to the chain, then the sale or purchase in question was, by definition, a legitimate one. So, in order to maintain that legitimacy, every single transaction must be checked, in detail and in depth, to confirm the provenance of the bitcoins being used in the transaction, which is where the miners come in. The miners perform two tasks – the first is for the good of the network, and it is the verification of Bitcoin transactions. Once they have verified enough transactions to fill up a block (that is, 1Mb of transactions, you’ll remember, which could potentially equate to hundreds or even thousands of lines in our virtual ledger), they will be eligible to win a crop of newly-generated bitcoins. This, then, is the second task. The Bitcoins are generated by the networks own protocols, and are essentially up for grabs. At the moment, each new block allows the miner the opportunity to go for those bitcoins (currently 12.5 bitcoins are being generated, or mined, for each new block), and this is where the competition steps up. You see, verifying a block’s worth of transactions is pretty easy stuff. The next stage, to win the bitcoins themselves, only happens if you’re the first miner who happens to arrive at the correct answer to a specific numerical problem. In the Bitcoin network, this principle is referred to as proof of work. Proof of work You’ll be glad to know that there is no need to have experience with advanced computation skills or mathematics in order to provide your proof of work, as it is all done by your mining software. What that software is attempting to do is to generate what is known as a hash. A hash is a hexadecimal number that is 64-digits long, with each digit being one of sixteen designations (hence the word hexadecimal, from the Greek hexa meaning six, and “deca”, meaning ten: six plus ten). For Bitcoin purposes, the sixteen possible designations are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 0, a, b , c, d, e, and f. Now, the Bitcoin network produces a target hash, completely at random, with no formula for calculation, and no way of predicting it based on previous hashes – rather like a National Lottery Draw, for instance. Every hash is unique, and prior hashes have no bearing on the future. When a miner manages to complete a box of transaction audits, then they are allowed to have a guess at the value of the target hash, by producing their own hash. If the miner’s hash is equal to or lower than the target hash, and that miner is the first one to do so, then 12.5 Bitcoins will be generated (or minted if you want to think in terms of regular currency) and added to the existing pool of Bitcoins available for all. More specifically, those 12.5 Bitcoins are awarded to the miner who guessed the hash correctly. Now, if that all sounds a bit too easy, it almost certainly is. The odds of a lone miner making any serious cash out of mining for Bitcoins are stratospheric. Indeed, the odds of anyone hash producing a result that is under the target hash is less than 1 in a trillion. What allows Bitcoins to continue to be generated, and at such a rate (the average clearance time for a block is 10 minutes, with 12.5 Bitcoins being generated each time to account for same) is that there are loads of Bitcoin miners out there, using very sophisticated equipment and, perhaps more importantly, thousands of linked computers to do the computational work for them. There is dedicated mining hardware and software out there, capable of producing billions of hashes per second, spread over thousands of computers and, even then, there is no guarantee of success. Your newly-generated hash, even if it does meet the criteria, simply might not get there in time. Some other miner, or mining syndicate might have snagged that same hash mere seconds before you but, in the world of Bitcoin mining, the winners get the spoils. Lottery As mentioned above, the odds of a single user just happening to come across the right hexadecimal code in time to cash in are pretty unlikely and yet, with all those Bitcoins being spawned at the rate of 75 bitcoins per hour, and up for grabs, someone has to win it, and it could be a solo user. Think of bitcoin mining as a lottery because, quite literally, that’s what it is. While Bitcoin as a currency is one of the strongest and the most stable, getting your hands on those newly-minted bitcoins is going to take more than a little luck. First, there is your work for the network – that is, your verification of previous transactions, or lines in the ledger, to return to a previous analogy. 1Mb of transactions means that you’ve filled a block and that is essentially your lottery ticket, your eligibility to partake in a spot of hashing. Each hash attempt is a line of numbers on your ticket, and each line has a chance of winning the jackpot, so long as the numbers fit into a certain hexadecimal pattern. The good news is that you can submit your hashes as many times as you like, thousands and millions, and billions of times per second, which sounds great, except you probably still won’t hit the magic number, as every single newly generated hash retains the same odds of over a trillion to one. Again, just like the lottery, many people think of joining a syndicate. The rationale here is the same. One person, even one person with a decent mining set-up stands an infinitesimal chance of matching a hash. Two people combining hashes stand a slightly better chance, a couple of dozen even better, and a few thousand? Well, you get the idea. More people combining their blocks results in more hash attempts made over a given period of time, and a greater chance of getting the desired result. Of course, whenever you do win, you’ll make less, having to share your Bitcoins, or the value thereof with all of your fellow syndicate makers. You may also owe an additional fee to the syndicate organiser, who will normally take a percentage or two of any earnings, on the grounds that he is ensuring the legality of the exchange, and corralling all of the mining efforts of any given syndicate. However, it is a path worth pursuing. With Bitcoin currently valued at around $5,000 per bitcoin, and 12.5 of them available (or $62,500) every 10 minutes a sufficiently large and well-equipped mining syndicate can see decent profits as more people jump on board, prompting more transactions, blocks filled up quicker, and a swifter generation of more Bitcoins into the cybereconomy.

So far in this series, we've already talked about what Bitcoin is, about how you can buy it, and how you can spend it, but how is it actually made? Bitcoin vs. Gold The short answer is that new Bitcoins are mined. However, since that is just giving a label, rather than a definition, you’re probably going to want to know a bit more than that. It’s perhaps easiest to compare Bitcoin to its nearest physical equivalent: gold. Just as existent banking systems are (or at least were) based on the quantity and value of gold in a given country’s banks, the security and validity of Bitcoin based on the quantity of Bitcoins currently available in the network. Likewise, the production of new amounts of both gold and Bitcoin meet the same paradox. As mining equipment becomes more and more powerful, so the amount of material to be mined becomes less and less, meaning that more effort is being pumped in to get the same net returns. However, this leads to a predictable and sustainable growth of the amount of either resource in the real world. Of course, in the case of gold, this is just how it worked out. Gold is an element, and therefore cannot be produced or created out of something else, no matter what any budding alchemist might tell you. Recent estimates hold the total amount of mined gold in the world to be somewhere in the region of 187,000 tonnes, with a further 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes being produced as a result of mining every year. As it becomes ever more scarce, new mining techniques and equipment must be discovered and invented in order to maintain that level of production. Bitcoin follows the same pattern, and deliberately so. Being a cryptocurrency, creating new Bitcoins could have been as easy as pressing the hash key on your laptop, but that would have been pointless: a free, abundant, and infinite supply of any commodity leads to devaluation and hyperinflation, and your billions and billions of Bitcoins would be worth less than the laptop that allowed you to make them. As with gold, scarcity and reliability are the cornerstones of Bitcoin. In a white paper that he published in 2008, Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto stated that the availability of Bitcoins would be capped at 21 million. By best estimates, almost 17 million of those Bitcoins have been created (or mined) as of 2017. But what of the mining itself? We can picture the notion of mining for gold – massive drills and diggers clawing out a mountainside to release the gold ore within, and so on – but what are we actually mining for when it comes to a pseudo-currency? To understand that, we need to talk about transactions, blocks, and blockchains. Transactions A transaction is any activity involving Bitcoins. If you buy a Bitcoin from a vendor, then that is a transaction. If you sell a Bitcoin to a buyer, then that is a transaction. If you purchase goods or services with a Bitcoin, then that is also a transaction. Think of each of them as being a line in a physical ledger, denoting money in and money out. Blocks If a transaction is a line in a ledger book, then a block is a page in the same book, essentially a collection of transactions. In real terms, a block is 1 megabyte (Mb) worth of transactions on the Bitcoin network. As each block (or page) is completed, the next transaction to be undertaken will fall into the next available block. A block is a permanent record of transactions on the Bitcoin network, and one that cannot be erased, removed or amended. Blockchain Again, if a transaction is a line in the ledger and if a block is a page in a ledger, then the blockchain is the ledger itself. Every ‘page’ filled in is a new block, or a new link on the chain. This blockchain stretches all the way back to the beginning of the Bitcoin revolution and the Genesis block that Satoshi Nakamoto released in 2008. If you purchase a Bitcoin from a vendor, then it is entirely possible, given enough time and patience, to trace the life of that Bitcoin all the way back along the blockchain, working your way through blocks (or pages, to return to our ledger analogy), all the way to the point where your Bitcoin was first created, or mined. Which leads us back to our original question: how is a Bitcoin made, and what is Bitcoin mining? Mining First of all, it’s important to realise that mining is just a piece of Bitcoin terminology. What Bitcoin miners are actually doing is auditing and verifying transactions on the network, specifically preventing a thing called double-spending, whereby someone could create an electronic copy of a Bitcoin, and spend it twice. Because every single Bitcoin transaction is held somewhere along the blockchain, the blockchain itself becomes the verification of legitimacy. If a transaction has made it into a block, and that block has made it on to the chain, then the sale or purchase in question was, by definition, a legitimate one. So, in order to maintain that legitimacy, every single transaction must be checked, in detail and in depth, to confirm the provenance of the bitcoins being used in the transaction, which is where the miners come in. The miners perform two tasks – the first is for the good of the network, and it is the verification of Bitcoin transactions. Once they have verified enough transactions to fill up a block (that is, 1Mb of transactions, you’ll remember, which could potentially equate to hundreds or even thousands of lines in our virtual ledger), they will be eligible to win a crop of newly-generated bitcoins. This, then, is the second task. The Bitcoins are generated by the networks own protocols, and are essentially up for grabs. At the moment, each new block allows the miner the opportunity to go for those bitcoins (currently 12.5 bitcoins are being generated, or mined, for each new block), and this is where the competition steps up. You see, verifying a block’s worth of transactions is pretty easy stuff. The next stage, to win the bitcoins themselves, only happens if you’re the first miner who happens to arrive at the correct answer to a specific numerical problem. In the Bitcoin network, this principle is referred to as proof of work. Proof of work You’ll be glad to know that there is no need to have experience with advanced computation skills or mathematics in order to provide your proof of work, as it is all done by your mining software. What that software is attempting to do is to generate what is known as a hash. A hash is a hexadecimal number that is 64-digits long, with each digit being one of sixteen designations (hence the word hexadecimal, from the Greek hexa meaning six, and “deca”, meaning ten: six plus ten). For Bitcoin purposes, the sixteen possible designations are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 0, a, b , c, d, e, and f. Now, the Bitcoin network produces a target hash, completely at random, with no formula for calculation, and no way of predicting it based on previous hashes – rather like a National Lottery Draw, for instance. Every hash is unique, and prior hashes have no bearing on the future. When a miner manages to complete a box of transaction audits, then they are allowed to have a guess at the value of the target hash, by producing their own hash. If the miner’s hash is equal to or lower than the target hash, and that miner is the first one to do so, then 12.5 Bitcoins will be generated (or minted if you want to think in terms of regular currency) and added to the existing pool of Bitcoins available for all. More specifically, those 12.5 Bitcoins are awarded to the miner who guessed the hash correctly. Now, if that all sounds a bit too easy, it almost certainly is. The odds of a lone miner making any serious cash out of mining for Bitcoins are stratospheric. Indeed, the odds of anyone hash producing a result that is under the target hash is less than 1 in a trillion. What allows Bitcoins to continue to be generated, and at such a rate (the average clearance time for a block is 10 minutes, with 12.5 Bitcoins being generated each time to account for same) is that there are loads of Bitcoin miners out there, using very sophisticated equipment and, perhaps more importantly, thousands of linked computers to do the computational work for them. There is dedicated mining hardware and software out there, capable of producing billions of hashes per second, spread over thousands of computers and, even then, there is no guarantee of success. Your newly-generated hash, even if it does meet the criteria, simply might not get there in time. Some other miner, or mining syndicate might have snagged that same hash mere seconds before you but, in the world of Bitcoin mining, the winners get the spoils. Lottery As mentioned above, the odds of a single user just happening to come across the right hexadecimal code in time to cash in are pretty unlikely and yet, with all those Bitcoins being spawned at the rate of 75 bitcoins per hour, and up for grabs, someone has to win it, and it could be a solo user. Think of bitcoin mining as a lottery because, quite literally, that’s what it is. While Bitcoin as a currency is one of the strongest and the most stable, getting your hands on those newly-minted bitcoins is going to take more than a little luck. First, there is your work for the network – that is, your verification of previous transactions, or lines in the ledger, to return to a previous analogy. 1Mb of transactions means that you’ve filled a block and that is essentially your lottery ticket, your eligibility to partake in a spot of hashing. Each hash attempt is a line of numbers on your ticket, and each line has a chance of winning the jackpot, so long as the numbers fit into a certain hexadecimal pattern. The good news is that you can submit your hashes as many times as you like, thousands and millions, and billions of times per second, which sounds great, except you probably still won’t hit the magic number, as every single newly generated hash retains the same odds of over a trillion to one. Again, just like the lottery, many people think of joining a syndicate. The rationale here is the same. One person, even one person with a decent mining set-up stands an infinitesimal chance of matching a hash. Two people combining hashes stand a slightly better chance, a couple of dozen even better, and a few thousand? Well, you get the idea. More people combining their blocks results in more hash attempts made over a given period of time, and a greater chance of getting the desired result. Of course, whenever you do win, you’ll make less, having to share your Bitcoins, or the value thereof with all of your fellow syndicate makers. You may also owe an additional fee to the syndicate organiser, who will normally take a percentage or two of any earnings, on the grounds that he is ensuring the legality of the exchange, and corralling all of the mining efforts of any given syndicate. However, it is a path worth pursuing. With Bitcoin currently valued at around $5,000 per bitcoin, and 12.5 of them available (or $62,500) every 10 minutes a sufficiently large and well-equipped mining syndicate can see decent profits as more people jump on board, prompting more transactions, blocks filled up quicker, and a swifter generation of more Bitcoins into the cybereconomy.

Viuly, the company working to build the online video sharing platform of the future, has announced plans to distribute its VIU tokens to all current Ethereum holders. This follows a recent strategic decision from the startup to expand its current user base and encourage adoption of its decentralized video sharing revolution available at https://viuly.io. On November 5th, a snapshot of the Ethereum blockchain was taken, after which every Ethereum personal wallet owner holding at least 0.1 ETH will receive a share of VIU tokens on November 10th. VIU tokens, ERC20 compliant built on the Ethereum protocol, are the native currency of the Viuly online video platform. The Ethereum community can expect to receive VIU tokens at a fixed rate of 5 VIU for every 1 ETH owned, capped at 1,000 ETH (to receive 5,000 VIU tokens) per holder. Holders will qualify for the airdrop as long as they held at least 0.1 ETH during the November 5th snapshot. To ensure participation, ETH holders are advised to use Ethereum wallets with their own private keys and support for ERC20 tokens. Some recommended wallets include MyEtherWallet and Mist. Wallets from online services such as cryptocurrency exchanges will not be allowed to receive VIU tokens. The airdrop campaign hopes to replicate the success of previous models of free distribution to active crypto users, seeking to leverage the global and extensive reach of the Ethereum community, one of the most popular alternative cryptocurrencies in use. The model of wide distribution and global circulation is projected to catalyze growth and adoption of Viuly’s revolutionary video platform. Given that there will be a total of 500,000,000 (500 million) VIU tokens in circulation, it is expected that this airdrop campaign will be distributed to some 1 million active Ethereum users. Viuly hopes that the mass airdrop participants will be encouraged to experience the Viuly platform, which enables users to create, upload and watch videos online. Experience the future of online video sharing with Viuly! Viuly believes that the mass airdrop campaign will greatly help adoption and use of its platform. The initial wide distribution will mean that millions of users will immediately own VIU tokens that they can use to promote their videos and interact with other Viuly users. Users of the platform can currently use VIU tokens to: - pay for advertising that other users will watch; - tip content creators if they enjoy the videos; - access premium content on a pay-per-view basis; - subscribe to paid video channels; - trade on the open market once tokens are listed on external exchanges soon after the airdrop. In the near future, users can even purchase products and services advertised on Viuly directly from the video ads. About Viuly Viuly’s mission is to disrupt the multi-billion dollar industry of online video sharing through decentralization and transparency. It aims to create a fair and open video network operating on an equitable model of revenue sharing. With Viuly, users have a fair, unrestricted environment to share, watch, and upload any content. For more information on Viuly’s objectives and development roadmap, visit the Viuly website https://viuly.com and try the platform at: https://viuly.io.

Viuly, the company working to build the online video sharing platform of the future, has announced plans to distribute its VIU tokens to all current Ethereum holders. This follows a recent strategic decision from the startup to expand its current user base and encourage adoption of its decentralized video sharing revolution available at https://viuly.io. On November 5th, a snapshot of the Ethereum blockchain was taken, after which every Ethereum personal wallet owner holding at least 0.1 ETH will receive a share of VIU tokens on November 10th. VIU tokens, ERC20 compliant built on the Ethereum protocol, are the native currency of the Viuly online video platform. The Ethereum community can expect to receive VIU tokens at a fixed rate of 5 VIU for every 1 ETH owned, capped at 1,000 ETH (to receive 5,000 VIU tokens) per holder. Holders will qualify for the airdrop as long as they held at least 0.1 ETH during the November 5th snapshot. To ensure participation, ETH holders are advised to use Ethereum wallets with their own private keys and support for ERC20 tokens. Some recommended wallets include MyEtherWallet and Mist. Wallets from online services such as cryptocurrency exchanges will not be allowed to receive VIU tokens. The airdrop campaign hopes to replicate the success of previous models of free distribution to active crypto users, seeking to leverage the global and extensive reach of the Ethereum community, one of the most popular alternative cryptocurrencies in use. The model of wide distribution and global circulation is projected to catalyze growth and adoption of Viuly’s revolutionary video platform. Given that there will be a total of 500,000,000 (500 million) VIU tokens in circulation, it is expected that this airdrop campaign will be distributed to some 1 million active Ethereum users. Viuly hopes that the mass airdrop participants will be encouraged to experience the Viuly platform, which enables users to create, upload and watch videos online. Experience the future of online video sharing with Viuly! Viuly believes that the mass airdrop campaign will greatly help adoption and use of its platform. The initial wide distribution will mean that millions of users will immediately own VIU tokens that they can use to promote their videos and interact with other Viuly users. Users of the platform can currently use VIU tokens to: - pay for advertising that other users will watch; - tip content creators if they enjoy the videos; - access premium content on a pay-per-view basis; - subscribe to paid video channels; - trade on the open market once tokens are listed on external exchanges soon after the airdrop. In the near future, users can even purchase products and services advertised on Viuly directly from the video ads. About Viuly Viuly’s mission is to disrupt the multi-billion dollar industry of online video sharing through decentralization and transparency. It aims to create a fair and open video network operating on an equitable model of revenue sharing. With Viuly, users have a fair, unrestricted environment to share, watch, and upload any content. For more information on Viuly’s objectives and development roadmap, visit the Viuly website https://viuly.com and try the platform at: https://viuly.io.