utos are without a doubt genuine marvels of designing. In any case, with more vehicles on the streets now than any time in recent memory, it is vital that each of us knows about its effects on our surroundings. Whether you claim or lease an auto, whether you have a standard or extravagance auto, there are things you can do to spare cash and decrease vitality use, CO2 emanations and contamination.
In the event that you think about an eco-accommodating drive as well, you'll be satisfied to hear there are a couple of basic ways you can have any kind of effect.
Moderate down continuously: Backing off bit by bit at Activity Lights is better for the earth as it diminishes fuel utilization.
Drive at a predictable velocity: Quickening and breaking hard will cut the proficiency of your drive by around 33%. That is on account of sudden halting and beginning requires more vitality. Attempt and keep up a general velocity to get the most out of your fuel.
Use voyage control: Utilizing journey control on level landscape gives a 7% fuel saving money on a normal since it helps you keep up an enduring pace. Maintain a strategic distance from it on uneven streets however as this will bring about your motor to accelerate and back off.
Administration your auto: Guaranteeing your fuel framework is working appropriately and your tires are expanded and adjusted to makers' details can guarantee fuel proficiency.
Exchanging off the additional items: Aerating and cooling and radiators require colossal measure of force, which will cut your mileage. All things considered, driving with the windows open makes drag, so you have to discover a parity to keep up a comfortable temperature inside your auto.
Change gears at lower revs: Over-revving squanders loads of fuel. In the event that you switch up somewhat prior this will decrease your revs. In case you're driving a diesel auto, we propose you intend to up-change a gear when the rev counter achieves 2000 rpm. For petrol autos, we recommend 2500 rpm.
Arrangement your outing: The more straightforward your course and the less time you spend backing off to make sense of which approach to go, the more productive your drive will be.
Close down: Switch off the motor on the off chance that you think you will be stationary for over two minutes.
Lose the weight: Additional weight means additional fuel, so if there's pointless things in the boot you don't require on the adventure, take it out and store it at home.
These couple of straightforward little changes to your auto and driving procedures can be taken after on both claimed and leased cars.This would advance help you spare the earth as well as your cash as well.
Practice environmental awareness and Have any kind of effect to our surroundings!
Bitcoin peaked about a month ago, on December 17, at a
high of nearly $20,000. As I write, the cryptocurrency is under $11,000... a
loss of about 45%. That's more than $150 billion in lost market cap.
Cue much hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth in the crypto-commentariat.
It's neck-and-neck, but I think the "I-told-you-so" crowd has the
edge over the "excuse-makers."
Here's the thing: Unless you just lost your shirt on
bitcoin, this doesn't matter at all. And chances are, the "experts"
you may see in the press aren't telling you why.
In fact, bitcoin's crash is wonderful... because it
means we can all just stop thinking about cryptocurrencies altogether.
The Death of Bitcoin...
In a year or so, people won't be talking about bitcoin
in the line at the grocery store or on the bus, as they are now. Here's why.
Bitcoin is the product of justified frustration. Its
designer explicitly said the cryptocurrency was a reaction to government abuse
of fiat currencies like the dollar or euro. It was supposed to provide an
independent, peer-to-peer payment system based on a virtual currency that
couldn't be debased, since there was a finite number of them.
That dream has long since been jettisoned in favor of
raw speculation. Ironically, most people care about bitcoin because it seems
like an easy way to get more fiat currency! They don't own it because they want
to buy pizzas or gas with it.
Besides being a terrible way to transact
electronically - it's agonizingly slow - bitcoin's success as a speculative
play has made it useless as a currency. Why would anyone spend it if it's
appreciating so fast? Who would accept one when it's depreciating rapidly?
Bitcoin is also a major source of pollution. It takes
351 kilowatt-hours of electricity just to process one transaction - which also
releases 172 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That's enough to
power one U.S. household for a year. The energy consumed by all bitcoin mining
to date could power almost 4 million U.S. households for a year.
Paradoxically, bitcoin's success as an old-fashioned
speculative play - not its envisaged libertarian uses - has attracted
government crackdown.
China, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland and France
have implemented, or are considering, bans or limitations on bitcoin trading.
Several intergovernmental organizations have called for concerted action to
rein in the obvious bubble. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which
once seemed likely to approve bitcoin-based financial derivatives, now seems
hesitant.
And according to Investing.com: "The European
Union is implementing stricter rules to prevent money laundering and terrorism
financing on virtual currency platforms. It's also looking into limits on
cryptocurrency trading."
We may see a functional, widely accepted
cryptocurrency someday, but it won't be bitcoin.
... But a Boost for Crypto Assets
Good. Getting over bitcoin allows us to see where the
real value of crypto assets lies. Here's how.
To use the New York subway system, you need tokens.
You can't use them to buy anything else... although you could sell them to
someone who wanted to use the subway more than you.
In fact, if subway tokens were in limited supply, a
lively market for them might spring up. They might even trade for a lot more
than they originally cost. It all depends on how much people want to use the
subway.
That, in a nutshell, is the scenario for the most
promising "cryptocurrencies" other than bitcoin. They're not money,
they're tokens - "crypto-tokens," if you will. They aren't used as
general currency. They are only good within the platform for which they were
designed.
If those platforms deliver valuable services, people
will want those crypto-tokens, and that will determine their price. In other
words, crypto-tokens will have value to the extent that people value the things
you can get for them from their associated platform.
That will make them real assets, with intrinsic value
- because they can be used to obtain something that people value. That means
you can reliably expect a stream of revenue or services from owning such
crypto-tokens. Critically, you can measure that stream of future returns
against the price of the crypto-token, just as we do when we calculate the
price/earnings ratio (P/E) of a stock.
Bitcoin, by contrast, has no intrinsic value. It only
has a price - the price set by supply and demand. It can't produce future
streams of revenue, and you can't measure anything like a P/E ratio for it.
One day it will be worthless because it doesn't get
you anything real.
Ether and Other Crypto Assets Are the Future
The crypto-token ether sure seems like a currency.
It's traded on cryptocurrency exchanges under the code ETH. Its symbol is the
Greek uppercase Xi character. It's mined in a similar (but less
energy-intensive) process to bitcoin.
But ether isn't a currency. Its designers describe it
as "a fuel for operating the distributed application platform Ethereum. It
is a form of payment made by the clients of the platform to the machines
executing the requested operations."
Ether tokens get you access to one of the world's most
sophisticated distributed computational networks. It's so promising that big
companies are falling all over each other to develop practical, real-world uses
for it.
Because most people who trade it don't really
understand or care about its true purpose, the price of ether has bubbled and
frothed like bitcoin in recent weeks.
But eventually, ether will revert to a stable price
based on the demand for the computational services it can "buy" for
people. That price will represent real value that can be priced into the
future. There'll be a futures market for it, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs),
because everyone will have a way to assess its underlying value over time. Just
as we do with stocks.
What will that value be? I have no idea. But I know it
will be a lot more than bitcoin.
My advice: Get rid of your bitcoin, and buy ether at
the next dip.
As we expected, since publishing Crypto TREND we have
received many questions from readers. In this edition we will answer the most
common one.
What kind of changes are coming that could be game
changers in the cryptocurrency sector?
One of the biggest changes that will impact the
cryptocurrency world is an alternative method of block validation called Proof
of Stake (PoS). We will try to keep this explanation fairly high level, but it
is important to have a conceptual understanding of what the difference is and
why it is a significant factor.
Remember that the underlying technology with digital
currencies is called blockchain and most of the current digital currencies use
a validation protocol called Proof of Work (PoW).
With traditional methods of payment, you need to trust
a third party, such as Visa, Interact, or a bank, or a cheque clearing house to
settle your transaction. These trusted entities are "centralized",
meaning they keep their own private ledger which stores the transaction's
history and balance of each account. They will show the transactions to you,
and you must agree that it is correct, or launch a dispute. Only the parties to
the transaction ever see it.
With Bitcoin and most other digital currencies, the
ledgers are "decentralized", meaning everyone on the network gets a
copy, so no one has to trust a third party, such as a bank, because anyone can
directly verify the information. This verification process is called
"distributed consensus."
PoW requires that "work" be done in order to
validate a new transaction for entry on the blockchain. With cryptocurrencies,
that validation is done by "miners", who must solve complex
algorithmic problems. As the algorithmic problems become more complex, these
"miners" need more expensive and more powerful computers to solve the
problems ahead of everyone else. "Mining" computers are often
specialized, typically using ASIC chips (Application Specific Integrated
Circuits), which are more adept and faster at solving these difficult puzzles.
Here is the process:
Transactions are bundled together in a 'block'.
The miners verify that the transactions within each
block are legitimate by solving the hashing algorithm puzzle, known as the
"proof of work problem".
The first miner to solve the block's "proof of
work problem" is rewarded with a small amount of cryptocurrency.
Once verified, the transactions are stored in the
public blockchain across the entire network.
As the number of transactions and miners increase, the
difficulty of solving the hashing problems also increases.
Although PoW helped get blockchain and decentralized,
trustless digital currencies off the ground, it has some real shortcomings,
especially with the amount of electricity these miners are consuming trying to
solve the "proof of work problems" as fast as possible. According to
Digiconomist's Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, Bitcoin miners are using more
energy than 159 countries, including Ireland. As the price of each Bitcoin
rises, more and more miners try to solve the problems, consuming even more
energy.
All of that power consumption just to validate the
transactions has motivated many in the digital currency space to seek out
alternative method of validating the blocks, and the leading candidate is a
method called "Proof of Stake" (PoS).
PoS is still an algorithm, and the purpose is the same
as in the proof of work, but the process to reach the goal is quite different.
With PoS, there are no miners, but instead we have "validators." PoS
relies on trust and the knowledge that all the people who are validating
transactions have skin in the game.
This way, instead of utilizing energy to answer PoW
puzzles, a PoS validator is limited to validating a percentage of transactions
that is reflective of his or her ownership stake. For instance, a validator who
owns 3% of the Ether available can theoretically validate only 3% of the
blocks.
In PoW, the chances of you solving the proof of work
problem depends on how much computing power you have. With PoS, it depends on
how much cryptocurrency you have at "stake". The higher the stake you
have, the higher the chances that you solve the block. Instead of winning
crypto coins, the winning validator receives transaction fees.
Validators enter their stake by 'locking up' a portion
of their fund tokens. Should they try to do something malicious against the network,
like creating an 'invalid block', their stake or security deposit will be
forfeited. If they do their job and do not violate the network, but do not win
the right to validate the block, they will get their stake or deposit back.
If you understand the basic difference between PoW and
PoS, that is all you need to know. Only those who plan to be miners or
validators need to understand all the ins and outs of these two validation
methods. Most of the general public who wish to possess cryptocurrencies will
simply buy them through an exchange, and not participate in the actual mining
or validating of block transactions.
Most in the crypto sector believe that in order for
digital currencies to survive long-term, digital tokens must switch over to a
PoS model. At the time of writing this post, Ethereum is the second largest
digital currency behind Bitcoin and their development team has been working on
their PoS algorithm called "Casper" over the last few years. It is
expected that we will see Casper implemented in 2018, putting Ethereum ahead of
all the other large cryptocurrencies.
As we have seen previously in this sector, major
events such as a successful implementation of Casper could send Ethereum's
prices much higher. We'll be keeping you updated in future issues of Crypto
TREND.
Bitcoin has lead the crypto world for so long, and so
dominantly that the terms crypto and Bitcoin are often used interchangeably.
However, the truth is, the digital currency does not only comprise of Bitcoin.
There are numerous other crypto currencies that are part of the crypto world.
The purpose of this post is to educate our readers on cryptocurrencies other
than Bitcoin to provide them with a wide range of options to choose from - if
they intend on making crypto-investments.
So let's get started with the first name on our list,
that is:
Litecoin:
Launched in 2011, Litecoin is often referred to as
'silver to Bitcoin's gold.' Charlie Lee - MIT graduate and former engineer at
Google - is the founder of Litecoin.
Similar to Bitcoin, Litecoin is a decentralized, open
source payment network which functions without a central authority.
Litecoin is similar to Bitcoin in many ways and often
leads people to think: "Why not go with Bitcoin? Both are similar!".
Here's a catch: the block generation of Litecoin is much faster than that of
Bitcoin! and this is the main reason why merchants around the world are becoming
more open to accepting Litecoin.
Ethereum:
Another open source, decentralized software platform.
The currency was launched in 2015 and enables Smart Contracts and Distributed
Applications to be built and run without any downtime.
The applications on Ethereum platform require a
specific cryptographic token - Ether. According to the core developers of
Ethereum, the token can be used to trade, secure, and decentralize just about
anything.
Ethereum experienced an attack in 2016 which saw the
currency split into two parts: Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.
In the race of leading cryptocurrencies, Ethereum is
second most popular and is right behind Bitcoin.
Zcash:
Zcash came out in the later part of 2016. The currency
defines itself as: "if Bitcoin is like http for money, Zcash is
https".
Zcash promises to provide transparency, security, and
privacy of transactions. The currency also offers the option of 'shielded'
transaction so the users can transfer data in the form of encrypted code.
Dash:
Dash is originally a secretive version of Bitcoin. It
is also known as 'Darkcoin' due to its secretive nature.
Dash is popular for offering an expanded anonymity
which allows its users to make transactions impossible to trace.
The currency first appeared on the canvas of digital
market in the year 2014. Since then, it has experienced a large fan following
over a very short span of time.
Ripple:
With a market capitalization of over $1bn, Ripple is
the last name on our list. The currency was launched in 2012 and offers
instant, secure, and low-cost payments.
The consensus ledger of Ripple doesn't require mining,
a feature which makes it different from Bitcoin and other mainstream crypto
currencies.
The lack of mining reduces the computing power which
ultimately minimizes the latency and makes transactions faster.
Wrap Up:
Although Bitcoin continues to lead the pack of crypto,
the rivals are picking up the pace. Currencies like Ethereum and Ripple have
surpassed Bitcoin in enterprise solutions and are growing in popularity each
day. Going by the trend, the other cryptos are here to stay and will soon be
giving Bitcoin a real tough time to maintain its stature.
Whether it's the idea of cryptocurrencies itself or diversification of their portfolio, people from all walks of life are investing in digital currencies. If you're new to the concept and wondering what's going on, here are some basic concepts and considerations for investment in cryptocurrencies.
What cryptocurrencies are available and how do I buy them?
With a market cap of about $278 billion, Bitcoin is the most established cryptocurrency. Ethereum is second with a market cap of over $74 billion. Besides these two currencies, there are a number of other options as well, including Ripple ($28B), Litecoin ($17B) and MIOTA ($13B).
Being first to market, there are a lot of exchanges for Bitcoin trade all over the world. BitStamp and Coinbase are two well-known US-based exchanges. Bitcoin.de is an established European exchange. If you are interested in trading other digital currencies along with Bitcoin, then a crypto marketplace is where you will find all the digital currencies in one place. Here is a list of exchanges according to their 24-hour trade volume. What options do I have to store my money?
Another important consideration is storage of the coins. One option, of course, is to store it on the exchange where you buy them. However, you will have to be careful in selecting the exchange. The popularity of digital currencies has resulted in many new, unknown exchanges popping up everywhere. Take the time to do your due diligence so you can avoid the scammers.
Another option you have with cryptocurrencies is that you can store them yourself. One of the safest options for storing your investment is hardware wallets. Companies like Ledger allow you store Bitcoins and several other digital currencies as well.
What's the market like and how can I learn more about it?
The cryptocurrency market fluctuates a lot. The volatile nature of the market makes it more suited for a long-term play.
There are many established news sites that report on digital currencies, including Coindesk, Business Insider, Coin Telegraph, and Cryptocoin News. Besides these sites, there are also many Twitter accounts that tweet about digital currencies, including @BitcoinRTs and @AltCoinCalendar.
Digital currencies aim to disrupt the traditional currency and commodity market. While these currencies still have a long way to go, the success of Bitcoins and Ethereum have proven that there is genuine interest in the concept. Understanding the basics of cryptocurrency investment will help you go in the right direction.
