Tag Archives: bitcoin

The Main Characteristics of Bitcoin

By now, almost everybody in the world may have likely heard about the cryptocurrency that started it all in “cryptodom”: Bitcoin. But presently, Bitcoin is not the only famous or investment-worthy cryptocurrency that exists. There are a number of others too, but they aren’t quite like Bitcoin.

About nine years after Satoshi published Bitcoin’s white paper, its market cap has increased from as much as $320.58 billion in December 2017 to $1.091 trillion on December 1, 2021, and dropped to $822.31 billion on January 16, 2022, at an exchange rate of $43,436.81 to 1 bitcoin.

Anybody who had invested $100 in Bitcoin and bought one Bitcoin at the then rate of a Bitcoin to a dollar (i.e., 1BTC = $1) in February 2011 would have had approximately $4.34 million worth of Bitcoin by January 16, 2022.

Many people who invested in Bitcoin during its early days and purchased and saved as much as 1000 Bitcoins (equivalent to $1,000) in February 2011, would have about $43.44 million at the time of writing.

So far, Bitcoin has been indomitable and is the talk of the crypto world, even though it is not perfect in every regard. Its age and position as a pacesetter among cryptocurrencies definitely gives it an advantage and has helped it to occupy and maintain the number one spot in the league of cryptocurrencies.

Another advantage Bitcoin has is its popularity: the obvious fact that most people have heard so much about Bitcoin, but not so much about other cryptocurrencies, has given it a big edge over the rest.

As a result, even though people could choose from thousands of other cryptocurrencies and altcoins—which may be better long-term alternatives to Bitcoin—most cryptocurrency newbies would prefer to start with Bitcoin.

But despite its age and certain characteristics that place it on top of other cryptocurrencies, surprisingly, some people still think that Bitcoin could be the worst cryptocurrency to own or to invest in.

Because the age, characteristics, and popularity of Bitcoin have made it the top superstar of all cryptocurrencies, it is clearly the frontrunner every year and pulls the entire crypto market along with its volatility.

There are actually a ton of other digital coins or cryptos that are in the financial market and have improved on the characteristics of Bitcoin, in order to highlight their own pros and somewhat expose Bitcoin’s cons.

The main characteristics of Bitcoin are as follows

  • Bitcoin network is decentralized
  • Bitcoin is minable
  • Creation or mining of Bitcoin occurs through proof-of-work
  • Bitcoin’s trading symbol is “BTC”
  • Bitcoin transactions are anonymous—but not completely anonymous
  • Bitcoin transaction time is usually between 30 minutes and 24 hours
  • Bitcoin mining requires a lot of energy.
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Bitcoin Mining: Definition & How it Works

Usually, newcomers in the digital currency or cryptocurrency world have a load of questions. If you’re new or somewhat a bit familiar with Bitcoin, you might have probably wondered where the digital currency “Bitcoin” comes from, or how it is created or mined.

In fact, you might have asked questions such as: What is bitcoin mining? How does bitcoin mining work? How can you mine Bitcoins? The aim of this article is to answer these questions and explain bitcoin mining in very simple terms.

This article was written specifically for people who have average, little, or no technical knowledge about Bitcoin, how it is being created, and how its network is being secured during the process of bitcoin mining.

Generally, this article discusses the following topics:

  • Definition of bitcoin mining
  • How does bitcoin mining work: how can you mine Bitcoins?
  • Activities that bitcoin miners are involved in

Definition of bitcoin mining

Bitcoin mining is a process in which the Bitcoin network security is decentralized and Bitcoins are created or brought into existence and circulated. The main purpose of bitcoin mining is not to create new Bitcoins; the creation or mining of new Bitcoins is an incentive in the Bitcoin network/system.

The purpose of bitcoin mining is to achieve decentralization. Bitcoin mining runs in a decentralized way in which no central bank, nobody, and no group of people have control over the Bitcoin network or blockchain; all users of the network collectively exercise control without passing through any intermediaries.

Bitcoin mining secures the bitcoin system, verifies bitcoin transactions or payments made by clients/users on the bitcoin network, and stretches the boundaries of its network-wide consensus without any central authority controlling or dictating its activities.

Although the process of mining Bitcoins has been compared to that of mining gold and other precious metals, both Bitcoin and gold are mined in completely different ways; however, their mining processes are similar in one way: the more both of them are mined, the more their fixed supply is reduced, and they become more difficult to mine and supply.

How does bitcoin mining work: how can you mine Bitcoins?

Without the activities of bitcoin miners who use the computing power of computers to guess 64-digit hexadecimal numbers (hashes) that are less than or equal to the target hashes, and maintain the bitcoin network, it would be impossible to decentralize and secure the bitcoin network, mine or create Bitcoins, and validate transactions between the network’s users or clients.

Anyone who is interested in getting into bitcoin mining should take note that bitcoin mining is similar to the gold rushes of the past, around the early times when gold was discovered. Many people who made attempts to find fortune during the early gold rushes, lost everything that they had because they didn’t consider a number of important things before investing time and money in it.

During the gold rushes, few people became rich; however, even those who became rich experienced hardship on the way. Bitcoin mining has its fair share of challenges and bears many similarities with traditional gold rushes and other get-rich-quick schemes which people often don’t consider in their entirety before investing time and money in them.

You need powerful hardware and convenient electricity (energy) supply before you can successfully mine Bitcoins. Before starting, you have to estimate the quantity of electricity you would need, and determine whether your investment in mining Bitcoins will be greater or lesser than what you could earn after you start mining.

During bitcoin mining, the computing power of each computer (in the network) uses a cryptographic process to estimate the value of bitcoin assets in each transaction, process the transactions, create Bitcoins, synchronize everybody in the system, and secure the network.

Bitcoin mining works by using a designated bitcoin mining software program on a computer to guess 64-digit hexadecimal numbers based on cryptographic hash algorithms; the solution to the problems earns bitcoin miners 2 rewards: new Bitcoins, and transaction fees from all transactions in the blocks thru add to the blockchain.

Any bitcoin miner who wants to add their block and enter transactions into the blockchain has to provide proof or answer to a particular challenge. Even with the use of computers, it’s difficult to provide proof; however, if proof is provided, other people in the network can easily verify it. The process of verifying proof is known as proof-of-work or PoW.

Bitcoin mining software program can be acquired by anyone who is interested in becoming a bitcoin miner and using computing power to solve puzzles or problems, create Bitcoins, process transactions, and secure the network.

The more powerful a bitcoin miner’s computers is, the faster they would be able to guess 64-digit hexadecimal numbers, beat the remaining crowd of Bitcoin miners, and earn bitcoin mining rewards. The bitcoin miners with supercomputers usually earn most of the time, if not all the time.

On any given day, when bitcoin miners watch out for transactions in the network, the first miner to guess a 64-digit hexadecimal number (associated with a transaction) would mine a new “block” on the “blockchain network”; once the block is accepted, the miner will receive or earn a particular number of Bitcoins as the reward for their work: in other words, the first bitcoin miner who solves a puzzle is entitled to put a new block on the blockchain which is a chain or network of blocks.

It takes about 10 minutes for a block to be mined, and an hour for 6 blocks to be mined; over time, the blocks expand into a long chain called “blockchain”. After every 10 minutes, new Bitcoins are mined or created; each bitcoin is worth $55,000+ as at the time of writing. The power used to make one bitcoin transaction successful can provide energy to about 10 houses per day in the USA.

The blocks are part of the public ledger: the public ledger is divided into blocks which are logs of transactions that contain Bitcoin, and are arranged in batches. Each new block is referenced to its previously created block; this process continues and the whole set-up is referred to as the “blockchain”.

Each Bitcoin mining process mines new blocks which are ledger files that permanently record every old and new Bitcoin transaction. When bitcoin transactions are carried about between any two parties, bitcoin miners accredit and record each transaction on a block.

After every transaction is verified, each miner sends and receives validation messages from every other miner; this instigates confirmations on the network, and the block or ledger keeps track of the Bitcoins but doesn’t keep track of its owners or their bitcoin wallets’ balances.

Activities that bitcoin miners are involved in

Before Bitcoins can be successfully mined, bitcoin miners have to work in the bitcoin network and be involved in the following activities:

1. Watching out for transactions

Whenever clients or users make transactions on the network, bitcoin miners have to watch out for the transactions and validate them after ensuring that the signatures are correct, and outputs that are being spent haven’t yet been spent around the time that miners are checking out transactions.

2. Maintaining the blockchain and watching out for new blocks

Bitcoin miners maintain or service the existing blockchain; they start doing so by sending out requests for other nodes to provide a history of the existing blocks on the blockchain before they (the bitcoin miners) joined the network. 

After getting the history of the existing blocks, the bitcoin miners watch out for new blocks launched on the network, validate each block, and ensure that each block contains a valid nonce.

A “nonce” is a 32-bit field that has a value usually adjusted by bitcoin miners so that the target of the network will be greater than or equal to a block’s hash.

3. Building a block

A bitcoin miner can start building their own block after getting a copy of the existing blockchain which must be up-to-date.

To start building a block, a bitcoin miner transmits transactions into a new block which is an extension of the most recent block they know; in addition, they have to ensure that each transaction included in their new block is valid.

4. Finding a nonce

Most of a miner’s work is involved in looking for a nonce that would validate their block; in fact, it’s very challenging for most miners who put in a lot of effort to find a nonce in order to get their block validated.

5. Expecting their new block to be accepted 

After a bitcoin miner finds a block, there is no guarantee that it’ll be accepted into the consensus blockchain. Luck plays a big role in blocks being accepted into the consensus blockchain; bitcoin miners have to hope that other miners consider and accept their block, and start mining on it instead of mining on their competitor’s block.

6. Earning profit

Any bitcoin miner whose block is considered and accepted will earn profit for their work. The profit is new Bitcoins and any transaction fees from transactions associated with their block.

The Bitcoin protocol requires the services of miners in order for the activities listed above to be carried out successfully; bitcoin miners’ services help to realize the goals of the Bitcoin mining process.

11 Factors that Can Determine Bitcoin Price Volatility

Since Bitcoin was introduced more than a decade ago, its price has been rapidly rising and frequently associated with high volatility. Historically speaking, the rapid changes in Bitcoin price and value have made it consistently volatile.

Like most existing digital currencies or cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is a very volatile cryptocurrency. Many past instances have shown how volatile Bitcoin value and price have been and can be; for example, between November 2017 and December 2017, its price had increased by at least 220 percent.

But why have bitcoin price and value been so volatile? Well, the upward and downward price fluctuations and volatility of Bitcoin price on cryptocurrency exchanges are determined by many factors. This article discusses 11 factors that have determined and can still determine Bitcoin price volatility, and Bitcoin price and value around a particular time period. Now let’s get right into it; the 11 factors are as follows:

1. Search Pressures on Keywords Associated with Bitcoin, Particularly on Google Searches Made for the Word “bitcoin” (Hans Bystrom & Dominika Krygier, 2018). This conclusion was arrived at after correlations, OLS-regressions and VAR-analysis were used to analyze daily, weekly and monthly data between 2011 and 2017, and examine the link between the volatility in Bitcoin market and the volatility in other related traditional markets (gold, currency, and stock market); by using different loss functions, the research also showed that by studying Google search activity, predictions on Bitcoin price volatility can improve.

Other research works on “Google search trends and Wikipedia articles views” (Kristoufek, 2015 and Glaser et al., 2014), “Twitter sentiment analysis” (Kaminski, 2014, and Georgoula et al., 2015), and “Online communities’ reactions” (Dwyer, 2015, and Kim et al., 2016) support Hans Bystrom’s and Dominika Krygier’s (2018) conclusion that search pressures (Bitcoin’s attractiveness to people) on keywords associated with Bitcoin can determine Bitcoin price volatility.

2. Volatility in the Dollar (USD) Currency Market (Hans Bystrom & Dominika Krygier, 2018). The fluctuation in the prices of goods and services (the Euro/USD exchange rate) can create volatility in the USD currency market which can also determine Bitcoin price volatility: generally, volatility in the USD market can determine the number of dollars that would be paid to buy a Bitcoin, and this would subsequently determine Bitcoin price volatility.

3. Bitcoin Demand (Ciaian, Rajcaniova & D. Kancs, 2016). Bitcoin demand affects Bitcoin price which, subsequently, can determine its volatility depending on how high or low the price range is on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or longer-term basis. Contrary to the notion that both supply and demand affect Bitcoin volatility, Ciaian, Rajcaniova & D. Kancs (2016) and Kristoufek (2015) noted that, because Bitcoin has a deterministic supply (21 million Bitcoins), only its demand can determine its price.

Georgoula et al. (2015) employed a VEC model and found out that in the long run, Bitcoin price—and subsequent volatility—is positively related to the number of Bitcoins in circulation. The more that BTC is recognized, the more that people would want to accept it, buy it, and use it to make payments.

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4. Bitcoin Supply and Demand (Sana Guizani and Ines Kahloul Nafti, 2019); but demand has a more significant impact on Bitcoin price volatility and value than supply, because Bitcoin supply is limited (Ciaian et al., 2016). According to Sana Guizani and Ines Kahloul Nafti (2019), supply and demand are the major forces of the market and are also traditional determinants of the price formation of any financial asset. This notion contrasts the notion that only Bitcoin demand—as noted by Ciaian, Rajcaniova & D. Kancs (2016)—can determine Bitcoin price and subsequent volatility.

5. Changes in Prices of Oil and Gold (Wijk, 2013). Wijk proved that oil price and Nikkei index had a negative effect on Bitcoin price; subsequently, this could negatively impact Bitcoin price volatility and Bitcoin price and value around a certain time period. On the other hand, Wijk proved that the Dow Jones index had a positive effect on Bitcoin price in both short and long terms.

According to Palombizio & Morris (2012), oil price is one of the major sources of pressure on costs and demand and may result in a decrease or an increase in Bitcoin price and Bitcoin price volatility. Empirical findings in other research works have shown that there are relationships between changes in prices of gold and oil, and volatility in prices of cryptocurrencies (Teker D., Teker S., & Ozyesil M., 2020).

6. Difficulty in Mining Bitcoin (Li and Wang, 2017). Li and Wang suggested that the process of extraction, which depends on the operation and maintenance of computers, softwares, electricity, and human resources, incurs costs that influence Bitcoin price and volatility.

7. Influence of Mass Media. Mass media consists of any medium or technology used to pass information to mass audiences; it is a much wider platform than the internet which is only a part of it. Mass media includes radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and the internet. From the conclusion arrived at by Hans Bystrom and Dominika Krygier (2018), it would be easy to agree that the influence of mass media can determine Bitcoin Price volatility. Greater media coverage and acceptance of Bitcoin—which has been the case around the world—would lead to higher Bitcoin demand, and affect Bitcoin price volatility.

8. Bitcoin Arbitrage Trading and the activities of Bitcoin Traders. Bitcoin is traded across many different exchanges, and traders have different trading skills on Bitcoin arbitrage which captures slight differences in Bitcoin price across various Bitcoin exchanges and provides opportunities for a trader to buy Bitcoin at the lower price on one exchange and sell it at a higher price on another exchange.

The trading strategies employed by traders (who intend to take advantage of the price differences between exchanges) can cause changes in Bitcoin prices and determine Bitcoin price volatility. If Bitcoin is cheaper on Luno but more expensive Coinbase, then it’s likely that traders would like to buy Bitcoin on Luno and sell it on Coinbase; most times, the leverages and thin volumes on Bitcoin trading exchanges that involve such activities create sloppy fill prices that result in more losses than drive Bitcoin price downwards, and make it volatile.

9. Political Decisions taken by Governments. It is well known that political events and decisions have changed the value and price of Bitcoin, and determined Bitcoin price volatility. For example, in the not-too-distant past, the trade war between China and the USA, and the unstable relationship between Iran and the USA, has had an impact on the price of Bitcoin and determined Bitcoin price volatility.

Also, governments have been constantly changing regulations regarding Bitcoins; these circumstances have caused Bitcoin price fluctuations and made Bitcoin volatile at certain points in time; for example, in 2017 when China decided to halt the activities on several trading platforms, the price of Bitcoin plummeted. In 2018, within 24 hours after various governments in Asia made announcements concerning expected regulatory changes, there was around a hundred billion dollar drop in the cryptocurrency market.

10. Increasing Distrust in Fiat or Traditional Currency. Bitcoin price volatility, especially its rise in the long run, has been driven to a great extent by an increasing loss in confidence that people have had in conventional fiat currencies like the dollar, euro, and pound. The increasing level of distrust and loss of confidence in many economies have made people put more trust in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, instead of in fiat/traditional currencies; this has affected Bitcoin price and impacted its consistent volatility. Many people have lost complete trust in their country’s currency and banking system and looked to Bitcoin as an alternative in which the value of their money can be stored, maintained, and increased.

11. Bitcoin Security Breaches and Theft. Bitcoin and many cryptocurrencies have made headlines because the platforms that stored them were vulnerable to attacks from cybercriminals who hacked the platforms’ systems, and in certain instances made them bankrupt: grand thefts occurred and lots of cryptocurrencies were stolen; these incidences fluctuated Bitcoin price and value, and affected Bitcoin price volatility. In addition, reports about thefts and losses had a greater impact on Bitcoin price volatility: usually, they raised the value of the remaining Bitcoin because of the resulting scarcity.

Bitcoin Price Prediction: Pros & Cons of Various Methods Used for Predicting Bitcoin Prices

A lot of research has been carried out on Bitcoin price prediction and the results have been used for predicting Bitcoin prices. Whenever researchers are interested in predicting the price of Bitcoin in their research, they try their best to consider all the various parameters that affect Bitcoin price or value.

When assessing various research papers on Bitcoin price prediction and the respective methodologies employed in predicting prices of Bitcoin in each research, one would easily notice that even though many research works accurately predicted Bitcoin prices, some others didn’t.

From the papers on some research works that didn’t accurately predict Bitcoin prices, it can be noticed and argued that higher time complexities are associated with inaccurate predictions; i.e., the algorithms that were used in the research works didn’t manage time to a great extent. Time complexity can be reduced—or time management can be enhanced to a great extent—by using the “Least Absolute Shrinkage Selection Operator” algorithm, also known as the LASSO algorithm.

LASSO isn’t discussed in this article, but if you’re interested in reading about an algorithm that is linked to artificial intelligence and was used to accurately predict Bitcoin prices in a particular research work, you can do so by clicking here (Bitcoin Price Prediction Using Machine Learning Algorithms, by Lekkala Sreekanth Reddy & Dr.P. Sriramya). After conducting out the research, the researchers concluded that the LASSO algorithm would be able to help customers make profits and increments.

The Advantages & Disadvantages of Methodologies Applied in Researches on Bitcoin Price Prediction

1. Title of Research Paper: Predicting Bitcoin Prices Using Deep Learning

Algorithm Applied: SVM (Support Vector Machine)

Advantages (Pros):

  • It is much more convincing to use it in high-dimensional spaces like those occupied by random vectors.
  • It works well in cases that have a clear margin of separation.
  • It is effective in cases where the number of samples is lesser than the number of dimensions.

Disadvantages (Cons):

  • It doesn’t perform to a great extent or high degree when applied to a large set of data.
  • Its performance level is low when it is applied to a noisy set of data.

2. Title of Research Paper: Bitcoin Price Prediction using Machine Learning

Algorithms Applied: Bayesian Regression and GLM/Random Forest

Advantages (Pros):

  • It makes a prediction based on information readily available on the coinMarkup cap.
  • It can easily make use of Quandl to filter any set of data by employing MAT lab properties.

Disadvantages (Cons):

  • It takes a long period of time to filter any set of data.
  • It has a low redundancy to perform a prediction.

3. Title of Research Paper: Bitcoin Volatility Forecasting with a Glimpse into Buy and Sell Orders

Algorithms Applied: LSTM (Long Short Term Memory) and ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average)

Advantages (Pros):

  • It makes it easy to buy and sell Bitcoins.
  • It enables transactions to be carried out comfortably.

Disadvantages (Cons):

  • It doesn’t give proof for a transaction.
  • Conversions are late.

4. Title of Research Paper: Bayesian regression and Bitcoin

Algorithm Applied: Bayesian Regression

Advantages (Pros):

  • The results of Bitcoin price prediction can be presented in terms of binary values.
  • It makes Bitcoin price prediction results to be clearly understood.

Disadvantage (Con):

  • It takes a long time for a set of data to be solved.

5. Title of Research Paper: Project-Based Learning: Predicting Bitcoin Prices using Deep Learning

Algorithms Applied: CNN (Convolutional Neural Networks) and RNN (Recurrent Neural Networks)

Advantages (Pros):

  • It provides weight sharing (through CNN) which significantly reduces the number of weights that have to be learned.
  • It enables large data set prices to be easily calculated.

Disadvantage (Con):

  • With the Convolutional Neural Networks algorithm involved, operations are significantly slower in both forward and backward directions.

References

Farokhmanesh F., & Sadeghi M. T. (2019). “Deep Feature Selection using an Enhanced Sparse Group Lasso Algorithm”. 2019, 27th Iranian Conference on Electrical Engineering (ICEE).

Huisu Jang, & Jaewook Lee, “An Empirical Study on Modelling and Prediction of Bitcoin Prices with Bayesian Neural Networks based on Blockchain Information”, in IEEE Early Access Articles, 2017, vol. 99, pp. 1–1.

Kalpanasonika, Sayasri S., Vinothini, & Suga Priya, “Bitcoin Cost Prediction using Deep Neural Network Technique”, IEEE 2018.

S. Yogeshwaran, Piyush Maheshwari & Maninder Jeet Kaur, “Project-Based Learning: Predicting Bitcoin Prices using Deep Learning”, Amity University Dubai Dubai, UAE; IEEE 2019.

Siddhi Velankar, Sakshi Valecha & Shreya Maji, “Bitcoin Price Prediction using Machine Learning”, Department of Electronics & Telecommunication, Pune Institute of Computer Technology, Pune, Maharashtra, India: 409–415.

Tian Guo, Albert Bifet, & Nino Antulov-Fantulin, “Bitcoin Volatility Forecasting with a Glimpse into Buy and Sell Orders”; IEEE 2018.

Take This Great Opportunity Now—if Not, Whenever it Goes, Then it’s Gone!

This article introduces a digital currency called “Pi coin” which was launched on March 14, 2019; since then, it has been easily mined for free on the Pi Network App—a 100% free opportunity that can make you become a millionaire in the future. The Pi network presents the world with a great and unbelievably easy opportunity to mine and save Pi coins—the first cryptocurrency to be mined directly from mobile phones, instead of from computers and supercomputers.

(Please, make sure read through to the end of this highly valuable article; you will see the link to download the Pi Network app and use an invitation code along with your Facebook account to register and start earning Pi coins like the rest of Pi network’s 12+ million registered users; also, you will see another link/invitation code to join a new and different cryptocurrency phone-mining network (Bee Network App) which—at the time this article was published—had already amassed 3+ million users in less than 2 months.)

The Pi Network App is a mobile mining technology that allows registered users to mine Pi coins without draining data and phone batteries. Even when the Pi Network App is closed, or users’ phones are off, they are still able to mine Pi coins; however, to continuously mine Pi coins daily, once every day—or specifically, after every 24 hours—users have to open their Pi Network apps and tap the lightning or “Tap to earn” button.

While it has been quite difficult for most cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) to be accessed, mined, and used by everyday people, the Pi Network makes it easy to access and mine new Pi coins/cryptocurrency and puts the power of cryptocurrency directly into the palms of people’s hands. The Pi coin and its network is a 100% free opportunity that can make you a millionaire in the future.

But Before we come back to Pi coin, let’s go back to the very beginning of Bitcoin—the first cryptocurrency which, at the time of writing, was around $40,000 per unit of Bitcoin

When Satoshi Nakamoto introduced Bitcoin to the public in 2008, a high percentage of the world’s population—probably up to 99%—didn’t give a damn about Bitcoin, even though it was more accessible around and shortly after time, and it was much easier to mine then when its value was zero Dollars.

Satoshi Nakamoto introduced Bitcoin as “A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” that doesn’t require a third party; he implemented the bitcoin software as open-source code and released Bitcoins in January 2009. Nakamoto mined the first block of Bitcoin on January 3, 2009; it was named the “genesis block”—”Block 0”. Nakamoto’s identity is still quite unknown, and the identity of the person or people who invented the technology behind Bitcoin is still a mystery. After inventing Bitcoin, and watching it rise in value over 11 years, in January 2021 when the value of 1 Bitcoin rose to $39,000, it was believed that Nakamoto—who had personally mined over 1 million Bitcoins several years ago—had Bitcoins that were worth over $39 billion, making him possibly the 17th richest individual in the world at the time.

It is interesting to note that until today, there are no physical Bitcoins, and electronic Bitcoin transactions and balances are preserved on a public ledger that can be accessed by any concerned individual. Unlike fiat currencies, Bitcoins are not issued by any banks or governments; despite this, Bitcoin is popular, is still gaining more popularity, and has inspired the creation of hundreds of other cryptocurrencies collectively known as Altcoins.

Hal Finney was the first person to receive Bitcoins when the first Bitcoin transaction took place: after Hal Finney downloaded and installed Bitcoin software, on January 12, 2009, his Bitcoin wallet received 10 Bitcoins from Nakamoto. A Bitcoin wallet—somewhat like a bank account—is a virtual or an electronic Bitcoin account where the owner stores Bitcoin.

The first time Bitcoin was used in a commercial transaction was in 2010, at a time when 1 Bitcoin was equal to $0.0041, Laszlo Hanyecz bought 2 pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins; implying that 10,000 Bitcoins was equal to $41. Today, 10,000 Bitcoins is well over $300 million.

In 2009, a Norwegian man who bought 5,000 Bitcoins, forgot about them. (At the time, the 5,000 Bitcoins he bought were worth only $27 in his Bitcoin wallet). He discovered four years later—in October 2013—that the value of the Bitcoins he had forgotten about, shot up from $27 to $980,000: https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/09/bitcoin-forgotten-currency-norway-oslo-home

After hearing about the rise in the value of Bitcoins, the Norwegian logged into his Bitcoin wallet and was surprised at the amount of money he saw: $980,000—instead of $27. He sold a portion of his Bitcoins and, with the money, he bought an apartment in an expensive part of Oslo, Norway. All thanks to the surging rise in the value of Bitcoin which has often been overlooked by many people.

The real-life story of Erik Finman is a truly inspiring one: In 2011, at the age of 12, when 1 Bitcoin was around $10, he bought 100 Bitcoins for $1,000. Between 2011 and 2019, Erik Finman grew the Bitcoins in his electronic wallet, from 100 Bitcoins (worth $1,000 in 2011) to 446 Bitcoins. As a result of the rise in Bitcoins from $10 per Bitcoin in 2011, to around $10,000 per Bitcoin, Erik Finman’s 446 Bitcoins were worth approximately $4.5 million in August 2019.

It is on record that Nakamoto had mined over 1 million Bitcoins before handing over the network key and control to Gavin Andresen. Although the value of Bitcoin has been rising and falling over the years, its value has been generally rising. At Bitcoin’s inception in 2009 when it had no value, nobody thought its value would reach $20,000 in 2017, and $40,000 on a particular day in January 2021. Generally speaking, within about 11 years, Bitcoin’s value has risen from zero Dollars to almost $40,000 per Bitcoin.

There is a New and Easier Opportunity: Pi coin—Join It NOW, not later!

You will be making a wise decision if you start mining Pi coin today because it is still 100% free to mine, and would cost you absolutely nothing. Many people who paid some attention to Bitcoin during its early days or years, mined Bitcoins and have gone on to become millionaires and billionaires. Today it is more difficult and almost too late to become an instant millionaire with Bitcoin. Why? Because it’s more difficult to mine Bitcoin, and more expensive to buy and invest in it.

But today you have another opportunity which is Pi coin. One exciting thing about life is that the universe always provides big opportunities through intelligent people, even when hope—or, even all hope—is lost. Download the Pi App here, register on the Pi Network by using your Facebook account or phone number, and enter/use “Terihagh1” as your invitation or referral code; alternatively, you can follow the steps at the ending part of this article.

The Pi coin was developed by a team of Stanford University graduates which consists of only 3 members; the names of its developers are Dr. Nicolas Kokkalis (Pi Network’s Head of Technologies), Dr. Chengdiao Fan (Pi Network’s Head of Product), and Vincent McPhillip (Pi Network’s Head of Community). When the Pi Network’s live net (mainnet) is launched, as scheduled to occur this year, all the coins mined by users will migrate to live net, and Pi coins will have a value in the market, and thus become officially marketable. At the time this article was published, Pi Network community had over 12+ million users/miners which it amassed in less than 2 years.

“Pi Economy” members within the “Pi Lifestyle App” (which can be downloaded from Google Play Store) have been trading goods and services at an exchange rate of 1 Pi coin = $100. Based on the plans being laid down on the Pi network, some users believe that when the Pi mainnet (Pi Blockchain) is launched, as expected later this year, 1 Pi coin may have a value equivalent to or more than $200. If this happens, then a user who had mined 5,000 Pi coins (in the Pi Network App), will have a Pi wallet balance of $1 million on mainnet.

Nobody knows, but the new Pi coin/cryptocurrency could become even better, more popular, and even as expensive or more expensive than Bitcoin. The technology behind Pi coin mining is based on a new algorithm that doesn’t harm the environment, whereas mining Bitcoin does more harm to the environment.

Although Pi coin is waiting to be officially launched on exchanges this year, the network’s members have already started increasing the awareness and value of Pi cryptocurrency by using Pi coins to purchase goods and services online (websites) and on platforms in the Pi Lifestyle App which can be downloaded from Google Play Store.

Click on the link below, and click on the menu at the top left corner to view the available items (that can be bought with Pi coins) under the following categories: digitals; kitchen & garden; books & stationary; health, beauty & cosmetics; food & drinks, fashion & clothes; vehicles & industrial equipment; toys and baby supplies: https://pinetworkmarket.com/. Also, click on the link below to open a web page, then click on the menu at the top left corner to see what is available: https://thepilifestylemarket.com/.

Members of Pi network community are committed to using Pi in such a way that when the Pi cryptocurrency is officially launched, 1 Pi could have a value that would be worth several hundreds or thousands of Dollars.

Pi Network presents an unbelievable opportunity for everyone who is alive; Pi Network makes it free and easy to mine Pi coins.  But this opportunity won’t last forever. If you don’t start mining Pi coins today, you would be missing out on a big opportunity that may never come back. The Pi coin and its network is a 100% free opportunity that can make you a millionaire in the future.

If you haven’t installed the Pi app on your phone yet, do it now by taking the following steps:

Step (i)

Click here and click “Download”; after registering with your Facebook account or phone number, use “Terihagh1” as your invitation code. Alternatively, you can download the Pi Network app from Play Store or App Store, and use “Terihagh1” as your invitation code.

Step (ii)

When asked to verify your identity, use either your Facebook account or mobile number; choose one of the two options.

Step (iii)

Set up your password. I recommend that you use a long password which will be easier for you to remember, and difficult for others to guess. Note that for you to be able to claim your Pi coins in the future, you must verify your phone number.

Step (iv)

Choose your username which you will use as your referral code whenever you are inviting others to join the Pi network to mine Pi coins.

Step (v)

When asked for your invitation code, use/enter “Terihagh1”.

Note: In order to continue mining Pi daily, after every 24 hours, users have to open their Pi Network apps and tap the lightning or “Tap to earn” button. The Pi Network app is set up this way to ensure that members are active and contributing to the Pi Network. Do not forget to verify your phone number by following the available instructions on the Pi app.

Join a New Cryptocurrency Phone-mining App (Bee Network)

Click here to download the BEE Network app, and click “Download”; after registering with your Facebook account, use “terihagh1” as your invitation code. Alternatively, you can download the Bee Network app from Play Store or App Store, and use “teriagh1” as your invitation code. In order to continuously mine Bee coins daily, once every day—or specifically, after every 24 hours—users have to open their Bee Network apps and tap the bee or “Tap to earn” button.

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Earn Free Bitcoins Every Hour & a Chance to Win Thousands of Dollars Every Week

How to make money by browsing with CryptoTab Browser

How to Make Money by Browsing with CryptoTab Browser

Until about two months ago, I never imagined I could use a browser to browse make money at the same time, especially in the world’s strongest currency: the “Bitcoin”. As you might have known, at the time of writing, one Bitcoin (BTC) is currently equal to about $8,764.

In case you don’t know much about Bitcoin but are interested in knowing more, you can search for information about it on Google or any other search engine; read about the year it was created and how it has grown in strength and popularity over the years.

Click here, install CryptoTab browser and start browsing and earning Bitcoins immediately

What inspired me to take interest in Bitcoins in 2016 was the story of a Norwegian man who bought 5,000 Bitcoins (which was about $27 in 2009) and forgot about them, only to discover in October 2013—four years later—that the value of his forgotten Bitcoins had shot up to $980,000 or £886,000. You can read about that here.

In 2019, the same 5,000 BTC that was equal to $27 in 2009, and $980,000 in 2013, is now equal to $43,820,000.

After hearing about the rise in the value of Bitcoins, the Norwegian figured out the password to his Bitcoin wallet, opened it, and was surprised at what he saw, but sold a portion of his Bitcoins. With the money, he bought an apartment in an expensive part of Oslo, Norway. All thanks to the surging rise in the value of Bitcoin which has often been overlooked in the past.

This is a screenshot of the all-time stats for the rise and fall of Bitcoin as shown in my Bitcoin wallet (similar to an online/offline bank account) which shows the official and current rate of Bitcoin (BTC) to Nigerian Naira (NGN): currently, 1 BTC = NGN 3,120,001 = $8,764.

1_Bitcoin all-time stats

When I started using a Bitcoin wallet to buy and invest in Bitcoin online businesses a few years ago, I earned quite a good amount of money, and it helped a lot in many areas of my life. At different times, I earned between hundreds of dollars and a few thousand dollars. I never wanted to take greater risks when investing. At times it was risky to invest.

In 2017 I started investing in Bitcoin on some websites and earning. At the time, the rate of Bitcoin to US Dollar was around 1 BTC = $1,300, or NGN 460,000 (Nigerian Naira). Mind you, in 2015 the rate was as low as 1 BTC = NGN 49,000; while in 2016 it was around 1 BTC = NGN 88,000.

Bitcoin has been rising and falling, but generally, it has always been rising. In 2018 it rose to an all-time high of 1 BTC = over $10,000 = over NGN 3,500,000; while in January 2019 it dropped to a rate of 1 BTC = NGN 1.3 million, and in November it has been around 1 BTC = NGN 3.12 million.

I actually made money from Bitcoin online businesses in the past, especially in 2017—but I didn’t make it from browsing. I made it from investing in websites that traded Bitcoins and gave out interest to registered members; the interest rate depended on the amount of money each user or registered member invested.

Anyone can actually make money in Bitcoin while browsing on CryptoTab browser by searching for favorite websites and videos or doing anything interesting. There is no compulsion when you already love something that is as interesting and adventurous as browsing or surfing the internet.

You can make much greater money with CryptoTab browser if you refer people (get referrals) like I recently did after publishing an article titled: “How to make money immediately with your social media accounts or blogs”.

After publishing and republishing the article a number of times, a lot of people signed up, and I have already earned more from an accumulated percentage of my referrals earnings than I’ve made by personally using shortened URLs from Adfly.

For the benefit of those who haven’t used or seen a Bitcoin wallet, or statement of a Bitcoin transaction, the following screenshots of my Bitcoin wallet have been attached to show how a typical Bitcoin wallet transaction statement appears whenever I receive Bitcoins:

1_How a Bitcoin transaction statement looks like

2_How bitcoin transactions look

The screenshots below show a series of transactions for the Bitcoins which I earned daily and was receiving from Bitcoin investment websites I registered with in the past. They usually sent Bitcoins straight into my two Bitcoin wallets on Luno (formerly BitX) and Blockchain respectively:

3_received bitcoins

4_Received Bitcoins

7_blockchain account

You can use the same time you usually use for browsing, to also make money by browsing on CryptoTab Browser and earning in the world’s strongest currency—the “Bitcoin”

If you are from Nigeria, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and need a Bitcoin wallet, you can get one from Luno (formerly BitX) for free. Click here and sign up.

If you are from any part of the world, including the five nations I just listed in the previous paragraph, you can get a free Bitcoin wallet from the most trusted giant in the business: the “Blockchain”. Sign up here.

Every country that allows Bitcoin trading transactions has exchangers who usually buy Bitcoins and send the equivalent (in local currency) into the local bank account of the person or people that sell Bitcoins. This is a screenshot of Bitcoins that I sold in Nigeria at a certain time in the past; the equivalent in Naira (NGN) was sent to my local bank account.

5_sold bitcoins

Instead of taking risks to invest in Bitcoin online trading businesses, you could use your time (like you usually do whenever you browse the internet) to browse on CryptoTab browser and earn Bitcoins.

If you would like to use this great opportunity and make money from the world’s strongest currency while doing what you like doing best online—surfing—then click here and get CryptoTab browser which is the world’s first browser to have Bitcoin mining features, widely used by more than 9 million people across the world!

If you are really interested, don’t waste time; click here and download CryptoTab browser on the page that would open. There are CrytoTab browsers for Windows, android phones (Google), or Apple phones and tablets (Apple Inc.)—depending on your operating system.

6_cryptotab browser

Before downloading and using CryptoTab browser, it’s important to note that besides making money, CryptoTab Browser is a free lightweight browser that has additional functionality that can mine and earn Bitcoins for you, and still make your browsing experience fast and comfortable.

How to install CryptoTab Browser

CryptoTab Browser is available on its website here. You may follow these instructions in order to install it:

  • Download the installation file
  • If prompted, click “Run” or “Save”
  • If you chose “Save”, double-click “download” in order to start installing
  • Start your new CryptoTab browser.

After you successfully install the browser, you will be asked to sign in with your Google account in order to start browsing and earning Bitcoins.

(Featured Image Credit: Pixabay.com.)