Litecoin

Dec 19 2017

The Big 3 – Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin – Who Hits their Milestone First?

Greetings, fellow crypto enthusiasts. We bet you’re having fun this week.

Crypto has gone mainstream, there’s no doubting that. First the Cboe launched Bitcoin futures, then the CME followed suit. As a result, there was no way you could flip on CNBC and NOT see someone talking crypto.

Even Janet Yellen got into the act (thanks to a question from a CNBC reporter) during her most recent news conference:

Yellen on Bitcoin: “plays a very small role in the payments system… it is not a stable store of value…The Fed doesn’t really play any regulatory role with respect to Bitcoin.”

— Dave Van de Walle (@Area224) December 13, 2017

Throw in Coinbase, (broken record here, but use that REFERRAL LINK and we both get a bonus with a qualifying purchase) which hasn’t told us how quickly it’s adding users since it told us it has more users than Charles Schwab; likely because Coinbase is so busy adding users that it doesn’t have time to promote its own ability to add users.

This Brings Us to the Big 3

Coinbase started with Bitcoin, then added Ethereum, then, most recently, Litecoin. If the company is adding users quickly, and those are the only coins you can get there – for now, rumors of Ripple, Monero, Dash, and more have been swirling for some time – it follows, perhaps, that new money will chase each of the Big 3 to new heights.

So, who hits their milestone first? Let’s handicap the field.

Below odds are of the milestone happening this year, thus the one with the best odds is then the one likeliest to happen first.

Bitcoin $20,000 – Odds: 2 to 5

We talked about this on the site a little while back and we have the tendency to keep hitting refresh. thinking that the pop is right around the corner.

And think about it: holiday money flows into the youth of today and they head straight online to spend it. With Hanukkah wrapping up and Christmas days away, Bitcoin’s 20K should happen in no time flat.

Ethereum $1,000 – Odds: Even Money

We think this should happen sorta quickly, but there’s always a chance that new money doesn’t flow into Ethereum as much as the other two. First up, once folks realize they can buy a fraction of Bitcoin, they buy a fraction of Bitcoin. Or they go with the cheapest one – Litecoin in this case.

The flipside, though: when ordering wine at a restaurant, newbies will rarely get the most expensive, nor the cheapest. Right in the middle – thus, Ethereum.

Frankly, we probably wouldn’t have been having this discussion last week. A price of $619 seems a world away from $1000. Now, though, not a leap by any stretch.

Litecoin $500 – Odds: 9 to 5

We actually chose “9 to 5” because Litecoin seems like the lunchpail coin to us. Punch the clock, get the work done. Utility is great. Transaction fees are lower than Bitcoin – Coinbase transactions where you sell some and cash the proceeds into (dreaded) fiat (US Dollars in our case) were $2.99, compared to around $6 for our last transaction with Bitcoin.

That chart shows some tremendous growth during the past month – and, if you compared it to a high-flying stock, people would ask “what the heck happened?” Probably nothing other than typical mania, right?

Or maybe a coin that’s got tremendous potential for everyday transactions.

It’s Possible that All 3 Hit Milestones…

We’ll have to watch and see. Place your bets!

Oct 11 2017

Getting Started (Redux)

Several weeks ago, we posted a few ideas to get you started with cryptocurrency. You know, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and some of the other coins and tokens that we discuss on this here forum.

We thought that we’d spend some time today revisiting that idea: How Do You Get Started?

Our goal today is AN ACTIONABLE LIST. A few things to possibly whet your appetite.

We have a few ideas below – and, since this continues to be an experiment, some of the links are going to be different from the last time we did this. As usual, we’ll include a few AFFILIATE LINKS with this post (so we may be compensated if you take some sort of action, like signing up, buying currency, or investing) and we’ll be as blatant as we possibly can when we share one.

Let’s begin.

An Airdrop and This Will Cost You NOTHING

We talked about this “airdrop” last week and it’s still going on. Here’s a link to the POW Token webpage. Simply put, you sign up with your Facebook credentials and the token creators give you a bunch of tokens (or coins).

We have been asked “Why Are They Doing This?” and the best answer to that is that there’s value in a widely distributed network. While the creators make some…interesting…claims on their web page, there is something to the fact that a network with a million people using its product will be much more valuable in the long term than a network with just 30,000 users (which is where it stands today).

For now, think of this as a Western US land grab, and you’re putting stakes in the ground and hoping that it becomes fertile farmland in the future.

Coinbase – STILL the Fastest Way to Get Started

This one will cost you money, but one of the beautiful things about Coinbase (AFFILIATE LINK) is that, for Americans at least, there’s a decent amount of seamless integration between traditional banking and this new economy. The AFFILIATE LINK gives you a $10 bonus (paid in Bitcoin) if you spend $100 on any combination of the three currencies they offer (Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin). (And once you join in, you’ll get your own link and can invite others yourself and possibly be compensated…which is cool with us.)

Trade Coins on an Exchange

While there are a few established exchanges that we’d suggest – Bittrex, Cryptopia (AFFILIATE LINK) and Poloniex are three that we currently use – you should also consider signing up for one of the newer exchanges, too.

Altcoin Exchange (AFFILIATE LINK) may very well be lucrative for you – we know that other exchanges that started this way (through referrals) compensated their early adopters rather richly. Use our AFFILIATE LINK over there, and then start referring others yourself as you see fit.
WCX (AFFILIATE LINK) is another one, with an ICO coming in a few weeks.
COSS is brand new. Not an affiliate link, but we do like the fact it’s based in Singapore and has developers throughout the world.

Passive Income Platforms

Yes, we have been talking A LOT about Passive Income Platforms, or PIPs, that can help you profit with limited amounts of effort. We currently recommend two of them – that’s not to say there aren’t others that are worth your time and investment, but these are the two that we (1) have experimented with and (2) have not let us down.

DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH! Seriously, with any of these, your coins could end up in a black hole of nothing. Don’t invest more than you can afford to lose.

Bitconnect (AFFILIATE LINK) is beautiful, we think, because it is backed by an actual coin, one that has a large market cap (as of this writing, around $1 Billion). The odds of it disappearing are small.
Bitpetite (AFFILIATE LINK) acts more like a mining platform, in that your “investment” will not be returned to you. However, we now have a nine-week track record of daily payments from the site; note that payments are larger during weekdays than weekends.

An Actionable List?

That’s our hope. You can spend a couple minutes on the first one and it costs you nothing, then, if you’re ready to invest some real money, you can consider trying the other ones out.

In any event, don’t invest more than you can afford to lose…once you get started in this world, it might get a little addictive.

Sep 06 2017

Meet the Troika

This post is especially for those brand new to this Bitcoin world.

You see, one thing we run the risk of over here is moving our focus away from the main story – Bitcoin and the Blockchain are Fundamentally Changing Industries – and more toward those esoteric ones that could scare away most of you.

Our apologies – and we wrote this just for you.

Meet the Troika

Three coins that anyone – and I do mean this…ANYONE – can buy today, hold onto, and potentially watch grow. They’re the Troika. And we’ll show you how to get some of each in just a moment.

Veterans of this space, or of “crypto” in general, will likely be able to guess the three rather easily. And, like our BRED Portfolio, there’s a method to our madness.

Before we walk you through all three, though, if you aren’t a newbie and want to give trading a whirl, be sure to sign up for Altcoin Exchange (REFERRAL LINK over there). And if you are ready for Passive Income Platforms – “PIPs” we call them – check out our post on the subject or just roll right over to two of the lending/investment platforms we use: Control Finance and Bitconnect. (THOSE ARE AFFILIATE LINKS.)

Troika Coin #1: Bitcoin

This should be obvious, and should be part of every portfolio – newbie and experience investor alike.

Bitcoin is now being called “alt-gold” – we think, and other pundits seem to be thinking this, too, that Bitcoin is on its way to becoming that hedge that gold used to be. Will it replace gold altogether? Probably not. But…it does check a few of the boxes (store of value, limited supply) that gold does. And maybe a couple that gold doesn’t (divisible, easily portable, spendable).

Had you bought a little Bitcoin at the beginning of August, you would have realized gains – thanks in part to the Bitcoin Cash “hard fork” – of 193% on September 1.

Troika Coin #2: Ethereum

We’ve been in love with this coin – or “token” – since the beginning of the year, when we bought a *little* at less than $11 each.

It’s now in the $300s. It may go higher before the end of the year, too – it’s the “smart contract” token, and there are tons of applications for its use.

Troika Coin #3: Litecoin

It is supposed to work just like it sounds: as a “light coin,” and that means lower transaction fees when compared to the others. This is good for its becoming a consumer-friendly coin.

Price-wise, it is in the $80 range today – up from high $60s yesterday – and…well, it, too, might have room to grow.

Where to Get These Coins?

We promised above that they’re easy to get – and the common denominator here is that you get a Coinbase account.

Each coin is available elsewhere, sure, but Coinbase is the fastest and easiest way to get your virtual hands on this Troika.

This is a Coinbase REFERRAL LINK and there’s a $10 bonus in it for you – provided you make a qualifying purchase of $100 or more of any combination of these coins. DISCLOSURE: We would also get a $10 bonus for referring you; but once you’re a Coinbase user, you can get your own referral link and introduce your friends and potentially get the $10 for their joining.

Coinbase is Growing

Word is the company added 10 million users last month alone. If you use a credit card, you can potentially have quick access to your coins – otherwise, you may have to wait a couple days.

But I’m telling you…there’s no easier way to get started than with the Troika…and you can get them on Coinbase today.

Aug 22 2017

Bitpetite – Profit from Bitcoin Transfers

First up, thanks so much for the support yesterday – our largest traffic day ever, thanks entirely to our breaking the Microhash Scam news. That serves as a reminder that we’re in the Wild Wild West, and you should tread extremely carefully with any and all of these Bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related platforms.

Interestingly, yesterday’s post on Microhash led us to the website of Bitpetite – which is a platform we signed up for a week ago – because, for a brief time, Microhash had its servers redirect to Bitpetite. Later, we’re told the servers redirected to Genesis Mining, and now you get a rather odd message that it’s down.

We have the perfect segue, we think, to talk about Bitpetite. As is usually the case, we’re going to add several AFFILIATE LINKS here, and we’ll do our best to be as blatant as we can when doing so. Like this: Bitpetite AFFILIATE LINK. So here goes.

The Bitpetite Twist

As we learned on last week’s post – Passive Crypto Income – the main premise with the sites we have tried out so far goes something like this:

You loan them your coins – Bitcoin, mostly
They take those coins and trade them, along with others, in a variety of markets
They make money on the volatility in the market
You get interest that has the opportunity, under certain conditions, to compound.

In exchange for returns that range from really crazy to potentially life-changing, you sacrifice a couple of things:

Your coins – which, let’s face it, once they’re out of your own custody, could conceivably end up anywhere
An understanding of how exactly they do it
Your occasional sanity (one of the sites we talked about last week, AMBIS, (that’s an AFFILIATE LINK) went down for a little while recently; today it seems to be doing something goofy with its interest payments).

At the risk of yet another list, here’s a list of what I think the Bitpetite twist on passive income includes:

More coins: BTC, Ethereum, and Litecoin
Pairing those coins with the USD and allowing you to earn interest in either the coin/token or US dollars
No compounding.

How Do They Do It?

The reason there could be something long-term to this concept is because Bitpetite focuses on money transfers using the coins. Rather than a trading bot that might or might not throw off really impressive returns, Bitpetite simply pools your coins with other coins, acts as a transfer agent, and takes a cut, using the profit from the transaction fees to ensure they can pay you the interest promised.

Having recently moved quite a few BTC back and forth a few places, I know how pesky those fees can be. So this is another arbitrage play and maybe there’s a pretty good chance they can pull it off.

Our Experiment

We first decided to get rolling with Bitpetite (AFFILIATE LINK) on the 16th of August. Here’s what our math told us we’d accomplish:

And…

Well, we weren’t that far off. More on that in a second, but first, a note about their bizarre interest program.

We find it a little bizarre in two ways: (1) it rotates from high during the weekdays to low on the weekends and (2) it is higher for a six-week loan than for a nine-week loan.

Yeah, that second one is goofy – 4.5% (during the week) for a six-week loan, 3.97% for a nine-week one.

Anyway, here’s a screener of what I have right now:

Other than the fact that I might have actually funded the loan late in the day on the 16th, which accounts for the fact that August 21st was yesterday, the “Amount” plus “Earned Now” columns add up to pretty close to 0.6 LTC. So I’ll count that as a win for my mathing skills.

Multiple Hedges Possible

What I like about this is that you could, in effect, have six different loans outstanding, and hedge against an upturn in the USD – or a downturn in any of the three coins – or a subsequent moonshot of any of the three coins.

That’s right: since I chose the “Litecoin, LTC” option, when my term is done, my interest, which will have been calculated in Litecoin, will be calculated in LTC and paid out in LTC at the end of the six-week term. (That’s where “Earned Total” comes in above – that amount should actually be “What You Will Have Earned.”) I’ll have 1.235 LTC.

Today, that amount equates to $57.34 (using today’s price of $46.43), which would be a return of 168%. Or I could keep it in LTC for a while.

Should I invest in another option, I could go with the Bitcoin, USD pair, and have my BTC converted to dollars at the time of investment, my interest paid in dollars, and then, at the end of the term, have it converted all back to BTC.

Why I Pause

Again, do your own research, we’re not responsible for gains or losses, and get advice from experts on things like taxes.

I pause because the English isn’t great, and they aren’t blatant enough about the switch of interest rates between weekdays and weekends.

BUT, the fact that there’s not a compounding element does, actually, mean that I feel this is a pretty decent basket to put some eggs in.

As with all of these things, we’re conducting an experiment. It may be successful, it may fail. But we’ll keep you updated on what we find out.

Here’s that AFFILIATE LINK one more time if you’d like to check it out.

Aug 09 2017

11 Ways to Get Started Now

Just like anything else, at first the whole concept of Bitcoin, the Blockchain, and cryptocurrencies can seem really overwhelming.

Imagine walking into a shopping plaza in a foreign country, not speaking the language, and not really knowing what any of the products are. That’s this space…at first.

But once you get the hang of some of the concepts, it’s not that bad. Really.

In that vein, we present a post that could actually be an ebook. It’s called 11 Ways to Get Started Now.

DISCLOSURE: some of the links on this page are AFFILIATE LINKS, and we’ll do our best to blatantly identify them as AFFILIATE LINKS. That means we may be compensated if you set up an account or make a purchase.

Here goes:

1. Get a Coinbase Account

Let’s face it, there are really two big categories of Bitcoin users: the hardcore ones – mining rigs in their basements, wallets on all sorts of machines, exhaustive lists of which coins are PoS and which are PoW – and there are those who just tuned out at everything you just read.

If you’re in that second camp, Coinbase is for you. (THAT’S AN AFFILIATE LINK.)

(If you’re in that first camp, you might actually have started with a Coinbase account, but you don’t want to admit it.)

Coinbase offers the most silly simple service you can use to get into Bitcoin – or Ethereum or Litecoin; those are their three currencies as of right now – and you can link it through a US bank account or a credit card. (We are based in the US, so we

Note that Coinbase will actually give you a bonus of $10 worth of Bitcoin when you set up an account, so using our link actually benefits you as much as it benefits us. (But it probably benefits you MORE than it benefits us, since you are now “in the game.”)

2. Transfer some of your funds to one of our three favorite exchanges

First, let’s explain an “exchange” vs. a wallet/purchase platform such as Coinbase. Simply put, exchanges where you can trade cryptocurrencies are like stock exchanges were you buy and sell stocks.

Dozens of exchanges are out there, but we have so far only used three:

Poloniex. We used this one first. “Polo” is based in the USA. Most of the largest coins by market capitalization are traded here.
Bittrex. We started using this one a month or so after we started with Poloniex. It, too, is based in the USA. If you hear about a “small cap altcoin” (small market capitalization, alternative to Bitcoin) that isn’t traded on Polo, it might be traded on “Trex.”
Cryptopia. THAT’S AN AFFILIATE LINK. It’s based in New Zealand, so if you want to feel all exotic, trade there. Speaking of exotic, we’ve got a decent chunk of small cap altcoins over there. “Topia” is their common abbreviation.

Ask people about their experiences with these and you might get a varying degree of answers; our own experience has been just fine.

3. Get a Steemit account…get paid to blog?

I’ll admit, this is the most fun I’ve had with any site since the early days of Twitter. Steemit is pretty cool – you’ll find all sorts of people there, with all sorts of interests.

It’s a social network that is powered by a cryptocurrency of its own, Steem. You’re given a certain amount of “voting power” and you earn more power through more interactions. It can get a little complicated, but suffice it to say you can start to see some results – a few dollars here and a few dollars there.

I don’t do it for the money, though – I’m there to trade ideas with others, and to find out what folks are thinking a bout a variety of topics.

4. Investigate coins at CoinMarketCap

CoinMarketCap.com, or CMC, is the leading site for getting a snapshot of what is happening with cryptocurrencies. Pretty much all of them are listed here, they’re ranked by market cap, you can see what’s trending up or down or sideways.

Here’s where you can keep track of the Crypto Unicorns (those coins with a market cap of $1 Billion or more), all the way down to the tiny market cap coins that, again, seem to dominate our Cryptopia account.

5. Start Lending at Bitconnect

We did a pretty big write-up on this one last week. That write-up includes several AFFILIATE LINKS, but if you want to cut to the chase and just get started, here’s an actual banner ad you can click on.

In our post the other day, which we tried to make “warts and all” in nature, we did mention our skepticism around this lending platform. As with ANYTHING in this space, remember to do your own research, to seek the advice of tax professionals and accountants, and to not invest more than you can afford to lose.

We still consider Bitconnect to be rather speculative in nature; but we’ve also studied the coin behind the solution, and it has a large market cap ($540 million-plus) and we don’t think the coin itself is going anywhere.

6. Lock up some coins in DOT at Cryptopia

If you tend to be impetuous with your trades, you might want to consider cooling off a little – and one way to do that is to lock some coins down in an interest-bearing coin such as DOT, which helps to fuel Cryptopia. (AFFILIATE LINK over there.) For a minimum term of 90 days, you can receive interest at 0.5%, compounded monthly, with higher rates for longer-term deposits.

Once you’re on Cryptopia, you’ll need to mouse over “More” and then “Term Deposits.”

7. Buy a Trezor, store your coins offline

We love this little device so much that we joined its AFFILIATE PROGRAM (here’s the link).

What you’re doing is moving the keys for the coins you own (that are supported by Trezor) over into cold storage, on a device that you own that can’t be corrupted.

If you have a decent amount of coins, you’ll want to explore Trezor.

8. Invest in an ICO

With all the news surrounding ICOs, you wonder why we have this so far down the list. Well, ICO investing is A LOT of WORK. You want to research them thoroughly, and you’re still making a leap of faith.

Hands down, ICO Countdown is the best service for this.

We’ve got an okay track record so far getting involved in ICOs, but one thing that gets in our way as an American site is that we’re Americans. Some ICOs won’t let you participate if you’re an American citizen or even an American expat living abroad.

9. Visit the Bitcoin news sites

The ones that we like the most are Coindesk and CoinTelegraph. Both may, at first, seem over your head. That’s okay. We’ve got to start somewhere.

10. Set up an Automatic Investment Program

This is one of those super-simple ways to “set it and forget it.” Just hop on over to Coinbase and, when buying your next batch of Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin, ask to repeat that purchase daily, weekly, every two weeks, or monthly.

You’re “averaging in,” or “dollar cost averaging” your crypto purchases, so that’s another way to smooth out your returns and your risk.

11. Think about a Bitcoin IRA

Yes, that’s a thing. Bitcoin IRA is the world’s first and we’re sharing this link as a public service – we’re not in their affiliate program and we haven’t gone this route ourselves. Yet.

You can search and find a few other links – some ads, some not – but, in our limited investigation of these, this appears to be the best and most reputable service.

Wow. 11 Ways to Get Started. We’re exhausted now, so we’re going to take a break. But you…you should really consider getting started…look around and consider getting into the Bitcoin game.