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Best Ethereum Debit Cards You Should Use In 2021

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Spending your Bitcoin or Ethereum is quite a novelty in the real world — few stores and websites accept digital currencies at the moment, and for good reason. Retailers are scared about exchange rates, find blockchain technology too difficult to understand, or think cryptocurrencies are highly volatile assets. Thankfully, new products are popping up to solve all these problems — crypto debit cards.

A crypto debit card lets you spend your digital assets at locations where debit cards are accepted. Every time you use the crypto card, money is deducted from your wallet balance and converted into the merchant’s currency.

Benefits of Crypto Debit Cards

Switch Between Currencies

Most crypto debit cards let you access both digital currencies and fiat currencies with ease. You don’t have to switch between cards to make payments in different local currencies. This is a great draw if you’re a globe-trotter who doesn’t want to exchange currency each time you need to pay for something.

Cut the Card Costs

Crypto debit cards eliminate some of the unpleasant fees associated with bank-issued debit cards. Most promise zero foreign exchange fees, zero transaction fees, and zero monthly maintenance fees. Other crypto cards will waive the monthly fee if you maintain a specific account balance.

Security

Most crypto debit cards incorporate advanced security measures to protect your digital assets and transactions. Most cards have 2-factor authentication, 256-bit encryption, and round-the-clock fraud monitoring. Temporarily freeze or unfreeze your debit card if you detect an unrecognized transaction.

Here are the best ethereum debit cards you should use in 2021.

Tenx Debit Card 

TenX is one of the most sought-after Ethereum Debit Card because it is versatile and offers users multiple benefits. It does not charge any transaction fees, which is one excellent attraction to many users. As a user, you will earn 0.01% in cashback, and this platform offers you a reward system.

Features

1.It is a highly demanded debit card with a high success rate in the cryptocurrency market.
2.The TENX ICO has been sold out in a quick manner.
3.Its application is being available widely in the crypto market so that the users can buy and use it.
4.An attractive and appreciative feature of tenx is that it does not charge any fees for making transactions.
5.For each and every purchase of tenx tokens, this platform offers cashback of around 0.01% to its cardholders (users).

Token Debit Card

Compared to other debit cards, which are multi-level designed, Token cards operate off a blockchain technology, which moves without interruption for multiple currency management. Its app features are among its main strengths. It allows the user to switch between Fiat currencies and therefore is ideal for receiving international payments as well.

Features of Token card

1.It supports all kinds of tokens including the ERC 20 tokens.
2.It pools out a particular amount of cash upon every purchase made across this platform. This is usually referred to as ‘Cash and burn’ policy.

Wirex Debit Card

Wirex is a well-known and the trusted cryptocurrency debit card. Wirex card is available in Virtual and Physical form. These cards are powered by the Wirex crypto wallet that means each card is linked with the wallet. Currently, Wirex supporting more than 50 crypto coins including Ethereum. This card is accepted all over the world.

Features

1.Supporting more than 150 currencies and accepted at over 61 million locations.
2.Free fiat-to-fiat exchange and zero card or account fees. 
3.Wirex card lets you save money with free ATM withdrawals worldwide.

Bitwala Debit Card

The Bitwala Visa is a promising new Ethereum Debit Card powered by the Bitwala platform. It is based in Berlin and was launched in 2012. BitWala Visa boasts of over 15,000 regular users, spread across 120 countries. It offers fast international bank transfers, which makes it convenient to use for international traders and freelancers.

Features

1.You can easily trade your coins into euros and have funds ready in your wallet and on your card.
2.The Bitwala debit card also comes with a 3D secure feature.
3.A private code that provides an extra layer of security when making an online purchase.

Cryptocurrency vs Fiat Currency – GAG Coders

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As the world is moving towards a cashless society, the payment system around us is transforming into a digital economy. Currently, only a small percentage of global money is expressed as physical forms of currency, with the majority of money being exchanged electronically through online payment apps, online, or using debit cards.

What is fiat money? 

Cash. Greenbacks. Cheddar. Loot. No matter what you call the money that’s in your wallet or bank account, chances are your “money” is a specific type of currency called fiat money. 

In its most basic form, fiat money appears as coins or paper bills, which are widely used throughout the world. The world’s most commonly used currencies, like the US Dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, or the pound sterling are fiat currencies. Though there are many fiat currencies, all of them are issued by governments and none of them are backed by commodities like gold or silver.

About Cryptocurrency

A cryptocurrency is a form of payment that can be exchanged online for goods and services. It’s a peer-to-peer system that can enable anyone anywhere to send and receive payments. Instead of being physical money that is carried around and exchanged in the real world, cryptocurrency payments exist purely as digital entries to an online database that describe specific transactions.

Major difference

Fiat CurrencyCryptocurrency
Fiat currency is backed by the Government and can be in the form of physical money or maybe represented electronically.A cryptocurrency is a digitally encrypted, decentralized currency that is not linked to or regulated by any government
Issued by the central bankOperates independently
Required to make transferNot required
Dollar, Rupee, Euro, PondBitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin
Legal in all countriesIllegal in some countries
Fiat money may be used to make digital or physical payments or transfers of funds.Only a digital transfer of funds is possible with cryptocurrency.
Fiat currencies have a tangible appearance in the form of coins and notes.Cryptocurrencies cannot be touched or sensed in any way.

Bottom line

Greener alternatives in a financial system can promote an overall improvement in the global environment. By carefully regulating the number of carbon emissions, the financial system will thrive in a conducive environment and promote cost-effective financial services. 

Moreover, the global environment will be free from pollution, illnesses, and global warming, mainly avoiding eco-friendly options. While everyone must protect the environment, adopting a greener path will require a great collaborative effort from citizens, the monetary system, and the government.

Best Free Crypto Trading Bots in 2021

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Cryptohopper

Cryptohopper is considerably new in the market but has already gained immense popularity due to its wide range of features and technical leverage over other bots. Few highlighted features are:

Features:

  • One of the main limitations of earlier crypto trading bots is that they could only operate when the PC is on. Cryptohopper uses cloud-based technology wherein, you can run and trade with your bot on a cloud and use it any time of the day even when you are offline.
  • Cryptohopper allows you to run your bot in autopilot mode and set your trading signals. This is extremely useful for new users who often fail to set their own trading signals.
  • Cryptohopper is enriched with other special features like technical analysis which helps you to customize your bot’s settings and templates through which you can design a new setting for your bot.

Gunbot

Gunbot is a popular trading bot with over 6000 traders using its services daily. The app is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac operating systems. It offers paid plans in BTC. Few important features are listed below:

Features:

  • Gunbot supports 32 different trading strategies including Bollinger band, step gain, and ping pong.
  • To avail of the services of Gunbot, users have to pay a one-time lifetime charge of 0.05BTC to 0.125BTC depending on the features they use. The lite version is available at lesser fees.
  • The app comes with customer support and will resolve your issues within a day. However, users are advised to turn off their bot in case the market is too volatile to avoid the risk of losses.

3Commas

The 3Commas trading terminal and trading platform offer a wide range of automated trading bots with the ability to configure them for round-the-clock execution of the preferred strategy. Using the trading platform simplifies the process of trading and expands the opportunities available to traders.

Features

  • Automizes trading maximizes profit and avoids loss from trading.
  • The bot is hosted online and is available from anywhere and any device having an internet connection.
  • 3Commas is available in 3 package plans starting from $22 to $75 per month. However, users can use the bot for free if they have an account at the Huboi exchange.

Coinrule

Coinrule is a cloud-based crypto trading platform empowering traders to compete with professional algorithmic traders and hedge funds. It was founded in London by Gabriele Musella and Oleg Giberstein who discovered that trading cryptocurrencies were unnecessarily complicated.

Features

  • Coinrule is a user-friendly, automated, trading bot platform that caters to both new and experienced traders.
  • It comes with a wide range of tools that allow you to easily set and define rules and conditions for when and how to trade, with no coding required.
  • To get started, all you need to do is create an account and connect Coinrule to your favorite exchanges using an API link

TradeSanta

TradeSanta is a popular cloud-based trading bot software that allows users to make a profit at the time of market fluctuation. It provides automated trading with the help of algorithms and there are tools like filters, signals which are very much helpful to take decisions. 

Features:

  • Streamlined process, multiple tools, and user-friendly interface;
  • Top cryptocurrency exchanges are integrated such as Binance, Huobi, Bittrex, BitMex, Bitfinex, and many more.
  • Users will get flexible telegram notifications.
  • Bot templates are available to launch your trade bot in a minute.
  • Fee as well as paid plans available
  • Telegram community with 24/7 support

Cryptocurrency Trading Bots – Advantages

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Cryptocurrency trading is an emerging business and with more and more crypto traders flocking the market, the growth of digital currency exchange has risen to a whole new level. However, many new investors especially the novice find it extremely difficult to evaluate the cryptocurrency market conditions and to cope up with the volatile nature of the market. 

The cryptocurrency trading bots are relatively a new concept and have made crypto trading easy and popular especially among novice traders. Cryptocurrencies can be traded directly from crypto exchange platforms or through the help of crypto trading bots. Due to the volatile nature of the crypto market, many investors are gradually relying on trading bots to do the job for them.

What Are Crypto Trading Bots?

Crypto trading bots are a set of programs designed to automate cryptocurrency trading on your behalf. Typically, The investor/trader will have to pay attention to market statistics that play a crucial role in practicing trading and then pick which cryptocurrency to buy/sell and at what time. Crypto trading bots can easily automate the analysis and interpretation of market statistics. They can gather market data, interpret it, calculate the potential market risk, and execute buying/selling cryptocurrency assets. 

How do Bots work?

Investors can subscribe to free bot programs to aid in their cryptocurrency trading. On the other hand, many bots have user fees, some of which can be quite steep. Typically, investors seek out the bot or bots that will be most useful for them and then download the code from a developer. Each bot includes different requirements in terms of software and hardware.

Bots can be incredibly helpful, although there remains an ongoing debate about whether they should be permitted in cryptocurrency trading. In order to maximize the impact of a bot, however, an investor must know how to best utilize the tool. For instance, investors must have the proper accounts set up across digital currency exchanges.

They must stock those accounts with cryptocurrency holdings. In many cases, they must still make investment decisions such as when to buy or sell. A crypto bot is not a get-rich-quick solution for an investor unwilling to put in the time and effort necessary for success.

The Benefits of Using a Crypto Trading Bot

Save Time 

New cryptocurrency traders, investors, and miners quickly figure out that going into cryptocurrency is more or less a 24-hour gig. To be an effective trader, it is essential to monitor and stay on top of recent developments in the crypto world. Since cryptocurrency technology is expanding so fast, this would mean monitoring market insights every 10 minutes or so to keep track of relevant trends. 

Monitoring cryptocurrency trends all on your own can be rather time-consuming and overwhelming. Meanwhile, trading bots allow you to limit the amount of time you spend monitoring the market, as the artificial intelligence behind the bot will do that for you. 

Bots Lower the Barrier to Entry 

As you may already know, cryptocurrency trading is an exhausting process. Newcomers have to do a lot of research about the industry and the latest trends before they stand a chance to make effective trading decisions. Further, the nature of the crypto trading game is that even with adequate preparation, long-term success is not guaranteed. 

While crypto trading bots do not guarantee long-term success either, they certainly lower the barrier to entry for newcomers. By utilizing a trading bot to ease their way into crypto trading, newcomers can copy the actions of some of the more successful traders. 

24-Hour Trading 

Although cryptocurrency trading can be a full-time gig, even the most successful traders need to sleep, eat, and take care of daily chores. However, while you are off living your life, the crypto trading game does not sleep as crypto traders remain active worldwide, constantly shifting trends in one direction or the other. 

Perhaps the main advantage of a crypto trading bot is that it allows for much more effective time management for crypto traders. The crypto trading bot can be optimized so that it runs the trading process in the background at all hours. This allows traders to partake in the trading process 24 hours a day without being present in front of their computer screen without a break. 

Bottom line

Cryptocurrency trading bots are useful for automated trading and can be very profitable if used carefully. There is some trading software such as the bitcoin era platform which can be used for trading purposes. It is very much recommended to use any platform with proper knowledge and research and choose only reputed and secure bot software.

What is a bitcoin loan and how does it work? – Pros & Cons

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What is a Bitcoin Loan?

Bitcoin loans are pretty much like any other loan where you can borrow specific amounts from a lender and pay them at certain interest rates. The only difference is that in this type of loan, cryptocurrencies serve as your collateral or the item or asset used to secure the loan. 

The rapidly changing value of Bitcoin is the clear reason why it isn’t easy to just borrow Bitcoin from someone you know. In cases like this, the lender and borrower need reassurance that the requirements from both parties can and will be met. So if you want to either borrow or lend crypto securely and reliably, exploring crypto or Bitcoin lending platforms might be the most appropriate solution for you. 

How does Bitcoin lending work?

A bitcoin-backed loan uses digital currency as collateral, similar to a securities-based loan. The basic principle works like a mortgage loan or auto loan — you pledge your crypto assets to obtain the loan and pay it off over time. You can get this type of loan through a crypto exchange or crypto lending platform.

While you retain ownership of the crypto you’ve used as collateral, you lose some rights, such as the ability to trade it or use it to make transactions. Also, if the value of your digital assets drops significantly, you may end up owing back much more than you borrowed should you default on the loan.

People may consider crypto loans because of the benefits they provide and because they have no intention to trade or use their crypto assets shortly. The acronym HODL, which stands for hold on for dear life, is a common refrain in crypto-focused online forums.

Advantages & Disadvantages

ProsCons
Bitcoin lending involves borderless online transactions and it is one of the pioneering cryptocurrencies to be accepted in almost every part of the world.Bitcoin lending faces tough competition from other emerging crypto lending services.
Bitcoin runs on a decentralized blockchain and is not controlled by any central authority. Due to its decentralized nature, BTC assets are not vulnerable to the governance-based manipulation of political bodies, banks, and other financial institutions. Bitcoin lending faces issues due to the infamous volatility of BTC prices. If the price drops dramatically to an all-time low, the Bitcoin lending platform faces complications in serving its lenders and borrowers. Therefore, this unpredictable price swing makes Bitcoin lending risky for investors. 

How do you get a Bitcoin loan?

To get a Bitcoin loan, one can browse through multiple Bitcoin loan sites. These websites are the Bitcoin lending platforms that can provide instant Bitcoin loans to their users. In these platforms, the process of lending Bitcoin in the form of cash loans is simplified in many ways. This is done to make Bitcoin loans more accessible for the greater public. By following these steps, one can get a Bitcoin loan without losing time on traditional loan procedures.

Step 1 – Select a Bitcoin lending platform
Step 2 – Create a user account by verifying the trust score and cryptocurrency support
Step 3 – Select the type of Bitcoin loan based on the collateral requirement, interest rate, DeFi/CeFi, etc
Step 4 – Submit the loan application or accept the loan offer and get the loan in a few hours after the borrower accepts the loan terms

Important things required for Bitcoin loan application

  • Proof of being a registered user of the lending platform
  • Documented proof of age (18+ years)
  • Digital verification of email and phone number
  • Documented proof of Bitcoin holdings (crypto wallet, crypto exchange, etc.)

Applying for Bitcoin loans is easier for registered users of crypto lending platforms. Moreover, it is easy for registered users of leading cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance. Such users have enough verified data to prove their identity during the application. While borrowing crypto loans, it is equally important to check the cryptocurrencies and the fiat currencies supported by the Bitcoin lending platform.

Bottom line

With all the things we’ve discussed so far, you’re probably thinking about whether trying your hands on crypto loans is a good idea or not. So here are other key points you might want to look into to help you come to a decision.

If you’re a newbie in the crypto space and want to have fractions of BTC by not taking the trading route, you can opt to borrow Bitcoin to get started. Sending and receiving money through cryptos is much cheaper and faster than with many banks and other third-party financial institutions. 

Promise and the Current State of DeFi (Decentralized finance) – pros & Cons

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Decentralized finance, or DeFi, has become a popular buzzword, especially with proponents of distributed ledger technology, blockchain, and cryptocurrency. Just as cryptocurrency was designed to ultimately take control of money away from governments, DeFi aims to take control of personal finance away from banks and investment firms.

What is DeFi?

Decentralized finance refers to a category of online financial platforms where one or more function is managed via smart contracts or other decentralized, blockchain-enabled, automated processes, rather than by a centralized system. However, as of this writing, there is no DeFi platform that is 100% truly decentralized. Each one still involves some degree of centralization in one or more aspects of its management.

The Current State of DeFi in 2021

Decentralized finance as we know it today is focused on one thing and that is to eliminate the middleman from financial transactions. As such, DeFi mainly relies on Ethereum as the blockchain that is easy to use and tailor according to the needs of a specific system.

What can a typical DeFi platform do today? The range of DeFi products varies significantly, but most systems guarantee the following functions:

1. Cryptocurrency exchange markets are free from central authorities
2. The ability to borrow or land digital coins
3. Near-instant payments from peer to peer
4. Advanced asset management through tokenization
5. The option of predicting asset fluctuations and capitalizing on your predictions

The Promise of Decentralized Finance

The aim of decentralization is to take control away from the establishment. Whether that establishment is a national government, regulators, or a centuries-old bank, proponents of decentralization see institutions as inherently corrupt and believe that people deserve greater freedom of how they store or spend their money. They also believe that the layers of bureaucracy slow things down to a pace that is not congruent with modern life, making it too difficult to send money across national borders or secure a loan to take advantage of a narrow window of opportunity.

The current bank customers may not even be the primary target audience for DeFi platforms. Many DeFi solutions are looking to engage with the unbanked or underbanked — people who currently have limited access to traditional financial services. This includes those in developing countries, rural areas, and people working in shadow economies.

Benefits of DeFi

Decentralized financial systems are not just a theoretical concept with little to no use, but rather highly practical inventions with tons of real-world benefits. Some of the major advantages of DeFi include:

  • The lack of centralized authority that monitors and controls financial transactions strictly. With DeFi, users’ deposits are free from external interventions.
  • Every participant in the DeFi system gains his own portion of financial sovereignty and democratic control. You know how the system works and you know that nothing can interfere with the process.
  • DeFi can reach the highest level of accessibility because, in theory, it only takes the Internet connection to gain access to the system regardless of your location.
  • Decentralization and the blockchain-powered platform make DeFi much safer and more difficult to penetrate by traditional hackers and malicious activities.

Cons of Decentralized Finance

Scalability 

DeFi projects encounter formidable difficulties in the scalability of host blockchain from various perspectives. First of all, the DeFi transactions require unbelievably extended periods of time for confirmation. 

At the same time, the transactions on DeFi protocols could become highly expensive during the period of congestion. For example, Ethereum could showcase capabilities for processing almost 13 transactions every second with Ethereum at full capacity. On the contrary, the centralized counterparts for DeFi could accommodate thousands of transactions in the concerned period.

Uncertainty      

The concerns of uncertainty also make a mark in the advantages and disadvantages of decentralized finance. In event of instability in a blockchain hosting a DeFi project, the project could automatically inherit instability from the host blockchain. As of now, the Ethereum blockchain is going through various changes. For instance, the mistakes committed during the transition from PoW consensus to the new Eth 2.0 PoS system can lead to risks. 

Shared Responsibility

The shared responsibility factor works negatively for users. The DeFi projects do not take responsibility for your mistakes. All they do is taking away the intermediaries, and it is the users who have to take responsibility for their funds and assets. Therefore, DeFi space needs tools that could prevent possibilities of human mistakes and errors.

Bottom line

Decentralized finance has become a promising favorite for transforming the conventional benchmarks of financial services. Most important of all, DeFi could foster the application of blockchain in the financial services sector. With the value benefits of transparency, immutability, and decentralization, DeFi space still has to encounter obstacles like scalability.  

A way to play Bitcoin Games in 2021

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Cryptocurrency has become a global phenomenon in recent years. Various industries are benefiting from the convenience of cryptocurrency, and one of those industries is online gaming.

As per a report by Wax, around 75% of online game players want to exchange their virtual assets for a currency that they could use to buy and sell on other platforms.

Cryptocurrencies enable players to collect and trade in virtual assets, which they can exchange and trade across anywhere in the world. Hence, it offers the gaming industry a safe and easy medium to make money.

Online games are adopting cryptocurrency to solve problems related to transactions and frauds that players encounter while playing online games.

Some of the benefits are streamlined payments, the real ownership of players, the decentralization of payments, and cross-game compatibility.

Let’s have a look at some of the benefits of using cryptocurrency in online games.

1.Instant Transaction
2.Ability to Play Anywhere
3.Safe and Secure
4.More for Your Money
5.Hide Your Identity

A way to play Bitcoin Games

The easiest way to play Bitcoin video games is to just sign up for a Bitcoin online casino. This could give you access to loads and heaps of crypto gambling games. One of the best Bitcoin casinos obtainable for playing novices takes place to be mBit. Whilst you go to their website, you may be caused to check in your account by means of entering your email identification and password, observed by depositing your selected amount of Bitcoin.

After that, you’ll see the subsequent web page, this page will display you two things:

1. First of all, you will be able to see your bitcoin balance. In case you need to feature in your bitcoin balance, then you have the option to replicate the public deal with or use the QR code to send Bitcoins.

2. Secondly, you’ll see the bitcoin bonuses that the casinos are presenting to you. Always keep a watch out for those bonuses. Some of those bitcoin bonuses can upload up and grow to be honestly rewarding.

Do I need to Deposit Bitcoin to Play Games?

In a maximum of the actual Bitcoin casinos, you will need to deposit some BTC into your playing account in advance. However, a few casinos like mBit offer a “No Deposit” bonus for Bitcoin gamers. A no deposit bonus can be the concept of a small preview of the Bitcoin casino. The Bitcoin casino offers a loose bonus for your account, on the way to assist you to play some of the extra popular bitcoin-earning video games. In quick, it gives you a quick tour of the Bitcoin casino playing enjoy.

In different phrases, there are some bitcoin casinos, wherein you could absolutely play without gambling any of your cash! The mBit online casino will come up with 50 free spins on the slot video games just for registering your gambling account.

Regardless, as soon as the registration is complete, you’ll in the end get to peer the host of bitcoin video games online in the Bitcoin online casino. From right here you could get started out winning bitcoins playing the satisfactory crypto games available.

Popular Bitcoin Games in 2021

As already said, there are plenty of bitcoin games that you could play at Bitcoin gambling websites. A number of those video games are extra popular than the opposite. In this phase, allow’s do a rundown of some of those popular Bitcoin-playing video games.

Bitcoin Cube

One of the most famous video games in the Bitcoin gaming world and the one that is most synonymous with crypto playing and Bitcoin. Bitcoin cube is incredibly easy and normal searching. You just need to wager that a roll of the cube will be lower or higher than your predetermined factor. If you bet correctly, then you’ll win a prize based on the chance of the guess being right. But, it’s far exactly because of its simplicity that it has turned out to be so popular.

Apart from its innate simplicity, Bitcoin dice games also provide a completely aggressive residence area. Almost all Bitcoin dice websites will offer a residence fringe of 1% or much less, while it is not unusual to find a house facet as low as zero.5%. In conjunction with the residence side, any other benefit takes place to be its velocity. Every single sport of cube is fantastically quick. You’ll be able to get through several rolls of dice per minute, making it an exciting experience.

Bitcoin Blackjack

Blackjack is one of the maximum popular crypto gambling video games available in both Bitcoin and widespread casinos. Popular versions of the sport available in bitcoin casinos encompass Double exposure, Multihand Blackjack, and Pontoon. In case you get toward 21 than your dealer, you’ll have the danger to win a prize. Many experienced gamers have advocated that learners who’re starting out inside the blackjack having a bet world must begin with bitcoin blackjack. The purpose being, the software program used makes the intricacies of the game easy.

Bitcoin blackjack capabilities 

The player makes a guess via choosing how much money they want to place handy. Maximum having a bet option will be among $1-$100. The fingers could be dealt with as soon as the stakes have been set.

As soon as a Bitcoin participant has visible their hand, they’ll have the option to Hit, Stand, or Double Down. If the Bitcoin participant’s hand consists of a couple, then a “split” option is likewise viable.

A unique function of Bitcoin blackjack is that there’s no limit to the number of card decks that may be used in this Bitcoin recreation.

Bitcoin blackjack is taken into consideration very participant-friendly since the house facet provided is regularly less than 1%. However, Bitcoin players ought to say that the greater decks of playing cards you upload into your play, the higher your own home aspect will become.

Coinbase Overview – Pros & Cons, Security, and Fees

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Coinbase is one of the biggest cryptocurrency companies around, supporting over 100 countries, with more than 30 million customers around the world.

Coinbase has a wide array of services but their main service allows users to buy and sell Bitcoins through a bank account, credit card, and debit card. The rates you’ll get on Coinbase are fair in general, however, the customer support is terrible.

Overview 

Coinbase first came into existence in San Fransisco, California, the USA, in the year 2012. Coinbase still has its headquarters in San Fransisco. However, now it has offices in multiple cities all across the US. Coinbase has started out only as a Bitcoin brokerage service (selling Bitcoins directly to customers), but additional services were added along the way. Coinbase is fully regulated and licensed. The company has raised over $540m from leading investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Rabbit Capital, and The NYSE.

Services

Coinbase brokerage

The main service Coinbase offers is a brokerage service for buying and selling cryptocurrencies. On the downside, one of the main complaints users have towards Coinbase is the lack of control of users over their own funds. When you open a Coinbase account you don’t have direct access to your coins and you don’t get any private key or a seed phrase. Coinbase stores your coins for you – it’s the equivalent of putting your cash at the bank, you don’t own it, the bank does.

Coinbase Pro

Coinbase Pro is a cryptocurrency trading platform. As opposed to the traditional Coinbase brokerage service, which simplifies buying cryptocurrencies at a premium, Coinbase pro is aimed at more experienced users. Coinbase pro allows users to trade several cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, and ZRX. Fees are considerably lower than the brokerage service and there are advanced trading options as well.

Wallet 

In 2018 Coinbase launched their independent mobile wallet for iOS and Android. The wallet stores the private keys on the user’s device and only they have access to the funds. This brings Coinbase full circle as it started out as a wallet, transitioned to an exchange only (claiming that they are not a wallet) and now they are offering wallet services again.

Fees

Coinbase has an incredibly convoluted fee system that is also quite expensive if you are not using Coinbase Pro. The cost of trading on Coinbase’s standard platform is quite high in comparison to its competitors.

Buying Limits

Once your Coinbase account is set up you will be able to buy a small amount of Bitcoins until you raise your limit. In order to raise your limits you will need to do the following:

  • Provide and verify your phone number
  • Provide and verify your personal information
  • Provide and verify your photo id

If you are a fully verified US resident you can reach the highest limit which is currently $25K a day. Limits may also be set depending on the payment method you choose to buy the cryptocurrencies. For example, ACH transfer has higher limits than credit card purchases on Coinbase.

How safe is coinbase?

Coinbase uses premium security features, and all you need to do is maintain the security from your side. Coinbase offers biometric security, two-step verification, and insurance in case there is a breach at coinbase. However, this insurance is not valid if you perform any act of carelessness.

Pros and Cons

A solid variety of altcoin choicesHigh fees when not using Coinbase Pro
Extremely simple user interfaceThe user does not control wallet keys
Very high liquidityMay not have as many altcoins as some other exchanges

Bottom line

Coinbase is an ideal tool for new crypto investors who may not have any other investment experience. While the standard platform is overpriced, its features, like its learning to program and the ability to easily set up recurring purchases, provide the inexperienced with a clear path to becoming invested and actually understanding cryptocurrency.

Those with more trading experience will find that Coinbase Pro is a cheaper and more robust option, but it is still lacking in terms of features. If you wish to trade seriously, you may find that Coinbase is not the right fit for you. Overall, Coinbase is designed with the beginner in mind.

Things you should know before investing in Dogecoin

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What is Dogecoin?

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin or Ethereum—although it’s a very different animal than either of these popular coins. Dogecoin was originally created at least in part as a lighthearted joke for crypto enthusiasts and took its name from a once-popular meme. Despite this unusual origin story, it has exploded in popularity in 2021—as of writing, Dogecoin has become the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

How Does Dogecoin Work?

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that runs on blockchain technology, similar to Bitcoin and Ethereum. Blockchain is a distributed, secure digital ledger that stores all transactions made using a decentralized digital currency.

All holders carry an identical copy of the Dogecoin blockchain ledger, which is frequently updated with all new transactions in the cryptocurrency. Like other cryptocurrencies, Dogecoin’s blockchain network uses cryptography to keep all transactions secure.

People called miners use computers to solve complex mathematical equations in order to process transactions and record them on the Dogecoin blockchain—a so-called “proof of work” system.

In exchange for processing transactions and supporting the blockchain ledger, miners earn additional Dogecoin, which they can then hold or sell on the open market.

Interesting Facts About Dogecoin

Dogecoin is an open-source peer-to-peer digital currency popular among Shiba Inus around the world. 

The Shiba Inu is a Japanese breed of dog that has become popular as an online meme and is associated with Dogecoin. 

Dogecoin has one of the most active and largest communities in the cryptocurrency world. This group has banded together to support a variety of charitable endeavors and other ventures.

Unlike Bitcoin, Dogecoin has no upper limit, which means there are actually more than 100 billion doge coins in circulation.

Things to consider before investing in Dogecoin

There are multiple things to consider before you invest in any cryptocurrency. Here are some key things to consider before investing in Dogecoin.

Volatility

The first and foremost thing to note is Dogecoin’s high volatility. Dogecoin witnessed serious price fluctuations over the past few months as it rallied to an all-time high of around $0.70. However, soon after, it crashed to around $0.45. While Dogecoin has gained notable momentum with more people learning and investing in it, these investors also cash out when it spikes, thus crashing its price as a result. 

Influencers 

Not just stocks but cryptocurrency can also be influenced by prominent personalities. Elon Musk, the self-appointed Dogefather, and community dubbed Dogecoin CEO, has repeatedly tweeted about the cryptocurrency. As a result, its prices spiked sharply a couple of times. It only stands to reason that if an individual can influence Dogecoin pricing, it could go either way. 

While Musk has always shown support for the cryptocurrency, his recent appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) was expected to push its value near the $1 mark. However, that didn’t happen and in fact, Dogecoin fell sharply after his SNL appearance. 

Playing with a bubble

The Dogecoin cryptocurrency can be seen as a bubble that crashes soon. However, not considering it as such will be more of an issue since its price fluctuates based on how many people are holding it, how many Dogecoins are in circulation, and how many are being added every day. If one checks out Dogecoin’s price graph, the general expectation will be that it will go up in the future but sadly, there’s nothing backing up that notion.

FOMO and the sheep mentality

With Dogecoin taking over social media and everyone talking about investing in it, there can be real Fear Of Missing Out or FOMO on a lucrative investment opportunity. But before that happens, it should be taken into account that not everyone is as successful as the person who became a millionaire banking their life savings on a transient trend. 

Unlike stocks, one can use cryptocurrencies they’re holding to actually purchase something. 

Crypto Mining VS Crypto Validating – Beginner’s Guide

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Blockchain technology is a strong network designed to assure that digital currencies remain stable and serve their inception purpose. Learning about blockchain and cryptographic processes is quite interesting to technology fans and beginner investors.

Generally, cryptocurrencies are released in the blockchain through a process called mining. Although mining adds the blocks onto the chains, a preceding process called validation streamlines everything for mining. Let us understand everything about validation and mining.

What is Crypto Validation?

Crypto validation is where transactions and blocks in a blockchain are authenticated and verified. A block validator looks into the details of specific transactions in a blockchain, determines their authenticity, and merges it with others to form a block.

The validator gets a notification of upcoming transactions, works to verify and approve; among the issues that a validator checks include the legality and accuracy of each transaction. Checking for double-spending is also another vital issue that a validator focuses on.

What is Crypto Mining?

It’s the process where consensus algorithms are used in the blockchain to accept a particular validator’s block. Today, there are two types of consensus used, i.e., proof of work and proof of stake.

Proof of work (POW) requires parties called miners to solve some complex computations for their work to be added to the blockchain. The person who solves the computation first gets their block posted.

When it comes to proof of stake (POS), investors hold some amount of particular crypto assets during the validation process and get a share of the reward.

Difference Between Validation and Mining

ValidatingMining
Complexity The difficulty level in Validating is relatively lowThe difficulty level in mining is relatively high when compared to Validating
CostCosts in the validating part are lower than the mining sectionCost is high because the process of mining uses large amounts of power and high processor computers.
Transaction Crypto validation begins when users send transactions through the blockchainMining focuses on posting the block onto the distributed ledger.
RewardingValidators’ work only ends after the mining process ends. The income earned after the mining process comes in the form of coins released.A miner will only receive the rewards after the mining process ends and his block has been chosen and added to the chain.

Proof Of Work

As a beginner, you may be excited about joining the mining or validation process; therefore, you need to be ready to complete the whole validation plus mining process. It requires vast amounts of electricity and some super-performing computers for successful block release.

However, lately, some crypto projects have been introducing options that ease the mining process by providing cloud-based computing machines. Leveraging cloud mining platforms will help ensure that you earn better rewards at a way lower cost.

Proof Of Stake

If you leverage a platform that uses proof of stake mechanisms, just run your master node and stake some amount of crypto. The stakers will hold some amount of crypto assets against the validation process. In POS, the amount of rewards depends on the stake value and length of stake.

Bottom line

Crypto validation focuses more on the transaction introduced in the blockchain, while mining works on blocks of transactions, including adding them to the blockchain. However, although there are many differences, the processes are complementary to each other. The twosome processes are vital to secure the blockchain and release new coins. A crypto beginner interested in either mining or validating should be ready for the entire process.

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