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What is a Hard Fork?
Knowledge of what hard fork is necessary for users who have contact with the cryptocurrency world. Consider how the forks pass, what are their pros, cons and how to benefit. A hard fork cryptocurrency is the introduction of significant changes in the program code of the blockchain chain, as a result of which a new branch of the network is created that functions by its own rules and do not interact with the “parent” system. In this review, we will consider in detail the key points regarding hard forks, and we will understand why it is being held.
As mentioned above, hard fork cryptocurrency is a modification of the source code of the blockchain, as a result of which new rules for the functioning of the system are created, incompatible with the old algorithms. Since the old and new rules cannot work within the same chain, the network is ramified (hence the name of the process, because the hard fork translates as “hard fork”). The “mother” system continues to operate according to the established algorithms, while the new blockchain has its own ecosystem.
In most cases, the result of the hard fork is the creation of a new cryptocurrency, which runs within the same payment system. Sometimes this operation does not imply the creation of a new asset. Changes are made in order, for example, to correct the principle of extraction of a coin. In this case, division occurs. The best example of hard forks is Bitcoin Cash. For a long time, the BTC blockchain worked, satisfying user needs, and everyone was happy with everything. In 2017, there was a proposal to change the settings and increase the block size to 8 MB. The step was to solve cryptocurrency scalability problems: reduce transaction costs and increase the number of transactions per second.
What changes are made during hard fork?
We have already found out that often due to hard forks a new cryptocurrency appears. This asset is formed due to the fact that the organizers make fundamental changes to the original blockchain, which are incompatible with the old algorithms. As a rule, the following aspects are touched upon when holding a hard fork:
- Sets the maximum issue of the new currency.
- The time of block generation is prescribed.
- Sets the amount of the reward for the disclosure of the block and the frequency of its adjustment.
- An algorithm that regulates the complexity of mining is created.
- The block size is set (the possibilities of the subsequent change of this parameter are additionally specified).
In fairness, we note that the organizers of the hard fork extremely rarely subjected to drastic changes absolutely everything. As a rule, they cover only a couple of aspects. For example, one of the most successful forks of Bitcoin Cash is in many ways similar to the original Bitcoin. It has the same emission (21 million coins), approximately the same block generation time.
Conclusion
Taking into account all the above, we can say that despite some drawbacks, hard fork cryptocurrency is a rather positive development. Of course, attackers often use this, and ordinary people burn through on projects that are not successful. However, dramatic changes in blockchain networks stimulate their development, expand the possibilities of application, make payment systems as user-friendly as possible, and give new chances for investment. The main thing is to observe a competent approach when working with one or another hard fork in order to minimize all risks.
What Is A Paper Wallet?
A paper wallet is a special document with which the storage of a virtual coin is ensured. Such storages are in demand among users of crypto networks who own a large number of cryptocurrencies and aim to protect the savings from intruders. The peculiarity of such wallets is the availability of copies of two types of keys (public and private).
The convenience of the store lies in the possibility of using QR codes that provide quick identification and adding keys to the desktop client for conducting operations in a crypto network. What are the features of such wallets? How to create a paper wallet Bitcoin and what is required for this? What safety measures to follow during use? These and a number of other issues will be discussed below.
What are public and hidden keys
To better understand the essence of cryptographic keys, let’s simulate the situation from the real world. Imagine a vending machine. Anyone can throw coins into it. But not everyone will be able to get them back because this requires a special key. The only person who takes money from the device is its owner with a unique key.
In this example, the vending machine symbolizes a public address to which money can be sent to you. You own a device with its own unique hidden key. With it, you get access to the funds and the right to dispose of them at its discretion. The public key is the address to which money is sent to you, and the secret key is what you will use to send the coin to someone else. Remember, only you must know the secret key, otherwise, anyone can use your wallet and send money to any address.
How to make a paper wallet
You will need a program that randomly generates unique private and public keys. This is an open source program, and if you know about programming, you can see for yourself that it doesn’t do anything extra. Moreover, the keys will be created offline so that they do not hit the Internet, and when the job is done, you need to remove the program to get rid of all traces. You do not need to be a programmer or to understand encryption: you need only a computer, a printer, an internet connection and a sheet of paper. First, you need to make sure that there is no malware on your computer. The best is just a new computer, but, of course, not everyone can afford it.
Do you need a paper wallet
The answer to this question depends on the specific circumstances. If you want to spend a summer day trading in currency, then you will not need such a carrier. But if you are going to save money for a long time, for example, you are going on a long journey, then a paper wallet is a great way to keep your savings safe.
Risks of paper wallets
As far as paper carriers are protected from virtual threats, so are they vulnerable to physical ones.
- Abduction: there are always people who are ready to break the law for the sake of something valuable. Bandits can crack your safe just like hijack Lamborghini. They do not know what is inside, but since it is protected, it means it is valuable.
- And the moral here is simple – do not shout at every corner about your investments in cryptocurrency. It doesn’t matter whether it’s online or in the real world. Remember.
- The unreliability of the carrier: after all, it’s just paper. It is easy to damage, and the paint eventually erases. So periodically make copies of the document.
- Theft: since the keys are written on a sheet, they can be seen, photographed and stolen your money.
- Disasters: a sheet of paper is not protected from natural disasters and can be easily destroyed if you have not made backup copies.
Conclusion
The use of a paper wallet is relevant for those cases where the holder of a cryptocurrency focuses on long-term investments and does not plan to frequently conduct transactions with coins. Despite a number of security advantages, paper vaults have a number of disadvantages that are important to remember before registering. But you have to tinker to prevent physical trouble: the loss, theft or damage to secret keys. Always keep their location secret and install new storage in case of minimal suspicion of privacy vulnerabilities.
The best solution is diversification. As the old saying goes: “Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket.” Always distribute them. Keep a part of the currency (most) in paper wallets, just in case, make backup copies.
Most Popular Ways To Sell Ripple
Ripple cryptocurrency in recent months has risen sharply in value due to the increased interest of investors and traders. A positive role in this was played by the news about the beginning of testing the technology of interbank payments on the Ripple blockchain by Asian banks. On January 11, 2018, another well-known financial company providing the Moneygram international money transfer service also announced its cooperation with Ripple. They believe that the use of XRP technology and cryptocurrency will allow making transfers quickly and cheaply to any country in the world.
The market capitalization of coins in circulation (about 38 billion XRP) as of January 13 is 80 billion US dollars, with an average rate of $ 2.02.
How To Sell Ripple and XRP
Due to the sharp depreciation of the XRP rate, the volume of Ripple capitalization has noticeably decreased. This means that more and more people are choosing to sell Ripple. But not everyone knows how to do it most profitably and quickly. Let’s figure it out.
Although many do not recommend getting rid of their assets in XRP, predicting the upcoming growth of the ripple in the long run, some people still decide to sell Ripple. The easiest way to do this is to use the exchanger. Let’s see how to choose the exchange office that offers the most favorable exchange rate.
SBI MoneyTap
The most profitable way to sell XRP is to exchange them on a cryptocurrency exchange. We look, what platforms work with a coin, what methods of withdrawal and other conditions. Some exchanges can only work with cryptocurrencies (Binance), for example, you can exchange Ripple for Bitcoin and withdraw it to another wallet. There are exchanges that work with Fiat and you can sell Ripple for rubles, dollar or other currencies.
Sell Ripple on Bitstamp
Exchange Bitstamp provides an opportunity to purchase 12 cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Litecoin and others) and 1 token (KICK). Among the languages present are Russian and Ukrainian. The cryptocurrency exchange has been operating since 2013, it is registered in the UK, the number of clients at the end of 2017 exceeded 1 million people. Available currency pairs with Ripple: XRP / USD and XRP / BTC.
Sell Ripple on Binance
XRP sale and exchange on the cryptocurrency exchange. The most suitable option, since the courses will be better than in exchange offices. Which exchange to choose the final decision for you. The Binance cryptoexchange is popular, where you can sell cryptocurrency for rubles, dollars, euros, hryvnia and withdraw using available methods: advcash, payeer, perfect money, okpay, Yandex money, after verifying a bank transfer, to Visa or Mastercard, neteller and other.
What to know before you trade Ripple
In fact, this is part of the name of the company Ripple Labs (until 2013, OpenCoin). And, of course, it is often called the network created by this company, designed to process payments by financial institutions. But the token released by Ripple Labs and operating in the Ripple network is formally called XRP. However, since the word Ripple is easier to pronounce than the abbreviation of the three consonants, this name is likely to remain popular.
How safe is Ripple?
At the beginning of 2018, Ripple Labs owned about 60 billion XRP, while all these tokens can be produced 100 billion, that is, the company owns about 60% of the currency. Some people believe that in this connection, control over XRP in the Ripple network can be considered centralized, which is not suitable for some activists — they prefer unconditionally decentralized systems. Ripple Labs notes that even in the absence of centralized control, the presence of large players in the Bitcoin network and other networks leads to actual oligopoly. Moreover, the company believes that шеы XRP controlled emission plan gives it an advantage.
Right now, we are living in the digital world where almost everything is advanced with innovations. The blockchain is one among many and currently, it is one of the leading platforms for digital possessions. This platform is becoming increasingly important to the modern world. But why should someone use blockchain? Well, there are several reasons for using blockchain.
The blockchain is a peer-to-peer network linked with several computers to record and maintains all the transaction of cryptocurrency. It is more likely a traditional database with extremely decentralized and improved security. Therefore, innovation can be beneficial enough within the country through censorship is a considerable issue. These sorts of acts are severe on the procedure level of a blockchain. As long as it is gaining popularity, Blockchain innovation is investing part of their loans to do some researches on making it more developed.
Key Factors of Blockchain
There are some key factors for which many organizations and people choose blockchains over any standard database systems. Such as;
Safety Issues
The first thing that strikes in mind, “are blockchains safe?” The blockchain technology is safer compared to other centralized database systems. The network system is far less likely to be the target of a hacking attempt or a point of failure. The system is updated enough to detect any kind bug and declines and expels the hacked block instantly before it creates any damage to the blockchain. Usually, the more the nodes in a network, the more secure it is. Therefore, Bitcoin is considered as the most sophisticated and secure blockchain these days.
Blockchain: Cost Effective or Expensive
The highly distributed blockchain technologies operate through some network of odes where the user will never need to hire a professional to maintain the DevOps system. Some small companies can save expenses by embracing all the innovations of blockchain and smart contracts. This helps to lock out the intermediaries for the administrative tasks and financial services.
Are Blockchains Open?
Blockchain innovation is an interesting business all around the world because of its incredible transparency. This derives that it is ideal for other users and developers with the chance to modify it as they deem fit. Another exciting fact is modifying any information kept on the blockchains is nearly impossible and throbbing. It is because of the existence of multiple nodes in the network monitoring the modifications on records.
The velocity of Blockchain Transactions
In some conventional banks, it takes days or even weeks for settling a transaction completely. It can be the reason for sophisticated protocols in the transferring software in banks. Moreover, banks are open during the regular company hours in five days a week. Similarly, some banks are located in different locations in a different time zone which can complicate things as well. However, blockchains work 24 hours a day and seven days a week. So, the blockchain based transactions happen instantly and take less time to process and update.
Summary
After finding out almost everything about blockchain innovation, it can be said that it has passed all the major assessment and performing quite well. The entire discussion above is a quick reflection of blockchain utilization. The blockchain technology offers some fantastic advantages to the conventional database which cannot be ignored. It is just a matter of time when blockchain takes over the traditional databases in every aspect of our everyday lives.