What Is A Market Network?

Back in 2015, it was exhibited that the next 10 years would be all about Market Networks whereas the last decade was focused on Social Networks. There were a few companies mentioned that were deemed to be market networks and essentially had the key factors of a market network and what it is purported to be. However, since then we have gone next level with blockchain technology. But has any of those market networks actually adopted this new and beneficial technology?

So what exactly is a Market Network?

A market network is a combination of a marketplace and a social network that includes SaaS which helps the individuals in the market network to work with customers and other service providers to build relationships rather than just quick transactions we experience on eBay or Amazon.

Marketplaces are essentially about selling your product or service even though reviews of goods purchased by the customer are there to guide potential customers’ purchasing decisions. However, marketplaces are predominantly where buyers and sellers meet for one-off transactions. Typically, marketplaces are an accumulation of sellers.

We all know what social networks are. Over the last 15 years, most of us have participated in Facebook or Linked to communicate with people and build relationships for whatever reason. However, commerce is not the core objective of social networks.

SaaS (Software as a Service) are business applications, including email and collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), billing/payroll processing, sales management, human resources management, financial management, database management, enterprise resourcing planning (ERP), content management, and document editing and management.

So what we had was two separate places for your online presence and commerce. A marketplace to sell stuff, and a social network to build relationships. The SaaS doesn’t exist on these platforms, that’s separate and an added expense for business owners and marketers.

But what if you provide a service that is more involved than a simple buy-sell transaction. On top of that, what if you need collaboration with other professionals in your industry to form a team to provide a complete service?

Well, that’s what market networks are all about. In the market network, you are a service provider, but also a person with a profile, with history, reviews, score, etc. You can team up with other people to provide a complex service to a customer and channel the workflow through a SaaS solution.

How Does Blockchain Fit Into The Market Network Model?

To be successful in online branding and operating a business in the ever-expanding internet world, you must maintain your profile in many networks, social and market. It’s difficult to effortlessly scale your reputation from one network to a different one. They are pretty much isolated from each other and they can’t communicate with each other, nor do they really want to because they generally belong to someone. And it so happens that “someone” is never the community that brings value to the platform. It’s not easy for a centralized market network to diversify among service providing platforms and it takes a lot of effort to build and maintain individual profiles that you can only use in an isolated network.

What if your online identity always belonged to you, not a service or platform? And also, the reputation of your branding was maintained by the network and that network also belonged to you? In other words, a decentralized reputation that would enable you to plug into any other centralized network. You see, when your reputation is decentralized, the entire digital space becomes your network.

Blockchain is the ultimate framework or infra-structure tool that gives individuals true ownership of their digital selfhood and reputation. It creates self-sovereignty.

Decentralization In The Marketplace

Decentralization has many features that are beneficial for industries and users around the world. Reduced fees, increased efficiencies, removal of biased agendas and tiers of corruption and greed.

There have been companies like Airbnb and Uber that introduced a new era allowing people to rent out and monetize items. Or eBay and Etsy allowed people to sell products online and Upwork and Fiverr helped freelancers to sell their services. At this stage, these companies are all centralized and very linear with no collaboration between them.

Enter Blockchain.

A decentralized marketplace allows for true peer-to-peer transactions without centralized authorities taking their fees. This is made possible through blockchain technology and smart contracts. We no longer need the trusted third party verifying sellers and ensuring payments.

Decentralization In Social Media

The traditional social media platforms are losing their edge, and their users have taken a massive beating. While some have given up on their social media world completely because it’s affecting their psychological well-being, some have become very disappointed with the fact that the benefit of their work was being passed onto the site more than them or their hard work has been deleted by centralized authorities due to hidden agendas.

If this wasn’t enough, user data, which is meant to be confidential, is being made available in the open market, with governments, advertising companies and more having access to it. This has made users apprehensive about sharing personal details of their lives.

Enter Blockchain

Blockchain is going to transform the user experience in social media networking. These are important factors like the users’ information is encrypted on the blockchain network, so the privacy of data is maintained. Also, a platform can offer monetary compensation and loyalty programs for any and all activity performed by the user. Imagine producing viral content on the platform and getting paid for it? This does not happen on traditional social media, fast becoming a product of drama, agendas, and antiquity.

There are upcoming platforms that are classed as social media on the blockchain whereby you can monetize your blogs, some even have a messaging app integrated, but it stops there. Imagine a complete Market Network as described above that is decentralized, pluggable, and portable which are key components and that have the capabilities to have your marketing, blogging, Storefronts, in fact, all your branding goes viral across all platforms in the internet space?

Enter Markethive – Embracing Blockchain Technology

Markethive is a social marketplace, digital media platform for entrepreneurs that have the combined power of Facebook/LinkedIn, Marketo/Hubspot and Amazon/eBay along with Crypto News Sites like Cointelegraph/Bitcoin.com. Delivering a dynamic social network, integrated with Inbound Marketing (SAAS), numerous commerce platforms, storefronts coupled with augmented reality, and multiple traffic portals, built on the blockchain.

Does It Pay?

Markethive is a next-generation Market Network and the first to adopt blockchain technology that has positioned itself as a complete ecosystem for Entrepreneurs. Using the latest technology, it provides prosperous solutions for all business owners, marketers who require an online presence. Including Markethive’s own Coin (MHV) and Crypto Exchange for ease of liquidity as well as purchasing products and services within the Markethive ecosystem.

Creating a “Universal Income” for entrepreneurs, Markethive is delivering an infinity airdrop incentive to new subscribers, Bounty, and Loyalty programs and has set up the entire system with faucet like or micropayment rewards for using the system, including “Tips” instead of “Likes” This means the whole system is monetized for the benefit of all users. The income potential is huge and the MHV Coin ensures that all users will earn money for everything they do in Markethive.

So What Do You Get?

Markethive's functionalities include SEO features, Analytics, Customer Management System, Traffic Portals, Capture Page and Lead Creation, Profile Page, Resume, E-commerce portals, Video Conferencing, Blogging Platform, Messaging, Press Release, and Sponsored Article distribution, Banner Program and much more. Also included are significant training tutorials and weekly live support meetings, with a step by step automated tutorial system in the works.

Inbound Marketing is a key component of Markethive’s embodiment. Markethive plugs into all Social Media, simplifying your marketing efforts, with automated email campaigns allowing for lead flow into your designated business. Markethive incorporates collaboration building relationships within the community.

Did I mention that the inbound marketing component is free to use while being rewarded with MHV? The only thing that is more rewarding beyond your wildest dreams is the loyalty program which enables you to profit from all facets of the Markethive system including receiving dividends from the company’s net profits. It basically means you as part of the Markethive community own a piece of Markethive, unlike the centralized companies with their venture capitalists and shareholders.

Conclusion

The potential of what the blockchain offers is extremely exciting. And although we are seeing some companies integrating the blockchain as they see what it can do for them and the world holistically, large scale adoption may still take some time. However, the unconventionality of this next-level technology shouldn’t deter marketers, business owners, entrepreneurs, in fact, anyone with a social or marketplace profile from embracing this new protocol given that it offers people many advantages in the form of transparency, security, anonymity, and performance with the added benefit of self-sovereignty.

In the next article, we will explore Inbound Marketing and blockchain. Stay tuned…

David Ogden

A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals.

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

BLOCKCHAIN – Knowledge Is Power Wisdom Is Power With A Purpose

BLOCKCHAIN – Knowledge Is Power. Wisdom Is Power With A Purpose

“Quote” accredited to Solitaire Parke

Blockchain is defined as one of the most significant technological advances in modern history, potentially on a par with the internet, which has led to it being dubbed “The Internet 3.0”. Despite the incredible potential of blockchain to reshape the world as we know it, there is still little understanding of what it is, what it does and why it is so revolutionary.

The Real Origin Of Blockchain

Blockchain was first conceptualized by Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta back in 1991, although they didn’t call it blockchain. They wrote a series of papers and patents. One, in particular, was How To Timestamp a Digital Document, published in 1991, which involved a cryptographically secured chain of blocks. This is what many consider to be the first incarnation of blockchain technology. Basically, they set out to create an immutable ledger.

Stuart Haber and W.Scott Stornetta

As Stornetta stated in an interview,
“It’s unfortunate that so few people actually read all the papers and patents, because there are a few ideas that can be mined from there that some have since reinvented because they never read the papers.”

Nevertheless, Stornetta is humbled by the fact that his 1991 paper about Timestamping ended up inspiring the whole blockchain movement. Interestingly, even after the “blockchain” work they did, the connection between it and money was overlooked. It was not until Satoshi released the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008 that the connection became a reality and a peer to peer monetary system was created.

There were references made to Haber and Stornetta in Satoshi’s whitepaper, 3 in fact…

Blockchain 101

Blockchain technology is not a company or an app, but an entirely new way of documenting data on the internet. The technology can be used for social networks, messengers, games, exchanges, storage platforms, voting systems, prediction markets, online shops and much more. This can be seen as a new internet, which is why some have labeled it “The Internet 3.0”

The information recorded on a blockchain can assume any form, whether it be signifying a transfer of money, ownership, a transaction, someone’s identity, an agreement between two parties, even how much electricity a lightbulb has used. However, to do so would require a confirmation from several devices namely computers on the network.

Once an agreement also acknowledged as a consensus is reached between these devices to store any data on a blockchain, it is unquestionably there. It cannot be disputed, removed or altered without the knowledge and permission of those that made that record as well as the wider community.

Why Is It Called A Blockchain?

Blockchain owes its name to how it works and the manner in which it stores data, namely that the information is packaged into blocks, which link to form a chain with other blocks of similar information.

It is this act of linking blocks into a chain that makes the information stored on a blockchain so trustworthy. Once the data is recorded in a block it cannot be altered without having to change every block that came after it, making it impossible to do so without it being seen by the other participants on the network.

Distributed ledgers have 4 key attributes:

Recorded: stored information is timestamped.
Immutable: Nothing that is recorded can be changed.
Transparent: anyone can see the ledger of transactions
Decentralized: the ledger exists on multiple computers, often referred to as nodes.

Essentially, each block contains the data it is recording. For example, a transaction like 1 MHV coin being sent from Tom to Jerry, as well as timestamps of when that information was recorded. It will also include a digital signature linked to the account that made the recording and a unique identifying link, in the form of a hash (think of it as a digital fingerprint), to the previous block in the chain. It is this link that makes it impossible for any of the information to be altered or for a block to be inserted between two existing blocks. In order to do so, all the following blocks would need to be edited too.

As a result, each block strengthens the previous block and the security of the entire blockchain because it means more blocks would need to be changed to tamper with any information. When combined, all of these create unquestionable storage of information, one that cannot be disputed or declared to be untrue. It is important to note to be absolutely sure where you are sending money. On a blockchain, once a transaction is sent it is sealed and cannot be reversed.

The Three Pillars Of Blockchain Technology

Let’s go into more depth about the three main properties of blockchain technology which are;

Decentralization
Transparency
Immutability

Pillar #1: Decentralization

For decades now we have been subject to and use a centralized entity that stored all our data and we would have to interact solely with this entity to transact or acquire whatever information we required.

A perfect example of a centralized system is the banks. They store all your money, and the only way that you can pay someone is by going through the bank.

When you google search for something, you send a query to the server who then gets back at you with the relevant information. That is called a simple client-server.

We have used centralized systems for many years, thinking all is well, however, they have several vulnerabilities.

Firstly, because they are centralized, all the data is stored in one spot. This makes them easy target spots for potential hackers.
If the centralized system were to go through a software upgrade, it would halt the entire system.
What if the centralized entity somehow shuts down for whatever reason? That way nobody will be able to access the information that it possesses.
Worst case scenario, what if this entity gets corrupted and malicious? If that happens then all the data that is there will be compromised.

So, what happens if we just take this centralized entity away?

In a decentralized system, the information is not stored by one single entity. In fact, everyone in the network owns the information.

In a decentralized network, if you wanted to interact or send money to someone, then you can do so directly without going through a third party. That was the main ideology behind Bitcoin and also the ideology of Markethive Coin. You and only you alone are in charge of your money. You can send your money to anyone you want without having to go through a bank.

Pillar # 2: Transparency

One of the most interesting and misunderstood concepts in blockchain technology is “transparency.” Some people say that blockchain gives you privacy while some say that it is transparent. Sounds contradictory, doesn’t it?

The simple fact is a person’s identity is hidden via complex cryptography and represented only by their public address. So, if you were to look up a person’s transaction history, you will not see “Tom sent 1 MHV” instead you will see “1MF1bhsFLkBzzz9vpFYEmvwT2TbyCt7NZJ sent 1 MHV”. This makes the person’s real identity secure and private while still being able to see all transactions that were done via their public address – transparency.

This image shows what the blocks and transaction details of each public address on Blockchain Explorer

This level of transparency has never existed before within a financial system. It adds that extra, and much needed, level of accountability which is required by some of these biggest institutions.

Speaking purely from the cryptocurrency perspective, if you know the public address of one of these big companies, you can simply pop it in a blockchain explorer and look at all the transactions that they have engaged in. This forces them to be honest, something that they have never had to deal with before.

That’s of course if these companies integrate the blockchain. You can see why something like this can be very helpful for the finance industry right?

Pillar # 3: Immutability

Immutability, in the context of the blockchain, means that once something has been entered into the blockchain, it cannot be tampered with. Imagine how valuable this will be for financial institutes!
Imagine how many embezzlement cases can be nipped in the bud if people know that they can’t “work the books” and fiddle around with company accounts.

The reason why the blockchain gets this property is that of the cryptographic hash function. In simple terms, hashing means taking an input string of any length and giving out an output of a fixed length. In the context of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, the transactions are taken as input and run through a hashing algorithm (Bitcoin uses SHA-256) which gives an output of a fixed length.

Let’s see how the hashing process works. We are going to put in certain inputs. For this exercise, we are going to use the SHA-256 (Secure Hashing Algorithm 256).

As you can see in the above image, in the case of SHA-256, no matter how big or small your input is, the output will always have a fixed 256-bits length. This becomes critical when you are dealing with a huge amount of data and transactions. So basically, instead of remembering the input data which could be huge, you can just remember the hash and keep track.

These hash functions make it ideal for cryptography. There are certain properties that a cryptographic hash function needs to have in order to be considered secure, however, there is just one property that we’ll focus on today. It is called the “Avalanche Effect.”

What this means is even if you make a small change in your input, the changes that will be reflected in the hash will be huge. Notice the change in the hash in the image below? Just because one letter was changed from a capital letter in the input hash, to lower case, it drastically affected the output hash.

The blockchain is a linked list that contains data and a hash pointer that points to its previous block, hence creating the chain. What is a hash pointer? A hash pointer is similar to a pointer, but instead of just containing the address of the previous block it also contains the hash of the data inside the previous block.

This one small tweak is what makes blockchains so amazingly reliable and trailblazing.

Imagine this for a second, a hacker attacks block 3 and tries to change the data. Because of the properties of hash functions, a slight change in data will change the hash drastically. This means that any slight changes made in block 3, will change the hash which is stored in block 2, now that in turn will change the data and the hash of block 2 which will result in changes in block 1 and so on and so forth. This will completely change the chain, which is impossible. This is exactly how blockchains attain immutability.

Conclusion

With any disruptive idea, like the Internet was back in the day, not every company will benefit or embrace this new technology immediately. Banks are clearly in the path of the disruption of the blockchain, the Big Data social network systems, the online auction, and shopping centers are as well. And companies that resist blockchain will be left behind in the Internet 3.0.

Forward-looking companies that convert to the blockchain to improve the privacy and security of their data and create an environment that is unfettered from political and nefarious agendas, will be the winners on top.

Just about every company that migrates to the blockchain and new companies launch built upon the blockchain, will prosper, as long as they deliver and make their prime agenda to benefit their customers.

In the next article, we’ll see what companies have already adopted blockchain technology including Social Media and Market Networks and how it proves to benefit the user.

References: Lisk, Blockgeeks

David Ogden

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Defiant John McAfee – Disruption For The Sake Of Evolution

Computer scientist and cybersecurity mogul is an ardent critic of government administration and traditional elites and not afraid to speak out, he broadcasts his values, opinions, and feelings on a daily basis on his Twitter feed. He is avidly supportive of the crypto/blockchain revolution and staunchly advocates the use of crypto and blockchain technology. McAfee fervently implores society to “wake up” and be mindful of the control and interference of government institutions and big tech.

Taking his standpoint further John McAfee recently tweeted that people must decide on Blockchain, as it is a technology of the people and for the people. He wrote, “Do we bow to the corrupt we are trying to escape, or do we do the right thing for our species”

McAfee and many more who share his stance believe that the industry must remain in the hands of the common people, and should not ever be in the control of the administration. Advocates of distributed decentralized ledgers have constantly stated that the blockchain could completely liberate society from the clutches of the government and assist us in taking control of our lives.

McAfee also stated,
“From 1920 until 1933 alcohol was prohibited in America. The prohibition was abandoned because no one stopped drinking. World governments are close to prohibiting crypto. They can expect the same result.”

John McAfee’s New DEX

John McAfee, an “on the run” US presidential candidate 2020 among many other things has just launched his very own decentralized exchange (DEX) that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform requires no name, no documents, no email, and no bank info. So it’s basically doing without the widely used know your customer (KYC) policy. This is reported to be all set to disrupt the industry.

Also, according to reports, nothing on the McAfee DEX will be monitored by any kind of authoritative body and there will be no restrictions, no complex compliance procedures, and no listing fees either. The platform will charge a trading fee which will be minimal.

Image credit news.u.today

In addition, he announced that DEX would have shared liquidity, which means that all the portals would have access to all maker/taker information coming through from every other portal on the platform and the McAfee DEX portal.

McAfee’s approach has a unique element. It’s offering the creation of portals, or copies of the DEX, with access points to the trading smart contracts. This way, the DEX will be theoretically accessible from multiple hosts and locations – hence censorship-free.

McAfee has been quite vocal that he dislikes the concept of the traditional, centralized financial system as he believes they are at risk of shutting down at any given moment by regulators thus leaving customers high and dry. Alternatively, decentralized platforms cannot be closed down just by anyone due to their intrinsic architecture as they are not controlled by any single party.

Obviously, John McAfee’s moves and activities have been targeted by the United States government. McAfee had constantly claimed he’s been targeted for being truthful and his criticism of the present government which he aspires to take over from.

The Beta version of the decentralized cryptocurrency exchange has already been launched. So if he had bothered about the threat of the SEC, he wouldn’t have launched it in the first place. But to give his followers the assurance that his mission can’t be jeopardized by SEC, he shared a tweet for better clarification.

In the tweet, McAfee was optimistic that SEC will move to shut down Mcafeedex.com, but the technology that controls the system will make it an impossible mission.

He is still in hot pursuit and wanted by quite a few American agencies for criminal charges such as tax evasion and money laundering. He has also claimed that the CIA is after him which has forced him to keep shifting his bases, last known to be living on a boat in international waters. Many of his followers are asking him if he is still running for POTUS. He had this to say…

McAfee is still resolute about his far-fetched prediction of $1 million for Bitcoin by Dec. 31st, 2020, despite the criticisms and time frame left. He also publically stated back in 2017, he would eat his manhood on national television if Bitcoin didn’t reach his prediction which he says is not wishful thinking but an objective reality. There is almost a cult following holding him to his bet and a website has been set up counting down the time. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for either Bitcoin to reach $1 million or the “McAfee Show” carrying out his declaration which I’m sure will top ratings. (humor)

David Ogden Markethive

David Ogden

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Adding Video Content to Your Social Media Strategy

The impact of social media has altered all kinds of industries.

The value of having a presence online has never been greater. Word-of-mouth marketing that once occurred in small social circles or at the office now takes place online?—?a much larger platform for communication. That value is steadily increasing as time goes on. Now more than ever, brands are able to reach larger audiences with recommendations, partnerships, and ambassadors on social media.

The projected figure for social media users this year will land somewhere around 2.62 billion. Social media now attracts users of all ages. Unfortunately, some brands still underestimate the power of social media. Even though brands may have opted out of creating an online presence due to their demographic in the past, now even once a large following has been established, some accounts may not take full advantage of the potential they have.

What do users like?

Different types of content are gaining traction online, including video content and live streaming. While these may seem new, foreign, and maybe even intimidating to certain brands, it is hard to ignore that this is the content users are beginning to prefer. In fact, according to Cisco, online videos will make up more than 80% of all consumer internet traffic (85% in the US) by 2020. Understanding how to engage an audience with video content and live streaming is vital to increase and properly utilize a company’s online presence. Fortunately, these types of content are also excellent for driving site traffic.

How can companies utilize video on social media?

In order to increase engagement and clicks, create an introduction video or demo a new product. Companies can record and package a short and sweet video or conduct a live stream to engage social media users in a live conversation with brand experts, developers, or ambassadors. Another great piece of content to create for your social media platforms are how-to videos. These can be formatted in jump-cut style steps and are great for highlighting how a product can be used in creative ways. You may recall on your personal social media feed viewing some very satisfying cooking how-to videos. They are always very brief and cleanly executed (for some great examples, take a peek at Tasty Presents). This is the type of content that users are beginning to prefer.

Event coverage is also a great way to grow your brand reputation online. Again, this can be through an edited piece of footage, or through a live stream. Live streams are great for events because they allow users who could not attend to feel like they get to be a part of the experience. They also allow your customers to ask questions on the spot which can create greater company transparency and customer loyalty.

Create, learn and start again.

As with any online activity that a company may conduct, it is important to gather data garnered from video content or live streaming. How many views did your content receive? How many users watched the entire piece of content or stream? How many users dropped off after a certain point? How many users asked questions, left comments, or shared your content? How did your company’s site traffic change once the content was released? How did site traffic and online content impact sales?

Although video content requires a certain level of planning, production, and execution that may surpass what your brand has accomplished in the past with simply photo content alone?—?it is undeniable the potential benefits that video content can have. In order to fully reap the benefits of digital video content creation, data must be recorded and analyzed.

Business Insider reported on a finding by Zenith, predicting that global online video consumption will grow by an average of nine minutes per day each year until 2020. These findings support the idea that the digital video audience is becoming more engaged?—?something all companies with an online presence, seeking to increase site traffic, engagement, and sales, should be aware of.

Article Produced By

Megan Gonzales

Revenue-generating, brand-building marketer. PNW explorer. Yogi. Animal enthusiast. Marketing Manager.

https://medium.com/@megangonzales/adding-video-content-to-your-social-media-strategy-70263056c712

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

What is cryptocurrency?

Bitcoin is a form of cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is a form of digital money that is designed to be secure and, in many cases, anonymous. It is a currency associated with the internet that uses cryptography, the process of converting legible information into an almost uncrackable code, to track purchases and transfers. Cryptography was born out of the need for secure communication in the Second World War. It has evolved in the digital era with elements of mathematical theory and computer science to become a way to secure communications, information and money online. The first cryptocurrency was bitcoin, which was created in 2009 and is still the best known. There has been a proliferation of cryptocurrencies in the past decade and there are now more than 900 available on the internet. Here's everything you need to know about cryptocurrencies.

How do cryptocurrencies work?

Cryptocurrencies use decentralised technology to let users make secure payments and store money without the need to use their name or go through a bank. They run on a distributed public ledger called blockchain, which is a record of all transactions updated and held by currency holders.

Units of cryptocurrency are created through a process called mining, which involves using computer power to solve complicated maths problems that generate coins. Users can also buy the currencies from brokers, then store and spend them using cryptographic wallets. Cryptocurrencies and applications of blockchain technology are still nascent in financial terms and more uses should be expected. Transactions including bonds, stocks and other financial assets could eventually be traded using the technology.

What are the most common cryptocurrencies?

Bitcoin:
Bitcoin was the first and is the most commonly traded cryptocurrency to date. The currency was developed by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, a mysterious figure who developed its blockchain. It has a market capitalisation of around $45 billion as of July 2017.
Ethereum:
Developed in 2015, ethereum is the currency token used in the ethereum blockchain, the second most popular and valuable cryptocurrency. Ethereum has a market capitalisation of around $18bn as of July 2017. However, ethereum has had a turbulent journey. After a major hack in 2016 it split into two currencies, while its value has in recent months reached as high as $400 but crashed briefly to as low as 10 cents.
Ripple:
Ripple is another distributed ledger system that was founded in 2012. Ripple can be used to track more kinds of transactions, not just of the cryptocurrency. It has been used by banks including Santander and UBS and has a market capitalisation of around $6.3 billion.
Litecoin:
This currency is most similar in form to bitcoin, but has moved more quickly to develop new innovations, including faster payments and processes to allow many more transactions. The total value of all Litecoin is around $2.1 billion.

Why would you use a cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrencies are known for being secure and providing a level of anonymity. Transactions in them cannot be faked or reversed and there tend to be low fees, making it more reliable than conventional currency. Their decentralised nature means they are available to everyone, where banks can be exclusive in who they will let open accounts. As a new form of cash, the cryptocurrency markets have been known to take off meaning a small investment can become a large sum over night. But the same works the other way. People look to invest in cryptocurrencies should be aware of the volatility of the market and the risks they take when buying.

Chuck Reynolds

Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Why the feds took down one of Bitcoin’s largest exchanges

Tracing Mt. Gox’s stolen coins led feds to Alexander Vinnik

This week, one of Bitcoin’s largest and most notorious coin exchanges

was brought down by law enforcement — and police and prosecutors are now beginning to explain why. On Thursday, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Alexander Vinnik — thought to be the operator, or one of the operators of Bitcoin exchange BTC-e — charging him with 21 counts of money laundering and other related financial crimes. The counts range from operating an unlicensed money transmittal business to a variety of money laundering charges, including laundering associated with ransomware payouts and a theft from the now-defunct Mt Gox exchange. More generally, the indictment paints BTC-e as a hub of criminal activity, laundering the proceeds of everything from drug trafficking to ransomware attacks.

As some suspected, Vinnik’s alleged crimes go beyond just operating the exchange. Feds believe he played a role in the theft of more 800,000 bitcoin — about $400 million at the time — from Mt. Gox, a staggering loss that ultimately shuttered the exchange. According to the indictment, 530,000 of those bitcoin ended up passing through wallets controlled by or associated with Vinnik, although his role in the larger scheme remains unclear.Vinnik’s alleged crimes go beyond just operating a Bitcoin exchange

Vinnik himself is in custody, arrested while on vacation in Greece, but the Bitcoin world is still sorting through the larger implications of his arrest. BTC-e was one of the last major exchanges outside the reach of conventional finance, and now that it’s gone, it’s unclear what might replace it. There are many legitimate uses of Bitcoin, but Bitcoin transactions have also become essential for online crime — whether it’s ransomware or Silk-Road-style online marketplaces. There will continue to be demand for exchanges like BTC-e, and ____. With feds directly targeting exchanges that don’t play by the book, the split between the two halves of Bitcoin is becoming starker and starker.

BTC-e, founded in 2011, always stood out as an anomaly among the major Bitcoin exchanges. Even a cursory look at BTC-e flagged it as a little strange. “Their exchange prices always seemed weird and out of line with every other exchange, and I had wondered why,” Matthew Green, a professor at Johns Hopkins University told The Verge in an email.

Nicholas Weaver wrote at Lawfare that BTC-e was noted for its “sketchy ownership and control.” The exchange was supposedly located in Eastern Europe, but there were no clues as to who ran it — until now.300,000 bitcoin from Mt. Gox went to wallets tied to “BTC-e administrative accounts” But the big surprise in the indictment is how closely tied BTC-e is to a massive theft at Mt. Gox, one that eventually bankrupted the exchange in 2014. Founded in 2010, Mt. Gox dominated the Bitcoin world for years, at one point processing 80 percent of all bitcoin-to-currency transactions. Mt. Gox first suffered a multimillion-dollar theft in June 2011. When the exchange collapsed in 2014, the equivalent of nearly half a billion dollars was unaccounted for.

On Wednesday, in the wake of the arrest of Vinnik, WizSec published a blogpost presenting the findings of an investigation into the Mt. Gox thefts that they have apparently been preparing for years. According to WizSec, the Mt. Gox hot wallet private keys were stolen sometime in 2011, and the hacker (or multiple hackers) continued to steal bitcoin through 2012 and 2013. The bitcoin were laundered through wallets controlled by Alexander Vinnik. The indictment claims that 300,000 bitcoin were stolen from Mt. Gox went directly to three connected BTC-e accounts “directly linked” to “BTC-e administrative accounts” that only BTC-e admins and operators could have had access to.

At least one of the accounts — under the name “Vamnedam” — was controlled by Vinnik and “others known and unknown.” (The “others known” are either not named in the indictment or have been redacted from the published document.)Many of the charges allege more straightforward money laundering" More bitcoin from the theft were sent to other Mt. Gox wallets and wallets at a third exchange — the now-defunct Tradehill, which operated out of San Francisco, California. From there, they eventually ended up at BTC-e, in an account that was directly controlled by Vinnik. WizSec also claims that the wallets that laundered Mt. Gox coins also handled “coins stolen from Bitcoinica, Bitfloor and several other thefts from back in 2011 and 2012.”

It’s not clear whether Vinnik was directly involved in the Mt. Gox theft, or how close he is to any of those previous thefts, or even the CryptoWall ransomware hackers whose funds he is accused of laundering. But when it comes to Mt. Gox, at least, BTC-e’s proximity to the theft is fairly suspicious.“Anybody who thought about this for a second understood that law enforcement was working on a case against BTC-e" While the Mt. Gox allegations are the most eye-catching, many of the charges that brought down BTC-e allege more straightforward money laundering. The very first count listed in the indictment is for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business: a criminal charge based on failing to register with FinCEN, an intelligence network that’s mandatory for all financial companies dealing with US customers.

Participating in FinCEN comes with a range of requirements, from registration to internal anti-money laundering programs. Since 2013, it’s been clear that Bitcoin exchanges had to follow those same rules, and for the most part, exchanges have complied — and prosecutors haven’t been shy about filing charges against services that don’t. In recent years, BTC-e has been the largest Bitcoin exchange not registered with FinCEN, a distinction that made it an obvious target for law enforcement, even without Vinnik’s alleged Mt. Gox involvement. “Anybody who thought about this for a second understood that law enforcement was working on a case against BTC-e,” said Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center. “The question was just whether the government would catch them.”“designed so that criminals could effect financial transactions under multiple layers of anonymity”

Where other counts in the indictment focus on money transfers linked to theft and ransomware, the first two — operation of an unlicensed money transmitter and conspiracy to commit money-laundering — focus on the technological capabilities of BTC-e itself, claiming that the exchange had a “criminal design.” “BTC-e’s system was designed so that criminals could accomplish financial transactions with anonymity and thereby avoid apprehension by law enforcement or seizure of funds,” the indictment says, pointing out that BTC-e only required “a username, password, and an email address,” unlike “legitimate payment processors or digital currency exchangers.” The indictment also points to suspicious usernames like “ISIS,” “CocaineCowboys,” “blackhathackers,” “dzkillerhacker,” and “hacker4hire” as additional support for the money-laundering allegations.

The language in the indictment about BTC-e’s “criminal design” mimics the indictment against Liberty Reserve — an anonymous currency service taken down by law enforcement in 2013 — which also accused the online exchange of having a “criminal design” and a system “designed so that criminals could effect financial transactions under multiple layers of anonymity.” (The Liberty Reserve indictment also took the time to point out that account names on the site included “Russia Hackers” and “Hacker Accounts.”) BTC-e’s website claimed that they required customers to provide proof of identity — namely, a scanned ID card and a scanned utility bill or bank statement — and forbid any US customers, letting them off the hook for FinCEN registration. But neither turned out to be true, according to the indictment.“Exchanges will go one of two ways. Either they’ll clean up their act… or they’ll go fully underground.”

Now that BTC-e is down for good, it could have a profound impact on the criminal ecosystem more broadly. BTC-e handled about 5 percent of total Bitcoin transactions, but recent research found that as much as 95 percent of ransomware cashouts happened through the platform. With most comparably sized exchanges already registered under FinCEN, the takedown could make it both harder and riskier for criminals to cash out — something law enforcement seems to be counting on. In the same Lawfare piece, Weaver says he thinks taking down BTC-e “will probably prove more important than the AlphaBay and Hansa takedowns” in fighting online crime. For Bitcoiners less invested in law enforcement’s war on dark web marketplaces, the lesson is a more ambiguous one. Cornell professor Emin Gun Sirer says the focus on FinCEN compliance could lead to a lasting split in Bitcoin markets, as exchanges face the choice of whether to comply with US government demands.

“Exchanges will go one of two ways,” Sirer says. “Either they will clean their act, by first shopping for the most lenient jurisdictions and complying with relevant KYC/AML laws, or they'll go ‘fully underground,’ and operate with no rules, behind Tor and other anonymous communication technologies. The most colorful drama ahead will involve exchanges, such as Bitfinex, that operate in the gray zone, where they seem to neither comply with relevant laws nor go fully underground.” For a technology with a surrounding community built on libertarian ideas, that may be a difficult pill to swallow. But as the past week has made clear, those that don’t will be taking a very serious risk.

Chuck Reynolds

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