Before cryptocurrency, there was currency, which is simply a medium of exchange for goods and service. But how did currency come to be? The short answer: It evolved from bartering. As the world grew more advanced and interconnected, it needed a simpler, more portable method of exchange, which prompted the earliest forms of currency. Yet, […]
Coronavirus Serves as a Reminder: Today’s Payments System Is Broken
The coronavirus, once novel, has been the story of the year. One subplot to the pandemic horror show has been the frailties of the legacy banking system laid exposed. Several governments issued stimulus packages directly to their citizens in order to keep consumer spending up and the economy ticking over. Limitations in the banking system created bottlenecks. Technical […]
Bitcoin and Other Missed Money-Making Opportunities
Perhaps you’ve watched Bitcoin prices go up and are debating whether to buy Bitcoin–or whether to buy more Bitcoin. While you ponder, we’d like to present these missed money-making opportunities to make your decision easier…. Opportunity: Buying the Patent to the Telephone Missed by: William Orton, the 1876 president of Western Union Telegraph Western Union […]
The Winners and Losers of 2020 Bitcoin Predictions
Now that it’s 2021, let’s take a look back at 2020 and poke some light fun at the winners and losers of the Bitcoin predictions for an utterly unpredictable year. As the briefest of recaps: Bitcoin started 2020 trading at $7,150 and hit an all-time high of $23,000 in December. (Check out our article on Bitcoin’s […]
A Look Back at 2020 and Bitcoin’s Wild Ride to an All-Time High
2020 is probably the strangest, toughest year many of us have encountered. The pandemic has affected our day-to-day lives, our well-being, and our economy. But it also helped launch Bitcoin on one wild ride, culminating in Bitcoin reaching its all-time highest price on December 19 (at the time of writing this). Here, we’ll take a […]
Money Weirder Than Bitcoin
You’ve likely encountered cryptocurrency skeptics who question how an item that only exists digitally can be currency. Perhaps you’ve even attempted to explain that Bitcoin is a virtual token logged as an entry on a ledger called the blockchain. Certainly, this is more abstract than the paper money we carry in our wallets. Yet, all […]
Bitcoin Predictions for 2021 and Beyond
Bitcoin hitting an all-time high of nearly $20,000 was a rare silver lining to an otherwise bleak year. But 2020 is almost over–goodbye and good riddance–and 2021 is just around the corner. Let’s look at experts’ predictions for bitcoin and cryptocurrency for 2021 and beyond. Bitcoin Usage Will Grow “Bitcoin can become a monetary network […]
The Beginnings of Crypto-Anarchy and How That Led to Bitcoin, Part 2
In a recent article, we discussed how crypto-anarchy came to be and crypto-anarchists’ role in championing electronic money. Here, we’ll delve into how electronic money evolved into Bitcoin. Electronic Money and Cryptocurrency are NOT the same First, a clarification: “Electronic money,” also called web-based money, was early crypto-anarchists’ go-to term, but these days it refers […]
The Beginnings of Crypto-Anarchy and How That Led to Bitcoin
Part 1 of a 2-part series If we’re going to get into the nitty-gritty start of crypto-anarchy and cryptocurrency–and we are–let’s begin at the absolute beginning: with the word “anarchy” and its origins. “Anarchy” was first used in the early 16th century and meant, according to Merriam-Webster: the “‘absence of government,’ albeit with the implication […]
Crypto-centric Career Choices
With a sluggish economy and social distancing the norm, job hunting isn’t easy these days. But all soft economies have an upside for some industries. Makers of disinfectant have their hands full keeping the world stocked in coronavirus-killing products. Zoom, the popular video conferencing tool, saw its stock rise 120% as companies adopted remote-work policies. […]
Politicians Who Are Fans of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain
The United States’ November election is on the horizon, and the pandemic, the economy and race issues are front and center these days. And while cryptocurrency isn’t a top issue in this election cycle, we bet many of you would love to know more about where politicians stand on the subject. So we’ve collected pro-Bitcoin/cryptocurrency/blockchain […]
Making Money Crypto Mining (Versus Gold Mining in the 1800s)
On May 12, 1848, general store owner Sam Brannan walked through San Francisco, a vial of gold dust in hand, yelling: “Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!” And so began the California Gold Rush. Crypto mining may not have a Sam Brannan spreading the news, but then again, it doesn’t need one. It has […]
Tools You Need to Crypto Mine and Surprising Parallels to the California Gold Rush
Our previous article “What Mining for Gold in the 1800s Can Teach You About Mining for Cryptocurrency Today” discussed setting up a mining operation. Here, we’ll discuss tools you need at first and later once other miners flock to your mining space. Getting started with the appropriate tools. Once a 19th-century gold prospector decided where […]
What Mining for Gold in the 1800s Can Teach You About Mining for Cryptocurrency Today
On the surface, mining for gold and mining for cryptocurrency have little in common. One involves hard labor to unearth raw gold from a rugged landscape. The other relies on a computer (most likely indoors and in an air-conditioned room) to verify cryptocurrency transactions and, in turn, receive an award in crypto tokens, the only […]