Category: Bitcoin

Blockchain’s Big Split: Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash

Posted by on in Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency

The split of the Bitcoin blockchain has begun and Bitcoin Cash, a new cryptocurrency, was created when a group of miners “forked” from the main Bitcoin blockchain.

In order to create the competing cryptocurrency, the miners began operating a different software and succeeded in officially branching off at around 8:20 a.m. ET, August 1 when they started adding blocks to the separate blockchain.

At about 2:14 p.m. ET, August 1 ViaBTC mined the first Bitcoin Cash block, which came in at a block size of 1.915 MB. That block contained 6,985 transactions, according to public data. Since then, four Bitcoin Cash blocks have been created, though only the first of the initial five had a block larger than 1 MB. By comparison, the most recent block to the publishing date contained 520 transactions, using about 0.4 MB of space in the transaction block.

During the development process, given the relatively small amount of miners running the new software, and the fact that the software carried over with it the same difficulty that regulates how easy it is to find blocks based on the number of miners, Bitcoin Cash struggled to keep up with the main Bitcoin network, which quickly grew in size.

Bitcoin Cash intends to activate new rules that are at odds with the Bitcoin network, aiming to boost transaction capacity by increasing the block size to 8MB and removing Segregated Witness (SegWit), a long-debated code optimization that is likely to activate on Bitcoin later in August.

In addition, the exchanges that accept Bitcoin Cash deposits first will have a lot of activity, and that initial trading will likely cause some significant price volatility due to reduced liquidity.

Payza Crypto Exchane Accepts Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin

Posted by on in Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Ethereum, Ripple

Payza, a global payment platform, has expanded its Cryptocurrency Exchange to include several Bitcoin alternatives.

Clients will now be able to sell Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Dash, Monero, Zcash and dozens of other cryptocurrencies on the platform and receive US dollars directly in their ewallets, which can then be loaded to their Payza Cards or withdrawn at an ATM.

In May 2017, Payza has added Bitcoin to its ewallet offering, allowing members to buy and sell the cryptocurrency and merchants to accept Bitcoin as a payment option. The company’s expansion of its Cryptocurrency Exchange allows users to deposit over 50 cryptocurrencies into their accounts.

The global payment platform plans to expand its altcoin exchange service to allow clients to buy altcoins from Payza. Furthermore, a new function that would allow cardholders to load their prepaid cards from Bitcoin or altcoin exchanges in just one action is also being developed.

Bitcoin price soars past $2000

Posted by on in Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin was trading at around $1,700 per coin until it surpassed the high of $2,000 per coin this week.

Obviously, the surge has gained interest from various media outlets around, still unconvinced that Bitcoin is nothing more short of a fad currency.

However, reports indicate that the rival cryptocurrency, Ethereum, has been rising significantly as well, starting the year at $8.24 on 1 January 2017 to hitting a high of $203 throughout the year so far.

Brave’s 30-second ICO

Posted by on in Cryptocurrency, Venture Capital

Founded by former Mozilla CEO (of Firefox browser fame), Brave browser is the new offering by Brendan Eich.

Brave completed its initial coin offering (ICO) during this week in which the company sold its own coin, The Basic Attention Token (BAT), and raised $35M in less than 30 seconds.

The Brave ICO is the “highest grossing to date,” including participation from about 130 buyers, with one buyer spending $4.6M on BAT.

Venture Capital industry leaders specialising in blockchain and payments technologies believe that ICOs will become common place for the raising of funds in the next 18 months as a quick way of self-subscribing for growth. Until Blockchain technology becomes more widely accepted and markets become familiar with the concept, there remains a lot of scepticism and careful watching from the sidelines.