The Bitcoin Blog

Good day my Nigerian Bitcoin enthusiasts and pessimist. Talking or writing about Bitcoin has become a dangerous passion that I can't let go. Consequently the launch of my free ebook on Bitcoin (which I made available to Bitcoiners this week. download here if you have not read it)  has brought with it many questions and requests for meet ups as more and more seek for more information about this technology that is already disrupting the global financial eco-system. I was shocked with the over 1,000 downloads the book received in 48 hours.  As usual, asides wanting to know what Bitcoin is, how it works, what its origins are, the most recurring questions are; Is Bitcoin safe, How do I make money from Bitcoin and the most important (which truly no man can answer with 100% assurance) which is will the price still go up from the current price? Is it not too late to invest in Bitcoin now that the price is at $950. Basically what most respondents wanted to do was to put me in the

Ignorance and greed have been described as the fuel that has powered the engine of most scams and financial malpractices. There is a growing trend within the cryptocurrency industry that portrays the characteristics of a time-bomb waiting to explode. Almost everywhere you turn, there is a certain coin to mine, a product to invest in, or a cryptocurrency based MLM that promises extraordinary payouts. The number of individuals who subscribe to these programs, on a daily basis, rises exponentially. Before this current wave of events, there have been similar cases where money making programs, that looked too good to be true, appeared and sucked people in, only to suddenly collapsed. Victims of such scams have always been left in pains and regrets, for those who lived through the disappointments. Why do scams persist? One question that remains to be answered is the reason why the public keeps falling for this age long trick, despite their own previous painful experiences or

Bitcoin users in Japan can now pay their electric bills with their favourite cryptocurrency and save money as well. The mainstream acceptance of Bitcoin is growing with time and in Japan, where Bitcoin has official currency status, Bitcoin has just taken another great leap. ResuPress Inc. the company which operates Coincheck, a Bitcoin payment service, has partnered with Mitsuwa Industry Co. Ltd to allow Japanese users to pay utility bills with Bitcoin. Coincheck Denki (electricity) will be launching in November 2016 and will enable users to pay electric bills with Bitcoin. Heavy Bitcoin users to save 4-6% on electric bill Coincheck Denki has two plans on offer for customers. One plan is for light users and the other for heavy users. We talked to   Kagayaki Kawabata , the Business Development Lead at   Coincheck   about how they plan to classify users. He says to CoinTelegraph: “Light users are people who are not still familiar with Bitcoin. With the light user pla

The US economy could be headed for another recession soon. Barely seven years after the last great recession, several economic indicators point to a renewed downturn possible in the near future. According to a report by CNBC, investment is down across the board, including specifically in farm machinery, while transportation sales have stalled. These indicators are usually a good predictor of a recession, and investors look to them when gauging future financial decisions. To make matters worse, Citigroup now predicts that, in the event that Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November, that could trigger a worldwide recession as global uncertainty rises. According to a recent poll by Marketplace and Edison Research, 71% of Americans view the economy as rigged in favor of certain parties. This view will almost certainly be amplified in the event of a further economic downturn. The economy elsewhere may not fare better than the US While the US is looking to be due fo

Nearly a week after the proposal of Party of Growth—a political party in Russia which represents the liberal free market economy—to legalize bitcoin, the Russian Ministry of Finance and the country’s lawmakers are set to treat cryptocurrencies including bitcoin as a foreign currency. Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev, who featured in an interview hosted by the Russian Newspaper, stated that while cryptocurrency-based business operations are still illegal in Russia, the Ministry of Finance is currently developing a set of regulations to enable purchasing and selling of Bitcoin. Moiseev said: "Yes, it's impossible to issue foreign currency in Russia. But you can buy foreign currency, put it in your pocket and go abroad. Therefore, we are currently working on precise definitions in the bill, so that it will be possible to buy or sell bitcoins.” However, Minister Moiseev clarified that cryptocurrency mining is illegal in the country because it goes against the c

You’ve seen my many posts promoting Bitcoin and just like most people, have wondered what it is. Well in this post I try as much as I can to expatiate more on it. I hope this helps. What is bitcoin anyway?  It’s probably the best-known digital currency. The basic idea is that you can use it to pay for things without a third-party broker, like a bank or government. Think of bitcoin like one big ledger shared by all the users: When you pay for something with bitcoin, or get paid, then your transaction is recorded on the ledger. Computers then compete to confirm the transaction by solving complex math equations, and the winner is rewarded with more bitcoins. The process is known as “mining,” Only the computer powerhouses get their bitcoins this way. However, a number of them have opened up their services for individuals to invest in "mining" with a profit sharing model where you earn  bitcoins for your investments. What’s the point?  The currency has

Is the Dollar dead or have the events that will finally "kill it" come to fore? A kind of economic disaster has always hit the United States within  seven year cycles since 1973 vis: 1. 1973, The Arab Oil embargo 2. 1980, The Gold & Silver Hunt Brothers peak 3. 1987, Black Monday 4. 1984, The Asian Economic meltdown (George Soros and co?) 5. 2001, 9/11 6. 2008, The Lehman brothers and the global economic crises\/ 7. 2015.??? >July, BRICS New Development Bank begins operations in Shanghai, China. >Russia jumped off the Petro-Dollar recycle wagon. >January 15th, The Swiss removed the 120 Euro peg to their Franc currency, opened the gates of hell for the Gold market, causing the gold bullion market to dry up leading to a spike in gold prices and a southward journey for the dollar in comparison. >January 23rd, Merkel offered a trade union proposal to Russia,opening trade talks between the EU and the newly-established Eurasian Economic Union. > J

Many people have lost some data while reformatting a computer hard drive. Jered Kenna lost more than that. In 2010 he erased from his computer 800 Bitcoins that have been worth more than $200,000. Kenna isn’t upset: He has plenty more. He says he bought his first batch of virtual currency, 5,000 coins, at 20¢ each. On April 10, Bitcoins traded for as much as $258 each, according to Tradehill, a Bitcoin exchange in San Francisco, before plunging more than $100. Like other enthusiasts, Kenna shrugs off the volatility. While he won’t disclose his total holdings, he says, “I’m happy to be considered a member of the Bitcoin millionaires’ club.” Jered Kenna Created Seven years ago by a person or group using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin is a virtual currency that can be used to buy and sell a broad range of items—from cupcakes to electronics to illegal narcotics. The surge in a Bitcoin’s value has made millionaires out of people who loaded up on them

A well-timed investment of $1,000 in bitcoin has earned a 15-year-old Idaho entrepreneur more than $100,000 and allowed him to found his own education startup. Erik Finman took $1,000 he received as a gift from his grandmother and invested it in bitcoin back in 2012, according to a report by  Mashable . After holding his BTC for one year, Finman sold his bitcoins for $100,000. Finman ultimately decided to reinvest his earnings into Botangle.com, an online video tutoring service that "allows students and tutors access to a diverse array of resources that just do not exist in a normal classroom setting", according to its official website. Notably, Finman pays his employees in bitcoin. He told Mashable that he enjoys "sharing the wealth of bitcoin", saying: "I have no doubt it will be huger [sic] than anyone can imagine right now. Bitcoin is like the Internet in the '90s." Early bitcoin supporter Finman explained how he first came

Bought in 2009, currency’s rise in value saw small investment turn into enough to buy an apartment in a wealthy area of Oslo  The meteoric rise in bitcoin has meant that within the space of four years, one Norwegian man’s $27 investment turned into a forgotten $886,000 windfall (in 2013). Kristoffer Koch invested 150 kroner ($26.60) in 5,000 bitcoins in 2009, after discovering them during the course of writing a thesis on encryption. He promptly forgot about them until widespread media coverage of the anonymous, decentralised, peer-to-peer digital currency in April 2013 jogged his memory. Bitcoins are stored in encrypted wallets secured with a private key, something Koch had forgotten. After eventually working out what the password could be, Koch got a pleasant surprise: “It said I had 5,000 bitcoins in there. Measuring that in today’s rates (2013) it’s about NOK5m ($886,000),” Koch told NRK.    Silk Road fluctuations In April 2013, the value of bitcoin p