The world financial systems are currently undergoing a very rapid and unprecedented revolution since the genesis of Bitcoin in 2009. People with their ears to the ground, those who understand the risks and benefits of participatory learning have not only been happy with their risky decisions, most of them have actually been elevated to the ''never-to-be poor-again'' status.
Yet (and unfortunately though), many people especially in the developing world do not even know what is going on.
If you are among the folks that are yet to be in the know, well, it is not too late. I'm actually packaging this piece together for you. I will try to be as explicit as it is humanly possible to make you visualize this invisible digital world concept in your imaginations and to enable you grab the concept and start running with it.
I'm really dedicating this to fellow Nigerians and Africans in particular, to encourage us to cue into this at this time. However, the information here can help anybody from any part of the world as digital/internet revolution of any kind, including the cryptocurrency concepts are global issues.
So I solemnly request that you read this with unbiased mind and also share the site link with your friends and folks and via the social media for a wider read.
WHAT ARE BITCOINS AND CRYPTOCURRENCIES?
May I refer you to the the Wikipedia definition which said and I quote:
"A Cryptocurrency is adigital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure the transactions and to control the creation of additional units of the currency. Cryptocurrencies are a subset of alternative currencies, or specifically of digital currencies.
Bitcoin became the first decentralized cryptocurrency in 2009 and since, numerous cryptocurrencies have been created . These are frequently called altcoins, as a blend of bitcoin alternative. Bitcoin and its derivatives use decentralized control control as opposed to centralized electronic money/centralized banking systems. The decentralized control is related to the use of bitcoin's blockchain transaction database in the role of a distributed ledger."
You can go to Wikipedia here for full details.
I think the above definition and description is as simplified as abc. But may I say in simpler terms that, cryptocurrency means the kind of digital currency for transactions that are programmed and secured with the highest level of security (encryption/decryption krypto >Greek for secure> graphy) in such a way that, by no means can it be abused by creating more of the type, or influencing its purchasing power or robbing the owner of its values through any manipulation, by a government, a third party or any intermediary interference, except by the law of market forces (decentralization).
From the image below, you can see when Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency was introduced, and its value current value. In fact, 1 Bitcoin was traded for $3,000 on the 10th of June this year but dropped to $2,450 as the time of this write up. It is speculated that its value may go as high as $5,000 by the end of 2017 and possibly a $10,000/bitcoin by the end of 2018!!
I know of a friend who bought a 500,000 Nigerian Naira worth of Bitcoin (1.12 btc) in January 2016 at the rate of 1 Bitcoin to 447, 000 NGN and the worth of that bitcoin in his wallet today, 5 months down the line, is over a million Naira at 940,000 NGN/btc!!
The number of other Cryptocurrencies preferably called the "Altcoins" are increasingly emerging everyday and people are tracking them and trading on them. Below is a list of the top ten as at the time of this print.
WHAT IS THE BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY?
I know that wikipedia is not an authority speaker, but we all go their for general knowledge information. So I'm going to rely on it again to explain Blockchain here and I quote:
"A blockchain is a distributed database that is used to maintain a continuously growing list of records, called blocks. Each block contains a timestamp and a link to a protocol for validating new blocks. by design, blockchains are are inherently resistant to modification of the data. Once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks and the collusion of the network. Functionally, a blockchain can serve as 'an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. The ledger itself can also be programmed to trigger transactions automatically'
Blockchains are secure by design and are an example of a distributed computing system with high Beyzantine fault tolerance. Decentralized consensus has therfore been achieved with a blockchain. This makes blockchains potentially suitable for the recording of events, medical records, and other records management activities, identity management, transaction processing and documenting provenance.
The first blockchain was conceptualised by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 and implemented in the following year as a core component of the digital currency bitcoin, where it serves as the public ledger for all transactions.The invention of blockchain for the bitcoin made it the first digital currency to solve the double spending problem, without the use of a trusted authority or central server. The bitcoin design has been the inspiration for other applications"
More details of this can be gotten from Wikipedia here
Simply put, Bitcoin is thriving on the Satoshi Nakamoto ingenious Blockchain Technology. You can log into Blockchain Here to see the hundreds of thousands of transactions that occur daily, all perfectly masked, yet an open ledger!!
There are near 21 million Bitcoins possible with no additions and no subtractions. Bitcoins are made available for use through cloud mining by miners in the Blockchain pools
WHO ARE USING BITCOINS AND ALTCOINS TODAY?
First of all, you need to remember again that your acquired bitcoins and the altcoins are completely digital and so you can not carry them like the fiat currencies in your physical wallets. However, they are exchangeable with almost all currencies in the world.
So the first person to use these currencies should be "You" in your day to day lifestyles. But you may have to first of all convert them to their fiat counterparts through the appropriate and easy to follow exchange media or transact directly with them.
Secondly, the world is using Bitcoin!!. It has been impossible for any country to restrict its movement as it flies in the wing of the internet.
Now to understand how big, accepted and revolutionary these have been, check this Facebook group to see a list of Companies in the US alone that are accepting Bitcoin in their businesses: CLICK HERE
As at May 2017, more countries are reversing their illegal tags on the use of Bitcoin to acceptable currency. In this publication, Wikipedia x-rayed the positions of different countries and regions of the world on Bitcoin. Check it out in Wikipedia Here
Yea, even though countries like Nigeria and few others still tagged Bitcoin an illegal tender, the truth remains that Bitcoin is a decentralised currency. It is a mystery and can be termed *odieshi* in Igbo parlance. What I simply mean here is that no country can stop its movement within her territory. This is because, Bitcoin is not transferred via any institution like banks, you cannot trace who is doing the transfer or the receiver as every transaction is via ''encrypted'' long chains of codes in places of account names and numbers.
Again, it is also important to note that the secular financial institutions have began to see an arch-competitor in business. But whereas the great nations like USA, Germany, Russia, Japan, India, Brazil and lots of others with their financial institutions have seen the foolishness in fighting a cryptographic decentralised system, they immediately cued in to explore its advantage as early worms, while many developing worlds are making policy statements against a system they don't even understand its configurations. In Nigeria for instance, thousands of her citizens are involved in legitimate trading and mining of Bitcoins and Altcoins and there is no way any policy statement can track or stop these.
The illegality tag on bitcoin in any country can only prevent its exchange from taking place through their secular financial institutions and thereby also preventing the government agencies from tracking its movement in any scale whatsoever.
It's important to mention here that one of the deadly disadvantage of Bitcoin is the money laundering potential it can create. We remember that this is a form of financial movement where the sender and the receiver cannot be tracked as everything is done via digital encryption. So banning the banks from transacting with bitcoins is like closing the government's only eye for tracking any laundering of funds through bitcoins and altcoins. The US government understood this and tried to put up some regulations by allowing only one exchange medium, the CoinBase which allows the linkage of bank accounts and debit cards with owners of CoinBase wallet. Although this is not fool proof as people can bypass Coinbase wallet in US and connect directly with Blockchain, the bitcoin ledger.
Even in Nigeria, despite the illegal tag on virtual currencies, money is moving freely across the shores through Localbitcoins trading platform, Coinbase, Luno and Nairaex exchangers as well as through a lot of other corporate and private exchange firms that have evolved along the line.
THE PROS AND THE CONS OF GETTING INVOLVED WITH CRYPTOCURRENCIES
The most important advantages of Bitcoin and some other Altcoins are their global acceptance (even by most world governments and establishments), freedom of control by any government systems, or their sole control by market forces alone. As a result, there are very minimal transaction charges (just to compensate the miners of these currencies), as compared to those imposed during transfer of fiat currencies.
Another advantage is the near instant transaction speed. I have had a bitcoin transaction getting confirmed in less than a minute!
Then imagine you transferring all your money in bitcoins and then travel to any part of the world where you can comfortably cash it out in that local currency without any exchange fees. You may be luck to get a higher value at the time of withdrawal due to appreciation of the value.
The main disadvantage is the fact that Bitcoin and some of the Altcoins have anonymous originators. Satoshi Nakamoto is the name masking the originator of Bitcoin and till date, nobody knows who is Satoshi Nakamoto. A lot of reasons have been debated on why the guy or gal decided to remain anonymous despite his ingenious creation, but that will be a story for another day. So nobody can really say whether there are any hidden agenda. Although lots of studies have proven this wrong, one can never say.
The next disadvantage is the money laundering opportunity these can create especially in most developing worlds where the concerned regulatory bodies can simply make policy statements without actually having studied the system or make any attempts at blocking the loopholes these can create.
The most important challenge of the Cryptocurrency system is its hijack by the online scam world! Bitcoin itself for instance, is a great opportunity and the most sort after and most ranked currency in the world with one piece exchanging for $2500, the scammers are giving it a bad name.
CAN YOU BE PART OF THE REVOLUTION?
Why Not!
Remember the quote above that if you had bought a $100 worth of bitcoin 6 years ago, you would have worth $750, 000, in fact at today's rate, over $1,000,000!! This is just buying it and keeping it. This is different from real mining it or trading it where you populate the quantity while the market forces cause the appreciation of the exchange value!
HOW YOU CAN BE PART OF THE CRYTPOCURRENCY REVOLUTION
We are now at the meat of the entire discuss.
Actually this can be, and has been a wealth creation revolution to many people. But even at that, cryptocurrency has become the 21st century most treasured currency. So you cannot be kept in the dark or rather, you cannot keep yourself in the dark.
At this point I'm going to concentrate on Bitcoins serving as a guide to the altcoins.
The entry point into the Bitcoin acquisition is the procurement of one or more Bitcoin wallet accounts.
The next step is either to buy the Bitcoins (recommended) or to join some Free Bitcoin Faucets to acquire very tiny fractions daily, as a reward for doing some menial tasks for the owners of the sites.
The initial bitcoins you acquired these ways can now be kept in your wallets to be appreciating and later on, you can sell part or all of that at the new appreciated rate. I gave an example of someone who bought 1.12 bitcoins 5 months ago at 500,000 NGN and the value today is over one million Naira.
The other way to go about it is to go into real Bitcoin business. This can be in the way of mining business or trading business.
OPENING A BITCOIN WALLET ACCOUNT
The most useful wallets are those ones that serve, not only as a payment gateway, but also serve as platforms for exchange and trading with the persons local or desired currencies. The wallets of global repute that are very suitable for these purposes in the African setting now are as follow:.
LOCALBITCOINS: This works in many countries except the US and few others and is very secure. All you need to do is to click on the "Sign up for Free" button, fill the form and follow the promptings to get your wallet set. You will need to select the country of your resident to be able to easily exchange it.
Your account will need to be verified ...kind of KYC stuff with your driver's licence, passport or any other government documents.
Once this is ready, you will need to go to the Bitcoin Sellers page to request to buy from any of the merchants with a better price for you. Localbitcoins (LB) plays an umpire role by keeping the sellers bitcoins higher than the amount he is advertising to sell in an escrow account and once you initiate the purchase transaction with that merchant, you ensure that everything related to that transaction (the guys bank account number where you will pay into, his real name, transaction codes you will input to identify that transaction), emanate from within the transaction page. This is to avoid being defrauded as LB will not be accountable for any losses incurred through an account details the merchant gave you over a phone or email outside the purview of the transaction chat page you opened within the LB site.
You pay the guy the agreed amount in local currency into his local bank account (which must be via online transfer (and NOT ATM or Quick teller or mobile banking), you immediately notify the Localbitcoin (LB) through the provided space in the transaction page and if possible provide evidence. You are usually given a time frame within which you must make payment once you have initiated a transaction, or otherwise, LB cancels that transaction. So if your payment is very close to the elapsing of your time frame, you can cancel the transaction by yourself and start a new one The merchant often confirms the receipt of your payment and LB releases the merchants bitcoins into your account in the wallet and you will see it.
Same way is used to sell Bitcoin in LB site but in this case, you must put the bitcoins you want to sell in the escrow account for LB to permit you to initiate the transaction. Also as a new timer, you look for buyers and select one that his buying price suits you.
Over time, after you have built your trust in the trading LB arena, (usually after 3 successful smooth transactions), you can start advertising your selling or buying and the system will publish it for others to see and contact you.
After each transaction, remember to ask your partner to leave a positive feedback on your wall to build your trust reputation and enable you have better transaction options in future.
To get your free wallet, click at Localbitcoin Here and sign up.
LUNO: The next Wallet system that Allows exchange between Local currency and Bitcoins directly is Luno. While LocalBitcoin operates like AliBaba online market where various merchants advertise their wares and buyers contact and transact with them, Alibaba site acts as an umpire. Luno is owned by a corporate organisation who sells and buys bitcoins from individuals. It permits the linkage of ones bank or debit card account for transactions. It similarly allows opening of free account, doing your KYC (Know Your Customer) verification with names that must tally with names on the bank account details your submitted.
Both Luno and Localbitcoins do affiliate program just like new generation banks are doing. If you have an account with them and you bring other people in to get an account with them, you get some tokens out of every transactions your referrals do in their systems.
So to get a free wallet, you also need to sign up at Luno Here.
NAIRAEX: This is another Bitcoin exchanger wallet that is gradually gaining more popularity recently. It is of Nigeria origin but global in service. It is basically a Bitcoin buying and selling site where you can interract with other merchants in the transaction. The main difference here is that while you buy and sell with local currency, the exchange rate is calculated based on the local currency dollar rate and then, the dollar/blockchain bitcoin rate. It also has an affiliate component and KYC is also needed.
While signing up for your free account, you are required to choose your country of residence, phone number and gmail account.
You can get you free acount by clicking NAIRAEX here
SCHANGER: This one involves exchange between Bitcoin and all the other Altcoins such as Etherium, Dash, etc and some payment processors like Perfect Money, Payeer, OKPay, AdvCash, etc.
Its so easy to use and basically for exchange and for trading between these digital currencies. All you need to do is to click on the icon of the currency you want to transfer on your left, put the amount and click on the right side the icon of the currency you are sending it to. Then you follow the promptings and the transaction is completed in few minutes.
You can get your free sign up at SCHANGER Here
COINBASE: This is seen as the most popular and widely used wallet, even in the USA.
Recently Coinbase has also invaded most African nations as it did, the western worlds. Its a great trading tools and can permit exchange between Bitcoin and the three major Altcoins, Etherium, Litecoin and Dash as well as between all these cryptocurrencies and any local currency. A KYC is needed as well here and transactions are between merchants.
To sign up for free, click on COINBASE Here
BLOCKCHAIN: This is the Bitcoin ledger proper and it also serves as a wallet. Most of us started with it. It is seen as the most secure of all the online wallets as every other wallet mentioned above are connected to it and every transaction is captured here. But as a wallet, it serves only as a payment gateway and not for any exchange or trading. You can get your Blockchain Wallet Here
Its important to note here that when you get these wallets, to receive bitcoin from anybody you have to share with the person your wallet address. This is a string of long codes and your account can generate innumerable number of such for you to share with your business partners the same way you share your bank account numbers. You also get your partner's address to pay into his account.
MINING CRYPTOCURRENCIES
I have been able to discuss the trading and exchange business aspects of Bitcoin while explaining the opening of wallet accounts, especially at Localbitcoins.
Bitcoin mining is the process of adding transaction records to Bitcoin's public ledger of past transactions of blockchain. This ledger of past transactions is called the block chain as it is a chain of blocks. The block chain serves to confirm transactions to the rest of the network as having taken place. Bitcoin nodes use the blockchain to distinguish legitimate bitcoin transactions from attempts to re-spend coins that have already been spent elsewhere.
These algorithmic process requires a lot of speed, energy and accuracy. It is therefore an expensive process that requires acquisition of hardwares and their cooling systems. The more sophisticated and big the mining plant is, the more blocks it can mine. However, there are also small table top mining plants for individual use. Then the technical know-how is not easily acquired. This is where investments in the mining dividends comes in. So often, a corporate body sets up a big mining plant through using the public funds and share the mining profits with them.
It''s important to note here that this is where loopholes for fraudsters are created to scam members of the public in the name of setting up a mining plant and running away with their funds.
However, there are few genuine miners online and to be honest here, they are often classified as such retrospectively.. Those few ones are seen in the Blockchain pool, even though some small ones may not be seen there but they may still be genuine. See Some of the mining firms at Blockchain Pool here
I personally invested in one of those mining firms in the Blockchain pool as I feel that that is the evidence of their true mining.
There are also evolving the so called auto-traders just as we see in Forex trading.Though I personally enrolled in one of them, and currently populating my bitcoin with them, one has to be very careful with many of such. At the moment, there seems to be elements of authenticity with them, as per location, registration, the personalities behind it and building trust.
If you want to come on board the Bitcoin Wealth Creation in a bigger way, you can be part of our Bitcoin Revolution Africa (BRA) where where we are leveraging on these carefully chosen two programs. You will receive also be guided through.
You can then join me in the Bitcoin Mining share purchase in one of these top ten Pools in Blockchain. Just click JOIN MINING PROGRAM HERE
And you should also be part of the auto-traders I mentioned that are trading the top ten cryptocurrencies, you can click JOIN AUTO-TRADING PROGRAM HERE
However, if you have nothing to start with at all (as these require initial capital input), then you can start with the Free Bitcoin Faucets and be claiming tiny bits of Satoshi and get your friends to join through your links, thereby earning 20-50% of their free claims as well. In that case, just click these two links below:
There is this common saying: If you cannot run walk, crawl, but please don't stand still. This is my opinion: "Africa must not lag behind in this revolution". I'm doing what I'm preaching here and therefore I extend my right of BRA (Bitcoin Revolution Africa), to you. And, please know: "Cryptocurrencies are the 21st century currencies and you should be part of these."
Feel free to leave behind your views, questions, and remarks in the comments column below, but please do not post any link.
Enjoy your entrance to the Cryptocurrency Revolution.
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