The Bitcoin miner and the business Nodal Power have teamed together on a green, off-grid initiative that might be a tiny beginning for a major breakthrough.
Using energy produced by methane gas extracted from a landfill, Marathon Digital has started mining bitcoin. In Utah, a 280-kW off-grid trial project is up and running.
For the project, Marathon collaborated with Nodal Power. Launched in November 2022, Nodal Power generates electricity from landfill gas in Texas and the Southeast region of the United States. In August, it secured $13 million in a seed round to run two locations, one of which has a data center.
The experiment, according to a statement from Marathon CEO Fred Thiel, is “part of a broader initiative being conducted by the Company to validate its ability to capture methane emitted from landfills, convert it into electricity, and then use that electricity to power Bitcoin miners.“
“We look forward to expanding our footprint in this area and assisting landfill operators and others in meeting their environmental targets, should the pilot project’s results meet our expectations.”
Bitcoin miners are always looking for innovative green energy sources. For instance, Genesis Digital Assets Limited established an 8 MW hydropower facility in Sweden in August.
In late October, Marathon dedicated a 200-MW immersion-cooled plant located in Abu Dhabi’s sustainable Masdar City. That month, it published a research stating that cryptocurrency mining in landfills is feasible and offers several benefits for the environment, landfill owners, and miners. Methane is significantly more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide, according to the UN.
Marathon mined a record 2,926 Bitcoin during the period, but its earnings for the second quarter of this year fell short of forecasts. Its Q2 sales of $132.8 million was a 228% year-over-year growth.
One of the top bullion banks in the world, HSBC Holdings Plc, has introduced a blockchain-based platform to update the manual and antiquated procedures used by the London gold market. The new technology provides a digital depiction of gold bars for trade and tokenizes ownership of actual gold kept in HSBC’s London vault.
Tokenizing Physical Gold, HSBC Offers a Contemporary Take on Gold Trading
HSBC’s Global Head of FX and Commodities Partnerships and Propositions, Mark Williamson, said in an interview that their creative method makes use of distributed ledger technology. This “cutting-edge” method makes transaction through HSBC’s single-dealer platform smooth by representing gold bars with digital tokens.
HSBC is not the first company, though, to try use blockchain technology to make investing in gold easier. Blockchain startup Paxos and Euroclear worked together in 2016 to develop a blockchain-based settlement tool for deals on the London bullion market. Despite the dissolution of their collaboration a year later, Paxos persisted in offering Pax Gold, a digital token backed by real gold that, as of late, had a market value of $479 million.
HSBC is unique in this industry because of its large presence and influence in the bullion market. As one of the largest precious metals custodians and one of the four clearing members of the London gold market, HSBC is an important player in a system where over $30 billion worth of gold transactions occur every day.
Introducing Blockchain Technology to the Bullion Market: A Step Toward Modernization
Even with the London gold market’s enormous size—roughly 698,000 gold bars worth $525 billion are kept in the Greater London region—it still relies mostly on antiquated manual record-keeping and runs exclusively over-the-counter. The goal of HSBC’s blockchain technology is to expedite and simplify this procedure so that customers can more easily monitor their ownership of gold, even down to the bar’s serial number.
In contrast to the typical 400 troy ounces for a London gold bar, one token in HSBC’s tokenized system is equal to 0.001 troy ounces, improving accessibility and efficiency. Although institutional investors are the platform’s primary target at this time, it might eventually be modified to allow regular investors to directly invest in actual gold, if local regulators give their consent.
This project is a component of HSBC’s larger endeavors to incorporate blockchain technology into many aspects of its business, including the issuance and storage of digital bonds through HSBC Orion. With major banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co., Euroclear, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. launching more blockchain-based applications, the financial industry is watching to see if these innovations will catch on and improve the conventional financial infrastructure as promised.
According to a report by Bitcoinist, HSBC has incorporated blockchain technology into its gold trading operations, capitalizing on the rapidly growing tokenized assets market, which is expected to reach an impressive $16 trillion by 2030. Because of the industry’s promising development and quick change, several cryptocurrencies are poised for potentially enormous growth.
With the goal of converting physical assets, like as real estate, into digital form, the XRP Ledger ecosystem is leading the way in the tokenized assets market. XRP is even more entrenched in this space because to Ripple’s continued partnerships with international banks to investigate useful uses for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Conversely, TrueFi and Pendle Finance are becoming major players, creatively fusing blockchain technology with traditional banking. With its TRU token, TrueFi is revolutionizing the lending industry by providing cryptocurrency loans devoid of collateral and independent of a user’s creditworthiness.
Recently, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) registered PayPal to provide cryptocurrency asset operations in the United Kingdom. This action reflects PayPal’s commitment to serve the British market as it sets up a post-Brexit basis in the UK.
The UK’s cryptocurrency industry is reportedly awaiting its first set of laws; in order to provide crypto assets, businesses must prove to the FCA that they have strong measures in place to stop money laundering and the funding of terrorists. This information was reported by Reuters.
Additionally, the FCA has imposed more stringent regulations on cryptocurrency marketing, which has disrupted websites like as Binance.
PayPal Is Accepted By FCA As A UK-Registered Crypto Business
Global payments firm PayPal, which launched services for buying and selling cryptocurrencies in 2021, stated on October 1 that it would be temporarily suspending its UK clients’ ability to purchase cryptocurrency assets.
Early in 2024 is when the corporation plans to start up these services again. PayPal has been approved by the FCA to operate as a registered crypto asset business, consumer credit agency, and permitted electronic money institution notwithstanding the delay.
According to the article, PayPal is adjusting to the UK’s post-Brexit environment by moving its UK clients to a new British corporation on November 1.
PayPal has given its clients the assurance that they would still receive the same goods and services in the UK.
Regulatory Framework of the UK Government
According to earlier reports, the FCA’s implementation of tougher marketing regulations for digital assets had an impact on PayPal’s decision to stop selling cryptocurrencies in the UK.
Nonetheless, as noted by Bitcoinist, the UK government recently updated the legal framework for cryptocurrency assets with an emphasis on risk management and innovation encouragement, indicating a progressive stance.
In conclusion, PayPal’s clearance to offer cryptocurrency services in the UK demonstrates both its dedication to the British market and compliance with legal standards.
PayPal continues to be committed to provide its UK-based clients with a compliant experience in the crypto asset market, even while the scheduled temporary halt of its crypto services continues.
As of this writing, since last week, there have been inflows and a constant rising trend in the entire market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market. At now, the market capitalization is $1.250 trillion, with Bitcoin (BTC) holding a dominant 53.8% stake.
With the cryptocurrency market valued at over $1.25 trillion, the present trading level is crucial. It was last violated in November 2022, just before FTX went bankrupt.
The market needs to go through an accumulation period in order to accomplish more gains and solidify this level as a support, opening the door for retesting higher highs.
Cardano (ADA) has made an important statement on its scaling solution, Mithril. The team has issued a study paper named “Mithril 2,” which illustrates the real outcomes of its work.
Launched on the Cardano mainnet in July, Mithril has now provided what the creators describe “innovative cryptographic techniques” to show knowledge of a huge dataset without releasing the dataset fully.
Romain Pellerin of IOG Highlights ALBAs
Romain Pellerin, the Chief Technical Officer of the research organization Input Output Global (IOG), highlighted the essential themes covered in the Mithril 2 report.
Pellerin noted that the research offers a concept termed “Approximate Lower Bound Arguments” (ALBAs). The purpose of ALBAs is to let anyone to verify ownership of a vast dataset without disclosing the full record.
Pellerin claims that this method has uses in situations when it’s required to prove that you have several digital signatures from several people without disclosing each one.
The key principle of ALBAs is that the prover only displays an intelligently selected tiny dataset sample. This avoids “cheating” by making it improbable that the sample could be created if the true dataset is tiny.
Conversely, if the true dataset is huge, at least one such sample probably exists. This reportedly secures the success of a “honest prover.” The Telescope approach presented in the research helps the efficient recursive building of the sample.
The Mithril 2 article additionally tackles circumstances when the dataset is dispersed among numerous parties who jointly create the evidence. It illustrates how ALBAs may be used for straight-line witness extraction in concise, non-interactive arguments of knowledge (SNARKs).
By employing ALBAs instead of specialized constructs, the burden of the prover can be minimized, leading in quicker proofs when collecting witnesses from SNARKs.
Charles Hoskinson, the Founder of Cardano, Praises the Mithril 2 Paper
The paper demonstrates that ALBAs enable provers to simply prove knowledge of numerous components that fulfill a particular predicate or weight function. While the argument is approximate owing to a slight gap between what the prover knows and what the verifier is sure of, this gap allows for incredibly efficient techniques.
Furthermore, the research proposes non-interactive constructions of ALBAs in the random oracle and uniform reference string models, exhibiting near-optimal proof sizes.
Additionally, it displays communication-efficient architectures when the evidence is dispersed across numerous provers, which is particularly essential in decentralized contexts.
Charles Hoskinson, the Founder of Cardano, expressed his delight in the Mithril 2 paper, underlining its relevance on X (formerly known as Twitter). As Hoskinson put it:
“Mithril 2 is released. I’m quite pleased of this paper. It’s damn good work.”
The Cardano community anxiously anticipates the adoption of these new “cryptographic techniques”, which highlight the project’s dedication to increasing the scalability and privacy of the Cardano blockchain.
Conversely, throughout the last 30 days, Cardano, the native token of the decentralized public blockchain, has seen notable increases. With a current value of $0.2910, ADA has increased in value by 18% in the last two weeks.
It is noteworthy that ADA closed October above the critical $0.300 mark. This accomplishment, which momentarily broke the token’s four-month downward structure, is crucial to the token’s future and the maintenance of its positive momentum.
Whether further improvements to the Cardano ecosystem will be able to propel ADA to new heights in 2023 and keep it competitive among the top 10 cryptocurrencies on the market is yet to be determined.
The Web3 wallet provider MetaMask became one of the first self-custody Web3 wallets with integrated security alerts when it collaborated with security startup Blockaid to introduce native security alerts within their browser extension.
November 2023 will see the formal rollout of the functionality, which desktop users may select via MetaMask’s experimental settings. The new functionality is expected to be implemented and activated by default into the wallet by the first quarter of 2024, with intentions to make it accessible to all MetaMask users.
Together, MetaMask and Blockaid released Opensea security alerts as an opt-in experimental feature in April 2023.
MetaMask’s functionality aims to stop fraudulent transactions and shield consumers from phishing schemes, hacking attempts, and frauds before they happen, all without compromising user privacy. These privacy-focused security warnings, according to both firms, would prevent cryptocurrency assets from being stolen.
A privacy-preserving offline (PPOM) module was created by the two businesses to simulate transactions and do away with the requirement to exchange data with other parties.
With a Transaction Insights category, MetaMask introduced Snaps for sophisticated users in September 2023. Installing transaction insights will allow users to implement the security levels that they choose.
With over 20 million active users each month, MetaMask is the most widely used cryptocurrency wallet. Blockaid is a newly established security business that has raised $33 million in capital.
Blockaid prevented the loss of over $100,000 in assets by alerting authorities to the breach of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s X account. The company also ensured that the CEO of Uniswap’s X account was shielded from potential losses.
Like an options deal, a futures contract has a buyer and a seller. When a futures contract expires, both the buyer and the seller of the futures contract are required to purchase and receive the underlying asset, in contrast to options, which may lose all of their value at that point.
Uses For Futures
In investment, futures are often used for two purposes: speculation and hedging (risk management).
Futures contracts can be purchased and traded up until the point of expiration and are often liquid. For traders and speculative investors who neither own nor desire to possess the underlying commodity, this is a crucial aspect. In order to voice their view on the direction of the commodities market and maybe benefit from it, they can purchase or sell futures. Then, in order to release themselves from any commitment regarding the real commodity, they will purchase or sell an offset futures contract position prior to expiration.
Why Engage In Futures Trading?
Futures are primarily used by traders and individual investors to bet on how the price of the underlying asset will fluctuate in the future. By voicing their predictions about potential market trends for a particular commodity, index, or financial instrument, they aim to make money. Additionally, some investors utilize futures as a hedge, usually to assist balance any negative effects on their portfolio or business from future market movements in a specific commodity.
Naturally, one may speculate on or protect against potential market movements using equities or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). There are some clear advantages that the futures market may provide that the equity market cannot, but they all include hazards that you should be aware of.
Leverage: In a margin account, you must pay at least 50% of the account’s total value in order to establish an equity position. The initial margin requirement for futures is usually set between 3 and 10% of the underlying contract value. You run the danger of losing more money than you initially invested when using leverage, but it also increases your possibility for higher returns in relation to your investment.
Diversification: In a manner that stocks and ETFs cannot, futures provide some additional opportunities to diversify your investments. As opposed to secondary market goods like equities, they might provide you with direct market exposure to underlying commodities assets. They also provide you access to particular assets that aren’t often available in other marketplaces. If you’re searching for methods to assist control some risk associated with impending events that might influence the markets, you can also consider using futures.
Short Selling: Because the margin requirement for long and short positions in futures is the same, it is possible to take a bearish posture or reverse a trade without incurring additional margin obligations.
Tax Benefits: When compared to other short-term trading marketplaces, futures may offer a tax advantage. This is due to the fact that winning futures trading have a 60/40 tax structure, meaning that 40% of earnings are taxed as regular income and 60% as long-term capital gains. In contrast, earnings from stock trading that are kept for less than a year are subject to 100% regular income tax.
Types Of Futures
There are many different financial and commodity-based futures that may be traded, ranging from debt, indices, and currencies to energy, metals, and agricultural items. Among the numerous futures contract examples are:
Financial Futures
Financial futures come in two varieties: index contracts and interest rate (debt) contracts. While interest rate contracts are used to gain exposure to the interest rate of a particular financial instrument, index contracts offer exposure to certain market index values.
Currency Futures
Exposure to the exchange rate of a real currency or cryptocurrency is possible using currency contracts.
Energy Futures
Energy contracts offer exposure to the cost of popular energy products utilized by governments, businesses, and individuals for consumption as well as for manufacturing, production, and/or transportation.
Metal Futures
Exposure to the price of certain metals, such as steel for homes or gold for computers, which are used by numerous businesses as building and manufacturing materials, is possible through metal contracts.
Grain Futures
Grain futures offer exposure to the prices of processed soybeans and raw grain materials used for animal feed as well as commercial processing into other products (such corn syrup and ethanol).
Livestock Futures
Contracts for livestock expose parties to the costs of live animals used in the production, distribution, and processing of meat products.
Food & Fiber Futures
These contracts offer exposure to the prices of dairy products as well as some agricultural items that are cultivated rather than harvested or mined (often referred to as “Softs”).
Musk said in a post on October 29th that postings that were found to be false or deceptive and then “corrected” by X’s user-driven fact-checking tool, Community Notes, would no longer be qualified for income sharing.
The decision was taken in an attempt to give the X community’s members more accuracy than sensationalism.
Musk underlined the need of providing incentives for accuracy, warning that since the data is publicly available, any effort to abuse the function for illicit reasons will be quickly discovered.
However, there are a number of queries and worries that X users and fans of Crypto Twitter have regarding this statement. Some users questioned if notes posted for context, as opposed to correcting inaccurate information, would fall under this regulation.
One well-known account dedicated to cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Archive, made the observation that not all Community Notes are corrections or refutations; others just offer more background.
Similarly, Not Jerome Powell, an X account that focuses on finance, contended that this regulation shouldn’t apply to Community Notes that are applied humorously or that provide context.
Nonetheless, there was backing for Musk’s choice. Co-creator of Dogecoin Billy Markus advised users to listen to those who strongly opposed the move, pointing out that these people were frequently making money by disseminating false information.
Notably, according to a post by X CEO Linda Yaccarino on October 26th, X has not revealed the total number of accounts that qualify for income sharing or given information about the 100,000 donors that are spread throughout 44 countries.
YouTube plans to introduce the AI tool gradually, starting with a limited group of users over the next few months. Premium members will have the exclusive opportunity to test these experimental features before the general public. The aim is to collect valuable feedback and insights from users to fine-tune the tool’s performance.
Theme-Based Comment Categorization
The heart of this AI tool lies in its ability to categorize comment sections into distinct themes, offering users a more organized and personalized experience. Long-form videos, notorious for sprawling and cluttered comment sections, will now be broken down into “easily digestible themes.” This empowers users, especially those with limited sorting options, to take control of the content displayed in the comments section.
Empowering Creators with Selective Removal
Creators will be granted the power to selectively remove specific comment themes, allowing them to curate a more positive and engaging environment for their audience. This move is particularly significant for content creators who have been grappling with managing unwanted comments. The AI tool also addresses the issue of blocked words and users, streamlining the moderation process.
A Boost for Online Safety and Learning
YouTube’s AI initiative aims to enhance online safety by automatically scanning for blocked words and users, relieving content creators from the burden of constant comment moderation. Additionally, the tool promises to improve the accuracy of video recommendations through intelligent questioning about the content being viewed.
In the realm of education, the AI tool is set to transform academic videos. Students can leverage its capabilities to facilitate questioning and responses, fostering a “deeper understanding” of the material. This aligns with a broader trend of incorporating AI into educational technologies.
OpenAI’s Influence on AI Landscape
This development comes in the wake of OpenAI’s recent announcement of GPT-4 Turbo, a powerful language model boasting a context window four times larger than its predecessor, ChatGPT. OpenAI has been at the forefront of AI advancements, introducing tools that empower users to craft personalized chatbots without the need for coding skills.
Looking Ahead
While YouTube acknowledges that these features are experimental and might not always be perfect, the step towards leveraging AI for comment section control is a bold move. As users get a taste of this revolutionary tool, the feedback collected during the gradual rollout will be instrumental in shaping the future of YouTube‘s AI-driven features. The intersection of user experience, content creation, and AI innovation is a space worth watching as these technologies continue to evolve.
Similar to a mutual fund, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a kind of pooled investment asset. ETFs can be bought or sold on a stock market in the same manner as conventional stocks, unlike mutual funds, but they usually follow a specific index, sector, commodity, or other asset. An exchange-traded fund (ETF) has the capacity to monitor many asset classes, ranging from a broad assortment of securities to the value of a single commodity. Even certain investing techniques can be tracked by ETFs.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 Index, was the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) and is still in use today.
Knowing Your Way Around Exchange-Traded Funds
Because an exchange-traded fund (ETF) is exchanged on an exchange like stocks, it is also known as an exchange-traded fund. As shares of an ETF are purchased and sold on the market, their price will fluctuate during the trading day. This is not the case with mutual funds, which trade just once a day after the markets shut and are not traded on an exchange. In addition, compared to mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are often more affordable and liquid.
Unlike stocks, which only hold one underlying asset, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) hold several underlying assets. ETFs are a popular option for diversification since they contain a variety of assets. Thus, equities, bonds, commodities, and a variety of other investment kinds can all be found in ETFs.
An ETF may be limited to a single industry or sector, or it may own hundreds or thousands of equities in a variety of industries. While some funds have a worldwide vision, others concentrate solely on U.S. offers. ETFs with a focus on banking, for instance, would own equities of different banks from throughout the sector.
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a marketable investment, which means that its share price makes it simple to buy, sell, and trade it short on exchanges throughout the day. Except in cases where later regulations have changed their regulatory requirements, the majority of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US are structured as open-ended funds and are governed under the Investment Company Act of 1940. The number of investors in an open-end fund is not restricted.
Types of ETFs
Investors can employ a variety of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for income creation, speculation, price rises, and risk hedging or partial portfolio offset. A synopsis of a few of the ETFs that are currently offered on the market is provided below.
Passive and Active ETFs
ETFs are often classified as actively or passively managed. ETFs that are passive seek to mimic the performance of a larger index, such as the S&P 500, which is a diversified index, or a more focused sector or trend. Gold mining stocks are one example of the latter group. As of October 13, 2023, there are around nine exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that concentrate on firms involved in the gold mining industry, with the exception of inverse, leveraged, and funds with minimal assets under management (AUM).
Typically, actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) do not aim to track an index of stocks; instead, portfolio managers make choices about which assets to add to the portfolio. Although these products are often more expensive for investors, they provide advantages over passive ETFs. Below, we examine actively managed ETFs.
Bond ETFs
Investors can utilize bond ETFs to generate consistent income. The performance of the underlying bonds affects how their income is distributed. These might consist of corporate bonds, state and local bonds, or municipal bonds issued by governments. The maturity date of bond ETFs is not the same as that of their underlying securities. Typically, they are traded above or below the bond’s face value.
Stock ETFs
An industry or sector is tracked by a portfolio of companies in stock exchange-traded funds (ETFs). An ETF for equities, for instance, may follow international or auto companies. The objective is to offer a variety of perspectives on a single industry, one that encompasses both established players and recently emerged players with room to develop. Stock ETFs are less expensive than stock mutual funds and do not require actual stock ownership.
Industry/Sector ETFs
ETFs that concentrate on a particular business or sector are known as industry or sector ETFs. An energy sector exchange-traded fund (ETF) comprises firms that are involved in the industry. By monitoring the performance of businesses in that industry, industry exchange-traded funds (ETFs) aim to provide investors with exposure to the positive aspects of that sector.
The IT industry is one instance, which has seen a rise in funding recently. However, because ETFs do not entail direct ownership of shares, the downside of erratic stock performance is also limited. During economic cycles, industry exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are also utilized for sector rotation.
Commodity ETFs
Commodity exchange-traded funds (ETFs) invest in commodities, such as gold or crude oil, as their name suggests. ETFs that track commodities have several advantages. They first diversify a portfolio, which facilitates the hedging of downturns.
Commodity exchange-traded funds, for instance, can provide as a buffer when the stock market is down. Second, investing in a commodities exchange-traded fund (ETF) is less expensive than acquiring the commodity itself. This is so because the former omits the need for storage and insurance.
Currency ETFs
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that follow the performance of currency pairings—that is, combinations of local and foreign currencies—are called currency pairs. Currency ETFs have several uses. Based on a nation’s political and economic trends, they may be utilized to speculate on currency values. Additionally, importers and exporters utilize them to diversify their holdings or protect themselves from currency market volatility. A few are also employed as a hedge against the possibility of inflation. Even an ETF option exists for bitcoin.
Inverse ETFs
By shorting equities, inverse ETFs try to profit from stock falls. Selling a stock, anticipating a drop in value, and then buying it back at a reduced cost is known as shorting. Derivatives are used by an inverse ETF to short a stock. They are essentially wagers on the market’s downturn.
A proportional gain occurs in an inverse ETF when the market decreases. The fact that many inverse ETFs are exchange-traded notes (ETNs) rather than actual ETFs should be known by investors. An ETN is a bond that is backed by an issuer, such as a bank, and trades like a stock. To find out if an ETN is a good fit for your portfolio, be sure to speak with your broker.
Leveraged ETFs
An ETF that is leveraged aims to yield returns that are multiples of the return on the underlying assets, such as 2× or 3×. For example, a 2× leveraged S&P 500 ETF will gain 2% if the S&P 500 increases by 1% (while the ETF would lose 2% if the index falls by 1%). These products leverage their returns through the use of derivatives, including futures contracts or options. Leveraged inverse ETFs are another option; they aim for an inverse multiplied return.
How to Buy ETFs
Investing in ETFs has become very simple for traders because to the abundance of platforms accessible. To start investing in ETFs, adhere to the instructions provided below.
Find an Investing Platform
The majority of online investment platforms, websites that provide retirement accounts, and investing applications like Robinhood all carry ETFs. The majority of these platforms allow commission-free trading, which eliminates the need for you to pay platform providers’ fees in order to purchase or sell ETFs.
A commission-free buy or sell does not, nevertheless, imply that the ETF supplier would also offer free access to their offering. Convenience, services, and product diversity are some ways platform services set themselves apart from competitors.
For instance, investment applications for smartphones make it possible to buy ETF shares with just a single tap. This might not apply to all brokerages, as some might need documentation from investors or have more complex requirements. However, a few well-known brokerages provide a wealth of instructional materials to assist novice investors in learning about and conducting research on exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Research ETFs
Investigating ETFs is the second—and most crucial—step in the investment process. The markets currently provide a large range of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). When conducting research, keep in mind that exchange-traded funds (ETFs) differ from individual assets like stocks and bonds.
When you invest in an ETF, you must take the industry or sector as a whole into account. While conducting your study, you may want to think about the following questions:
How long do you plan to invest?
Do you invest for growth or income?
Are there any specific industries or financial products that pique your interest?
Consider a Trading Strategy
Dollar-cost averaging, or spreading out your investment fees over time, is a useful trading approach if you are a novice investor in ETFs. This is due to the fact that it evens out results over time and guarantees a methodical approach to investing, as opposed to a random or erratic one.
It also aids in the education of novice investors on the subtleties of ETF investment. Investors can advance to more complex tactics like swing trading and sector rotation as they gain confidence in their trading abilities.
It has been 15 years since Oct. 31, 2008, often known as Halloween, when the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, sent the white paper to a mailing list of cryptographers.
In the famous first line, Satoshi stated, “I’ve been working on a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party,” before providing a link to the paper, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.”
A decentralized system that might enable peer-to-peer transactions was suggested in the white paper as a potential solution to the “double spending” issue that is frequently connected to digital money.
Launched barely two months later on January 3, 2009, it promised to do this via a network of nodes to validate and record transactions through a proof-of-work consensus process.
How The Bitcoin Project Came To Be
Satoshi’s breakthrough in computer science was preceded by other noteworthy advancements in the fields of e-money and encryption.
Wei Dai’s creation of B-money, an electronic peer-to-peer payment system that never went live but was crucial to Satoshi Nakamoto’s ideas for Bitcoin, is the first source mentioned in the Bitcoin white paper.
Similar to Bitcoin, B-money suggested that users of the system keep track of who owns money in a database of account balances. A broadcast message to all participants would commence and finish transactions, updating the account balances of individuals participating in a particular transaction.
It may be viewed as somewhat of a forerunner to the Bitcoin protocol’s nodes, which maintain a log of the ever-expanding blockchain.
evidence-of-work, a type of cryptographic evidence in which one party certifies to others that a particular amount of a particular computational effort has been performed, is necessary for this procedure.
By referencing Adam Back’s 1997 creation of Hashcash, which used proof-of-work to prevent denial-of-service assaults and email spam, Satoshi integrated this into Bitcoin.
Another essential component of Bitcoin that Satoshi successfully developed is timestamps.
When a block of transactions is added to the blockchain of Bitcoin, the timestamp server for that block is activated by taking a hash of that block, which is similar to a unique serial number.
The hashes preserve the integrity of the Bitcoin data by cryptographically connecting one block to the next. Additionally, timestamps on Bitcoin prevent double spending, making the network unchangeable and impervious to tampering.
Henri Massias, Scott Stornetta, Stuart Haber, and Dave Bayer’s contribution was acknowledged by Satoshi when he included timestamping into the Bitcoin protocol.
In the meanwhile, Bitcoin now uses Merkle trees to validate transaction data using digital signatures. Ralph Merkle’s work on creating public-key cryptosystems was mentioned by Satoshi.
Cyperphunk and Bitcoin supporter Jameson Lopp earlier stated to Cointelegraph that recognition need to go to the early initiatives that helped create the platform for Bitcoin.
But according to Lopp, Satoshi’s genius was in his ability to patch together all these parts into a working system:
“In my opinion, no single component of the puzzle is more crucial than the others. The subtle way that each component of Bitcoin interacts with the others to give the system life is what makes Nakamoto so brilliant, not any of the individual parts.
How Bitcoin Was Operated
One of the first products to successfully employ encryption to keep money independent from the state at the time was Bitcoin. Thanks to Satoshi’s creation, people could transact with others all over the world without having to go through banks or other financial organizations.
When Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 BTC for two pizzas in May 2010, it was the first real-world transaction made with Bitcoin.
In the beginning, the media emphasized that criminals were using Bitcoin more frequently to launder money, among other things, but that story has since changed.
All throughout the world, its adoption is growing. September 2021 saw its legal tender status in El Salvador.
Recently, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for spot Bitcoin have been made available by financial institutions in the US, and other institutions have started offering Bitcoin ETFs in Europe.
A number of changes have been made to help Bitcoin grow and expand its network of applications.
In 2018, the Lightning network was introduced with the goal of accelerating Bitcoin transactions using off-chain computing.
Ordinals are a type of nonfungible token that were introduced on Bitcoin in January. The Taproot soft fork in November 2021 allowed for its debut.
The price of bitcoin has also fluctuated greatly.
BTC began trading for as little as a cent in 2009 and has since gone through many boom and bust cycles, with price swings of up to 88% at times.
As of this now, the price of Bitcoin is $34,350, which is 50% less than its peak price of $69,000 on November 10, 2021.
