Blockchain.info is a bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet and block explorer service. Launched in August 2011, the service provides data on recent transactions, mined blocks in the bitcoin blockchain, charts on the bitcoin economy, and statistics and resources for developers. Information from and links to the website are common in media coverage and in bitcoin forums. The Blockchain.info mobile app for Android allows users to securely send and receive bitcoins and browse blockchain information. In December 2013, the company acquired ZeroBlock LLC, makers of the leading mobile bitcoin app.
Blockchain.info was the world’s most visited bitcoin website in 2013, with over 118 million page views and over 3 million unique visitors in November 2013, and in January 2014 Blockchain.info reached one million user wallets.
In February 2014, Apple Inc. removed the Blockchain app from the iOS App Store, prompting a harsh response from Blockchain and public outcry in the bitcoin community, most notably within the Reddit community. In July 2014, Apple reinstated the Blockchain app back into the iOS App Store.
In October 2014, Blockchain.info closed a $30.5 million fundraising round from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Mosaic Ventures, which was the biggest round of financing in the digital currency sector at that time.
In December 2014, Blockchain.info became one of the first prominent bitcoin wallets to offer a dedicated hidden service on the Tor network, at blockchainbdgpzk.onion, for users who desire to conduct bitcoin transactions with greater privacy and lesser third party surveillance, as well as to provide end-to-end encryption for Tor users who were previously vulnerable to malicious exit nodes sniffing their keys and stealing their bitcoins.
In early 2015, the company passed 3 million wallets created using their services.
In August 2015, Blockchain.info’s CEO Peter Smith was invited to accompany then UK Prime Minister David Cameron on a tour throughout southeast Asia to engage with local representatives about the UK’s leading role as a global fintech hub.
Also in August 2015, Blockchain.info passed 4 million wallets created using their services.
In March 2016, Blockchain.info has announced the introduction of ‘Dynamic Fees’ on transactions within its wallet.
In May 2016, Blockchain.info announced Thunder, which claims to be an implementation of the Lightning Network.
Transaction volume had exceeded 100 million by August, 2016.
Co-founders of Blockchain.info, Nicolas Cary and Peter Smith, announced a $40 million Series B in June, 2017.
In September 2017, Blockchain.info announced that it has partnered up with Unocoin in its bid to enter the Indian market.
Archive | January, 2018
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Wing Tai Properties Limited (previously USI Holdings Limited) is a Hong Kong based property developer, operator of hospitality services and owner of several tailoring factories. Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange from formation in 1991, it operates hotels under the brand names of WingTai Asia and Lanson Place. It aims to capture the market from Singapore corporates and Singapore listed companies on visit to Hong Kong and in transit to China. It is a five star hotel.
blockchain applications in finance
Blockchain Capital (formerly Crypto Currency Partners) is a venture capital company that invests in blockchain related companies.
It is headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in October 2013 by Bart Stephens, Bradford Stephens and Brock Pierce.
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A bitcoin ATM is an internet machine that allows a person to exchange bitcoins and cash. Some Bitcoin ATMs offer bi-directional functionality; these machines enable both the purchase of Bitcoin as well as the redemption of Bitcoin for cash. In some cases, Bitcoin ATM providers require users to have an existing account in order to transact on the machine.
Bitcoin machines are not ATMs in the traditional sense and probably use the wording ATM as a neologism. Bitcoin kiosks are machines which are connected to the Internet, allowing the insertion of cash in exchange for bitcoins given as a paper receipt or by moving money to a public key on the blockchain. They look like traditional ATMs, but Bitcoin kiosks do not connect to a bank account and instead connect the user directly to a Bitcoin exchange. According to an advisory issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, “they may also charge high transaction fees – media reports describe transaction fees as high as 7% and exchange rates $50 over rates you could get elsewhere”.
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USI or Usi may are a symbol of:
Usi (food), a starch dish of the Urhobo folks of Nigeria
Usi State, a region in westernmost Chagang province, North Korea
User System Connection, a postgraduate anatomist design program in holland
U Select It, a huge vending company in america
Union of Indie Trade Unions (Portugal)
Union of Students in Ireland, the representative body for students’ unions in Ireland
Unione Sindacale Italiana, an Italian trade union
Union Solidarity International (USi), a global labour organising support organisation
Unique College student Identifier, an unique identifier for any students in Australia
Unique Swap Identifier, see Unique Purchase Identifier, identifier for investments mandated by financial marketplaces regulation
USA of Indonesia, circumstances in Southeast Asia from 1949 to 1950
University or college of Southern Indiana, a University or college found in Evansville, Indiana, USA
Universit? della Svizzera italiana, the School of Italian-speaking Switzerland
Unlimited Software Inc., see Distinctive Software
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Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the unknown person or people who designed bitcoin and created its original reference implementation. As part of the implementation, they also devised the first blockchain database. In the process they were the first to solve the double-spending problem for digital currency. They were active in the development of bitcoin up until December 2010.
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Bitcoin Classic was one of several forks of the Bitcoin reference implementation Bitcoin Core aiming to increase the transaction processing capacity of Bitcoin by increasing the block size limit. Blocks, which contain transaction data, form the basic structure of the immutable blockchain. Bitcoin Classic started out as similar to, though less aggressive than, the Bitcoin XT fork, which never managed to get the support it needed. Bitcoin Classic in its first 8 months promoted a single increase of the maximum block size from one megabyte to two megabytes. In November 2016 this changed and the project moved to a solution that moved the limit out of the software rules into the hands of the miners and nodes.
Bitcoin Classic is also an attempt to move the technical governance of this decentralized and independent Bitcoin project from the developers of the original Bitcoin to a voting process involving a larger community of miners, businesses, developers and users. There is no formal activation method for the software, but due to the nature of Bitcoin a supermajority needs to support it.
Bitcoin for Newbies, or…
“What’s All This Bitcoin Fuss, Anyway?”
A boy asks his Bitcoin investing father for $10.00 of Bitcoin Currency.
The father asks, “9.79? What do you need $11.64 for?”
Yes, the value of Bitcoin can change nearly that fast.
So what exactly is Bitcoin, and why is its value going through the roof?
Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group of people, under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto, and released as open-source software in 2009.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and worldwide payment system.
And it’s also the first decentralized digital currency. This means the system works without a central repository or single administrator.
The system is peer-to-peer – transactions take place between users directly and without intermediaries.
The transactions are verified by network nodes, and then recorded in a publicly distributed ledger called a blockchain.
Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining, which we’ll cover in a moment.
And of course Bitcoins can be exchanged for other currencies, products and services.
You can also hold Bitcoin as an investment, which is how so many Bitcoin fortunes have already been made.
The most famous example of this is the “Bitcoin Pizza.” On 22 May 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz made the first real-world transaction by buying two pizzas from Papa Johns in Jacksonville, Florida, for 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC.)
In May of 2017, Business Insider reported that those same 10,000 Bitcoins were worth $20 million (15.4 million pounds)
Pretty amazing, right?
Fast forward to November 28th, and those same 10,000 Bitcoins are now worth $100 million.
That’s $50 million per pizza.
At the time of the pizza transaction, you can imagine that Laszlo was pretty psyched. He’d just gotten two pizzas for some ‘play money.’ Score!
Fast forward and Laszlo is likely kicking himself black and blue over having purchased what will likely be the costliest pizzas ever – past, present and future.
Now I know what you might be thinking: “That’s probably as high as Bitcoin is going to go, right?”
Maybe. Maybe not. People have been saying for months that it can’t go any higher, and then it does.
Some say Bitcoin is like the stock market, only greatly sped up. Yes, it might go down now and then. But it will self-correct and head back up again.
They believe this because with world events being so volatile, and people having less and less faith in traditional currency, it’s bound to continue to increase in value.
Maybe so.
Let’s dig a little deeper:
Bitcoin Units
One unit of account of the Bitcoin system is a Bitcoin.
A Satoshi is the smallest amount within Bitcoin, representing 0.00000001 Bitcoin, or one hundred millionth of a Bitcoin.
A Millibitcoin equals 0.001 Bitcoin, or one thousandth of a Bitcoin or 100,000 Satoshis.
On August 1, 2017, Bitcoin split into two derivative digital currencies, the classic Bitcoin (BTC) and a hard fork, Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Bitcoin Wallets
Wallets are actually software programs where Bitcoins are stored. It’s sort of like a Bitcoin bank account, only without the bank. You can send, receive and store Bitcoins in your wallet.
Naturally, Bitcoins are virtual, so they aren’t really in your wallet. Rather, it’s a way of keeping track of who owns what.
There is a private key or secret number for every Bitcoin address. Those are saved in the Bitcoin wallet of the person who owns the balance. Confusing? A little bit, until you actually use a wallet and see how it works.
There are two main types of wallets – a software wallet is one that you install on your own computer or mobile device. You are in complete control of your coins with a software wallet, but you’re also responsible for installation, security and maintaining the wallet yourself.
That’s why a lot of people choose a web wallet, or hosted wallet.
Because a third party maintains the wallet, it’s much easier to use. But you’re also having to trust the provider to maintain high levels of security to protect your coins.
If you are a beginner with Bitcoin, we recommend you try one of the following wallets:
Coinbase – a web wallet that is highly popular and easy to use.
Blockchain – one of the quickest and easiest Bitcoin web wallets.
Electrum – a highly secure wallet you install yourself.
Bitcoin Exchanges
Okay, you’ve got a wallet. Now how do you get your first Bitcoins?
Usually it’s through a Bitcoin exchange. You can use a credit or debit card to make your first purchase, but we’d like to offer a word of caution:
Not all Bitcoin Exchanges are legitimate. Some pop up out of nowhere, take people’s money and disappear.
Naturally, you want to use an Exchange that’s been around for awhile – one you can trust.
Here are three Exchanges that have proven track records:
Coinbase
Coinmama
BitPanda
Let’s talk about Bitcoin Mining
We mentioned earlier that you can get Bitcoins through mining.
According to Investopedia, Bitcoin mining is the process by which transactions are verified and added to the public ledger, known as the block chain, and also the means through which new bitcoin are released.
Anyone with access to the internet and suitable hardware can participate in mining.
But… it’s not as easy as it sounds. And the bill for equipment and the electricity to run that equipment and keep it cool can get expensive.
Bottom line: You’ve got to know what you’re doing. You can go online and spend a few days researching this if you’re interested.
Or you can let someone else do the mining for you. True, you won’t make as much Bitcoin, but you also won’t be paying for equipment and spending your time making sure everything is running properly, either.
Cloud Mining
With cloud mining, you purchase a mining contract in someone else’s mining operation. You’re helping them purchase machines, maintain them and so forth, and for that you get to share in the profits.
Depending on the contract you choose, your investment can be large or small, long term or short term.
You pay the upfront cost in Bitcoins, and sometimes they even take credit cards. Then they take care of everything.
If everything goes as planned, you receive a continuous influx of Bitcoins into your personal wallet.
Some mining contract providers charge fees thoughout the contract. Others only charge fees up front. So be sure to calculate these in to see what your true return is.
It is possible for a mining contract provider to go bust, so this is not risk free. But it can be a great way to increase your stash of bitcoins.
Proven Cloud Mining Companies
While this list is by no means extensive, it does give you a good place to start looking for your cloud mining company:
Bitcoin Pool https://pool.bitcoin.com
EOBot https://www.EOBot.com
Genesis Mining https://www.genesis-mining.com
Hashflare http://hashflare.io
Hashnest https://hashnest.com
MinerGate https://minergate.com/
TeraBox https://www.TeraBox.me
One More Thing
If you remember back in the day, maybe about 20 years ago, there were a multitude of search engines. And then along came one search engine that initially used all the other search engines to find results. By aggregating the results of the other search engines, they were better able to find good results.
That little search engine was Google. Of course, they haven’t relied on other search engines for a very long time. But in the beginning their system worked better because they used the aggregate model.
There is a cloud mining contracts aggregator that works along the same line. Instead of doing their own mining, they look for the best results from other mining companies, and put together packages of those contracts for their customers.
The name of that cloud mining contracts aggregator is MINEX, and you can find them here.
The Big Questions
Is Bitcoin going to continue to rise?
And if so, how high is it going to go?
I’m afraid I don’t have the answers.
But I do know that a small investment made now does have the potential for a nice payoff later.
Never invest more than you can afford to lose. Ever. And do your diligence and research before investing with anyone, including any company mentioned in this article.
The term, “buyer beware” does indeed fit with anything and everything Bitcoin.
But who knows – one day you might be telling your kids how you invested in Bitcoin in early 2018, and retired the next year.
Anything is possible.
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The University of Southern Indiana (USI) is a public university located just outside Evansville in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1965, USI enrolls 10,929 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 80 majors. USI offers programs through the College of Liberal Arts, Romain College of Business, College of Nursing and Health Professions and the Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education. USI is a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. It is also a Carnegie Foundation Community Engaged University which offers continuing education and special programs to more than 15,000 participants annually through outreach and engagement.
USI athletic teams participate in Division II of the NCAA and are known as the Screaming Eagles. USI is a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The university is home to an extensive student life, with more than 140 student organizations.
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Bitcoin.com is a company that provides bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash services, such as purchasing and selling these cryptocurrencies, and choosing a wallet for bitcoin or bitcoin cash. The associated website aims to be a bitcoin-cash-related web portal. Accordingly it features a range of services such as news, various tools, widgets and charts as well as a store and online casino.
