A bounty is a reward paid out for the completion of a certain task.
In the “Old West,” sheriffs used to post bounties in order to encourage bounty hunters to capture dangerous criminals. This concept is alive and well in today’s world and the cryptocurrency space has made it a core concept of its very special culture. In the crypto world, bounty rewards are almost exclusively paid in Bitcoin and ICO tokens.
Star Wars Bounty Hunters (Image: PopCultureGeek/Flickr)
Bitcoin faucets
Bitcoin faucets are websites or apps that dispense rewards in the form of Bitcoin. Visitors can claim this reward in exchange for completing a captcha or task as described by the platform. The main revenue stream from this faucets comes from advertisements.
Back in 2009, Bitcoin faucets used to pay up to three Bitcoin per hour. With today’s Bitcoin prices, that would net around $19k. It’s important to note that back then the Bitcoin price was just a fraction of a cent. Nowadays, faucets pay rewards in “Satoshis,” which is a hundredth of a millionth Bitcoin.
Bounty campaigns
In the ICO space, a bounty program is an offer made by many startups which enables individuals to receive compensation for performing marketing tasks, reporting bugs or improving a product or service. Blockchain startups that plan to hold a crowdsale often allocate a certain percentage of their total tokens to such a campaign.
Bounties are mainly found on forums like Bitcointalk and bounty networks. There are rarely any barriers of entry at all and the only thing a bounty hunter needs to do in order to participate is submit a link to his work. This submission will then be checked by the admin of the campaign who will decide if the submission deserves a reward or not.
[Update: Bitcoin’s price passed $7,000 soon after 10:00 UTC, and has reached a record high of $7,034.14 so far today.]
Another day, another record…
Bitcoin prices have continued to climb overnight, building on
Bitcoin Price Chart (Image: NikonD300/MaxPixel)
consecutive highs in recent days and ultimately reaching a new all-time high close to $7,000.
At 07:00 UTC, bullish bitcoin trading saw the cryptocurrency soar to a peak of $6,994.01, having opened the session at $6,750. At press time, the price of a bitcoin is $6,939, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index – a 2.8 percent gain for the day so far.
As per CoinMarketCap, bitcoin is up over 20.56 percent for the last 7 days, and its market capitalization has now peaked at over $116 billion.
Bitcoin is gearing up for what could be the biggest (and least understood) change to its software to date.
Often called simply a “digital currency,” bitcoin is best viewed as a protocol (a set of code) that delivers data (in this case bitcoins) in defined quantities (called blocks) that are then stored in a sequence (called a blockchain) on a distributed set of global computers. Bitcoin is decentralized – in that many people help make the network function, and in choosing to run its software, users all agree to abide by the same rules to keep it operational.
It’s these qualities that make the proposed change particularly divisive.
Bitcoin Fork Pens (Image: BTC Keychain/Flickr)
Called Segwit2x, the plan calls for a very specific fork (or a change to bitcoin’s rules), one that would make certain rules valid that weren’t valid before. Specifically, Segwit2x would change the size of the blocks passed regularly around the network and stored in the blockchain from 1 MB to 2 MB.
Some users think this is a good idea, others don’t.
But to begin, it’s important to note how this fork differs from others. Coming on the heels of the bitcoin cash and bitcoin gold forks, bitcoin users might be accustomed to certain outcomes – ones that might not be guaranteed in the case of Segwit2x.
With bitcoin cash and bitcoin gold, for example, bitcoin users could have paid little to no attention and it wouldn’t have impacted their transactions. If you held bitcoin on certain exchanges (or your own wallet), you received new cryptocurrency.
This smooth outcome, however, isn’t guaranteed with Segwit2x. Complicating matters is that in many ways, Segwit2x sounds (and is) similar to other bitcoin forks.
The hard fork part of the New York Agreement is scheduled to take place within about two weeks.
This incompatible protocol rule change is set to increase Bitcoin’s block weight limit, to allow for more transactions on the network — if everyone adopts the change. Otherwise, it will create a new blockchain and currency that may or may not be considered to be “Bitcoin.”
Bitcoin split (Image: MaxPixel)
The list of signatories of this agreement includes several of the largest Bitcoin startups and mining pools that, together, claim to represent a majority of users and hash power. Yet, it is far from clear that this 2x part of SegWit2x proposal really has much support outside of these signatories. Most of Bitcoin’s development community, a significant number of other companies, some mining pools, user polls as well as futures markets suggest otherwise.
And now, a growing list of international Bitcoin communities is putting out public statements against the SegWit2x hard fork as well.
Despite its steadily increasing price, not to mention a growing acknowledgment from the financial mainstream, the technical roadmap for the cryptocurrency has never been so hotly contested.
After years of debate on the best path forward, a new code proposal called Segwit2x is set to put the cryptocurrency – the world’s largest by value – to the test. And while it boasts significant support from miners and businesses, it remains unclear whether the new code will change bitcoins’ rules, or if another new cryptocurrency will be created (one already being branded bitcoin2x by some).
Bitcoin fork pen and bitcoin keychains (Image: BTC Keychain/Flickr)
Quite simply, there’s never been a larger change to the platform, nor one that has been the subject of such criticism and scrutiny.
And it might not be all free money. As developers are keen to note, this is bleeding-edge science; in short, we’re in uncharted territory, and if past forks are any indication, decisions could lead to consequences – for users, investors and the market at large.
If you own a solar array you can claim free SolarCoins. To do so you will need the MCS Installation Certificate provided by your installer (or equivalent) in electronic form (e.g. PDF or JPG).
Click on the Login / Register button to get to the Log in page, then select the Create new account tab. There enter your Email address and your preferred Username, and click to enter the prompted security code.
SolarCoin Create New Account screen (Image: Bitcoin Investors UK)
You will then be sent an email to verify your email address – click the link in this email to activate your account. You will then be able specify a password on the site (as usual, I recommend creating a new one at PasswordsGenerator.net).
Login and you’ll see your My Account page. Click on the link to add a solar facility; this is also available as a menu item in the right sidebar – Add Solar Facility.
On the Create Solar Facility Registration page enter details as follows:
Facility identifier: this is just the name you want to give your solar array so you know what’s being referred to – it could just be ‘my solar’ or, if you have multiple systems, perhaps the property address and, say, ‘front roof’, ‘rear roof’, etc.
First Name, Last Name, Email address : these are self-explanatory. The Address is that of the property with the solar array.
Facility Nameplate Capacity: This is the power of the solar array in kW, and should be specified clearly on the Installation Certificate, typically as Declared Net Capacity. For most UK residential systems it will be between 2.0 and 4.0.
Facility Interconnection Date: This is the date the solar array started generating, and will be specified on the Installation Certificate.
Documentation: Press the Choose file button and navigate to and select your copy of the MCS Certificate, or equivalent supporting documentation. If you have an online system that monitors your solar array then you can also enter its website address here, but it’s not required.
SolarCoin Public Wallet Address: This is an address in your SolarCoin Wallet where you want your free SolarCoins to be deposited. To find it, start up the Wallet app, wait for it to synch, then press the Receive button.
Initially this will just show a single Address value – this is what you need so right-click it and select Copy Address. Go back to the SolarCoin website and Paste. Valid addresses begin with the number 8.
(NB: You can have as many receive addresses as you want, so if you have more than one solar array you can choose to press the New Address button and create more, one for each array. In this case you should also right-click in the Label column, select Edit and give each address a name to help identify it.)
Optional: Were you referred by someone to register with SolarCoin? (Click to open): Click on this to open it up – it would be appreciated if you could fill this in with my details. It won’t cost you anything and will earn me about 10p per referral.
Referral Resource Contact Email: Copy flipener@gmail.com and paste it there.
Referral Resource SolarCoin Public Wallet Address: Copy 8ccFy7EaMPziwwe2qH3SkfEtJB4k6qL9gt and paste it there.
The remaining entries can be completed or not as you wish. Click Save. Your solar array is now registered and you will have an entry in the right-hand sidebar under My Solar Facilities.
Bitcoin cash price caught a fresh bid wave today, reaching a nine-day high of $373.
At press time, the bitcoin cash-U.S. dollar (BCH/USD) exchange rate is trading at $346 levels. The relatively new cryptocurrency has gained 4.12 percent in the last 24 hours, as per CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin Cash (Image: M. Verch/Flickr)
Still, the cryptocurrency has been restricted to a narrow range around $330 in the last two weeks, with only occasional spikes above $350. Meanwhile, the downside was capped below $300 levels.
However, today’s price gains look sustainable as trading volumes are on the rise. Notably, the rally to $350 levels on Thursday was backed by a 54 percent boost in volume, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Once again, it seems gains are being fueled by a surge in South Korean trading – volumes on Bithumb (which offers a BCH/KRW pair) are up 42 percent.
The front page of The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday:
“Amazon Lures 238 Bids for its Second Home.”
It’s not a good thing that a single company can get the political leaders of so many American cities and states to scramble over each other to try to lure $5 billion in spending on some new buildings.
The story shows that Amazon’s influence over American urban life is far more than one company deserves: over tax policies, over city planning decisions, over the aesthetics and culture of our communities. Society’s interests lie in sustaining a dynamic, innovative and evolving economy, not one in which hegemonic companies have oversized sway over everyone’s decision-making.
The Rebuke of Adam and Eve by Domenichino (Image: Wikimedia)
This is the core problem of centralization in the internet age – a pet topic for those of us who believe the ideas behind blockchain technology can point us toward a better economic model.
Amazon is not alone, of course. But it’s in a very select group. An acronym has emerged to define the small club of digital behemoths to which it belongs: GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple).
Two other WSJ stories this past week bring home the distorting influence of two other members of that club. One was Christopher Mims’ column about Facebook’s “master algorithm,” which in determining what we see and read is literally dictating how we think. The other was about Google winning the quantum computing race, a prize that will afford the winner unimaginable competitive advantages in data-processing capabilities.
Meanwhile, with my iPhone 6’s screen cracked and its functionality deteriorated since I upgraded to iOS 11, I’m tempted to switch to a Samsung phone, but don’t want to lose all the data and connectivity that the Apple universe has locked me into. And I know that with the Android OS, I’d just be getting Google’s version of the same dependency anyway.
From $0 to $2,900 – and seemingly everywhere in between.
Bitcoin gold, a new fork of the bitcoin software, may not have been officially launched (or distributed to users), but that isn’t stopping the cryptocurrency markets from seeking to determine its potential value (or profiting from its eventual existence).
In an interesting twist on a typical distribution, a number of exchanges are now listing a token that represents a claim on the future delivery of bitcoin gold (in advance of it becoming available to all bitcoin users). Ahead of that event, however, traders are seeking to value the asset, which proposes an alternative to the difficulty of competing for rewards on bitcoin’s mining network.
Still, it’s safe to say there’s disagreement so far.
In interview, analysts expressed a reservation about bitcoin gold, both when speaking about its developer team, and when characterizing the protocol’s potential market opportunity.
Bitcoin has been touted as the currency for the people as its decentralized platform allows for its users to be free of the banking monopoly with their exorbitant fees and charges.
Crippling debt cycles and unbreakable lending policies which are not conducive to economic empowerment have long dogged society forcing the new generation to seek alternative; this is where Bitcoin has come in.
Open bank vault (Image: ahobbit/Pixabay)
Now, a man in Townsville, Australia, has become a proof of concept for the economic freedom Bitcoin can provide by paying off his mortgage and is funding the development of a new home through profits generated through investing in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin for business
Michael Sloggett first began trading in Bitcoin as a means to pay for overseas acquisitions of supplements for his Townsville supplements store.
But in January this year, he decided to make investments in the currency and the strategy has paid off with the value of the currency soaring from about $900 to $6,000 during that time.
“We paid off the mortgage and bought a block of land at Townsville out of the profits. We are now building a new home,” Sloggett said.
