Bitcoin’s transactions are resistant to being stopped (censored) but they are open for all to see.

This is a problem for everyone, not just those doing illegal transactions. Companies don’t want their financial dealings made public, campaigners in oppressive regimes don’t want their transactions tracked by the state and average members of the public don’t want their savings open for all to see.

Furthermore, even if you don’t mind people seeing what you are spending, what if someone that once held your coins did something that your government doesn’t like? If a coin can be traced back to all its previous users, companies could be forced to refuse coins based on their previous owners’ actions.

Privacy Coins

The solution is privacy coins. These coins obfuscate the true source of transactions. They aim to offer the privacy that people thought Bitcoin offered.

Two prominent examples of these are Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC).

Monero uses a technology called Cryptonote. This uses what are known as ring signatures which basically moves the coin in such a way that it is hard to work out where the transaction originated.

Although Monero offers a high level of privacy, because the mixed transactions are still visible publicly there remains a risk that transactions could be decoded at some later stage.

ZCash has a better privacy technology known as zk-SNARKs. This allows transactions to be sent that do not reveal most of the data about the amounts or parties involved. However, Zcash does not require all transactions to be done via its privacy technology. This means that only a small number of users do so. Because the number of private users is small, this means the potential for privacy to be broken is increased.

Pirate Chain

PIRATE (ARRR) uses the same technology as Zcash but requires its use on all transactions (other than the first transaction when it is initially created i.e. mined). This gives it the highest degree of privacy available.

The project’s website explains it like this:

Written in the code of Pirate Chain is a vast treasure chest (pun intended) of cryptocurrency firsts, along with a secure way to prevent hostile attacks on the chain and keep user’s transaction data private. Pirate Chain does not leak any transaction meta data, allowing every transaction to stay private. Proof of this is given on the block explorer (the place where you can see the transactions that occur. All cryptocurrencies have one). When you view the block explorer, you will notice that transactions occur, but the addresses they are sent from are not there, the addresses they are sent to are not there, and the amount transacted is not shown, only the transaction fee. This is one of many proofs that show users that their data is safe and private.

Mining Pirate Chain works very similarly to how Bitcoin mining works (which was talked about in Part II of this series). The key difference between them is that Pirate Chain mining is private, not allowing anyone to see how much was mined per address on the block explorer. This allows users to feel confident that whether they are transacting with others, mining or purchasing things, no data is compromised. Nobody is able to see how much you have in your wallet or trace anything back to you. Simply put, it works exactly how privacy should work, what’s your is yours and not visible to anyone but you.

Pirate Chain – The Ultimate Privacy Coin

Pirate Chain is currently a small project ranking 299 on Coin Market Cap. But the fundamentals of this project make it one to watch! It seems likely to me that we will see this project doing rather well and many early investors could make a healthy return. On the other hand this project may not do well despite the fundamentals, as is the case with many crypto projects.

What you do with this information is entirely up to you. This is not financial advice.

The source said:

My understanding is that they are going to allow buys and sells of crypto directly from PayPal and Venmo…They are going to have some sort of a built-in wallet functionality so you can store it there.”

It is worth noting that PayPal has been hiring for it’s Blockchain Research Group this year, so it seems likely that they will be making a move in this area.

If the “industry source” is correct this could be a huge step towards mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. At the very least, having cryptocurrency available to users of such a large payment platform would be a huge step for retail adoption.

Bitcoin was always intended for retail, rather than institutional adoption, as a means of freeing people from the financial system. While all adoption of cryptocurrency is positive, this type of mass market access is therefore particularly exciting if proven to be true.

Although PayPal has not commented about this issue directly. PayPal Chief Technology Officer Sri Shivananda has told CoinDesk that:

“We are a strong believer in the potential of blockchain. The digitization of currency is only a matter of when not if…”

With the potential for a financial depression on the horizon Bitcoin may be well placed to succeed. As discussed in a previous article in this blog about the history of Bitcoin, Bitcoin came out of the 2008 financial crisis and it’s first block even contained a message referencing this fact.

Additionally, with moves towards a cashless society on the cards, cryptocurrencies offer an option that cannot be censored by the Government or the Banks.

Whatever happens with PayPal, it looks like it is going to be a exciting time for Bitcoin.

As previously discussed in this blog, currency printing drives down each units relative value. However, due to the current down turn in the economy the negative impacts of the addition of new currency may not immediately be felt.

Longer term though, this, combined with low interest rates is bad news for savers. The inflation caused by this move will mean that the purchasing power of your bank balance will shrink faster than normal. There are ways in which you can mitigate this risk which we will discuss later in this article.

Deflation Before Inflation

It is likely that we will see asset prices drop considerably some time in the short to medium term before we see the type of uncontrolled inflation some are predicting. This is because we are coming to a peak in a bull market and many assets are already overvalued.

A good example of this is Hertz which was able to convince speculators to buy new shares while it was filing for bankruptcy. The company has since suspended the sale following discussions with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It is likely that this deflationary period will create many buying opportunities for the right assets. However, some companies with weaker fundamentals may not survive the downturn. It may also be a good time to start a business with the likes of Airbnb, CNN and Uber all being started during economic downturns.

Limited Supply

Precious metals and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have limited supplies and therefore may be used as a store of value to protect against excessive money printing.

Bitcoin was created at a time of economic crisis partly for this very reason. A message was added to the first Bitcoin block about this exact subject, you can read more about that in an earlier blog post.

UK Property

With a limited amount of space and a growing population the long-term prospects for property in the UK look good. That said, areas like London which appear to be reaching a peak in valuations are likely to take a hit. Areas like Peterborough, Hull, Sheffield, Burnley and many others look more promising.

During any deflationary period demand for HMOs is likely to increase due to downsizing and family breakdown. This coupled with the increasing number of Councils implementing Article 4 (requiring planning permission to convert a residential house into an HMO) is likely to increase the value of licenced HMOs in time. Of course, this is dependant on area and where property is already overvalued decreases in price are likely to be seen.

Protecting Against Inflation

You can also protect against inflation by ensuring that your money earns enough interest to be able to withstand the loss in purchasing power. Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to do this with a savings account at a bank. However there are options such as peer-to-peer, cryptocurrency-backed and private lending. You can learn more about them in the blog post entitled Beat The Banks – Earn 8%+ PA On Your Savings!

It was once possible to mine Bitcoin directly from your laptop or PC’s CPU/GPU. As competition has heated up in the Bitcoin mining space it is now no longer viable to do so. Today, Bitcoin mining is done by computers specifically designed for the purpose. But you can still earn Bitcoin from your computer via mining. Honeyminer allows you to mine an easier to mine cryptocurrency and then they exchange it for Bitcoin for you!

What Will I Earn?

The way the program works is it runs in the background mining a cryptocurrency like Monero using your computer’s CPU or GPU. It then converts it to Bitcoin for you. If you have a new computer with a good GPU you will earn more than if you have an older laptop and can only use your CPU.

Either way though, you won’t earn a ton of money. It’s more about being part of the process of mining cryptocurrencies than earning a lot of money. If Bitcoin goes up in value as much as it has done in the past however, the small amount of money you make could become a large sum one day.

Are there fees?

Honeyminer is free to use. But they do take some of the mined currency in fees. At the time of writing it is 8% for 1 GPU and for 2 GPUs or more the fee is 2.5%. When you withdraw funds you will also need to pay Bitcoin’s network fee, this is not charged by Honeyminer but is the fee charged to transact on the Bitcoin network. The network fee is deducted from your withdrawal. Also remember that extra use of your computers CPU/GPU will mean that you use more electricity.

Honeyminer Referral Code

If you use a Honeyminer Referral Code when signing up you will get a small amount of Bitcoin fore free (1,000 Satoshis). Using a referral code also helps the person that refers you. You can try and find someone you know with a referral code or use mine. My referral code is 5c3dq to get 1,000 Satoshis free. Click here to use it.

Are the better options than Honeyminer?

If you are technically inclined you may prefer to mine various cryptocurrencies yourself as part of a pool. You would then be in control of when or if you convert them to Bitcoin. You may be able to earn more and pay a lower fee this way as well. But if you are a beginner, Honeyminer offers an easy way to get involved. If you are looking to make a fortune, this isn’t for you. If you want to get a little Bitcoin and be part of the fun of the cryptocurrency revolution, why not give it a go?

In this series of articles I will be taking complex subjects and simplifying them. These are subjects that are impactful enough that everyone needs to know something about them, even if they don’t want to learn the complex details. You don’t need to know exactly how electricity works, but you do need to know how to switch on a light!

In this article we are going to look at DeFi…

What is Decentralised Finance?

Bitcoin is decentralised money. DeFi is the rest of the financial system decentralised. If you haven’t read my article on Bitcoin yet, I would advice reading that first.

DeFi allows people to interact financially without there needing to be a bank or other third-party acting as a middleman. It does this via computer code called smart contracts which are shared across computers all over the world via blockchains. Think of this as similar to how the internet is not controlled by any specific entity.

There are blockchains that are not set up for these smart contracts such as Bitcoin and ones that are such as Ethereum.

What are the current applications of DeFi?

There are many applications of this technology. Here are three interesting examples:

1. Loans

With Bitcoin it is possible to send and receive transactions. With DeFi it is possible to do more complex things such as lend and borrow money safely without any middleman. This is achieved by the smart contract taking the borrowers cryptocurrency as collateral. The lender can then be assured that they will be paid back. Lending your cryptocurrency in this way is becoming an increasingly popular way for investors to earn interest on their holdings.

Projects offering this service include Compound and Dharma.

2. Automated Crypto Swapping

Rather than investors trusting their cryptocurrency with an exchange when wanting to move their money from one cryptocurrency to another, DeFi allows tokens to be swapped via a smart contract.

A current example of this is Uniswap which allows cryptocurrency tokens to be swapped without the need to send them to an exchange.

3. No Lose Lottery

PoolTogether allows users to pool their cryptocurrency which is then lent out via a smart contract. The interest from the loan is then collected and send to one lucky winner each month. Everyone gets their initial deposits back in full. While lotteries are normally not a sensible place to put your money, one where the ticket price is returned to you is certainly a lot less risky!

What does the future hold for Decentralised Finance?

DeFi is extremely new so it is hard to tell exactly how it will be used in the future. That said, it has the potential to change the world. When there is no longer a need for middlemen in the financial industry a world of choice normally reserved for the wealthy will open up to ordinary people.

Increased access to the financial world will mean more choice and more competition, leading to better products and better prices. DeFi is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

In this article we are going to look at Bitcoin…

Bitcoin’s History:

In the beginning there was the internet. The internet allowed people to share information with each other freely. The internet was decentralised, meaning that no one entity controlled it. It was simply computers (servers) connected to one another. Even in the early days, people predicted there would be a currency for the internet. But there was a problem. Things on the internet could easily be copied and shared over and over again. This was a problem for something like a currency. If people could create endless copies of the currency, that currency would be worthless.

For a long time, the only way to run a currency on the internet was to have a company (centralised third-party) to keep a check on who had what amount. This required that the company be trusted and the company also had to comply with the various money transmission laws in each location it operated in. For an internet currency to really take off it needed to be decentralised, like the internet itself.

An anonymous developer using the name Satoshi Nakamoto eventually found a solution. Blockchain. Blockchain allows transactions to be stored on computers all across the world without any central entity to run it. This is the technology Bitcoin runs on. Like the internet itself, Bitcoin doesn’t need a company to control it. It therefore means that anyone can send any amount of Bitcoin to anyone else anywhere in the world. It is almost impossible for governments to censor it without taking draconian actions like shutting down the web.

Why Is Bitcoin Useful?

There are many reasons why Bitcoin is useful but here are the two main ones:

1. Uncensorable.

It is almost impossible to censor Bitcoin. You can pay someone with it in another country which doesn’t have PayPal. You can transfer large sums of money without playing 20 questions with your bank. If you live in a nation with an oppressive government, or fear that one day your nation’s government could become oppressive, you can escape with all your Bitcoin stored with a code on a bit of paper or even just in your head (if you have a good memory).

2. Limited supply.

Bitcoin has a limited supply. This is why Bitcoin has become popular as an investment. Government-issued currency (fiat currency), like pounds and dollars, is continually printed. The supply of currency grows over time causing the value of your savings to go down. For more information about why printing currency causes inflation, see this article on fiat currency. There will only ever be 21 million bitcoins ever created. This is written into the code. This means as the demand for Bitcoin rises so does the price.

I hope this has helped you understand a little bit about why Bitcoin is so popular. Keep checking back for more in the ‘OVERSIMPLIFIED’ series to learn more about complex topics put in simple terms.

Bitcoin came out of the 2008 financial crisis and the choice of headline was, seemingly, no accident.

Although no one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto really is, his writings reveal a little about his feelings on the financial system. For example, in one forum post he said of banks:

“Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve. We have to trust them with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts. Their massive overhead costs make micropayments impossible.”

Bitcoin open source implementation of P2P currency 2009-02-11 22:27:00 UTC

In another forum post he talks about central banking saying:

“The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust.”

Bitcoin open source implementation of P2P currency 2009-02-11 22:27:00 UTC

Bitcoin, it appears, was created as an alternative to the fiat currency system of continuous currency printing. With a fixed supply, Bitcoin comes into existence in reducing amounts over time until it reaches 21 million coins. Then it stops. It is in sharp contrast to Government created currency like dollars and pounds which seem to be printed at greater amounts over time and have no fixed cap.

Satoshi and the community of coders around him leaned heavily libertarian. He said of Bitcoin in an email:

“It’s very attractive to the libertarian viewpoint if we can explain it properly. I’m better with code than with words though.”

Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper 2008-11-14 18:55:35 UTC

The libertarian world-view very much blames the central banks currency printing for the boom and bust cycles of depression and expansion we see today. Hence the importance to Nakamoto of the headline “[c]hancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”.

Since the creation of Bitcoin, until recently, we have been in a boom period. But Bitcoin was created as an alternative currency which really comes into its own in the busts. In busts, central banks tend to go into massive currency printing drives, thereby reducing the value of their currency. This is a perfect environment for a currency with a limited supply such as Bitcoin.

As a number of factors were coming to a head, the COVID-19 crisis occurred, almost certainly bringing a new long-term bust cycle into being. This will be a test for Bitcoin. Will it act as a store of value that protects people from massive money printing as Satoshi Nakamoto cryptically predicted? Will Bitcoin be the foremost asset of the coming collapse?

Bitcoin has done very well in the boom cycle. It has risen out of nowhere to become a household name, traded on futures exchanges and discussed by global governments. Its limited supply should allow it to prosper during the bust cycle too. But perhaps in a recession people will prefer more familiar assets with less perceived risk. That’s why this Time’s headline is so important, it represents a key question about Bitcoin and the future of finance: will Bitcoin thrive, as it is meant to, during a financial crisis?

It’s a question I suspect we will soon have an answer to.

You can check out Measuring Worth for a cool (scary) calculator that shows you how currency loses value over time.

The good news is there are ways to get inflation beating interest rates. Each method has it’s pros and cons and we will look at 3 of the best options.

#1. Cryptocurrency Lending

Don’t worry, you don’t have to buy any Bitcoin for this one. There are companies that lend out cash to businesses secured by their cryptocurrency holdings. They require fiat currency (pounds, dollars, etc) to lend out to these businesses. If you lend these businesses your cash you can earn 8% on your money. A company called Nexo will accept your Pounds and Euros, while Blockfi will accept your dollars.

If you are interested in cryptocurrency at all then the good thing about Blockfi is they offer the option to have your interest paid in Bitcoin or Ether! This is a great way to get your feet wet in crypto without having to buy any directly.

The potential risks with this method is the fact that unlike a bank your money is not backed by deposit protection schemes. Do your research into any company you invest with and understand their risk management strategies to keep your money safe.

#2. Peer-To-Peer Lending

Peer-to-peer lending is where you loan money to businesses seeking finance. There are a number of platforms in the UK that you can use to lend out your cash. It is possible to earn around 8-10% on your money with this option. Most platforms require you to select which loans to fund and in what amounts (though there are automated options as well).

The potential risk with this option is that the businesses default on their loans. You can mitigate this by diversifying the businesses you lend to and ensuring you only lend a small portion of your savings to each. You should also remember that it is not usually possible to withdraw your capital during the term of the loan so make sure to only invest your long-term savings.

#3. Lending To Property Investors

If you have savings of £100,000 or more you could consider lending to a property investor. Often, investors need cash to purchase properties that they will refurbish and refinance. You can lend at 8-12% (or sometimes more) and have your loan secured against the property. The investor will normally refinance the property in 6-18 months and return your interest and capital. If they can’t refinance for any reason they will keep paying you the agreed interest rate until they can pay back your capital.

The potential risk with this method is that the investor defaults on the loan. You can mitigate the risk by securing the loan against the property and ensuring the loan-to-value (the amount you lend compared to the market value of the property) isn’t too high.

Remember...

Always do your research before parting with your cash. Be careful and understand the risks associated with any investment.