Cryptocurrency virgins; This might be the coin for you! Yes, seriously :)
Why I write about Gulden (why should you care):
I'm writing this blog as I notice that even my most financially conservative friends start asking more and more about cryptocurrencies and whether they should invest.
Though I'm a avid believer of cryptocurrencies and see their value I find it very difficult to tell them to just throw their money at some coins with the risk of them losing everything. On the other hand I also don't want to steal their chance at making a nice profit during this so called "21st century gold rush" that is unfolding within the crypto universe.
As I am a supporter of Gulden ($NLG) with a fair understanding of what is currently going on with this project I’ve decided to write this blog for my friends and perhaps others that want to get in on this chance while also decreasing their risk while investing in this exciting market.
Let it be said that even though Gulden is a heck of a lot easier and safer to use; In the end it’s still an investment and those come with risks. Take note!
Current issues with cryptocurrency:
- People don't understand it
- Steep learning curve (if you can even find the right information)
- High risks of having your money turn into vapour over night
These are concerns not to be taken lightly! Even as a more experienced believer in cryptocurrency I find it obvious that the current market is not friendly to newcomers and they have a huge risk of losing what they invested in crypto.
I believe that Gulden currently has conquered point 1 & 2 and they are currently working hard on mitigating the 3rd point with both a blockchain upgrade called "POW2" and 2 upcoming EUR/NLG exchanges. More about that later!
What is Gulden:
Gulden is an alternative cryptocurrency which was founded in The Netherlands on April 8th 2014. It was originally called Guldencoin. In October 2015 the word “coin” was dropped and the name Gulden remained as the new and final name.
The focus of the Gulden project is a safe and fast decentralised blockchain that is easy to use for sending or receiving payments with as little effort or cost possible. There is no such thing as a leader or central authority and you are 100% responsible for your own management of your Guldens (money!). This can have pro’s and con’s though Gulden minimizes the risks greatly.
More about the project:
The founder of Gulden is Rijk Plasman and the main developer of the project is called Malcolm MacLeod. Both guys have proven to be trustworthy and are easily reached through the official channels or the Gulden (slack) community. I would urge you not to bother Malcolm too much as his time would be better spent developing than chatting ;-).
Gulden has a development fund (a so called pre-mine) which is used to pay for development (well duh) and other expenses that you could imagine for a project of this scale. The Gulden team is quite transparent about this fact and you can monitor the funds here 1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8. The money will also be used for the expenses of marketing/pr when the project has reached that stage. (It might look like much but Gulden is a marathon, not a sprint)
Interesting links:
github.com/gulden
developer.gulden.com
guldenchain.com
gulden.com/pow2*
*I write more about POW2 further up in the blog.
A couple technical details:
Don't worry if you don't get it, you don't need to =)
Algorithm: scrypt PoW DELTA
Transaction confirmations: 6
Total coins: 1680M
Pre-mine reserved for development, marketing and funding of community projects: 170M (10%)
Starting diff: 0.00244
Block reward: 100 G
Block time: 150 seconds
Gulden Shares:
It is possible to help the team supercharge the development by buying so called Gulden Shares. These shares help the team to reach their development goals (as found on the development roadmap) faster. In return you receive a healthy yearly return of 12% on top of your investment from the team.
Gulden wallet(s):
At the time of writing Gulden has released a wallet for Mac, Linux, Windows, Android and IOS. Download a Gulden wallet here =)
WHATEVER YOU DO; TAKE CARE TO SAVE YOUR PASSPHRASE!
DUE TO THE DECENTRALISED NATURE OF THE BLOCKCHAIN YOU WILL HAVE NO MORE ACCESS TO YOUR GULDENS IF YOU HAVE A DEVICE FAILURE AND HAVE NOT SAVED YOUR PASSPHRASE. WRITE IT DOWN!
Buying Gulden:
There are currently a couple of (legitimate) suppliers that allow you to purchase Guldens with a wide array of payment options.
www.nocks.co
Nocks is one of the most easy, fast and secure ways to acquire your Guldens.
You can either use their website or purchase Guldens through the apps.
www.guldentrader.com
Guldentrader is a great website if you want to buy or sell €1/€250. The website is ran by Rogier who is a long time Gulden community member.
www.litebit.eu
Litebit allows you to purchase or sell straight from the market at a 10% premium on your order. Careful; This means when you sell you dump.
www.anycoindirect.eu
A typical multi coin online webshop. I have very little experience with them.
www.bittrex.com
The premier exchange that Gulden currently trades on. CAREFUL: Trading on an exchange is a sure way to lose money without proper experience!
Changelly
Lastly I would like to do a shoutout to www.changelly.com for allowing the purchase of Guldens via Credit Card for United States citizens! =)
But there are more places! I've seen it, I googled…:
I am aware that you’ll likely find more places that sell Gulden; I highly recommend that you DO NOT purchase them if I haven’t mentioned the site. It might sound promising, you might believe you have a better deal BUT there is a reason I haven't named them! They have a bad trackrecord and there are cases known where you would not be able to gain access to your coins or worse. Please.Just.Don't.Do.It
Community:
I wouldn't be talking about Gulden if it didn't also have a great community. Hundreds of active members work alone or in groups every day via slack, email, whatsapp or other means of communication in order to get the word out about Gulden.
Much could be said about these projects though I think highlighting a couple great ones will get the point across better.
Gulden Dashboard:
A super handy app that helps you track your $/€ value of your Guldens.
Download for IOS / Download for Android
Gulden.help:
A website which tries to answer ALL questions related to Gulden in both English & Dutch.
GuldenBites:
A website dedicated to news and developments surrounding Gulden which is available in Dutch, English & German.
There are much much much more community projects available (or being worked on) but I would encourage you to come and find out about yourself at the most important place for the Gulden community;
Slack is THE community platform for Gulden and allows you to join the community in discussing projects, helping with the marketing or discussing Gulden in general. Join here!
Some more Gulden links:
- Twitter: twitter.com/gulden
- Facebook: facebook.com/gulden
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/groups/8536796
- Instagram: instagram.com/guldennlg (unofficial)
Gulden forward; What can be expected?:
Several things are currently brewing and should be reason enough to acquire some Gulden before they are released.
POW2 / Gulden blockchain upgrade:
POW2 is the next step in the evolution of the Gulden blockchain. You can read all about it in the white paper but a couple of exciting innovations are;
- Earning Guldens with your Guldens
- Faster transactions
- Incredibly scalability
Direct EURO to Gulden (NLG) exchanges:
While I'm writing this there are two parties working hard on a mid-summer release of their new exchanges which will make it possible for anyone to trade directly with euro's to buy and sell Guldens rather than first having to purchase Bitcoins.
Nocks.co: Will launch their exchange around July
Guldentrader.com: Will launch in Q4 of 2017
Until these exchanges launch you'll either have to purchase through bittrex (exchange) or one of the before mentioned Gulden suppliers.
Guldentrader is currently still having their initial shares offering (ISO) which enables you to buy shares for the upcoming exchange.
My expectations:
The future of Gulden is broad and very hard to explain in just one blog post.
In short I can say that I believe that somewhere in 2018 we'll reach a tipping point after which adoption will go viral at which point both the users / price will grow at an accelerated rate unlike seen before with $NLG.
Nobody knows for sure what the price of Gulden will be though it could be said that when Gulden reaches €1,- it would have attracted such a large user base that it wouldn’t be strange to speculate that prices far above would be easily attainable. Weirder things have happened in the crypto space! =)
