One thing that has been discussed in the crypto industry since the beginning of 2020 is the Bitcoin halving that took place this year. Rumor has it that the halving will give rise to a wave of miners giving up on mining Bitcoin. Still, many crypto specialists believe that it is naïve to think that thousands of Bitcoin miners will just close down after halving, thus dragging the price of the crypto asset down.

Some crypto professionals predict that the BTC price will fall as a consequence of the halving, a once-every-four-years event that occurred on May 11, 2020. “Halving” refers to a 50% reduction in the amount of BTC miners receive as a reward for each mined block. It considerably reduces miners’ yields. The miners who are hit hardest by the halving and tend to close down when halving comes around are usually those who are carrying too much debt or are small-scale miners.

As one digital asset executive once noted:

“The third Bitcoin Halving is going to be the harshest of all we’ve faced. Operational expenses are about to increase to 14000 USD, which is a 70% rise comparing to the current prices. At the time of previous halving the price was 10% lower than the operational expenses with the Price & HR falling by 20%. It is as sure as never that we are going to face more than 30% of miners giving in.”

The general idea is that a big reduction in miners can cause a so-called death spiral. When miners give up mining, they still have many bitcoins at their disposal, which they are likely to sell soon on cryptocurrency exchanges. Those sales create an overwhelming supply of BTC and convince more and more miners to leave and start selling.

The halving can seem intimidating, but by taking a good, hard look, we can see many indicators that can save the day. These indicators are the three main reasons that will stop miners from surrendering:

1. Dropping electricity prices in China and a drop in energy demand all over the world due to state lockdowns

2. A reduction in production costs

3. Bitcoin mining simplifications

Miners keep on storing bitcoin, assuming that the price will go up after halving.

Lower Prices for Chinese Electricity and a Drop in Energy Demand Worldwide

Recent data shows that more than 60% of all the computer power used for Bitcoin mining is provided by China. Some provinces in China suffer wet seasons with a lot of rain, which allows China to produce electricity from hydropower energy. During the wet seasons, when the water levels rise, hydropower plants produce more energy than they need.

As the power supply of Chinese power productions increase, large miners and mining farms have the opportunity to negotiate favorable prices and discounts on electricity for the months ahead, thus cutting down on production costs.

The whole world is now locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and people are encouraged to stay home. Many production facilities are shut down, and thousands of middle-size plants and businesses have been closed for months. Therefore, the demand for electricity worldwide has decreased notably, making the main mining resource — electricity — a real bargain.

Cheap electricity, lower than ever oil prices, and the increasing amount of mining companies that are guaranteed to have the required amount of resources at their disposal all contribute significantly to a reduction in miner surrenders.

Volatile Currencies Resulting in Reduced Production Costs

Reduced values of state currencies may deeply affect local mining centers, such as the Russian ones, points out W. Gibbs, the chief executive officer of HASHR8.

Mining companies receive their total income in bitcoin, while all production costs are paid in the local currency. If money loses value and BTC price goes up, the mining companies have another source of additional income by economizing expenses as the local currency loses its price against bitcoin.

World politics and its influence on the crypto industry are rarely considered because crypto assets are not regulated and are decentralized, so the impact of the global economy is secondary. However, many current economic issues have created an environment for crypto to flourish. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that miners will start to give up their positions because of this year’s halving.

As Glibbs points out,

“Bitcoin Halving in 2020 may become the harshest we’ve seen, but it’s all a guesswork. No one has carried out a thorough study to discuss the present geopolitical or financial situation and the effect it may have on Bitcoin prices and mining.”

Managing the Complications of Bitcoin Mining

When the price of bitcoin drops, mining rewards decline due to the halving, and fewer are people mining bitcoin, the whole mining process dilemma instantly comes down to keeping a stable block interval.

Mining bitcoin is the process of adding transactions by using computer hardware and, thus, creating new coins and receiving rewards in the form of BTC. The system regularly monitors the level of proficiency and resources needed to mine every 2,106 blocks as the amount of computing resources rises or falls.

The system that regulates mining complications prevents a wave of miner surrenders because the mining process requires fewer expenses if the miners’ performance falls.

Three Factors That Will Prevent Miners from Surrendering after the Bitcoin Halving was originally published in DeBay Official on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A month ago, the world economy suffered a major downturn, which caused the price of bitcoin (BTC) to drop in the abrupt manner not seen for seven years. This drop sparked lively discussions, as some analysts expressed doubts about the potential of the token as an asset resistant to financial turbulence. For the most part, experts believe that the turmoil caused by the COVID-19 brought about the drop, with investors encouraged to liquidate their assets frantically. It was also suggested that the fault was not that of Bitcoin itself but the overall tendencies of the traditional financial market and the common pessimistic sentiment among investors.

This frenzy has had a devastating effect on exchanges. Trading leader BitMEX saw a record number of liquidations for the year, which caused the exchange to go offline for more than twenty minutes. In the meantime, it took only three days for the balance of Deribit’s BTC Insurance Fund to be cut in half.

Trying to analyze the reasons behind the crash can be fascinating, but we do not want to investigate that. Instead, it is much more important to initiate a discussion about the ways to improve the crypto market and reduce its exposure to similar events. There are several main points we want to draw attention to. Among other things, we want to point out what the exchanges can do on their part.

Crypto to Masses!

First, we need to educate ourselves within the crypto community and expand outsiders’ perspectives on crypto. When we speak of commodities, the volatility of price seems justified because it is rooted in the pattern of supply and demand, which in turn, is determined by the situation on the market and the world at large. But when we talk about cryptocurrencies, the reasons behind volatile prices are different. They lie in the fact that crypto is still not easily convertible to cash, and the culture we have created as investors is not a good fit for the new market. Watching larger fluctuations in prices may be a thrilling experience, but if our main desire is to resist economic turbulence, we need greater confidence in our statements about the worth and prospects of digital assets.

We may assume that the traditional financial system ¾ centralized and hierarchical ¾ triggered the latest crisis. When our current economic system starts to come apart at the seams, Bitcoin will be a lifesaver, just like Satoshi Nakamoto suggested.

Yet, it was not possible to completely avoid the frenzy. Additionally, the general inclusiveness of the asset is backfiring. We see striking contrasts among investors — some players have little understanding and no strategy at all. This situation also prevents us from arguing that the crypto market has matured enough. My point is that we need to cooperate in order to educate ourselves and others if we want to gain confidence as crypto advocates, and exchanges should play a major role here. Now, with Bitcoin showing bullish signs again, it is the perfect time to highlight the strengths of digital assets so that everyone can feel the need for change.

Exchanges Need More Updates

The second thing we need to do is improve the functionality and infrastructure of exchanges. Quality attracts traditional investors first and foremost. The efficiency of both order-matching systems and liquidation engines contributes to the speed and frequency of transactions and helps to avoid a backlog. Innovations in the perpetual contract market are also called for, and exchanges are increasingly allowing for settlements of crypto futures in Tether (USDT) instead of Bitcoin. This allowance helps reduce risks and avoid superfluous liquidations caused by high volatility. Furthermore, we need more innovative solutions to let experienced investors be independent of the insurance fund and have more command over their own risk exposure and strategies.

Market Strong

Finally, to build a strong crypto market, we should pay attention to not only where and how we trade but also the portfolio of assets that we can build. There are many crypto tokens to choose from, but it appears that actually creating a diversified portfolio is a demanding task because the prices of cryptocurrencies have the tendency to move in tandem. Stablecoins, which are pegged to fiat money and commodities, hold some promise here, but they have little potential for growth. What is much more promising is tokenizing commodities, which could become the main driver of crypto diversification. As soon as this problem is solved, the crypto market will attract more traders to invest in digital assets.

Final Words

We have yet to achieve a new economy where crypto will enjoy higher liquidity amid newly tokenized assets. The global digital asset market will bring in retail and institutional investors, further building its resilience. Now we have arrived at the climax of the global economic transformation process, and as the world is striving to cope with the economic meltdown, the crypto space cannot stand still either. The task now is to search for solutions that will help the crypto economy survive and thrive.

There Is Room for Improvement: Ways to Strengthen the Crypto Industry was originally published in DeBay Official on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A little while ago, scammers spread a malicious application that infected computers under the guise of being a COVID-19 coronavirus tracker. Today, they’re attacking Android devices as well.

Recently, the world has witnessed more and more cases of sextortion, a terrifying cybercrime in which blackmailers threaten to distribute users’ sensitive material if they don’t provide them with BTC.

Briefly, it works like this: The bad guy sends a victim an email stating that he has hacked her computer and got her password and access to all correspondence, contacts, and social media. What is more, he even hacked her webcam and recorded her visiting porn sites. To make it more convincing, the bad guy sets the victim’s email address as the sender, so she is more likely to believe that the computer was actually hacked.

The blackmailer threatens to send a secretly recorded video with embarrassing repercussions to the victim’s friends on social media. Just imagine an indecent video of you being sent to your boss, your friends, and your family. To ensure that this does not happen, the victim must send the equivalent of $500 to the bad guy’s Bitcoin wallet. That is scary, isn’t it?

This serious crime is gaining momentum. The security features provided by the owners of porn content no longer help people remain anonymous online. All user data can end up in the hands of cybercriminals.

How Is That Possible?

The good news is that there’s no such thing as an all-powerful virus. What is more, the embarrassing video doesn’t exist. But that begs the question, how does the malicious actor know your password? Quite simply, ransomware uses one of a great many databases on the darknet that contain accounts and passwords leaked from various internet services. Sorry to destroy your worldview, but such leaks are not new. In the United States alone, at least 163 million records were leaked in 2017.

When it comes to information about viewing adult videos, the perpetrator knows nothing about your activities. The same goes for the threat to share the video with your friends — the video doesn’t exist, so there is nothing to share. This message is a bulk mailing sent to thousands or tens of thousands of people, automatically substituting the recipient’s password from the database (or some other sensitive data) in the email. It would be sufficient for the fraudster if at least a couple of dozen victims agree to pay.

The thing is nobody wants to find out whether that compromising material really exists. Hence, most people prefer not to risk it and agree to just pay the BTC.

Who Is to Blame?

A recent study suggests that users’ personal data has long been exposed to the network through porn sites even when visitors turn to Incognito mode, even though this function implies that your browsing history and other data will remain unavailable to website owners who collect data for marketing or other purposes.

Experts scanned 22,484 adult websites and found that they were riddled with software algorithms (trackers) that the websites use to identify and collect information about their users. All the sites a user visited, links he clicked on, and the time he spent watching certain content are recorded. Among those who track personal data, researchers name biggies such as Google and Facebook.

According to the document, DoubleClick, a business owned by Google that makes it money from online advertisers and publishers, had its own web trackers on 74% of porn sites. Trackers from Oracle were found on 24% of such sites, and data analysis tools from Facebook (which, by the way, does not allow you to post pornography and erotic content on its platform) were found on another 10% of piquant sites.

You Can’t Be Too Careful

You never expect it to happen to you, right? The cold hard truth is that no one is safe. According to Cyber Security Agency, sextortion, sexting, and cyber extortion are standard practice for bad actors around the globe, and the number of cases has skyrocketed. What should we do?

For starters, don’t panic and don’t pay! Truth be told, hackers usually play on a basic instinct: shame. But their threats are without any basis whatsoever. Criminals may claim to have hacked a webcam and obtained incriminating pictures, videos, or evidence of viewed pornographic material, but we are happy to report that the security threats are not credible. Such fraudulent schemes work only because people, particularly young people, firmly believe in the collapse of their private lives. This belief allows individuals to assume someone may be spying on them or misrepresenting the data.

Here are some useful tips to help ensure your safety:

• Do not respond to extortionate emails. Otherwise, you prove that your email address is valid, resulting in a greater number of such “business proposals.”

• Do not click on suspicious links attached to such emails. You will not find any pleasant surprises there. In the best-case scenario, you will be snowed under with ads. In the worst case, it will download a virus onto your computer.

• If you still use the password sent in the extortionate email on some sites, change it immediately. Come up with something more secure. The best passwords are random and strong enough to thwart brute force or cyber-attacks. If you are afraid you will forget the new one, don’t worry. Use a password manager, such as Kaspersky Password Manager.

• Immediately follow tips or recommendations from banks. The easiest solution is to stop entering credit card details and phone numbers on unknown sites, especially if they have “juicy” videos. If you need to pay for products, software, and services, most banks offer a virtual card for safe online shopping. Another effective method to protect yourself is two-factor authentication.

• It wouldn’t hurt to have a reliable antivirus program. Security is first, last, and always.

New Cybercrime: A Big Rise in Victims with Tens of Thousands at Risk was originally published in DeBay Official on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Having spread across countries and continents, COVID-19 has led to global economic stagnation and resulted in trillions of dollars spent on coping with the crisis. This event turned out to be a good opportunity to resume the battle between the traditional financial system and cryptocurrencies. Against the backdrop of upcoming inflation, the latter was expected to experience a new rise as a safe-haven asset.

Surprisingly, the estimates proved to be far from accurate. In the last several weeks, the price of Bitcoin price was stuck hovering around $9,000, which threw many crypto analysts off balance. Bitcoin bulls will have to shift their sentiments if prices start to decline again — and there is a distinct possibility that that is what will happen.

This opinion is shared by The TIE, a leading cryptocurrency information-services platform. According to joint research by The TIE and the trading platform eToro, the effects of the pandemic concern the citizens of crypto town much more than the quadrennial reduction in the supply of the cryptocurrency and the associated price increase. Over the last few months, the publications about digital assets were much more likely to contain the word “coronavirus” than “halving” or “halvening.” The gold narrative is also making a comeback in crypto-related articles. The effect the pandemic is having on crypto-assets is unprecedented, and it can make us more aware of Bitcoin’s strengths and weaknesses.

The vision of Bitcoin as an inflation-resistant asset was promoted by its anonymous creator or creators, who functioned under the alias of Satoshi Nakamoto. One of the core ideas was that the restricted maximum number of tokens issued (in the case of Bitcoin, 21 million) would ensure that the currency cannot lose its inherent value. Inflation is a common occurrence with national currencies when money is increased through measures imposed by governments. Even the supply of gold does not have pre-determined limits. Thus, cryptocurrencies have immense potential as a new type of safe-haven asset — the ultimate one.

As the world struggles with the coronavirus crisis, the global financial system is not immune. The International Monetary Fund has estimated that the attempts to address the impact of the disease on economies will cost a total of $8 trillion spent by governments around the world. Central banks will resort to quantitative easing by purchasing longer-term securities from the open market to increase the money supply and encourage lending and investment. The measure was made popular during the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

This is the scenario that makes safe-haven assets with low volatility, such as gold, seem like an especially secure investment.

An increase in the monetary base does not reduce the value of hard assets, and Bitcoin was supposed to follow the same trend. In practice, however, the price charts are far from being synchronous. While the prices for gold steadily grew over the last month, Bitcoin suffered a quick fall preceded by a surge. As a result, Bitcoin returns are only half of their peak level of 2019, while gold has increased its value by 13%. Trading volumes are also at a low when Bitcoin bulls prefer to HODL (stick with the coins they already own because they believe that the halvening is coming, and they hope to make a profit soon), and others are unwilling to invest in tokens and skeptical of the halvening. Both parties have something to rationalize their sentiments, but the abundance of bearish bets in the options market suggests that Bitcoin will struggle to make it higher than $10,000, not to mention bolder speculations.

The halvening will not be able to conceal the devastating effects the coronavirus has had on the global economy and all types of assets. Bitcoin investors cannot stand aside and try to forecast the influence of such an environment on the token. Some believe that Bitcoin is too distinct to follow the decline in equity. Others bring up the fundamental mistakes made by state monetary systems (such as bailouts for industries suffering the most from the crisis) as the key reason to promote cryptocurrency as a stable and secure alternative. It seems like nothing can make them abandon the idea of a better crypto future.

There are more factors to keep in mind in the present circumstances. According to an analysis published by the Federal Reserve, the decline in demand amidst the pandemic was followed by a reduction in prices for services and goods. Despite increased spending and debt, the dollar has not lost its value and purchasing power. Thus, the national currency has turned out to be a safer investment than the fintech breakthrough — at least at this point.

World leaders are taking the first steps toward gradually reviving their economies, and major indicators are starting to grow. The price of Bitcoin is on the rise too, but we cannot have bullish talk until the token gains a firm foothold above $9,000. Only then will the halvening have the same effect as anticipated by Bitcoin holders and advocates. Keeping up may look like an easy job, but the ever-present pessimism and unemployment have the potential to undermine the crypto market.

UPD: The halving has happened, so now we have to keep an eye on BTC to see who was actually right!

Coronavirus Compels Bitcoiners to Take a Realistic Look at the Halvening was originally published in DeBay Official on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

All investors have investing guidelines and principles that they follow. Style, in a broad sense, is defined as the particular way in which something is done. Thus, investing style can be defined as the strategies you choose when making decisions about investing and building an investment portfolio. Looking at those strategies and the main phenomena present on the market is essential for every investor. Understanding investing styles may come in handy if you want to create a successful portfolio.

What Makes Up a Style

An investing style is comprised of several components. The fundamental one is risk tolerance — that is, the amount of volatility in your assets that you can tolerate. Some people have the same risk tolerance their whole life, but they are exceptions. As a rule, investors reduce their exposure to risk as they age because after retiring, they will not be able to compensate for investment losses during an economic decline.

The main manifestation risk tolerance is the way the investor allocates assets. There are several conventional approaches, such as the 60/40 portfolio, where 60% is allocated to equities, and 40% to bonds. The mix can be determined by a fund, a financial service provider, or the investor himself. Do-it-yourself investing provides more flexibility but requires investors to bear full responsibility for their strategies.

To create a properly diversified portfolio — that is, a portfolio with a mix that maximizes returns and minimizes risks — investors select sub-assets carefully. Sub-assets are categories with specific characteristics that are singled out within asset classes. Long-term research has shown that asset allocation, at both the comprehensive and granular levels, is a key factor in determining portfolio performance in general. Other factors, such as market timing, contribute much less to success over time. If you determine how much to invest in broad categories and sub-categories, you will minimize risk and generate a consistent return over time, even during periods of volatility.

Several investing styles can be identified based on what an investor is seeking. Value investing is predicated on the idea that a company’s stocks are undervalued on the market. This strategy is considered moderately low-risk and allows the investor to get high dividends from a company that is generally considered to have low-potential. To figure out whether a company is actually worth it, investors employ certain valuation coefficients. For example, the price-to-earnings ratio is the current share price of a company relative to its per-share earnings. This strategy is somewhat similar to income investing, which aims to maximize passive income by using a variety of dividend-paying safe stocks from large-cap companies with good balance sheets. Value investing helps to navigate through economic recessions and volatile equity environments without major losses.

Growth investing is a more aggressive style that can be regarded as essentially the opposite of value investing. Growth investors focus on stocks showing fast earning expansions and high profit expectations. The fundamental basis for such growth is a matter of low priority. This strategy can be successful in a booming economy with growing GDP numbers.

As it was mentioned earlier, diversification in a portfolio is a must if you want to reach optimal risk and return levels. We can categorize the content of a portfolio not only by asset class but also by sub-class. A portfolio mix can be represented graphically by boxes divided into quadrants. This model was popularized by the financial research firm Morningstar Inc and became known as the “style box” approach.

To plan your portfolio mix in accordance with the style box model, determine the equity or fixed-income security ratios first. Then draw a box for each type of asset and split each box further. The equity style box measures market capitalization on its vertical axis (large, medium, small), while the horizontal axis rates valuation (value, blend, growth) For fixed-income securities, the vertical axis is divided into three categories based on credit quality (high, medium, low), and the horizontal axis is divided based on maturity (short, intermediate, long). As a result, nine sub-categories are identified within each asset class. This setup is the basic model, but there can be more segments.

Equities: What Type to Choose

The main types of equities to choose from are single stocks and funds. A number of ratios are used to evaluate the risk, such as the beta coefficient (a ratio of the volatility in comparison to the market as a whole) and the Sharpe ratio (a measure of the return of an investment compared to its risk). Fixed income securities offer a stable income with low risks.

To evaluate the credit quality of a bond, you must check the fundamental characteristics of a company. However, this is not enough if the aim is to deal with bonds of different durations. Working with maturities requires more experience and understanding of the market environment.

By the way, the risk environment is another important factor to consider when managing assets. As interest rates grow, the prices for equities decline, and vice versa — they increase in the low-interest-rate environment.

Investing Styles

An investor’s trading tactics also have an effect on the overall investing style. High-frequency trading is characterized by high speeds, turnover, cancellation rates, and short-term investment horizons. Low-frequency trading involves aiming for a long-term perspective and taking time to decide which securities to invest in. Statistics show that high-frequency traders make far less profit than those who prefer the low-frequency approach.

A rebalancing schedule is another feature of investment style. You can choose an asset allocation strategy for yourself, but make sure that the mix remains stable. Rebalance it on a pre-determined basis to restore the original allocation. The experience of many investors indicates that sticking with your original balance over long periods of time rather than responding to short-term changes on the market is the most reasonable strategy.

By the way, if we identified equity as a small-cap value to start, that does not mean that it will remain there forever. The market environment and portfolio weights are constantly changing, and as we know, reduced portfolio diversification exposes it to more risk overall. That is why rearranging your assets regularly is a prerequisite for creating a portfolio with good performance.

To Sum Up

Investors have a variety of options when choosing their investment style. There are many factors and variables to take into account. Doing so ensures that a perfect strategy can be found for every investor.

Investing Style as a Component of Portfolio Management was originally published in DeBay Official on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The practical approval of cloud services, smart sensors, gadgets, smartphones, sensor networks, and digital twins has demonstrated the efficacy of Industry 4.0 information technologies and robotics. It’s worth mentioning that the information and cyberspace are giving high priority to the coronavirus issue, which has inevitably highlighted a wide range of cybersecurity problems with information systems at all levels, from personal to international.

The severity and urgency of the problems were pertinent precisely because of a synergistic effect, mainly determined by two factors:

• A renewed focus on the problem at the level of official media, which, in turn, led to a sharp rise in computer invasions based on social engineering techniques

• Quarantine and isolation measures that maximized up-to-date opportunities for remote work and have altered the established regimes of safe and stable system functioning on the internet

Additionally, there has been an increase in cyberattacks against health organizations, leaking the personal data of subjects under treatment, quarantine, or self-isolation; phishing attacks; financial fraud; and emails containing a malicious links or attachments. Online identity theft has skyrocketed in 2020.

In many respects, we were unprepared for all these changes. Such threats mean that it is critical to ensure the security of remote access to information system resources and infrastructure stability. The question is how can you protect your web privacy? There are a couple of things you need to know. Let’s get straight to business!

1. VPN

VPN is the name of the game. Utilizing the full potential of this innovative solution offers countless benefits. When it comes to privacy, security, and internet availability, nothing compares to a VPN.

If you browse social networks, read important emails, stream or download videos or other content, then a virtual private network will protect you from most threats when using public and private Wi-Fi networks. Today, people are more willing to share personal information online but are more anxious about cybersecurity. It’s no wonder hackers frequently steal personal and financial information.

The cold hard truth is that public authorities and internet service providers readily agreed to track your internet activity. We are not exaggerating; the situation is very difficult. After gathering personal information, they offer targeted ads, reduce internet speed, and sell your data to anyone.

With a VPN, all data your device sends and receives is encrypted, so you can rest assured that your sensitive data will remain hidden from prying eyes. The public bodies, ISPs, and hackers usually get information by intercepting network data. If the data is encrypted, they fail because they do not have access to the encryption key.

While ISPs do their best to limit the internet speed of certain devices to make a profit from users, VPNs aim for unlimited internet access so that users can watch, broadcast, or download content with minimal headaches. Every now and then, providers intentionally slow down the internet speed if users are getting a lot of traffic. When all the traffic is encrypted, ISPs do not know what data is transmitted over the VPN, so they are unable to prohibit something.

The fastest VPN offers amazing speed so nobody can tell a normal internet channel from a VPN. Accordingly, the speed will be fast enough to share sensitive data, as well as broadcast, download, or view content on the worldwide web.

2. Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

In contrast to standard identification, where entering a password and a username is enough, two-factor authentication when reading personal technical data involves further details. Simply put, this method allows you to protect your account based on two keys. Additional information includes technical data (phone number, code, key, passport, security token, smart card, USB key, disk) and personal data that only the user knows (a code-word or the answer to a secret question;

Two-factor verification is being used more and more widely and is considered very reliable. It is used by many of the world’s leading companies. If the user shares essential information on the web or stores it in cloud services, this type of protection is a must.

Biggies such as Apple, Twitter, Gmail, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Vkontakte, Yandex, Dropbox, Advcash (e-wallet), cryptocurrency exchanges, and many other sites include privacy-enhanced authentication systems. In some cases, sites require two-factor authentication.

Why do you need two-factor authentication? It allows you to securely to store technical data that is automatically requested by the internet or cloud systems. It is kind a roadblock for hackers. It eliminates password-has-been-compromised situations.

Two-factor authentication allows you to avoid spam attacks when entering personal or technical data even if someone already knows your password or username.

3. Secure Browser

Sorry to destroy your worldview, but your browser knows more about you than you think. Many top browsers collect information about their users’ activity. Collected from search queries, visited websites, read articles, and viewed videos, a digital user’s dossier includes personal data, interests, and even political affinities.

The ultimate goal of collecting all this data is to display relevant ads, news, and other “useful things” for a particular user. Many people are cool with that and even assume that it’s good. However, some do not really like that fact that someone is collecting and storing data about their behavior and habits.

The strong growth of cybercrime, paired with the violation of Internet users’ rights (including the tracking and use of personal data), has “blown the whistle” on online security. In 2020, the question of which browser is the most secure is more relevant than ever. As a tool for working on the internet, its reliability is facing increasing demands.

Brave is Mr. Popular among secure browsers. It is an open-source blockchain browser that prioritizes user privacy and blocks ads and trackers by default. It has end-to-end encryption and a built-in VPN/TOR client, it allows you to work with torrents and magnet links, and it supports decentralized applications. Furthermore, users get paid Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) to watch ads — the browser has an integrated crypto wallet that supports BAT.

The Basic Attention Token is not a no-name token that has topped the list of CoinMarketCap. This cryptocurrency has climbed to 30th place by market capitalization, it’s traded on all major exchanges, such as Binance, and it’s supported by all popular wallets, such as EXODUS. In December 2017, its rate was up to $0.86.

4. Strong Password

According to Keeper, the top-rated personal and business password manager, “987654321,” “qwerty,” “123456789,” and “11111111,” were believed to be the best bet among victims who have been hacked in 2020. Keeper collected the most common passwords and declared that more than 50% of people use them. Suffice it to say, giving one of these passwords a try is an easy way to hack someone’s email account, internet banking account, or cloud storage. There are already programs (bruteforce) that use the iterative method to substitute numbers and hack a five-digit password in a few seconds.

As a matter of importance, the password must consist of at least ten characters and contain letters (uppercase and lowercase), numbers, and punctuation marks. Don’t use spaces or the same character three times in a row. Symbols should not be formed into words or stable expressions (even if they are translated). Try not to use the same password twice or turn to security questions such as “In what town was your high school?”

Remembering complicated passwords is difficult, so use a password manager that will generate and remember them for you.

5. DApps

At present, the cryptocurrency world is rapidly evolving and maturing. In recent years, a huge number of altcoins have flooded the market, facilitated by the rapid advances in blockchain technology. With the groundbreaking technique, decentralized applications came into being. These apps belong to nobody can cannot be closed or stopped. It may have once sounded like a pipe dream, but this is our new reality.

To qualify as a decentralized application, an app must have these characteristics:

• Open-source code available to everyone

• Cryptographic algorithms (alternative to the blockchain)

• Crypto tokens or digital assets

• Algorithm or protocol tokens and a built-in consensus mechanism

The core benefits of this undeniably ingenious invention are the following:

• Decentralization: no censorship from a centralized server

• Privacy: transmitted data is usually encrypted

• Secure transactions: P2P communication

• Participation in the DApp network as the stock owner, developer, miner, bounty tester, etc.

Punch Line

The grand takeaway here? People tend to believe there is a secret formula to protect themselves online, but there isn’t. These common-sense tips can help you stay safe on the web. Good luck!

Best Ways to Avoid Getting Hurt by Malicious Cheaters was originally published in DeBay Official on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What started out as a simple event that halves the rate at which new BTC are created turned into a hotbed of conversation for the whole crypto world. It’s no wonder then that this phenomenon will affect the price trends of the first-ever digital coin. Historically, halving has put upward pressure on the BTC price, but this time you need to bear in mind a lot of variables.

The halving is scheduled for May 17th, 2020. This very special day will make the block reward drop from 12.5 to 6.25 BTC. Supply reduction will, in theory, lead to growing demand and, therefore, value. Needless to say, this cutting is initially embedded in the BTC code.

The third momentous occasion for the crypto community is very similar to the previous ones — both times the eventual result was meteoric price gains. Worth mentioning the growth began months before the actual event. In 2020, the halving will coincide with more people having access to the virtual currency, which makes the digital asset, even more, valuable.

Increasing Interest in BTC

If there’s a will, there’s a way, right? Well, getting access to virtual currency is easier than ever before. You can trade BTC through brokerage accounts with minimal headaches, and anyone who’s got the money can invest in institution-oriented trusts like Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, buy physically delivered Bitcoin futures on Bakkt, or even trade derivatives and ETN.

These relatively new tools mean only one thing: a rise in demand will simply spill over into higher prices. The reason: people decide en masse to buy BTC.

How Tough will the Halving Be?

Even though there are a great many ways to buy BTC, users are still skeptical about bullish forecasts for the halving.

A retrospective look at the price dynamics: there are several obvious differences between the upcoming halving and the previous two. Usually, the price flies up before this significant event and cause buyers invest in the asset.

Now there is a little over a month left until the halving and still, digital gold hardly rises above the resistance level keeping far from the highs of this year, set near $12,000. BTC is currently trading at the price $6,879 and has not left the channel of the downtrend.

The Halving is Here

And no, we’re not talking about BTC. Bitcoin Cash Halving (BCH) 2020 is believed to be one of the most important events this spring in the entire crypto industry. According to CoinMarketCap, BCH is in the top four virtual currencies by market capitalization. In this case, reducing miners’ reward by half will be from 12.5 to 6.25 BCH per block. On preliminary data, this event is scheduled for April 8, 2020, at the 210000 block.

More importantly, this digital asset has never been subjected to such procedures, since it came into existence in the summer of 2017 as a result of the Bitcoin fork.

For this reason, a slew of analysts are becoming more certain that as soon as the reward will be divided by 2, the majority of the miners would switch their devices to Bitcoin mining. After all, they work on the same algorithm, and the BTC block-halving event will occur about a month later.

According to XenaExchange, Bitcoin Cash is a dubious asset. It has nothing to do with BTC. As many analytics believe this coin to be completely manipulated, anything can be expected but fundamental growth.

Needless to say, it’s hard to find someone willing to lose profits. If this happens, the network’s hashrate will significantly decrease, and it will become vulnerable to a 51% attack.

Halving Prospects in Comparison with Litecoin

Getting back to the BCH price, in December of 2019, it has reached a certain local bottom in the area of $170 before bouncing right off this level and doubling afterward. It even broke the $400 mark in a single moment. Now the price is fixed at $262.61.

When it comes to LTC, last year, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies has already passed the halving. And now, consider this: for six months or so after that happened, the cost had skyrocketed from $25–30 to $145–150. That is actually almost five times. When the Litecoin Halvening was triggered, the hashrate and price began to fall rapidly and almost came back to the previous levels.

When it comes to altcoins, we still don’t have enough statistical information. However, the Litecoin halving was an example of how people started to purchase coins long before the event itself. Hence, market players could only observe the increasing volatility and the following drawdown. Based on history, the outlook for BCH growth seems to be more than enough. There might be some inconvenience, but no real hassle. And it is quite possible to see the price at $800–850 in several months, so long as the market sentiment is bullish. But that is only a theory. And even if the theory turned out to be true, this rise will probably disappear right after the event takes place. To buy or not to buy Bitcoin Cash? That’s still up to you.

Final Words

There’s nothing smart about predicting how different the BTC price would be after the halving. Face it: digital gold has tangible benefits and relies on changes in the global arena. BCH and BSV, in turn, remain ordinary altcoins piggybacking on the success of decentralized super-organisms. Thanks to the infrastructure for institutional investors and mainstream recognition, crypto enthusiasts feel differently about the coin with a stellar reputation. Today, recent global events have something to do with BTC dynamics, while BCH is traded as one of many alternative asset classes.

Stay tuned to DeBay!

BTC Halving 2020: A Blessing or a Curse? was originally published in DeBay Official on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Main Conclusions

• Bitcoin’s supply cap is known to be 21 million, but the figure is actually much lower.
• During the years of its existence, some Bitcoin has been wasted and eliminated for many reasons.
• Bitcoin ‘s famous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, is responsible for most BTC losses.
• The maximum possible supply of Bitcoins is believed to be 19.5 million, and the current amount of mined coins is 16.8 million.

Bitcoin’s scarce supply greatly influences its value. Bitcoin’s developer, known anonymously as Satoshi Nakamoto, created the system in such a way that the coin’s supply cap is set at 21 million. But how many coins are there really, given the fact that many were simply erased from the system forever?

How Bitcoins Disappear

The maximum supply of Bitcoins is said to be 21 million, but in reality, the maximum amount appears to be much lower.

When a person opens a bank account and later forgets the passcode, the bank manager can help reset them the passcode, and the money on the account won’t disappear. But it’s different with Bitcoin. If a user forgets the private key to access the wallet, the coins disappear and can’t ever be retrieved.

Banks control the accounts and funds, while the Bitcoin system is not controlled by an institution. Once the coins are lost, there is no way to bring them back. However, such losses can be avoided if the coins are deposited in an outside server — an exchange, for example.

Bitcoin was composed this way on purpose by its creator, a mysterious person or team that goes by the name Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto is thought to be the first Bitcoin’s miner and the one responsible for most lost coins.

When Bitcoin first emerged, it had no price or any valuable characteristics, such as the ability to be liquidly exchanged. Before it hit the world as the most popular crypto-asset, it was simply a game for amateurs. Normal people could easily mine Bitcoins on their regular personal computers. The system was immature, and many early users may have consciously erased their private keys, believing that the newly emerged currency would never become a successful venture, let alone skyrocket.

Defining Bitcoin’s Actual Supply

Of course, it would be interesting to know the real amount of lost Bitcoins. The question was addressed CoinMetrics, which specializes in crypto-asset statistics and overall crypto data. It completed a study to evaluate the total amount of lost bitcoins. To find an answer, the company launched a thorough investigation called “Unspent Transaction Outputs” to find out how many bitcoins have been inactive since July 2010.

The company found that 1.5 million bitcoins had been completely erased from the network, or “burned,” by November 2019. In crypto slang, “burned” means that the coins have been totally wasted and can never return to the coin’s circulation system.

The researchers defined the five major factors that shaped the figure.

First, the first 50 Bitcoins mined by its creator were not covered by the research. The first 50 coins were never real, despite the transaction that shows their mining.

Second, two types of similar electronic signatures exist that apply to four separate transactions when a miner obtains a block reward. For example, blocks 91722 and 91880 had the same signatures. The miner was supposed to receive rewards for the two blocks, but the reward coins for block 91722 were erased because it was the first of the two blocks. The same happened with blocks 91812 and 91842. These errors led to 100 bitcoins being erased.

Third, miners sometimes didn’t apply for rewards for their two blocks and the transaction fees. These occasions led to 20.5 BTC being burned.

Fourth, miners sometimes sent bitcoins to fake addresses. The website counterparty.io shows coins transferred to fake addresses have resulted in the destruction of no less than 2,214 BTC.

Finally, there are “zombies,” which are coins that have not been used for around a decade. These coins do not circulate on the Bitcoin network anymore and, therefore, are not included in the supply. BTC creator Satoshi Nakamoto mined 1.496 million BTC and has never used them. Not a single address belonging to Nakamoto has ever demonstrated any transactions.

The Actual Number of Bitcoins

We now know that the amount of lost bitcoins is 1.5 million, so we can determine the current supply volume with high certainty. The most BTC possible is 19.5 million, as opposed to the official cap of 21 million.

According to the data provided by CoinGecko, 18,294 BTC has already mined. Therefore, the amount of existing BTC is approximately 16.8 million.

Nevertheless, there are some more things to take into account. First, it is practically impossible to define the number of bitcoins burned in the last ten years. Second, scammers have managed to steal some bitcoins from exchanges, and these coins are usually “laying low” (are untouched), so it’s hard to determine their existence. However, during the PlusToken Ponzi scheme, stolen PlusTokens were traded via Huobi exchange, so the same may have happened for Bitcoin.

The research does not allow us to estimate the amount of lost BTC precisely, but it does provide the basis for defining the minimum amount of losses, as well as the maximum supply.

The Real Amount of Bitcoin: The Gap between the Capped and Real Quantity was originally published in DeBay Official on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

These stories share two things: a quick result and a few simple but successful actions. No wonder everyone enters the crypto market for the same reasons. The less money a person has, the faster he wants to get rich. However, this psychology often leads to fatal mistakes.

Let’s step back and briefly examine what we mean by the term “crypto winter.” To give you a very wide, non-generalized definition, it is something that traders and speculators are not happy with. This meme-style name stands for the longest bearish trend in the cryptocurrency market. Even though Bitcoin has fallen by 80% since December 2017, the market has repeatedly recovered from such falls. How can we survive BTC’s poor performance, and what will happen next?

Pre-History

At the end of 2017, BTC and a dizzying buffet of alternatives experienced meteoric price gains. In the most successful year for crypto, the BTC rate rose by 57% in just three months. This growth was the beginning of a crazy rally. As a result, BTV set a record high of $20,000 at the end of December 2017. At the beginning of that month, the asset’s price was almost half as much: $10,200.

Right after reaching the historic high, the digital gold began to decline sharply, and by the end of February, it was worth just $10,700. Despite such a roller coaster, the exchange rate of the coin increased by 5% over three winter months.

The toughest year for virtual currency was 2018. The market fell by $400 billion, so institutional investors and banks had nothing left but to suspend participation in crypto projects. That was when the main decline in the exchange rate took place. Many users lost interest in this industry, and a slew of companies were forced to close.

There were many reasons for the market collapse. The most popular one was that 99% of the cryptocurrency market consisted of speculators willing to earn money and leave crypto-land at the first negative sign. Therefore, nothing is surprising about this dynamic.

Winter 2019 was the single worst of the last three years. Legendary Wall Street trader and crypto enthusiast Mike Novogratz broke his silence and expressed his opinions about the future of BTC. According to the former Goldman Sachs partner, in the coming months, the king of crypto would be unlikely to change its trend and return to growth.

Novogratz shared his thoughts on Twitter. As he declared, the long silence regarding the crypto market was caused by a high probability that price would decrease. The expert firmly believed that over the next few months, the market wouldn’t turn “north.”

Even though Novogratz had painted a troubling picture of the future, it was not that bad. He simply reflected market developments. The head of a cryptocurrency bank was convinced that “institutional investors have always been inertial and required more time to enter” the potentially promising digital currency market.

Novogratz noted that the preparation of the market infrastructure was hidden, which would eventually lead major players to the industry. Novogratz hinted at the launch of the Bukkit platform, the start of the Fidelity Digital Asset Services, and the issuance of SEC permission for the Bitcoin-ETF VanEck/SolidX solution. The introduction of these products has been delayed, however, due to the recent government shutdown in the US.

What’s Next?

It is important to remember that the behavior of an asset in the past does not guarantee the same behavior in the future. Obviously, no one knows how the crypto market will develop. From the very beginning, many analysts and commentators claimed that virtual currency was a scam and hype. BTC buyers were believed to be daydreamers because digital gold was not supported by anything. It is still far from reality.

With all this in mind, the first question that pops comes to mind is how to avoid past mistakes. Observing the market and investors’ behavior, we have formulated some strategies to help you survive a crypto winter:

• When investing in internet cash, you need to start with a negative forecast. It’s crucial to understand that the risk of losing everything in the short run is a reality, not a lack of optimism or adventurism.
• Before you step into the crypto world, get rid of greed. Realize that the profits are not yours until you literally take them from the table. As long as the income is shown only on the display, you can’t count on receiving it or waiting for further growth. To minimize the risk, fix the profit partially. If growth happens, fix another part, and so on.
• “What project is the best to invest in?” is the most common and incorrectly posed question for many crypto enthusiasts. It forms the wrong approach — an attempt to invest in not only one cryptocurrency but “the best” one. As a result, the investment turns into a game of roulette. How can you avoid the “best ICO” error? Working with any financial instrument will help you.
• A competent investor does not look for the best asset but builds a portfolio. Some projects will fail, some will cease their activities, and the rest will gradually develop. Investing in an ICO should be regarded as a high-risk tool — a kind of startup. We initially took the statistics of the venture market as a base and assumed that only two or three out of ten ICOs would be successful. This approach allows you to manage your expectations and test out statistics.
• Follow the crowd. At first glance, the easiest and less risky way. The majority can’t be mistaken, right? The market is cyclical, and the world of crypto is no exception. In these cycles, the one who moves against the crowd will definitely get more. Buy scared, sell greedy — this is the key strategy in this space.

The Bottom Line

It’s great to be full of ambition, but great feats take time. There’s no way around it. The main thing is to understand that any investment is a risk. It is not about searching for one successful asset or instrument. It is ongoing hard work. Keep up to date with the latest crypto news, carry out risk assessments, and consult specialists. Eventually, you’ll get create a competent portfolio and strategy that takes into account the mistakes and achievements of investors in previous cycles.

Stay hungry, but be patient. Focus on the daily process of improving your knowledge, and the results will live up to your expectations.

Crypto Winter: Possible Mistakes to Avoid was originally published in DeBay Official on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Mining Equipment

While earlier miners could use their regular PCs when competing for blocks, that isn’t possible anymore. Bitcoin mining has become much more difficult than before.

One of the main targets of the Bitcoin network is to generate one block every 10 minutes to provide continuous processes and operations and validate transactions. But when one hundred mining rigs are working on a hash issue, they will solve it quicker than five rigs that are trying to solve the same issue. That’s why the difficulty of the computational problem is updated every 2,016 blocks to control the rate at which blocks are generated.

When a large number of computers are working on Bitcoin mining at the same time, the difficulty level rises to keep block production at a stable rate. The opposite is also true — if fewer computers are working on mining problems, the difficulty level declines.

To understand how this situation has changed with time, we will show you the numbers. In 2009, the year of Bitcoin’s launch, the primary difficulty level was one. Now it is higher than thirteen trillion.

That is why miners started using much powerful hardware, such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The price of an ASIC can run as high as $10,000. A graphics processing unit (GPU) is much cheaper, which is why some prefer to buy those.

Bitcoin Mining

It’s not easy to figure out all the details of Bitcoin mining. This example explains the hash problem in an easy way: I think of a number between one to 50 and tell my colleagues about it. However, instead of telling them to guess the right number, I tell them to name a number that is equal to or less than the number I’m thinking of. One important detail: there are no limitations on the number of guesses.

Let’s say I choose number 25. Colleague A chooses number 31, so he loses because 31 is greater than 25. Colleague B chooses 21, and Colleague C chooses 18. Therefore, they both came to acceptable answers because 21 and 18 are both less than 25. Even though Colleague B is the closest to the right number, he doesn’t receive any benefit. The winner would be whoever chose first.

But what if I pick a 64-digit hexadecimal number and ask billions of people to guess? In such a case, there is little chance that one of them will pick an acceptable number. Also, in cases when both people answer at exactly the same time, this “Explain It Like I’m Five” analogy doesn’t work.

When we are talking about Bitcoin, such situations happen very often, but there can be only one winner. In such cases, the miner who has validated the most transactions will be rewarded by a simple majority, which is 51%. Other miners who solved the problem as well but validated fewer transactions will receive nothing.

Now, let’s talk about 64-digit hexadecimal numbers. Let’s look at an example:

0397601803C22E220509810703BDE2300460EA80322F000CF50ABD0226F27009

It consists of 64 digits, both numbers and letters. You may ask why. Let’s figure out it together by analyzing the word “hexadecimal.”

The first part of the word, “hex,” comes from Greek and means “six.” The second part of the word, “decimal,” is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers from 0 to 9 and means base 10. This word comes from the Greek word “deca,” which means 10.

If we combine these two words, we get the word “hexadecimal,” which means base 16. However, because our numerical system consists only of 10 numbers (0–9), six letters need to be added (a, b, c, d, e, f) to total 16.

Remember that in Bitcoin mining, there is no need to compute the total value of that 64-digit number or the hash.

Why We Need 64-Digit Hexadecimal Numbers for Bitcoin Mining

Let’s go back to my earlier example of my colleagues trying to guess the number I was thinking of. In the Bitcoin mining world, there is a special term for such a number: a target hash. Using their massive equipment, miners try to guess at the target hash. They generate a lot of “nonces” as quickly as possible.

What is “nonce”? The word itself stands for “number only used once.” It’s a 32-bit number that is much smaller than the hash. The person who generates a hash first (using the nonce) that is equivalent to or less than the target hash will receive an award for completing that block, as well as 12.5 BTC.

How to Guess the Target Hash

The target hash always starts with a minimum of eight zeros. This number may reach up to 63 zeros. What is more, the minimum target doesn’t exist, but we know the maximum one, which was established by the Bitcoin Protocol and can’t be bigger than this number:

00000000bbbb0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

How to Increase Your Chances to Be the First?

To make everything possible, the miner needs to get a fast-mining rig. The other and more realistic option is to join a mining pool, which is a dedicated server that is used to distribute tasks for Bitcoin mining. Each participant receives a “share” when the group comes up with the proof of work to show that they have successfully solved a problem.

Joining a mining pool is one of the best options because it’s very hard to work on your own; the difficulty level of the recent blocks is more than thirteen trillion right now. The chances of guessing and coming to a correct solution are extremely small.

Huge and pricey equipment does not mean everything in terms of solving a hash problem. Electrical power mining rigs play a huge role, as well.

Summarizing all we said above, individual mining is quite unfavorable in today’s conditions.

What Are Coin Mining Pools?

Miners receive tokens when they solve a problem first. The possibility that a person will do that is proportional to the network’s mining power. Those who don’t have powerful computers have a little chance of finding the next block.

One mining card that would deliver less than 0.001% of the mining power on the network can cost thousands. Not every miner can afford such purchases. That’s why it takes a lot of time to find the next block.

How can this problem be solved? The answer is mining pools.

Mining pools have effective control over third-party hashes and guide miners. A mining pool’s payout scheme determines how the reward will be distributed among the pool’s contributors, so even from the very first day, miners can receive a constant flow of Bitcoin.

Other Ways to Profit from Cryptocurrencies

As we said at the beginning of the article, if you want to buy cryptocurrency, you can use exchanges. However, there is one other way: invest in the corporations that produce hardware for Bitcoin mining, such as those that make ASICs or GPUs. That’s how you can reduce the risks, but you need to have a lot of capital to make an investment.

Stay tuned to DeBay!

What Is Bitcoin Mining: Part 2 was originally published in DeBay Official on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.