Cryptocurrency- Bitcoin, Litecoin

Hey - blockchain & smart contract engineer here.

If you're worried about speed of transactions and cost of transactions. Ethereum is the way to go. Bitcoin is so slow, and it costs so much to send something that still takes 10 minutes to receive. Where as, with Ethereum, I sent $XXk worth in 15 seconds and only paid 20 cents to do so. You can't send a transaction that fast with Bitcoin.

Now, there is no paper trail. But that transaction is noted on the public ledger for the LIFE of the blockchain, and even long after if anyone node (10s of thousands of them!) have it backed up.

Your wallet address (your public address that's noted on the transaction) is not tied to you in any way, shape, or form. Unless you make it so. Or if someone finds out that's your public address. Then you have the beginnings of an electronic trail. You'd still have to prove who the other person was, and what the exchange was for. Good luck proving those...

There is a solution! zk-snarks! This is implemented 1st in ZCash, another cryptocurrency, and Ethereum now has this ability too! What's a zk-snark? Simple put, it's a super badass algorithm that allows you to verify the transaction without knowing the inputs of said transaction. Blew my mind when I first read the theory around it. This allows fully anonymous, non-traceable transactions to occur on the blockchain's ledger.

I have a 1st row seat on how blockchain and crypto (they are separate things!) are changing the world. It's awesome to watch and be apart.

If you have any more questions, need help getting setup, or anything else related to this topic... feel free to reply below to PM me.

Wow I hadn't heard of zk-snark. That is really cool.

Ethereum is a platform that is capable of creating “smart contracts” between two parties, it is not a currency at all. Ether is the currency used within the Ethereum platform.

Litecoin is a currency and is often billed as the silver to bitcoin’s gold. Litecoin has been around since 2011 and was one of the first digital assets available. Way faster than bitcoin.

NEO will be the next one to pop. It is a carbon copy of Ethereum with a few genius upgrades, and it’s target market is China. You can earn passive income just by holding the NEO coin.

Bitcoin is cool because it was the first, but it’s technologically inferior to everything else.

How many times has bitcoin been hacked??

Zero. Bitcoin can not be hacked or manipulated.

However if you choose to keep your bitcoin/crypto on an exchange, the exchange itself can be hacked and your bitcoin stolen.

I think Bitcoin is not the one you would want to use since transactions sometimes take several minutes.

I would use litecoin. First you get yourself a wallet. The one I prefer is EXODUS. that way you can have a place where it is sent to . But you would also have to be on a site like coinbase so that you can turn the crypto into dollars.

I agree, Litecoin is the one to use. Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum are the only three you can buy on Coinbase.

Don't get use a wallet off of a website.

Get a hardware wallet. Trezor, Ledger S Nano, Digital Bitbox, etc...

You don't want your private keys sent over the wire. Minimize the risk of your wallet getting attacked.

With other decentralized technologies, that play aside or in with blockchain, that are in development...it won't be long before websites such as eccie can exist completely decentralized and can never be censored or taken down.

Ethereum's smart contracts (or another's as other blockchain/cryptos have smart contract abilities, but not all!) can represent a provider's profile with her data hashed & stored on IPFS or encrypted with her public key so you know it's really her and not some fake. This can go along with a rating system, payment system, and a scheduling system that's pretty much all automated.

Client prepaid an appointment and cancelled with the 24 hour notice. Full refund. Client cancelled 2 hours before? Refund - 10% cancellation fee or whatever the provider and client agreed to.

Since there is no money to carry or to exchange in person. No more scams or robberies. Lowering the risk of clients/providers getting ripped off.
DON'T CARRY YOUR H/W WALLET WITH YOU! (it's still password protected, so it's safe. Unless they get your password)

The possibilities are endless.

BTC - gold
LTC - silver
ETH - black gold

NEO - sure... but it's a Chinese targeted platform. I'd hold it for only speculative reasons. It's a clone of Ethereum, as mentioned before. Most of the developers are on Ethereum vs NEO.

Cat lover, it looks like you have a pretty good grasp on this! Thanks for the info!

I will be in Houston Saturday morning and we can try this with Litecoin. Any providers have a wallet set up or want to set one up and give this a try, let me know.

Thanks!

I will be in Houston Saturday morning and we can try this with Litecoin. Any providers have a wallet set up or want to set one up and give this a try, let me know.

Thanks!

The finite algorithm/ ledger concept that's democratized rather than centralized blows my mind the more I read about it. I can't wait until these platforms absorb so much currency that it starts to force major companies to start transacting with it more and more.

Cat lover, it looks like you have a pretty good grasp on this! Thanks for the info! Originally Posted by david1978

Agreed thanks for the info

Don't get use a wallet off of a website.

Get a hardware wallet. Trezor, Ledger S Nano, Digital Bitbox, etc...
Originally Posted by catlover26

Is there a particular hardware wallet you would recommend?

All cryptocurrency is essentially trustworthy, as it is backed by mathematical proof/algorithms. What determines the value are the users of the currency, which is why I believe users are going to naturally gravitate to currencies with faster transaction times. Originally Posted by CurvyKatie

so i can trade my bitcoins in for a mathematical algorithm as collateral? wow, sign me up..