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The Bitcoin Cash Halving Countdown – 50% Less Block Reward in 4 Days

04/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network will face a halving in four days and many BCH proponents are getting ready for the big day. Unfortunately, the covid-19 outbreak has overshadowed the halving and BCH has dropped in value by roughly 30% since the end of February.

Also Read: Bitcoin Halving Will Drop Inflation Rate Lower Than Central Banks’ 2% Target Reference

Bitcoin Cash Will Experience a Halving in 4 Days – Block Rewards to Drop by 50%

BCH supporters are getting ready for the big halving day, at least the best they can since most of the world has been stuck at home due to the coronavirus. So far, roughly 87.4% of the 21 million BCH available are in circulation and there’s around 18,366,500 BCH at the time of publication. Every four years, the BCH network sees a reward halving as the system’s rules are meant to make the issuance rate harder.

The Bitcoin Cash halving will take place in four days on or around Passover, April 8. Typically, there’s about 1,800 BCH mined per day, which gives the chain an inflation rate of 3.6%. Bitcoin cash miners finding a block on the BCH network today get approximately 12.5 BCH, but after the halving they will only get 6.25 coins.

The Bitcoin Cash network’s drop in issuance will change the inflation rate to an estimated 1.8% per annum. The mathematical and probable monetary system is a stark contrast to the unpredictable monetary system that the world’s central banks provide. Central banks, like the Federal Reserve, claim to keep the inflation rate at 2%, but reports from shadowstats.com note that the real U.S. rate could be as high as 10%. No one knows how bad the inflation rate will get now that central banks worldwide have started creating trillions in fiat currencies out of thin air.

The Fed’s schemes are completely different from the issuance rate Satoshi Nakamoto designed and the 1.8% per annum inflation rate for BCH will continue to get better. For instance, by the end of 2024, it is estimated that the BCH inflation rate will be around 1.1% and it will drop to 0.9% the very next year. By the end of 2028, around 20.5 million BCH should be mined by then and the inflation rate is expected to be about 0.5%.

Four days before the halving, there’s around 3.63 exahash per second (EH/s) mining the Bitcoin Cash chain. On Friday, there are 10 different mining pools hashing away at the BCH chain. This includes operations like Antpool, Viabtc, Bitcoin.com, Btc.top, P2pool, Huobi, Poolin, Mining-Dutch, Btc.com, and Prohashing. Antpool captures the most hashpower on April 3, with 32% of the overall hashrate, while 6.5% of the hashrate is mined by stealth miners.

Miners have about 8,500 coins left to mine and there are about 680 blocks left until the halving. BCH difficulty is around 486,638,039,618 and mining profitability between BTC and BCH has been less volatile lately. At the time of writing, it is 1.6% more profitable to mine the BTC blockchain and BTC miners face a halving in 39 days.

Interesting Times Ahead

BCH fans are excited about the upcoming halving and a number of proponents discussed the subject two days ago, when there were six days left until the halving. Electron Cash developer Calin Culianu (Nilac the grim) said that he hopes things work out for the best. “Lord help us make it through these all-around crazy times better than we were entering into them,” Culianu wrote. “Interesting times ahead indeed,” Reddit user Jackandjill22 responded. The following day, Poolin executive Alejandro De La Torre tweeted:

Only five days to go for the bitcoin cash halving. This is an event to monitor, might be indicative of what’s to come with the bitcoin halving.

With the covid-19 outbreak, it’s likely that there won’t be any Bitcoin Cash halving parties come April 8. Most people will be monitoring the BCH reward reduction from home and they will surely be watching the price and the hashrate after the halving kicks in. If you are interested in reading about specific halving countdown websites for every Bitcoin branch reward reduction, then check out this article on the subject.

What do you think about the upcoming BCH halving? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post The Bitcoin Cash Halving Countdown – 50% Less Block Reward in 4 Days appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Latest Bitcoin.com Wallet Release Features Live Charts and Price Tracking

30/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

This week, our developers rolled out the latest version of the lightning-fast, noncustodial Bitcoin.com Wallet. The new version now comes with live price graphs so crypto enthusiasts can follow crypto price changes in real-time. Moreover, the wallet software also features price tracking so you can monitor your favorite digital asset’s price changes as well.

Also read: ‘Bull Run May Not Come Immediately After Bitcoin Halving,’ Says Bitmain’s Jihan Wu

Bitcoin.com Wallet Features Live Price Graphs and Price Tracking Abilities

Ever since our developers launched the Bitcoin.com Wallet, they continuously improve the software with every release. During the second week of March, the software surpassed 10 million wallets created and Bitcoin.com also redesigned the wallet’s look. The Bitcoin.com Wallet has always been packed with features and gives users access to our many services like Bitcoin.com’s Games and the ability to instantly purchase BTC or BCH. Not too long ago Bitcoin.com engineers also added the ability to store Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) tokens as well.

The latest Bitcoin.com Wallet release improves the network status connection alongside minor stability fixes as well. Furthermore, Bitcoin.com Wallet users can check their transaction history in order to get the best-estimated fiat rate at the time of the transaction. The Bitcoin.com Wallet’s new version now includes live price graphs so crypto market prices can be monitored in real-time. At Bitcoin.com we want to make it easier for you to track your favorite digital currencies at any time. There’s also price tracking abilities so people can track cryptocurrency price changes (midnight, 24h, 7d, 30d).

The Bitcoin.com Wallet Aims to Spread Economic Freedom Far and Wide

Bitcoin.com’s noncustodial wallet also provides users with Instant Pay, an exclusive feature that lets users auto-pay instantly with bitcoin cash (BCH). The feature outperforms traditional wallet settings because the user presets a threshold amount that can be sent instantly. Bitcoin.com has always strived to be the leading destination for all your bitcoin needs and our lightning-fast wallet is the perfect example. Because the Bitcoin.com Wallet is noncustodial, it provides a secure solution for acquiring crypto instead of storing BCH or BTC on an exchange. Exchange breaches have been prevalent within the cryptocurrency industry for years and 2019 saw a number of big exchange hacks.

Over 10 million wallets created is a significant milestone for us, but it’s also just the start. Bitcoin.com hopes to provide wallets, tools, and educational resources to everyone all across the globe. The user-friendly Bitcoin.com Wallet is pushing that goal towards the next level as cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cash (BCH) show enormous potential toward giving worldwide citizens access to economic freedom. Whoever and wherever you are, Bitcoin is for you.

What do you think about the new Bitcoin.com Wallet app? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Bitcoin Cash IFP Debate: ABC Kicks Off Fundraiser, 3 Mining Pools Signal BCHN Support

15/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

During the first week of March, there were prominent discussions concerning the recently announced infrastructure funding proposal (IFP). However, a number of crypto participants are focused on the market carnage and the possibility of a global recession. After the new full node project published plans for the upcoming upgrade, Btc.top founder Jiang Zhuoer revealed his hashrate would vote against the proposal. Two days later, the full node project Bitcoin ABC announced intentions to raise funds in order to sustain operations for one year. Currently, the Bitcoin Cash Node project has 41 public nodes and three public mining pools have been signaling support for the new full node.

Also Read: Bitcoin Cash Node Reveals Upgrade Plans for May and Difficulty Algorithm Research

Jiang Zhuoer Pledges to Use Personal Hashrate to Vote Against IFP and Bitcoin ABC Launches 2020 Business Plan Fundraising

Recently, IFP discussions have taken a back seat due to the coronavirus outbreak and the possibility of an economic recession. During our last report, news.Bitcoin.com covered the Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN) project publishing its intentions for the upcoming upgrade and future goals.

Following the update from BCHN developers, Btc.top founder Jiang Zhuoer talked about the IFP with the BCH community in China during an ask-me-anything (AMA) event. Crypto reporter Cindy Wang explained that Zhuoer said he would “use his personal hashrate to vote no in case somebody wants to activate IFP.” Following Zhuoer’s commentary, Bitcoin ABC published a blog post two days later. The announcement detailed the team’s plans to raise funds for a year of operation.

“Bitcoin ABC is proud to announce we’re kicking off our 2020 Business Plan Fundraising Drive this month,” the post published on the read.cash blog notes. “We are raising funds to sustain our operations for one year at a level that permits us to make important progress on the Bitcoin Cash roadmap.”

Three Mining Pools Signal Support for BCHN

Soon after the ABC fundraising drive announcement, Bitcoin.com’s mining pool mined the first block showing support for BCHN. So far, three mining pools have shown support for the BCHN which implies disagreement with activating the IFP. The three mining pools are pool.Bitcoin.com, Asicseer, and SBI Crypto. Coin.dance statistics on March 15 show that there are 41 public nodes running BCHN today.

Bitcoin ABC is still the dominant node with 723 public nodes running and Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) has 684 nodes. It’s also worth noting that BCHD has around 23 nodes on March 15. Coin.dance also displays a bar graph that shows a proposal activation spotlight. “1,344 blocks (67%) in the current 2016-block signaling period are required for the infrastructure funding plan lock in,” the Coin.dance website notes. There are 421 blocks left for the signaling period, and 0% of the BCH hashrate has shown support for IFP to date according to Coin.dance. BCH supporters can also watch blocks in real-time on the website bitcoincash.network.

BCHN Publishes Maintainer Report, While BCH Supporters Debate the IFP Topic on Reddit

On March 14, the BCHN team published a “lead maintainer report” which details what the developers have been working on lately. The BCHN developers said that block signaling has shown increased support for BCHN. The maintainer report also disclosed that the programmers have seen 141 BCH sent to their donation address. No funds have been spent yet “except for an initial expenditure shortly after setting it up.” Since the BCHN project started, engineers have raised 51 issues, closed 18, raised 100 merge requests and merged 86 of them. BCHN programmers have also been in contact with other client team developers such as Bitcoin Unlimited in regard to certain feature implementations.

The BCHN node’s lead maintainer Freetrader also noted during the end of the report that he had entered a pull request on Github to revert the IFP merger on the bitcoincash.org Github repo. According to the developer, “the discussion was subsequently locked and closed by the maintainer(s).” “Additionally, I found out via automated email notification that my Github account (ftrader) had been removed from the Bitcoin Cash organization on March 3, again by parties unknown and unwilling to acknowledge their responsibility,” Freetrader said. Freetrader underscored that the treatment of the BCHN project and other concerns will encourage himself and others to disregard the IFP and “not consider it as part of the May 2020 upgrade.”

On Sunday, BCH supporters have been discussing the IFP again on the Reddit forum r/btc. One post in particular talks about Bitcoin ABC not removing the IFP code from the upcoming 0.21.2 release on Github. “You can verify for yourselves – they are not removing the IFP ‘feature’ which no-one wants,” disclosed the Reddit user ‘lovelyday.’ “I actually think it is better leaving the code in instead of having a false sense of security while the code can still be run out there,” one person replied. The post is filled with debate and people’s opinions of the situation if IFP remains within the 0.21.2 codebase.

As the upgrade approaches, the IFP conversation will likely intensify. The Bitcoin Cash network upgrades every six months and the next consensus change is scheduled to activate on May 15, 2020. While the IFP discussions continue to unfold, our newsdesk will be there every step of the way to keep our readers informed.

What do you think about the recent discussions revolving around the IFP subject? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.

Feel like you missed something with this story? Check out the prior articles about the Bitcoin Cash Infrastructure Funding Proposal (IFP) debate below.

Bitcoin Cash Node Reveals Upgrade Plans for May and Difficulty Algorithm Research
Bitcoin Cash Miners Plan $6M Development Fund by Leveraging Block Rewards
BCH Community Leaders Bitcoin.com and Jonald Fyookball Clarify Positions on Funding Proposal
Heated Debate Continues Over Bitcoin Cash Infrastructure Funding Plan
Jiang Zhuoer Restructures Development Funding Proposal for Bitcoin Cash
5% of Block Rewards – Bitcoin ABC Will Add Infrastructure Funding Plan in Next Release
BCH Funding Debate: Btc.top Founder Suggests 2/3 Hash Vote and 6-Month Evaluation
Voluntary Financing: Bitcoin Cash Devs Reveal Noncustodial Funding App Flipstarter
Flipstarter Reveals Eatbch and BCH Development Funding Goals – Blog Post Receives $2k in Tips
BCH Funding Debate: Developers Plan to Launch IFP-Free Version of Bitcoin ABC
BCH Funding Debate: Amaury Séchet Responds to IFP Questions, Noting Contention in the West
‘A Drop-in Replacement for ABC’ – BCH Devs Release Bitcoin Cash Node Software

Image credits: Shutterstock, Coin.dance, Btc.top, bitcoincash.network, read.cash, Fair Use, and Pixabay.

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Newly-Launched Bitcoin.com Lottery Unlocks Global Lotteries Through Cryptocurrency Payments

09/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

Use BCH or BTC to Play Power Ball, Mega Millions and Other Global Jackpots With Bitcoin.com Lottery

Following the recent partnership between Bitcoin.com and Bravio Technologies Limited, the Bitcoin.com Lottery platform has officially launched. It lets users play the most popular global lotteries from any location. Tickets can be purchased using either bitcoin cash (BCH) or bitcoin core (BTC) as payment methods.

Also Read: Bitcoin.com Partners with Canadian Gaming Giant Bravio Tech on Global Lotteries

Use BCH or BTC to Play Power Ball, Mega Millions and Other Global Jackpots With Bitcoin.com Lottery

Traditional lottery platforms limited users in many ways. Tickets could only be bought within the country users were located and, in addition, users were further restricted by having to pay for those tickets with the country’s local currency. To enter and claim winnings on the U.S. Power Ball, for instance, a user had to be located in the United States and could only buy a ticket with U.S. dollars.

The launch of Bitcoin.com Lottery changes that. For the first time ever, users can enter global lotteries from any country. The platform acts as a booking engine, locally purchasing tickets through official lottery agents on users’ behalf. Furthermore, the Bitcoin.com Lottery platform is also the first to let users buy lottery tickets with cryptocurrency.

“Over recent years we’ve seen a shift in the way lottery tickets are sold, with increasing numbers of people buying them online. However, the limitations of location have remained. You still have to be based in a country to play a lottery there,” explains Bitcoin.com CEO Stefan Rust. “We’ve solved that problem by building a seamless global lottery platform. No matter where you’re based, you can log in and play the world’s leading lotteries.”

Powered by blockchain technology, the platform supports BCH and BTC payments for over ten global lotteries. All users need to purchase tickets through the platform is a suitable wallet app, such as the Bitcoin.com Wallet, and an account on the Bitcoin.com Lottery. After selecting a lottery and numbers, the user proceeds to pay using their wallet app.

Once the payment is made, a select team of local distributors working with the platform will then purchase the tickets, and a scanned copy will appear in the user’s account shortly after. The Bitcoin.com Lottery platform will also notify users should they have any form of winnings to collect, with an in-house customer support team available to help at any time.

Growing Adoption for Bitcoin Cash in Internet Gaming Industry

Bitcoin.com Lottery arose from the partnership between cryptocurrency service provider Bitcoin.com and Canadian internet gaming corporation Bravio Technologies Limited in 2019. The platform was developed by Bravio, a B2B Management Services company that specializes in the design and development of igaming technology.

Paul Carroll, CEO of Bravio Technologies, commented on the landmark launch: “We’ve unveiled a world first. It’s only a matter of time now before we see more igaming companies adopt Bitcoin Cash as a form of mainstream payments and, as a pioneer in this new digital age, the Bitcoin.com Lottery platform is just the beginning.”

Together with Bitcoin.com’s expertise in building on blockchain technology, the partnership has resulted in the creation of a seamless, user-friendly global lottery platform that removes limitations. In the future, the platform will be further developed with plans to let users anonymously cash out winnings directly into their wallets.

Bitcoin.com Lottery currently supports over ten world-famous lotteries. These include the U.S. Power Ball and Mega Millions, the Euro Millions, and the hugely popular €2.24 billion jackpot Loteria de Navidad. Users can get started on the platform by creating a free account.

What do you think about the ability to win lotteries around the world using bitcoin cash? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Cryptocurrency Airdrops and Giveaways: What They Are and What’s Next

05/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

There are a number of ways people can obtain cryptocurrencies and one of them is through airdrops, a type of distribution where creators send free coins to numerous crypto wallet addresses in order to drive adoption. Airdrops have been leveraged for years and token distributors believe that it’s a great way to disburse coins fairly and to raise awareness. New airdrops are announced nearly every month that allow people to obtain free digital tokens.

Also read: $65M Investment Fuels Natural Gas Provider’s ‘Behind-the-Meter’ Bitcoin Mining Operation

The Crypto Airdrop Defined

In the world of cryptocurrency, “airdrop” defines a type of crypto distribution where free coins are sent to multiple digital wallets. Sometimes people have to engage in community building efforts like retweeting a project or completing a survey in order to gain the tokens. The idea is to distribute airdropped assets so people become aware of the tokens as they are dispersed far and wide. Some airdrops that have been released over the years have gone from zero to gathering real-world value when measured in other digital currencies like BTC, BCH, or ETH.

The First Airdrop and Leveraging Established Networks

One of the oldest and most popular airdrops in history was auroracoin (AUR) which was meant to be a cryptocurrency designated for Iceland’s citizens. The term “airdrop” started floating around the crypto scene when the creators of auroracoin announced the issuance period that started March 25, 2014. Icelandic residents with a permanent resident ID could register on the website to receive 31.8 AUR which at the time was worth $385. Today each AUR is only worth $0.07 per coin and that initial airdrop dubbed the “cryptocurrency for Iceland” would only be worth $2.17.

After AUR, many other famous airdrops followed the distribution scheme, giving away cryptos for free. Furthermore, projects that launched and established themselves years prior have airdropped coins as well. Decred airdropped 258,000 DCR in 2016 and in 2017 Stellar (XLM) gave away 19% of their total token supply to people who owned BTC. A number of airdrop projects use the concept of attempting to leverage an existing and established network effect of users from other blockchains.

Creating Your Own Airdrop

More recently, initial coin offering (ICO) projects and token application creators have leveraged airdrops in order to establish themselves within the cryptoconomy. Airdrops have been fueled by established projects with token standards operating on networks like Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash. Since the inception of the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) token standard, airdrops have become part of the BCH community. Now people can randomly airdrop SLP tokens to numerous public BCH addresses any time they want.

For instance, individuals and organizations can leverage Bitcoin.com’s SLP Dividend Calculator to airdrop SLP tokens to a valid token ID. In order to use the platform, simply visit the tool’s webpage and enter the token ID of the SLP coin you wish to airdrop. After that, you will need to enter the receiver’s SLP token ID, the total number of SLP tokens to airdrop (dividend payment), and then build the transaction. After the transaction is built, a QR-based payment invoice will be made available to complete the airdrop.

Searching for Airdrops

If you are not into making your own tokens and distributing an airdrop yourself, you can always search the net for any upcoming airdrops. For example, the website airdrops.io is an online resource that discloses which airdrops are coming out next.

The site shows the hottest airdrops, latest airdrops, exclusive airdrops, Telegram channels with airdrops, Twitter airdrops, and basically every coin giveaway under the sun. “Airdrops.io verifies and aggregates airdrops and bounties daily to bring you the most recent and profitable earning opportunities. Choose an airdrop and follow the instructions provided to claim free crypto tokens,” the website notes.

A few airdrops advertised on the website include coin giveaways from Bitcoin Rhodium, Pointpay, Simbcoin, Escher, Daps, and Binance Jex. For each airdrop, the website explains the giveaway details and how to get involved. There’s a bunch of other airdrop-guide and review websites as well like airdropter.com, coinairdrops.com, and airdropalert.com.

The Taxman Is Aware of Airdropped Tokens

Usually, there are two ways airdrops are distributed by their creators, which is selecting recipients at random or letting people know on social media, forums, and websites like airdrops.io. In the crypto world, some users could care less about airdrops and think they are garbage with negligible value.

However, other crypto enthusiasts comb the internet daily in search of these free coin giveaways with hopes of catching some free money. It is worth noting, though, that government tax agencies have taken notice of airdropped coins and you could get taxed for receiving them. Entities like the IRS have issued guidance in regard to airdropped cryptocurrencies. The U.S. tax agency’s airdrop guidance, however, is confusing and organizations including lawmakers want better clarification. As long as cryptocurrency exists, airdrops will likely continue and distributors will take advantage of the crypto community’s powerful network effects.

What do you think about airdrops and the numerous amounts of cryptocurrency giveaways in the cryptoconomy? Do you search for airdrops or do you think they are a waste of time? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. None of the aforementioned airdrops or airdrop recommendation/review sites are endorsed by our website. The data is strictly for informational purposes and research, as all readers should use due diligence with any crypto project within this ecosystem. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Image credits: Shutterstock, airdropter.com, coinairdrops.com, airdropalert.com, airdrops.io, auroracoin (AUR), Blockchain.com, Stellar (XLM), Fair Use, Wiki Commons, and Pixabay.

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