Bitcoin Core

Film Reels and Steel: Github Plans to Archive Bitcoin Code for 1,000 Years

01/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

The Microsoft subsidiary, Github recently revealed the “Archive Program,” an initiative that aims to preserve open source technologies for 1,000 years. The newly launched effort plans to store snapshots of open source technology 250 meters underground on the Norwegian island of Svalbard. The source code management and collaboration platform also plans to store the Bitcoin Core software. Archivists will etch the blockchain network’s code on film reels and encase the project in a steel capsule.

Also read: US Mortgage Industry Could Collapse as Housing Crisis Looms, Experts Say

Bitcoin Codebase and Other Open Source Crypto Projects Will be Stored Underground in a Time Capsule

Github plans to store the Bitcoin Core codebase within the depths of a mountainous region located in Norway. The project is a time capsule concept and Github is calling it the Archive Program. The program’s main goal is to store a number of open source technologies underground for 1,000 years so humans can access them in the future. Github says the mission of the program is to “preserve open source software for future generations.” The announcement reads:

The company is also partnering with the Long Now Foundation, the Internet Archive, the Software Heritage Foundation, Arctic World Archive, Microsoft Research, the Bodleian Library, and Stanford Libraries to ensure the long-term preservation of the world’s open source software. We will protect this priceless knowledge by storing multiple copies, on an ongoing basis, across various data formats and locations, including a very-long-term archive designed to last at least 1,000 years.

The Bitcoin Core repository will not be the only cryptocurrency-based repo added to Github’s time capsule initiative. A slew of other blockchain projects will be stored as well including the Ethereum and Dogecoin codebase and the Lightning Network. The company’s collaborating with Github believe in archiving software across various forms of ephemeral media and hosting platforms. The scheme is called “LOCKSS,” which stands for “Lots Of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe.” In order to ensure the safety and longevity of codebases like Bitcoin Core, the program will include “much longer-term media to address the risk of data loss over time.”

The Archive Program Hopes Future Historians Can Access Open Source Software Without Worrying About Lost Tech and Abandoned Code

There’s a significant history of events that show lost technologies and abandoned code can lead to catastrophe. The Archive Program aims to stop mistakes that society has seen in the past like the Saturn V blueprints, anti-malarial DFDT, and Roman concrete. “Like any backup, the GitHub Archive Program is also intended for currently unforeseeable futures as well,” the announcement highlights.

“Future historians will be able to learn about us from open source projects and metadata,” the Archive Program website reads. “They might regard our age of open source ubiquity, volunteer communities, and Moore’s Law as historically significant. We are already partnering with Stanford Libraries to help archive curated repositories along with the cultural and other context in which they are set, as key elements of wide-ranging historical and social research and analysis,” Github added.

After the announcement, software developers and cryptocurrency proponents discussed the topic on social media and forums. “[The Archive Program], and cockroaches, will be around long after the coronavirus kills us all,” one person jokingly tweeted. Seeing how the announcement was revealed on April 1, some people thought the news was an April Fool’s Day joke as well.

What do you think about Github storing the Bitcoin Core protocol for 1,000 years? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Film Reels and Steel: Github Plans to Archive Bitcoin Code for 1,000 Years appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Tron’s Steemit Acquisition Exposes Delegated-Proof-of-Stake Centralization

03/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

Tron's Acquisition of Steemit Exposes Delegated-Proof-of-Stake Centralization

The Steemit community is mired in controversy over the recent Tron takeover that managed to change the Steem blockchain’s governance. Steem witnesses attempted to soft fork the blockchain on February 24 to remove the powerful voting power Tron and Steemit hold. However, the soft fork wasn’t able to prevent the Tron takeover and Steemit community members are blaming Tron founder Justin Sun and three popular exchanges for gaming the outcome.

Also Read: Ethereum vs Tron: Comparing Data, Defi and Stablecoins from Both Chains After Viral Tweet

Tron’s Steemit Takeover Becomes Contentious

Steemit has always claimed to be a “decentralized blogging platform” but its decentralization and use of delegated-proof-of-stake (DPoS) have been controversial. Centralization concerns heightened after Steemit was sold to Tron. On February 14, former Steemit CEO Ned Scott tweeted: “Steemitans and Twitterers, after four beautiful years, I have sold Steemit to [Justin Sun].” Following the Steemit sale, a number of Steemitans were very upset with the decision and believed the acquisition would ruin the project.

The controversy prompted members of the Steemit community to invoke a soft fork that would reduce the voting power of the company Steemit Inc. and the Tron Foundation. However, the soft fork did not go as planned and on Monday, March 2, Steemit community members accused Poloniex, Binance, and Huobi of creating a “hostile takeover.” Reports detail that Steemit and Tron reversed the soft fork by leveraging over 42 million steem power (SP).

Your stake in Steem on centralized exchanges was just used to take over the Steem Blockchain https://t.co/AFn0LvEkUC

— Luke Stokes (@lukestokes) March 2, 2020

The reversal and the move to utilize 42 million SP caught the attention of the entire cryptocurrency community. Tron founder Justin Sun called the group of people who attempted to soft fork the Steemit chain “hackers.” “[Steemit] has successfully defeated the hackers [and] all funds are super SAFU. Steem Network and [the] Steemit community is now stronger than ever since we united [and] solved the difficulties,” Sun wrote. “On February 22, some malicious hackers froze 65 million steem legally owned by Steemit, the core steem developers,” Sun tweeted. “When we found out, the hackers already hijacked steem [and] threatened to nullify the existing steem. We had a difficult choice.”

Following the reversal and the statements from Justin Sun, Ethereum developer Vitalik Buterin commented on the DPOS incident. “Apparently Steem DPOS got taken over by big exchanges voting with depositors’ funds,” Buterin tweeted. “Seems like the first big instance of a “de facto bribe attack” on coin voting (the bribe being [exchanges] giving [holders] convenience and taking their votes).” The incident has started a debate about the vulnerabilities of the DPoS system and proof-of-stake systems in general. “The exact same thing occurs on EOS,” Youtube show host Colin Talks Crypto responded to Buterin’s tweet. “Just not as an extreme to an extent. This is why governance is important to nail down in DPOS — so a few huge exchanges don’t own your entire blockchain.”

Should an Exchange Use Customer Stakes to Vote on Governance?

Bitcoin Core Developer Jorge Timón also replied to Buterin’s criticism on Twitter and said that “DPOS is plutocracy voting.” “Not your keys, not your coins — This is not an attack, this is simply how [DPOS] works. [POW] is superior to both DPOS and ‘regular’ POS. POS is simply a bad replacement for [proof-of-work] — Eventually, you’ll have to accept this fact,” Timón stressed. Meanwhile, other crypto community members on social media discussed whether it was right to use customer stakes held on an exchange to leverage governance rights with a blockchain voting scheme. “The depositor may have a “balance” at the exchange, but do not have rights on that blockchain,” Bitcoin proponent Bob Loukas wrote on Twitter. Loukas added:

They exchanged that right for a paper guarantee, all for the purpose of speculation. If they had cared about the stake, they would have demanded that within their paper exchange.

“Na man, fork me? No, fork you.” #tron #steemit @justinsuntron pic.twitter.com/PEdPeE82Tj

— John Paul Faour (@olejpf) March 3, 2020

Steem Power Withdrawal Restrictions, Steem Developers Remove Apps, and Leaders Abruptly Resign

Despite the community outrage, what’s done is done and a recent blog post written by “the Tron folks and Steemit Inc. together” notes that the attempted soft fork was “maliciously structured.” “For the next 4-6 weeks, the Steemit team will be using the voting rights to resume the order of the community while having an open channel for meeting community members and Witnesses,” the post explains. The announcement also highlighted that Tron and Steemit wholeheartedly believe the soft fork attempt was “criminal and illegal.” “After the 4-6 weeks period, the Steemit team will give the governance back to the community when it’s back in order and mutual agreement,” the blog post states.

Members of the Steemit community are also upset because powered-up SP cannot be withdrawn for 13 weeks. Tron and Steemit also stressed that a hard fork would be taking place in order to change the power-down waiting period. The blog post notes it wants the “Steem blockchain running in parallel with Tron” and the team plan on providing more “rewards to witnesses.” In addition to this promise, the blog post claimed Steemit could acquire “more users” thanks to Tron’s “thriving ecosystem” and “active 15 million user community.” The post also added that the Steemit community would notice more development and developers from Tron contributing to the Steem network.

Still, the blog post doesn’t seem to be swaying the greater Steemit community and a few software engineers are removing their Steem apps from the ecosystem. Further, well known Steemitans like Andrew Levine have abruptly resigned from their governance duties.

What do you think about the recent incident with the Tron community and Steemit community? Do you think DPoS, or POS in general, can be gamed easily by exchanges? Let us know what you think about this subject 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. 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.

Images credits: Shutterstock, Archive.org, Steemit, Twitter, Fair Use, Wiki Commons, Steemit and Tron logos,

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Bitcoin Mining Investment Strong – BTC Hashrate Surpasses All-Time High

02/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

On Monday, March 2, miners processing blocks on the BTC network surpassed the network’s all-time high as the overall hashrate touched 136 exahash (EH/s). The record-breaking achievement happened despite the price of BTC dropping below the $9K region throughout the course of the last week. In four years’ time, BTC’s hashrate has risen over 13,500% and it doesn’t look like slowing up anytime soon.

Also read: 13 Crypto Debit Cards You Can Use Right Now

BTC’s Hashrate Between 136-145EH/s on Monday

Since the innovative payment network Bitcoin was invented, the hashrate has always been an indicator of security and the network’s overall wellbeing. Essentially, a hash is the output of a hash function applied to the Bitcoin software. When bitcoin miners are searching for blocks they leverage their processing power (hashrate) in order to increase their chances of acquiring freshly minted coins. The overall hashrate combined, meaning all the processing power between all the participating miners on the Bitcoin network, is basically the estimated measurement of how many hash functions are used in order to find a block. At the end of January 2016, the BTC network touched one exahash per second (EH/s). Since then, the hashrate has increased exponentially capturing 136EH/s on March 2, 2020. Blockchain.com and Fork.lol charts show BTC’s hashrate averages to be between 136 to 145EH/s.

In the last few years, Bitcoin mining investments have been strong and there’s been a number of new mining data centers added worldwide. For instance, the Peter Thiel-backed mining operation Layer1 recently started mining in West Texas. The company raised more than $50 million from investors like Peter Thiel, Digital Currency Group, and Shasta Ventures. Layer1 aims to scale operations to 200MW this year and there are many others in Texas mining as well. Last year, Bitmain revealed it would build a 300MW facility in Rockdale, Texas and started operations with 25MW.

During the second week of February 2020, Riot Blockchain revealed it had purchased 1,000+ Bitmain miners for its data center in Oklahoma. Riot Blockchain’s mine aims to capture 300MW of hashpower as well and the firm said the new batch of miners would be turned on immediately. Even smaller operations are investing in the industry, as this February Xtra Bitcoin announced the creation of a 2.5 MW facility with plans to increase to 10MW. Digihost claims to have a 70,000 square foot operation in Buffalo, New York with 12,895 bitcoin mining rigs (17.5 MW of computing power). New mining operations are popping up in Central Asia, the U.S., Canada, and many other nation-states which are fueling the rising hashrate.

Additionally, other SHA256 networks have seen an increase in hashrate, as Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has jumped from 1EH/s to 3.5-5EH/s, gathering a 400% increase since December 2018. Bitcoin SV (BSV) had around 1.3EH/s in December 2018 and that has expanded 130% to roughly 2.5-3EH/s in 2020. All three of these networks make up the overall SHA256 hashrate, which is one of the largest computational networks ever created. Satoshi Nakamoto launching the BTC network in 2009 has led to the significant advancement in Exascale computing. But people often wonder what an exahash is and all the other funny terms bitcoiners use like kilohash, megahash, gigahash, terahash, and petahash.

The Exahash Era Continues

A kilohash (1 kH/s) is 1,000 hashes per second, one megahash (MH/s) is approximately one million hashes per second, a gigahash (GH/s) is one billion hashes per second, a single terahash (TH/s) equals one trillion hashes per second, and one petahash (PH/s) is a quadrillion hashes per second. When we start measuring the hashrate in exahashes per second (EH/s), it is approximately one quintillion hashes per second. Right now, BTC’s network hashrate is roughly less than a quarter of the way toward reaching the zetahash (ZH/s) era, which is a whopping one sextillion hashes per second or 500 exahash. At 140EH/s, every second of the day the BTC network hashes 20x the number of grains of sand on earth, which is roughly estimated at 7.5 quintillion grains.

The 136-145EH/s record is quite a milestone and every time the network’s hashrate grows larger it makes it much harder to cheat the system. For instance a few minutes ago the mining operation Poolin found block 619845 and if a malicious miner wanted to alter block 619800, the miner would have to work on altering 45 blocks of extremely expensive computing (Proof-of-Work) with a one-hour attack cost of $775,936 at the time of writing. The malicious miner would need to expend around $18,622,461 during the course of a 24-hour period and meanwhile competing against all the honest miners processing the next blocks. Every time an honest miner finds another block it puts the attacker behind significantly, making it very expensive for miners to deviate from the rules.

Many speculators believe that the increased hashrate means that miners wholeheartedly believe in the future of SHA256 networks like BTC. Miners dedicate significant amounts of money to validate transactions in order to acquire 12.5 bitcoins and all the fees tied to the block’s transactions. In two months, all three SHA256 networks will see the network’s block subsidy chopped in half and miners dedicating hash toward BTC, BCH and BSV will only get 6.25 coins plus the fees.

The increase in combined computing power shows these entities have a lot of skin in the game, especially when estimates say BTC miners will need prices to be over $12,000 per BTC after the halving. So far, the BTC network has seen a natural progression of miners increasing the hashrate and there hasn’t been a major miner capitulation in over a decade. After the BTC halving occurs, all eyes will be watching the hashrate going forward as the metric has always been a solid indicator of the network’s overall security and growth.

What do you think about BTC’s hashrate touching between 136-145EH/s on March 2? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Bitcoin.com, Fork.lol, Fair Use, Bitmain Miners, Coin Metrics, Bitinfocharts.com, Coin.dance, Pixabay, and Blockchain.com charts.

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Market Update: Coronavirus Fears, Stock Market Crash, and Bitcoin Price Predictions

01/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

Digital currency markets have been consolidating since the initial price drop on February 26 that saw $25 billion shaved off the entire cryptocurrency market. At the time of publication, the cryptoconomy is hovering just above the $245 billion zone and a few coins today are making slight gains.

Also read: MTV Airs Only the Negative Parts of Crypto Youtuber ‘Ya Girl’ Rachel Siegel’s Bitcoin Analysis

As Crypto Markets Consolidate, Traders Await the Next Move

On Sunday, March 1, 2020, most digital currencies have been consolidating into a triangular pattern and a slew of assets have been forming firmer support zones. During the course of the last five weekdays, global stocks have crashed significantly. The crash has been widely blamed on the coronavirus (COVID-19) and stocks haven’t been routed this hard since 1987. Every market including safe-haven assets like precious metals and uncorrelated assets like cryptocurrencies has felt the wrath. Currently, the entire market cap of all 5,000+ coins is around $245 billion and there is $130 billion in reported crypto trade volume on Sunday. BTC has been hovering between $8,575 to $9,650 during the last 24 hours and the currency is down 12.7% for the week. Still, over the last 90 days, BTC is up 18% and over the course of the last 12 months, BTC is up 123%. The second-largest crypto by market cap is ETH which is trading for $223 per coin.

ETH is down 17.8% for the week but still up 34% during the last 30 days. So far, ETH has gained 50% during the last three months and over 67% for the past 12 months. Behind ETH, XRP is trading for $0.23 per token and has lost 17.2% in the last seven days. XRP has seen little increases in value as it’s only up 5.4% during the last 30 days and 6.5% for the last 90. However, during the last 12 months, XRP is down 26% against the U.S. dollar. BTC’s market share compared to the rest of the cryptoconomy is over 63% today.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH/USD) Market Action

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is coasting along at $314 per coin and is up 1.36% this Sunday. During the last 30 days, BCH has lost a touch over 9% but the asset is still up 47.6% for the last 90 days. During the last 12 months against the U.S. dollar, BCH has gained more than 136% in value.

Reported BCH trade volume on March 1 is $4 billion, but Messari’s “real volume” index shows $18 million in BCH trades today. The top currency pair traded with BCH today is tether (USDT) which is capturing 66.5% of all BCH trades. This is followed by BTC (17%), USD (11.5%), KRW (1.68%) and ETH (1.86%). On February 28, Fxstreet analyst Ken Chigbo detailed that BCH/USD prices have slid downwards consecutively for three weeks. Chigbo notes that if the psychological $300 mark is breached, BCH/USD could see “a strong wave of downside.”

“The price is running towards its third consecutive week in the red,” the analyst wrote on Friday. “It has very much been the case since the evening star formation in the week of 14 February, a strong signal provided for a reversal.”

Coronavirus Fears Strike Crypto Markets

Last week saw global stock markets plummet as coronavirus fears gripped capital markets. Even safe-haven assets like gold tumbled during the course of the week and on February 28, Market Watch reported that gold saw its biggest daily slide in nearly seven years. “Investors rush to sell gold and generate cash to cover stock market losses,” explained Market Watch reporters Myra Saefong and Mark DeCambre. The coronavirus crypto market sell-off has been similar and people speculate that the scare could make matters worse for assets like BTC.

On February 24, chief investment officer for Arca Funds, Jeff Dorman, told the columnist Bradley Keoun during a phone interview that cryptos like bitcoin are “largely disconnected from Wall Street.” “It’s irresponsible for anyone to say that bitcoin is truly a safe haven,” Dorman remarked. “Look at how gold and Treasuries and equities react instantaneously to global fears. Bitcoin and digital assets live outside that workflow.” Three days later, Dave Waslen, CEO of Hedgetrade, noted: “During the first weeks of the Coronavirus, bitcoin acted as the uncorrelated asset that it has often been during economic and political upheaval, showing strong growth.” But this week was a different story as Waslen further stated:

The last two days took their toll on crypto’s most important digital asset. Bitcoin price fell 6% since Monday morning. Still, bitcoin’s value isn’t derived from the same indicators as fiat, such as interest rates and GDP. Instead, bitcoin is purely driven by demand, which is why it often remains steady when other markets are teetering.

Bitcoin All-Time High Predictions Still in Full Force

Despite the downturn in crypto markets, many speculators think BTC will touch all-time highs (ATH) again in the near future. It’s been over two years since BTC’s ATH at $19,600 and the currency is still 57.28% down from that ATH. During an interview with Kitco News on February 25, co-host of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” Robert Herjavec, explained that he believes BTC prices will “quantuple [quadruple i.e. 4x].” “I think the price of Bitcoin, on a long-term basis, will quantuple, if that’s a word,” Herjavec said. “Consumers, over the long run, always go to convenience, and bitcoin is just convenience.”

‘Everyone Should Have 1% of Their Assets in Bitcoin’ Says Virgin Galactic Chairman

The current chairman of Virgin Galactic told CNBC’s Squawk Box that he thinks everyone should hold a small fraction of BTC. “Everybody should probably have 1% of their assets in Bitcoin,” Virgin Galactic’s Chamath Palihapitiya said on February 26. Palihapitiya strongly believes that BTC is a “fantastic hedge” and continued to elaborate on the benefits of this “uncorrelated asset.”

“When you see the amount of leverage the financial industry is running, and you think about all these dislocations and all these exogenous things that are happening that you can’t predict,” Palihapitiya insisted. “There’s a lot of risk to the downside, and it will be great that an average individual citizen, of any country in the world, has an uncorrelated hedge.”

Where do you see the cryptocurrency markets heading from here? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: Price articles and market updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.” Cryptocurrency prices referenced in this article were recorded on Sunday, March 1, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Images via Shutterstock, Trading View, Bitcoin.com Markets, Twitter, Shark Tank, Fair Use, Pixabay, and Wiki Commons.

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These Maps Will Help You Locate Merchants Ready to Accept Your Cryptocurrency

29/02/2020 by Idelto Editor

Getting into Bitcoin is a first step many have already taken, and with the generally positive start of 2020, more are likely to make the move. But then there’s the question of what to do with your coins. Regardless of how you obtained them – through purchase, faucet, airdrop, fork, business, or salary — it’s an important point to consider. Luckily, options to spend your cryptocurrency have been increasing. Here’s how to find places that accept decentralized digital money using online maps.

Also read: How to Find Your Nearest Bitcoin ATM

Merchant Maps Show You Where to Spend Your Bitcoin

Interactive online maps are the most intuitive way to find anything these days, including merchants that are willing to take your crypto for whatever they sell. And while Google Maps can help you locate a few businesses dealing with cryptocurrencies near you, other platforms are far more specialized.

Coinmap.org is one of them, as its website allows crypto companies to share their coordinates for free. The map displays around 16,000 venues around the world that accept cryptocurrency payments. Users can filter these entries by multiple categories such as shopping, café, food, grocery, lodging, transport, sports, and nightlife. It will also show you ATMs where you can withdraw digital coins.

The website is easy to use. Filtering options are displayed on the left side of the map. If you permit your browser to track your location, the map will be centered on it and will offer you nearby crypto merchants. You can also zoom in on a particular city or district and check the tab that shows all merchants in the same area. Clicking on an entry will give you more details about the place, and allow you to visit its website or explore the surroundings in Google’s Street View.

While Coinmap lists businesses processing payments in various coins, other platforms are focusing on merchants that accept specific cryptocurrencies. These can be coins that have established themselves as popular investments and others that are valued for the utility they bring to electronic payments, whether with fast and inexpensive transactions or through other features that facilitate genuine peer-to-peer interaction.

Coin-Specific Platforms Focus on Merchants Accepting Payment-Friendly Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoinmap.cash is a community project spreading the word about restaurants, bars, supermarkets, hotels, and other places that mostly take bitcoin cash (BCH) and dash, but many of the featured locations accept bitcoin core (BTC) as well. It has a desktop version of its map and a mobile application you can download and install. Bitcoinmap.cash provides you with basic information about the place you are interested in, including offered discounts for crypto payments. It also lets you check the location using Google Maps.

Bitcoin.com’s offering in the genre, Bitcoin Cash Map, updates users about the growing number of locations accepting BCH. It currently lists almost 2,000 stores across the globe where you can pay with bitcoin cash. The map, which is also available as a mobile app, can be used to obtain contact information for the merchants and links to their websites. Green Pages is another BCH-focused option which allows you to narrow the search to stores where, besides bitcoin cash, you can also pay with four other major cryptocurrencies – BTC, ETH, DASH and XMR.

A different approach to finding crypto-friendly merchants is to check payment processors that track their clients’ activity. For instance, point-of-sale provider Anypay maintains a map showing businesses using its services and other locations that accept cryptocurrencies. The platform supports a number of coins including BCH, BTC, LTC, DASH, DOGE, ZEC, XRP, and ZEN. Locations are displayed in different colors indicating when the last payment took place so that you know which stores process crypto payments regularly. Clicking on a marker also gives you information about that business, its address and accepted currencies.

Explore Merchant Directories That Maintain Online Maps

Coppay is another company that allows users to accept cryptocurrency payments through instant conversion to fiat. It has a map on its website that shows the physical locations where the payment system is being used. Copay provides services mainly to merchants based in the Baltic countries of Latvia and Lithuania, although the company is working to expand to other markets and has already entered Portugal. Salamantex is a payment solution provider that has its own merchant map. Most of its clients are based in Austria, with a couple of stores in Croatia and Malta.

There are other sources focusing on a specific region. Maltamap, for example, will suggest places where you can spend bitcoin in the Mediterranean nation. The country has branded itself as “The Blockchain Island” in the past few years, after adopting crypto-friendly legislation and welcoming many crypto companies to its shores. A growing number of businesses in Malta accept cryptocurrencies including hotels, real estate companies, auto dealers, and various other service providers.

Specialized merchant directories offer another opportunity to explore cryptocurrency-accepting locations. Аcceptcryptoz lists over 800 such places in several categories including food and drinks, hotels and lodging, shops and markets, arts and entertainment, other services, and even crypto ATMs. Clicking the tab of any of these will take you to the category’s page where you’ll find a map showing you the contacts of the merchants and a list with more details about each one of them on the left side of the screen. These businesses accept one or more of eight supported coins and tokens including major cryptocurrencies.

What other maps showing businesses accepting cryptocurrency payments would you recommend? Tell us 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. 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.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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