Private Key

BCH Microblog ‘Member’ Shows the Future of Reddit-Like Forums

16/09/2019 by Idelto Editor

BCH-Based Microblog Member Shows the Future of Reddit-Like Forums

Since the Bitcoin Cash upgrade in May 2018, software developers have unleashed a slew of microblogging protocols that utilize OP_return transactions. One application called Member is a BCH-based browser that makes use of these types of transactions and the extra space added to the data carrier size. While still in its infancy, the Member platform has matured into a censorship-resistant Reddit but with geolocated posts, reputational ratings, and native BCH tipping.

Also Read: At Least 19 Central Banks Give Way to Monetary Easing As Economy Slows

The Member Client Continues to Grow

Years ago, Reddit was an interesting online place that allowed many groups to connect, share news and content, and discuss in a forum-like atmosphere. These days, Reddit is synonymous with mass censorship and deplatforming as the corporate entity has banned a variety of subreddits this year. The crypto community caught wind of Reddit censorship last year when the company removed the subreddit /r/darknetmarkets. Reddit users can’t even trust the company’s founder and CEO Steve Huffman who was forced to apologize when he got caught altering pro-Trump related thread comments.

BCH Microblog 'Member' Shows the Future of Reddit-Like Forums — Reddit censorship has increased significantly in recent years.

Bitcoin supporters have seen severe forms of censorship on the subreddit /r/bitcoin as the owner and moderator Theymos and his minions deleted thousands of comments from visitors and suppressed the conversation during the block size debate. Last May, a former moderator who worked alongside Theymos told Bitcoin.com’s podcast host Matt Aaron how he was removed from the group of administrators after he failed to toe the line. Censorship like this has driven the BCH community to foster censorship-resistant microblogging communities like Memo. In tandem with Memo, another application called Member could push the Reddit-like forum concept to new heights using the BCH chain.

Member has been around for some time now but the application has matured a great deal since news.Bitcoin.com reported on it last year. The application’s creator, a developer called Freetrade, describes the platform on Github, calling it a BCH blockchain browser. “It reads and allows users to create actions in the Memo/Member protocol — The client is an HTML5/JS BCH blockchain browser app with no outside js dependencies and it can be run from a website, or from a local file system,” Freetrade’s Github repo details. “Currently it connects to the Member server to get content, and uses Bitbox to get utxos and broadcast transactions.”

Getting Acquainted With the Member App

In order to use Member, you need to have an account with the social network and microblogging app memo.cash where all posts are permanently recorded to the Bitcoin Cash chain. You can sign up for Memo here and it’s a good idea to fund your Memo wallet with a small fraction of BCH so you can post on memo.cash and the Member platform as well. To access Member, go to the website and press the “Login” tab at the top right side of the screen. You can also sign up directly from the Member Login page by pressing the “Create New Account” tab.

Member will tell you to connect your wallet address to get started so you can post. After pressing “Ok,” Member will direct you to a page that shows your new BCH address so you can send a small fraction of funds. If you already have an account or started by signing up for memo.cash using the link mentioned above then Member asks you to paste your Memo private key (compressed WIF format, starts with ‘L’ or ‘K’) into the Login window. After these steps are complete, you are free to explore the Member app but also to create posts, upvote, tip people BCH, and initiate a geolocated post.

To create a new post on Member, simply press the “New post” tab on the upper left side of the user interface. The platform will open a window that allows you to customize a new post with a title and text. You can also post a memorandum or post directly to the memo.cash feed. After creating a post, other Member users can reply to the thread just like a traditional Reddit post and they can “like” the post as well. Moreover, you can be tipped bitcoin cash as Member offers a native BCH wallet that allows for tipping users. If you observe Member’s main feed, it’s set up similarly to the front page of Reddit and there’s a large variety of threads and discussions hosted on the feed. Additionally, you can check the most recent posts on the Member feed by pressing the “Posts (new)” tab on the upper left side of the screen.

Geolocated Posts, 2,000 Characters, and a Reputation System

You can also tether your location coordinates to a custom message using the Member app. At the top left side of the screen simply press the “Map” tab and the website will take you to a map of the world. Like a traditional geolocation map, your browser will ask you if you want to give the Member map your location coordinates so you can get a visual look at your area. The choice is optional but if you do, you can tie a special message to your location that’s written on the BCH chain. Essentially you or anyone can tether a message to any location in the world for less than a U.S. penny at any time. Just click the map with your mouse pointer to select the message location, write it and post it to the Member map. After a few minutes of exploring the Member app’s features, the platform is relatively easy to understand and use.

Member’s creator Freetrade has been hard at work adding more services to the application like reputational ratings and increased character limits for messages. The software engineer recently made it so Member users can reply with much longer character limits. “Member now allows 2,000 character replies by chaining transactions together — Member also treats topics more like subreddits,” Freetrade told BCH supporters on September 15. This announcement got the /r/btc community on Reddit pumped due to their intolerance of censorship. “Wow, now we’re talking,” a BCH proponent opined after Freetrade revealed the 2,000 character extension. “Reddit is slowly dying because of censorship and abuse from admins — If we could create a decentralized alternative on BCH that would be huge,” he added. In addition to the character extension, Freetrade has introduced a web of trust infrastructure to the Member platform. The new idea allows you to rate other Memo profiles using the Member app by giving them a public trust rating. Freetrade has shown that as the reputation system matures, robust trust graphs could be created.

There’s been a lot of development within the BCH ecosystem and Member’s improvements have bolstered a microblogging and censorship-resistant Reddit-like experience. As with most peer-to-peer and decentralized blockchain applications, Member needs to gather more users over time. Memo and Member have seen a lot of lively users since they were created and both have grown a great deal. While projects like Blockpress have fallen to the wayside and are now defunct, the Memo and Member apps have remained strong after the long crypto winter and the blockchain split in November 2018. One difference between the two clients is the Memo protocol browses both BCH and BSV blockchains but the Member app only browses the BCH chain. Freetrade continues to work on making the Member client more robust and has put together a list of certain elements of the project he could use help with.

What do you think about the Member client? Let us know what you think about this project in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Member, and Pixabay.

Do you need a reliable bitcoin mobile wallet to send, receive, and store your coins? Download one for free from us and then head to our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can quickly buy bitcoin with a credit card.

The post BCH Microblog ‘Member’ Shows the Future of Reddit-Like Forums appeared first on Bitcoin News.

An In-Depth Look at Iris, a New Decentralized Social Network

13/06/2019 by Idelto Editor

Cryptocurrency advocates have been discussing a new social media platform designed by one of Bitcoin’s earliest developers Martti Malmi, otherwise known as Sirius. The project he designed, called Iris, is a social networking application that stores and indexes everything on the user’s devices and connects directly with peers rather than using centralized and privacy-invasive algorithms.

Also read: Coinex Exchange Lists the first SLP-Based Stablecoin Built on Bitcoin Cash

Former Bitcoin Developer Creates Social Networking That Uses Cryptographic Key Pairs

Over the last decade, people have been on the hunt for the ultimate decentralized social networking experience that puts users 100% in control of their data. This quest has been a holy grail of sorts for cryptocurrency proponents as well as those who believe digital assets will be integral in driving a proper social media solution. There have been a few attempts where people have tried to design decentralized versions of Twitter and Facebook but so far none of them have really caught on. Although, one application called Memo.cash, a platform that utilizes the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network, has gained some traction since it first launched over a year ago. The Iris platform created by one of Bitcoin’s earliest programmers, Martti Malmi, is another social networking alternative that is quite different than its centralized predecessors.

Iris stores and indexes everything on the user side and in the back end it uses cryptographic key pairs and a reputation system called the web of trust. The application promises to offer a social media experience that cannot be censored by authoritarian governments and it’s not controlled by a giant corporation. Iris aims to curb trolling and eliminate spam and advertisements that can be found on most of today’s social media networks.

“Iris is a social networking application that stores and indexes everything on the devices of its users and connects directly with peers who run the application – no corporate gatekeepers needed,” explains the software’s Github repository documentation.

Testing the Social Networking Platform

To provide an idea of what this application has to offer, I created an account on Iris on June 13. Iris is available to use at three different domains, iris.to, iris.cx and irislib.github.io, but it also offers browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox. Moreover, there are plans for an Electrum desktop app with Bluetooth and LAN peer finding. When using Iris, similarly to posting onchain using Memo.cash, everything you post is public.

To create an account on Iris I simply pressed the login tab and wrote my name in the new user field. Existing Iris users can paste their private key or drop the key file in the login window below. After creating a new account the software gave me access to the Iris dashboard where I can post and change my profile settings. In order to get a feed going in order to upvote friends, you can ask people for their QR codes to scan in order to make their posts visible. You can also browse an Iris address book as a starting point so you can follow other people’s posts.

In the settings section, you can gain access to your private key and it’s good to remember that if you log out you cannot log back in without the private key backup. When creating your account make sure you back up the Iris private key in the settings section. When you start to use Iris over time, by following a list of users and upvoting content, you start building upon what Iris calls the ‘web of trust.’ Essentially when you upvote another Iris user they become your first-degree contact, following this the accounts they upvote become secondary contacts and so on. This is how the web of trust builds and you can filter this scheme while also having the power to downvote.

“This way we can avoid spam and other unwanted content without giving power to central moderators,” the Iris documentation notes. “You can also add to your contacts list and rate people and organizations who are not yet on Iris.”

Web of Trust, GUN, and IPFS Solutions

On top of this, identity verifications can take place by utilizing peers trusted by your web of trust. For instance, if you lost the private key to your account you can simply create a new one and link your old Iris data by asking your web of trust for verifications. Iris creators have revealed other concepts that could be tied to Iris like cryptocurrency wallets. Digital asset wallet curators could design an Iris-based human-recognizable identity system that’s tethered to payment addresses. The developer specifications say that Iris could be used instead of telecom-bound phone numbers on mobile messaging apps like Signal. Additionally, users can opt to connect imports from existing services and have them digitally signed for verification purposes.

“In other words: message author and signer can be different entities, and only the signer needs to be on Iris — For example, a crawler can import and sign other people’s messages from Twitter,” Iris developers theorized. “Only the users who trust the crawler will see the messages.”

An In-Depth Look at Iris, a New Decentralized Social Network — **A look at how a user can post and follow the feed of people they choose to follow. Users can also create polls.**

Getting used to Iris takes a few minutes, but after getting the hang of the interface it works quite well. Malmi’s creation still has an incredibly large hurdle to overcome which is attracting an active user base. This issue is what every decentralized social media app faces because it’s not really an enjoyable experience with no active people. Still, Iris offers what most incumbent social media giants don’t, which is decentralization stemming from messages and contacts stored and indexed on GUN and IPFS for backups. Moreover, other social media applications have issues with profiles being cloned in a malicious manner and Iris greets identity and reputation head-on. With more activity, Iris could become a successful social network. The problem is that enticing people to switch over is easier said than done.

What do you think about Martti Malmi’s social networking platform Iris? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This editorial is intended for informational purposes only. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the mentioned organization, social media platform, software or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com or the author is not 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, Twitter-Martti Malmi’s profile, Iris, Jamie Redman, and Pixabay.

Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry.

The post An In-Depth Look at Iris, a New Decentralized Social Network appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Create a Custom BCH Address With Vanity.cash

09/06/2019 by Idelto Editor

A vanity address can be useful in various situations. If you have a business, for example, you can incorporate its name into a bitcoin cash address you regularly use for payments. Vanity.cash is a platform that will help you create custom BCH addresses in a few easy steps.

Also read: Find a Job Paid With BCH Using Workingforbitcoins.com

How to Generate a Vanity Bitcoin Cash Address

Vanity.cash will allow you to create public addresses in both BCH address format and BTC (legacy) format. The first requires you to start with a lowercase character which can be ‘q’, ‘p’, ‘r’, or ‘z’, and then type in the prefix you want to have for your public address. You can enter any letter or number except for ‘b’, ‘i’, ‘o’, and ‘1’. Legacy addresses can be generated using letters and numbers other than ‘0’, ‘O’, ‘l’, and ‘I’.

You can build an address in the BCH format starting with ‘q’ and continuing with the word ‘cash’, for instance. A short prefix like that will probably cost you nothing. Click the “Get it for free” button at the bottom of the page and you’ll be prompted to choose between two options, ‘compressed’ or ‘uncompressed.’ Then you have to provide an email address where you’ll receive a secure link to your key once it’s generated. Longer phrases would require you to pay for the service with bitcoin cash.

Follow the link to retrieve your custom public address and private key. The Vanity.cash platform is powered by Coin Dance Vanity and you’ll be redirected to a page on its platform. Make sure you have saved your key before leaving it. No one will be able to recover it for you once you’ve closed the tab. While on that page, you can also view the QR codes for the address and the key.

If you need step-by-step guidance on importing private keys into cryptocurrency wallets, you can refer to a tutorial covering popular wallet apps or google “How to import private key into…” adding the name of your wallet. Using Vanity.cash, you can also create custom addresses and keys in a trustless manner. That requires more advanced knowledge and the platform provides a link to a detailed guide.

You can also use the Cash Address Converter developed by Bitcoin.com, an online tool that allows you to convert a Bitcoin Cash address into either the Cashaddr format or the Legacy format. You’ll find more free and useful BCH tools when you visit our Bitcoin Tools page.

What other vanity address platforms do you know or use? Tell us in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to third party companies or any of their affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not 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 third party content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Vanity.cash.

Do you need a reliable Bitcoin mobile wallet to send, receive, and store your coins? Download one for free from us and then head to our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can quickly buy Bitcoin with a credit card.

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There’s 100 Unclaimed Bitcoin Cash Wallets Hidden Worldwide

05/06/2019 by Idelto Editor

There's a Hundred Unclaimed Bitcoin Cash Wallets Hidden Worldwide

Over the last few months, the geocaching treasure hunt Findbitcoin.cash has gathered a bunch of new hidden BCH treasures. At the time of publication, there are approximately 105 concealed bitcoin cash wallets hidden all over the world with a large portion of these funds hidden in the U.S. and Australia.

Also read: Bitcoin.com’s Local Bitcoin Cash Marketplace Is Now Open for Trading

Hide Treasures or Become a BCH Scavenger With Findbitcoin.cash

Bitcoin cash supporters have seen a ton of innovative projects over the last few months and some of them have given people a new and fun experience to play around with. One initiative called Findbitcoin.cash gives people a sense of adventure because it allows them to both hide and search for BCH wallets anywhere in the world. Geocaching treasure hunt games have been extremely popular over the last few years and the creators of Findbitcoin.cash have brought the trend to the BCH ecosystem.

The platform gives people basic directions on how to print a bitcoin cash-loaded paper wallet and hide it in an obscure location. The website provides its own paper wallet generator, which creates a random public and private key pair for the creator. If a person decides to hide a bitcoin cash wallet using the platform they will need the public key in order to add it to the Findbitcoin.cash listings along with a hint about where the treasure can be found.

The BCH geocaching service recommends that people hiding BCH loot should print two copies of each wallet they are going to hide. This way if anything happens to the wallet, from say the weather or an animal, they can sweep the wallet later after they are satisfied it was compromised by the elements or too long has elapsed and the wallet was never found. Findbitcoin.cash also recommends that people use a plastic ziplock bag to protect the paper wallet from the weather or the hider could laminate it too. After creating the paper wallet, you can create a listing that gives people a description of the area where you hid the funds and you can add a few pictures as well of the surrounding location.

For instance, there’s this BCH hidden treasure taped to the Amway sign in front of the Amway World Headquarters. The specific post from Michigan offers a geolocation on the map and a picture of the Amway building. There’s also a comment section on each post too and the Findbitcoin.cash team says they “will be monitoring the addresses that are posted, so we can ensure that there are no points on the map with which there are no longer any wallets.”

Then there’s another posting called the “one of a kind Toronto Raptors wallet” which contains 0.2231669 BCH or $88 at the time of writing. Members of the BCH community have helped top the wallet up and the funds have been hidden somewhere in Toronto. “It won’t be easy to find,” explains the person who hid the BCH. “In order to learn where the wallet is, the Toronto Raptors need to win their games — Each game won, we will release a bigger clue — Each game lost, we will release a really small clue and clues will be added to this page.” So far there’s been one clue released so far on June 3 which states that the wallet is “within 1,000 foot radius of the house on the hill.” The Findbitcoin.cash platform’s paper wallets also have a message printed on them which explains what Bitcoin Cash is and how the finder or treasure hunter can learn more about the innovative technology.

“Congratulations — You have found a bitcoin cash paper wallet,” the paper wallets message reads. “Yes, this paper is worth real money. Bitcoin cash is a form of digital currency. It allows you to send or receive any amount of money to or from anyone in the world, anytime you want, virtually for free.”

Bitcoin Cash Has Been Hidden in 18 Countries and 6 Continents

The paper wallet then instructs the person who happens to find the money to head to the Findbitcoin.cash website, where it will teach them about bitcoin cash and how to claim the funds. Right now there’s been a total of 294 wallets hidden throughout nearly every continent in the world and 189 have been found so far. Out of the 18 countries that have seen people concealing wallets for the Findbitcoin.cash treasure hunts, the U.S. and Australia have been the most dominant areas. Out of the 105 unclaimed to date, there is a bunch of BCH treasures hidden in Thailand, India, Venezuela, Milan, Japan, and the Netherlands. Findbitcoin.cash also has a dedicated Twitter handle and Reddit forum called r/findbitcoincash so people can post about their hidden treasures and follow updates.

The BCH community has always been about fervently pushing BCH adoption and accessibility throughout the world. The BCH-based geocaching treasure hunt gives people a chance to not only learn about the benefits of the Bitcoin Cash network, but it also provides a recreational activity for those who dig the challenge of treasure hunts. With Findbitcoin.cash, people can savor both aspects of the hunt, relishing the ability to hide funds and clues but also allowing anyone from any location to scavenge for these digital treasures.

What do you think about the Findbitcoin.cash treasure hunting platform? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Findbitcoin.cash, and Pixabay.

The post There’s 100 Unclaimed Bitcoin Cash Wallets Hidden Worldwide appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Anchor a Document or File to the BCH Chain With Notary.Bitcoin.com

19/05/2019 by Idelto Editor

In my last article, I explained how to prove ownership of a specific address by signing a message with a public and private key pair. That’s just one way of proving ownership and verifying a valid signature, as BCH users can also anchor a document to the chain using the Bitcoin Cash protocol’s Script language. This particular walkthrough aims to teach you how to create notarized proofs using Notary.Bitcoin.com.

Also Read: Putting an End to the Bitcoin Store of Value Fallacy

Upload a File or Document to the BCH Chain and Prove Ownership Using Notary.Bitcoin.com

Proof of ownership or proof of existence is a technique that can be used by anyone via the Bitcoin Cash protocol in order to certify the integrity of a variety of proofs. Our last guide covered the basics on how a person can prove ownership of a specific BCH address and tether a unique message and digital signature to the address as well. However, there are other methods available that allow people to record various things like a document or file. The BCH chain allows you to add raw data to a transaction using an opcode called OP_Return. Our website hosts a service called Notary.Bitcoin.com that allows people to tether the hash of a signature and file within the blockchain’s recorded data. Similarly to how the private key allows someone to prove ownership of an address, a private key can also correspond with the owner’s signature and the hash of the file held in the BCH blockchain.

This attribute allows for some unique possibilities so anyone can certify a document, contract, and date of publication at any time in a permissionless fashion. To demonstrate how to use Notary.Bitcoin.com, I decided to upload a Rich Text File (RTF) to the BCH chain which contains the abstract introduction to the Bitcoin white paper.

After creating the RTF, I simply selected ‘Choose file’ located in the Get Started section, which allows you to either upload or drag a file into the window. The file is never uploaded to the Bitcoin.com server as privacy is our top priority. After the file is uploaded, a new screen will appear which shows the document timestamp, and the document hash but the data will not be broadcasted to the BCH chain until 0.00005 BCH is paid to the address shown.

From here I fired up the Badger Wallet located in my Chrome browser and sent the 0.00005 BCH to the address supplied by Notary.Bitcoin.com. After that, the service told me that my transaction was pending and that it needs one blockchain confirmation in order to be etched into the BCH chain. After the transaction is confirmed, Notary.Bitcoin.com will provide a document hash, server timestamp, the blockchain broadcast time, and the blockchain confirmation time. The upload will also appear in the recent documents registered and the recent anchors section on the notary page.

Notarized Proofs on the Bitcoin Cash Blockchain for Less Than 5 Cents

After you test Notary.Bitcoin.com service and get an understanding of how it works by tethering a notarized document to the BCH chain you can verify the document as well to certify the file’s integrity. Instead of selecting the Notarize tab, simply select the Verify tab and again you just upload or drag the file that was tied to the BCH chain into the window. The service will tell you whether or not the document has been notarized on the BCH chain and Notary.Bitcoin.com will redirect you to the document proof page. When the process is complete, the service also provides a transaction ID (txid) which can be queried on any BCH blockchain explorer.

The simplicity of tying a document to the BCH chain makes it so anyone can certify ownership and this includes businesses, journalists, whistleblowers, and artists who decide to share and create unique content. Just like our previous article which shows anyone how to prove ownership of a specific BCH address, Notary.Bitcoin.com is very easy to understand and allows anyone to prove ownership of a document or file for only 0.00005 BCH (which is less than 5 cents).

If you missed our guide called How to Prove Ownership With a Bitcoin Cash Address and Digital Signature, check it out now.

What do you think about signing and verifying an uploaded document or file with Notary.Bitcoin.com? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Notary.Bitcoin.com, Jamie Redman, and Pixabay.

Enjoy the easiest way to buy Bitcoin online with us. Download your free Bitcoin wallet and head to our Purchase Bitcoin page where you can buy BCH and BTC securely.

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