In this article, I will dive into why credit card companies should allow customers to make payments with cryptocurrency! As someone who gets paid primarily in cryptocurrency, I have looked around for a solution or a service that allows me to payoff or pay down any debts (mainly credit cards) directly with cryptocurrency. Unfortunately, after months or research, there does not appear to be a way to do this directly in the United States. Interestingly enough in my journey for looking for a solution, I was able to come across an article that an Australian start up company called Living Room Of Satoshi was doing this (successfully, I might add) in providing a way for users to pay for every day bills using bitcoin. This includes: Car Registration, Electricity Bills, Cell Phone Bills, Bank Fees, and even (yes, you guessed it) Credit Cards. It’s been reported that the number one bill paid by consumers is credit card debt, according to CreditCards.com.
THE 3 CREDIT CARD BEHEMOTHS 
However, there is no direct solution in today’s world to make payments directly with Visa, Mastercard, or American Express with our crypto assets to help pay down our debt. Any one of these companies would have a MASSIVE edge over any other bank or credit card company that implements this feature first, because there are millions of active cryptocurrency users who would use this feature in a heartbeat. We need to take a page out of Australia’s book and create solutions that will allow us to either have these corporate giants begin accepting this directly, or create a bridge to do so. There are a few work-around options you can use to leverage your crypto holdings and use the collateral to get a crypto-backed loan with very low and reasonable interest rates to help you pay down debt. The beauty in doing this, is you don’t have to spend your crypto to use this option, you just send it to a protected account with them until your loan is paid back. It is also backed by the FDIC (if that gives you any confidence). For some people, that last tidbit gives them peace of mind knowing that this company is not going to disappear and simply lose all your crypto funds if they go under. I have done business with them recently in earning interest for some of my holdings and I can attest to their integrity and have had nothing but a positive experience using Blockfi.
CRYPTO-BACKED LOAN SOLUTION
Let’s get back to the 3 credit giants for a minute. The average interest rate the average U.S. consumer is paying with “good” credit is still over 20%. That is highway robbery, but what other options do consumers have when the inflation and cost of living is outpacing the paying wage in America? It almost seems like a perfectly formulated trap by these big banks to rob the american people of their freedom and to impose financial slavery for the rest of their working lives. It’s madness, however, it’s even harder for people who get paid in cryptocurrency to pay these bills, because we have to use a 3rd party service (like Coinbase) in order to pay a fee to convert our crypto into fiat, and then pay additional fees to pay our credit card on top of our interest rates. This seems like a good plan when looking from the vantage point of these credit card companies, because that means we will be paying interest even longer. Wrong! The default rates on credit cards are on the rise, because it’s becoming too cumbersome and people are drowning in debt. A growing number of folks figure it’s worth it to take a hit to their credit score or even delay paying this by having it go to collections, just so they can keep up on their required living expenses like food and shelter.
There is another option that was found for use in Canada to pay your credit card bills, but still, you have to pay extra fees to do this. For some, it may be worth it and it can help you reduce the amount of interest to pay to the banks. I still think the credit card companies need to accept this directly as there is a need in the marketplace and it will ultimately help them receive more revenue in the long term as bitcoin is a deflationary currency. The banks have never needed to make any innovation into their services or processes because they have a monopoly, and therefore have no need to compete. This is just another reason why bitcoin is going to be the currency of the future and will soon become adopted mainstream as it’s very own existence and foundation was built on innovation and fungibility.
CONCLUSION
The bottomline: It’s in the bank’s best interest and the consumer’s best interest to have this ability in place. People will have more options to pay down any debt, especially if they do not have access to a bank account or have otherwise been cutoff from legacy financial services. Consumers will also be more likely to pay their balances down faster, because bitcoin year over year has only increased in value since it’s inception.
Please sound off below! What do you think? Would you start paying your credit cards with crypto if given the option? Please me know in the comments.
Cheers,
The Crypto Renegade
NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links. This adds no cost to you but it helps me focus on giving as much value as possible in every single post by being compensated for recommending products that help people succeed.
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What Is The Best Cryptocurrency To Invest In Right Now? (2020)
What is the best cryptocurrency to invest in right now? Yes, this may seem like a loaded question, but it ultimately comes down to preference. I have long been a believer that there will at some point come a cryptocurrency that provides more value that the current king itself (Bitcoin), but I still feel as though that day is still far off in the distance. Bitcoin has been the staple and foundation that started this revolution over a decade ago with the one crazy idea that the world could have a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that was governed by the people, and not an “authority”.
So far, the network effect is the strongest factor that keeps bitcoin in the minds of most people that are aware of it, because it’s not just a coin, its also a technology; a protocol. Decentralization and a VERY large distributed network gives bitcoin a superior power than all other altcoins listed on CoinMarketCap.com. However, that is not to say that other altcoins offer no value, in fact, a good few of them are innovating a way to new technologies and governance standards that let it stand apart from the rest. I will name a two of them that I have invested in below that are not Bitcoin, because they offer a unique selling proposition (USP).
ZCASH
Zcash has a proprietary privacy protocol attached to it. This is extremely attractive, as one of the key selling points of cryptocurrency to begin with was anonymous, uncensorable transactions. This is money as it was intended to be. I should be able to transact with anyone in the world, and not only NOT have it tracked, but keep it between me and the other consenting party. They use a method called zk-SNARKs.
This is an acronym for “Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument Of Knowledge”. What does this actually mean? It essentially means that “Zero-Knowledge” proofs allow one party (prover) to prove to another (verifier) that a statement is true. It allows you to verify a transaction is relevant and true without knowing its origin.
Some people view this as potentially scary, because it allows money launderers or criminals to transact in a more private way. Well, my theory is this, criminals will always find a way to do what they want and transact privately. Valuable tools should not be banned or discredited because there is a potentially negative outcome.
There is an equally positive outcome. Privacy is an unalienable right to all humans and we should all expect it and understand our rights to it. To me, that makes this coin very very powerful and very much worth exploring, especially as it is considered an “Original”. Some similar example coins that came after are Monero and Zcoin.
TEZOS
In my opinion, Tezos is the new and improved evolution of Ethereum. It is a new platform for decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts. Here are a few key points that make it different:
1.) On-Chain Governance – The Tezos protocol offers a formal process through which stakeholders can efficiently govern the protocol and implement future innovations. This is democracy at it’s finest. It also helps avoid controversial “Hard Forks” as we’ve seen in the past with Bitcoin (BTC) to Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and then Bitcoin Cash (BCH) into Bitcoin SV (BSV). This has a detrimental effect on the network and causes a lot of confusion, contention, and tribalism.
2.) Security – This blockchain was designed to facilitate formal verification, which helps secure smart contracts and avoid buggy code. This has been a HUGE problem with Ethereum over the years as noted in the infamous “DAO Hack“, which again proved that their protocol was not immutable and caused yet another hard fork that brought forth Ethereum Classic into existence.
3.) Liquid Proof of Stake – This is a unique consensus proof-of-stake algorithm which gives every stakeholder the opportunity to participate in the validation of transactions on the network and be rewarded for doing so. Whether you are big or small, you have a vote. This is unlike the current mining pools that we have in place where the person with the most hashing power and hardware wins the block reward, and essentially dictate the rules of the network.
I tend to think that the tech behind each blockchain is what brings it’s value. Whether or not the price is currently up or down on these coins, I believe as the masses start to see the value these innovators bring to the table, the money will follow.
If you don’t recall, it took over a year of price discovery before Ethereum finally found it’s place in the market. All this to summarize that I am very interested to see where these both end up in terms of price and user adoption over the course of this year.
CONCLUSION
So what is the best cryptocurrency to invest in right now? My final thought comes down to diversification. No matter what cryptocurrency you own or believe in, it is always a good idea to NOT put all of your eggs in one basket. Diversification allows you to spread out your wealth and provide you a bit more piece of mind and stability as we all partake in our own personal crypto journey.
If you are new to this space and are unsure what to invest in, there is an up-and-coming site that allows you to follow a strong community of cryptocurrency investors and see what allocations are in their portfolio to give you a baseline. This is a desktop and mobile app known as “eToro“. It also provides you some guides and information on each coin so you can learn what the differences of each coin are and what the full scope of their previous price, current price, and the expected future price over time. I will leave the link here for anyone that’s interested.
Please sound off below! What do you think the best cryptocurrency to invest in at this point in the game? Do you think my top two altcoin picks are unfounded? Let me know in the comments.
NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links. This adds no cost to you but it helps me focus on giving as much value as possible in every single post by being compensated for recommending products that help people succeed.
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Is There A Hardware Wallet That Can Store The Top 30 Cryptocurrencies?
Is There A Hardware Wallet That Can Store All The Top Cryptocurrencies? I get this question a lot, and to be honest, there is no clear way to answer it. It ultimately depends on what you believe is the “Top Cryptocurrency”. As a newcomer into the cryptocurrency market, you start to learn the best practices for managing and storing cryptocurrencies and you will inevitably find that yes, a hardware wallet is your safest and best choice. The second question that usually follows that is, “What is the best one? Which one should I buy?”
The answer is not so simple, but I will lay out some of the pros and cons of each of the featured cryptocurrency hardware wallets being promoted and offered through this website, because they have been personally vetted by myself and my team. Each wallet will support different variations of altcoins, but all of them support 3rd party wallet integration such as MyEtherWallet and Mycelium. These are commonly used for ERC-20 token support and most upcoming STO’s will be supported as well as a lot of them are supported by the same protocol.
There is currently no hardware wallet that supports every single “Top Cryptocurrency By Market Cap”. Why? Well for one, the market cap rankings tend to shift almost everyday based on trading volume and various product releases, news events, protocol, and network upgrades. However, there have been some pretty consistent coins that, until recently, haven’t had hardware wallet support such as Monero or Ripple.
I am going to list the 3 major hardware wallets below: Trezor, Ledger, and Keepkey. With them, I will have some recent support added to each wallet and a link to each wallet’s fully supported coin list.
This should answer the general questions you have about coin support and you will be able to identify if there is a particular coin you are searching for and whether or not it’s supported. Please note that each wallet is constantly updating support for new (and old) altcoins to be supported, so this list may be outdated as soon as a few months.
#1 TREZOR
There are two versions of Trezor: Trezor One and Trezor Model T. The former is the entry level device that came out 2013 and has since received regular firmware upgrades enhancing it’s security and adding new software support for native and 3rd party applications for new coins. In 2018, they released their 2nd-gen product called the “Model T“. The latter is a larger device with touch screen and is operated by a “Beta” wallet that supports over 1,000 coins between it’s native applications and 3rd party integration.
Most recently, they added NATIVE support (which is a huge upgrade in my opinion) for Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). This means it is connected to its unique application that was custom designed by Trezor to manage your ETH accounts directly in the app. Previously, any ETH or ERC-20 based token required to use a 3rd party wallet, which was annoying and cumbersome.
I understand there is a lot of development work that goes into creating and managing any native app, but Ledger and Trezor already had native support for this, (as they should) considering it’s been in the top 3 coins by market cap consistently for years.
Bottomline: They have upgraded some basic functionality, which is good, and to their credit they have added support for some coins that really need it, such as Monero and Tether. This is of course when their team collaborates and helps build a supported wallet to tie into their code base. They have been building a foundation for the future and that is going to work in their favor as soon as each coin’s respective dev team decides to catch up.
-Binance Coin (BNB)
-Monero (XMR)
-Cardano (ADA)
-Ravencoin (RVN)
-Tether (USDT) *Stable coin*
#2 KEEPKEY
Keepkey has always been a favorite of mine, as it’s a solid design and very sleek and stable frame that just feels good when you hold it in your hands. Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty. For years, Keepkey only supported: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Namecoin, Dogecoin, and Dash.
For a hardware wallet that needs to compete in this market place, that needed a serious upgrade. Luckily, they have been making some AMAZING changes and not only added a ton of ERC-20 Support, but more importantly, they are revamping their entire platform to have one fluid, seamless application that integrates all of their core services (See my previous post for details on this).
This is extremely powerful, and a decision that I believe will catapult them ahead of the competition. They are currently in a closed beta, and it is expected that they will be releasing this later in 2019. Stay tuned for news on this.
Bottomline: Keep an eye out for the newest upgrades and the new platform that is coming soon. I hope to gain access to the private beta soon, and if given access, I will ask permission to write a review for your guys.
-Basic Attention Token (BAT)
-DigixDAO (DGD)
-Augur (REP)
-Polymath (POLY)
-TrueUSD (TUSD) *Stable coin*
#3 LEDGER
Ledger is considered “The most recommended hardware wallet” on the market. The simple reason for this is because it’s cheap (low barrier to entry) and they have been working on upgrading their infrastructure and recently released Ledger Live, which is their new desktop (and iOS) application for managing all of your coins. This is much better than their previous solution of using a chrome extension to access the UI, but Ledger Live is not without it’s quirks.
Overall, the UI is pretty clean and is pretty straight forward in terms of first time setup and detects your device when it’s plugged into the USB port and asks you to authenticate to view the app. The one thing most people don’t understand is the Ledger Nano S has very little RAM, so even though they advertise that it supports over 1,100 coins, you can only have approximately 8 or 9 coin apps installed at once on your device. You will want to make sure you choose your coins wisely and perhaps get multiple devices if you want to diversify and/or use a 3rd party wallet as mentioned above to manage more coins on the same device.
Bottomline: It’s not perfect, but it has made some good improvements over the last year and is continually updating it’s coin support. I will list below some of the coins that are supported on Ledger currently that are not yet available on other platforms, which brings it’s edge.
-Ripple (XRP)
-EOS (EOS)
-Tezos (XTZ)
-QTUM (QTUM)
-USD Coin (USDC) *Stable coin*
CONCLUSION
I realize that may not answer all of your questions or solve all of your problems, but it really just comes down to preference. If you already know what coins you plan to accumulate, then I would click the links under each section that has the “Newest Notable Coins Added” to a link to each coin supported by each wallet, currently. I use every single one of these and have different coins on each depending on what my needs are and what exchange I accumulate them from.
It might be a good idea to place your wallets in terms of “buckets”. What I mean by that is if you plan to trade and hold long term, perhaps it’s best to have one wallet for each purpose. This not only allows you to diversify, but it keeps things organized based on what your short term and long term goals are for accumulating and for accessing exchanges.
If you have any questions or comments on this post, please sound off below! I’d love to hear from you! Until next time…
Cheers,
The Crypto Renegade
NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links. This adds no cost to you but it helps me focus on giving as much value as possible in every single post by being compensated for recommending products that help people succeed.
