Breaking: Bitcoin drops below $5,00 as Bitfinex Tether (USDT) drama continues. Holy Smokes. What a whirlwind of a few hours it’s been for the cryptocurrency market. As Ethereum World News reported, iFinex, the operator of both Bitfinex Tether Limited (the firm behind USDT), had come under legal pressure from a key U.S. legal entity. For those who missed the memo, here’s a recap: 
A document unveiled by the New York Attorney General’s (NYAG) office on Thursday has revealed that iFinex, the company behind both Tether (USDT) and Bitcoin exchange Bitfinex, is being sued. Per a lawsuit issued by official Letitia James, iFinex Inc, which is the company behind the two aforementioned crypto startups, promoted the “issuance, distribution, exchange, advertisement, negotiation, purchase, investment advice, or sale of securities” in New York State, which is illegal without the proper licensing and documentation. The suit has also revealed that Bitfinex purportedly sent $850 million to a Panama-based company, failed to secure the funds later, and went on to raid almost $1 billion of Tether’s cash reserves to satisfy it’s customers.
As a result of this news, BTC fell immediately (and a lot of altcoins with it). Within 30 minutes of the news’ publishing, BTC dropped from $5,550 on Coinbase to a low of $4,950 — a collapse of just over 10% — as Crypto Twitter spread this harrowing pieces of news within minutes. Altcoins across the board followed suit, with USDT falling to $0.98 on a number of exchanges. But, now, some are coming to the conclusion that this isn’t the end of cryptocurrency per se, leading to a recovery in the Bitcoin price to $5,200.
BITFINEX RESPONDS, BUT TRADERS FLEE IN PANIC REGARDLESS
About an hour after this news hit the Wall Street Journal and other outlets, a Bitfinex staffer going by “Garbis” released a statement on the company’s official Reddit forum. The employee explained that Bitfinex’s “team is reviewing the documentation,” and a statement will be released on the matter in the coming hours. In spite of this response, which was deemed lackluster and meaningless by most, users are revealing that they are withdrawing all their capital from the (not so) popular crypto platform.
Eduardo, a Venezuelan Bitcoin enthusiast that works for Purse.io, revealed that while he isn’t selling his BTC, he is withdrawing “what little” he had off the platform. Many others in the community made similar remarks, posting images of their withdrawal requests — balances and addresses redacted of course — to show that they are now skeptical of Bitfinex’s dealings. It is unclear whether or not the exchange will be able to keep up with these withdrawal requests. If this continues, we may see a massive exodus.
BOTTOMLINE:
This just goes to show that it’s only a matter of “when”, not “if” exchanges will reveal some mishaps and people start to panic. You do not have these issues when you have a hardware wallet, and you can even keep your USDT on a KeepKey device, which I’ve been testing in their new unified beta platform. I strongly recommend visiting our “SHOP” page at the top to get one now directly from these companies. Just remember as Andreas Antonopolous said: “Not your keys, not your bitcoin”.
What do you think? Do you think Bitfinex has made a big mistake like this for the last time? Please let 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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Ledger Nano S Review: 7 Things You Need To Know Before You Buy (2020)
In this article, I will go into depth of the Ledger Nano S Review: 7 things you need to know before you buy it. The Ledger Nano S was the first (but definitely not the last) hardware wallet I ever bought, and the experience actually led me to create this website as I started learning more and more about crypto security.
It was the second hardware wallet that came on the scene after the Trezor One device and implemented a new security structure and a new form factor to try and compete directly with the only trusted hardware wallet at the time.
When the Ledger Nano S started picking up momentum, it was because they started adding altcoin support at a rapid pace. This was exponential as Trezor only supported native apps for Bitcoin, Litecoin and Dogecoin by the time that Ledger had over 20 native apps for alt coin support with hundreds of new coins that were already in development.
This was a HUGE deal at the time, and only picked up steam as the 2017 bull run started and people began accumulating a wide array of altcoins for speculative investment. Today, the other competitors have caught up pretty well for the same level of support, but the Ledger Nano S still has an edge for certain coins that are supported, and that is a HUGE reason that I use this device on a semi-weekly basis to this day. There has been lots of progress and development on the device itself, the massive altcoin support, and the introduction of Ledger Live. Lets check it out below!
WHAT IS A HARDWARE WALLET AND WHY DO I NEED ONE?
For those who are new to the cryptocurrency landscape, you may have heard that you need a hardware wallet. But, why? Well, when you receive your first bitcoin, whether it be in a mobile, desktop, or web wallet, you have the public key (your bitcoin address) and the private key (the secret key required to control (send/receive) your bitcoin. your PRIVATE KEY is the MOST important piece of this process, because without the private key, you do not own or have control of the coins in your wallet.
When you have your private keys connected to a “Hot Wallet” or a wallet that is directly connected to the internet, you run the risk of them being hacked or compromised. This is where hardware wallets come in. These are known as “Cold Wallets” or “Cold Storage” and has your private keys stored securely offline, so they are impervious to attack or compromise.
When becoming your own bank, this is a vital part of properly managing and securing your cryptocurrency. Hot wallets are good for everyday spending and ease of use (much like a fiat wallet you keep in your back pocket), but it is NOT ideal for longer term storage.
The Ledger Nano S is a very compact, sleek, and secure device that allows you to store over 1,100 cryptocurrencies at the time of this writing. This is crucial as more altcoins gain acceptance and you need a wide portfolio to protect longer term. Ledger takes their security very seriously and for good reason. There have been a number of exchange hacks and reports of people losing or having their wallets hacked by nefarious individuals throughout history. This is why having this device is so crucial.
Ledger Nano S is a device that is upgraded frequently with new features and firmware upgrades to ensure that it has the latest security protections and new assets being added every single month. Not to mention, it is currently the cheapest among the 3 best-known hardware wallet companies, starting at only $59 USD!
LEDGER NANO S REVIEW: HOW IS THE SECURITY?
The Ledger Nano S has an A-grade security setup which sets it apart from the competition. It uses a secure element which holds and stores the private keys in a separate and secure environment from the rest of the operating system. This ensures that if for any reason the rest of the device is somehow compromised, you precious private keys are safe.
It also supports the standards BIP-39 protocol that requires you to setup a recovery seed phrase of 24 words during the initial setup, that allows you to restore your coins to any other wallet in the event you have broken, lost, or somehow cannot gain access to the device itself, so you have a fail safe.
(PRO-TIP: If you lose, rip, tear, get wet, or otherwise destroy your recovery seed, you are in serious trouble. I would recommend obtaining a CryptoSteel device as a metal backup for your recovery phrase that protects you against a fire, flood, earthquake, or your brand new puppy. This is STRONGLY recommended if there is ANY amount of cryptocurrency you would be financially damaged by losing. This is a literal metal vault for your backup system)
Additionally, they have a proprietary operating system known as BOLOS (Blockchain Open Ledger Operating System) that allows developers certain access to develop applications and a framework for them to add support for a wide spectrum of coins and stacks for scaling up. It is built with security in mind and to work comprehensively with the secure element by ensuring there is a smooth delivery of sensitive data when making a transaction using the Ledger Nano S.
In my opinion, this is one of the most secure devices out there, as it has built in several security checks for every action taken on the device, and if those checks have not been successfully executed, it will not move on to the next phase, making it even more secure. To me, this extra attention of securing my private keys provides me peace of mind even with an entry level device.
WHAT MAKES THE LEDGER NANO S DIFFERENT THAN TREZOR OR KEEPKEY?
I get this question a lot, as I use all three of these devices on a regular basis. Not only is this device the smallest of the bunch, it is the only one that has a built in screen protector in the form of a polished aluminum cover for ensuring the OLED display avoid scuffs and scratches during transit. The smaller form factor is an advantage and a disadvantage. The disadvantage to me if not being able to see the full address in one place when verifying a transaction.
It does end up scrolling to reveal the full address, but that can be difficult if you are trying to verify letter for letter for confirmation. The advantage would be it’s very discreet and transportable. It slips easily into your pocket, or your keychain if you’re so inclined. But, the largest notable difference is the specific coin support you can’t get anywhere else on a hardware wallet.
As a HUGE advocate for privacy coins, I tend to favor these and accumulate them for personal investment and also private transactions, and as a result, I need a secure place to store them. To their credit, the other hardware wallets are working towards supporting these coins, but Ledger already has support for 2 of my favorite coins, Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC).
Ledger also supports Zcoin (XZC) and a few others as well. These are support by Ledger Live (which I will go over in a minute), which is the native dashboard for managing native applications for these coins which is very convenient.
Additionally, this is the only hardware wallet (currently) that supports Tezos (XTZ), which has a very bright future in my opinion. Tezos is a POS coin that has a new unique blockchain consensus that rivals Ethereum on a number of levels, and I personally believe will be a top 10 coin very very soon.
Not only that, when using Tezos you can “Stake” your coins while holding your private keys while ON the Ledger Nano S. This is HUGE, and is a main reason I use Ledger Nano S, since I like to participate in this process personally. No other hardware wallet has even announces plans for this kind of native support for this at the moment, which gives Ledger a massive edge over the other two in my opinion.
LEDGER NANO S DESIGN
I will keep this section short and sweet, as I addressed above, this is a sleek and compact device, which make its very stable and durable. It has a small OLED screen and 2 physical buttons. This is used for navigating apps, verifying your pin to access to the device, confirming a transaction, and generating the recovery seed words upon first time setup.
When entering in your PIN on the device, the right button will function as the “Up” arrow, and the left button the “Down” arrow for scrolling through your selections, then pressing both at the same time will confirm your selection, so it’s pretty intuitive. It has a one port which is micro USB that connects to a cable to a standards USB port that can be used on a MAC or PC.
CLICK HERE TO BUY THE LEDGER NANO S
LEDGER LIVE – IS THE UPDATE WORTH IT?
This was a MASSIVE upgrade from the chrome apps they were utilizing before. This new desktop app is very clean and seamless. They also have a new mobile app designed for use for the next generation product the Ledger Nano X (We will go over that in a future review) for wireless management. However, the desktop app is very clean and easy to navigate. The first thing once you connect and authenticate your device is a dashboard if you had already have an existing device, showing you your balances and charts on a single screen.
You can see your accounts on the left hand side, and you also see the “Ledger Manager” which is where you add and remove apps. When you perform any firmware upgrades, it requires you to delete the apps on your device (don’t worry your coins are safe) and you re-install them after it is done.
When you first plug in and install the app on your desktop, it will ask you if you want to setup a new device or if you have a device that is already setup and then have you authenticate with the PIN. It will then check for any updates or firmware upgrades that are necessary for you to view your account. Once you have access, it’s pretty easy to manage everything overall, and they have even introduced a way to “Buy Crypto” from such partners as “Coinmama” where you can purchase directly with a debit or credit card, and “Coinbase“, which you can do they same and also use your bank account directly via ACH.
There is also a pricing history dashboard built right in, thanks to an integration with “Kraken” and “Bitfinex“. This allows you to see trends and historical data, which may help you decide at-a-glance what you would like to do for managing your next transaction. Once you install an App, you can create multiple accounts and label them if need be, for managing and organizing your portfolio. The only one complaint I have with it, is if you do use a 3rd party wallet, like “MyEtherWallet“, you have to leave the app and manage your funds on a 3rd party site. Overall, all the native apps work beautifully, and they are adding new coins and assets all the time.
CONCLUSION – BOTTOMLINE
PROS:
-Very easy to setup if you have never used a hardware wallet before, you just need to download the desktop app from Ledger’s website and follow the prompts once you connect it for the first time.
-It’s the cheapest hardware wallet as of this writing at $59.00 USD. If you are just getting started and you only need a few coins to hold at once, this is easily the best intro wallet to keep your private keys stored offline.
-It has the widest range of native apps and newest coins being added all the time and being supported. You can click HERE to view their roadmap to see if your favorite coin is currently in development of being added to the platform.
-It is currently the only hardware wallet that natively supports Tezos (XTZ) and Monero (XMR) if you’re a fan of those coins and other privacy coins in general.
CONS:
-The screen is small and if you’re verifying your transaction address using the small screen, you have to wait for it to scroll, and then verify quickly the characters match before you can authorize the transaction. This is not ideal for a quick at a glance process to ensure the address you’re sending to on the app, matches what shows on your device (VERY IMPORTANT).
– You can really only hold 3 or 4 apps on the device at once. I originally only kept 3 apps on the device, as those were the only coins I needed to add at the time. However, when I went to add a 4th, it told me I needed to remove an existing app to make room. The RAM or space is on the device is very limited, so it’s good if you have only 2-3 coins you want to manage at once.
-They require you go through the process of removing and uninstalling all apps and then going in and reinstalling them for EVERY firmware update. This is tedious and really obnoxious for the serious hardware wallet user. I understand you need to have backups and be careful with every upgrade but c’mon, this is the only device I have this issue with.
As you can see, overall this a is a very solid entry level wallet with top notch security. I recommend if you are a brand new hardware wallet user and you are just dipping your toe into this large pond, this is your best bet. It has a clean, easy to follow interface and you can get started at the cheapest price of only $59.00 to start.
If you do not plan on holding MANY different coins at once on the same wallet, this is the wallet for you. Now, you can use 3rd party wallets to integrate it with, but that’s an entirely different learning curve. If you want to hold 3-5 coins to start and get it done simply and effortlessly, this is where I personally started and I recommend you start.
PURCHASE LEDGER NANO S FROM LEDGER’S OFFICIAL SITE
What do you think? Is there a better wallet you recommend for people getting started? Let me know in the comments below!
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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Craig S. Wright Gets Patent On Bitcoin White Paper And Code: Here’s Why It Doesn’t Matter
“Craig S. Wright Gets Patent On Bitcoin White Paper And Code” … This is what I read when I got out of the shower and I thought to myself. “How is this possible?” The code is open source, you can’t hold a patent on it. It turns out I am right and you cannot do that. This is an insane attempt to “prove” to the world that he is something that he is not.
As I learned after I read this, anyone can register for a patent, and in order to dispute it, you have to fight it in court. To clarify, the U.S. patent office does NOT recognize Craig S. Wright as Satoshi Nakamoto. This just means that he registers a file to be recognized as Satoshi (since no one else has before). You can read that article here.
PATENT ON BITCOIN -BREAKING NEWS: 5/21/19
Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed creator of bitcoin, has filed registrations with the U.S. Copyright Office supporting his claims of authorship over the original bitcoin code and the Satoshi white paper.
The registrations, which are visible here and here, pertain specifically to “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” and “Bitcoin,” meaning the original 2009 code.
To be clear, registration does not imply ownership nor is this an official patent. The copyright process allows anyone to register anything in an effort to prepare, say, for lawsuits associated to ownership.
Computer code and white papers can be copyrighted insofar as they are considered literary works and, as the copyright office writes: “In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work.”
In other words you, the reader, could register this post and I would have to fight you in court to contest it.
Jerry Brito, executive director at advocacy group Coin Center, tweeted:
“Jerry Brito@jerrybrito
Registering a copyright is just filing a form. The Copyright Office does not investigate the validity of the claim; they just register it. Unfortunately there is no official way to challenge a registration. If there are competing claims, the Office will just register all of them.
Neeraj K. Agrawal@NeerajKA”
Craig Wright filed a copyright registration for the Bitcoin whitepaper
WHAT’S THE VERDICT?
“People register things for a reason. They want to exploit it and they want the credit for it,” said David H. Faux, Esq., an intellectual property attorney in New York City. “Someone dishonest would register the Bitcoin white paper to put it on his website and get speaking engagements. But at some point it would catch up with him.”
“The market takes care of itself,” said Faux.
When asked for comment noted Wright critic Jameson Lopp said “LOL.”
UPDATE – WRIGHT WROTE:
“BTC is not bitcoin. Bitcoin is set in stone and does not change. Where there is a protocol change, there is developer control which is the exact opposite of what bitcoin is about. BTC is passing off as Bitcoin. It is an air drop copy that has been designed to slowly alter the protocol allowing the system to be anonymized to such an extent that criminal activity can happen. The goal is to create a system that allows people to commit crimes, extort money, have automated ransomware and worse. This is not the goal of Bitcoin.”
CONCLUSION
In the end, I don’t think anyone is going to recognize Craig as Satoshi, regardless of this filing. There is absolutely NO way that Satoshi would go through these measures to “prove” who he is, mainly because he came from out of nowhere, and then provided the world with a ton of value, and then disappeared. This was no accident. He created one of the most powerful, open source tools the world has ever seen and made it impossible for people to find him.
He believed in liberty,freedom, and democratizing power by undermining the the world governments and banks. Satoshi would never try to use these powers against the community it developed from the beginning. This is just a slap in the face to all the believers and early adopters who nurtured and cultivated this technology from the very beginning.
Do you think that Craig is Satoshi? Sound off below!
Cheers,
The Crypto Renegade
