Weexchange bitcoin chart
Hash rate is also used to measure how much computer power is securing a specific blockchain. Hodl This means to hold i. The term became popular in when a typo in a Bitcoin forum went viral. The public can pay for these tokens in an ICO and they are issued to participants later. Ll Ledger A record of transactions. Limit order An order placed by specifying both the amount and price at which you wish to trade. Depending on the price specified, the limit order might trade immediately against existing orders in the order book in that case it is a taker order , or it might itself be inserted into the orderbook waiting for other orders to trade against it in that case it is a maker order.
Mm Maker order This is either a limit buy order below the market price or a limit sell order above the market price. Market order An order placed by only specifying the amount you wish to trade. The order executes immediately at the best available rate in the market.
In other words, the market order matches with existing orders waiting in the orderbook. A market order is always a taker order. Mining The committing of computer hardware to process transactions on a blockchain Bitcoin or otherwise. Miners do this to receive mining rewards and profit.
Miner fee Miners earn block rewards when solving blocks. Over and above this miners also earn voluntary fees paid by people who wish to send coins. This incentivises miners to include transactions with the highest fees into blocks when the network is congested. For example, you have 5 people authorised to send Bitcoin from a MultiSig wallet but at least 3 of these 5 must approve a transaction before it is authorised. Nn Node A device with a copy of the blockchain on it that shares information with other nodes across the network.
The node does not necessarily mine digital currency but it does contribute to decentralisation and therefore security of the blockchain. All miners are nodes but not all nodes are miners. Oo Order An instruction to trade buy or sell via an exchange e.
More specifically, we exchange Bitcoin for local currencies, as on the Luno Exchange. Pp Private key A private key is a digital code, like a password, that is used to authorise digital currency transactions on a blockchain. This code, which should be kept secret, authorises the owner to send coins from a specific wallet.
Public key A public key is a digital code that uniquely identifies a wallet on a blockchain ; ie. This is the address you give to somebody who wants to send you digital currency. Rr Reward halving Approximately every four years, the rate at which new Bitcoin gets issued is halved. This is also why Bitcoin is thought of as deflationary. Ss Satoshi person Satoshi Nakamoto is the person credited with inventing Bitcoin. The identity of the inventor of Bitcoin is unknown.
Segregated Witness Segwit SegWit is feature of some blockchain protocols including Bitcoin and Litecoin , that moves a part of the transaction data out of the main block thereby reducing the effective size of transaction. It therefore allows more transactions to fit into into a single block without having to increase the size of the block. Smart contract A software program that is created on a blockchain and identified by an address.
Transactions on the blockchain can execute the contract in various ways, for example, by sending some digital currency or data to the contract's address.
If executed, a smart contract can, in turn, send more transactions or execute other smart contracts. Spread This is the difference or gap between the price of the highest buy order see bid and the price of the lowest sell order see ask. Lower spreads are a sign of a healthy or stable market. This order executes immediately, without waiting in the order book.
Token Generally, a token is a digital currency that is not backed by its own blockchain , and instead is provided by functionality of another currency's blockchain. For example, ERC20 tokens provided by smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. Transaction confirmation Roughly every ten minutes in Bitcoin , that is - other blockchains block times may vary , a new block is created and added to the blockchain through the mining process.
This block verifies and records any new transactions. Since subsequent blocks are linked to previous blocks, each subsequent block acts as a confirmation of its predecessors. For example, if a transaction was included in block , and the latest block is , the transaction is said to have 10 confirmations. In this way, transactions are said to have been confirmed by the Bitcoin network.
An extra layer of security, usually in addition to a password. Indeed whilst disciplined investors look to the wisdom of Graham and Buffett, late to the party cryptocurrency enthusiasts are finding investment advice in the Instagram feeds of Hilton, Foxx and Mayweather.
Bubble dynamics aside, there are a number of other concerns we have when it comes to Bitcoin, which make us question whether or not it really is the future of money, as some of its evangelists claim. If we could draw an analogy, we think many crypto-enthusiasts are mistaking the pipelines for the oil.
Any monetary instrument that lacks consistency is surely doomed to fail, as this is a fundamental prerequisite for a sound and widely acceptable monetary instrument. We also think that Bitcoin bulls will, by necessity, be sadly disappointed in its price trajectory if it truly is to become the primary form of money used in commerce , based on the historical long run real returns that gold has generated.
After all, economies would simply cease to function in any environment where money itself generates a greater return than enterprise.
Finally, whilst we are as supportive of free markets and competition as anyone, we find the whole idea of a world of competing cryptocurrencies absurd, at least if they are to be used as media of exchange and units of account. Indeed, taken to its logical extreme, the kind of world that crypto-enthusiasts imagine would in some ways be no more sophisticated than a barter system. Access our detailed report on Bitcoin, Dollars and Gold here: Author of two books on investing in gold and causes of the GFC.
Great article, If Bitcoin is money or equivilant or its competitor its hard to see Governments allowing it to be controlled by anyone but themselves. Could it become a world currency with its own exchange rate??
If its money can trillions be in a manner of speaking 'digitably printed' significantly reducing its value - I do not know. Is it possible that other organisations or countries will or can create their own versions of bitcoin. If is possible then watch out. If it is possible and no one is bothering then why? Does Bitcoin have patents or does it need patents??