There was a time when if you wanted to remind yourself to do something, there weren’t a lot of choices:
ask your spouse or a friend to remind you
put an entry into your paper based calendar
put up sticky notes where hopefully you see them
Now most of us have smart devices that travel with us everywhere we go. Just a look at the app store for either Apple or Google will give you tons of apps for task lists or reminders but every one of these devices has built in tools that help you ensure you don’t forget things.
The Reminders App
It comes with every iPhone. There are more advanced apps for tasks / reminders but the built-in one is very convenient, even if you use another one for managing your work projects and other complex tasks. I use Microsoft OneNote for planning out my tasks and projects but I have a suggestion for using the Reminders App for short term tasks. Let’s start with some examples we can all relate to.
This happens to me all the time. My wife puts in a load of laundry and asks me to switch it to the dryer. I will say, “sure, no problem”. And then I forget and there’s wet clothes in the washing machine in the morning. There’s a better way – set a reminder in the app. But just setting the reminder doesn’t make the clothes move to the dryer. By going into the details part of the task, I can set it to remind me at a particular time and day
But let’s say that I also want to make sure that not only do I switch the laundry at 9pm but that I do this at home. Most current phones are able to sense current location so just set it to Remind me at a location.
After entering your location, you can choose to be notified when you arrive there. This is perfect for the type of reminder that needs to get done when you arrive home, even regardless of the time. Yes, you can set it with a location and no time or date.
And now you can see the same reminder from above with both a time and date reminder plus location.
Calendar Reminders
I use Gmail for email and calendars. For long term reminders and all of my other appointment needs, I use Google Calendar. What’s an example of a long term reminder? Let’s say your passport expires next year. Set a calendar entry for a few months before. Google Calendar lets you set notifications like pop-ups and emails. As the view below shows, this calendar entry will pop up at the right time and also will send an email.
Final Thoughts
We all have too many things to remember, be it as simple as changing the laundry or renewing an important document. Use the right tool for the right job. So often I think I will remember to do something and then I forget. Every time I set one of the reminders listed here, it’s like having a friend who’s always there to tell you when to do important tasks. Technology isn’t necessarily the answer to everything. If you like having a paper calendar, use it. Just think about how the phone in your pocket can do things that the paper calendar can’t.
What are your top tools for reminding yourself? Is it technology or something else? Let us know in the comments!
In recent times, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have become a popular way of raising funds within the crypto ecosystem. Small startups with fully formed teams can convince the public to invest in their projects by buying their tokens, which act as shares.
In the past six years, there have been more than 1,500 ICOs within the cryptocurrency space, and more than $100 million has been raised in the first month of 2019. Due to the hype presented by this form of crowdfunding, many people are unaware of other methods of raising money for blockchain projects. One such method is the Initial Exchange Offering (IEO).
IEOs are a lot less popular than other crowdfunding methods but have a lot of advantages. In the case of an ICO, investor members exchange Ether (ETH), for the coin being offered. The Ether is sent to the smart contract of the development team and is used to develop the product, as pitched to investors. The responsibility of ensuring that everything goes as planned lies solely on the team behind the product. Initial Exchange Offerings, on the other hand, leave such obligations to the exchange where they are hosted.
What is an IEO?
An Initial Exchange Offering is a fundraising event that a cryptocurrency exchange facilitates on behalf of a token issuer. Usually, an issuer is a new project or investment venture that is offering a new cryptocurrency as an asset class, to raise capital for development.
To set up an offering, the issuer typically pays a listing fee as well as a certain percentage of the tokens sold during the IEO, which goes directly to the exchange. After payment, the exchange is expected to sell the new cryptocurrency offered by the issuer, as well as list it, even after the offering. Since exchanges stand to gain something from the arrangement, they usually play an active role in marketing the token to prospective investors.
Unlike ICOs, where investors send Ether to the developer’s smart contract, IEO investors are required to register and verify their profiles on the host exchange, then transfer their funds to their new accounts. They are also required to continue purchasing coins directly from the platform.
Usually, the arrangement between the token issuer and the exchange may depend on several variables, including:
The predetermined token sales cap per investor
A fixed asset price for the new cryptocurrency
The hard cap and soft cap
The percentage of tokens sold (ratio of sold vs. available)
A predetermined amount of funds for the exchange platform
Marketing costs of distribution and coverage
Why Choose an IEO over an ICO?
The blockchain scene is saturated with ICOs. On the surface, it seems like a successful way to raise funds, but developers cannot ignore the apparent problems with the model. There is a lack of trust on the part of investors as a result of ICO scams, fraud and money laundering.
Without the trust of investors, the chances of raising enough funds through this crowdfunding method reduce significantly. So how can Initial Exchange Offerings solve these problems for blockchain project teams? Simple:
Most projects are new, and this means that they do not have a vast network of users yet. As a result, it is more difficult for them to appear credible enough to win the trust of investors. IEOs allow these projects to tap into the user base of the exchanges involved.
IEOs prevent gas wars in which users boost the speed of their transactions by paying more gas (the transaction cryptocurrency, often Ether). Since the exchange handles all transactions, single speeds are uniform on their end.
When a project lists its cryptocurrency on an exchange during an offering, it means that investors can buy it only in those exchanges. This makes it harder for them to become victims of online buying and phishing scams.
IEOs act as a vote of confidence from the exchange to the project, and this boosts its credibility.
After the IEO, the project is automatically listed on the exchange without further stress on the part of the issuer.
Disadvantages
IEOs are not free, and token issuers pay listing fees that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some exchanges may even demand up to 10% of funds raised, as a part of the listing fee.
The use of an exchange places a geographical limitation on investors since most exchanges only cater to specific countries.
Issuers have to bear the cost of marketing themselves even if it will bring the exchange some exposure as well. These marketing costs can often run into hundreds of thousands of dollars as well.
How to Participate in an IEO
Participating in an Initial Exchange Offering is a safe and easy process depending on the digital currency exchange involved. It is also a lot less complicated than participating in an Initial Coin Offering and can be done in the following easy steps.
First, investors must check if an IEO will be issued for the project that they are looking to invest in. For most blockchain-related projects and startups, Initial Coin Offerings are the most common way to source for funds. So, it is important to ensure that the project is truly conducting an Initial Exchange Offering, to avoid being misled, especially in the case of new investors.
Next, anyone looking to participate in an Initial Exchange Offering must find out about its specific details. This includes knowing when and which exchanges it will take place on. Usually, IEOs can happen on several exchanges at once, but in a lot of cases, it is restricted to just one. This step is essential for two main reasons. Firstly, not every exchange is secure. Some of them have controversial security measures in place, and it is generally riskier to deal with the lesser-known platforms. Secondly, exchanges usually have verification processes that can range from hours to weeks, so investors must sign up early and be prepared.
After researching the exchanges involved, including security details, reliability, and verification process, it’s time to sign up. Cryptocurrency exchanges usually require information such as a name, email address, and password. In some cases, further details such as a country, along with supporting documents such as photographs, government-issued identification, and proof of residency are required as well.
Usually, Ether is the medium of exchange in both Initial Coin Offerings and Initial Exchange Offerings. Since most newly launched projects are composed of decentralized applications built on the Ethereum blockchain, most transactions occur in Ether. However, in some cases, a different cryptocurrency such as EOS or TRON is required. It is essential to find out the primary currency for the IEO and buy some of it.
After buying the transaction currency, investors should wait for the IEO to begin. From that point, all that’s left is to buy the issuer’s token on the exchange, just like any other token would be purchased.
Final Thoughts
Although Initial Coin Offerings remain a great way to crowdsource for funds from the public, the model is beginning to exhaust itself. With IEOs, it is easy to check for credibility. In the case of ICOs, it’s mostly down to blind luck due to regulatory uncertainty, past ICO scams, the unreliability of development teams, leading to non-fulfillment of promises, fraud, money laundering, the bankruptcy of many projects, and the lack of proper security. Hopefully, IEOs will rise out of the ICO frenzy, as a better way to raise funds.
I have previously written about my method for organizing digital photos and videos. Within the many folders are thousands of files, most of which have been manually renamed. This naming and tagging of photos is a process that I started when my son was born in 2002 and has continued ever since.
Each file is individually named to tell either who is in the photo or briefly where or what the photos is about
How to label photos and videos
After I have taken pictures at an event or at the end of a month, I copy all of the photos and videos from my phone or camera to a folder on my computer, let’s call it “incoming photos and videos”. From this folder, I then copy groups of photos and videos to folders based on the date and event. For example, in the view above, there are numerous events in June 2004 that are each in individual folders.
Within each folder, I then rename each file. I use a thumbnail preview in Windows Explorer or I use another program for managing photos. For years I used Google’s Picasa, which has now been discontinued. Even though Google no longer supports it, I often still use it for my viewing and renaming process.
A similar view from above but with Google’s Picasa software
Picasa, or most other photo management programs allows you to view a folder of pictures and easily make changes such as adjust brightness or rename. In Picasa, I can make the thumbnail views larger or smaller as needed.
Another convenient feature of Picasa is that I can filter what pictures I want to see. For example, I take a lot of photos with an iPhone. These photos and videos are always named in the form of IMG_. By typing “IMG_” into the search bar, I can see all the photos and videos that I have not yet renamed. Other cameras have their own naming format so this is a way to find non-renamed files.
By searching for a specific set of characters, you can find files not yet renamed
For years I have gone about the process of renaming files. Sometimes it’s a bit more complicated when there is a group of 20 people. For these photos I usually simplify the name to something like “group at lunch”. The numerous photos of about 1 to 5 people are very easy to handle, just name the file with their names.
The Power and Benefits of Renaming Photos
Earlier I showed how I could narrow down photos that haven’t been renamed by searching for them in Picasa. I could do the same in Windows Explorer or in any photo management software. The real power is in finding what I have renamed. A few examples.
For my kids’ birthdays, I often make my own birthday cards. I can search across years of photos to find old pictures of them. I can search for pictures of the kids with specific people. Of course, if you have several people with the same name, you will have to go through a bunch of pictures to find the right one but even this can be handled by naming the files with first and last names. The main benefit of this system is that it’s independent of any computer or software. I can start this process on a Mac and then move all my files to Windows. In 10 years I can move these photos to some new computer and it should be able to handle the thousands of folders and files.
What about just using the cloud?
Yes, I can put all the above mentioned photos into Google Photos and let it sort it out for me. Google will let me view photos in chronological order and put together albums. It’s even gotten smart enough to detect who people are and once I tag them it will find them in future photos. Isn’t that more efficient than my system?
Yes, it is more efficient on the surface but what happens if Google goes away in 20 years or starts charging huge amounts for the service? I can get all my photos and videos out of Google but in what format? I’ll have just a massive folder, or maybe set of folders with files. I don’t think that in 20 years I’ll want to start labelling 100,000 photos and videos!
To me, the eventual solution may not yet exist. I would like to see the best of both. A program that runs on my computer and lets me manage my photos in simple folders and files. Add into this a plug-in to something like Google that analyzes photos and automatically renames them based on who is in them or some other criteria. That would make the process more efficient and have long lasting value as there still would not be a tie in to proprietary software.
By now Ethereum is the second largest name in cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin and has gained a lot of traction from the blockchain communities as an instrumental blockchain to support further development projects.
Ethereum gained momentum in 2017, seeing its coin (ETH) price go up about 11,000% from $8 per ETH on January 1, 2017, to $900 by the end of the year. This has caused Ethereum to attract a lot of attention from new cryptocurrency buyers and blockchain programmers alike.
The draw behind Ethereum is that it basically enables and supports the development of dozens of new cryptocurrencies to solve various problems using its native blockchain protocol. This has led some in the cryptocurrency communities to dub it Blockchain 2.0.
While the experienced blockchain community is probably familiar with Ethereum, those that are new to the game and less tech-savvy are probably wondering what makes Ethereum so popular. This comprehensive guide will go through the fundamentals of Ethereum and help you understand what’s under the curtain for this major cryptocurrency.
Ethereum vs. Bitcoin
Since most beginning crypto investors and traders are moderately familiar with Bitcoin and how blockchain works, it can be helpful to compare a cryptocurrency to the way Bitcoin works.
To start with the similarities, both Bitcoin and Ethereum operate on distributed blockchain networks. Both are decentralized and have no central authority or central point of control. For each blockchain, miners support the network by verifying transactions to earn either Bitcoin or Ethereum as block rewards. Furthermore, both Bitcoin and Ethereum represent cryptocurrencies that are heavily traded on the crypto markets.
However, there are differences between the two. Ethereum’s co-founder Gavin Wood explains the high-level difference: “Bitcoin is first and foremost a currency; this is one particular application of a blockchain. However, it is far from the only application. Take a past example of a similar situation, e-mail is one particular use of the internet, and for sure helped popularise it, but there are many others.”
So basically, Ethereum is using blockchain technology for a different purpose than Bitcoin. Bitcoin uses the blockchain ledger to keep a permanent history of digital currency ownership, enabling an innovative method for peer-to-peer currency transactions.
Ethereum leverages the blockchain for running the programming code of an application. Developers utilize the Ethereum blockchain to built and support separate blockchains, so the Ethereum blockchain and Ether coins are used for paying transaction fees on the network.
What is Ethereum?
So what really is Ethereum?
Ethereum uses the blockchain to store application code and smart contracts rather than have the sole purpose be for recording transactional information. So instead of a decentralized platform for financial transactions, Ethereum is a decentralized platform where applications can be built.
So what this means for developers creating new blockchain applications is that instead of building their platform and blockchain network from scratch, they can use the framework and Ethereum network to support their application.
Ethereum provides value in a couple of primary ways. First is this notion of building decentralized applications on the Ethereum blockchain using their native programming language called Solidity. Under that framework, there are now hundreds of new businesses being built around decentralized applications developed on the Ethereum network.
The trend is that developers will leverage Ethereum to build their blockchain application, and issue a new cryptocurrency associated with their application. Most blockchain companies release these coins through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) where they typically raise funds in Ethereum and issue their tokens through the blockchain. The tokens that generated on the Ethereum blockchain are called ERC20 tokens.
Now that Ethereum has gained incredible traction for developers, there’s a growing list of well over 1,300 decentralized applications (dapps) built on Ethereum’s blockchain. We’ll go into some popular examples in more detail below, but running so many dapps on their network has its pros and cons, and sometimes there can be too much traffic that’s congesting the network. One notorious example was late last year when Cryptokitties quickly became massively popular and caused major slowdowns on the Ethereum network.
What is Ether?
The other primary way that Ethereum provides value to its blockchain network is through their token economics and how Ether coins are used in the system.
The Ethereum blockchain is a platform that intends to serve as a decentralized app store. This type of network platform needs a way to support the computational resources it takes to run a program of the app on the network. This is why Ether has value in the system.
Any decentralized applications operating on the Ethereum network needs to spend Ether coins to perform transactions on the blockchain. With so many applications and blockchain businesses running on Ethereum, this creates a lot of demand for Ether.
Additionally, when investors are looking to buy new tokens from an ICO, they often make that purchase using Ether coins. Another driver for the Ether coin’s value is that whenever investors or traders are buying and selling ERC20 coins using the Ethereum blockchain, they need to pay the transaction fee in Ether.
So every transaction on the Ethereum blockchain requires some Ether fees to reward the miners that are verifying the transaction. Ether is often referred to as the cryptocurrency that’s used as ‘gas’ to operate smart contracts and ‘fuel’ the Ethereum network. It’s similar to other cryptos like Bitcoin because a decentralized, open network of users controls Ether tokens.
So if a user is looking to make changes to an app on the Ethereum blockchain, they pay a transaction fee in Ether to compensate the network that is supporting the platform and processing the change on the blockchain. The amount of Ether it will take to complete a transaction on the blockchain is determined based on the required computing power and length of time to process.
How does Ethereum mining work?
Ethereum’s blockchain is based on Bitcoin’s protocol and design, meaning that it uses a Proof-of-Work (PoW) method of mining and supporting the network.
PoW is a technique that many of the first blockchain networks use to support the system by making it difficult, costly, and time-consuming to create a new block of data, but very easy for anyone else to take and verify that data. Effectively it makes it increasingly hard for the nodes on the network to run the computations and create new blocks of data and receive block rewards.
Ethereum uses the same PoW model as Bitcoin but developed the platform in a way so it can support much more than just asset transaction. For the nodes on the Ethereum network, this means they are responsible for maintaining the updated version of the Ethereum blockchain ledger, which tracks current information and status for each smart contract on the network, all the smart contract code and where it’s stored, and each user’s balance.
When new transactions are made using the Ethereum blockchain, that data is grouped by nodes or miners on the network to form a block of data, then chained together with the other blocks on the ledger to create the blockchain. To bundle together a group of transactions, miners use their computing power to solve the computational challenge as quickly as possible to be the block creator and receive the reward.
The trick with PoW mining systems, like Ethereum’s, is that the more powerful a computer, the better chance it has of solving the mathematical challenge quickest and being chosen for the new block. A lot of miners around the world compete for block creation and validation on the Ethereum blockchain network because Ethereum’s coin has been rising in value and every time they add a block to the chain new Ether tokens are generated and awarded to the miner.
This makes miners the backbone of the Ethereum network, along with most other blockchain networks, and especially those that use a PoW mining model to support the network.
Who is Vitalik Buterin?
Vitalik Buterin has gained a lot of fame and popularity for his status as the guy behind Ethereum. As the story goes, Vitalik was a programmer from Toronto who was introduced to Bitcoin in 2011 and saw the immense potential of blockchain technology.
That same year, Vitalik started Bitcoin Magazine which served as an online media platform for information on blockchain and cryptocurrencies. But along the way, he saw the possibilities for blockchain technology past merely creating the perfect ledger of transactions. He dreamt of the idea behind Ethereum that would send blockchain far past the financial use cases of Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
Vitalik released the Ethereum white paper in 2013 that described his proposed blockchain platform designed to support any type of decentralized application that developers could think of building.
To get funding for the project’s development, Vitalik and the other co-founders launched an ICO to raise funds in 2014. Participants in the ICO bought Ether coins to support the development. In total, they raised more than $18 million and released the first version of the platform about a year later in 2015.
What are smart contracts?
While Bitcoin is aiming to unlock new opportunities in the global financial networks, Ethereum is looking to do the same with the global computational networks using smart contracts. Smart contracts are scripts of code that deploy on the Ethereum blockchain.
Developers create this type of contract on the Ethereum blockchain using a language called ‘Turing complete’ and providing a set of instructions to be computationally carried out. Smart contracts can set parameters so that any funds deposited into an account can only be withdrawn when all parties involved agree by consensus.
Another practical example of the use of smart contracts is if two people are trying to carry out an agreement. If someone is renting a car, the contact can outline that the digital keys will be automatically released once payment is received. The smart contracts sort of work on an ‘if-then’ approach, so if the renter doesn’t pay the agreed price, the keys aren’t released, and the network automatically generates a refund.
Smart contracts are simply programs on the blockchain that are executed according to how the programmer developed them. Smart contracts can also act as records or registries and digitally store membership details or identification information on the blockchain.
Here are some of the key benefits of using smart contracts:
Autonomy: Smart contracts don’t rely on third-party confirmation to execute the agreement. This reduces the danger of the contract being manipulated by a third party because the network manages execution of the contract instead of other parties who might have a bias or implement the contracts with errors.
Backup: The blockchain is designed to be distributed across the network to ensure that the document is duplicated many times over, so there is no risk of losing it through one central point of failure.
Speed: Smart contracts use software code to automate tasks, which streamlines efficiency and helps companies implement faster agreements. Using smart contracts helps automate several key parts of an agreement process and make for quick, reliable transactions.
Smart contracts are still fairly new technology, but they have a vast range of application is the world’s voting systems, global supply chains, health and medical records, financial systems, and more.
What are decentralized apps?
So now we have a basic understanding of smart contracts and how they can be used in a blockchain network to create an innovative type of agreement. The Ethereum network uses these smart contracts in the development of decentralized applications on the blockchain.
Traditional applications are well-known to most users who download apps from the App Store on iPhone or Android. Apps allow users to perform unique functions like checking bank account balances, scrolling through a news feed of friend’s pictures, or even play their favorite card game.
Dapps follow the same concept. However, it runs on a platform supported by a network of nodes instead of a central group. This allows for several benefits and advantages over our traditional apps.
Tamper-Proof: Ethereum benefits from the properties of blockchain technology meaning that it’s resistant to third-party tampering. Dapps can deploy on the network without worry of an unauthorized third party hijacking control. Furthermore, the blockchain is built using a principle of consensus, so that all nodes and users of the network are required to agree on each change before it’s executed. This helps mitigate the potential fraud and corruption of the network.
Decentralized: The Ethereum platform also has the key blockchain principle of decentralization. There is no single point of failure for the network, meaning the applications hosted on the network never fail or go offline. This also has security implications that protect the network against possible hacking attempts.
Open Source: Users can look at the dapp’s source code on both the back end and front end. This means there is no code ‘hiding under the hood’ that’s running extra functions that may not be beneficial to the user.
No Downtime: Because dapps run on a network of nodes supporting the blockchain, there is no one point of failure that can take the entire application down and offline. That means the application’s service is always operating and functional, mitigating the risk of system crashes and failures.
Easy Implementation: Dapps built on the Ethereum blockchain provide a lot of value for developers because they don’t have to go out and build a blockchain application from scratch. Instead, the framework exists through the Ethereum protocol and helps save developers precious time and effort when trying to create a new application. Then to use the Ethereum’s decentralized network, the dapps directly pay the network transaction fees in Ether.
Which cryptocurrencies use Ethereum?
With all this talk about decentralized applications using the Ethereum blockchain, there are several notable examples of cryptocurrencies that have their underlying blockchains running on Ethereum.
Some of the cryptocurrencies you may have heard of, but it gives a proper scope of what types of applications can be built and operated on a decentralized blockchain platform like Ethereum.
Golem: Golem is a global decentralized supercomputer that combines the computing power of all machines on its network. Users of the Golem ecosystem can loan out spare and unused computer resources to others who need the additional power to perform complex computations and tasks. Using the same model that brought Uber and Airbnb success, this is a way to capitalize on unused resources to make some extra money.
Augur: Augur is a decentralized prediction market built on the Ethereum network. Using Augur’s prediction market, users can bet on outcomes of future events to receive monetary rewards and prizes. The less likely an event is to occur, the more significant potential reward users can earn predicting its success. Augur uses a method called “The Wisdom of the Crowd” from the various predictors on their platform to create predictive data in real time that can often have higher accuracy than leading experts on a particular subject.
Civic: Civic is an identity management service built on the blockchain that allows users to control protect the use of their identity. Each time you are required to prove your identity, you go through the same authentication process over and over. However, Civic’s ID management enables users to verify their identity data once and then reuse that authentication in other places that acknowledge Civic identification.
OmiseGo: OmiseGo, or OMG, acts as a decentralized blockchain gateway and platform for high-value transactions and settlements. Their goal is to solve inefficiencies within the financial systems to allow for lower cost and higher volume transactions, such as payments, payroll deposits, B2B commerce, asset management, supply chain activities, or loyalty programs.
Storj: Storj is an open source, decentralized solution for file storage that uses encryption and file sharing, along with their blockchain hash table to store files using their peer-to-peer network. Storj is using blockchain technology to make cloud storage faster and cheaper.
Are there disadvantages with Ethereum?
Ethereum has been a game-changing blockchain platform and led to a whole new direction and vision regarding blockchain use cases. However, like most things, there are pros and cons when it comes to Ethereum’s blockchain network.
So what are the potential disadvantages and downside of Ethereum and the future of its blockchain?
Well, just to give a little more credit, because Ethereum has been revolutionary in the blockchain community, they have secured the second spot among cryptocurrencies about the total market cap. Aside from the ultra-popular Bitcoin, Ethereum is the largest cryptocurrency in the space. They have a huge developer community, a massive and broad-reaching media and PR team, along with global distribution and a dispersed group of strong advocates.
But the Ethereum blockchain has been running up against some of the same troubles as Bitcoin lately, and that’s the scalability issues.
What we mean by scalability issues is that in the current state of the Ethereum blockchain, it wouldn’t be able to support a large enterprise level dapp. The way it’s structured now, the platform can only support around 15 transactions per second on the blockchain, which as we know is shared among the entire network of dapps running on the platform. To put this in perspective, Visa alone processes tens of thousands of transactions per second.
So while Ethereum is supposed to act as an operating system for dapps to run on, the practical functionality is limited to larger entities and projects. You can think of it like Apple making an iPhone that isn’t able to make a call or have the phone app, or a Windows system that isn’t capable of running an Excel spreadsheet.
This is where that notion of network congestion really comes into play. The Cryptokitties example mentioned above is just one horror story of how something so trivial in the grand scheme of things can have a major ripple effect throughout the entire Ethereum network. You can think of the Ethereum network like a single lane highway with traffic jams along the way when what’s indeed needed is a major multi-lane interstate highway to allow larger enterprises to use the existing blockchain framework for their applications.
Even with the current unscalable model, people surrounding the Ethereum blockchain know these concerns. The scalability issues aren’t a huge secret, but the supporting community assumes that it will get fixed.
While the core Ethereum development team has been working hard to resolve the scalability concerns for a while now, they’ve provided multiple proposals to the community, and nothing has gained much traction. They haven’t been able to put together and agree on a concrete plan going forward to solve the core scalability problems.
One recent development towards scalability is Ethereum’s new proposed consensus mechanism called ‘Casper.’ The objective behind this proposal is to move Ethereum from a Proof-of-Work to a Proof-of-Stake model. We discussed how the PoW method of mining and supporting the network requires lots of computing power and this is the core reason behind the scalability issues.
All blockchains operating on some form of Proof-of-Work model will eventually run into issues with scaling the network once it reaches a certain usage point. However, moving to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) might be able to alleviate some of the scalability issues. PoS provides an alternative way to process transactions on the blockchain, allowing miners to earn block rewards based on the number of coins they hold. So the larger coin stake a node has, the better chance they have of mining the block and getting a more substantial reward.
The ongoing issue for Ethereum is that they don’t even have a unified direction for Casper or the implementation of a new consensus mechanism. There are competing versions from a couple of prominent Ethereum developers that are supported by various groups within the Ethereum community. And neither proposed solution has a roadmap of timelines outlined.
When it comes to the Ethereum blockchain, there is a good reason to be skeptical of the potential application. At the very least, expectations should be tempered about major organizations and enterprises jumping on the blockchain bandwagon and using the Ethereum platform. It could very well end up that Ethereum is a great platform for issuing ERC20 tokens and providing a launch pad for small-scale applications.
How to invest in Ethereum?
The most convenient way to invest into Ethereum and buy Ether tokens is through a crypto exchange. If you are brand new to the world of cryptocurrency, and you’re considering buying Ethereum, Coinbase is one of the easier exchanges to work with and will take fiat payment in exchange for Ether tokens.
There are plenty of other great crypto exchanges to use if you’re looking to buy Ethereum. A few other popular ones are:
If you’ve purchased Ethereum on one of the crypto exchanges above, you will want to properly store your Ethereum coins to keep them secure and off of the crypto exchange account. This means sending the Ethereum from your crypto exchange wallet to a separate crypto wallet you control.
The good news is there are plenty of crypto wallets that support Ethereum coins. Furthermore, if you start to take a more in-depth look at the applications built on the Ethereum platform, you might consider investing in those cryptocurrencies as well. Various crypto wallets support all Ethereum related tokens, called ERC20 tokens.
One great example is MyEtherWallet. Also commonly referred to as MEW, MyEtherWallet is a web interface that supports Ethereum and ERC20 token storage. Because Ethereum has over 1,300 applications running on the network, MEW makes it easy for users to store all related tokens and cryptocurrencies in one location and wallet.
Other wallets that support Ethereum are:
Ledger Nano: Ledger nano is a hardware wallet that focuses on security, so beginners should be aware of the required two-factor authentication for an extra layer of security. This wallet stores your Ethereum, as well as other cryptocurrencies, on a small flash drive device.
Trezor: Trezor is a hardware wallet and great for storing large amounts of cryptocurrency or Ethereum. The wallet interface is easy to use, and desktop versions are available too.
Exodus: Exodus is a great desktop wallet and supports Ethereum along with many other coins. The user interface is great for new users, and they have a simple guide explaining how to back-up their wallet. One neat feature is in-wallet trading to convert between the variously supported cryptocurrencies.
Jaxx: Jaxx is a crypto wallet that was created by Ethereum’s co-founder Anthony Diiorio in 2014, and supports Ethereum and a wide range of other cryptos. Jaxx is available in the desktop version, mobile application, and as a web browser extension.
Is Ethereum the right investment for you?
We’ve made it through a lot of information detailing Ethereum, its blockchain, its cryptocurrency, and how it all works together. By now you get the basics of how Ethereum is blockchain platform that enables other blockchain projects to become a reality.
It could be argued that without Ethereum, there wouldn’t be the incredible amount of cryptocurrencies on the market today. The enablement of creating ERC20 tokens has allowed new blockchain businesses to pop up and get a running start using the existing infrastructure through Ethereum.
Of course, the ramifications of this approach are two-fold: plenty of innovative and exciting projects are being built and launched through the Ethereum platform, but there is also the potential for bad actors to easily and quickly develop and release ERC20 tokens that have no purpose other than to attract dumb money from novice cryptocurrency traders. That’s why it’s so important to understand the business and use cases behind the tokens you purchase, especially for ERC20 tokens.
When it comes to Ethereum and Ether coins as a potential cryptocurrency for your portfolio, there are several factors to consider. While this isn’t investment advice for investors or traders, several factors that should impact your investing decision.
The first is that Ether coins have purpose and functionality within the Ethereum ecosystem and blockchain network. As mentioned above, Ether is like the gas that fuels the system. All participants need to use Ether to use the underlying blockchain that supports all of the applications.
This gives Ether a lot of value because, without Ether, these other applications wouldn’t be able to function. So it’s easy to see one area of defined value for owning Ethereum based on the cryptocurrency’s necessity for other cryptos and blockchains to exist.
The flip side of that argument is that the Ethereum platform itself is limited, and might not be used at the same rate in the future for developing dapps. If larger organizations aren’t able to leverage the Ethereum framework, they will probably opt for another blockchain platform, or put in the effort and build their own.
There is a realistic chance that the development team isn’t able to figure out the scalability issues and the network congestion problems for Ethereum only get worse. Without solving scalability, the future of Ethereum’s potential is quite limited. We’ve already seen some blockchain projects opt to build elsewhere to avoid the congestion problems.
So potential investors that are considering buying Ethereum need to look at both sides of the coin here and decide if Ethereum is the right cryptocurrency investment.
Who are Ethereum’s competitors?
Also before buying into Ethereum, potential investors should look at the various competitors in the market that are vying for Ethereum’s place as a blockchain platform for decentralized applications. Several projects are trying to succeed where Ethereum falls short and innovate on the concept of Blockchain 2.0.
NEO: NEO is often referred to as the Chinese Ethereum because they also offer a platform for smart contracts and applications to be built on the blockchain. NEO has gained a lot of momentum in China, and Chinese blockchain developers are using their platform for their new projects. NEO has more scalability than Ethereum and can process close to 1,000 transactions per second. They also support multiple programming languages like the popular C# and Java.
EOS: EOS aims to combine the security aspects of Bitcoin and the dapp support of Ethereum to provide a more scalable platform. This includes features like shared databases, built-in authentication systems, account recovery mechanisms, and decentralized storage and hosting. Changes are facilitated through a community voting process to gain a network consensus.
WAVES: Waves is another platform that allows developers to create tokens on the network for their application. The Waves platform has started to become recognized as one of the more accessible blockchain platforms for new businesses to launch an ICO or token. The Waves platform works on a Proof-of-Stake model where nodes with 10,000+ tokens are relied on to support the network.
Final Thoughts
Ethereum is a foundational blockchain platform that has set the stage for a lot of innovation in the cryptocurrency space. Vitalik and team took the concept of Bitcoin and applied it to a multitude of other use cases.
Now other blockchains have subsequently seen the problems with the Ethereum platform, and are trying to build upon its success and improve the value of their application-building protocol. It remains to be seen if these other blockchain platforms can upend Ethereum as the go-to platform for new dapps to be built.
But the limitations of Ethereum are well noted. There are plenty of other competitors in the marketplace. Ethereum’s development team is trying to maintain their top dog status, and for now, they are still dominating the marketplace for new applications. Ethereum probably had its best days behind it, but the good news for the blockchain industry is that innovation is happening all around and Ethereum serves as a great jumping pad for new platforms and applications alike.
You might be somewhat familiar with the idea of blockchains, or you might have only heard of the phrase in passing (or you might not have any idea what a blockchain is but thought the article title sounded more interesting than the topic currently being discussed in the meeting your supervisor is making you sit through…). Either way, there are still a lot of questions that you probably have.
What is a blockchain?
How does a blockchain actually work?
Are blockchains really as secure as they claim to be?
Can you invest in blockchain itself?
What is the advantage of blockchain?
Maybe you’re getting more involved and want to delve deeper into the exciting and fascinating world of blockchains. In that case, your questions might be more advanced like:
What programming language is used for blockchains?
Is blockchain open source?
Is blockchain hackable?
Are there other use cases for blockchain beyond bitcoin storage?
Will blockchain change the world?
No matter what your string of queries, the best place to find the answers is always the internet. There are thousands and thousands of videos out there explaining the definition, uses, and inner workings of the blockchain.
I know what you’re thinking. Great! Let’s sift through thousands of videos to find the ones that actually make sense, answer your questions, and give over the information you want in an appealing manner. If that doesn’t sound as much fun as a barrel of monkeys (why would a barrel of monkeys be fun anyway?!), then you’re in luck.
Since we know how interested our readers are in the topic, we’ve aggregated the best videos from across the web that talk about blockchains. From the straight-up definition to the more advanced jargon that most of us will never really understand, check out the 5 most useful blockchain videos out there to help you get started down the path of blockchain wisdom.
Great Blockchain Video #1: What is blockchain? CNBC Explains by Tom Chitty
And here’s why: It gives you all the important information you want to know, starts from the beginning, and explains the entire concept well
There are a lot of blockchain for beginners videos. You’ll recognize them by the names like, what is a blockchain, blockchain explained, or blockchain for beginners. The truth is, though, that most of these videos take a lot for granted, assume you know more than you actually do about the topic, or don’t really explain the concept in a practical way.
And that’s why this CNBC exclusive done by Tom Chitty is our first recommendation for anyone who is just starting out on the learning journey to blockchain technology. If you can understand the accent and overlook the poor wardrobe choices, then you can actually learn a ton from this explanation video. Chitty goes through the ABCs of blockchains, showing the negatives alongside the positive uses for blockchains. He also shows you exactly how it works, why it is so secure, and what future applications might be possible for this technology.
The CNBC video also takes you through the benefits and possible financial ramifications that are involved in embracing this technology. All in all, Chitty does a great job of explaining a complex topic and gives you a lot of food for thought.
Great Blockchain Video #2: New Kids on the Blockchain by Lorne Lantz
And here’s why: Practical ways people are currently putting blockchain to good use and how they will even more so in the future
Aside from the fact that this is a TED talk, which automatically makes it amazing, Lorne Lantz explains exactly how blockchain works quickly and eloquently. He then moves on to break down how blockchain works within the bitcoin universe, something that most people are curious about. Finally, Lantz illustrates how blockchain can be used in other instances. This is not only fascinating, but it is a great way to educate the public about how this brilliant technology can be utilized in the future and within our day-to-day interactions.
Great Blockchain Video #3: Understand the blockchain in two minutes by Institute for the Future (IFTF)
And here’s why: It’s fast and easy to watch but surprisingly thorough for a two-minute video
We all want to know more about various topics like cybersecurity, the effect of drug and alcohol combinations, or depression and prevention. But let’s face it, we’re lazy! And what’s more, our attention spans are shorter than Michael Jordan’s laughable attempt at becoming a baseball star. For this reason, I am highlighting this video from IFTF.
The Institute for the Future does snapshots of interesting topics, trending concepts, and technological advancements that they deem worthy of a closer look. This video on blockchain is just two minutes long, but somehow it manages to explain everything you really need for a cursory understanding of the topic (and even a little more). So, if you’re already antsy just from reading this intro, check out the IFTF blockchain video (you can watch it double speed if you’re that strapped for time!).
Great Blockchain Video #4: How the blockchain will radically transform the economy by Bettina Warburg
And here’s why: Food for thought on a more advanced technology that is offering a safer and more reliable forum for value exchange
Whether you’re a conspiracy theorist, a budding financial mogul, or just someone who thinks it’s really cool to see entire empires brought to their knees by the unlikely underdog (think David and Goliath or Spartans against the Persians), this is a must watch video. Bettina Warburg explains briefly how throughout history we have used various methods to exchange values within our societies. From protection to fish and coins and now to the more advanced banks and digital currencies, the world has always had its way of trading valuables for desired goods.
In this video (yep, another TED talk), Warburg takes us through the process of how blockchain is the next chain in the evolution of value exchange. She expertly breaks it down, so you can see how this makes sense on a sociological, economic, and technological level. What’s more, she demonstrates how blockchain is the safest, easiest, and most reliable method we have come up with yet.
So basically, Warburg’s video shows viewers how blockchain is like a solid, unbreakable safe, which makes it more trustworthy and evergreen than any other transaction method that came before it. I don’t want to spoil the video for you, so just watch it for yourself.
Great Blockchain Video #5: Blockchain: Massively Simplified Richie Etwaru
And here’s why: A fabulous twist
This video starts off seemingly like all other beginner’s guides to blockchain. It talks about the early days of the internet (those dark times of dial-up modems and even earlier ARPAnet packet switching technologies) and quickly fast forwards to show you how kickass technology has become (as if we needed a video to tell us that).
All very interesting stuff, but nothing new. And then Etwaru does something that nobody else we’ve seen so far attempt. He takes blockchain and explains how it can bridge a gap that no other technology has been able to traverse, a gap that is so fundamental to human interactions and our society as a whole that it’s truly a marvel that we’ve gotten this far in history without having a more reliable failsafe for it.
In this video, Etwaru explains that inventions are all about bridging gaps in our society, world, and lives. He then continues on illustrating how blockchain bridges the gap of trust, one of the most core and necessary element of our society, one that holds trillions of dollars on its wobbly shoulders. With his mesmerizing voice, witty personality, and mind-blowing revelation, Etwaru really blows the top off of this simplified concept. And that’s what makes his video on blockchain really stand out.
Blockchain Explained, Expanded, and Explored
So, there you have it. Sure, you could sit there for hours and hours watching video after video, sifting through the crap and suffering through the clunky terminology, but why bother? We’ve rounded up the cream of the crop, the best videos out there, the ones that’ll give you the biggest bang for your buck. In fact, if you just watch these five videos, you’ll:
Know all the basic information about what blockchain is, how it works, and what it’s used for
Be able to hold your own in a conversation that is arguing the different sides of blockchain
Have some interesting ideas to help stir up controversy when everyone’s talking about this technology at the office water cooler, at your next family barbecue, or this Thursday night at the bar
Just generally sound like a smartass because you know more about an interesting topic than almost anyone else in the room
Of course, if you are a real newbie to the blockchain concept, then here’s some quick information to warm you up to the subject and to ensure you don’t sound like a complete idiot the next time the subject comes up.
Blockchain is an online database that can be accessed by anyone and from anywhere in the world (provided you have an internet connection)
Blockchain is decentralized, which means its ledger is shared on every computer around the world, so it has no single central location
Blockchain can be added to by anyone, but once a record (or block of information) is created, it cannot be tampered with, changed, or deleted
Bitcoin is NOT the only use case for blockchain technology. In fact, it’s just the beginning baby! From banking to cybersecurity, crowdfunding, Internet of Things, and healthcare, blockchain has so many real-life applications.
Now that you’ve got all this information in your head, knowledge is power. So, get out there and do the best thing anyone can do with a boatload of interesting information; flaunt it in front of your friends.
On a cold afternoon in January, my daughter Emma attempted to log into Google Classroom to work on an assignment. Google Classroom is like a document management system. The primary purpose of classroom is to streamline the process of sharing files between teachers and students. The only problem was the system was down and she couldn’t access her files. As we put more of our data into the cloud, we rely more on having access to get our critical work done.
what my daughter saw when attempting to do her homework
How did we get here?
When I first starting using computers in the late 1980’s, everything I worked on was on my computer. There were some online services such as CompuServe but this was mostly for viewing online content like news or discussion forums. As time went on, people started getting onto the Internet in the early 1990s and the first cloud based services that became popular were e-mail, such as Hotmail and Yahoo Mail. This has continually expanded over time and now with our files stored in Dropbox and Google Drive plus school based systems like the previously mentioned Google Classroom, we rely on these services to be up and running.
What do I do when my cloud service is down?
Ironically, one of the benefits of cloud based services is that they are generally more robust and reliable than relying on your computer. The good news generally about these outages is that these systems don’t stay down for long because of the high availability built into them. Unlike your computer that has one hard drive and one power supply, these systems are built so that the failure of one component doesn’t take down the whole system. Still, outages do happen.
One of the ways to deal with outages is a form of prevention. Let’s take Dropbox as an example. You can access Dropbox files through other web based services. One of the key features of Dropbox is that you can install it on your computer so that the files sync there. Even if the online service is down, your files are still there and available to be edited. They changes will be synced when the service comes back online.
In that case of Google Classroom, it’s a bit more complicated. Much of this service has an online-only capability. Still, there are ways to work within this system. If you’re working on a document that is within Google classroom, export a copy to Word and send it to yourself. If this is something of a time sensitive matter, then having another copy means you can work on it and then merge the changes back to the main system before handing it in.
In the case of Emma finding that Google Classroom was down, she was lucky. It came back up later on Sunday and she was able to finish her work. Back when I was younger, a common excuse was “my dog ate my homework” which would now be replaced with “Google was down”. Still, with some advanced preparation, you can be ready for those times when the cloud isn’t up and running.
A few years ago we purchased refurbished Dell laptops for the kids to use. There are often great deals on these gently used computers and for teenagers who are using them for homework and some games, they are more than sufficient. But adding a couple of Chromebooks to our family gave them what they were looking for.
Solving a Problem
Many schools today are using Google Classroom as a means of working on and sharing content in class and may be accessed from any internet connected computer. The problem we encountered was that of computer size and battery life. The Dell laptops were not that big but they were somewhat bulky and the battery lasted only a few hours. I looked at buying larger batteries but these just added more bulk to the laptop and wouldn’t make it more likely for the kids to want to take it to school.
Another issue taking the laptops to school is that they have all types of data stored on the computer and even though I am a big proponent of storing data on the cloud and backing up, they’re kids and I can just see something breaking on the laptop and they lose something that is important. If only there was a way to send them to school with a laptop that…
didn’t store anything locally
was lightweight to carry
had all day battery life
didn’t cost a fortune to buy
Well, here comes a Chromebook to the rescue!
Black Friday sales to the rescue
I was browsing the Black Friday sales in November 2018 and came across a Chromebook from Staples. Unlike the price shown below, it was $190 plus tax. Even $279.99 for a laptop that meets the above mentioned problems is a good deal. At the sale price, I picked up two.
So, what exactly is a Chromebook?
A Chromebook is a laptop computer that runs Google’s Chrome OS operating system. Important to note is that a Chromebook will not run Windows and MacOS software. Chromebooks are intended to be connected to the internet and store data on cloud based sites such as Google and Dropbox, among many others.
If you’ve used the Chrome web browser then you already know the look and feel of a Chromebook. Even if you have never used Chrome, it’s easy to get accustomed to working with a Chromebook.
But I don’t have kids, should I get a Chromebook?
A Chromebook makes a great companion to your regular laptop or desktop. If you’re just checking email and browsing some websites while travelling or even sitting on your couch, a Chromebook can more than meet your needs. Lots of software runs online now, including Google Docs and Microsoft Office 365. This means that you can still do work in a word processor or a spreadsheet using only a Chromebook. I will say that these online versions are more limited than something like the full version of Microsoft Word or Excel but you may find that the features you need are more than covered by a Chromebook.
Chromebooks come in numerous configurations and sizes so it’s best to search online or go visit your local computer store for more information. They all work the same way, but some have larger screens and even touch screens.
Great, I’m tossing my Windows laptop and buying a Chromebook
Not so fast. If you have software that you use on either Windows or Mac plus lots of files such as pictures and documents, you may still want to hang on to your main Windows or Mac computer. At this time, a Chromebook is a great companion to a primary computer. If you store your files in the cloud, then accessing them from the Chromebook is easy. There are some people who could use a Chromebook as their only computer. If you have your email online and don’t work with any programs loaded on your computer, it’s possible that a Chromebook could be your only computer.
How my kids are using Chromebooks now
It’s been a few months and I would say that the Chromebook purchases are a big success. Both kids bring their Chromebooks to school on a regular basis. They don’t even have to charge them every day which means the battery life is more than adequate. They can access all the Google resources for school and I discovered that they both use Google Docs for a lot of their projects and other work.
We’re getting closer to a time when everything will be easily accessible in the cloud and we just need a device to connect to it. Chromebooks are a solid first step in a cloud based world and I expect we’ll be seeing more of this type of computer.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have demonstrated the application of blockchain technology for new forms of money and currency. They store transactions as digital packs of data within blocks. However, there is no reason this data cannot extend beyond financial data. In theory, any form of data can be stored on a blockchain.
Over the past several years, there has been a keen interest in how we can use blockchains for storing documents. There are many reasons you might want to store documents or hashes of documents on a blockchain, and multiple ways to do this. Various projects are currently innovating around this idea, each proposing different methods with different trade-offs.
Why Use a Blockchain Anyway?
Throughout 2017, there was a huge amount of hype around the applications of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.
These expectations were often focused on projects with grand promises and little proof of concept. As a result, the reality did not match the hype, and many of them have yet to attract users to their products.
In contrast, document storage is a much drier and less exciting application. However, it is deliverable, with multiple improvements over existing document storage systems.
Tamper Resistance
Immutability is perhaps the most important benefit a blockchain provides. Cryptographically linked blocks provide a record immune from tampering. This tamper resistance is highly effective in preventing the counterfeiting of documents and document fraud. If you cannot store the actual document on the blockchain due to file size limitations, then even storing a hash of the document makes a lot of sense.
Documents often take up a lot of space, compared to financial transactions, which blockchains like Bitcoin are designed for. It is often not feasible to store a whole document on a blockchain. Hashes take up just a small fraction of this space, therefore, are a much more efficient option.
Storing just the hash still offers you tamper resistance. Whenever you change the input of a file, its corresponding hash value will always change. This is a vital benefit secure hash algorithms provide. Regardless of where you store your document, whether in a centralized system like MySQL or in a distributed database like Azure, you can still verify the document has not been tampered with by rehashing it and comparing it to the blockchain-stored hash.
Visibility
Using a public blockchain is a great way to make your document accessible to the public. Of course, you need to be absolutely confident that you want to make it fully visible. Once you store the document or its hash on the blockchain, it will be there permanently. There is no way to change data once you include it in a block.
A blockchain is certainly not the only way to do this. However, given its level of security and tamper-resistance, you can be confident of permanent visibility.
Of course, you could also use a federated or private blockchain if you wanted to limit access to your documents. Such blockchains can provide you with the ability to offer permanent visibility to a preselected group. These alternatives will, however, undermine decentralization and possibly tamper-resistance.
Need for Decentralization
The final reason to use a blockchain is if you require decentralization. Perhaps the nature of your document means that you cannot reliably trust a third-party storage provider to not tamper with or delete the document.
One such instance would be politically sensitive files, which malicious parties could target, if published. By uploading the document or its hash to a public blockchain you would have peace of mind that it is safe from state or corporate censorship. Of course, choosing the correct blockchain is very important here. Blockchains are not all made alike. If the consensus protocol is not properly decentralized or allows full nodes to reverse or censor transactions, then you will have the same problems as using traditional systems.
The Different Ways to Store a Document on a Blockchain
There are two main ways you might choose to store a document on the blockchain. One option is to store the entire document itself on-chain. Alternatively, you can store a hash of it on the blockchain.
Storing the Entire Document
Storing a whole document on-chain is possible with certain blockchains, however, it is rarely a good idea. Due to the huge data demands, unless it is a very small file or of extreme importance, you would be better choosing another method. If you wanted to store the document on Bitcoin, then you first have to compress it and then format it into a hexadecimal form.
The problem with storing whole documents on a blockchain is because of something called access latency. This just means how long it takes network users to upload and download files, such as documents. Fully decentralized public blockchains have thousands of nodes. Unfortunately, the benefits that come with this number of nodes also results in a corresponding increase in latency. Any file storage, including documents, needs to have low latency otherwise the system becomes clogged up, slow, and expensive to use.
A hybrid strategy can also make sense. This would involve storing a small part of the document, perhaps the signatures, as well as the document hash on-chain. This allows you to maintain decentralization and full transparency of the parts that absolutely require it while maintaining a cap on the data load.
Storing a Hash
The most efficient method is to store a document’s hash on-chain while keeping the whole document elsewhere. The document could be stored in a centralized database or on a distributed file storage system. You would put the document through a secure hash algorithm like SHA-256 and then store the hash in a block. This way you save a huge amount of space and cost. Additionally, you will be able to tell if someone tampers with the original document. The change in input would result in a completely new hash value, different from your original document.
Hash values are far smaller than whole documents and so are a vastly more efficient blockchain storage method. It also scales efficiently. For storing multiple documents, you can put the hashes into a distributed hash table, which you then store on-chain. The downside is that the storage of the original document is not decentralized nor necessarily publicly visible.
Who Is Working on This?
There are few projects that focus on documents alone right now. Most are built around decentralized file storage, which includes documents.
One project that is focused specifically on documents, particularly signed documents, is Blocksign. This uses the hash method. A user will sign the document and send it to Blocksign, where it is then hashed, and the hash is stored on the Bitcoin blockchain. We must warn users that Blocksign has not recently updated their site, and we would encourage further research before use.
Two cryptocurrency projects designed for decentralized storage more generally are Siacoin and Storj.
Siacoin does not use a blockchain for any form of storage. Instead, their distributed network stores an encrypted version of your document. The Siacoin network is comprised of hosts who provide storage and clients who desire storage. Clients and hosts agree upon contracts detailing the commitments made by the storage providers. Sia’s own proof of work blockchain stores these contracts.
Storj, on the other hand, is closer to the hash model. A hash of the document is stored within a hash table on-chain. Additionally, its distributed network also stores your document. Unlike Sia, however, Storj runs atop the Ethereum blockchain rather than its own.
Cryptyk, an enterprise-focused platform to store documents, uses a blockchain more distantly than all of the above. You do not store any documents or hashes on-chain. Instead, a distributed cloud system stores the documents. The platform only uses a blockchain to manage and referee document access and sharing.
Document blockchain storage is a sector of this industry moving forward steadily. Right now, we are waiting to see what role blockchains will play in storing documents. Fortunately, the competition among projects is furthering our understanding of this promising use case.
Currently, cryptocurrencies have a combined market cap that skyrocketed from $17.7 billion in January to over $186 billion in November. This shows the difference in adoption between both years and sets the course for the realization of blockchain as a major solution to problems in various industries, including fintech, cybersecurity, healthcare, insurance, logistics, real estate, and even cloud storage.
In response, major firms all over the world are finding ways to integrate the technology. In 2016, Microsoft announced its partnership with R3CEV, a consortium of over 40 banks working to develop their own blockchain platform. Another major blockchain player is Amazon, the e-commerce giant that has filed several patents and created services to suit its growing community.
AMAZON’S RELATIONSHIP WITH CRYPTOCURRENCY
Amazon has been active in the blockchain space for a significant amount of time. From its partnership with Kaleido to create enterprise-facing solutions to the recent launch of two new products (Amazon Quantum Ledger Database and Amazon Managed Blockchain), the firm is continuously on the move.
Also in 2016, Amazon web services (AWS), partnered with Digital Currency Group (DCG), one of the largest investors in blockchain startups who has been able to raise funds from other institutional investors. Both corporations, in their partnerships with funded blockchain platforms, have continued to evolve, delving a little deeper into the cryptocurrency industry every day.
While it may have partnered with exchanges in the past, the e-commerce megalith has not yet made any mention of cryptocurrency exchange or custodial services, prompting speculation on whether or not such a big player could venture into the business of exchanges.
The question on everyone’s minds now seems to be: will Amazon create a digital currency exchange of its own? Several recent moves on the part of the company directly point to the possibility of its own crypto exchange in the near future. One of such moves that raises eyebrows is the acquisition of several questionable domain names by Amazon.
DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATIONS IN NOVEMBER 2017
Amazon has been known to buy up local domains in the past. In April 2017 the firm dropped over $500,000 USD on Amazon.se, a Swedish-owned domain name. In November 2017, it acquired several cryptocurrency-related domain names including:
Amazonethereum.com
Amazoncryptocurrency.com
Amazoncryptocurrencies.com
This further fanned the flames, prompting even more speculation that the firm is planning something big in the crypto exchange world. According to the information on the registration documents, the firm’s legal department is responsible for the domain names. However, no formal announcements concerning these purchases have been made to the public so far.
Each domain is connected to Amazon Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary company of Amazon.com which is mostly involved in filing patents by its parent company. It is located in Sao Paulo, Brazil and also handles the computer and software systems, logistics, as well as research on the environmental viability and techno-economic studies.
Although these names suggest a possible association with digital currency, the available data which the company has actually shared concerning its blockchain affairs, is insufficient to tell whether the firm has any such plans. It seems that Amazon would have no need to register such domain names, only as a way for users to carry out crypto transactions. This is why it sounds palpable that the firm could only have reserved the chosen domain names for a possible future exchange.
THE POTENTIAL FOR AN AMAZON CRYPTOCURRENCY
Amazon is widely known as a creator of in-house solutions, it is not unlikely that the company would build its own private controlled blockchain solution rather than run a bunch of operations based on a public decentralized one. This system would also likely include its own specific cryptocurrency that would act as a supporting factor on the network.
Such a currency would be integrated into the firm’s other services including Twitch, Amazon Prime, and Audible. However, it is difficult to say that this solution would be an exchange. For now, even the largest cryptocurrencies– Bitcoin and Ethereum, still have many issues relating to scalability and transaction speeds. As a result, they cannot keep up with the high performance of a site like Amazon which requires up to 600 transactions each second.
It can be argued that Amazon is headed down a path that would eventually have the firm needing its own cryptocurrency. Such a development would allow its users to have a better shopping experience, especially those who are residents of countries with highly volatile currencies who have conversion problems when purchasing products. Its own cryptocurrency payment system could also reduce the need for region-specific sites since digital currencies work well regardless of geographical barriers.
AN AMAZON EXCHANGE DOES SEEM LIKELY ANYTIME SOON
With all the points discussed above, the data suggests that the answer to the question “will Amazon launch its own cryptocurrency exchange?”, is: no, it will most likely not. According to the Amazon Web Services CEO, Andy Jassy, in a report by Fortune, the absence of blockchain technology in the company’s operations is deliberate since they do not want to focus their resources on a technology that is mostly driven by hype. AWS may even plan to avoid blockchain technology for now, but the firm has added additional features which are closer in functionality to IoT and machine learning.
Every day, blockchain-related companies emerge as the global population grows more interested in the technology. Businesses are also attracted to the types of benefits which blockchain provides. AWS would rather observe its customers who require integration with a digital ledger like blockchain.
WHAT ARE THE INTENTIONS OF AMAZON?
Rumors concerning Amazon’s alleged plans for an exchange began in 2013 when the company registered the domain name: amazonbitcoin.com. The page redirected to the Amazon home page, prompting the spread of rumors that many believed to be true.
When the news first broke, there was general speculation that Amazon was attempting to break the cryptocurrency market. However, the company has shown that a digital currency exchange is simply not in the works anytime in the future. Instead, just like a normal user account or even domain name on the internet would create backup pages to preserve its content, Amazon may simply be safeguarding its brand. It may also be preparing for plans which it has not yet made. This may also have been done to eliminate the mistake of mixing up various coins due to confusion. In fact, there could be a ton of other reasons, who knows?
FINAL THOUGHTS
Amazon is one of the largest tech companies in existence and its reach often feels never-ending. This, and the company’s tendency to buy cryptocurrency-related domain names are enough to convince the public that there may be an exchange in the works. There are also rumors that Amazon plans to buy Coinbase, the largest US-based cryptocurrency exchange.
But after examining the data closely, it is easy to see that Amazon has no intentions of launching a full cryptocurrency exchange. At most, the firm may end up having its own digital asset and blockchain system to improve its payment process. As for a full exchange, it seems highly unlikely at this time.
Bonnie spends much of the winter in Florida. For a number of years, she has kept her computer at home powered on and she used remote control software to access her computer remotely. Years ago this was a good solution when there wasn’t an easy way to access your data outside of your computer. A lot has changed since then so I helped her figure out a way to leave her computer off while away yet still have access to all her important data. In order to move to the cloud, there’s some analysis to do.
What data do you need to access
The first question when it comes to moving your data to the cloud is what do you need to access? In Bonnie’s case, it was all her documents, such as Word, Excel, and PDF files plus email. Let’s go through how we made this work.
Files and documents
Bonnie’s computer runs Windows 10. Her files are are stored in “My Documents” which makes it easy to find and eventually relocate them. She has a free account from Microsoft which gives her 5 GB of space in Microsoft OneDrive. This means that all files moved to the OneDrive folder will be automatically synced to her OneDrive account. Then, when OneDrive is installed on her Florida computer, all these files will automatically get download to that computer. Any files changed while in Florida will then get synced up and back to her home computer. We moved all files to OneDrive and they appeared online in just a few minutes. As time goes on, she may need more space and can pay for additional storage on OneDrive when required.
Email
Bonnie uses Microsoft Outlook for mail and all of it gets downloaded to her computer. While this is very convenient for day to day communications, it’s not so good for being able to access her folders remotely. Bonnie has an email address with her local internet provider and did not want to move yet to a new address. She does have a Gmail account so we set it up such that Gmail folders appear in Outlook. We then moved all folders from Outlook into Gmail, using Outlook. It took awhile, but now Bonnie will file all messages in Gmail and can use Outlook to do it. As long as Outlook is set up on both home and Florida computers, she can see the same Gmail folders.
Additional Benefits
With her mail and files moved to the cloud, in this case OneDrive and Gmail, Bonnie no longer has to rely on using one computer and making sure that it’s turned on and available all the time. If she puts the OneDrive app on her phone and connects her phone to Gmail, then she can access her files from any device including mobile ones. The next step would be to identify other files such as photos and get them available online too. A proper backup scheme is still required as just having files on the cloud isn’t enough.
Do you have a reliance on one computer? What files do you need to move to the cloud?
