Author: Steve Walters

Millions in Bitcoin Donated to Fight Russian Privacy Threat

Steve Walters

Russia’s Roskomnadzor, or The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media has begun blocking millions of IP addresses in an effort to shutdown Telegram, a popular messaging app, in Russia. According to Reuters, the ban comes in response to Telegram’s refusal to hand over encryption keys to user messages after an April 13 court order from a Moscow court demanded access to user encryption keys to combat with terrorism.

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Ledger Nano S Review

Steve Walters

If you own Bitcoin already you may have heard of the Ledger Nano S. It has rapidly become one of the top selling Bitcoin hardware wallets thanks to its affordable price, and excellent ability to secure your Bitcoins from hackers and theft. You may be wondering if it’s really worth it to spend the money on a hardware wallet like this, and that is a very good question. Incidentally, the Ledger Nano S currently retails for €79 (about $97). Ultimately the decision lies in your hands, but when you consider that other wallets are no more secure than the smartphone, tablet, or computer they reside on (i.e. not very secure against malware and the like at all), you might begin to see why investing in a hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano S is a smart decision.

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Beginners Guide to Bitstamp: Complete Review

Steve Walters

One of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, and also one of the most highly respected, is the Bitstamp exchange. Begun in Slovenia, the exchange has undergone several transformations, and has grown to have one of the largest European user bases, and is a popular choice for cryptocurrency traders across the world, thanks to its global office locations.

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Beginner’s Guide to Bittrex: Complete Review

Steve Walters

Bittrex is a cryptocurrency exchange based in Seattle Washington in the U.S.A. It was one of the top 3 exchanges in the world for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but has seen some problems towards the end of 2017 that eroded investor confidence in the platform and as of April 2018 it ranks as the #8 exchange in Bitcoin trading volume and #6 in overall trading volume with close to $300 million in daily volume.

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Beginner’s Guide to Paxful: Complete Review

Steve Walters

Paxful is a global, peer-to-peer marketplace used to buy and sell Bitcoin easily, without the use of a third party intermediary, such as an exchange. Think of it as the eBay of Bitcoin as it connects buyers and sellers, and lets them set their own price.

Paxful was started in 2015 by Ray Youssef and Artur Schaback and is incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware, USA. While it is a U.S. corporation, it faciliatates trades on a global basis, and can be used in most any country in the world. The exceptions are those countries that have an outright ban on Bitcoin, and some countries that are under trade embargos by the U.S. These unsupported coutries at the time of writing are: Balkans, Belarus, Burma, Cote D’Ivoire, Cuba, Congo, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Zimbabwe.

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Beginner’s Guide to Coinmama: Complete Review

Steve Walters

One of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges is Coinmama. This exchange was created in 2013, and is registered in Slovakia, although the parent company is New Bit Ventures, which has its headquarters in Israel.

Since its inception in 2013 it has spread its wings quite a bit and now offers its services in 217 countries, including Canada, Australia, the U.K. and the U.S., however it is only available in 24 of the 50 U.S. states.

You can also use Coinmama in many European countries as well as across Asia and in Central and South American countries. You can see a complete list of supported countries here to find out if Coinmama works in your country.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Kraken: Complete Review

Steve Walters

Kraken is a cryptocurrency exchange with headquarters in San Francisco, California, United States that was launched in July 2011, making it one of the oldest existing cryptocurrency exchanges. It was founded by Jesse Powell, who remains the CEO of Kraken, but the exchange is now owned by Payward Inc.

Despite its location in the U.S. it bills itself as “the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange in euro volume and liquidity”, and it serves clients in Europe, the U.K., the U.S., Japan and other countries across the globe.

It is also noteworthy that Kraken is the exchange providing pricing data to the Bloomberg Terminal, as well as being the exchange chosen to provide Mt. Gox creditors with claim support following the catastrophic 2014 hack that saw 650,000 Bitcoin go missing.

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Beginner’s Guide to Gemini: Complete Review

Steve Walters

If you only want to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum, and you’re willing to use only U.S. dollars, you might want to have a look at the Gemini exchange. Despite its limitations, Gemini is rapidly becoming known as a good exchange for serious traders, thanks to a clean, robust, and easy to use interface, combined with enterprise level security.

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Beginner’s Guide to Kucoin: Complete Review

Steve Walters

With the huge growth in the cryptocurrency world through 2017 it should come as no surprise to anyone that cryptocurrency exchanges have been sprouting like mushrooms after a spring rain.

Whether all these new exchanges are worth trading with is another question entirely, which is why we need to take a closer look at the development of the exchange, its safety features, its customer service, and potential growth prospects for the long term.

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