Coming up in today’s show:

• At last! It’s a sea of greens ... we celebrate crypto’s upturn and start counting our profits like greedy Golums finally holding the ring!
• How you can now take crypto payments on your website ... no hassles. No tech and no conversion problems :-)
• Paul goes on a 1-day crypto course and returns with all sorts of wonderful crypto goodies to share!

The Top 5 Crypto News Stories from this week's show:

5 > Panarama on BBC1: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09s3wbt

Panorama investigates what Bitcoin is and what it means, going inside a Bitcoin mine in Iceland - where currency is made - and spending time with the Bitcoin millionaires of Silicon Valley. The programme also hears from others who have been scammed out of their life savings and investors who think the cryptocurrency is an enormous scam and that the writing is on the wall.

Pros

1) An excellent demo of how ledger based technology works

2) Great to see mining in Iceland and hear how this is uses renewables

Cons

1) Superficial jounalism ... this programme used to be good!

2) Focus on OneCoin ponzi scheme - have you ever evenb heard of this? That’s a sub-story, not THE story and it’s a distraction

3) Usual mentions of drugs/criminal activity blah blah yawn

4 > Lightning Network: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-isnt-crypto-adding-lightning-tech-now/

Lightning is spreading across the cryptocurrency landscape.

Originally designed for use on bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market size was also the first to implement the concept, touted as a way to make transactions faster and cheaper by moving them to a layer above the blockchain. But with scalability emerging as a pressing issue across the industry, developers of other cryptocurrencies aren't letting the once-novel idea go to waste.

Entering 2018, litecoin, zcash, ethereum and ripple are just a few of the many cryptocurrencies planning to implement or test some form of the lightning network.

Also threatening Bitcoin ...

Hashgraph > it is a data structure and consensus algorithm that is much faster, fairer, and more secure than blockchain. It is described as future of distributed ledger technology.

Tangle/IOTA > IOTA, however, has no mining, no blocks, no transaction fees. The security and consensus of the network is not divided among miners, validators, and users.

Block Lattice > block-lattice architecture, where each user possesses their own blockchain. Instead of a user’s blockchain tracking transaction amounts, it instead will record account balances, a method that allows for less intensive storage requirements through the use of database pruning. Each blockchain will also reflect information related to the individual’s balance history, and can only be updated by the owner.

3 > Coinbase commerce: https://commerce.coinbase.com/

Accept digital currency payments

Coinbase Commerce is - apparently - the easiest and safest way for your business to start accepting digital currency payments.

Paul has given it a try!

2 > Litecoin goes crazy! [Mention fork] https://www.coindesk.com/surging-litecoin-is-leading-the-crypto-market-recovery/

The crypto market recovery is looking stronger by the day, and litecoin is leading the way.

Having broken above $10,000, the broad-based recovery could gain further traction.

Litecoin (LTC), in particular, has had a stellar run in the last couple of days and is leading the recovery in top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

The lure of making quick money on an upcoming hard fork seems to have boosted demand for LTC, although the legitimacy of the project is under question.

Top Story 1 > Paul goes to a 1-day crypto course and comes back with a mind buzzing with ideas!

Some of the things I learned - this is reported info, not financial advice - do your own research and due diligence first.

> A blockchain is basically an online, unchangeable online spreadsheet that everybody can see

> Bitcoin has become centralized bacuse over 51% of it is now based in China

> Atomic swaps are coming ... where you can make a ditrect swap between cryptos

> Thinks Bitcoin will die when atomic swaps come in ... Lightning Network could save it

> Coin burning will allow you to destroy old coins and create newly minted coins - this will in turn mean that it’s easier to steal and spend

> Blockchain is becoming redundant - only the Lightning Network can save it - we need greater speeds and infinite scaleability

> Thinks Phore and Tron are a good bet

> Don’t buy Etereum Classic, it’s flawed code

> Thinks Bitcoin will rise to $50-$100k but will only hold 10% of market share ... it’ll be less volatile at that point

> Thinks you’ll eventually have biochips connected to your crypto wallet

> Thinks the gvt will launch a full-on war against cash ... £50 notes will go first, taking 50% of cash out of circulation. Crypto is the unltimate solution for gvts

> Recommends not using Bitfinex

> Masternodes are a better thing to get into than mining ... a masternode is a server on a decentralized network. It is utilized to complete unique functions in ways ordinary nodes can’t. It can be used for features like direct send / instant transactions or private transactions. You can set up for $31k with Phore or $3k with SmartCash

Set up a master node!

http://forum.smartcash.cc/t/smartcash-masternode/1760

https://phore.io/masternodes/

> Avoid ‘cloud-based’ mining programes - this is miners, who knmow their returns are dminishing, selling off their old crap to you!

> Siam used the VPNExpress service

> Don’t buy ICOS - they’re there to help initial investors and founders cash out. Either be an initial investor/founder and make money on day 1 of launch OR wait until the inevitable crash comes and buy in then

http://www.therealistictrader.com/