Here is a question that comes up often:  How do I choose which crypto currency to invest in – aren’t they all the same ?

There is no doubt that Bitcoin has captured the lion’s share of the crypto currency (CC) market, and that is largely due to its FAME.  This phenomenon is much like what is happening in national politics around the world, where a candidate captures the majority of votes based on FAME, rather than any proven abilities or qualifications to govern a nation.  At Crypto Trend we acknowledge Bitcoin’s FAME, which in many ways is well earned.  Bitcoin is the pioneer in this market space and continues to garner almost all of the market headlines.  This FAME does not mean that it is perfect for the job, and it is fairly well known that Bitcoin has limitations and problems that need to be resolved, however, there is disagreement in the Bitcoin world on how best to resolve the problems.  As the problems fester, there is ongoing opportunity for developers to initiate new coins that address particular situations, and thus distinguish themselves from the approximately 1300 other coins in this market space. Let’s look at two Bitcoin rivals and explore how they differ from Bitcoin, and from each other:

Ethereum (ETH) – The Ethereum coin is known as ETHER.  The main difference from Bitcoin is that Ethereum uses “smart contracts” which are account holding objects on the Ethereum blockchain.  Smart Contracts are defined by their creators and they can interact with other contracts, make decisions, store data, and send ETHER to others.  The execution and services they offer are provided by the Ethereum network, all of which is beyond what the Bitcoin or any other blockchain network can do.  Smart Contracts can act as your autonomous agent, obeying your instructions and rules for spending currency and initiating other transactions on the Ethereum network.

Ripple (XRP) – This coin and the Ripple network also have unique features that make it much more than just a digital currency like Bitcoin.  Ripple has developed the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP), a powerful financial tool that allows exchanges on the Ripple network to transfer funds quickly and efficiently. The basic idea is to place money in “gateways” where only those who know the password can unlock the funds.  For financial institutions this opens up huge possibilities, as it simplifies cross-border payments, reduces costs, and provides transparency and security.  This is all done with creative and intelligent use of blockchain technology.

At Crypto Trend we strive to provide you with up to date and useful information in the quest to understand this new world of crypto currencies.  The mainstream media is covering this market with breaking news stories almost every day, however, there is little depth to their stories … they are mostly just dramatic headlines.

The Wild West Crypto show continues…

The 5 stocks crypto/blockchain picks are up an average of 109% since December 11/17. The wild swings continue with daily gyrations. Yesterday we had South Korea and China the latest to try to shoot down the boom in cryptocurrencies.

On Thursday, South Korea’s justice minister, Park Sang-ki, sent global bitcoin prices temporarily plummeting and virtual coin markets into turmoil when he reportedly said regulators were preparing legislation to ban cryptocurrency trading. Later that same day, the South Korea Ministry of Strategy and Finance, one of the main member agencies of the South Korean government’s cryptocurrency regulation task force, came out and said that their department  does not agree with the premature statement of the Ministry of Justice about a potential cryptocurrency trading ban.

While the South Korean government says cryptocurrency trading is nothing more than gambling, and they are worried that the industry will leave many citizens in the poor house, their real concern is a loss of tax revenue. This is the same concern every government has.

China has grown into one of the world’s biggest sources of cryptocurrency mining, but now the government is rumoured to be looking into regulating the electric power used by the mining computers. Over 80% of the electrical power to mine Bitcoin today comes from China. By shutting down miners, the government would make it harder for Bitcoin users to verify transactions. Mining operations will move to other places, but China is particularly attractive due to very low electricity and land costs. If China follows through with this threat, there will be a temporary loss of mining capacity, which would result in Bitcoin users seeing longer timers and higher costs for transaction verification.

This wild ride will continue, and much like the internet boom, we will see some big winners, and eventually, some big losers. Also, similar to the internet boom, or the uranium boom, it is those who get in early who will prosper, while the mass investors always show up at the end, buying in at the top.

If you would like to step into this wild, but potentially very profitable sector, our Early Bird Special Offer is still available. We offer you Crypto TREND Premium at $175 off the regular rate of $699.95, so you pay only $525.00.

Click here to take advantage of this offer.

Stay Tuned!

Stay Tuned!

Yesterday we issued our 6th crypto/blockchain recommendation to subscribers of Crypto TREND Premium. There are currently 1,387 crypto currencies, so it is indeed challenging selecting which ones to purchase. At the time of this writing, the five recommendations we have made to date are up an average of 92% in less than a month. With so many cryptos now available, Crypto TREND and Crypto TREND Premium are your guides to explore this crypto jungle and to recognize which are the ones with the biggest upside potential.

By selecting each of the six recommendations we have made to date, subscribers can begin creating a nice small crypto portfolio. This sector reminds us of the DOT COM bull run where hundreds of companies included DOT COM in their name. Same story with the uranium bull market, where we saw tons of companies that owned nothing but “moose pastures” renaming themselves by adding “uranium” to their name. We are seeing similar actions today where companies are adding “Crypto” or “Blockchain” to the their name. Recently, Long Island Ice Tea changed their name to Long Blockchain Corp, believe it or not.

When researching the crypto and blockchain world, understand that many of the people writing about cryptos are often very biased and have their own agendas. Many are holding certain tokens and are doing their best to promote that currency and talk down others. Sifting through all this material and finding the diamonds in the rough is what the Crypto TREND team does.

As with the uranium bull market, there will be many players trying to make a quick hit with a new crypto currency or blockchain application, but in the end, only the ones that are true disruptors, ones that will change the way we do business, will survive. We are looking for companies that have a clear plan to make a difference, such as companies that are using blockchain to solve global challenges, to make transactions cheaper, faster, and more secure for businesses and the general public.

The Crypto TREND team will continue to provide in-depth research and our Crypto TREND Premium will turn that research and analysis into recommendations that we feel will come out on top as this “wild west” sector becomes more mainstream. For investors there is always at least one big barrier to entering a new bull market, and these barriers give the early investors the opportunity to make potential massive gains. While we believe that crypto currencies and blockchain technology are real game changers, possibly on a par with how the internet changed our world, there are numerous obstacles that will likely keep this sector incredibly volatile in these early days.

First, for the average investor, trying to understand blockchain technology tends to cause a painful brain cramp. While almost all investors use debit and credit cards daily, virtually none of these users have any real understanding of the technology of how these transactions work. The key is that they “trust” it to work perfectly. With blockchain technology, even though virtually every bank and government is looking to use this technology, most investors do not yet “trust” it.

Another barrier for crypto is that it is a convoluted process to get started as an investor. Most exchanges that accept credit or debit deposits only allow very small limits until you have completed a number of successful transactions, making the initial accumulation of tokens quite slow and cumbersome. Also, the concept of setting up a digital wallet is a whole new mindset that many find quite challenging.

And then there is the risk that governments will try to outlaw crypto currencies. While we initially felt that the threat of crypto currencies was far too great for governments to allow to succeed, the more they become mainstream the more difficult it becomes for governments to shut them down. With government so heavily indebted, and hungry to tax every transaction they can get their hands on, this threat is still valid. It is quite interesting to note that ever since China and South Korea threatened to clamp down on bitcoin, it rallied to new highs.

As noted earlier, Crypto TREND Premium has just made its 6th recommendation. If you are ready to make a speculative investment into this disruptive technology, and want to receive all current and future recommendations from Crypto TREND Premium, we are keeping our Early Bird Special offer open for a little longer, to give our readers the opportunity to get started at a $175 discount. To take advantage of this special offer, CLICK HERE.

Below we answer two of the more frequent questions we are receiving:

1. Can you suggest some crypto exchanges to use?

There is a plethora of exchange sites available and each has its pros and cons. The services and fees seem to be changing quite frequently, so be sure to verify the fees and exchange rates each time you make a transaction.

When assessing various exchanges it really depends on how often you plan to make purchases or trades.  Here are the key criteria that we focus on:

Fees

Check each exchange that you are thinking of using. Most of the ones we checked do have fee-related information on their sites. Prior to depositing any funding, be sure you understand the deposit, transaction, and withdrawal fees. Fees can differ substantially depending on the exchange you use.

Exchange rates

This is an area you need to watch closely. As highlighted in The Trend Letter every week, currency exchange rates fluctuate all the time. Not all exchanges offer good exchange rates, so you need to check with each transaction. We have seen variances of up to 10%, so shop around.

Methods of Payment

Especially when getting started, you want an exchange that allows you to fund in a fiat currency ($US, $CAN, Euro etc), not all exchanges do. Then you want to know what payment methods are available on the exchange. Do they allow credit card,  debit card, wire transfer, etc.? For each payment method, most exchanges charge different fees, so confirm each time you fund from fiat, and when exchanging between different cryptocurrencies, or when you transfer to someone else (eg: purchase a product via Bitcoin).

Verification

Most of the cryptocurrency trading exchanges require some sort of ID verification in order to make deposits and withdrawals. In some cases this verification can take a day or more, and can be a bit tedious, but remember it is done to protect from scams and money laundering.

Location

Depending where you are accessing from, there are some restrictions on user functionality based on geographic location. Check with the exchange you want to join to ensure you will have full access to all tools and functions,

Here is a list of some of the more popular exchanges:

Coinbase
One of the major exchanges, based in the USA, with many subsidiaries around the world.  Coinbase is relatively easy for new investors to use, however transaction fees are higher than many other exchanges.  As with most CC Exchanges, they permit only a low initial funding which will increase over time as trust is earned.  Currently, Coinbase only has three cryptocurrencies available. Transferring your CC’s to your digital wallet is easy and free.
Web Site: https://www.coinbase.com

Kraken
Based in San Francisco, and very popular with Bitcoin and Ethereum investors in Europe, Kraken has a solid reputation and a good selection of CC’s, and intends to add more in future.  Fees are in line with other exchange averages, and they have good charting tools using TradingView.
Web Site: https www.kraken.com

Coinsquare
A Canadian exchange based in Toronto, which bodes well, as Canada has a sound financial and regulatory environment.  Coinsquare has a unique bundle of offerings, such as gold bars, silver bars, silver coins, as well as a good variety of CC’s and global currencies.  They also feature a “Quick Trade” window for very fast quotes and transactions.  Fees are in line with most other CC Exchanges.
Web Site: https://coinsquare.io

Cex.io
Cex.io provides a wide range of services for using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The platform lets users easily trade fiat money with cryptocurrencies and conversely, cryptocurrencies for fiat money. For those looking to trade bitcoins professionally, the platform offers personalized and user-friendly trading dashboards and margin trading. Alternatively, CEX also offers a brokerage service which provides novice traders an extremely simple way to buy Bitcoin at prices that are more or less in line with the market rate. The Cex.io website is secure and intuitive and cryptocurrencies can be stored in safe cold storage.
Web Site: https://cex.io/

QuadrigaCX
Another Canadian exchange, this one based in Vancouver, with a current selection of seven CC’s.  The web site is well designed and easy to navigate.  Funding options are varied and fees are a little higher than average.  The exchange does not have charting or analytical tools, but is a solid contender in the small scale exchange space, with good security and performance.
Web Site:  https://www.quadrigacx.com/

2. With many countries looking to regulate Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) what does that mean for cryptocurrencies?

ICOs are a form of crowdfunding that allows companies to raise funds by offering a digital token.  The ICO craze has gotten out of hand. In the first half of the year, ICOs raised more than $1 billion for blockchain-based projects—many of which consist of little more than a white paper and some marketing spiel about disrupting various industries with a new kind of Internet money.

It doesn’t take a financial genius to understand that many ICOs operate like classic pump and dump scams or pyramid schemes. Get people to throw money behind an asset or opportunity they don’t understand all that well; hope the price of the mostly worthless junk inflates; cash out. There are too many hucksters out there simply looking to make a quick buck.

This past June, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it would be increasing ICO regulation. In September, China stepped in and outlawed ICOs, and later in September South Korea followed China’s lead.  There are now over 30 countries looking to regulate ICOs.

We see this as a positive step to legitimize the ICO process. Regulation would help the crack down on fraud, which helps bolster public confidence over the long haul. It is another step along with regulation through the Bitcoin futures trading that recently opened on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) on Sunday, and the coming futures trading on the CME exchange later in December.

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The Crypto TREND Premium service is for those who are ready to dip their toes into this “wild West” sector, one that is very volatile, but with that risk  comes the potential for some spectacular gains. Understand, this sector is not for the weak of heart.

Crypto TREND Premium’s first three recommendations are doing very well, after only a few days. There will be two more recommendations going out late today or early tomorrow, so if you are ready to take the plunge, don’t miss these new recommendations.

For the next week we are offering a 25% discount off the regular price of $699.95, meaning you pay only $525.00.

It is going to be a wild ride, and if you want to climb on board, click here.

As we expected, since publishing Crypto TREND  we have received many questions from readers. In this edition we will answer the most common one.

What kind of changes are coming that could be game changers in the cryptocurrency sector?

One of the biggest changes that will impact the cryptocurrency world is an alternative method of block validation called Proof of Stake (PoS). We will try to keep this explanation fairly high level, but it is important to have a conceptual understanding of what the difference is and why it is a significant factor.

Remember that the underlying technology with digital currencies is called blockchain and most of the current digital currencies use a validation protocol called Proof of Work (PoW).

With traditional methods of payment, you need to trust a third party, such as Visa, Interact, a bank, or a cheque clearing house to settle your transaction. These trusted entities are “centralized”, meaning they keep their own private ledger which stores the transaction’s history and balance of each account. They will show the transactions to you, and you must agree that it is correct, or launch a dispute. Only the parties to the transaction ever see it.

With Bitcoin and most other digital currencies, the ledgers are “decentralized”, meaning everyone on the network gets a copy, so no one has to trust a third party, such as a bank, because anyone can directly verify the information. This verification process is called “distributed consensus.”

PoW requires that “work” be done in order to validate a new transaction for entry on the blockchain.  With cryptocurrencies, that validation is done by “miners”, who must solve complex algorithmic problems. As the algorithmic problems become more complex, these “miners” need more expensive and more powerful computers to solve the problems ahead of everyone else. “Mining” computers are often specialized, typically using ASIC chips (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), which are more adept and faster at solving these difficult puzzles.

Here is the process:

• Transactions are bundled together in a ‘block’.
• The miners verify that the transactions within each block are legitimate by solving the hashing algorithm puzzle, known as the “proof of work problem”.
• The first miner to solve the block’s “proof of work problem” is rewarded with a small amount of cryptocurrency.
• Once verified, the transactions are stored in the public blockchain  across the entire network.
• As the number of transactions and miners increase, the difficulty of solving the hashing problems also increases.

Although PoW helped get blockchain and decentralized, trustless digital currencies off the ground, it has some real shortcomings, especially with the amount of electricity these miners are consuming trying to solve the “proof of work problems” as fast as possible.  According to Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, Bitcoin miners are using more energy than 159 countries, including Ireland. As the price of each Bitcoin rises, more and more miners try to solve the problems, consuming even more energy.

All of that power consumption just to validate the transactions has motivated many in the digital currency space to seek out an alternative method of validating the blocks, and the leading candidate is a method called “Proof of Stake” (PoS).

PoS is still an algorithm, and the purpose is the same as in the proof of work, but the process to reach the goal is quite different. With PoS, there are no miners, but instead we have “validators.” PoS relies on trust and the knowledge that all the people who are validating transactions have skin in the game.

This way, instead of utilizing energy to answer PoW puzzles, a PoS validator is limited to validating a percentage of transactions that is reflective of his or her ownership stake. For instance, a validator who owns 3% of the Ether available can theoretically validate only 3% of the blocks.

In PoW, the chances of you solving the proof of work problem depends on how much computing power you have. With PoS, it depends on how much cryptocurrency you have at “stake”. The higher the stake you have, the higher the chances that you solve the block. Instead of winning crypto coins, the winning validator receives transaction fees.

Validators enter their stake by ‘locking up’ a portion of their fund tokens. Should they try to do something malicious against the network, like creating an ‘invalid block’, their stake or security deposit will be forfeited. If they do their job and do not violate the network, but do not win the right to validate the block, they will get their stake or deposit back.

If you understand the basic difference between PoW and PoS, that is all you need to know. Only those who plan to be miners or validators need to understand all the ins and outs of these two validation methods. Most of the general public who wish to possess cryptocurrencies will simply buy them through an exchange, and not participate in the actual mining or validating of block transactions.

Most in the crypto sector believe that in order for digital currencies to survive long-term, digital tokens must switch over to a PoS model. At the time of writing this post, Ethereum is the second largest digital currency behind Bitcoin and their development team has been working on their PoS algorithm called “Casper” over the last few years. It is expected that we will see Casper implemented in 2018, putting Ethereum ahead of all the other large cryptocurrencies.

As we have seen previously in this sector, major events such as a successful  implementation of Casper could send Ethereum’s prices much higher.  We’ll be keeping you updated in future issues of Crypto TREND.

Crypto TREND Premium

We have received many questions asking if we will be making specific recommendations, similar to what we do in The Trend Letter & Trend Technical Trader. The answer is yes, we will be making recommendations on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology companies. These recommendations will be in our Crypto TREND Premium service. This service is a subscriber only service which costs $699.95 per year. For those who are already subscribers to The Trend Letter and/or Trend Technical Trader, we are offering Crypto TREND – Premium at a $300 discount for only $399.95.

We will be sending out links to subscribe to Crypto TREND – Premium in the very near future.

Note that we will continue to publish this free Crypto TREND newsletter to help readers who are not yet ready to take the plunge and invest in this space to better understand this very volatile digital currency sector and the amazing potential of the blockchain technology.

Tomorrow is the first day that Bitcoin futures can be traded on the CBOE Global Exchange, and in a week they can be traded on the CME Exchange. These are two key events that will open the door to greater inflows of institutional money, while also making it easier to bet on bitcoin’s decline.

We will be watching.

Stay tuned!

Every day in the investment world there is a deluge of news and chatter about BITCOIN, the other 1000 digital tokens, and the underlying technology of them all –  Blockchain.  At Crypto TREND we sort out what matters and provide you with solid information that you can use to make informed, rational, and profitable investment decisions. Some early investors in this space have seen returns of 10,000%, 100,000%, and even over 1,000,000%.  As we said in issue #1, we are in the “wild west” phase of the Crypto Coin (CC) market right now, however, there are several indications that the CC market is moving towards becoming mainstream.  Many investors want more credibility and stability in the CC market space, and that may be coming.

• The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has received regulatory approval and is preparing to launch Crypto Coin (CC) futures contracts as of December 18.
• Nasdaq is planning to launch Bitcoin Futures in the first half of 2018
• The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the largest US options exchange, is planning to launch its own Bitcoin derivatives trading products by early 2018.
• The Bank of Canada is considering the merits of establishing a digital currency.  Of course, this is somewhat troubling, as governments that are heavily in debt want to find ways to see and tax every transaction they can find.  Many investors see anonymity and low fees as two of the great benefits of CC’s.  Bank involvement in the CC market place could conceivably compromise or erase those benefits.
• Many governments around the world are actively considering if and how to regulate and tax the CC markets.  This is an indication of how significant these markets are becoming.

To gauge for yourself how close the CC market is to becoming mainstream, try this little test.  When you are with a group of friends or relatives, ask how many have heard of the BITCOIN phenomenon, and if so, how many have made a purchase.  At this stage, there will likely be many who have heard of BITCOIN, but very few or none who have actually invested.  We believe the number of CC investors will increase dramatically.

At Crypto TREND we see opportunities to invest in this market space, but only on a speculative basis. We see two different investment strategies to explore and consider:

One – to invest directly in the various tokens and other offerings available at the CC Exchanges.

There are many CC Exchanges, and below we provide a brief list of exchanges that offer a variety of products and services.  To become a client, most of the Exchanges will require you to be “verified” and it will take some time to go through the verification process and the initial “funding” process.  Funding will typically involve a fee, as you need to move fiat currency into your CC Exchange account in order to purchase CC’s.  Compared to dealing with your current Broker or Exchange, these Exchanges may seem quite awkward, but they are all in a relatively new market space and will need more time to develop into mature entities.  Each exchange offers a different selection of products for sale or exchange, but they all include BITCOIN – the original Crypto Coin.

Brief list of CC Exchanges:

COINBASE – One of the major exchanges, based in the USA, with many subsidiaries around the world.  Coinbase is relatively easy for new investors to use, however transaction fees are higher than many other exchanges.  As with most CC Exchanges, they permit only a low initial funding which will increase over time as trust is earned.  They have a limited selection of Alt-Coins available.  Transferring your CC’s to your digital wallet is easy and free.

Web Site: https://www.coinbase.com/

COINSQUARE –  A Canadian exchange based in Toronto, which bodes well, as Canada has a sound financial and regulatory environment.  COINSQUARE has a unique bundle of offerings, such as gold bars, silver bars, silver coins, as well as a good variety of CC’s and global currencies.  They also feature a “Quick Trade” window for very fast quotes and transactions.  Fees are in line with most other CC Exchanges.

Web Site: https://coinsquare.io

KRAKEN – Based in San Francisco, and very popular with Bitcoin and Ethereum investors in Europe, Kraken has a solid reputation and a good selection of CC’s, and intends to add more in future.  Fees are in line with other exchange averages, and they have good charting tools using TradingView.

Web Site: https www.kraken.com

QUADRIGA CX – Another Canadian exchange, this one based in Vancouver, with a current selection of seven CC’s.  The web site is well designed and easy to navigate.  Funding options are varied and fees are a little higher than average.  The exchange does not have charting or analytical tools, but is a solid contender in the small scale exchange space, with good security and performance.

Web Site:  https://www.quadrigacx.com/

Two – to invest in this market space indirectly.  This is a strategy that we think has great promise, as we note that there are increasingly more ways to invest in publicly held companies that utilize Blockchain technology, or are involved in funding Blockchain projects.  Also, there are efforts being made to launch ETF’s that track Crypto Currencies, which will make it easy for retail investors to use their current Broker or Stock Exchange to invest in crypto coins.

We are actively following about fifteen companies to determine if and when they will fit our model investment parameters.  With change happening so quickly, we expect to see many of these companies  come and go from the evolving list of rational investment choices. 

More than any other sector, investing here will be only for your most speculative capital, money that you can afford to lose.

CRYPTO TREND will be your guide if and when you are ready.

Stay Tuned!!