[Xeenon]

Hack Forums Threads:

• [ULTIMATE] Crypto Portfolio Comparisons | Choose your favorite - blank.
  What is your secret, or favorite crypto portfolio site? Do you have a hidden gem of a website, or are you just a bigger lover of MyAltCoins?
  
  [The Brotherhood] Crypto Currency Help Desk - Gianni Versace
  Do you have a question, had something on your mind for a while, that you could not find the answer to? Give The Brotherhoods' cryptocurrency help desk a shot, someone might just be able to answer your question.
  
  Graph Analysis 101 - zer0w1re
  Are you having a rough time understanding the analysis behind a graph, would you like to learn how to analyze a graph properly? This is a thread filled with interesting information and a very descriptive tutorial.
  
  The Ultimate Crypto Currency Beginner's Guide - Trevor Phillips
  A great beginner's guide to Crypto Currency by Trevor Phillips. This will surely help out the new people who are getting into Crypto Currency.
  
  Bitcoin transactions have 0 confirmations? Learn how to fix them! - Kill Joy
  With the continuing issue of unconfirmed transaction throughout the Bitcoin blockchain, there has been a lot of frustration among the Crypto Currency community. This thread will help you fix the issue.
  
  What is a Pump & Dump? - Lookin
  People keep talking about a pump and dump coin, but what does a 'Pump & Dump' really mean? This thread explains it perfectly.
  
  [FAQ] Cryptocurrencies: Most common questions answered - Boing
  Have your most common questions answered in regards to cryptocurrencies. A very simple, but helpful thread that will answer a lot of basic questions you may have.
  
  Cloudmining 101 (Ponzi Risk Assessment) - Arccotangent
  Everyone here is focused on ROI, hardly anyone seems to care if these companies are legit. The majority of cloudmining websites don't do any mining whatsoever. They pay out old customers via coinmixers from revenue that comes from recruiting new ones. This is the common definition of a ponzi scheme. No surprise, to keep the game going they usually heavily emphasize referrals and signature campaigns to make you do their dirty PR work.

Exchange Sites:

• Shapeshift
  Shapeshift allows you to easily exchange from one cryptocurrency to another.
  
  Poloniex
  Poloniex allows you to trade your cryptocurrencies into others, gives you advanced trading features and also securely stores the majority of your coin(s) in cold storages.
  
  Bittrex
  Very much so like Poloniex: Allows you to trade and store your cryptocurrencies,
  while also giving you access to advanced trading features.
  
  Kraken
  Kraken is a prominent Bitcoin exchange operating in Canada, the EU, Japan, and the US, and "the world's largest bitcoin exchange in euro volume and liquidity".

FAQ, Wikis', and other information:

• Wikipedia :: Cryptocurrency
  Wikipedia gives you a detailed definition of what cryptocurrency is, what it involves and also refers you to historical moments.
  
  Wikipedia :: Bitcoin
  Wikipedia-page specifically for Bitcoin, shares valuable information and historical moments.
  
  Coindesk
  Bitcoin News, Blockchain News, Prices, Charts & Analysis
  
  Transaction Accelerator
  Is your Bitcoin transaction not confirming? Use this tool to speed up the process.
  

What is a Crypto Currency, and what are they used for?
A cryptocurrency is a digital medium of exchange that uses encryption to secure the processes involved in generating units and conducting transactions.
Cryptocurrencies are a subset of digital currencies and, as such, have no physical representation. They may be used for online or in-person transactions with any vendors who accept them. In-person transactions using cryptocurrencies are typically conducted through mobile payment from a digital wallet.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of cryptocurrencies around the world. Among them, Bitcoin is the most prominent example – in fact, other cryptocurrencies are sometimes referred to as altcoins, as in alternatives to Bitcoin. The Bitcoin protocol enables peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange in a decentralized system that, unlike conventional currencies, is not associated with any financial institution or government.
Bitcoin-to-Bitcoin transactions are conducted through anonymous, heavily encrypted hash codes across a peer-to-peer network.Each user’s digital wallet maintains their Bitcoins. The wallet also stores all addresses the user sends and receives Bitcoins from, along with a private key known only to the user. The P2P network monitors and verifies Bitcoin transfers.

Who uses cryptocurrencies, and why?
People use cryptocurrencies for the comfort - you don't need to exchange money, they always cost the same everywhere. Also, it's anonymous and you can send them directly and super fast between wallets. If the online store accepts cryptocurrencies and you pay with them - the money on the store wallet will be there in approximately 15 minutes or so, so your order will be processed faster.

51% Attack
A 51% attack is a situation where more than half of the computing power on a network is operated by a single individual or concentrated group, which gives them complete and total control over a network. Things that an entity with 51% of the computing power can do include, but are not limited to: Halting all mining, halting and manipulating all interpersonal transactions and use singular coins over and over.

Address
A bitcoin address is essentially the same thing as your home address. It’s the location from which you would receive, send or hold your currency. These addresses generally manifest in a long string of alphanumeric characters and will look something like: 1MhN5qfH1vgx9CLL17i3DK9D2gzrHR7dZF
A wallet address is the public portion of the two encrypted keys necessary for a holder to accept or verify a transaction.

Altcoin
An altcoin is the community accepted name for any coin that isn’t Bitcoin. An example of these 'altcoins' include Dash and Monero.

Blockchain
A blockchain is a data system that allows for the creation of a digital ledger of transactions on a non-centralized network. Cryptography is the main operator that allows for users to engage with the ledger without the need for any central figurehead. In layman’s terms, this means that people and computers all over work together to create a network instead of a network being made by one single person or company. This network is enabled and protected through cryptography! We have seen this used in currency, data transfer and on. The blockchain is comprised of “blocks” and is constantly growing as each new record, datum, or block is added onto the chain for everyone to see.

Block Reward
Block reward is the reward allotted for hashing, or solving the mathematical equation related to a block. The reward for mining a Bitcoin block is 25 bitcoins per block mined, which will halve every 210,000 blocks!

Mining
Mining is the term used for discovering and solving blocks along the blockchain. A reward is given for solving the algorithm and lengthening the chain, called a mining reward. The mining reward for the Bitcoin blockchain is Bitcoin.

P2P
P2P is another way of saying Peer-to-Peer. Peer-to-peer has become a very large focus of blockchain as one of the biggest selling points is decentralization. Nearly every interaction on the blockchain can be fulfilled P2P, or without a centralized variable like a store, bank or notary.

Public/Private Key
In cryptography, a public key is a cryptographic key that can be utilized by any party to encrypt a message. Another party can then receive the message and using a key that is only known to that individual or group, decode the message.

[Xeenon]

United States – √:
The U.S. Treasury classified bitcoin as a convertible decentralized virtual currency in 2013. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, CFTC, classified bitcoin as a commodity in September 2015.

In September 2016, a federal judge ruled that "Bitcoins are funds within the plain meaning of that term".

India – √:
On 28 December 2013, the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, K. C. Chakrabarty, made a statement that the Reserve Bank of India had no plans to regulate Bitcoin.

United Kingdom – √:
The government of the United Kingdom has stated that the bitcoin is currently unregulated and is treated as a 'foreign currency' for most purposes, including VAT/GST.

Bitcoin is treated as 'private money'. When bitcoin is exchanged for sterling or for foreign currencies, such as euro or dollar, no VAT will be due on the value of the bitcoins themselves. However, in all instances, VAT will be due in the normal way from suppliers of any goods or services sold in exchange for bitcoin or another similar cryptocurrency. Profits and losses on cryptocurrencies are subject to capital gains tax.

France – √:
The French Ministry of Finance issued regulations on July 11, 2014 pertaining to the operation of virtual currency professionals, exchanges, and taxation.

China – √:
While private parties can hold and trade bitcoins in China, regulation prohibits financial firms like banks from doing the same.

On 5 December 2013, People's Bank of China (PBOC) made its first step in regulating bitcoin by prohibiting financial institutions from handling bitcoin transactions. In a statement on the central bank’s website, the PBOC said financial institutions and payment companies cannot give pricing in, buy and sell bitcoin or ensure bitcoin-linked products.

On 16 December 2013, it was speculated that the PBOC had issued a new ban on third-party payment processors from doing business with bitcoin exchanges, however a statement from BTC China suggests this isn't accurate, and rather payment processors had voluntarily withdrawn their services.

On 1 April 2014 PBOC ordered commercial banks and payment companies to close bitcoin trading accounts in two weeks. Trading Bitcoins by individuals is legal in China.

On 9 February 2017, multiple bitcoin exchanges in China delay or pause bitcoin withdraw service, with or without announcement. Some of the announcements, if not all, claim that regulation activities have been or are to be taken. News resources also show that, although such activities were carried out by PBOC, they were not done via legal approaches, but by "appointment" instead. None of the exchanges presented or have claimed to receive any lawful paperwork.

Japan – √:
Japan officially recognizes bitcoin and digital currencies as money.

On 7 March 2014, the Japanese government, in response to a series of questions asked in the National Diet, made a cabinet decision on the legal treatment of Bitcoins in the form of answers to the questions. The decision did not see Bitcoin as currency nor bond under the current Banking Act and Financial Instruments and Exchange Law, prohibiting banks and securities companies from dealing in bitcoins. The decision also acknowledges that there are no laws to unconditionally prohibit individuals or legal entities from receiving bitcoins in exchange for goods or services. Taxes may be applicable to bitcoins.

According to Nikkei Asian Review, in February 2016, "Japanese financial regulators have proposed handling virtual currencies as methods of payment equivalent to conventional currencies".

The city of Hirosaki is officially accepting bitcoin donations with the goal of attracting international tourists and financing local projects. In 2017, the country’s government officially recognized Bitcoin as a method of payment.

Germany – √:
On 19 August 2013, the German Finance Ministry announced that bitcoin is now essentially a "unit of account" and can be used for the purpose of tax and trading in the country. It is not classified as a foreign currency or e–money but stands as "private money" which can be used in "multilateral clearing circles", according to the ministry.

Australia – √:
In December 2013, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) indicated in an interview about bitcoin legality stating, "There would be nothing to stop people in this country deciding to transact in some other currency in a shop if they wanted to. There’s no law against that, so we do have competing currencies." Australia has officially confirmed it will treat bitcoin “just like money” on 1st July 2017 and it will no longer be subject to double taxation.

Russia – √:
Russia had previously banned the use of Bitcoin, but as of November 2016 declared, bitcoins are "not illegal" according to the Federal Tax Service of Russia.

Canada – √:
Bitcoin would seem to be classified pursuant to the current provisions of the PPSA simply as an "intangible".
Bitcoin is regulated under anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws in Canada.

Mining
Bitcoin mining is the process of making computer hardware do mathematical calculations for the Bitcoin network to confirm transactions and increase security. As a reward for their services, Bitcoin miners can collect transaction fees for the transactions they confirm, along with newly created bitcoins. Mining is a specialized and competitive market where the rewards are divided up according to how much calculation is done. Not all Bitcoin users do Bitcoin mining, and it is not an easy way to make money.

Mining Pool
As part of bitcoin mining, mining “pools” are a network of miners that work together to mine a block, then split the block reward among the pool miners. Mining pools are a good way for miners to combine their resources to increase the probability of mining a block, and also contribute to the overall health and decentralization of the bitcoin network.

Hash Rate
The hash rate is how the Bitcoin mining network processing power is measured. In order for miners to confirm transactions and secure the blockchain, the hardware they use must perform intensive computational operations which are output in hashes per second.

Cloud Mining
Cloud Mining is the process of bitcoin mining utilizing a remote datacenter with shared processing power. This type of mining allows users to mine bitcoins or alternative cryptocurrencies without having to manage their own hardware. Since Cloud Mining is provided as a service there is generally some cost and this can result in lower returns for the miner.

CPU Mining
Early Bitcoin client versions allowed users to use their CPUs to mine. The advent of GPU mining made CPU mining financially unwise as the hash rate of the network grew to such a degree that a number of bitcoins produced by CPU mining became lower than the cost of power to operate a CPU. The option was therefore removed from the core Bitcoin client's user interface.

GPU Mining
GPU Mining is drastically faster and more efficient than CPU mining. See the main article: Why a GPU mines faster than a CPU. A variety of popular mining rigs has been documented.

FPGA Mining
FPGA mining is a very efficient and fast way to mine, comparable to GPU mining and drastically outperforming CPU mining. FPGAs typically consume very small amounts of power with relatively high hash ratings, making them more viable and efficient than GPU mining. See Mining Hardware Comparison for FPGA hardware specifications and statistics.

ASIC Mining
An application-specific integrated circuit, or ASIC, is a microchip designed and manufactured for a very specific purpose. ASICs designed for Bitcoin mining were first released in 2013. For the amount of power they consume, they are vastly faster than all previous technologies and already have made GPU mining financially unwise in some countries and setups.

[Xeenon]

Contents:
-What is Poloniex used for?
-How to deposit funds to Poloniex?
-Understanding the Exchange view
-How to buy/sell altcoins
-FAQ

What is Poloniex used for?

Poloniex is an exchange site for cryptocurrencies. This exchange allows you to trade you Bitcoin to other alternative coins.

How to deposit funds to Poloniex?

Once you have registered go to Balances > Deposits & Withdrawals. This will look like:
Spoiler (Click to View)
To deposit the funds simply choose the crypto you currently hold & would like to deposit (usually btc). Hit deposit & you will be given a unique deposit address. Simply send over the funds from your current wallet & wait for the transaction to confirm.
Spoiler (Click to View)
Note:

• Make sure you follow the instructions listed for the certain coin otherwise your coins may get lost.
  
• Some currencies have a minimum deposit amount, these will be shown when you click deposit. If you do send under the limit to the address, you will need to send an additional amount until the balance of the deposit address is above the minimum required.
  
• If you cannot see your deposit straight away it is probably because it hasn’t met a certain amount of confirmations. You can track your deposit by going to Balances > History
  

Understanding the Exchange view

“Overview”
Spoiler (Click to View)
The exchange has a lot of things going off all at the same time and this can get very confusing. I will be discussing the basics.

“The Markets”
Spoiler (Click to View)
From the picture above you can see the coin, price, volume, change & name.

• The coin is the is an acronym of the name. Many exchangers will use the acronym rather than the actual name of the coin whilst discussing, you will learn a few along the way.
  
• The price shown is what 1 specific coin is worth against the current BTC value, this is shown as BTC value because this is what you will use in order to buy the currency. You can check what the current BTC value is by heading over to https://coinmarketcap.com/ (You can also work out what the current USD price is by PRICE OF COIN BTC VALUE IN USD.) Example from picture: The ETH value shows 0.04754002 BTC value @ coinmarketcap 1809$. This would mean each ETH was worth 85.99$.
  
• The volume is your best friend, this will show you how much is currently circulating in the Poloniex market.
  
• The change shows you how much the specific coin has changed within the past 24hours. As you can see in the picture above ETH has fallen -5% whereas DGB has risen 87%. This means if you had 10$ worth of DGB yesterday, today it would be worth 18.7$.
  
• The name of the coin.

”Candle Sticks”
Spoiler (Click to View)
The candle sticks chart shows whether the selected coin has fallen or risen in the chosen time frame.
You can decide how you want to view the certain coin’s chart by changing the zoom/candlesticks at the bottom. As you can see I have selected the zoom 24h & candlesticks to 30-min. This will now show me whether the coin rose or fell every 30minutes within the past 24hours (red fall / green rise).
The candle sticks will help you decide whether the coin is currently being pumped or dumped.
If you hover over a selected point in the chart it will show you the high/low during the 30minute spell.

How to buy/sell altcoins

Spoiler (Click to View)
In this section I will show you how to buy/sell different altcoins. The picture shows the current market for XRP. The top section is what you use for buying/selling & the bottom section shows the current buy/sell orders from other users.

”Buy/Sell Orders”
The buy/sell orders are changing all the time, these are the live orders that are ready to go from other people in the market.
As you can see from the picture the lowest order for selling is 0.00022419 & there is 35092 XRP available at that specific price.
The highest order for buying is 0.00022401 & there is 5129 ready to be bought at that price.
Once the lowest sell order matches the highest buy order this is when the reaction happens.
The market is changing constantly and will either go up are down depending on the amount of buy/sell orders. If there are more sell orders then the coin will generally fall because it shows less demand for the coin. If there are more buy orders then the coin will generally rise because everyone is wanting it.

”Buying/selling”
To buy the specific coin you need to enter the price which you want to pay for the coin (If you want to purchase straight away then click the top sell order). You will then need to either enter the amount of XRP you want to buy or the amount of BTC you want to spend, the other box will automatically be filled. The picture below shows me buying XRP at the price 0.00022299 I then entered 1 BTC in the total box, the amount then shows how many XRP I will receive for my 1BTC. Once I click buy it will set a buy order which can be tracked under Account > Orders > My Open Orders.
Spoiler (Click to View)
If I then want to sell the XRP which I just bought for a higher price (If the value rises) I will enter my XRP total in the amount and the price I want to sell it for. It will then work out how much BTC I will receive in the total. See below:
Spoiler (Click to View)
If this example happened I would have made .161356 BTC because my initial investment was 1 BTC and I now have 1.161356 BTC.

”Stop-Limit Orders”
The stop-limit is usually used as a tool to help protect profits or minimize losses. The stop-limit has three parts:
Stop – This is known as the “Trigger Price”. If you place this whilst selling your crypto, once the highest bid drops below your stop it will trigger the sale of your coin. If you place this whilst buying your crypto, once the lowest sell price reaches the stop it will trigger the purchase of your coin.
Limit – This is the value which you will be buying/selling the crypto. Once the “Stop” has been triggered an order will be placed at the price you enter in the limit.
Amount – This is how many you wish to sell/buy if the stop-limit is triggered.

If you find the stop-limit confusing you can simply enter what you want in the stop-limit box, and then click buy/sell. A confirmation box will the pop up tell you what will happen.
For further support & an example go here: https://poloniex.com/support/stopLimitOrders/

FAQ

1. How much do I get charged for buying/selling?
   The fees are different depending on how much you want to buy/sell. The official prices can be found here. There are no fees for withdrawing/depositing into Poloniex.
   
2. Is my account secure?
   I advise that you set-up the Two-Factor Authentication on your account, this will make your account more secure. A guide on how to set this up can be found here.
   
3. Should I store my altcoins in Poloniex?
   Poloniex is not a wallet it is an exchange site. It is recommended that you store your coins in the official wallets. This means once you buy your altcoin you should withdraw it into your new wallet.
   

[Xeenon]

Bitcoin – The first and original cryptocurrency. It will always be in high demand for the foreseeable future, but the market cap is so enormous, that there’s less potential upside than the smaller coins. The brand is incredibly strong, but in terms of practical usage, the network is backed up, and the mining community has a large political fighting about how they should solve its problems. Bitcoin is not entirely practical to shop with until they solve the enormous scaling problem.

Ethereum – In my opinion, it is still underpriced despite the recent gains and all the hype it has been getting. Huge amounts of business projects are rapidly falling into its gravity, and many big companies have decided to sign onto the Ethereal Alliance. There are some technical disadvantages compared to up and comers despite its powerful momentum. Ethereum is definitely a long-term coin, and it has an incredible future.

Ripple – Ripple, also known as XRP is a protocol for Bank settlements. It should not be considered a cryptocurrency, and should neither be considered a blockchain, though, so many big banks are backing it, and that caused it to go to incredible heights. One of the fastest transaction speeds known, and the ability to change between any currency, but centrally controlled, unlike all the other top cryptocurrencies. A lot of people disagree with my opinion on Ripple; it is not a coin to invest in long-term, but rather to make a quick buck.

NEM – The technology behind NEM is fantastic. Most coins here is a copy-cat of Bitcoin, but NEM is 100% unique and a new coin layered with a design that makes it ultra fast, while still able to scale and do most of what Ethereum is doing and can do. The development team has not done a very good job of explaining what it is good for, therefore, it is baffling to many to see the success it has had, especially being somewhat under the radar. I like NEM as a coin for long-term holding.

Litecoin – Litecoin is an exact copy-cat of Bitcoin, though, with many fixes to Bitcoin’s issues. Faster, better in many ways, with a thriving development community. Litecoin is though still an advanced first-generation crypto, and I would not expect it to compete with either the 2nd nor 3rd generation blockchains that have world-changing abilities like decentralized applications; primarily talking about Ethereal and NEM. Litecoin will most likely be around in the future, though, I do not expect it to be near the top. It is decent as a short-term investment.

Dash – Slick, fast and anonymous. Targeted as a functional currency for shopping for everyday use. Dash has an immensely low amount of coins, so it is easy for the price to reach new heights. They have done one of the best jobs at marketing the coin, and have been known to be spending 6 figures monthly on promotions and PR. They have gotten quite some traction and I like the fact that they decided to pick one function and attempted to own this particular service. Dash was doing a fantastic job a few months ago, but seems to have picked down on the pace. Neutral standing on this coin.

Ethereum Classic – When Ethereal was still a youngling it went through a rough time, and it ended up splitting into two blockchain projects. This is the evil twin and is a different product these days. Their main selling point is that they will follow the outlines, and never break their rules (like Ethereal did), and you can completely put your belief in them. They will be upright and owe up to what they say, as they were willing to have 1/10th of the success in the exchange world. I would prefer Ethereal, which pretty much does the job better.

Bytecoin – I have heard a lot of negative things about Bytecoin that it is a scam coin. The developers are completely anonymous, the testing and the vetting phase did not occur, and the code is not accessible to see. Therefore, they could potentially run off with everyone’s money. This is, of course, all hearsay, and I haven’t investigated it that carefully, but there are enough red flags for me to be staying far, far away.

Monero – The coin solely for anonymity. For the sole reason of anonymity, this coin is the favorite of all Dark Web users who do not want to have their transactions known. There will probably always be a demand for this coin based on that sole purpose of anonymity. The development team and the fan base seems to be quite decent, though, it is sinking into a niche role, as the bigger coins start to attract the attention of banks and WInkelvoss-types. Monero is known for the underground use. Therefore, it has quite a negative reputation and will probably never be invited to the big-coin club. Decent for a long-term hold as the Dark Web will most likely never die.

Stellar – Stellar is sort of a copy of Ripple, though, it is actually doing what Ripple is pretending to do. It is a protocol that is able to do fast international settlements between the various currencies, though, it has some use for individuals as well. Sadly, it is not well-vetted and has not attracted as much as Ripple has, so it has not been an interest to big institutions, though, it is an exciting prospect, and therefore it crept its way onto the top 10.

Thank you to the following sources and people for sharing valuable information:

Hack Forums Members:

• blank.
  Gianni Versace
  zer0w1re
  Trevor Phillips
  Kill Joy
  Boing
  Arccotangent

Shay÷

Websites:

• TechTarget
  Medium
  Wikipedia
  Shapeshift
  Poloniex
  Bittrex
  Coindesk
  
  

[sʜᴀʏ]

Super helpful thread will help a lot of people coming into the crypto world.

[Cryptic™]

Great job, this will help a ton of people :)

[Chief]

Another excellent thread by the Crypto boys! Many new investors and even experienced users will be able to benefit from this. Great work team!

[minimalist]

Glad to see the sector releasing some useful threads 🙂

[theDuke]

Thanks lookin! Hope to join the team soon.

[DenizZ]

Amazing thread. Consensus has done a great job. Thanks to everyone who made it.

[Trappy]

Great job Lookin! Crypto sector doing big things (:

[Տnow]

Really dope thread for beginners. Great post guys!

[݃݃݃๖ۣۜKosdff]

This thread boosted my interest dramatically in alt coins, thank you!

[Younis Khan]

big up the mandem I was literally just about to post a thread asking for a guide :D gonna give this a read

[Xeenon]

I'm glad you all are liking. Took me a little bit writing it out.