If you are not a programmer but carefully follow all news about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, then sooner or later you might come up with the question; “can I create my own cryptocurrency?” In short – Yes! You can do it. However, there are many pitfalls that need to be studied before you immerse yourself in the creation of your own cryptocurrency.
What is the Difference Between a Token and a Coin?
First of all, it is important to understand the difference between coins and tokens. Both can be called cryptocurrency, but if coins (such as or ) work using their own blockchains, tokens live on top of existing infrastructure, such as the blockchain. Blockchain, in fact, is a record of transactions protected by the network.
So, coins have their own independent transaction registers, and tokens rely on some third-party network to confirm and secure transactions. Coins are often used to transfer financial assets. Tokens have much more functions – this is a kind of digital contract for almost anything; physical objects, events tickets, loyalty points, etc.
Tokens are often issued through crowdsales known as the They get exchanged for existing coins, which in turn finance projects such as gaming platforms or digital wallets.
You can get public tokens after the end of the ICO, as well as buy them using the base currency to make a purchase. Since now any person can create a token and run crowdsale, ICOs are becoming more and more risky. Unfair businesspeople take money from investors and run away, leaving the project.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) tries to control this process and seeks to turn tokens into securities, which, like shares, will need to be regulated. The SEC warns investors about risks of purchasing tokens during public ICO rounds and insists on thorough research of all projects.
Despite the fact that crypto markets are very volatile these days, experts believe that they will stabilize once more people accept and adopt . In general, the very idea of cryptocurrencies is built around wide availability and accessibility, but this does not mean that it is easy to understand it. Let me now present you the ways to create your own coins or tokens.
Should I Create my own Blockchain or Make a Fork of an Existing One?
Both methods require quite a lot of technical knowledge or the help of an experienced developer. Since cryptocoins are based on , you will either have to build your own or take an existing one and tailor it to the new coin needs and ideas.
The first method will require serious programming skills. Even though there are already many YouTube video courses and other teaching aids for step-by-step execution of this task, they assume a certain level of knowledge. Even if you do everything right, you may face a lot of unexpected problems.
Alternatively, you can initiate a fork of an existing blockchain using an open-source code that can be found, for example, at . You will need to make several changes before launching a new blockchain with a new name. Again, this requires you to clearly identify the goals of the project and understand the code so that you know what you need to change and why. There are no universal technical solutions here.
Creating a Coin or a Token Using Specialized Platforms
This option is suitable for most people; platforms will do all the technical work for you. For example, helps to create the simplest coin. All you need to do is enter the necessary parameters like the logo, number of coins received by miners for signing a block, etc. They even have pre-built templates where you only need to specify a name and a symbol. The base price of this service is 0.25 BTC. is a similar service; prices start at 0.01 BTC, and there is a free test version.
You can also create tokens, smart contracts, all with or without a public ICO. Since tokens can represent any asset, you can even create a token that does not have real value or a serious purpose, except for the possibility to be exchanged between friends. It is faster, easier and cheaper than building a coin because it does not take time and effort to develop and support a new or ramified blockchain.
If you want to make one step further and create a coin with real value for a wider audience, a coin that can be bought, sold, mined, but you do not have programming experience, you probably need the help of one or more developers. Mind that if you use the above-mentioned services to create your own cryptocurrency, you will need to support it, and it will not be cheap and safe.
Dealing with Other Important Issues
Nevertheless, the technical part of creating a cryptocurrency is not really the most difficult part of launching a successful crypto project. The biggest difficulty is in presenting and marketing your new coin. You need to convince people of its symbolic value, build the infrastructure, support the community. After all, even such “meme” coins as , , or , have their own developers and user communities that support the stability of these projects.
In addition, stats numbers are cruel; many cryptocurrencies are unsuccessful, some are doubtful from a legal point of view. There are different reasons for this, maybe they failed to run a quality ICO, or the coin failed to provide long-term interest. No wonder that the term ‘shitcoin’ appeared, and it seems that it does not intend to disappear.
Therefore, before deciding on such a responsible step as launching your own cryptocurrency, it is worth to weigh the pros and cons, determine the purpose of its creation, develop an action plan, and conduct market analysis so that eventually your new cryptocurrency does not become another ‘shitcoin.’
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The nascent world of blockchain-powered virtual currencies keeps getting more irresistible with each passing day and many more firms are looking to have a piece of the ‘cryptocake.’ Intel Corp., the world’s largest manufacturer of personal computer microprocessors, has caught the bitcoin bug and is now awaiting approval for its cryptocurrency mining system-on-a-chip patent.
Intel Wants to Hodl
According to , Intel has filed a patent that would enable it to manufacture high-grade chips that could make bitcoin mining faster, with very minimal power consumption.
The system-on-a-chip (SOC) comes with inbuilt hardware that fast-tracks the entire mining process.
On April 26, 2018, the was successfully mined out of a total of 21 million. With this milestone reached, it means that mining the flagship cryptocurrency will keep getting more difficult, hence miners would need more sophisticated mining equipment and a substantial amount of electricity supply to remain in profit.
“It’s an event that makes the market more aware of the scarcity of . It will eventually turn into higher prices,” Ansel Lindner, host of the bitcoin & Markets podcast, remarked back in April.
Good Thinking
Intel has seen a significant opportunity in the whole scenario and has come up with an innovative idea that could help miners do more with less.
According to reports, the proposed system will come with an array of elements including a processor farm, logic device, and an integrated circuit. If all goes as planned, the system will function by limiting the search space needed to determine the next nonce required to solve the mining-related equation. However, if the problem persists then the highly functional chip will reshuffle the Merkle tree or the arrangement of unprocessed transactions. The above process is quite cumbersome for quite many systems currently being utilized by . In essence, if the patent is approved, it will bring smiles to the faces of many.
Although Intel’s decision to venture into manufacturing of bitcoin mining chips may turn out to be a significant step in the right direction, the company is however not alone in this endeavor.
On April 13, 2018, BTCManager you that renowned electronics manufacturer Samsung had started developing Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) chips for Halong bitcoin miners.
The Need for a Greener Cryptospace
Its stale news that cryptocurrency mining guzzles excessive power and produces heat that’s unfriendly to the ecosystem. According to , bitcoin mining operations consume much more energy than all the electric cars in the world, and Morgan Stanley has estimated that the electricity demand of the pioneer cryptocurrency could surpass that of Argentina by the end of 2018.
Amidst this backdrop, various companies in the blockchain industry have started establishing large mining rigs powered entirely by renewable energy. One of such firms is GMO Group, a Japanese conglomerate that mining bitcoin on its facility that runs on altogether green electricity in December 2017.
At current, Intel is the clear leader in the world of PC chip manufacturing. Notably, its new SOC can support a vast array of chips, including ASICs and GPUs.
Whether the firm will also take over the market from big whales like Bitmain and others remains to be seen.
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As CoinMarketCap celebrates five years of existence, the platform launches its official app for iOS mobile devices and plans to roll out more services.
Though cryptocurrencies have been around for almost a decade, the platform, , came to limelight during the surge of and other alternative cryptocurrencies late in 2017. In a short time, the platform was quick to rise to the peak, establishing itself as the go-to source for cryptocurrency markets.
CoinMarketCap Finally Wakes Up
With incredible attention and traffic it got, ranks the platform as the 174th most popular website in the world. Though not much is known about the company, it boasts of more audience than media giants such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and many others.
CMC’s stated, “When we launched CoinMarketCap [in 2013], we were tracking seven cryptocurrencies and only a handful of exchanges and markets with a total market capitalization of approximately $1.6 billion. As of May 1, 2018, we are tracking over 1,600 cryptocurrencies and 200 exchanges with a total market capitalization over $400 billion.”
From the inception of the company’s existence – CoinMarketCap – there haven’t been any such improvements or expansions on the platform. To commemorate its five year anniversary, the platform launches its first mobile app for iOS mobile devices, gives the web platform a new look and also promises to roll out more services soon.
Though there are lots of mobile applications, for iOS and Android devices, which helps in keeping track of coin prices, crypto enthusiasts have long been waiting for CMC to launch an app. Like every other app, it lets you sort based on rankings, prices, coin market capitalization and percentage change in the past 24 hours. The new app can be downloaded from the Apple app store by clicking .
CoinMarketCap Facilitates Its Competitors
Funny enough, most coin price check applications for mobile and web platforms make use of CoinMarketCap’s API to display their data. The company doesn’t seem to be worried about that as CMC has a strong brand authority on the web, which could play out the same way on the app store.
“Are there other places where people can get the data and do we have copycats? Sure. However, we are the only site that you can guarantee is sourcing, gathering, and verifying the data itself, and we pride ourselves in being the first and best regarded within the industry,” a CMC spokesperson told .
Apart from the launch of this new app, the company is also set to roll out new commercial API, that’ll include more options for getting historical data and other services to come.
Though the newly released application doesn’t do anything new in particular, it’s said to be the beginning of great things to roll out from the company which claims to have over 15 million visitors on a monthly basis.
Will Coinmarketcap be able to develop authority in the app business? Share your views in the comments section.
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