My first week of CryptoCurrency immersion

  My first week of summer break, meant first week of entire crypto immersion. For a little more context on this post, you can check out my introductory post. This post will be a relatively different format than the last one. As I try to find what setup works best for these weekly update posts, I will be trying different formats. I plan on making these light reads , allowing me to show you a wider scope of my progress. 

Trading

My first forte into CryptoCurrency was trading, on Cryptopia to be specific. As you could imagine as someone entirely new to CryptoCurrency trading, trading low volume coins on Cryptopia was not profitable for me. I lost .8-.9 btc my first month trading, not sure if I can even call it trading. It was more of a slot machine I was throwing btc into. After that first month, I took break, something I should've done much sooner. But I did finally stop playing the slot machine that is Cryptopia exchange, and started to read and watch the market from the sideline. 

I’d say the smartest thing I did in that break period was to follow  @LMT978 , on my newly created crypto twitter.To call @LMT978 a mere stock trader on twitter wouldn't do him justice, his account is a great resource for knowledge. Especially on technical analysis, fundamental analysis, market psychology and much more. I would recommend anyone interested in learning more about trading and the methods behind it, to follow him immediately.  Now back to the present, today my portfolio hit all time high in BTC and USD. And yes it is not realized profit, but to be completely honest accumulation of bitcoin is my end goal. I hedge my risk with value in bitcoin as a priority not a value in dollar. With the current volatility of bitcoin that may seem like a risky move and I totally understand that.It is a simple as I believe the value of bitcoin will increase to a point that will make focusing on dollar value negligible. 

  My biggest trade this week was taking a position on Basic Attention Token. My average buy was at 6.1K sats. Basic Attention Token is an Ethereum token launched by the Brave Browser. The Brave Browser if you are unfamiliar is an internet browser that actively blocks advertisements and trackers creating a more efficient and friendly user experience for users. BAT will serve as a token that focuses on seamlessly bridging user, advertiser, and publisher. In theory this will streamline monetizing digital advertising on the blockchain. I bought BAT for a couple of reasons. The biggest reason being there is already working product, the Brave Browser, something most ICOs lack. The other being the team, led by Brendan Eich, the man who created JavaScript and went on to Co-Found Mozilla and Firefox. I think those two things make BAT an attractive buy for any crypto trader. Lastly I did not buy Bat at ICO, I waited for it to trade on exchanges and was able to buy at a relatively good position.  

Codding

My Goal by the end of the summer is to be able to code c++, don't worry I know it takes months and years to really learn a language. I'm using the phrase”be able to code c++” as a flexible term because I know learning it will be an arduous journey. It is not a binary you know it or you don't kind of knowledge, knowledge of a coding language that is. I will make the goal more concrete as I code more and get a general grasp for my level of proficiency. I have recognized task of jumping right in and learning c++ is way too much to start with. Instead I will be following advice to complete the major modules on Codecademy first. While my summer goal is to learn C++, my goal for the month of june us  complete all six programming modules on Codecademy ( JavaScript, Python, Java, Ruby, PHP, Watson API). I would like to complete each module offered by codecademy if time permits. As of now I am not paying for the more enhanced Codecademy service just the free version.

 I started the week with the Java module on Codeacademy, or what I thought was the Java module. It was actually the JavaScript module, I didn't realize till after I had finished, that they were in fact two separate languages.I’d say I spent about an hour a day on the JavaScript module for three days. It was a very good introduction to coding.Ii have to say, it was the first time I felt like i was actually grasping coding concepts. Motivated and filled with confidence from completing the JavaScript module I was able to sit down and finished the Java module in a day. Both were very good classes,  I would recommend them to anyone looking to get into coding. I tried this week to get some hands on experience coding Java but couldn't focus long enough to find a good site or resource to utilize. I plan on using time this weekend to start writing some actual programs as practice, as well for the thrill of actually creating something. Before I attempt more hands on experience I am starting the python module on Codecademy. I am somewhat already familiar with python, tried to write a trading bot in python a while back. 

Reading

The majority of my reading this week was dedicated to tackling Applied Cryptography By; Bruce Schneier. A book that came highly recommended as a great place to start to when trying to get into the roots of cryptography. I've read about a chapter a day give or take everyday. It is not a light read, and does not read like an introductory book but the content inside is quite worth the lengthy read.  Anyone who takes Cryptocurrency seriously should strive to have a strong knowledge of Cryptography itself.            

  The second book I started reading this week, was a much lighter book, Introducing Ethereum and Solidity By: Chris Dannen. I have mixed feelings about the book, I was looking for a more in depth resource on coding in the Ethereum ecosystem which this book failed to provide. It did although give a very good framework for the reader about Ethereum and the coding possibilities in the ecosystem. I think i will give the book another chance after I've tried hands on Java coding.                   

Writing  

My inspiration for my first indepth article came from reading the section on Digital Cash in Applied Cryptography. Author Bruce Schneier describes a theoretically digital cash, a very cutting edge concept in 1996 the year the book was written. The thing that struck me the most when reading this section was the fact the system Schneier describes is almost entirely anonymous .Something Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies fail to offer. After reading that chapter it seems like bitcoin would almost have to be anonymous for it to be successful in this day and age. But the fact is Bitcoin is not anonymous. Most cryptocurrencies are not anonymous, and the ones that are still lack complete privacy. In my upcoming post I dive into the questions around current anonymous protocols and the work being done to improve them.