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Question 1
In your own words explain mining and block reward.

When we hear of Bitcoin mining we should think of a digitalised work on the crypto space that requires sophisticated tech tools like the Application-Specific Integrated Circuit to carry out this task and for mining to occur there must be miners, not your regular pickaxe headlamp guys in an underground tunnel but one good at operating high tech tools.

The Bitcoin Blockchain is a database that cannot be altered after its value is set, on this database transactions carried out are stored, these transactions are verified and added to the database by miners. So the work of miners is to verify transactions and add relevant ones to the transaction. This means that for a transaction to be added to the ledger it must have no element of double use. To add a block to the ledger it is required of miners to show proof of work (POW) and this is where the Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) comes to the scene.

Block Reward

For every work their is a payment or reward, this is a basic principle of life and this applies to the crypto world as well. Miners are rewarded for their work with newly mined bitcoin and the transaction fees of all the transactions that took place in that block. Miners work by validating transactions in the blockchain and their is a reward for every successful mining, by successful mining we mean finding the right hash and adding it to the ledger.

Question 2
What do you understand by Bitcoin Halving?

Every currency experiences inflation and this occurs when there is excess supply of a currency. This reduces the purchasing power of that currency. Bitcoin just like every other currency experiences inflation but this can be overlooked and to curtail inflation this is where Bitcoin mining comes in place.

Bitcoin halving is one of the most anticipated event in the crypto space, when bitcoin halves there is a reduction in the reward for mining a block, it reduces by half. This occurs after 210,000 blocks have been mined on the Bitcoin Blockchain. The last Bitcoin halving was in 2020, it halved from 12.5btc to 6.25BTC. Following this sequence from 2012 we can see a 4years gap before the next halving. The effect of this is that it helps maintain the supply of BTC at 21million and the lesser the supply the higher the price, basic economic principle. So Bitcoin Halving is like a solution to inflation and this increases the value of Bitcoin. This is why 1btc has more purchasing power than 1dollar.

Question 3
What are the effects of the halving on miners?

Bitcoin halving is one of the most anticipated event in the Crypto space, this is because it reduces the inflation rate of Bitcoin and increases it's value, this even has an effect on alternate coins as their prices go up as well.

After Bitcoin halved in 2012 there was a reduction in its inflation rate by 12% and currently it's inflation rate is at 1.76%. So when Bitcoin halves it's supply decreases and this helps maintain its supply at 21million, the lower the supply the higher the value. Also there is a reduction in miners reward. In 2012 it halved from 50btc to 25btc, in 2016 from 25btc to 12.5btc, 2020 from 12.5btc to 6.25btc. We can see that the amount keeps reducing. Such is the effect of bitcoin halving.

Question 4
What is the current height on the bitcoin blockchain? How many more blocks before the next halving?

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We can see from the above screenshot that the height of Bitcoin Block is 696790(at the time the picture was screenshot).

We have been made to know and understand that BTC undergoes halving after 210,000 blocks are mined, this halving has occurred three times in 2012, 2016 and 2020.

Therefore the total number of block for the next halving is 210,000 × 4 = 840,000 blocks

Current Block Height= 696790

To get the number of blocks remaining: 840,000 - 696790= 143,210

Therefore 143,210 blocks is remaining before the next halving.

Question 5
Do you think steems inflation rate can affect other coins? Why?

I don't think steems inflation rate reduction can affect other coins because as it stands now, steem is not as big as Bitcoin or even other alternate coins like Ethereum and Binance and it doesn't make up 1/3 of the market cap. Bitcoin has a market cap of $915,269,447,458, Ethereum has a market cap of $383,721,931,412 compared to steems $220,981,879 market cap. Steems inflation rate is high and its rate of reduction is insignificant to have such kind of effect on other alt coins talk more of Bitcoin

Question 6
What is the current Block Height on the Steem blockchain? How many more blocks before the next 0.01% reduction?

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From the screenshot we can see that the block height of steem when this post was made was 56,551,413

Steems inflation rate reduces by 0.01% at every 250,000 blocks

Current Block Height = 56,551,413

Total number of reduction is

56,551,413÷250,000 = 226.2056

Approximated to 3s.f = 226

For the next height reduction: 226×250,000= 56,500,000 which is the number that must be mined before the next reduction.

Number of blocks remaining till next reduction
= 56,551,413-56,500,000=51,413

Therefore 51,413 blocks must be mined before the next 0.01% reduction.

Question 7
What is the current value of Bitcoin on the day you performed this task if you made a purchase of 2,500, then
A) How many Satoshi would you have?
B) What is the value of a Satoshi for that day?

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The value of Bitcoin when I performed this task was $48,854.47
Thus if I buy $2500 worth of BTC then I would have

Solution

Let Y be the number of BTC
1 btc = 48,854.47
Y btc = $2500
Cross multiply
Y btc = 2500 ÷ 48,854.47 = 0.05117239
Approximated to 3s.f = 0.0512

A)
Let X be the number of Satoshi
1 Satoshi = 1×10^-8 btc
X Satoshi = 0.051btc
cross multiply
X = 0.051/1×10^-8 = 5100,000
To 3s.f= 5,130,000
If I purchase Btc worth $2500 I will have 5,130,000 Satoshi

B)
1 Satoshi = 1×10^-8 btc
1 btc =48,854.47
cross multiply
1 Satoshi = 1×10^-8 × 48,854.47
1 Satoshi = $0.000488544
Approximate to 3s.f = 0.000489

Question 8
What is the value of BNB on the day you are performing this task? If you made a purchase of $30 then
A) How many Jagers would you have?
B) What is the value of a Jager for that day?

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The value of BNB when I performed this task is $457.40, if I made a purchase of $30 I will get this

Solution

Let A be the amount of BNB
1 BNB = $457.40
A BNB = $30
cross multiply
A= 30/457.40 = 0.06558
Approximate to 3s.f = 0.0656

A)
Let B be the number of Jagers
1 Jager = 1×10^-8 BNB
B Jager = 0.066BNB
cross multiply
B = 0.066/1×10^-8 = 6,600,000
I would have 6,600,000 Jagers

B)
1Jager = 0.00000001BNB
1BNB = $457.40
1Jager= 0.00000001×457.40= $0.000004574
Approximate to 3s.f = $0.00000457

Conclusion

Great lecture Prof @awesononso I really learnt a lot keep up the good work sir.