Steemit Crypto Academy | Season 4 Week 5 : Bitcoin Trajectory by @bibsonhabib
Question 1
How many times has Bitcoin been "halved"? When is the next expected? What is the current amount that Bitcoin miners receive? Mention at least 2 cryptocurrencies that are or have halved.
Halving in cryptocurrency terms is the division of the block rewards of miners by two. Bitcoin halving occurs when every 210,000 blocks are mined.
Halving is intended to check the in inflation rate and also the rate at which new tokens are circulated into the market. Since bitcoin has a maximum supply of 21 million, the halving of miners rewards lengthens the time left for the maximum supply to be reached.
Since its inception, bitcoin has been halved three times. The first halving was on 28th November, 2012, the second on 9th July, 2016 and the third halving on 11th May, 2020.
The first halving had 25 BTC as block rewards, in the second halving the block reward was 12.5 BTC. The third halving had 6.25 BTC in block rewards.
Halving of Bitcoin occurs every four years, since the last halving was in 2020, the next halving would be in 2024, that is approximately 3 years from now.
Since we are in the third halving of Bitcoin, the current block reward is 6.25 BTC, hence bitcoin miners recieve 6.25 BTC as mining rewards.
Two other cryptocurrencies that have been halved include Litecoin and ZCASH.
Litecoin’s first halving was on 25th August, 2015 with a block reward of 25 LTC. Litecoin is halved after each 840,000 blocks are mined.
ZCASH first halving occurred on 8th November,2020 with a block reward of 3.125 ZEC.
Question 2
What are consensus mechanisms? How do Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Staking differ?
Consensus Mechanism
These are processes that entail certain outlined principles which are used in blockchain systems or
networks to achieve key functionalities like security, agreement and trust across the decentralized blockchain network.
Consensus mechanisms ensure that the validating nodes are in agreement with one another, ensure security of users on the blockchain.
Consensus mechanisms distributes responsibilities across nodes of the blockchains network, since these responsibilities are shared, the nodes work independently to process transactions within a matter of seconds.
The cryptocurrency world is known for two main types of consensus mechanisms namely;
Proof-of work and Proof-of-Stake
Proof-of-Work
This type of decentralized consensus mechanism requires the efforts of members on the network
and also high computational power in order to mine and validate transaction nodes so as to secure the network against malicious attacks.
Proof-of-Stake
In this type of decentralized consensus mechanism is a bit bias. Transaction nodes are validated with respect to the number of coins held by a user.
Hence users with high amounts of coins have high mining power tend to earn higher rewards than users with lesser amounts. Proof-of-Stake uses lesser amounts of energy in mining, compared to Proof-of-Work.
| Proof-of-Work | Proof-of-Stake |
|---|---|
| The first miner of the block recieves the block/mining reward | Has no mining block rewards. Miners are paid transaction fees or mining blocks |
| Less scalable | High scalability compared to PoW |
| In order to add a block to the blockchain, miners have to solve complex mathematical functions using computational power | An algorithm determines the winner of the mining operation based on the amount of tokens they hold |
| The amount of computational power in Proof-of-Stake determines the probability of mining a new block | The amount of tokens held by a user determines the probability of mining a new block |
| More time is needed to confirm transactions | PoS takes less time to confirm transactions |
| Systems that run on Proof-of-Work are cheaper and less energy efficient | Proof-of-stake systems are more expensive and more energy efficient |
| Third parties or hackers would require 51% of the entire computing power in order to add a malicious block | Hackers would need 51% of the entire cryptocurrency tokens on the network in order to carry out fraudulent activities |
Question 3
Enter the Bitcoin explorer and indicate the hash corresponding to the last transaction. Show Screenshot.
- I visited the Bitcoin explorer website blockchain.com in order to show the last transaction.
From the screenshot above, the hash of the current transaction is 1251cc9e0e9423bb81f4e67a879cb67e0531db106f56c0a7c6d18097a45d88f8. The transaction was processed at 6th October,2021 at 22:01 (GMT).
Question 4
What is meant by Altcoin Season? Are we currently in Altcoin Season? When was the last Altcoin Season? Mention and show 2 charts of Altcoins followed by their growth in the most recent Season. Give reasons for your answer.
Altcoins are alternative coins other than bitcoin in the cryptocurrency market. Hence altcoin season refers to a particular time or season in the cryptocurrency market where 75% of the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap outperform bitcoin within a 90-day period.
In this period the performance of these altcoins are very excellent as they experience great price increases with very little volatility.
Are we in Altcoin Season
For us to be in an altcoin season, 75% of the top 50 cryptocurrencies or 38 of the top 50 cryptocurrencies have to outperform bitcoin in terms of performance; taking into consideration their percentage increase. If 75% or 38 of the top 50 cryptocurrencies experience a percentage growth higher than that of bitcoin, we are in an altcoin season.
This data below from blockchaincenter.net as at 6th October,2021 at 22:05 (GMT) shows that only 41% of the top 50 cryptocurrencies have surpassed bitcoin in terms of performance, since it has not reached 75%, we are not in an altcoin season.
When Was the Last Altcoin Season
The last altcoin season occurred in March, 2021 and lasted or 90 days or 3 months. It ended in June 2021. Coins like Axie Infinity (AXS), Fantom(FTM) and LUNA saw great increase in their price values as they experienced a percentage rise of 731.3%, 687.6% and 438.8% respectively.
Below is a screenshot from blockchaincenter.net for the last altcoin season
Mention and show two charts of altcoins and their growth*
Axie Infinity
With a current market cap of $7,755,262,653.93, a current price of $126.70 and a rank of 26 according to coinmarketcap.com, the Axie infinity token was launched with a price of $0.15 in 2018.
The March 2021 altcoin saw its growth increase by 731.3% as at the time of writing. Axie infinity reached a peak price of $155.08 in October, 2021.
The graph below shows it’s all time chart graph against BTC from coinmarketcap.com
LUNA
Terra LUNA occupies the 11th position on the chart of the top cryptocurrencies. It has a current market cap of $18,126,967,342.46, a price of $44.95 and a current supply of 402,442,406 LUNA. LUNA had a price of $0.1199 as at March, 2020; 2 years after its launch in January,2018.
During the last altcoin season, LUNA put up a great performance, with a percentage increase of 438.8%. Terra LUNA reached a peak price of $49.45 as at 4th October, 2021.
It has depreciated by 8.91% and has a current price of $44.95 as at the time of writing. Below is LUNA’s all time graph against BTC from coinmarketcap.com
Question 5
Make a purchase from your verified account of the exchange of your choice of at least 15 USD in a currency that is not in the top 25 of Coinmarket (SBD, tron or steem are not allowed). Why did you choose this coin? What is the goal or purpose behind this project? Who are its founders / developers? Indicate the currency's ATH and its current price. Reason for your answers. Show Screenshots.
- I visited my verified Binance account.
- I searched EOS/USDT pair and clicked on it
- I clicked on buy EOS
- I selected market order, entered an amount of 16 USDT and clicked on buy EOS.
- I confirmed the buy order
- The buy order was completed successfully.
Why I chose EOS Token
The EOS network was designed with a main aim of helping programmers build decentralized apps (Dapps) easily on the blockchain network.
The EOS network is highly scalable and uses Delegated Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism in its operations.
Taking a look at the charts of EOS from coinmarketcap, we can see that EOS has a current price of $4.74 and is ranked #40.
The reason why I chose EOS is because I see potential in the project. It uses DPoS as its consensus mechanism, which famous blockchains are now adopting.
The platform also facilitating easy building of Dapps would see a very huge amount of new users sooner. It’s high scalability would also enable it gain a great user base.
EOS had an all time low of $0.48, which was in October,2014 and an all time high of $22.89, which was in April,2018. EOS has increased by 887.81% since it’s launch and has dropped only by 79.28%. This also shows that EOS has a great price performance potential in years to come.
Since we see Dapps as the future, EOS has a great chance of survival as the network provides a conducive environment for building this applications.
Goal of EOS
Launched in June,2018, EOS seeks to make development of Decentralized applications (DApps) very easy for programmers on the blockchain .
The EOS network also aims at providing high scalability compared to that of the other blockchains. It also use Delegated Proof-of-Stake which makes transactions on its network highly secured. The network also aims at providing a platform which more than 100 DApps can run on.
Founders of EOS
The EOS network was developed by Block.One, a software company which was founded in 2016 by by Steemit founder Daniel Larimer and Brendan Blumer. Daniel Larimer was the Chief Technical Officer(CTO) whiles Brendan Blumer served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The EOS network was launched in June,2018 by Blumer and Larimer who published its whitepaper.
All Time High and Current Price
From the screenshot below, the All time high of EOS was $22.89 which was on 29th April, 2019; about 3 years ago.
The current price of EOS is $4.74 according to coinmarketcap
Conclusion
In conclusion halving of cryptocurrencies are very key as they check the inflation rate and also stabilize the price of cryptocurrencies.
Both blockchain consensus mechanisms Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake are also great blockchain mechanisms; each with its upside and downsides.
PoS mechanism are high in terms of scalability but do not earn block rewards but transaction fees.
Proof-of-Work mechanism are low in scalability compared to PoW but earn block rewards after successfully mining a new block. Hence what a blockchain seeks to achieve would determine the type of consensus mechanism to use.
This has been a very educative assignment by professor @imagen, looking forward onto his next lecture. Warm regards to all professors and members of this wonderful community.
Thanks for your time.
Gracias por participar en la Cuarta Temporada de la Steemit Crypto Academy.
Continua esforzandote, espero seguir corrigiendo tus asignaciones.
Thanks professor