Other Bets Props and Futures Some other fun bets that can be made on basketball include prop bets and futures. How To Bet News. Handicapping Your Basketball Bets When oddsmakers set the lines, they take many factors into consideration. If you have even one loss, you lose the entire bet. On the other hand the Magic must either win outright or lose by 3 or fewer points for a Magic spread bet to payout.
There are two types of forks—soft and hard forks. Soft forks are upgrades that still allow un-upgraded nodes to interact with upgraded nodes. Hard forks are upgrades that do not allow un-upgraded nodes to interact with upgraded ones. Bitcoin Cash is an example of a hard fork of Bitcoin. Because Bitcoin is decentralized, it is not subjected to inflation or any monetary policies created by any central banks or government.
Instead, there will only ever be 21 million BTC in existence. Common Bitcoin Misconceptions Bitcoin is just a passing phase. Bitcoin and blockchain technology introduce solutions for real-world issues, seeking to help the unbanked population, combat counterfeiting and improve cross-border transactions to name a few. Even if we disregard the notion of bitcoin as a speculative asset or store of value, it is likely here to stay and disrupt many sectors. Bitcoins can be copied and pasted, making them easy to counterfeit.
No, thanks to the Bitcoin protocol, your bitcoin cannot be copied. In fact, Bitcoin solves the issue of double-spending, a loophole in traditional digital cash that allows a user to spend the same amount of funds twice. Bitcoin is bad for the environment. A significant percentage of bitcoin mining uses renewable energy wind, solar, hydro etc instead of traditional energy sources that are bad for the environment.
Bitcoin Resources. However, there are some currencies that accept investment only in Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies. What are the key steps to buy cryptocurrency? It is pretty easy actually. The entire process involves five key steps. They are: a Choose a crypto exchange; b Create your account and verify it; c Deposit the fund and start investing; d Place you order to buy desired cryptocurrency, e Select a storage method.
However, there are also other ways to invest in cryptocurrencies. These options are not so mainstream yet. What is the minimum amount you can invest in cryptocurrencies? There is no defined limit to invest in cryptocurrencies, just like there is no minimum limit to invest in stocks.
However, there is some difference. If you do not wish to buy an entire cryptocurrency, you are allowed to buy small units of it. Yes, you can invest in cryptocurrencies using Indian currency, but you cannot use cash for the payment. Every investor needs a bank account linked to the crypto account to add money and make a digital payment. Only KYC-approved users can make such payments.
Investors should note that exchanges charge some fees when you make an investment and redeem it. The fee levied may vary from one exchange to another, and from one currency to another. Can cryptocurrencies be used to make online purchases?
Yes, cryptocurrencies are a medium of exchange, which can be used to make payments for online purchases. There are hundreds of online shops and retailers that accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. However, there is a catch. Both the buyer and seller should agree to accept the particular cryptocurrency for the deal.
There are various search engines to find the goods and services that can be purchased using cryptocurrencies. Why should you invest in cryptocurrency? If an investor believes in the technology-backed digital currency, then cryptocurrency should be his cup of tea.
Just a decade-old asset class, it has yielded astronomical returns over the years. Some investors look to use these digitally coded tokens to hedge against inflation. Despite high volatility and speculations, there are multiple reasons that they can become mainstream in the coming future. Is cryptocurrency legal in India? That move was welcomed by the crypto exchanges and investors throughout the country.
After this, Indian banks have tried to curtail transactions with crypto-exchanges as, in their view, they are governed by RBI.
Blockchain is a stateless protocol, with each block representing a state change and containing a summary of all the transactions in the block over a given time frame block time. Bitcoin uses a Proof-of-Work consensus model to validate transactions based on the SHA hashing function.
Every nodes on the bitcoin network must reach consensus to verify and agree upon each transaction for the next block to be mined. Mined BTC can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. Bitcoin was originally invented by an unknown person or group under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto and released as open-source software in The top crypto is considered a store of value, like gold, for many — rather than a currency.
This idea of the first cryptocurrency as a store of value, instead of a payment method, means that many people buy the crypto and hold onto it long-term or HODL rather than spending it on items like you would typically spend a dollar — treating it as digital gold. Crypto Wallets The most popular wallets for cryptocurrency include both hot and cold wallets.
Cryptocurrency wallets vary from hot wallets and cold wallets. Hot wallets are able to be connected to the web, while cold wallets are used for keeping large amounts of coins outside of the internet. Some of the top crypto hot wallets include Exodus, Electrum and Mycelium.
Still not sure of which wallet to use? For example, if users A and B are disagreeing on whether an incoming transaction is valid, a hard fork could make the transaction valid to users A and B, but not to user C. A hard fork is a protocol upgrade that is not backward compatible. This means every node computer connected to the Bitcoin network using a client that performs the task of validating and relaying transactions needs to upgrade before the new blockchain with the hard fork activates and rejects any blocks or transactions from the old blockchain.
The old blockchain will continue to exist and will continue to accept transactions, although it may be incompatible with other newer Bitcoin clients. Since old nodes will recognise the new blocks as valid, a soft fork is backward-compatible.
This kind of fork requires only a majority of the miners upgrading to enforce the new rules. Bitcoin Cash has been hard forked since its original forking, with the creation of Bitcoin SV. What Is Taproot? Taproot is a soft fork that bundles together BIP , and and aims to improve the scalability, efficiency, and privacy of the blockchain by introducing several new features.
MAST introduces a condition allowing the sender and recipient of a transaction to sign off on its settlement together. Schnorr Signature allows users to aggregate several signatures into one for a single transaction. This results in multi-signature transactions looking the same as regular transactions or more complex ones.
By introducing this new address type, users can also save on transaction fees, as even complex transactions look like simple, single-signature ones. Although HODL ers will probably not notice a big impact, Taproot could become a key milestone to equipping the network with smart contract functionality. In particular, Schnorr Signatures would lay the foundation for more complex applications to be built on top of the existing blockchain, as users start switching to Taproot addresses primarily.
If adopted by users, Taproot could, in the long run, result in the network developing its own DeFi ecosystem that rivals those on alternative blockchains like Ethereum. What Is the Lightning Network? The Lightning Network is an off-chain, layered payment protocol that operates bidirectional payment channels which allows instantaneous transfer with instant reconciliation. It enables private, high volume and trustless transactions between any two parties.
The Lightning Network scales transaction capacity without incurring the costs associated with transactions and interventions on the underlying blockchain. A few years ago, the idea that a publicly traded company might hold Bitcoin on its balance sheets seemed highly laughable.
The flagship cryptocurrency was considered to be too volatile to be adopted by any serious business. Since then, many others have followed suit, including EV manufacturer Tesla. MicroStrategy has by far the largest Bitcoin portfolio held by any publicly-traded company. The business analytics platform has adopted Bitcoin as its primary reserve asset, aggressively buying the cryptocurrency through and Is Bitcoin Political?
Bitcoin is becoming more political by the day, particularly after El Salvador began accepting the currency as legal tender. The country's president, Nayib Bukele, announced and implemented the decision almost unilaterally, dismissing criticism from his citizens , the Bank of England , the IMF , Vitalik Buterin and many others. Since the Bitcoin legal tender law was passed in September , Bukele has also announced plans to build Bitcoin City , a city fully based on mining Bitcoin with geothermal energy from volcanoes.
Countries like Mexico , Russia and others have been rumored to be candidates also to accept Bitcoin as legal tender, but thus far, El Salvador stands alone. On the flip side, countries like China have moved to heavily clamp down on Bitcoin mining and trading activities.
In May , the Chinese government declared that all crypto-related transactions are illegal.
Bitcoin was envisioned as an alternative to traditional electronic payment methods, removing the requirement for a central bank or administrator. Transactions on the Bitcoin network are sent between users directly with no intermediary. All transactions are recorded in a public distributed ledger referred to as a blockchain.
Blockchain is an immutable append-only data structure. Each block uses the previous block's hash to create its own hash. Whereas with other financial sectors, this is not the case. For example, when calculating the carbon footprint of a payment processing system like Visa, they fail to calculate the energy required to print money or power ATMs, or smartphones, bank branches, security vehicles, among other components in the payment processing and banking supply chain.
What exactly are governments and nonprofits doing to reduce Bitcoin energy consumption? Earlier this year in the U. S, specifically highlighting their concerns regarding fossil fuel consumption. Leaders also discussed the current debate surrounding the coal-to-crypto trend, particularly regarding the number of coal plants in New York and Pennsylvania that are in the process of being repurposed into mining farms. Aside from congressional hearings, there are private sector crypto initiatives dedicated to solving environmental issues such as the Crypto Climate Accord and Bitcoin Mining Council.
In fact, the Crypto Climate Accord proposes a plan to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions by , And, due to the innovative potential of Bitcoin, it is reasonable to believe that such grand plans may be achieved. Bitcoin is the first decentralized, peer-to-peer digital currency. One of its most important functions is that it is used as a decentralized store of value.
In other words, it provides for ownership rights as a physical asset or as a unit of account. However, the latter store-of-value function has been debated. Many crypto enthusiasts and economists believe that high-scale adoption of the top currency will lead us to a new modern financial world where transaction amounts will be denominated in smaller units.
The smallest units of Bitcoin, 0. The top crypto is considered a store of value, like gold, for many — rather than a currency. This idea of the first cryptocurrency as a store of value, instead of a payment method, means that many people buy the crypto and hold onto it long-term or HODL rather than spending it on items like you would typically spend a dollar — treating it as digital gold. Crypto Wallets The most popular wallets for cryptocurrency include both hot and cold wallets.
Cryptocurrency wallets vary from hot wallets and cold wallets. Hot wallets are able to be connected to the web, while cold wallets are used for keeping large amounts of coins outside of the internet. Some of the top crypto hot wallets include Exodus, Electrum and Mycelium. Still not sure of which wallet to use?
For example, if users A and B are disagreeing on whether an incoming transaction is valid, a hard fork could make the transaction valid to users A and B, but not to user C. A hard fork is a protocol upgrade that is not backward compatible. This means every node computer connected to the Bitcoin network using a client that performs the task of validating and relaying transactions needs to upgrade before the new blockchain with the hard fork activates and rejects any blocks or transactions from the old blockchain.
The old blockchain will continue to exist and will continue to accept transactions, although it may be incompatible with other newer Bitcoin clients. Since old nodes will recognise the new blocks as valid, a soft fork is backward-compatible. This kind of fork requires only a majority of the miners upgrading to enforce the new rules. Bitcoin Cash has been hard forked since its original forking, with the creation of Bitcoin SV.
What Is Taproot? Taproot is a soft fork that bundles together BIP , and and aims to improve the scalability, efficiency, and privacy of the blockchain by introducing several new features. MAST introduces a condition allowing the sender and recipient of a transaction to sign off on its settlement together. Schnorr Signature allows users to aggregate several signatures into one for a single transaction.
This results in multi-signature transactions looking the same as regular transactions or more complex ones. By introducing this new address type, users can also save on transaction fees, as even complex transactions look like simple, single-signature ones. Although HODL ers will probably not notice a big impact, Taproot could become a key milestone to equipping the network with smart contract functionality.
In particular, Schnorr Signatures would lay the foundation for more complex applications to be built on top of the existing blockchain, as users start switching to Taproot addresses primarily. If adopted by users, Taproot could, in the long run, result in the network developing its own DeFi ecosystem that rivals those on alternative blockchains like Ethereum.
What Is the Lightning Network? The Lightning Network is an off-chain, layered payment protocol that operates bidirectional payment channels which allows instantaneous transfer with instant reconciliation.