Gauge Newsletter January 2019 | Page 46

Investing Today cryptocurrencies are one of the main investing objects in the world. Bitcoin is the one which is ahead of all other digital currencies. It is stated that one Bitcoin was valued at $7000 in November 2017 and this value keeps growing. The fastest rise of digital currency has been recorded by Ethereum. Its value has increased by at least 2700 percent since May 2016. Even though cryptocurrencies are high rising investment objects, it also entails high risks, because their market values fluctuate instantly. Bitcoin has received the highest demand for investing, even though there had been a slight downfall since 2017, while there are many other types of cryptocurrencies to invest on, such as Litecoin, Lithium and Monero. There are wallet services offered by main exchanges to store cryptocurrencies when customers buy their assets. But, one of the most secure ways to have full control over assets is storing them in a private wallet on a private computer or a server. validation of transactions. Their duty is to solve cryptographic puzzles. It is essential in order to record it in the Blockchain. Miners make profits solving puzzles. When a miner solves a puzzle, he receives a transaction fee and a reward payment (which is 12.5 bitcoins as this article is written). Mining is not an easy task. In order to mine, very powerful computers are needed, not to mention their huge cost and power consumption. Also, puzzles are designed in such a way that only one person of all miners will able to solve the puzzle, making the other miners’ time and money a wasted investment. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the USA has taken a decision in 2014 that Bitcoin should be considered as property for tax purposes. There is a possibility that hackers would be using these online currencies for web crimes. Not only there is a lack of regulations, but there’s also difficulty in tracking cryptocurrency exchanges, which fall in their favor. So there are concerns and discussions about establishing international There are only 21 million laws. Bitcoins in total. Out of that 21 million, around 17 million Bitcoins have already mined away as of now. The amount of the coins that can be mined is getting smaller day by day, which makes the coin prices go up. Because of that, reward payment keeps getting smaller. Legality of cryptocurrency Legal status of cryptocurrencies varies from one country another. Many countries have not yet established laws Mining and regulations about Miners are the ones who cryptocurrency. Some do the bookkeeping in this countries have entirely network. Mining is the banned using cryptocurrency. PAGE| 44 China’s central bank banned using Bitcoins in 2014. In Russia, it is not banned, but people must use Russian Rubles when purchasing goods. University of Peradeniya GAUGE Magazine Common cryptocurrencies Bitcoin The first and the most famous one. Started in 2009. Decentralized digital currency type. Used in many areas worldwide.