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Ripple’s XRP Token is Now Available on imove Wallet

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The imove wallet is now more wealthy by one more cryptocurrency, and that crypto is XRP. XRP is the native token of the Ripple network, which sees itself as the future standard for cross-border payments, remittances and general transactions on a global scale.

The wallet can handle multiple currencies, allowing holders to use both fiat currency and cryptocurrency alike. All of this from one account that gives users the ability to do instant currency exchanges, deposits, withdrawals, and many other bank settlements.

This is a match made in heaven as both the wallet and Ripple itself are positioning themselves as general tools to overcome the problems inherent in today’s financial system with regards to transaction time, speed and ease of use.

Why is this so important?

Sending money to someone, even in the same country, takes a lot of effort (and time). While many people don’t realize it, money does change hands electronically despite what your online banking profile might have you believe. The modern financial transaction system is a patchwork of various systems and processes that have a friendly UI. This is the reason bank transfers are so expensive. It is the reason for sending small amounts of money to someone on the other side of the world can be costly.

Ripple’s system wants to change this and cut out the middlemen that have been garnishing the transfers of regular people for decades and replace them with an impartial, secure, and above all fast system. This system uses XRP tokens to represent value in many ways.

The addition of Ripple to imove’s wallet is yet another step in this goal to become the premier global transaction network for everyone. The imove wallet is already able to handle multiple crypto and fiat currencies, so it is the perfect platform for Ripple and XRP to thrive while giving current users more options.

Ripple is booming at the moment, with many a developer looking at their network to power their payments. Their former Chief Technology Officer has started up a blogging platform that works similarly to Spotify. Stefan Thomas’ Coil platform promises to be the Spotify for written content, with easy entrance into the world of crypto.

What’s up from here?

Ripple is hard at work, finding more and more partners. They were finally added to Coinbase earlier this year, and there was a flurry of activity in the mainstream media comparing Ripple to JPMCoin where there was heated debate about the usefulness of either cryptocurrency.

The problem with JPM Coin, many said, is that banks would prefer to use an independent system as opposed to a competitors system. This is where Ripple shines – it is an independent network that is already miles ahead, technologically to its competitors.

When the imove wallet entrance is looked at from this angle – it certainly bodes well both for investors and users of the Ripple network.

Disclaimer: Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

White Hat cybersecurity experts made $32000 helping crypto sphere in last 60 days

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The good guys have scored. A group of white hat hackers has made USD 32.000,00 over the previous sixty days. They owe their earnings to the successful reporting of security problems in several cryptocurrency and blockchain technology projects.

Fifteen different security firms awarded the money between March 28th and May 16th. The hackers’ achievements are documented in over thirty public reports and security audits.

The sheep are not all the same, as the saying goes. Discovering a specific security problem pays different fees depending on how severe the exploit is and who is offering the money. According to the reports, most of the awards were given by OmiseGo (a security firm) and were worth about USD 100,00. Block.one, the company behind the EOS blockchain and digital asset, and the blockchain startup Aeternity had different ideas. They made their individual rewards as high as USD 10.000,00, and they paid them off over the two months in question.

Tron is also in the mix. Justin Sun’s project paid USD 3.500,00 to a security expert (which you could also call a hacker if you must) after he reported a vulnerability. It was a serious flaw that could have compromised the whole blockchain, and even bring it down.

In an announcement that followed the vulnerability, the project explained how an attacker could have flooded the available memory on a single computer, then performed a Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDoS) on Tron’s whole network taking advantage of some malicious lines of code present in smart contracts.

Other available stimuli

The field is still wide open if you’re interested and you have the skill. The giant cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance is willing to pay as much as USD 10.000,00 for each vulnerability they classify as “P1: Critical”. Such an achievement can have a reward as juicy as USD 100.000,00 per user. The P1 classification is not Binance’s, but it’s based on Bugcrowd’s Vulnerability Rating Taxonomy.

During 2018, white hat hackers collected USD 878.000,00 for helping some of the crypto verse’s most significant projects to keep their security standards up.  From that quantity, Coinbase paid USD 290.381,00, and Tron was good for USD 76.200,00. So this is not the first time that expertise is rewarded for playing fair.

This is refreshing news. Black hat hackers get a lot of attention always, even when the hack is not that big in terms of stolen value, or when it’s not very technically savvy. That inflated attention doesn’t help crypto to improve its reputation (especially in the mainstream) because it brings the outside focus to some events that do not happen all that often, and that represent the worst in the crypto verse. Today’s news, on the other hand, shows the commitment that several prominent blockchain projects have to keep their networks, users, and holders secure.

It’s normal that the regular work on security carried out by every blockchain project in the world doesn’t get that much attention. For the most part, it’s routinary work that is almost always under-the-hood stuff. Most users neither care a lot about or are capable of understanding it in full, until something terrible happens. But it’s still good to know that security concerns are taken seriously by the crypto verse at large.

Disclaimer: Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

XRP, LTC, every coin glints: The altcoin market leaves behind the $107 billion mark

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Bitcoin’s market behavior has left even the most optimistic market analysts with their mouths wide open. The uptrend looks unstoppable as of today. So how are altcoins reacting?

In the past, we’ve seen how a rally on Bitcoin drags the whole market along, so when BTC does well, the market’s altcoins improve their market performance too. And that’s the thing that we haven’t seen this time around, or at least not as clearly as before. Some currencies are indeed following Bitcoin’s trend and gaining value while some others are taking their time and keep trading sideways.

In this article, we will have a look at the market state of a few of the market’s most exciting alternative coins.

Ripple’s XRP

XRP was among those tokens that didn’t react very quickly to Bitcoin’s behavior. It kept trading sideways as BTC went up for a while. It was only yesterday when Ripple’s token started to go up, but it went up in style. It soared by increasing 20% in price and hitting the USD 0.40 level, which is as much a resistance level as a psychological barrier for the market.

Maybe the trigger was Coinbase. The exchange and trading platform announced that NYC residents would enjoy of support for XRP so that they will now be able to “buy, sell, convert, send, receive or store XRP on Coinbase.com or using Coinbase iOS and Android apps.” This is not the same as XRP’s inclusion in Pro Coinbase, which happened a few weeks ago.

Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin is among the coins that follow Bitcoin more closely. So BTC’s bullish market was never going to leave LTC behind, and it hasn’t. LTC’s price has gone over USD 100,00 for the first time in eleven months and reaching its highest point for the current year.

So now expectations are high, and LTC could go even higher if BTC continues to lead the way in the path of the green number.

Binance (BNB)

Binance’s native cryptocurrency was the only one in the cryptosphere that managed to achieve a high point during the catastrophic 2018 bear market. As every asset in the market was plummeting (Bitcoin included) BNB went from trading around the USD 6,00 level to USD 25,00.

Its upwards trend was stable for months until it was broken, most probably by the news of the Binance hack last week. The coin lost 22.6% of its value in just a few days.

As Binance’s trade flow went back to usual, BNB recovered and reached a price of USD 26,86. Also, Binance’s damage control regarding the hack has been very competent.

Cardano’s ADA

Cardano’s founder and leader, Charles Hoskinson, announced a new strategic partnership with Polymath. They will join forces to develop Polymesh (Polymath’s own blockchain) so it can deploy new cryptocurrencies that are fully compliant with security.

Cardano’s high reputation, academic bent, and non-profit philosophy have been appealing to many cryptonauts who believe in Cardano’s project’s future and in ADA, its native cryptocurrency.

As we write this, ADA is trading at USD 0.088032, and it’s gained 11.54% in 24 hours. So it keeps the tenth spot by market capitalization. The project’s robust roadmap, policies, and strategic partnerships could propel the coin’s price to USD 1,00 by year’s end.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Bitcoin is worthless, 100% based on speculation: Canadian TV celebrity and politician

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Morgan Creek Digital Assets’ Anthony Pompliano is a regular guest at CNBC where he often talks about Bitcoin.

Bitcoin has rallied over the last few days, and it’s gathering momentum to break the 8k psychological barrier (it goes in and out for some time). That brings interest from observers out of the cryptosphere, of course, and Mr. Pompiliano is there to explain the situation to people who usually don’t follow crypto but are interested in the traditional financial markets.

On his most recent appearance, Mr. Pompliano was sitting next to Kevin O’Leary, the Canadian TV celebrity and failed conservative politician. Mr. O’Leary owes his fame to the show “Shark Tank” so he’s supposed to be a successful venture capitalist and expert investor. That’s why it was so surprising that he had absolutely nothing intelligent to say on the subject of Bitcoin.

He rudely interrupted most of Mr. Pompiliano’s intervention in the CNBC show by calling Bitcoin worthless, 100% based on speculation. Nothing but a scam or a digital game in his view.

Morgan Creek’s man tried to explain to him that money is a belief system and that there’s nothing intrinsically valuable supporting the USD either. Fiat and digital currencies are worth something only in so far as people using them believe they’re worth something, which is, of course, entirely accurate. There was a time in which gold used to back a currency’s value, but that’s not been the case for more than four decades now. You’d think that a reputable “investor” would know that.

But Mr. O’Leary doubled down. He said he invested USD 100 in Coinbase, and that his crypto portfolio has lost 70% of its value so far. Well, that may be true. The thing is if you go into any market at all without doing some proper research and a plan, chances are you’ll lose every time. If you just throw some money randomly at the stock market, for instance, you shouldn’t expect to make a profit even if you go for blue-chip stocks only. Aren’t you supposed to know that already if you are at Shark Tank?

So Mr. O’Leary, who clearly doesn’t understand even the first notion about Bitcoin, just threw around a hundred bucks in Coinbase and expected to turn a buck magically. That didn’t happen, and now he blames it on crypto.

No amount of patient explanations on Mr. Pompliano’s part were able to make a dent in Mr. O’Leary’s objections, who’s clearly not willing to listen to anybody else and likes the sound of his own voice a little too much.

Kevin O’Leary’s objections to Bitcoin say nothing about the digital asset itself. But they reveal everything about the man who’s talking. He’s ignorant, willingly disinformed, too lazy (or lacking in brilliance) to understand the new technology and his implications, set in his own ways, and arrogant. The only thing we can learn from his opinions is the confirmation of that old saying: “old dogs don’t learn new tricks.” It’s painfully true especially if the dog is too stupid and lazy.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Huobi adds Tron derivatives one month after adding Tron wallet

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Huobi, the popular cryptocurrency exchange based in Singapore, has opened up its Huobi DM platform to Tron futures. The move will see the platform allow its traders to take short and long positions on Tron’s coin TRX in addition to other actions such as arbitrage, hedging, and speculation.

The rollout on the platform will begin with the disbursement of 1 million TRX tokens to its registered traders. It will also include 100% maker free rebate in the deal as well. The press release issued by the Huobi DM exchange promises that assets will receive many of the same functionalities that can be found on traditional derivatives markets.

The platform looks promising to traders

Huobi DM’s platform, according to the press release that got issued following the announcement of Tron addition, says that the fee structure will be extremely competitive for the Ethereum competitor.  The cost for makers to open or close will be set at 0.02%, while it will be 0.03% to open or close for takers.

The platform will give traders superior risk management tools including, but not limited to, Price Limit, Order Limit, and Position Limit. They promise that their price limit mechanism has superior risk control than other platforms, with no clawbacks having occurred since they launched the platform.

The press release also reiterated how closely the platform monitors various data to fully ensure that its risk supervision runs in real time is not just industry competitive, but to be an industry standard. They also go on to say in the press release that all open position limits for all crypto contracts will be at two times their previous level. Order limits will receive the same treatment of getting a double boost. These are only valid for newly raised opens and orders.

They want to put their customer base at ease, which is why they have created a Risk Management Insurance Fund. The RMIF is different for each trading pair, and under wanting to provide the most user protections as possible, they will be giving each trading pair a dedicated RMIF. This would be to cover any losses that occur due to unfilled liquidated order and settle incidents as can happen on a platform that deals with this type of financial trading.

Huobi moving forward quickly, pulling Tron in its wake

The CEO of Huobi DM spoke on the subject a couple of days ago and commemorated the addition of Tron as a “big step to making Huobi DM the most powerful and flexible platform of its kind,” while at the same time promising to add even more coins over the coming year.

This aggressive expansion has been the trend for many crypto exchanges this year particularly among Binance, Coinbase, and Huobi. Binance, in particular, has been in the news leveraging its Binance Chain to establish an ever-growing list of coins into its ecosystem, sometimes in very unsavory ways. This is par for the course for 2019 it seems.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin couldn’t intern at Ripple in 2013

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Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s founder and leader (hence the man who created second-generation blockchain technologies) tells the world how he tried to get an internship at Ripple Labs in San Francisco –and failed in a casual tweet.

According to Mr. Buterin, he tried to work at Ripple as an intern during mid-2013. That’s the same year in which he started to develop the project that later became the Ethereum blockchain and network. The reason that kept him away from the company behind the XRP currency was red-tape related to the American visa.

Ethereum’s creator is not a young developer looking for work anymore, but one of the world’s foremost experts in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Oh yes, he’s also a cryptocurrency millionaire. But aside from his personal wealth, his network was the first one to support the development and deployment of decentralized applications and smart contracts.

That achievement has given his network and himself a vast prestige that remains current today, even as the Ethereum network faces significant challenges at the present time. He said that the reason he couldn’t make it to Ripple as an intern was that the company was newly founded.

In his own words:

https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1119148572107165696

Mr. Buterin needed a visa so he could pursue his career inside the US as he is Russian. And he’s not alone in being denied working options because of visa problems. His shared his “fun fact” to complement a message posted by Brian Armstrong (Coinbase’s CEO) in which he was detailing how Eric Yuan (Zoom’s CEO) was denied a US visa for eight times in a row. That didn’t stop Mr. Yuan’s career who now enjoys an excellent reputation in the technology world.

And the lack of a visa didn’t stop Mr. Buterin either. Ethereum is more prominent and more influential in the crypto verse than Ripple, and its cryptocurrency is also more substantial than XRP.

XRP is indeed augmenting its use in the banking and remittance industry. But a recent revelatory study reveals that about half of Forbes Billion dollar companies use the Ethereum blockchain in one way or another. And Ethereum’s blockchain is several years younger than Ripple’s, so it’s gained more acceptance in less time.

What would have been of the crypto world should Mr. Buterin been able to work at Ripple? Maybe it would have enhanced his creative drive. Perhaps we wouldn’t have an Ethereum network. It’s utterly impossible to know for sure. But the one thing that remains clear is that apparent failure to achieve a goal in the immediate future doesn’t necessarily mean that a person’s plans or future success are done for. Mr. Buterin and Mr. Yuan are living proof to that effect.

The anecdote also speaks about Mr. Buterin’s resilience, which is going to be a vital asset if Ethereum is going to overcome its current challenges. For the last few months, the network has been facing direct competition from Tron, EOS and other third-generation blockchains, and it’s not been faring well.

Ethereum has been falling behind mainly because of performance issues and the price of gas, which is expensive when compared to the low costs in more up-to-date and better-performing blockchains. And that’s why the project needs the founder to set things straight.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Ripple: Will Mexican regulations affect XRP’s price?

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Cryptocurrencies were made to limit or eliminate the control held by the financial system and governments over money and people. This is no conspiracy theory, Satoshi Nakamoto was very clear and vocal about this point when he first launched Bitcoin roughly a decade ago.

Crypto, the world’s governments and regulations.

As the world’s governments realize that, they are trying to exert some form or control (or at least, regulation) over the cryptosphere and blockchain technologies in general. The reasons to try to impose regulation are reasonably obvious.

First of all, digital assets, unlike their fiat cousins, are inherently global. That makes them less volatile (yes, that’s true, surprising as it may seem) and immune to local politics or national political or economic problems. The second reason is even more apparent: effective regulations make for effective tax collection on cryptocurrencies.

The Mexican Stand-off

The world is slowly but surely moving towards cryptocurrency and blockchain solutions adoption with BitCoin and XRP leading the way. As things mature in that regard, attempts to regulate digital money are appearing in several countries in the world. Mexico is the latest example, as the federal government is preparing to introduce some rules to regulate cryptocurrencies within the country.

The Official Federation Daily published an announcement by the country’s central bank (the Bank of Mexico) in which it states an intention to introduce laws that will clarify the country’s position on digital assets. Previous efforts to provide a definition for alternative coins in the country indicate that the country could classify digital currencies as property subject to taxation but not as legal tenders, like the government-issued Peso.

There is a general consensus on the advantages that blockchain technology brings to the table, but also in that there is a need to regulate it in some way, preferably a way that encourages further development and grants enough freedom so that innovation is not hampered.

Creating legislation that can balance efficacy with total control, will be a tricky proposition, though. The proposed laws should not give the government a strong hand, or enable it to stop crypto-based transactions in a terse notice. Mexico is one of the world’s remittance hubs and a country in which Ripple is working extra hard to create payment corridors with the rest of the world.

Ripple’s XRP price analysis

As we write this, Ripple’s XRP is trading in a very narrow range of four cents. This is a very solid token, it’s the world’s third largest by market capitalization, but it’s under pressure, and it hasn’t broken the 34 cent barrier, which is the critical current resistance level.

Unless something extraordinary happens, the right way to go about Ripple now is to be neutral and not to execute long positions unless the price, at last, breaks over the 34 cent barrier supported by high transaction volumes (at least 15 million on average).

That rally would confirm the previous bull run on XRP (which happened on Jan 29-30), and the one on Feb 25 (which came about because of the Coinbase listing).

If the price goes above 40 cents, then the bulls will have their day and could launch the token’s worth all the way to 60 cents by mid-Q2 this year.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Welcome to Tron (TRX): The beginner’s guide

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Tron is a third generation blockchain platform with a clarity of purpose that most other blockchain projects lack: “Decentralize the web.” In other words, Tron is focused on using its state-of-the-art blockchain technology as a substratum to develop a global market that will include entertainment, media, and all kinds of content, except that it will be 100% decentralized.

That means that the current Internet central authorities (which also function as middlemen for creators) will be left out of the loop (Apple App Store, Google Play Store, YouTube, Google, Facebook, etc.). That will allow content creators to profit from their work directly from users without risking demonetization due to not following a company’s policy.

Among the many exciting features that are unique in Tron is their governance model for achieving consensus. It’s called Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS). The consensus is essential in any blockchain network because that’s how you know that the network’s ledger (which is distributed among many nodes in the world) agrees in the way the network is moving forward.

Every node has the exact same copy of the whole blockchain, and every node agrees with every other one in that they all do. That’s the heart of decentralization. But Tron’s model allows for additional features such as voting for the “witnesses” that keep the network honest and receive compensation for processing transactions and creating new blocks.

Young as it is (not even two years old) the Tron network is already very well populated with all kinds of decentralized apps for users to enjoy. And, as the Tron Foundation bought BitTorrent a few months ago, and it’s about to merge it into Tron’s Network (Project Atlas), it is about to become the world’s largest decentralized network.

Join us as we tell you all you need to know to get started with Tron and to enjoy the apps, the token and the community.

What’s under Tron’s hood?

In short, if you see under Tron’s hood, you’ll find one of the most innovative and well-designed blockchains. This is the nerdy part, so feel free to move on to the next section if you’re interested in the more practical aspects of Tron, or in how to get started quickly. But we’d suggest for you to keep reading because knowing a project’s fundamentals is a good way to understand why it’s more valuable (or not) than others.

The network achieves governed decentralization and cost-efficient and very rapid transactions among members by using a classic three-layer architecture. The first layer is for storage. It manages how the data is recorded in the chain’s blocks, and how the system retrieves it for practical purposes.

Then there’s the core layer. This is where you’ll find all the data that keeps some of Tron’s most specific functionalities going. Here is the module that enables smart contracts, account management, consensus, and voting.

The Tron Virtual Machine (TVM) also works in this second layer. The TVM is a translator of sorts that developers can use to create decentralized applications and deploy them using any programming language they fancy.

Last but not least is the application layer. This one is more on the surface and allows developers to create their own dApps and smart contracts, along with the network’s tokens.

The Tron environment is unique as well. Most of the work (that means, creating new blocks) is done by 27 nodes that have been voted to become Super Representatives by TRX holders.

Other users can also help those nodes and even get some passive income as a reward. The Super Representative elections are an ongoing process that never stops. The idea behind the permanent elections is to keep the network inexpensive and with very high transaction speeds. It’s the competition that keeps the network performing well.

Getting Started with Tron

So you’d like to join Tron, huh? Well, first of all, you need to decide how you would like to join it. The simplest, most direct way, to join is quite simple: to own and hold a few Tronix (TRX) tokens.

That enables you to participate from the moment your wallet is populated, and it gives you a few additional advantages. TRX holders can use the network’s dApps; they can vote for Super Representatives (current or candidates) and suggest changes to the protocol.

But maybe you have more of a creative personality, and you want to join as a developer — not a bad choice. Few blockchains are as friendly for developers as Tron because the network offers lots of resources for them to use and, you don’t need to learn any native programming language for Tron, as you do in other blockchains. You’ll find repositories of developer resources scattered all over the web, but you can also use Tron’s own guides.

But if you want to be a normal user or a developer, the first thing you need to do to join is to buy and use some TRX tokens. For that, you need a wallet that can hold TRX.

Getting a Tron Wallet

This is another advantage in Tron. Setting up a TRX wallet is quite painless, and you can find several links at the Tron website that will enable you to do that quickly and easily.

You just need to go to the website, find the Wallet webpage, and you’ll find all the options available for community-developed wallets. Some of them can hold Tron or Tron-based tokens only. But there are some (Ledger, for instance) that can hold other cryptocurrencies as well.

Among the choices when it comes to best Tron wallets, you’ll have are Ledger Nano S (which is not Tron, but it’s a popular, affordable, hardware wallet, Exodus, Trust Wallet. Those are multi-coin. Other options, more focused on TRX are Tron Wallet iOS, TronLink Chrome (which is especially popular) and iTRON Wallet.

All those options are safe, reliable and can be deployed from your desktop computer, your internet browser, a mobile device of your choice or even a hardware wallet devices which looks just exactly like a USB-stick.

If you’re on the developing side of things, you can even come up with your very own wallet to use with Tron Block Explorer. But you’ll have to be approved and listed.

We’ll tell you how to use a TRX wallet known as TronLink Chrome. There are several good reasons for that. First of all, this wallet is a Chrome extension, so installing it is a walk in the park, and it takes fewer than 60 seconds and clicking a few links (assuming Chrome if your browser of choice, of course).

  • You start here: https://tron.network/wallet
  • Find “TronLink Chrome” and click “Download.”
  • You’ll be redirected to a Google Chrome Extensions webpage. Click on the Add to Chrome button. Your browser will install the extension, and the TronLink icon will appear on your browser’s extensions bar.
  • Click on the icon. That will pop a menu that allows new users to create a password (which should be a strong one, ofc). Type it again for confirmation.
  • You’ll have to choose between restoring an existing TRX wallet or creating a new one. If you’re going to restore one, you’ll have to provide your secret key or phrase. But since we assume you’re new on this, we click on “Create Wallet.”
  • Create a username. A popup will tell you what conventions you should follow.
  • Come up with a 12-word phrase. That’s the secret phrase that will enable you to restore your account if you should need that in the future.
  • Tron will ask you to click on a series of words, in the same order as your key phrase. After that, you confirm, and you’re all set with a new Tron wallet.

And that’s when the game begins. Open your wallet again by clicking on your TronLink icon, and you’ll see a popup that lists your accounts, your wallet addresses, transaction history, Tron dApps, token balances and more.

TRONScan: So you want to find a node?

TronScan is Tron’s block explorer. It’s an interesting tool. You can think of it as Tron’s Yellow Pages meet Tron’s Annals. It lets you explore individual blocks, transactions, and addresses in the network.

If something has ever happened in Tron, it’s there somewhere. If a node is online, you can find it there too. This is probably for hardcore developers who like to find patterns in the network’s flow of information. Remember that tokens are also a form of information, so the financial flows in Tron can also be consulted there.

But maybe you’re just interested in finding a Super Representative node in the Tron network (you know, the guys who do all the hard work). That will allow you to create a node of your own so you can help a given node of your choice.

And according to each node’s specific policy on payment structures, you could be rewarded for sharing your resources. Let’s be clear about something: this is not mining, Tronix is not a minable digital coin, but the chain still needs new blocks to be created all the time. You could say that this is as close as Tron comes to mining, and you can join. And for that, you first need to choose a node.

Super Representative nodes welcome extra help with open arms because the DPoS system encourages it. If those nodes are not willing to spread the wealth a little, they will have a much harder time earning votes from TRX holders.

Here’s how you find a node near you (or anywhere else) in the Tron network:

  • You start at https://tronscan.org/
  • Click on the blockchain tab. It’s the one on the left side of the top menu.
  • You’ll see a dropdown. Click on “Nodes.”
  • You’ll see a zoomable map in which you can browse around the world and find SR nodes everywhere on the planet. This will help you to chose which SR you’d like to vote for and join.
  • Clicking on the map’s pins will show you each node’s IP address. Entering that address in the site’s search bar (top of the page) will tell you all you want to know: number of tokens in the node, number of completed transactions, uptime, efficiency, and other essential stats.

So you want to buy some TRX?

As mentioned before, this is how it all starts (once you have a wallet).

Justin Sun and the Tron Foundation have a very aggressive and adept PR and marketing policy for a good product. So TRX has become a popular cryptocurrency in a short time. By popular we mean that it’s listed in most of the world’s most important exchanges, but also in several that are not so famous.

If you know Huobi, OKEx, Upbit, or Binance, they all carry TRX. But these are all crypto-to-crypto exchanges, which means that you can’t use your fiat currency through your debit or credit card to buy coins there. To use those websites you already have to own a cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, most frequently) and then trade it for TRX.

So you’ll need to start with a crypto exchange that supports fiat-to-crypto pairs. That will need for you to sign up, verify your account, link your bank account or card to the website. Among the best sites for this kind of operation are Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini, because they’re among the safest and more reliable in the market.

  • Once you have some cryptocurrency (BTC is the one that you can really trade everywhere), you’re almost there. Sing up for an exchange that includes TRX trading pairs (say, Binance). Verify your account. Find your BTC wallet for the site.
  • Click on “deposit,” and that will get you a deposit address for the Bitcoin network. Copy to your clipboard.
  • Then go to the site where you bought your BTC initially, find the “withdrawal” button or link. Paste the address and click “send.” They could ask you for confirmation using a Two-Factor verification device (usually your mobile phone). Congrats, you’ve made your first BTC to BTC transfer!
  • Now you need a bit of patience. Keep in mind that Bitcoin is not currently the fastest network in crypto, but it’s very reliable so the transfer will be done. But it could take a few minutes (10-30) and sometimes even more.
  • Once the BTC is in your Binance BTC wallet you need to find the TRX/BTC pair (not the BTC/TRX one, that’s what you would do if you owned TRX already). Most often you’ll find the link at the top of the site. Click on BTC to find the trading pairs based on Bitcoin. Then find the TRX/BTC pair and click on “Buy TRX” and enter the number of BTC tokens you want to convert to TRX. Click “Buy.” That’s it! Congrats now you own some TRX and can start using Tron’s dApps!

How to develop your own dApp

Feeling creative? Few other projects offer their developers more resources (in both quantity and quality). The first place to go would be https://developers.tron.network. Most of your questions related to software development on Tron are answered there, but you can also find other Tron devs to talk with and learn from their expertise.

What do you need to know? Well, anything you know in terms of computer programming is enough. When Tron launched its new Main Net, everything was Java only. Now, the TVM allows you to write code in any language of your choice, and the TVM executes it in Tron.

Lots of developers do the work on Ethereum because it’s been along for a longer time as a programmable platform, and then they just port the work to Tron so it can be integrated into the network. It could be more practical, but that’s up to every developer.

Once your app compiles using Solidity, you can use Yarn (which is free) to take your app to Tron.

Consensus: Here’s how it works

One of the most interesting aspects of owning TRX is the Super Representative electoral process. It has a huge turnover. In order to vote you need to freeze your TRX for some time.

Freezing your tokens is useful because that gets you two cryptocurrencies of sorts called “power” and “bandwidth” which you will need so you can dance around the network more comfortably. And, also, it gives you the right to vote.

Don’t worry about freezing your tokens. You can’t use them as long as they’re frozen, but you won’t lose them. And having some power and bandwidth in your wallet will make your life easier.

Here’s how it goes:

  • Go to TronScan, log in.
  • Make sure you have TRX in your wallet. You need just a single token, but you must have something.
  • If TronScan is not aware yet about your wallet, click on Open Wallet (top right) and enter your wallet’s private key. If you have it as a keystore file on your computer, that works too.
  • In your wallet click on “Freeze” and choose how many of your TRX you want to freeze.

The freeze lasts for 72 hours, and you can’t use them in the meantime. After those three days, you get your TRX will become available and active again. Go to the Tron SR tan, and click on Votes. The page will show you your balance of power, TRX, and a timer that’s counting down until the next round of voting begins. Only 27 nodes can be Super Representatives at any given time.

You’ll see who they are, and you’ll find links to their respective websites. In those websites, you’ll find out what’s each individual node’s policy about helpers. That way you can figure out which SR suits you better and vote accordingly.

Click on “Click here to start voting,” and that will show you a slider next to each SR and candidate. That slider represents the amount of power you want to use for voting, and who will get your vote.

If your candidate wins or remains an SR, you can join that node as a supporter and begin getting some rewards for helping the network.

Final thoughts

We hope we managed to be informative and, maybe, get you interested in one of the most innovative and exciting blockchain projects in the world today. The Tron community is very committed to the project and bullish about the token. In the worst case scenario, you’ll find a lot of exciting apps, have some fun, and pick some nice chats with fellow Tron members.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Virginia PD Talks About Why its Public Pension Turned to Bitcoin (BTC)

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One of the recent announcement by the two public pensions in Fairfax County, Virginia, showed that institutions are not only developing an interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain but that they are already prepared to invest in this space. The two pensions in question include Police Officer’s Retirement System and Employee’s Retirement System.

Now, however, Fairfax County Retirement Systems decided to speak up about the decision, stating why they chose to give cryptocurrencies a chance and bet on Bitcoin.

The amount invested in blockchain and crypto is below 1%

According to the Fairfax County Retirement Systems Director, Jeff Weller, the retirement system invested $21 million into the fund. In his recent post, Weller points out that $10 million came from the employee’s retirement system, and $11 million came from the police officer’s pension.

Since these are two separate funds, it means that the employees’ fund only dumped 0.3% of the fund, while the percentage is only slightly bigger (0.8%) when it comes to the police officer’s fund.

Furthermore, the move is not as simple as just purchasing Bitcoin. The fund, started by Morgan Creek, will use this investment to invest in blockchain companies, many of which have already joined the program. This will also not be just any company, but those with real potentials, such as Bakkt, Coinbase, and alike.

While it is true that there is risk involved, this is the type of risk that accompanies any investment, and not just those related to crypto. However, Waller also mentions that the “Fairfax’s investment team determined that the expected returns from this investment were in line with the level of risk incurred.”

The fund will invest in crypto as well

While the majority of the fund (85%) will be dedicated to investing in blockchain opportunities, Morgan Creek argued that a portion should be invested in crypto directly. However, according to Weller’s post, only around 15% of the funds will be used for that purpose.

While the crypto market remains volatile and the prices are currently low due to the bear market, an investment at the right moment could bring excellent returns, which are still in the realm of possibility, even under these conditions.

Still, Morgan Creek has not made an official investment at this time, possibly because there is a chance that Bitcoin will drop one last time before the bear market loses its energy. If it happens, BTC might fall below $3,000.

For now, the Blockchain Opportunities Fund is the first of its kind, although it is possible that it will spark a new trend of institutions investing in crypto and blockchain through other, similar funds. Especially if the current bear market ends up being followed by a rally. The only potential issue is how the sales of large amounts of Bitcoin purchased by the funds will affect the token performance once the funds are ready to cash out?

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.

Morgan Creek’s $40 Million Crypto Venture Fund Anchored by Two Public Retirement Systems

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A new announcement made a couple of days ago, February 12th, by the Morgan Creek Digital revealed a $40 million crypto venture fund, which was anchored by two public pensions. The two public pensions are the Police Officer’s Retirement System and Employee’s Retirement System, both of which are located in Fairfax County, Virginia.

The fund has attracted a lot of attention, and it already has a number of investors, including a hospital system, a private foundation, but also a university endowment, and an insurance firm.

Institutions marching to crypto

Large pension funds have been considering cryptocurrencies as an investment strategy in the past, with one California-based public pension even considering this possibility back in 2016. However, cryptocurrencies are still at a very early stage, which is why many hesitated to make a move.

While the funds are located in the same area, they are still completely separate, and each of them has its own investment committee. The police pension fund contains around $1.45 billion in assets, and the government employees fund has around $4.25 billion. Both funds are quite large, which is expected to bring closer attention to other public pensions and potential interest in blockchain investing.

The goals of the fund

At first, the new fund will focus on equity investments, with a few potential investments in token-based projects that see a certain amount of cash flow, while they abide by the US SEC regulations. Also, the small portion of the fund will be dedicated to holding small amounts of certain cryptocurrencies.

Morgan Creek decided to make this move due to the public pensions’ desire to diversify their investment portfolio and go beyond investing in bonds and stocks. As the blockchain technology already attracted attention due to its unique applications in numerous industries, the public pensions saw it as an interesting opportunity.

The fund attracted the attention of many in the crypto and blockchain industries, and it already managed to close several deals with established firms, including Bakkt, Good Money, Coinbase, BlockFi, Harbor, and others.

While there are real opportunities for public pensions willing to take the crypto and blockchain route, it was difficult finding those who would be willing to make such a move at this point. Many issues in the crypto world still remain unresolved. However, the new development shows that the institutional investors are not only interested in coming to the crypto space, but that they have already arrived.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.