Monday, May 10, 2021

Moving Exchanges & Tax Implications

Hi all,

A bit of a noob question:

Up until recently, I'd been using eToro to buy Bitcoin and altcoins but have since realised that the spread is quite large and so moved to Binance Australia. I don't think it's possible to withdraw my eToro Bitcoin into a wallet. I was considering just leaving my current holding as is on eToro and buying more on Binance from now on.

However, considering that I'm expecting to have higher taxable income in the 2021-22 financial year, would it be wise to sell on eToro to trigger a CGT event this financial year? I'd buy back on Binance using the proceeds and potentially sell for profit next year. I'm hoping realising some of my gains before 30 June this year will reduce the total tax paid across this year and next year. Another option would be to just HODL to secure the 50% CGT discount.

Thanks!


ViaBTC Guide | Things about Mining Pools That New Miners Need to Know

https://preview.redd.it/o9ufjb3ykfy61.png?width=700&format=png&auto=webp&s=908c0c3af1266c75532eb60e1e9fdcb639da2e71

Amid the bull market, cryptocurrencies are receiving widespread attention. At the same time, venture capital seems eager for action, institutions enter the market, and technology giants keep investments, followed by a great number of individual investors. They are all looking for investment opportunities after the COVID-19 epidemic.

Given that many new investors are strangers to mining pools and relevant obscure concepts, ViaBTC has prepared this issue to get them aware of how the mining pool works and the main settlement methods among the existing mining pools.

Q1: What is a mining pool?

The concept of “mining pool” originated from Bitcoin. As we know, due to the low hashrate of the Bitcoin network, mining was not that difficult at the very beginning, and even an old desktop computer would suffice. Yet as Bitcoin has gained increasing consensus and miners, the hashrate of the entire network climbs, making it hard for individual miners to stably obtain block rewards on the Bitcoin network due to their low hashrate. That was the time when several of them considered gathering their hashrate for pool mining. Some institutions/platforms got inspired, and tried to integrate small hashrates, which led to such a hashrate integration system called the “mining pool”.

In a “mining pool”, individual miners, regardless of their hashrate, can benefit from such pool mining, and their income is directly determined by the settlement method.

Q2: What are the major settlement methods among the existing mining pools?

There are five major settlement methods, respectively, PPS, PPS+, FPPS, PPLNS, and SOLO.

PPS (Pay Per Share): Mining output is about probability, and the ratio of actual income to expected income is called the luck value. If the luck value is greater than 100%, it means the actual income of the mining pool is better than expected and vice versa. PPS is a distribution method that prevails when the luck value is 100% of the theoretical income. In other words, under PPS, the mining pool bears all the risk of fluctuations in mining output: it still needs to pay miners the due income even without blocks generated that day. In return, miners need to pay the mining pool some transaction fees.

In general, this method is characterized by “stable income regardless of the market conditions”, which is also dubbed the “employee mode” by miners.

PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares): This method calculates payments based on the number of shares miners submitted on the pool. Miners’ income is closely related to the actual amount of blocks generated in the mining pool. When a new block is mined, the mining pool will first deduct the transaction fee, and then distribute the remaining block rewards and miner fees to each miner in proportion to the contribution of hashrate.

If the mining pool generates a lot of blocks in a day, the profit in this mode could be considerable. But if without any valid block, the miner will gain no profit that day.

PPS+ (Pay Per Share+): The “+” here means the miner can additionally obtain miner fees from the mining pool. In fact, PPS+ is optimized on the basis of the PPS model. In other words, another part of the income is added to the PPS model: the miner fees obtained by the mining pool are distributed according to the proportion of the miner’s hashrate.

FPPS (Full Pay Per Share): Compared with PPS, in this mode the miner can enjoy additional mining income. Yet there is something different. In the PPS+ mode, the additional miner fees are distributed on the basis of the miner fees obtained by the mining pool, while in the FPPS mode it is subject to the average ratio of miner fees of the entire network on the day. As a result, the mining income varies with the different distribution rules of miner fees between FPPS and PPS+, settlement methods and mining pools.

SOLO: In the SOLO mode, miners work independently and will get all the block rewards with corresponding transaction fees deducted. If no blocks are generated, the miner will gain no income. So SOLO is more suitable for miners with a high percentage of hashrate, yet remains not that friendly to those with ordinary hashrate.

The above are the main settlement methods among the existing mining pools. Of course, the specific income also depends on the percentage of the mining pool’s hashrate and the overall operation and maintenance capabilities.

Q3: How to choose a good mining pool?

This bull market has given birth to many institutions in the industry, including incubators, exchanges, media, project developers, mining farms and mining pools. What factors need to be considered for new investors/new miners when choosing a mining pool?

First of all, you need to choose a mining pool with a larger percentage of hashrate. Such mining pools enjoy overall strength, partnerships with large mining farms, and trust from the majority of miners. Mining pools with many years of good reputation generally have a long history;

Second, choose one with a good reputation. Good products and services bring good reputation, which reflects a mining pool’s overall strength and its resources accumulated in the industry;

Third, choose a mining pool that offers much convenience in mining, withdrawing and selling tokens, which is particularly important in extreme market conditions.

All the above make ViaBTC Pool a preferred option. Having engaged in mining for the past four years, it has been one of the top mining service providers in the world. Committed to the concept of security, transparency, fairness, and freedom for all these years, ViaBTC Pool respects the needs of the market as well as the majority of miners, integrates industrial resources, and has rolled out services such as selected mining farms, hedging, staking, and mining companies, which are deeply concerned by the industry and unanimously recognized by miners.

It is worth mentioning that ViaBTC allows miners to automatically withdraw mining income in the extreme market, free of transaction fees, a function well-received among miners. All the mining income can be automatically, once in an hour, converted into USDT and BTC on the automatic exchange page. Miners can also manually exchange the mining income according to their needs.

If you are a veteran with some knowledge of ViaBTC Pool, you may be aware that our products, services and functions are designed to meet the diversified and personalized needs of miners and investors in general. If you are a newcomer to this field, it is suggested you follow updates of ViaBTC so that you won’t miss the latest “ETH Mining Carnival” event where you can mine ETH without transaction fees and can even enjoy an additional 2% of income for new hashrate. There will be more surprises and exciting events, and we sincerely hope to embrace the era of the digital economy with all miners.


The Doge Card - Day 2: A 21st Century Payment Processor

tldr; Doge has something that not many of the other crypto's have and that's liquidity (a lot of coins). Because of that and the low fees (compared to say ETH), it has the opportunity become a mainstream 21st century blockchain payment system.

I've organized this into sections, so if you don't care about a specific section, you can skip to the next:

  1. Section 1: Context
  2. Section 2: Background (aka Story Time)
  3. Section 3: The role Doge can play in the financial system
  4. Section 4: Community Input Questions

Section 1: Context

In a previous post, I discussed the Doge Card concept allowing people to use Doge on a debit card to transact with the existing infrastructure and be reloadable adding more Doge as needed. After more research, this post discusses next steps and things for the community to consider, #butfirst let's take a look at how the financial system came to be where it is today.

**Section 2: Background (aka Story Time)**

A long time ago in a nation not far away...

**************SCROLLING CREDITS*********************

Turmoil has engulfed the new Republic. It has only been 36 years since the US declared independence and now war with Great Britain and her allies threatens the stability of the young nation.

With a blockade of deadly Royal Navy battleships blocking trade with Europe, Americans are left to trade among themselves.

While the banking system was full of politicization and corruption, foundations would soon be laid that defined the US financial system for generations to come...

*****************END CREDITS************************

To summarize the history of banking in the US across the years, the ability to issue credit and remain solvent when debtors default is the core theme of regulatory and systemic changes. To facilitate solvency challenges, the federal government took it upon themselves to insure the American people and reassure that their money is safe - it is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States in response to the great depression in the 1930s establishing the FDIC. This and more recent regulation in 2010 with the Dodd-Frank Act, has worked to prevent banks from failing and increase their ability to offer businesses and consumers credit to buy houses, cars, go on vacations, and start businesses that create jobs. This backing though comes with a price, oversight and intense procedures with a snail pace of innovation.

Section 3: The role Doge can play in the financial system

This is where cryptocurrency has made a huge impact. The ability to transact internationally quickly (within 10 minutes and 1 minute for Doge), to not have a central entity inflate and deflate it at will, and to have privacy in a time where companies are collecting tons of information about you, sounds like a silver bullet solution, but there are trade-offs which will be discussed in section 4.

Where Doge fits in to the puzzle, is that unlike many other crypto coins, it has liquidity and is not deflationary; although, it will inflate less and less over time. The early American financial system (as well as many before it) proved that by having a store of value as a means of transactional currency limits the ability for transactions to take place.

  1. Circulation problem - there is a small amount of it
  2. Adoption problem - only the wealthy have it and it's difficult to price things against it
  3. Hoarding problem - owners want to hodl instead of release into the economy (Banks were the first true hodl'rs - we will lock our doors before we give you our bullion!)

This is why Bitcoin, the trailblazer, has failed to gain mass adoption in terms of transactional use - because it was not designed to be used but literally designed to be hodl'd. See why Stripe ended their adoption in 2018 - https://stripe.com/blog/ending-bitcoin-support#:~:text=Therefore%2C%20starting%20today%2C%20we%20are,transactions%20on%20April%2023%2C%202018.

Doge on the other hand has the solution to each of those problems:

  1. Circulation problem - there is plenty of it, over 129B coins (compared to USD circulation of 2.2 trillion it's not quite as liquid b/c the USD circulation has been inflated over the years)
  2. Adoption problem - it's affordable and attainable, even if it reaches $10 becoming top valued crypto in the world, it's still affordable and things can be priced against it
  3. Hoarding problem - in it's current volatile state, there will be this but as adoption of a functional use increase, think this will turn more into a savings account like perspective where you get 10% interest growth rather than current banks of 0.01% - 0.6% annual rate, but you aren't afraid to spend it to go Disney World or ticket for Virgin Galactic space tourism ride.

This sets Doge up to be a primary candidate for a payment system (and yes there are 3 other cyrpto with more liquidity than Doge but I'm excluding them b/c don't know much about them other than BTT which is meant really as an internal reward system).

Let's talk about the components of the existing electronic payment system with debit cards/credit cards:

  1. Payment Gateway -> acts an entry way to talk to a merchant bank, think Authorize.NET, you still have to get a merchant bank account which will offer Authorize.NET as the payment gateway solution.
  2. Acquiring Bank (aka Merchant Bank, aka Processing Bank) -> the merchant bank, if you go with Authorize.NET you will have to get a Merchant Account through your bank and go through a lengthy KYC process, sometimes a credit check, etc. Newer platforms like Stripe, provide a merchant account and payment gateway for you all in one and take on some of the risks (e.g. merchant being fraudulent taking customers money and disappearing - Stripe has to pay this back to the customer) and most compliance tasks handling the relationship with acquiring bank behind the scenes. Note: The merchant bank account is not the same as a business checking account, but separate. If you just accept checks and cash, you don't need a merchant account.
  3. Payment Processor -> the entity that coordinates payment flows on behalf of acquiring banks, think First Data or Global Payments. They primarily act as as a routing mechanism that connect gateways to acquiring banks through credit card/debit card networks to issuing banks.
  4. Issuing Bank -> the bank that issued the debit/credit card
  5. Credit Card Network (sometimes Credit Card Association)/ATM Network -> the network through which VISA/MasterCard determine which issuing bank to send transaction requests to or for debit-pin transactions, the inter-bank network of determining authorization (Discover/American Express are their own issuing bank).
  6. Clearing House (facilitated by Credit Card Networks or ACH) -> how transactions are settled between the Issuing Bank and the Acquiring bank (upon authorization/capture, the acquiring bank will generally release funds right away to the merchant although it still takes 1 day or more to actually be deposited into a business account for use and will settle later with the issuing bank)

The next two components towards the Doge Card are:

  1. A payment gateway
  2. A payment processor to route transaction requests to legacy networks or the blockchain network in which the blockchain would act as the issuing bank

Section 4: Community Input Questions

If you've made it this far, I'm quite impressed. There are some challenges with this hybrid evolution with both perspectives clashing. The crypto world (it seems) has the following values:

  1. Security - it's a common occurrence for credit cards and personal information to get hacked, with so many parties involved it's not surprising that data can be comprised
  2. Privacy - it's not uncommon for personal information to be sold or made accessible to businesses within a supply chain - how many have gotten letters in the mail for pre-qualified credit offers that you didn't apply for
  3. De-centralization - consumers have put their trust in entities (corporate and government) and a few bad apples ruin it for everyone where decisions are based more on profit-based outcomes (best for bottom line) which doesn't always align with consumers or is a regulation worthy event (e.g. political agendas).

Still, there's no perfect system. In the pursuit of those things, it comes with a cost which outrages the traditional banking system:

  1. Invites Security Treats - Crypto is not invulnerable to security issues and in some ways invites more hacking opportunity by being open source and a public ledger revealing nodes and large wallets. The counter to this though is that crypto is more transparent about security issues which are quickly addressed.
  2. More privacy supports illegal financial activities - when you know the currency you are accepting can be used for other things without being watched and having oversight, it becomes easier for criminals to finance human trafficking, drugs, weapons, etc.
  3. De-centralization supports fraud opportunities - when you don't have a central counter-party that holds issuers to acquirers and vice versa, then one party can renege in which the merchant either doesn't get paid or more likely the consumer doesn't get the promised product/service combined with increased privacy, the consumer doesn't even know who the merchant is.

No one really talks about the fraud that happened in the early days because most people weren't directly affected by it, but if you ever seen Catch Me if You Can, it shows just how easy (not really) it was to commit all kinds of fraud. Having a bank refund a transaction for a merchant not fulfilling their product/service is something that is easy to take for granted until you get screwed over.

To increase adoption and implement a payment gateway and payment process, these 2 problems need to be solved.

The Questions Finally 😌

As early adopters of Doge believing in it's long-term value:

  1. Would you be willing to give up on some privacy for more accountability and to what extent (e.g. in some cases, regulation requires SSN/EIN like receiving business payments)?A thought I have is connecting wallets to phone numbers and addresses, encrypted and hidden in public network but accessible given node agreement of the validity of the inquiry (e.g. court order) and only to that requester (e.g. government authority clients would be given special permissions to make these authorized requests and created through a community facilitated process - see #2). The phone number/phone identifier could also be used to send push notifications/text messages if and only if the consumer opts-in related to wallet activity (think a development platform like Shopify but the blockchain becomes the source of the customers privacy rights). While companies like CoinBase provide wallet apps, this reduces the effect of de-centralization. If CoinBase fell off the face of the earth, how would you access your wallet? What happens if their bottom line starts to fall and they want to start charging you for it? Privacy controls should be the responsibility of the network.
  2. Would you be willing to rethink de-centralization to some degree to reduce fraud and protect consumers via Community Driven De-centralization?Again, there is no perfect system, but the community here in this subreddit and when the coins were stolen early on is pretty impressive. StackOverflow and the like give strong credibility to the self-organizing capability of individuals. I think a fraud prevention system within the network could be implemented algorithmically pretty decently allowing you to approve transactions on your phone via FaceId/Pin (reducing theft of wallet/issuing card) and by requiring more identify verification from merchants such as a node verified merchant. You could still send direct payments to non-verified merchants but at your own risk. This merchant verification would largely be automated but to merchants whose transactions seem to be flaky require additional community verification. In return for volunteering, the system would reward these community fraud preventers in Doge (e.g. in addition to mining). It would also provide a similar mechanism for flagging transactions as fraud in cases where human validation may be required. How many of you have been scammed before? It sucks. Community fraudster preventers would help reduce that giving consumer confidence. The question becomes, who is qualified to do that and what would stop the wallet holder and his/her/them allies to join the fraudster preventer program to allow their transactions but stop competitors. I think the answer to this is that the protocol
    1. Would never allow you to review your own transactions or transactions of those you have a direct transaction relationship with
    2. Require you to hold a wallet for a given amount of time (e.g. 30 days) before becoming eligible to apply to join reviewed by existing members
    3. All manual decisions would be peer-reviewed by 3 or so people with majority vote
    4. Merchants/consumers could appeal decisions which would require 5 votes by people with more experience
    5. The protocol would implement a training based program that would you would go through to participate and unlock that feature
    6. You as a fraudster preventer would be able to review other fraudsters preventers and be reviewed by others of your feedback/decisions for community accountability.
    7. With respect to the government authority special accounts, this verified merchant process would apply to verify government authority process.

Whatever the implementation, if we are going to ever see Doge gain payment system adoption, there will need to be controls in place to limit illegal activity and offer protection to consumers.

Thanks in advance for your feedback, you've made it to the end. The fate of the galaxy now rests in your hands!

As a side note, one might wonder how is this profitable for an organization/business to invest in? The answer is it's profitable for the community and doge holders overall. Transaction fees would be given to node operators facilitating the infrastructure for the network in hosting a payment gateway node or a payment processing node. They would then be able to convert it to USD to cover operational costs and earn profit or pay directly in Doge. The key aspect here is not that node operators don't make profit, but rather one node operator doesn't have more than 50% influence/control, aka de-centralization.


Only invest the money you can afford to lose.

(reposting for visibility)

I am fairly a noob to stock and crypto markets. But what I learned from the last few months:

  1. Don’t invest your life savings in any market thinking you’ll be rich next week, thus the post title.

  2. The fluctuations in pricing are normal. don’t be afraid.

  3. Look at the bigger picture. Where was doge a year ago? its a huge rise.

  4. Don’t listen to everything r/crypt0currency says, most of them are Bitcoin holders. They doesn’t like something else getting popular than Bitcoin.

  5. Whales will always dump huge amounts to make it go down and make smaller holders panic sell and they will rebuy again. Thats how filthy rich becomes filthier rich ( applies to stock markets too).

I think Doge will be used in many places considering the recent events, so don’t be that guy who have to buy Doge in high price to use it in the future, so hold what you have


"When is the last time you had something a billionaire wanted to buy from you?" - The Masked Investor - to the young apes worried about X shares - YOU'RE ON THE RIDE WITH US.

I started in January. I felt the panic of missing out, and I did what I could to afford shares. The HFs get to cheat, we don't. It's our money. The bastards even mocked us, saying "they're on their phones, with their government checks" or something to that effect. No sir. I am using money I can't afford from a job I work hard at. I am not alone. We sacrifice because we believe in AMC theaters, because we know a good investment when we see it, and we want you to feel it for once. Not us, you. Welcome to the red, boys and girls. Cozy, isn't it?

So to you smaller apes, with X or XX shares, I want you to know that you have that many shares more than the rest of the sleeping world. The biggest financial event in a century (maybe, I know I like hyperbole) is about to happen and not very many have a clue, let alone a vested interest like you do. Congrats! This is that 'if I had only invested in Google in the 90s', or Microsoft, or FB, or bought Bitcoin for .05 cents a coin. Those moments are glaring to everyone in hindsight - but few saw it happen when it did.

You did. You caught one of those moments. You were smart enough, you had the discipline to stand firm in your read of the situation, the sacrifice to keep it going, the near-constant distraction because news is 24/7.

You're here. I can't speak for every ape, as each is an individual, but I know for sure I'm hodling. Your shares will be worth the same amount as mine. We've been packing for this ride for a long, long time. I'm not going to miss the party on the moon with the giant shrine of the Silverback and Trey.

1 share is a ticket to ride. Fractionals, if you're out there then you need this ride more than any of us and we'll seat you in the front of the rocket.

If we lift off without our GME brothers and sisters, we'll toss 'em a line. I have no doubt they'd do the same. Apes stronger together. Tendies taste best when every ape is eating.

All of the above was hyperbole and nothing more than one individual's impression. Everyone likes the stock for their own reason. We just have that in common.

Edit: Said brothers. Must include sisters. David Attenborough voice: "The females of the pack are often the meanest of the apes, as seen here as one hired a pilot to fly 'We're Not Leaving' over Citadel." Good lord, apes, we've come a long way, haha. A personal favorite moment was the drone and double agent spying late at night.

Edit: In hindsight, I may be amping up some new apes too much. Yes, I'm excited. Yes, it was a great day. However, I have been here, as so many others, when we got slammed down. It happens and it sucks. It'll suck less when you've been there before, and the only way to make it worse is if I set you up for it. Absolutely nothing has changed. We continue to do what we've always done, which coincidentally is the same buying and holding strategy we all seem to be fond of. It works for index funds, after all.

If we slam, it's okay. If we climb, it's great - really great. But now, no matter what, you know we can climb. You might not have seen that yet either, and that's an experience too. This is a tug-of-war, and has been. Remember, we used our own money. We went up against a damn machine. A literal computer trying to learn us and beat us. Infiltration 24/7 reading our posts. Let me tell you, as an Army vet, we absolutely fail communications/operations security. We spell it all out. We did learn a bit and started censoring share amounts, so, hey. We're trying to be better and that's awesome.

Anyway, all of that - and young apes new to the battlefield that is AMC stock - we're still winning.

Enjoy this day. Many more will come, even if they're far apart. Now you know.


Indyglo's 64 Shameless Plugs

Below are 65 of my current referral links for cashback bonuses and discounts, categorized by type, followed by alphabetized summaries. I've included current signup bonus details/terms, along with brief summaries of the companies. I'd greatly appreciate if you use my links below if you decide to get in on any of these bonuses.

Auto/Travel

Banks/Finance

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    • You must use both these codes when signing up:
      • promo code: 100REF21
      • my unique referral code: 1412508
    • Sign up online, by phone - 206-439-5700 - or at a BECU Branch and keep acct. opened for 90 days.
    • You must perform 10 of the following transactions within the first 30 days of opening acct :
      • Make a purchase using your BECU debit or credit card (easy with grocery store self-checkout!)
      • Write a check or electronic check.
      • Make a payment using bill pay.
  • Chase Bank - https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/2735652016 - Get a $225 Bonus when you open a new Chase Total checking account.
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  • Venmo - https://get.venmo.com/tgkzVpRi3fb - Get $5 when you download the Venmo app using my referral link, sign up and make a $5 minimum payment to friends/family/etc. within 14 days.
  • Zogo - https://zogo.app.link/OpvQLwDYodb - Earn 750 Pineapples on Zogo when you use my code: JOHNM711 when you make an account. With Zogo, you can earn gift cards while learning about various aspects of personal finance. I've personally learned quite a bit with this app, complete modules daily to learn more and have recommended this to all of my friends and family. Great for adults and kids.

Cash Back

Credit Cards

  • American Express - http://refer.amex.us/JOHNMXbYN?XLINK=MYCP - Sign up using my referral and earn $150 back after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Blue Cash Preferred Card in your first 6 months of card membership. Plus, earn 20% back on purchases at Amazon.com on the card in the first 6 months, up to $200 back.
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  • Discover IT - https://refer.discover.com/s/ssjqfl - Sign up using my referral and you'll get $50 back for signing up for a Discover IT credit card and making any $1 or more purchase within 3 months.
  • SoFi Credit Card - https://www.sofi.com/invite/credit-card?gcp=70c8148e-bc31-480e-9a01-33b7ace2a1fb - Sign up using my referral and get 2x points (4% cash back) on all card purchases for 30 days.

Food/Nutrition

Games

Investing

  • Acorns - https://share.acorns.com/mpho2002 - Get $10 when you use my link to open an account and make an investment.
  • eToro - https://etoro.tw/39w5dup Get $50 bonus when you open an account, transfer $100, make any crypto trade, and hold for one week.
  • Sofi Invest - https://www.sofi.com/share/invest/2500097 - Get $50 worth of your favorite stock to start building your portfolio when you fund your SoFi Active Invest account with at least $5,000. Get an additional $25 worth of bitcoin for buying $10 worth of bitcoin on SoFi Crypto.
  • Stash - https://get.stash.com/john_h88crts - Earn $20 of bonus stock when you join using my referral link and add cash to your personal investment or bank account.

Jobs

Shopping

Uncategorized

About These Apps/Services/Sites:

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  • Capital One is a credit card company offering many different types with a variety of cash back bonuses and other benefits.
  • Chase Bank is the largest bank in the country and offers a robust menu of products and services. It provides mortgages, auto loans and one of the broadest selections of credit cards in the industry. And its website experience can compete with those at online-only banks that focus solely on checking and savings.
  • Comcast Xfinity is a consumer-facing internet and television brand. TV at home & on the go. Hulu on X1. Stream live sports. Advanced security. Move service stress-free. Millions of hotspots. Netflix on X1. Prime Video on X1. Services: Internet, TV, home security, mobile.
  • Discover IT is a credit card company which offers a cash back match at the end of your first year (no maximum), with no annual fee, 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers. Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases (places vary each quarter) when you activate.
  • Doordash offers delivery & takeout from the best local restaurants. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and more, delivered safely to your door. Doordash offers pickup & no-contact delivery.
  • Dropbox is a cloud storage service that lets you save files online and sync them to your devices. You can use Dropbox links to share files and folders with other people without sending large attachments. Dropbox offers a free plan that includes 2GB of storage. You can pay to increase that to as much as 3TB with a subscription.
  • Duolingo Plus - Duolingo is the most popular language-learning platform and the most downloaded education app in the world, with more than 300 million users. The company's mission is to make education free, fun, and accessible to all. Duolingo is designed to feel like a game and scientifically proven to be effective. Upgrading your free Duolingo account to Duolingo Plus gives you an ad-free experience. ability to download lessons in the app for offline use and unlimited skill test-outs.
  • eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFD assets
  • Evernote Premium - Evernote is an app that allows you to work from anywhere, stay in sync from any device, no matter where you are—you can even access notes when you have no WiFi or mobile data access. Evernote Premium, the top tier, adds the most features, such as the ability to search for text in Office documents and PDFs, annotate PDFs, scan business cards and suggested notes and content from the web that are relevant to the note you're currently working on.
  • Fuel Rewards is a loyalty program that helps you save money on gas when you dine at participating restaurants and shop at participating grocers, local, and online merchants. Save at least 5¢/gal on every fill-up with Gold Status at Shell, and save more when you combine with other rewards (see https://www.fuelrewards.com/fuelrewards/how.html).
  • Full Circle - Farming organically since 1996, Full Circle delivers the season's best produce and wholesome farm products conveniently to your door when you live in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. Each delivery includes the option to edit/customize your box online and comes hand-packed with 100% certified-organic produce, news from your farmer, recipes, produce tips and details on upcoming farm events. Adding artisan farm products to your produce deliveries is optional. Full Circle makes it simple to live the good life.
  • GivingAssistant is a company that gives you cash back and coupon codes when shopping via their online portal. When you purchase a product via the cash-back platform, the merchant pays a commission to Giving Assistant. Then, 50% of the commission is paid back to the customer (you) as an incentive. You can choose the nonprofit and also adjust the percentage they receive.
  • GNC is the largest global specialty retailer of nutritional products, including vitamin, mineral, herbal and other specialty supplements and sports nutrition, diet and energy products.
  • GoCashBack is a cash-back website allowing you to get up to 31% cash back at your favorite stores. Find cash back and browse coupon codes to save even more money at over 1,500 retailers. Use the GoCashBack app to check your cash-back status from anywhere and click through while on the go to save when you shop from your phone. You can even get cash back when you dine out locally or at special events.
  • Groupon, whose name combines "group" and "coupon", is a website and mobile app that offers coupons, cashback on purchases and group deals to consumers. Restaurants, retailers, and manufacturers use Groupon deals in an effort to lure customers into their establishments or to purchase their products.
  • Grubhub partners with restaurants in your area to offer delivery for ones that don't normally deliver, while also offering a convenient online ordering system for the ones that do. Everything is handled through Grubhub, giving customers the flexibility to sign into one place and order nearly anything.
  • Home Chef is a weekly subscription meal kit service. Customers receive orders with all the fresh ingredients you need to make restaurant quality recipes, designed by Home Chef chefs. Home Chef saves you the time of going to the grocery store, finding new recipes, meal planning, and portioning.
  • Honey is a browser extension that automatically finds and applies coupon codes at checkout with a single click. Honey supports over 30,000 stores globally
  • Houzz is an online platform for home remodeling, architecture, interior design, decorating, landscaping, and home improvement.
  • Ibotta is a free cash-back rewards and payments app that gives you real cash for everyday purchases when you shop and pay through the app. Ibotta provides thousands of ways for consumers to earn cash on their purchases by partnering with more than 1,500 brands and retailers.
  • Instacart lets you shop from local grocery stores online, then sends a “personal shopper” to fulfill and deliver your order to you the same day (or a future date/time of your choosing). Unlike other grocery delivery services, the company doesn't stockpile fresh produce in a massive warehouse.
  • Instacart Shopper - Earn extra money shopping for others. As a shopper, you go to the grocery store like normal, except you’re getting paid to shop for others. Work whenever it works for you. With no set hours or days, you can shop as much or as little as you want, anytime you want. Must be age 18+ and be able to lift 40lbs.
  • Invitation.Codes is a site/app where you can sign up for free and post your referral links/codes for all of the most up to date promotions that are out there at the moment. There's a great community vibe to it and it's a great way to meet other like-minds while learning about new products and signup/referral offers.
  • Lemoney is a cash-back site with 1800+ stores. Find the best deals, coupons, cash-back rates, promo codes, sales, and discounts at Lemoney. Shop with Turbo Cashback and boost your cash-back rate.
  • Lyft is a rideshare service that lets you call a driver and car to your location using the Lyft app who will drive you where you need to go.
  • Miles is a rewards app empowering anyone to earn miles automatically for all modes of transportation. The Miles app rewards you with miles - their version of points - for no matter how you get from point A to point B (whether you drive, walk, bike, ride the train). Redeem the miles you’ve earned for rewards, discounts, and deals from brands such as Amazon, Chewy, DoorDash, HP, Reebok, Home Chef and more.
  • Mr. Rebates is a shopping portal where you can do online shopping at online stores you love, and earn cash-back rebates on your purchases. They have an A+ rating from the BBB (Better Business Bureau), and you can earn as much as 30% back.
  • MyPoints is a daily rewards program – just like when you earn miles on an airline or cash back on a credit card. Flexible, you don’t have to stick with one store to earn Points, and you don’t have to take your rewards in just one form. They have many partners that our members can shop with and redeem from. You can also earn points by completing surveys, watching videos and more.
  • NatureBox is a snack subscription focused on providing healthier options to reduce stress and promote wellness. Their snacks are unique, delicious, and guilt-free. No artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners. No corn syrup of any kind. No hydrogenated oils. No MSG. Some newer offerings include a Wellness Collection of snacks containing adaptogens in their ingredients list, CBD Snacks infused with hemp, supplements, and coffee.
  • Postmates is an on-demand goods delivery platform having a presence in more than 100 metropolitan areas in the US that enables people to get anything from local restaurants and stores delivered at their doorstep for a small fee. Postmates delivers goods with the help of their human courier networks which enables people to order anything from anywhere within the city.
  • Privacy.com is an innovative way to protect your personal information over the internet. Are you feeling uncomfortable using your credit card online? Privacy.com has the perfect solution - it creates a virtual card that masks your bank statements for your online payments.
  • Raise is a money-saving website aimed at helping people buy and sell discounted gift cards.
  • Rakuten gets a commission from stores when you make a purchase, and shares it with you. Find the store on rakuten.com, click “Shop Now” and shop like normal on the store site. After you make an eligible purchase, you’ll earn cash back and get a check or PayPal payment every quarter.
  • RebatesMe makes it easy to save at the stores you love. Earn cash back while shopping online, get access to thousands of coupons, and get the best price on millions of products.
  • Shutterfly enables users to create personalized photo gifts (including photos and text) such as smartphone cases, photo books, wall art, and home decor. Through its Lifetouch division, it also provides portraiture services.
  • Skillz is the world’s premier tournament platform where mobile gamers can use their skills to compete for cash and prizes. True to its name, Skillz does not host games of chance, and all winnings are based on your ability. Games include Solitaire Cube, Blackout Bingo, 21 Blitz, Texas Holdem and many more
  • SoFi Invest allows users to buy and sell individual stocks as well as ETFs and select cryptocurrencies, offering innovative investment tools to help members get their money right at every stage of their financial lives.
  • SoFi Money is an all-in-one product that is a hybrid checking and savings account. There are no account fees or minimum balance requirements, so you can bank freely. Pay no ATM fees at 55,000+ ATMs worldwide. Because SoFi Money is all online, you deposit checks from your phone and pay bills online. You can also use SoFi Money to transfer and receive money, like paying the babysitter or covering your share of dinner when the bill comes — All cash in your account earns 0.25% APY, which is quite high and even beats traditional banks’ high-yield savings accounts. No fees, and offers interest rate reduction.
  • SoFi Personal Loan is a great option for borrowers who make a decent income and have good credit. There are no origination fees or late fees, and you won’t be penalized for paying your balance off early. They offer low rates, no fees, exclusive member benefits including access to career coaches and financial advisers, exclusive virtual events and more. Fixed personal loan rates range between 5.99% APR to 20.25% (with AutoPay).
  • SoFi Student Loan Refinancing offers student loan refinancing and private student loans. Its refinancing loan is best for borrowers who want plenty of benefits with their refinanced student loan. Its private loan is best for flexible repayment options and no fees. You can see if you qualify with NO HARD credit check.
  • Square is a popular service that allows you to buy, sell and send money using any Apple or Android mobile device. With three free mobile apps — Square Register, Square Wallet and Square Cash — Square is designed to help small businesses accept credit card payments and to help consumers transition to a cashless, cardless lifestyle.
  • Stash aims to make the process of selecting stocks and ETFs quick and easy for beginners. Stash offers other account options, including brokerage and bank accounts, plus access to a Roth or traditional IRA retirement account.
  • Swagbucks LIVE is a daily live trivia game show where you test your knowledge to win huge cash prizes.
  • T-Mobile is one of the largest providers of wireless voice and data communications services in the US with more than 81 million customers. It has about 2,200 T-Mobile and MetroPCS branded retail sites (ranging from kiosks to stores).
  • TopCashback is a competing cash-back web site that claims to offer higher cash back than some of the other larger sites. Rather than spend extra money on expensive commercials, TopCashBack uses the savings to provide consumers with higher cash-back payout rates.
  • Uber Driver - Turn your spare time into earnings with the Driver app - built with drivers, to bring you helpful information at your fingertips. Help as you move people and things where they need to go. Drive whenever you want — no offices, no bosses. Wherever you want to go, you can enjoy the journey and the destination. Requirements:
    • Meet the minimum age to drive in your city
    • Have at least one year of licensed driving experience in the US (3 years if you are under 23 years old)
    • Have a valid US driver’s license
    • Use an eligible 4-door vehicle
  • Uber Eats is a food delivery platform that makes getting great food from your favorite local restaurants as easy as requesting a ride. Their app connects you with a broad range of local restaurants and food, so you can order from the full menus of your local favorites whenever you want.
  • Uniqlo is a Japanese casual wear brand for women, men, kids & babies, operating in 20 different countries. Uniqlo is known for providing high-quality, private-label casual-wear at low prices.
  • Venmo is a social payments service used by millions of people to make, receive and share payments with friends, family, and select approved businesses (without using cash or checks). It’s similar to PayPal, but is unique in that Venmo allows users to share and like payments and purchases through a social feed.
  • Volcom is a lifestyle brand that designs, markets, and distributes boardsports-oriented products.
  • Wayfair is an American e-commerce company that sells furniture and home-goods.
  • Wish is a shopping app for iPhone and Android that lets you order cheap goods online with major savings. Most items ship straight from China, and a growing number ship from the U.S. for faster delivery. You can even pick up select items locally in minutes.
  • Zogo is a FREE mobile app for kids and adults (age 13+) to learn financial literacy. Earn points towards gift cards to Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks and more by completing short, bite-sized modules. The many lessons include:
    • How to save money
    • Importance and best practices for a good credit score
    • How to minimize debt
    • How to successfully create and maintain a budget
    • Long-term investment strategies

Thanks for checking out this post! These referrals - and more - are also available on my profile page at https://invitation.codes/@johnmego. And if you want to share your referral codes there, please use my referral link to sign up: https://invt.co/?invite=3dL2NnX9l


Thinkium-Blue Paper 5.1 & 5.2

5 consensus protocol

In Thinkium system, there are three types of nodes in each chain: data nodes, consensus nodes and common nodes. The data node is responsible for the storage of all the data in its chain and the interaction between the chain and the chain. The main responsibility of the consensus node is the operation, packing and consensus of the chain, and the common node only carries the service. The figure below shows the relationship of different nodes between multiple chains.

https://preview.redd.it/lw5jdkavfey61.png?width=706&format=png&auto=webp&s=0c6cc19797bd178bfdd2d4ff8a83b88ea1340377

Each participating consensus node is randomly assigned, and will be re-selected as time goes by.

5.1 Committee selection

To counter the Sybil attack on unprivileged systems, we use a Proof of Equity (PoS) based election algorithm. Early blockchain projects such as Bitcoin and Ethereum used Workload Proof Consensus (PoW). Consensus participants compete for the bookkeeping right through the "mining" (that is, to carry out some specific complex calculations). Mining requires a lot of power and takes up a lot of computing time, but these resources do not contribute to improving the efficiency of the system. In fact, because the confirmation of a transaction requires the reception and verification of most nodes across the network, the time spent in broadcasting information on the network also increases as the number of nodes increases, and the efficiency will decrease.

In addition, if the consensus algorithm requires each transaction to consume bandwidth, computation, and storage resources for each participant, the performance bottleneck of the system will depend on the weakest participant in each dimension. In this case, the nodes participating in the consensus should only be the "super nodes", which form centralization in fact.

Therefore, we have chosen a consensus mechanism based on proof of interest (PoS). In the PoS mechanism, the consensus participants' billing rights depend on the assets they own.. In our consensus algorithm, consensus participants prove their rights by submitting a deposit. The system regularly selects a certain number of participants through a random algorithm, according to the proportion of the deposit to form a committee responsible for a period of time. In the multi-chain system, the committees of each chain can exist at the same time and run independently of each other since only the selected committee members need to participate in each block. As the number of nodes in the network increases, it is possible to support running more sub-chains at the same time to utilizing the resources of the nodes efficiently.

Compared with PoW, PoS consensus does not need to be excavated, which greatly reduces the threshold for participation in consensus and energy consumption, and is more likely to achieve true decentralization. On the other hand, unlike DPoS's super node, the committee is randomly elected, which guarantees fairness and gives everyone the power to participate in the block and get rewards, and also prevents the various problems caused by the monopoly of super code. Similar to PoW, the security of the PoS algorithm only needs to assume that most of the rights are not malicious and the network satisfies weak synchronization. The selection algorithm requiresthe following security attributes

• Assume that the proportion of equity in the honesty node among all participantsis δt . At least the proportion δᗉ of committee members elected in each election is honest. In addition, the algorithm should be fair because the probability that each participant is selected (roughly) is proportional to the number ofsharesinvested by the participants.

• Committee members should be mobile and unpredictable so that opponents cannot attack the system through corrosion committee members (assuming that corruption takes longer than the committee'slife).

In Thinkium, we implement the above properties through the following process. First, when the next committee needs to be selected, the sub-chain must send a singal on the main chain for all nodes are listening to the main chain.. The election of all chains is carried out in the main chain. Through the summary information on the main chain, the main chain can collect the election status of each chain and publish it in a unified manner. At the same time, random seeds are generated periodically on the main chain to ensure the randomness of each chain election.

Nodes that are willing to participate in the consensus need to register on the main chain by sending a special type of transaction. The transaction also stipulates the equity amount, which will be transferred to a specific share account and frozen, instructing the node to withdraw and withdraw the equity. After the main chain issues the election information, the consensus participants can see the election information in the main chain, and use the corresponding random seed and their private key to calculate the value of a verifiable random function to determine whether they are selected. When a node finds itself having the right to join a chain committee, it will join the chain's network firstly and send its own ID and verifiable random function proof, which will be recorded by the current committee. At the same time, new members of the committee need to prepare for participation in the consensus and join the committee's network. They also began to synchronize the state of the sub-chain. The received block and status can be verified by the abstract on the main chain.

The elected nodes will establish a small consensus network for communication within the committee. The owning of dedicated network reduces latency and bandwidth consumption for peer-to-peer communication and broadcast between committee members. On the other hand, if the set is incorrect, the network may be less stable and more vulnerable to attack. You need to make sure your network topology is robust and securely exchange node information through using encryption. At the beginning of the next era, the new committee should generate a new key, synchronize and update the current state of the chain, and establish a connection in the new consensus network.

The fairness of the election is crucial to the security of the system: if the attacker can occupy a majority of seats in a committee, there is no way for the committee to come out normally. On the one hand, in order to ensure that random seeds cannot be manipulated, each random seed is generated by a set of members of the committee through threshold signatures: This approach greatly increases the difficulty for an attacker to predict subsequent random seeds and prevent random seed generation, as compared to random seeds independently generated by blocker. On the other hand, we have designed incentives that make honest committee members willing to record new committee members, rather than seeking to retain their powers by destroying elections.

5.2 Committee’s consensus

We assume that there is a part of the synchronous communication model within the committee, in which there is a valid Byzantine fault-tolerant algorithm, and a tailor-made PBFT variant is designed for this purpose. The committee only accounts for a small portion of the entire network, and they will build a smaller network to reduce the delay of the broadcast, so they can get out of the block stably and efficiently. Due to the nature of the PBFT algorithm, when the nodes in the committee satisfy the weak synchronization hypothesis, the block algorithm can run safely when the malicious nodes accounts for less than 50% of the nodes. Therefore, under the premise of the security of the election algorithm, the activity, correctness and uniqueness of each committee can be guaranteed. In addition, our deposit and penalty mechanisms make it costly for members of the committee to do evil, which encouraging honest users to refrain from doing evil by reporting other people's malicious behavior.

Figure: Committee consensus.

The execution of nodes can be divided by rounds. Each round consists of three phases: proposal, preparation and confirmation (as shown in the pictured above). State transitions are driven by event. In order to keep the system active in the event of a network failure or malicious attack, the local clock may trigger a timeout.

Proposal stage: The person in charge of the committee broadcasts the proposed motion to other committee members. Preparation phase: After each committee member receives the suggested block, it broadcasts a message containing the signature of the block. If a timeout is triggered before the suggested block is received, the committee members sign and broadcast a special message to the other committee members (indicating that the leader is defective).

Confirmation phase: At the end of the preparation phase, each committee member signs and broadcasts a signature received during the preparation phase. Signature aggregation can be used to reduce the size of messages in the validation phase significantly.

Based on the messages received during the validation phase, each committee member can decide whether an agreement has been reached on the block and to broadcast the agreed block or empty block and the evidence of making such decision. Malicious node punishment. In the case of detecting a node with a definite misbehavior (for example, a node that sends a different message to a different node at the same stage), the round will be aborted by outputting an empty block. However, misbehaving nodes will be subject to a large number of economic penalties, which make this attack unsustainable. Optimization. If the number of signatures received during the preparation phase means that most honest committee members have received the same proposal block, committee members may reach an “early consensus”: members can use the signature to output the block as proof of the protocol before the validation phase (in different forms compared to conventional protocols). Please note that the node still needs to participate in the validation phase.

5.3 Safety analysis

https://preview.redd.it/ip6jm2xihey61.png?width=901&format=png&auto=webp&s=d5ba478a7a6a8a376ce6498595b85ed4ee717a0e


Were my Grandparents murderers?

As a kid we would go to upstate New York on vacation to meet up with extended family members.

My Grandparents owned a house which was passed down from their parents.

I loved playing with my cousins. The area was completely remote. You had to drive a mile down a private road to get to the house.

We went at least once a summer, but that tragically ended in the later 1980’s when two of my uncles and my nine year old cousin vanished one day.

As I recall the story, my whole extended family about 30 people were staying the weekend in the house. Some of the older kids would sleep in tents outside because there just wasn’t enough room and the kids liked camping as well.

It wasn’t uncommon for my uncle’s to look for an excuse to get drunk and pretend to hunt deer.

We were all city dwellers and none of my uncle’s really knew anything about hunting rather than put bullets in rifle; aim at deer; and shoot.

One Saturday afternoon, my two uncle’s and cousin ventured out into the woods. Typically, they would get drunk and return after a couple of hours. That Saturday, they didn’t return. I recall about supper time the adults joking that we will see them returning through those woods at anytime with no deer.

As nighttime approached and still no signs of their return, then I remembered the mood had changed and the adults started to freak out.

The adults went out searching for them. I remember being able to hear my family members yell their names through the woods.

Eventually, the police arrived and they formed a search party. They searched all night and the next day with no sign of them.

We extended our stay at the house so my parents could assist in the search.

We stayed for a week and there was still no sign of them. We went back to NYC and my dad would go back to upstate NYC every weekend to search for them.

Understandingly, we stopped going there as a vacation retreat.

Two years went bye, then five years went bye, then eventually 20 years with no bodies being found. There was nothing. No clues at all.

It really changed everything in my family. None of the adults ever seemed happy again.

Fast forward to just a few months ago, I was perusing through free horror movies on demand. You know the ones where you have to watch commercials and really weren’t good enough to be featured on say Netflix.

I read the previews for one of the movies and it was eerily similar to what happened to my uncle’s and cousin.

I decided to watch the movie and the coincidences were extremely unsettling.

There was a long road to the house, there was about the same amount of people who were at the house that Saturday, even to the smallest of details on how three of my male cousins would play on this large boulder in back of the house.

I was glued to the tv because this was literally going to explain what happened to my lost family members.

Then it eventually got to the part, where one of the locals who lived in the woods kidnapped the three of them and sadisticly killed them.

I immediately phoned my brother and in turn he contacted the rest of the family members.

Eventually, we contacted the police and they interrogated the writer of the movie.

Based on the police investigation, it was determined that the actual writer who took credit for the screenplay didn’t write the movie. He actually payed a ghostwriter through bitcoins for his ideas on Reddit.

My family and the police watched the movie for any clues on where the bodies could be.

Another search party was assembled and the bodies were found buried in the basement of a remote cabin about 10 miles from my grandparents upstate house.

The whole family was just perplexed. Who wrote the movie? Who knew all of these intimate details of our family?

The police were unable to figure out who sent the story through Reddit. The ghost writer went through great lengths to hide his computer/phones IP address.

My whole family went through every possible suspect including everyone in the family. Everyone agreed it couldn’t be anyone in the upstate house that day.

Then, weeks went bye and I must of watched the movie two hundred times and still no suspect.

Then one day,I was watching old home movies and something extremely sinister occurred to me.

My grandfather back in the early 1980’s would draw lines. He would draw the lines on paper, on wood with the pointed end of nails, basically on anything as a nervous tick. Then after my uncles and cousin disappeared he stopped doing it, so I completely forgot about it.

Those lines were important because I remembered seeing two of them in an indiscreet area on the inside door of the cabin.

I knew I really had to sit and think before I accused anyone of anything.

Then, I came up with a possible scenario. My grandfather told my two uncles and cousin to go to the cabin and he would meet them there. Then, when the search party went out to look for them, my grandfather went out on his own to the cabin and killed them.

My grandfather then went back to burry the bodies in the cabin.

I explained the scenario to the rest of my family and most of them agreed with me and were in shock and horror.

My grandfather was dead so he couldn’t be held accountable, but I knew the motive.

He wanted the upstate house for himself. My grandparents were the only ones who continued to visit the house after my uncles and cousin vanished.

Still the mystery remains,who actually wrote the story? My grandfather was dead when the writer of the movie received the story from the ghost writer.

I don’t think whoever wrote the story was actually involved in the plot or the actual murders. I think the ghost writer just wanted to tell what they knew.

Talking to the rest of my family, they remembered my grandfather veering off from the rest of the search party only to return hours later. They also remember my grandfather returning from one of the searches covered in sweat and dirt.

Everyone who was there that week corroborated those events regarding my grandfather and everyone agreed it was virtually impossible for anyone to have assisted my grandfather.

Also, everyone agreed that someone who was there that Saturday was the Ghostwriter. Potentially, even my grandmother, which would really be dark because there was actually bitcoins exchanged for the story.


Bitcoin for Dummies

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer version of digital cash created in 2009 by the mysterious and pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. It was created to allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without relying on trust1.

Website: https://bitcoin.org/en/

Whitepaper: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

Official sub: r/Bitcoin

How does it work?

Bitcoin is the first ever cryptocurrency. Unlike fiat currency, bitcoins are created, distributed, traded, and stored on a decentralized ledger system known as a blockchain. If you don't know what a blockchain is you can learn in 5 minutes with this video by Simply Explained.

Is it safe to use?

The Bitcoin network uses a security system, or "consensus mechanism" called Proof-of-Work.

Consensus mechanisms are algorithms that regulate the process in which transactions between users are verified and added to a blockchain's public ledger, all without a central entity being in control.

Proof-of-Work was introduced in the early 90's to mitigate email spam. The idea was that computers would be required to perform a small amount of work before sending an email. This work would be trivial for one person sending a legitimate email but it would require a lot of computing power and resources to send mass emails (spam).

It was Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, who first applied this Proof-of-Work method to a digital money system utilizing blockchain technology.

Blockchain technology at a glance.

Quick refresher: a blockchain is a decentralized ledger consisting of a string of blocks that are chained to each other by way of cryptography1.

The genesis block (block "0") is the first block in a blockchain. It's hardcoded into the blockchain software and is, by definition, unable to reference previous blocks.

You can think of blocks as digital containers of information.

Subsequent blocks added to the genesis block will always refer to the previous blocks, each of which contain a full copy of the updated ledger.

How Proof-of-Work relates to blockchain.

Proof-of-Work algorithms determine who can adjust a blockchain ledger through a race in which miners2 expend computational energy in order to propose valid blocks to the network.

You can think of miners like the record-keepers of a blockchain network. They check and prove that no one is cheating.

In order to create a new block, miners compete against each other to solve complex mathematical problems in a process called hashing3. These puzzles are very hard to solve, but easy for the network to verify the correct solution.

The winning hash is broadcasted to the network for other miners to verify whether the solution is true or not. If it's correct the block gets added to the blockchain and the miner gets compensated with the block reward.

A block reward is the reward a miner gets for solving the cryptographic puzzle required to validate a new block, and is awarded in the native cryptocurrency of a given blockchain. Block rewards are responsible for introducing new coins into the economic system. They incentivize miners to participate in the network and validate the data within the blocks.

So in other words, the work miners do and the rewards they receive keep the Bitcoin network going.

How do I buy Bitcoin?

To purchase a bitcoin (or a fractional amount of one, since at the time of writing this 1 single bitcoin is worth $55,000) you'll want to find an exchange that offers the $BTC coin and sign up. Some well-known exchanges are Coinbase, Binance and Kraken. There are a lot more ways to buy Bitcoin than exchanges, though. Read this for more information.

Unlike physical versions of global currencies like the US dollar, cryptocurrencies can be broken down into extremely small units as they only exist in the digital world. How small is small?

A one hundred millionth of a single Bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC) is called a satoshi (as an homage to its creator). The ability to be broken down into the one hundred millionths helps to ease and facilitate smaller transactions and is a huge advantage over traditional fiat currency.

What's the Bitcoin halving I keep hearing about?

Remember block rewards? Every 210,000 blocks, or roughly every 4 years, the total number of coins miners can win is halved.

So, a Bitcoin halving event is when the reward for mining Bitcoin cuts in half. Why does that matter? Because it also cuts in half Bitcoin's inflation rate and the rate at which new coins enter circulation.

Take a look at this diagram to understand why this is so important. Keep in mind the diagram is on a logarithmic scale.

Resources, link dump.

https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bitcoin.asp

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bitcoin.asp#citation-6

https://bitcoin.org/en/faq#general

https://www.kraken.com/en-us/learn/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake

https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/consensus-mechanisms/pow/

https://www.investopedia.com/tech/explaining-crypto-cryptocurrency/

https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/consensus-mechanisms/pow/mining/

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/082914/basics-buying-and-investing-bitcoin.asp

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/satoshi.asp

https://www.investopedia.com/bitcoin-halving-4843769

Last updated: May 10th, 2021


$2600 FREE BTC 💎 Celsius Network 💎 Limited Time Deal 💎 New Users Only 💎 Available Worldwide

Celsius Network is a crypto bank with over $18,000,000 Assets Under Management (AUM) and over 700,000 active users.

Celsius gives 80% of their profit back to the customers in the form of interest on deposited cryptocurrency.

You are also able to take out loans as low as 1% APY against your crypto, allowing you to avoid tax events and HODL your assets, just like the rich do.

Celsius also pays all gas fees for its users, so you can withdraw your crypto absolutely free, whenever you'd like.

They also give very generous referral and promotion rewards as they believe in giving back to the people, rather than pay millions for advertisements.

Celsius Network Offer Details:

UPDATED: 10th May 2021
Global | Europe | UK | USA | Asia | Africa | Worldwide
Promo codes gives up to $2560 BTC
Referral gives $40 BTC
Total reward = $2600 Bitcoin for FREE!! (minimum $100 FREE!!)
Easy Instructions step-by-step below:

Step 1: Create an account with my referral code / link below

Use my referral code 1350636f9c or the link below for $40 free BTC on a $400 deposit: https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/1350636f9c
Please double check that the referral code is there when signing up as it can bug out on the app and have to be input manually.

Step 2: Enter the promo codes below

After signing up go to profile > promo, and enter the code below:
YESPLEASE - Deposit $200 or more in supported crypto for an additional $20 free Bitcoin
BTC40 - Deposit $400 or more in supported crypto for an additional $40 free Bitcoin
GOTCRYPTO - Deposit $25,000 or more in supported crypto for an additional $500 free Bitcoin
STABLE2000 - Deposit $250,000 or more in any stablecoin for an additional $2000 free Bitcoin

Step 3: Make a deposit

Deposits and their rewards:
- A deposit of $400 will yield $100 BTC reward || referral + YESPLEASE + BTC40 will activate

You can deposit any supported crypto, including stable-coins.

Once you deposit your rewards will be locked for 30 days, in order for them to unlock you must maintain your balance by keeping your deposit in Celsius.

Bonus:

You can earn massive interest rates on your crypto in Celsius Network, as it is a Savings Wallet / Crypto Bank that allows you to take loans against your assets if you want, and offers free withdrawals (they pay gas fees)

Be the 1% and let your money work for you and give you passive income.

If you have any questions please feel free to PM me


$2600 FREE BTC 💎 Celsius Network 💎 Limited Time Deal 💎 New Users Only 💎 Available Worldwide

Celsius Network is a crypto bank with over $18,000,000 Assets Under Management (AUM) and over 700,000 active users.

Celsius gives 80% of their profit back to the customers in the form of interest on deposited cryptocurrency.

You are also able to take out loans as low as 1% APY against your crypto, allowing you to avoid tax events and HODL your assets, just like the rich do.

Celsius also pays all gas fees for its users, so you can withdraw your crypto absolutely free, whenever you'd like.

They also give very generous referral and promotion rewards as they believe in giving back to the people, rather than pay millions for advertisements.

Celsius Network Offer Details:

UPDATED: 10th May 2021
Global | Europe | UK | USA | Asia | Africa | Worldwide
Promo codes gives up to $2560 BTC
Referral gives $40 BTC
Total reward = $2600 Bitcoin for FREE!! (minimum $100 FREE!!)
Easy Instructions step-by-step below:

Step 1: Create an account with my referral code / link below

Use my referral code 1350636f9c or the link below for $40 free BTC on a $400 deposit: https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/1350636f9c
Please double check that the referral code is there when signing up as it can bug out on the app and have to be input manually.

Step 2: Enter the promo codes below

After signing up go to profile > promo, and enter the code below:
YESPLEASE - Deposit $200 or more in supported crypto for an additional $20 free Bitcoin
BTC40 - Deposit $400 or more in supported crypto for an additional $40 free Bitcoin
GOTCRYPTO - Deposit $25,000 or more in supported crypto for an additional $500 free Bitcoin
STABLE2000 - Deposit $250,000 or more in any stablecoin for an additional $2000 free Bitcoin

Step 3: Make a deposit

Deposits and their rewards:
- A deposit of $400 will yield $100 BTC reward || referral + YESPLEASE + BTC40 will activate

You can deposit any supported crypto, including stable-coins.

Once you deposit your rewards will be locked for 30 days, in order for them to unlock you must maintain your balance by keeping your deposit in Celsius.

Bonus:

You can earn massive interest rates on your crypto in Celsius Network, as it is a Savings Wallet / Crypto Bank that allows you to take loans against your assets if you want, and offers free withdrawals (they pay gas fees)

Be the 1% and let your money work for you and give you passive income.

If you have any questions please feel free to PM me


$2600 FREE BTC 💎 Celsius Network 💎 Limited Time Deal 💎 New Users Only 💎 Available Worldwide

Celsius Network is a crypto bank with over $18,000,000 Assets Under Management (AUM) and over 700,000 active users.

Celsius gives 80% of their profit back to the customers in the form of interest on deposited cryptocurrency.

You are also able to take out loans as low as 1% APY against your crypto, allowing you to avoid tax events and HODL your assets, just like the rich do.

Celsius also pays all gas fees for its users, so you can withdraw your crypto absolutely free, whenever you'd like.

They also give very generous referral and promotion rewards as they believe in giving back to the people, rather than pay millions for advertisements.

Celsius Network Offer Details:

UPDATED: 10th May 2021
Global | Europe | UK | USA | Asia | Africa | Worldwide
Promo codes gives up to $2560 BTC
Referral gives $40 BTC
Total reward = $2600 Bitcoin for FREE!! (minimum $100 FREE!!)
Easy Instructions step-by-step below:

Step 1: Create an account with my referral code / link below

Use my referral code 1350636f9c or the link below for $40 free BTC on a $400 deposit: https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/1350636f9c
Please double check that the referral code is there when signing up as it can bug out on the app and have to be input manually.

Step 2: Enter the promo codes below

After signing up go to profile > promo, and enter the code below:
YESPLEASE - Deposit $200 or more in supported crypto for an additional $20 free Bitcoin
BTC40 - Deposit $400 or more in supported crypto for an additional $40 free Bitcoin
GOTCRYPTO - Deposit $25,000 or more in supported crypto for an additional $500 free Bitcoin
STABLE2000 - Deposit $250,000 or more in any stablecoin for an additional $2000 free Bitcoin

Step 3: Make a deposit

Deposits and their rewards:
- A deposit of $400 will yield $100 BTC reward || referral + YESPLEASE + BTC40 will activate

You can deposit any supported crypto, including stable-coins.

Once you deposit your rewards will be locked for 30 days, in order for them to unlock you must maintain your balance by keeping your deposit in Celsius.

Bonus:

You can earn massive interest rates on your crypto in Celsius Network, as it is a Savings Wallet / Crypto Bank that allows you to take loans against your assets if you want, and offers free withdrawals (they pay gas fees)

Be the 1% and let your money work for you and give you passive income.

If you have any questions please feel free to PM me