UPDATE (April 2018): See footnote regarding Coinbase multisig vaults.* The feature will be retired this month, because it interferes with plans to improve support of Bitcoin forks. Legacy Method of Inheriting Assets Many Bitcoin owners choose to use a custodial … Continue reading
At the end of 2017 and the first months of 2018, we witnessed a surge of interest in Initial Coin Offerings or ICOs. Perhaps the word “interest” gives too much credit to ICOs. Most are scams. ICOs are pushed through … Continue reading
I get this question a lot. Today, I answered it at Quora.com. But, here at A Wild Duck, I have more bandwidth to elaborate. Question: What if I make a typo when sending Bitcoin. The recipient address may be invalid … Continue reading
Oh, Cheez…We’re back to this question, again! As a Bitcoin columnist, I get asked a lot of questions regarding cryptocurrency and I don’t mind that at all because I enjoy educating people on the topic. Whether it’s recommending people this … Continue reading
Everyone likes a good mystery. After all, who isn’t fascinated with Sherlock Holmes or the Hardy Boys? The thirst to explore a mystery led us to the New World, to the ocean depths and into space. One of the great … Continue reading
Bitcoin has many characteristics of a currency. It is portable, fungible, divisible, resistant to forgery, and it clearly has value. Today, that value came close to $20,000 per coin. Whether it has ‘intrinsic value’ is somewhat of a moot question, because … Continue reading
In an April 2014 article, I demonstrated how one might approach a fair Bitcoin valuation. Original Methodology: What fraction will Bitcoin capture of the float needed to support daily global commerce? My methodology was based on the demand that Bitcoin would … Continue reading
At the end of October, I delivered a keynote speech at the Cryptocurrency Expo in Dubai. That was just 5 weeks ago. When I left for the conference, Bitcoin was trading at $6,300/BTC. But in the next few weeks, it reached … Continue reading
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CBT) is likely to begin listing options contracts for Bitcoin futures. And the CBOE is very likely to follow suit. What impact will this have on the value of Bitcoin holdings around the world? And what … Continue reading
Quick-Take a guess: How many individuals own at least 1 BTC? I was asked this question today at Quora, a popular Q&A blog covering a variety of technical and economic disciplines. Under my alias “Ellery”, I am the most viewed … Continue reading
In the past, I have written articles for beginners: Can cash have value if it isn’t real? What backs Bitcoin? Choosing a Bitcoin wallet Bitcoin Primer: Don’t start with miners What is a blockchain? Is it too late to get … Continue reading
Bitcoin was hit by a double whammy this week. On Tuesday, Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan declared that Bitcoin is a fraud that will “blow up”. Then, just this morning, a Bitcoin exchange in China announced that it would shut … Continue reading
On August 1 2017, the value of a Bitcoin was at $2,750 US dollars. Today, just over one month later, it is poised to leap past $5,000 per unit. With this gain, many people are asking if Bitcoin has any … Continue reading
Individuals who mine Bitcoins needn’t be miners. We call them ‘miners’ because they are awarded BTC as they solve mathematical computations. The competition to unearth these reserve coins also serves a vital purpose. They validate the transactions of Bitcoin users … Continue reading
At the beginning of 2016, Bitcoin was fairly steady at $430. Richelle Ross predicted that it would finish the year at $650. She would have been right, if the year had ended in November. During 2016, Bitcoin’s US dollar exchange … Continue reading
If you follow Bitcoin at all, then you know that its value is spiking. It has already surpassed a massive spike on Thanksgiving night 2013, and this weekend, a single Bitcoin surpassed the cost of an ounce of gold. … Continue reading
At Quora, I occasionally play, “Ask the expert”. Several hundred of my Quora answers are linked at top right on this page. Today, I was asked “How much of Bitcoin’s value is driven by speculation”. This is my answer… This is a … Continue reading
There are at least four ways to acquire Bitcoin and three ways to store it… Acquire Bitcoin: You can trade Bitcoin in person, accept it as a vendor, mine it, or buy on an exchange. Store Bitcoin: You can keep … Continue reading
The answer may be counter-intuitive: Not only can Bitcoin be widely adopted under a supply cap, its trust and integrity are a direct result of a provably limited supply. As a result, it will flourish because it is capped. Everyone … Continue reading
At Quora, I occasionally play, “Ask the expert”. Several hundred of my Quora answers are linked at the top right. Today, I was asked if the difference between quotes at various Bitcoin exchanges presents a profit opportunity. In addition to my … Continue reading