Cryptocurrencies: Getting Started & The Bitcoin Halving of 2020!

We are excited to share with you all yet another epic episode hosted by yours truly, Emilio!

In Emilio’s latest podcast episode, he talks about getting started with cryptocurrencies and the 2020 Bitcoin Halving which is an event happening on May 12, 2020, in which Emilio highly anticipates being a bitcoin investor.

You can listen to the episode embedded below. If by any chance you do not see the embedded episode, you may listen via the link here.

Here is what Emilio talks about in the podcast, in written from for you.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that runs without a central bank or without an administrator that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without needing intermediaries.

The way bitcoin works is, you send bitcoin to a bitcoin wallet address where, the transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain.

Bitcoin was invented in 2008 by an anonymous internet user who goes by the alias “Satoshi Nakamoto.” Satoshi released the bitcoin whitepaer on October 31, 2008. Then in January 3, 2009, Bitcoin launched into the public.

What is a Blockchain and How Does It Work?

In short, the Blockchain is a data structure that keeps track of all the cryptocurrency transactions ever made in the network, and all transactions are timestamped and verified by network miners.

How the blockchain works as defined by bitcoin.com is:

“miners with specialized computers compete to solve mathematical puzzles with other computers, and once they solve a puzzle they are awarded with some Bitcoin Core, but they also add a “block” of completed transactions to the blockchain for future viewing and verifiability.

Once a block is added to the chain the cycle repeats itself, and the computers continue to compete to solve these difficult problems. Every transaction on the blockchain is completely transparent and accounted for in its log.

Anyone can see the public keys of any transaction they want (although there are no names associated with transactions). One could go all the way back and view the very first transactions ever made on the first block ever created.”
How Is the Blockchain Different from Banking Ledgers?

While banks and accounting systems use ledgers to track and timestamp transactions, the difference with banking ledgers and the blockchain is that the blockchain is entirely decentralized and open source.This means, people do not have to trust or depend on the central bank to keep track of the transactions. Instead, the peer-to-peer blockchain technology keeps track of all the transactions without the fear of having the transaction getting erased or lost.

Due to the open source nature of the blockchain, it’s more versatile and programmable compared central banking ledgers. If programmers were to need new functionality on the blockchain, they can simply innovate on top of the already existing software through consensus. This is difficult for central banks to do because of all of their regulations and points of central failure.

What Are Altcoins?

Altcoins are cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the King or Queen of all the other altcoins we have today like: Litcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Monero, Bitcoin CASH, Ripple, MCO, ENJIN, Chainlink, and more to just name a few.

Without Bitcoin, altcoins would not exist.

How To Get Started With Cryptocurrency?

One of the best ways to get started is to set up a wallet. This can be done by creating a Coinbase.com account and/or a Binance.com which both are free.

If you reside in Canada or in the United States, you can download the Bitcoin.com app and the Trust Wallet app from TrustWallet.com.

If you reside in a foreign country, we suggest using a good VPN like Nord VPN or Private Internet Access VPN and turn it on so that you can download the Bitcoin.com and TrustWallet.com apps on your phone.

Creating those accounts are super easy and fast. I innerstand that the subject of cryptocurrency may sound foreign to many who are not “in the know” but trust, it becomes second nature once you get the ‘hang’ of it and have sent and received funds. My hopes is to open your minds and inspire people to setup their wallets and start investing because Bitcoin and Cryptcurrencies is indeed the MONEY OF THE FUTURE! And AWARE accepts cryptocurrency as a form of donation.

With the Bitcoin.com and TrustWallet apps, it’s very important that you save (backup) your paraphase given to you during the setup of your wallets. For every wallet that you have and create on the bitcoin.com app, you’ll have to back it up.

It’s suggested that you write down on a plain piece of paper the paraphase words for later access. Be sure to store your paraphase someone SAFE and SECURE because if you lose the paper that has the paraphrase written on it, you will be LOCKED out of your wallet and at that point, you can kiss your digital monies ‘goodbye’! So do not make that very big mistake!!

Now, let’s talk about the BITCOIN HALVING!!

I am excited to talk about the bitcoin halving as this is an event I am anticipating very much being a bitcoin investor!

What Is a Bitcoin Halving?

As defined by cointelegraph.com, bitcoin halving is “an event that halves the rate at which new Bitcoins are created. It occurs once every four years.”

The next Bitcoin halving is May 12th, 2020 which I am excited about!

Bitcoin’s supply is finite. This means, there can only be 21 million bitcoins generated. Once bitcoin reaches 21 million BTCs, the network will stop producing more. This is one of the main reasons Bitcoin is often referred to as “digital gold”. Like with the yellow metal, there is only a limited amount in the world, and eventually, all of it will have been extracted.

As of December 8, 2019, there were around 18 million BTC in circulation, which is roughly 85% of the total cap. This however, does not mean that cryptocurrency is about to reach its limit any time soon.

Like CoinTelegraph explains “For every 210,000 blocks, it performs the so-called Bitcoin “halving” or “halvening,” and producing new coins becomes more difficult — just like in gold mining where finding new deposits becomes more challenging over time.

More specifically, the protocol cuts the block reward in half. So, every time a Bitcoin halving occurs, miners begin receiving 50% fewer BTC for verifying transactions.”

A day ago, Forbes.com released an article titled “Bitcoin Halving: A New Class Of Bitcoin Millionaires May Emerge” and I believe that!

During the halving, block rewards are cut in half, which in turn, limits the supply of bitcoins.

What does this mean to bitcoin HODLers or Investors?

1. If the bitcoin supply decreases and the demand for bitcoin stays the same, the price of bitcoin increases.

2. If the bitcoin supply decreases and the demand for bitcoin increases (for example: Institutional investors, boomers, millennials, etc), then the price of bitcoin will have a significant increase in price.

According to a great Article written from Forbes, I am going to take you back to the bitcoin halving in herstory.

Calling all crypto-natics… Who remembers first halving was on November 2012 when 1 BTC went for around $11 USD?! The next year, the price began to increase very bullishlly, reaching a new all-time high of over $1,100 in 2013. The price then crashed down to the $220-$240 range, where remained for the next few years.

The second halving was in July 9, 2016 where Bitcoin stayed in the $580-700 range for several months before slowly rising toward the end of the year.

And now, the third halving is on May 13, 2020 and it’s getting real exciting!!

What To Expect With The Next Bitcoin Halving

Using CoinDesk data, analyzing bitcoin prices through April of 2019 found that large volatility events seem to occur around 12-18 months after each halving. The first time, BTC went from around $11 to around $1,100 and back down to $220. The second time, bitcoin went from around $230 to around $20,000 and back down to around $4,000.

To learn more about the Bitcoin 2020 Halving, please reference the below articles.