How will Particl succeed in gaining price appreciation, adoption and network effect where centralised anonymous marketplaces fail?

It's real simple. Particl is not a centralised marketplace so you would need to take the majority of the nodes down to compromise the network.

 

Contrast this with tradtional centralised marketplaces where taking down a handful of servers can shut down the entire service leading to loss of any funds held there.

• The Particl nodes can be run on the tor network for added security thus the network is inherently more resistant to tradtional hacks, takedowns and DDOS attacks.

• Integration of the currency into the platform means that the value of the PART token will increase rapidly as use of the marketplace increases.

• This is because although Particl can accept multiple cryptocurrencies, these will all be converted in the Particl client into PART token via integration of shapeshift exchange and other decentralized exchanges into the Particl client before being used to transact on the Particl network.

• Thus there is a constant buy pressure on the PART token to raise its daily trading volume, attract speculators who will then promote the platform further (after learning about it) and thus speading the network effect and awareness about the marketplace.

• Integration of the currency into the platform also makes it easier to use as it reduces the number of additional trusted third party services required to zero, thus the service is more accessible, secure, safer and convenient.

• XMR and DNM's are currently the way with regards to anonymous, private commerce but the Particl network provides all their services integrated and avoids all their inherent problems.

• A design which encourages convenience (integration of the currency exchange/converter, marketplace listings, escrow service, currency, communications, security features and any additional services required under one client operating on a separate chain).

Compare with centralized marketplace's which have a number of distinct disadvantages:

• Have far higher fees

• Are governed by centralized authorities which can delist or prevent you from listing products for any reason whatsoever without any recourse; this also prevents buyers from being able to purchase things they want

• Contain your sensitive data (credit card information, purchase/sell history, personal information) on centralized servers which means your information can be sold to third-parties, governments or leaked during hacks (Equifax anyone?)

• Have zero network effects -- unless you own stock in Amazon.com you couldn't give two shits about how it operates

 

In contrast decentralized privacy centric MP's do not require personal information, can benefit from leveraging the network effects of speculation (Bitcoin circa 2013 is a perfect example), can have low or zero transaction fee's and protect sellers from premature, unfair or even illegal delisting i.e. protect buyers and sellers from censorship where none is required or where censorship is questionable.

 

• Furthermore the tax implications of cryptocurrency have yet to be determined. PART wouldn't qualify as just a currency as it has features that make it more in keeping with a bond and a share simultaneously (as the token confers governance rights, generates passive income if staked and is used to secure the network + act as bond in it's escrow service). Tax laws specific to an asset class like PART have yet to be clearly defined. I think a large amount of legal white market commerce could run through Particl simply because it potentially represents a more legally tax efficient solution.

• Following on from this I think a large amount of wealth that has moved into cryptocurrency wants to stay there. Thus the general market for legal goods acquired tax efficiently through multiple cryptocurrencies is potentially untapped and could explode as crypto marketcap continues to grow. I think this represents a case for all decentralised marketplaces.

 

This argument in general is the case for decentralization of marketplace technologies and is the main use case for District0x, Openbazaar, Syscoin etc.

By: Joske

Blockstream trying to take over Bitcoin 

BlockstreamLocated in San Francisco, is perhaps the most important and at the same time, the least comprehensive company in the community of Bitcoin-World. 

Bitcoin is an open source software project where everyone can view the code and propose changes, but only a small group of people accompanying the project can approve the changes and run them into the implementation. Blockstreamhas gathered under its wing many of the most experienced and productive developers of the Bitcoin Core team, including Gregory Maxwell, Peter Will, and Matt Corallo, who over the past year together made more than 1,212 contributions to the Bitcoin code on GitHub. For this reason, people working in Blockstream may have the deepest knowledge of crypto protocols and have the greatest impact in the crypto world. 

While the positive influence of many people in the company on Bitcoin is obvious, some people blame the company for the lack of an experimental approach to Bitcoin's development, for the lack of rapid progress at the protocol level over the past few years. 

Bitcoin Core is slow to take risks when it comes to making changes to Bitcoin's code. In particular, Core does not support increasing the block size as fast as some would like. Some in the community are afraid that very soon, the bandwidth of the network will become a bottleneck that hinders the growth of user acceptance, which even led to the emergence of offers of alternative customers and development teams (for example, Bitcoin Unlimited, so ardently supported by Roger Vero). 

Most of these moods stem from the misunderstanding of Bitcoin's governance structure. Bitcoin was described as democratic, but in reality, it does not represent a democratic structure, where government representatives are elected, receiving the right to make decisions. Instead, Bitcoin is a user-controlled system where the code is associated with all network members (developers, miners, users, exchanges). Not any of the groups are able to make significant changes to the protocol. In fact, this requires an absolute majority of votes. This can be considered as a gift, and as a curse at the same time and this makes Bitcoin one of the most invulnerable means of accumulation that ever existed, but this same feature makes it difficult to make changes at the protocol level. 

So what is the role of Blockstream in the ecosystem? 

When the company attracted investments at the zero round of financing, the main idea was that Blockstream would be for Bitcoin that Mozilla was for the Internet: a commercial organization that supports the basic values of the protocol. 

Since the launch of Blockstream, it has passed more than two years now, and it seems that the company has safely forgotten about it The popular opinion is that Blockstream is using its influence on Bitcoin Core to push out the solutions that are beneficial for the company, and not for the Bitcoin ecosystem as a whole. 

The main mission of Blockstream 

The founder of the block stream Adam Back says that he believes in the future, where users are given the right to control their own assets. The mission is to take Bitcoin's core peer security and expand it to other digital assets. 

Back also says that Bitcoin is the most secure and reliable decentralized value transfer network. It runs smoothly for eight years and is based on computing power, larger than the world's largest supercomputer. The network is based on a simple scripting language with the smallest "surface" for potential attacks. Other blockades, such as the Etherium, are interesting experiments, but they do not compare with Bitcoin in terms of reliability, security, and decentralization. 

As British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once averred, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. Bitcoin is frequently on the receiving end of them all, whether it's exaggerated statistics about energy consumption or damned lies conflating it with terrorism. We've rounded up 10 of the most pervasive mistruths and endeavored to set the record straight. The next time someone brings one up, send them here.

1. Bitcoin Funds Terrorism

We'll start with the most asinine assertion, although all of the entries in this list are pretty dumb. You know what funds terrorism? Terrorists and terrorist sympathisers. If you want to blame a currency though, try the U.S. dollar which has been used to fund more wars, proxy wars, bombings, hijackings, and insurgencies than any other.

In 2016, Europol found no evidence that terrorists were using cryptocurrencies to fund their activities. That's not to say it hasn't happened and won't happen. It's telling however that the only people linking bitcoin with terrorism are governments seeking to crackdown on digital currencies. If a major terrorist attack funded by bitcoin were to occur, we'd never hear the end of it. So far there's been a lot of noise but nothing to substantiate this claim.

Yaya Fanusie of the Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance had this to say:

There are examples of terrorists using virtual currencies, but probably are not indicative of a major push. Right now, virtual currencies are harder to acquire and spend than, say, prepaid cards, or the most anonymous way to fund terrorism – cash. And most terrorists operate in a world where fiat, or government-backed, currency is needed for their expenditures, so a virtual currency where one has to figure out how to cash out without tipping off authorities only complicates a funding scheme.

 

2. Bitcoin is a Bubble

Where do we even start with this one? No, bitcoin is not a bubble. It's not going to come crashing down to earth and it's certainly not going to return to zero. We've long passed the point of no return for that to happen. That won't stop the B-word being trotted out every time bitcoin gains or sheds another $2,000 however. There will be corrections along the way – no asset in history has ever ascended in a straight line – but bitcoin is not about to pop. It wasn't a bubble at $3,000, it's not a bubble at $11,000, and it still won't be next week after a dozen more op-eds have posed this question.

3. Bitcoin is Volatile

For those who don't relish risk, there are certainly less exciting assets to invest in. Nevertheless, the notion that bitcoin is volatile and needs to be "tamed" is misguided. Hugely respected crypto assets expert Chris Burniske broke this down in a recent slidedeck, showing that bitcoin's volatility is now lower than Twitter stock. There are still roller-coaster days, but for the most part the digital currency is blissfully calm.

4. Bitcoin is Tulip Mania All Over Again

If you're not familiar with the much-cited case of tulip mania which swept 17th century Holland, your search engine of choice will furnish you with the backstory. The craze culminated in the price of a particular bulb reaching 4,600 florins. From there, the only way was down.

It turns out that tulips lack any sort of intrinsic value and make a rubbish commodity, just like seashells and pretty stones. Bitcoins, on the other hand, are easy to divide, imperishable, transportable and scarcer than tulips.

5. Bitcoin is Used by Hate Groups

We could launch into a lengthy explanation as to why it's ridiculous to blame a currency for the actions of a tiny subset of its users, but sometimes the simplest responses are best:

6. Bitcoin is Mostly Used for Illegal Purposes

That claim might have been true in 2013, but today the vast majority of bitcoin transactions are for legitimate purposes. Chris Burniske also provided further evidence of this in his slidedeck which was cited earlier. Still, that won't stop benighted hacks from the mainstream media trotting out this old chestnut whenever they can, usually accompanied by some variation of this image:

7. Bitcoin is a Ponzi Scheme

A Ponzi or pyramid scheme involves older investors being paid back through the capital from new investors, until eventually the racket becomes unsustainable and the whole thing collapses on itself. The workings of bitcoin are completely transparent and its adoption and growth cannot be controlled by anyone. The price of bitcoin is determined solely by what the market is willing to pay for it, not by a necessity to pay back previous investors. Bitcoin is certainly not a pyramid scheme. Bitconnect, on the other hand…

8. Bitcoin Can Be Hacked

Bitcoin exchanges and cloud-based wallets can theoretically be hacked, just like anything else connected to the internet. The underlying code powering the bitcoin blockchain cannot be hacked however. Bitcoin has been stress-tested more thoroughly than possibly any other piece of code ever written. If you're worried about having your coins stolen, take our advice and use a wallet which you own the keys to rather than trusting a third party.

9. Bitcoin is a Fad

You know what else was a fad? The internet and cell phones.

10 of the Biggest Lies Told About Bitcoin

We've debunked this loads of times, most recently here, and Wired have also explored the matter at length. Yes, bitcoin mining uses a lot of energy – though not nearly as much as reported – and yet every watt is worth it. Rather than delve into lengthy technical explanations, here are a couple of pertinent facts to mull over: bitcoin mining uses a third less energy than is expended on Christmas lights in the U.S. each year. One study estimates bitcoin to use between 0.8 and 4.4 TWh per year. Compare this with the 138TWh per year spent on mining and recycling gold or the 650TWh expended by the global banking system annually and bitcoin looks like a model in efficiency.

To invoke an apposite quote, a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on. The next time fake news defames your favorite digital currency, drop in this link and set the record straight. Bitcoin is many things but it's none of the above.

Currently Particl trades in the $5-10 range on Bittrex with a relatively low market cap. Present valuations are determined solely by market speculators (mostly accumulators aware about the project potential).

 

However on release of their decentralised marketplace module in Q1 2018, provided its released with full atomic swaps and shapeshift/exchange integration, it's buy side dynamics will change significantly.

 

This will be driven by the fact that whilst multiple cryptocurrencies will be accepted on the Particl network to automatically convert to the native PART token via in-client integration of shapeshift, decentralized exchanges and widget implementation of atomic swaps (direct conversion of other cryptocurrencies to the native PART token without intermediary if they possess atomic swap functionality), all buying and selling transactions on the marketplace and other Particl modules will be conducted solely via the native PART token.

 

At this stage I estimate a 5x to 20x (conservative is 5x) rise in price purely on a hype cycle alone. Longer term however I view it very differently to other assets due to it's liquidity characteristics which resemble DASH but with actual utility to self perpetuate it. This is because: 

• People decide to use the Particl marketplace.
• People sent their crypto to the Particl client.
• This converts to PART: Buy pressure on PART.
• People buy PART in the Particl client to transact.
• People use PART escrow: PARTs get locked into escrow contract.
• Circulating supply of PART gets further restricted.
• Successful buying/selling of goods = repeat custom exclusively in PART token.
• Repeat custom = regular repeat buy pressure on PART per individual.
• Repeat custom = word of mouth = more new customers on Particl marketplace. This perpetuates first step.
• Buy pressure increases. More escrows. Further liquidity lockup.

 

• More dApps (beyond market place) release as PART hype & awareness increases = more buy pressure on PART.

• Staking locks away PART also restricting circulating supply.

• As value of PART increases incentive to stake increases (as stakers earn tx fees). As PART value increases and tx frequency increases, stakers earn more rewards perpetuating further staking.

• More PART gets locked in staking. Lower circulating supply.

• Rapidly escalating PART price.

 

So provided it is released as described and people use it as a marketplace non-speculatively, with time it's price should rise exponentially independent of traditional exchange dependent model.

...

I hope this makes it super clear why I rank Particl on par with Ethereum and Bitcoin in terms of price growth potential.

By: Joske

On November 20 the firm CME Group published an error on the company's bitcoin futures web page stating that its new bitcoin derivatives products would launch on December 10. Later that day, the company announced it was a mistake, and that the date was incorrect. Now on December 1, the exchange has announced its bitcoin-based self-certified initial listings will be available on December 18. Terry Duffy, CME Group's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer explains;   

We are pleased to bring Bitcoin futures to the market after working closely with the CFTC and market participants to design a regulated offering that will provide investors with transparency, price discovery, and risk transfer capabilities.

CME Group to Launch Bitcoin Futures December 18

A Continued Collaboration With U.S. Regulators and  Reputable Cryptocurrency Trading Platforms

CME Group's bitcoin futures products will be available for trade on the CME Globex electronic trading platform. Alongside this, the futures have been submitted for the CME Clearport on Sunday, December 17 and trading will begin the following day. The bitcoin futures provided by CME will be cash-settled by referencing the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR). The rate is based on a daily rate utilizing the USD price of bitcoin across multiple spot exchanges.     

"Though we have worked through a lengthy, comprehensive process with the CFTC to get to this point, we recognize bitcoin is a new, uncharted market that will continue to evolve, requiring continued collaboration with the Commission and our clients going forward," CME's CEO details.

At launch, our new Bitcoin futures contract will be subject to a variety of risk management tools, including an initial margin of 35 percent, position and intraday price limits, and a number of other risk and credit controls that CME Group offers on all of its products.

The options exchange has been calculating and publishing the BRR with the help of Crypto Facilities Ltd. The calculation window for the aggregated trade flow ends at 4:00 pm London time. Further, CME details the BRR utilizes the "IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks," alongside leveraging well-known cryptocurrency exchange spot prices from Kraken, Itbit, GDAX, and Bitstamp. The news also follows JP Morgan and Nasdaq revealing they plan to offer bitcoin futures contracts as well. 

The price of bitcoin has crossed the $9,000 USD zone across global exchanges on November 26, 2017, at approximately 10:40 am EDT. Earlier this year, bitcoin's meteoric price rise had crushed those who believed it would tank when it passed $2K, and has continued to exceed some of the more modest expectations.

Bitcoin Crosses the $9K Region

Bitcoin Touches a Milestone Price of $9K Across Global ExchangesBitcoin is on the tip of everyone's tongues these days, as the decentralized currency has breached many all-time highs month after month. 2017 has been spectacular as far as the currency's value is concerned, with bitcoin rising over 700 percent this year alone. For instance, back in January the price finally breached $1,000 per BTC, but then kept roaring all year long. On October 7 the price surpassed $4,500 which was half of what it is today, and you could have bought the dip on November 12 when the price was $5,850. Although the present value of bitcoin has astonished many, how quickly it has risen has been a shock to most. The currency is now being taken very seriously by naysayers, with it's massive $150B market capitalization. At press time the price per BTC is at an all-time high of $9020 per token.  

Milestone After Milestone, Bitcoin Just Won't Quit

The cryptocurrency's market price isn't the only milestone of bitcoin's ninth year of life. The currency is being used more than ever before – as there are roughly 250,000-375,000 transactions confirmed on the network every single day. Further, well over three-quarters of the cryptocurrency has been mined so far leaving just 4.3M bitcoin's left to mine. Bitcoin mining is more profitable than ever – with 24 pools splitting the current hashrate. Right now, the biggest mining pools in the industry as far as hashrate is concerned include Antpool, Viabtc, BTC.com, Slush, and BTC.top. Hashrate itself is massive, as miners at press time are processing over 10 exahash per second, and on October 24 the hashrate surpassed 12.5 exahash. In contrast to the positive news regarding bitcoin during 2017, the network has experienced congestion and significantly higher fees this year as well.

It certainly appears to be the season to pump altcoins, by the look of things. After we have seen a few different cryptocurrencies get their pump of the month on, NEO appears to be the latest one in this line. More specifically, the NEO price has risen to over $38 over the past few hours, indicating strong growth and speculation for this particular altcoin. Whether or not this can become a long-term trend, remains to be determined.

It is evident any cryptocurrency that isn't Bitcoin still has to go through a major price increase over the next few weeks. During the weekend, we often see the value of different altcoins go up in value, especially when the Bitcoin price is struggling for momentum. It is pretty interesting to see how all of this momentum seems to culminate in massive price pumps, including where the NEO price is concerned. After all, a 35% increase in both USD and BTC value is certainly not "normal" whatsoever.

ProjectICO AMA to be held on NEO Subreddit November 20th

Stephen Hyduchak, founder and CEO of ProjectICO announced an reddit AMA session on the NEO subreddit, giving a short introduction to ProjectICO and invited the community to join the AMA session on neonewstoday.com

That being said, we see the NEO price up by 35% in both markets and people seem to like this unexpected momentum. NEO has been a pretty strong altcoin over the past few months, and it seems this momentum is far from over. There appears to be some news regarding NEO right now, although it seems most of it is still unconfirmed at this point in time. How the NEO price will evolve over the next few hours and days, remains to be determined, though.

No one can deny this NEO price momentum will undoubtedly spill over to some other altcoins in the days to come. As long as the Bitcoin price doesn't go on another major rampage in the near future, interesting things will continue to happen in the altcoin department. Should this momentum reverse all of a sudden, things will certainly take a turn for the worse as far as altcoins are concerned. At the same time, we see some altcoins decouple their value from Bitcoin, which is a positive trend.

Thanks to around $328m worth of trading volume, this NEO price momentum might be sustained for a few more days. Everything is very difficult to predict when it comes to cryptocurrencies, as new trends emerge and disappear in quick succession virtually every other day. While we see major NEO trading volume right now, it may dry up by this evening, for all we know. At the same time, it can also double or even triple. There are no guarantees in cryptocurrency.

What is rather remarkable is how Bittrex's NEO/BTC trading pair is generating most of the trading volume right now. Bitfinex's NEO/USD pair is in second place, whereas Binance's NEO/BTC pair completes the top three. A lot of money is circulating from altcoins to Bitcoin and the other way around again. Without too much fresh money coming into the cryptocurrency industry, we may see some interesting market changes over the next 24-48 hours, that much is evident.

It is impossible to predict how all of this will play out for the NEO price in the long run. Solid momentum may push the NEO price above $40 or even $42.5 in the coming hours. However, there will be plenty of profit-taking as well, as a lot of people bought this currency below $30 in recent weeks. An interesting situation to keep an eye on, that much is rather evident. Assuming the NEO rumors are true, this may even be the beginning of a price rally toward $50 or more.