2017 has been a breakout year for cryptocurrency. Not only Bitcoin, but altcoins such as Ethereum,Dash and Litecoin have also seen amazing increases in value this year. However, this creation of wealth has left many people asking: How can I protect my cryptocurrency?

Setting Up

• Use different passwords for every account you use to limit any damage that can be done by hackers.
• Use a unique email when opening accounts on each exchange and only use that email address for that specific exchange.
• Enable two-factor authentication for your exchange accounts. This adds a software to your smartphone which adds extra security to your account. Without two-factor authentication, a hacker only needs your username and password to empty your balance.
• Don’t store your wallets and passwords in the same place or an attacker can gain access to both your passwords and your wallet at the same time.
• Never mention what exchange or wallet you use on social media or online forums. Any information you post online can be turned against you.
• Maintain backups of your cryptocurrency wallets and recovery phrases to ensure your coins aren’t lost for good if something happens to your main device. External hard drives, USB sticks, and encrypted backup files can be used to secure your recovery options and programs like VeraCrypt can encrypt these sensitive files.

Difference Between Wallets & Exchanges

Understanding the Different Types of Wallets

• Desktop Wallet: this is installed on your desktop computer and gives you access to and control over your wallet. This wallet is only accessible from the computer on which it is installed and offers a high level of security. However, it’s at risk if something happens to your computer. Examples of desktop wallets are Exodus, mSigna, and Copay.
• Mobile Wallet: this is run from an app on your smartphone for the most convenient but most vulnerable option. These wallets need to be backed up securely; if you lose your phone, or it is compromised, you could lose your cryptos with it.
• Online Wallet: this is a web-based wallet, which means that your data is stored on an online server, making it easier to access it from anywhere. However, since your private keys are stored online with this wallet, they are more at risk of hacking and theft. Examples of online wallets are Coinbase and Blockchain.
• Hardware Wallet: wallets such as the Ledger Nano S and Trezor are built to specifically hold cryptocurrency and keep it secure. You can turn them into hot wallets by connecting them to your computer, then take it offline once you’re done. You don’t need a specialized device for a hardware wallet, even USB sticks will do.
• Paper Wallet: the most basic form of a wallet involves a pen and paper. Simply write out your private key and you will be able to recover your wallet if you ever lose access to it. You can also print out a QR code for both your public and private key, which avoids storing data digitally, providing a high level of security.

Transaction Safety

Other Threats

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It is pretty hard to understate what 2017 has meant for investors.
The S&P 500 had one of it best years in more than five appreciating
20% to a record near 2700.
The global economy continued to recover from the last vestige
of the 2008 financial crisis.
Everybody has the right to feel financially more secure.
But if you were for fortunate to be a crypto investor,
you have cause to celebrate like never before.
Bitcoin rewarded you with a 1660%+ price appreciation,
Ethereum gained a monster 10,200%+ while Litecoin turned in
a 6,500%+ price increase.
And these are just the majors.
Returns with some of the successful ICOs were even more spectacular.
Of course not every ICO paid off and some fell victim unscrupulous operators.
Nevertheless, 2017 was a golden year.
When prices increase as much as they have it is easy to get fixated solely
on price alone and forget about the underlying forces that represent true value.
So what will be the fundamental forced in 2018?

It is hard to know the future so far out
because it is evolving so quickly, but here are some thoughts on
several very important issues.

We are only four days into 2018, but the cryptocurrency market
has already achieved another major milestone as the total
value of digital assets surged past $700 billion for the first time.

Crypto Market Cap: Onward and Upward

The total value of all cryptocurrencies in circulation came within a
hair of $750 billion on Thursday, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.
At press time, the total market size was $749.9 billion,
which represents a daily increase of nearly 11%.

Just 24 hours ago, the market was capitalized at $678 billion,
a record high at the time.
vOver the last 12 months, cryptos have gone from an obscure
and esoteric concept to a mainstream investment attracting
institutional capital from around the world.

Over that period, the market cap has risen by an astounding 3,800%.

Recently, we’ve had some ups and downs, but more ups at the long run. Swisscoin management already working towards fulfilling the entire obligations made to the community as stated from the start and would accomplish in no time. However, we received a newsletter from the company that was sent to some of their partners.

The mail is as quoted below

SWISSCOIN, A SUCCESS STORY

WHEN WE STARTED ON MAY 2016 WITH AIM OF CREATING A NEW, INNOVATIVE CR4YPTO-CURRENCY, WERE WE NOT AWARE HOW MUCH FINANCIAL EFFORT AND OPPOSING WIND WE WERE FACING. BUT TODAY, ON THE 26TH OF OCTOBER, 2017 WE ARE PROVEN RIGHT IN BELIEVING IN OUR ABILITY TO ACHIEVE THE MIRACLE.

THE ACHIEVEMENTS:

ABOUT 1 MILLION USERS IN 140 COUNTRIES

2OO OOO PAYING PARTNERS

25 COWORKERS IN ADMIN AND GENERAL SERVICES

A DECENTRALIZED BLOCKCHAIN

A FREELY TRADED COIN ALREADY AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC

A CURRENCY ALREADY TRADED SINCE 17 DAYS ON THE CRYPTO-EXCHANGE: WWW.COINEXCHANGE.IO

IS LISTED AT  WWW.COINEXCHANGE.IO

A BLOCKCHAIN MAINTAINED BY THE COMMUNITY INDEPENDENTLY

A UNIQUE BRAND NAME

AND AS A RESULT, ALL OUR PARTNERS, WHO MADE THIS SUCCESS POSSIBLE WILL SUBSEQUENTLY BENEFIT FROM THE GREAT OPPORTUNITIES AND THE HUGE POTENTIAL OF OUR BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY.

IN THE WAKE OF THE FANTASTIC BITCOIN DEVELOPMENT SWISSCOIN WILL BE MENTIONED AS A FURTHER CRYPTO-CURRENCY THAT WILL CHANGE THE FINANCIAL WORLD OF THE FUTURE AND WILL BE NAMED AS A REAL DECENTRALIZED COIN. A FINE VALUE STORE WHICH CAN BE TRADED INDEPENDENT FROM CENTRAL BANKS AND COUNTRIES, EQUAL TO BITCOIN, ETHEREUM, RIPPLE AND OTHER WELL KNOWN COINS IN THE INDUSTRY.

FOR THOSE WHO CAN IMAGINE WHERE THE TRIP WILL GO IN THE FUTURE WE RECOMMEND TO LOOK AT SWISSCOIN VERY CLOSELY.

ETHEREUM, DASH AND LITHECOIN AS PAYMENT OPTIONS.

FROM NOW ON YOU CAN USE APART FROM BITCOIN ADDITIONAL ALTCOINS SUCH AS ETHEREUM, DASH AND LITHCOIN AS PAYMENT IN OUR BACKOFFICE SHOP. SIMPLY CLICK ON THE RESPECTIVE COIN TO PAY AT THE CHECKOUT.

SWISSCOIN IS LISTED AT COINMARKETCAP.COM

WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT SWISSCOIN IS NOW LISTED AS A CRYPTO CURRENCY WITH DECENTRALIZED BLOCKCHAIN AT COINMARKETCAP.COM AND BLOCKEXPERTS.COM.

SWISSCOIN AT THE FIRST STOCK EXCHANGE: WWW.COINEXCHANGE.IO

SINCE 6.00PM OF THE 10TH OF OCTOBER 2017 SWISSCOIN HAS BEEN LISTED AT THE WWW.COINEXCHANE.IO. WE ARE ON A VERY GOOD WAY TO REALIZE OUR GOALS AND WE WILL DO EVERYTHING TO INFLUENCE THE PRICE POSITIVELY AND PLACE OUR SWISSCOIN AT FURTHER CRYPTO-MARKETS. TO ACHIEVE THE MAXIMUM RESULT WE NEED TO TRANSFER OUR COINS INTO THE BLOCKCHAIN AND CONSEQUENTLY INTO THE SIC-WALLETS. REGISTER AT COINEXCHANGE.IO AND OPEN AN ACCOUNT, UPLOAD SOME COINS AND START TRADING AT www.coinexchange.io

IN NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 THERE WILL BE A LOT OF NEWS, BE CURIOUS.

YOUR SWISSCOIN TEAM.

So guys, we expect huge results from November, December as there would be huge happening around the swisscoin-sphere. I advise you acquire as much SIC coins as possible before the value per SIC gets to the moon.

Stay tuned, more information would get to you guys in no time

Anyone who owns bitcoin will soon be able to receive a new cryptocurrency.
As of block 491,407 on the bitcoin blockchain, another alternative version of the protocol will be launched, resulting in a variant that's being branded bitcoin gold (BTG).
The project, which seeks to improve bitcoin's technology by changing how its competition for rewards is conducted, is the second to launch since August via an increasingly common process called a "hard fork."
Readers may remember the term from the launch of bitcoin cash, the alternative version of the bitcoin protocol that spurred global headlines for unexpectedly creating billions of dollars in value, seemingly out of thin air.

Looking ahead, many industry observers are expecting the same results this time around, though there may be reasons for enthusiasm to be tempered.
What is bitcoin gold?

In short, bitcoin gold aims to achieve two goals:
First, bitcoin gold wants to change how mining works by making it so the most powerful mining machines (called ASICs) can no longer be used.
Second, by attracting more people to this system over time, it hopes to free the bitcoin network from the large companies that offer these products, and it argues, command undue influence on the network.

Instead of scaling bitcoin to support more users, bitcoin gold tweaks bitcoin in an effort to "make bitcoin decentralized again." This, proponents argue, will make the network, designed to offer an egalitarian way to send payments digitally around the globe, more accessible to users.

And while created via the same mechanism, bitcoin gold differs from bitcoin cash in a few ways, most notably in its distribution.

Differences include:
The bitcoin gold cryptocurrency is set to be created in advance (prior to the code being open-sourced to the public).
About 1 percent of the total cryptocurrency tokens mined before the blockchain goes public will be used to pay the bitcoin gold development team.
Once this distribution is over, the team claims it will launch the cryptocurrency so that users can redeem their coins.

Of course, while it aims to become the de-facto version of bitcoin, others might consider bitcoin gold an "altcoin" – the term has long been used to denote any cryptocurrency launched using bitcoin’s existing code, but that has an alternative market or use case.
Do I have bitcoin gold?

All bitcoin owners will receive the cryptocurrency at a rate of 1 BTC to 1 BTG, setting the stage for possible market activity.

But, that's not to say it's totally intuitive to retrieve.

One quirk is that it'll be easier to redeem the funds from wallets or exchanges that recognize the cryptocurrency. The easiest way, then, to retrieve the bitcoin gold is to move bitcoin to a wallet or exchange that supports bitcoin gold, or to hold bitcoin in a wallet where you own your private keys (rather than holding them with an exchange).

To date, 20 exchanges and wallets promise to support bitcoin gold once it launches, according to the project's website.

Although one of the most popular U.S.-based exchanges, Coinbase stated on October 20 that it does not support bitcoin gold due to skepticism about how developers have made project information available to others.

"At this time, Coinbase cannot support bitcoin gold because its developers have not made the code available to the public for review. This is a major security risk,” the post reads.

This is perhaps something to keep an eye on as the project progresses. Although the project will officially fork on Monday night, it's not yet open to anyone and everyone, and there’s still plenty left on the developers' to-do list.
Who is behind bitcoin gold?

The team behind the hard fork appears to be a relatively small group.

Hong Kong-based LightningAsic CEO Jack Liao, who's an outspoken critic of the state of bitcoin mining, first broached the idea of bitcoin gold back in July.

His company LightningAsic sells mining equipment, including GPUs, the type of computing hardware bitcoin gold is supposed to rely on.

Since first introduced earlier this summer, the team has expanded to include pseudonymous lead developer h4x3rotab, as well as a team of five other volunteers who are now working on developing and promoting the cryptocurrency in their spare time.

The project can be tracked on Github and on the community Slack group.
How do people feel about bitcoin gold?

All that said, for those interested in exploring or using bitcoin gold, it's worth noting that it has generated its share of controversy.

Satoshi Labs CEO Marek Palatinus, who launched bitcoin's first ever mining pool, is skeptical the project will actually work to decentralize mining as planned.

And he's not the only one to throw shade at the new project.

Bitcoin developer Rhett Creighton is working on alternative bitcoin gold "protest fork" software that seeks to pursue the same idea but without setting aside some of the new cryptocurrency for development.

If more than 51% of miners choose to use his software, the so-called pre-distribution to developers will be erased, he told CoinDesk. "It's up to the miners to decide what they want," he added.

All in all, it's unclear if business and mining groups will ultimately support the project, and if they do, how much value the alternative blockchain could create.

For example, while a list of roughly 50 businesses and miners support the so-called Segwit2x fork, similar support hasn't been seen for bitcoin gold. Likewise, though bitcoin cash began with support from vocal miners and exchanges, bitcoin gold has arguably yet to benefit from such early activity.

Investor turned crypto hedge fund mogul Mike Novogratz has predicted Bitcoin will balloon to $10,000 in just six months.

Speaking on CNBC Wednesday, Novogratz, who is publicly bullish on Bitcoin and is starting a dedicated $500 million hedge fund, said he could “see the herd coming.”

“I’m pretty confident to say it’s going higher,” he told host [] on the network’s Fast Money segment.

“...It would not surprise if in the next six to 10 months we’re over $10,000.”

Asked whether he thought Bitcoin was therefore a bubble, Novogratz said the “Blockchain revolution,” like railways and the Internet, would “change the way we live.”

“Yes, it’s a bubble, it’s going to be one of the great manias of all time,” he continued.

“Bitcoin happens to be the bellwether of this entire decentralized revolution, so it’s the easiest way people get gain exposure to it… Things like Ethereum I think will be the public utility of this new space.”
Signs of stability

Bitcoin prices remained relatively stable around all-time highs Wednesday, despite news that Russia was preparing to block access to cryptocurrency exchanges for its citizens.

Showing increasing resilience to political maneuvering, Bitcoin has managed to shake off wider-reaching moves by China, which saw an exchange ban and a halt on ICO operations in the country.


Missed bitcoin boat cryptocurrencies might make rich alternatives ... So, if you feel like you missed the Bitcoin boat, here are some alternative ...

The bitcoin price pulled back from its all-time high this weekend, weighed down by abitcoin cash price surge and disagreements over the SegWit2x scaling proposal.

However, Wall Street strategist Tom Lee believes that the long-term prospects of the bitcoin price remain quite promising. As CNBC reports, Lee–who co-founded Fundstrat Global Advisors and is bearish on the outlook for the stock market–wrote a note to clients establishing a mid-2018 bitcoin price target of $6,000. He also forecasts that it could rise as high as $25,000 by 2022.

Bitcoin Price to Reach $6,000 in 2018

He says several factors will fuel bitcoin’s continued rise to $6,000, including a 50% increase public adoption of bitcoin as a store of value and mainstream financial investments in cryptocurrency:

We see bitcoin as gaining from institutional sponsorship, improving transaction platforms and ultimately, greater public adoption.

Pointing to LedgerX and CBOE Holdings, which have both receive regulatory approval, Lee says the availability of cryptocurrency options and futures trading will increase overall bitcoin transaction volume.

[This] implies significant rise [in] institutional holdings of Bitcoin in next 6-8 months given recent approvals….No doubt, this will lead to an increase in overall transaction volumes for bitcoin.

Central Banks Could Acquire Bitcoin

Lee’s comments echo a recent Goldman Sachs note, which advised that it is “getting harder” for institutional investors to ignore cryptocurrencies. He adds that even central banks may begin acquiring bitcoin if it reaches a market cap of $500 billion, which will happen if the bitcoin price reaches about $30,000.

While one may say this is preposterous to say central banks would own bitcoin — we believe that Central banks would view crypto currencies differently if Bitcoin’s aggregate value exceeded $500 billion

That said, Lee anticipates short-term volatility for the bitcoin price heading into late August of this year.

Short-term traders should be prepared for another volatile consolidation period heading into late August given the XBT is nearing our next resistance levels with daily/short-term momentum becoming overbought.

Other Bitcoin Price Forecasts

DESCRIPTION
ISeiko was founded by a trader under the pseudonym Yoshimi Kagava. Acting in the market of crypto-currencies since 2009, he, according to some information, was intimately familiar with Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of BitCoin, and became one of the consultants in the development of second-generation crypto currency Ethereum. Timely calculating the prospects for the development of altcoyins, Kagava was able to get rich on the rapid growth of their rate. By February 2015, he became a successful trader at most of the known exchanges.
In February 2016 Yoshimi Kagava decided to assemble a team of specialists in cryptomarketing, PR, law, finance and MLM. So there was a project iSeiko - a powerful platform for attracting investment. Today ISeiko has 16 traders, who manage trust funds of investors and partners from all over the world under the leadership of Yoshimi Kagava.


ISeiko offers different investment packages with a validity of 1 year:
Start at 10 €, 0,5% / Day, approx. 18 € / year
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Lite at 90 €, 4,03% / Week, approx 206 € / year
Medium to 270 €, 4,42% / Week, approx 620 € / year
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Income from the Start Pack is paid out each day. For other packs: every Friday

Many bonuses are offered to active partners:
Speaker Bonus: Bonus to partners presenting webinars
Office Bonus: Bonus to partners opening an office (in coordination with management)

Auto Bonus: When your turnover reaches a level, you are entitled to a Toyota Lexus
Leader Bonus: Each month, the most active leaders are rewarded with gifts
Bonus Promotion: every 3 months, iSeiko organizes challenges, if you fill them a gift

SPONSORSHIP
Sponsorship Bonus
Partner: 7% have bought a pack of 10 €
Director Bronze: 9% have a pack of 45 € + 3000 € turnover + premium 100 €
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Director Platinum: 14% have a pack of 2,430 € + 100k € turnover + premium of 5000 €
Director Saphir: 14% have a pack of 7,290 € + 500k € turnover + premium
Of 20 000 € with visit of the headquarters + meeting the management + signature of a binding contract.

PAYMENT INFORMATION
Withdrawal possible once a week.
The means of payment on the iseiko site are:
Klick & Pay, Advanced Cash, Bitcoin, Ethereum, PayPal, OKPAY, Skrill, Visa, PayPal, Xapo, AsiaPay

OTHER INFORMATION
Site language: in several languages

Join iSEIKO: