Day: December 16, 2017

In response to US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voting to repeal Net Neutrality laws, Net Neutrality supporters who fear the worst are looking towards Substratum (SUB) as their saving grace. SUB has seen a significant boom in the wake of the vote, rising into the top 100 on Coinmarketcap recently. It currently sits at #98 with a market cap of just over $100 million.

Substratum is an ERC-20 token aiming to decentralize the internet. In Substratum’s system, web users can access web browsing and hosting capabilities from other users in the network. These users represent individuals worldwide contracting their personal computers and physical servers in exchange for SUB. Rather than paying fixed costs, users on the network pay for the amount of bandwidth they use through web browsing or other web browsers interacting with their content. Additionally, individuals contracting their hardware decide how much of their processing power they seek to sell out and at what times of day, making the process as comfortable and efficient for everyone involved as possible.

The alpha of this platform (Version 1) is slated to launch at the beginning of 2018. Along with this first version, the source code will be made public for members of the community to view and contribute to. As testing continues, more tools will be integrated onto the platform, with a public beta currently planned for this time next year.

Beyond acting as a decentralized internet, the platform promises a number of additional features for content creators and viewers. Developments are planned to include a number of developer -tool-kits and extensions. There will also be an app store specific to SUB users, where developers can sell or share their own developments on top of the peer-to-peer platform with all other users.

In an ISP environment where consumers experience content throttling and premium content packages, SUB offers an efficient and fair alternative. Beyond this, Substratum provides internet freedom to users based in censored jurisdictions, such as citizens of China. Furthermore, SUB brands itself as a cheaper alternative to traditional means of web hosting and browsing.

Critics of this project may claim that, although Substratum is branded differently, this project does not adequately distinguish itself from existing cloud computing cryptocurrencies, such as Elastic (XEL) and Golem (GNT). These projects, which have been in development and circulation for longer, may pose a threat when standing against SUB.

On top of this, while SUB explains heavily why their system is better for consumers, it does not explain the drawback that hosts will have to the network. For existing physical web hosts, it’s impractical for them to forfeit existing, subscription-based profits to participate in this new, pay-as-you-go system. Additionally, SUB does not appear to represent a more resource efficient alternative to mining for the household PC. If contracting one’s internet access is not less resource intensive, or does not payout at higher rates that traditional crypto mining, it’s unlikely that significant participation in the network will be experienced.

Regardless of your views towards Substratum, it is clear that, at this point in time, this project is leading the fight against Net Neutrality repeals in the cryptocurrency sphere. Whether a competitor will overtake them or not can only be seen through the passing of time.

It is evident a lot of cryptocurrencies are still pushing toward a new all-time high. More specifically, we see the Bitcoin price moving, Ethereum is close to a new all-time high, and the Litecoin price has effectively recovered quite nicely. With the Litecoin price back above $300, things are looking pretty positive for this popular altcoin. It is good to see the markets recover after the recent Bitcoin price movement. New all-time highs will be set before the year is over, that much is almost guaranteed.

Litecoin Price Starts Moving up Again

With all cryptocurrencies going through a bullish year already, one has to wonder how much gas is left in the tank. As it turns out, the momentum may only be just beginning, for all we know. We have seen all cryptocurrencies recover in value over the past few days, and it seems this weekend may herald some interesting changes in this regard. If the Litecoin price is any indicator for what we can expect this weekend, things will certainly get very interesting.

Over the past 24 hours, we have seen the Litecoin price move up by another 11.39%. That is quite a remarkable gain, considering the Bitcoin price has not down all that much over the past few hours. Litecoin also gained 8.77% in BTC value, which should not be overlooked whatsoever. It is evident all of the altcoins are preparing for another major push before the year is over, yet it remains unclear if we will see major changes when everything’s said and done.

Thanks to these solid gains,we now see the Litecoin price peak above $300 again. Considering how the all-time high Litecoin price is $336 according to Coinmarketcap, it wouldn’t take much effort to surpass that value in a few days from now. Slow and steady growth will always win the race and there is no reason to push for 40%-50% gains overnight. At a growth rate if even 3% per day, the Litecoin price would still increase by 45% by the end of the year. That would put it at nearly $450 per LTC, although that may be a bit too steep to hold on to.

Litecoin also has over $2.11bn in 24-hour trading volume .This number has been rather steady for the past few days, despite the Litecoin price dipping back down to $265.75 at one point. Such dips always create new buy opportunities, and it seems investors and speculators are not passing up on Litecoin, for the time being. With this trading volume, we may see some more gains before the day is over, although consolidating around the $300 mark wouldn’t be a bad scenario either.

Unsurprisingly, GDAX is still the eliding exchange by Litecoin trading volume. Their volume is almost twice as high as Bithumb, even though the South Korean exchange maintains a price of over $311. Bitfinex completes the top three with over $200m in volume. Three fiat currency markets in the top three indicate more and more money is being pumped into cryptocurrencies as we speak. This volume has been incredibly for Litecoin and a few other altcoins in recent weeks.  

All things considered, the cryptocurrency industry is firing on all cylinders right now. Some of the top altcoins are still struggling for solid gains, though, which is rather unfortunate. Then again, all markets that matter are in the green, and small gains are still better than big losses. It will be a spectacular end of the eye for all cryptocurrencies, especially with the total market cap on par to surpass $550n later today. It will be quite a good weekend, by the look of things, although things can always change when we least expect it.