Hi Steem! I aggregated information for people starting to invest in cryptocurrency.
Yay! (Finally) Someone wants to talk about crypto. I haven't done a full deep-dive lately. The present has been very exciting. These things move way too fast. Here's way too many links. Present, past, and future.
Capturing the present moment. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/04/forget-far-right-populism-crypto-anarchists-are-the-new-masters-internet-politics
^^^ Someone wrote an actually good article.
But now let's look back. Historically, it all started with Bitcoin.
bitcoin specific links:
https://bitcoincore.org/bitcoin.pdf - The original white paper
github.com keeps a repository of the code, changes, and forks
http://nodecounter.com/ - statistics on BTC scaling solution adoption, personally I'm a BTC unlimited/emergent consensus supporter. I think it best fulfils Satoshi's original vision. Read the PSA.
https://coin.dance/blocks - same as above but little to no bias. Same source information.
https://blockchain.info/charts - The "all time" charts are fun to look at. especially https://blockchain.info/charts/market-price?scale=1×pan=all
http://coinmarketcap.com/charts/ - Demonstrates the growing importance of altcoins.
https://tradeblock.com/bitcoin/ - Live blocks. wow, I remember when all the blocks weren't full. Useful statistics.
https://bitcoinwisdom.com - has some really powerful tools.
reddit.com/r/btc - mostly incoherent rambling
Other Cryptocurrencies
Ethereum or ETH is currently the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization besides Bitcoin.
There are many cryptocurrencies, each with their own features, communities, and flaws.
You can buy cryptocurrencies here https://bitshares.org/wallet/#/market/OPEN.BTC_BTS very safely (decentralized exchange), hold your own private keys.
or here poloniex.com - popular centralized exchange
Media, Articles, and news:
Steemit.com - so cool. My name is Kenmonkey. I'm not very active but steem rocks.
http://decentralizedlegal.com/ - Sometimes worth a read
https://bitcoinwarrior.net/fun-useful/ - fun, useful, good articles usually
https://themerkle.com/pivx-vs-zcash-vs-monero-vs-dash/ - one (or more) of these will win. probs XMR
and there are the bigger media sites I'm sure you'll find like cointelegraph and coindesk.
Bitshares:
bitshares.org/wallet = explorer, wallet, decentralized exchange, token issuance, voting. (also https://bitshares.openledger.info/ and https://secure.freedomledger.com/#/create-account are the same thing.
Cryptofresh.com = another explorer
bitsharestalk.org = forum
also Steemit.com/trending/bitshares. the latest BSotN was very interesting.
cryptofresh.com/charts = often takes forever to load but it's a great chart
bitshares.org - main page
http://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bitshares-asset-exchange = exchange volume
https://bitshares.org/technology/delegated-proof-of-stake-consensus = nitty gritty
most other major alts (alternative cryptocurrencies) also have community forums, explorers, and wallets. The Bitshares forum is more active than Ethereum's, and the blockchain does only slightly fewer transactions.
Other: Gore Vidal, saying "crypto nazi", cracks me up every time. The arguments gets hot at 10:30. After 10 times watching it you see how he smiles at being called a queer. Not related to cryptocurrency.
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