Different types of Cryptocurrencies you can Invest Apart from Bitcoin

Bitcoin has not just been a trendsetter but now its one of the most valued Cryptocurriencies in the market, it’s become the de facto standard for cryptocurrencies​, Their are a lot of Different types of Cryptocurrencies you can Invest Apart from Bitcoin. The currencies inspired by Bitcoin are collectively called Altcoins and have tried to present themselves as modified or improved versions of Bitcoin. While some of these currencies are easier to mine than Bitcoin is, there are tradeoffs, including greater risk brought on by lesser liquidity, acceptance and value retention. Here we look at six cryptocurrencies, picked from over 700 that could be a lot of worth.

1) Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin, launched in the year 2011, was among the initial cryptocurrencies following bitcoin and was often referred to as ‘silver to Bitcoin’s gold.’ It was created by Charlie Lee, a MIT graduate and former Google engineer. Litecoin is based on an open source global payment network that is not controlled by any central authority and uses “scrypt” as a proof of work, which can be decoded with the help of CPUs of consumer grade. Although Litecoin is like Bitcoin in many ways, it has a faster block generation rate and hence offers a faster transaction confirmation. Other than developers, there are a growing number of merchants who accept Litecoin.

2) Ethereum (ETH)

Launched in 2015, Ethereum is a decentralized software platform that enables Smart Contracts and Distributed Applications to be built and run without any downtime, fraud, control or interference from a third party. During 2014, Ethereum had launched a pre-sale for ether which had received an overwhelming response. The applications on Ethereum are run on its platform-specific cryptographic token. Ether is like a vehicle for moving around on the Ethereum platform, and is sought by mostly developers looking to develop and run applications inside Ethereum. According to Ethereum, it can be used to “codify, decentralize, secure and trade just about anything.” Following the attack on the DAO in 2016, Ethereum was split into Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). Ethereum (ETH) has a market capitalization of $41.4 billion, second after Bitcoin among all cryptocurrencies.

3) Zcash (ZEC)

Zcash, a decentralized and open-source cryptocurrency launched in the latter part of 2016, looks promising. “If Bitcoin is like http for money, Zcash is https,” is how Zcash defines itself. Zcash offers privacy and selective transparency of transactions. Thus, like https, Zcash claims to provide extra security or privacy where all transactions are recorded and published on a blockchain, but details such as the sender, recipient, and amount remain private. Zcash offers its users the choice of ‘shielded’ transactions, which allow for content to be encrypted using advanced cryptographic technique or zero-knowledge proof construction called a zk-SNARK developed by its team.

4) Dash (Darkcoin)

Dash (originally known as Darkcoin) is a more secretive version of Bitcoin. Dash offers more anonymity as it works on a decentralized mastercode network that makes transactions almost untraceably. Launched in January 2014, Dash experienced an increasing fan following in a short span of time. This cryptocurrency was created and developed by Evan Duffield and can be mined using a CPU or GPU. In March 2015, ‘Darkcoin’ was rebranded to Dash, which stands for Digital Cash and operates under the ticker – DASH. The rebranding didn’t change any of its technological features such as Darksend, InstantX.

 5) Ripple (XRP)

Ripple is a real-time global settlement network that offers instant, certain and low-cost international payments. Ripple “enables banks to settle cross-border payments in real time, with end-to-end transparency, and at lower costs.” Released in 2012, Ripple currency has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion. Ripple’s consensus ledger — its method of conformation — doesn’t need mining, a feature that deviates from bitcoin and altcoins. Since Ripple’s structure doesn’t require mining, it reduces the usage of computing power, and minimizes network latency. Ripple believes that ‘distributing value is a powerful way to incentivize certain behaviors’ and thus currently plans to distribute XRP primarily “through business development deals, incentives to liquidity providers who offer tighter spreads for payments, and selling XRP to institutional buyers interested in investing in XRP.”

 6) Monero (XMR)

Monero is a secure, private and untraceable currency. This open source cryptocurrency was launched in April 2014 and soon spiked great interest among the cryptography community and enthusiasts. The development of this cryptocurrency is completely donation-based and community-driven. Monero has been launched with a strong focus on decentralization and scalability, and enables complete privacy by using a special technique called ‘ring signatures.’ With this technique, there appears a group of cryptographic signatures including at least one real participant – but since they all appear valid, the real one cannot be isolated.

Bitcoin continues to lead the pack of cryptocurrencies, in terms of market capitalization, user base and popularity. Nevertheless, virtual currencies such as Ethereum and Ripple which are being used more for enterprise solutions are becoming popular, while some altcoins are being endorsed for superior or advanced features vis-à-vis Bitcoins. Going by the current trend, cryptocurrencies are here to stay but how many of them will emerge leaders amid the growing competition within the space will only be revealed with time.

India to become fifth largest economy in 2018

The country will vault to third spot by 2032, says a report

India is set to overtake the United Kingdom and France to become the world’s fifth largest economy next year, a report said Tuesday.

Currently ranked seventh, India will move up to fifth place in 2018 and vault to third spot by 2032, the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a London-based consultancy, said in its annual rankings.

The Indian economy hit a three-year low in the first quarter of the current financial year, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s snap decision in November 2016 to scrap high-value banknotes and following a tax overhaul.

Growth slumped to 5.7% for the three months ending June but recovered slightly to 6.3% for the quarter ending September.

“Despite temporary setbacks... India’s economy has still caught up with that of France and the U.K. and in 2018 will have overtaken them both to become the world’s fifth largest economy in dollar terms,” said CEBR deputy chairman Douglas McWilliams. Cheap energy and a digital revolution will drive economic growth globally, it said.

India deployed it's first make in India submarine "INS Kalvari"

The Indian Navy is set to commission the INS Kalvari soon, which is the first Indian-made stealth submarine made under the Make in India initiative.

Weighing 1,550 tonnes, the diesel-electric submarine is 6.2 meters in diameter and is 67 metres long. The submarine is named after the vicious tiger shark and built by Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in collaboration with the French company DCNS in a USD 3.6 billion (Rs.20,000 crore approximately) deal that was signed in October 2005.

DCNS assisted with the technology transfer for the submarine. The Kalvari class is a class of diesel-electric attack submarines based on the Scorpène-class submarine being built for the Indian Navy

INS Kalvari is the first indigenously built submarine in 22 years. It can use torpedoes as well as tube launched anti-ship missiles above and below the surface.

Apart from defence purposes, the submarine can also be used for mine laying, surveillance, anti-sub warfare and intelligence gathering. The report further states that the INS Kalvari has a range of 12,000 km, which makes for a wide area of operation.

The submarine will slip into the Arabian Sea.This is the first of the four submarines which will be delivered at nine-month intervals. The project has already seen several delays and an overshooting of the budget. The projects were meant to be delivered between 2012 and 2015. Data leaks were also said to have contributed to the delays.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has called for an accelerated tendering process to build six conventional diesel-electric submarines for Rs. 50,000 crore (USD 8.1 billion), in addition to the Scorpenes.

The revamping of the Navy fleet comes at a time when China increasing its presence in the Indian Ocean. These new submarines would increase the submarine count of the Indian Navy to 14. Defence analysts state however, that the Indian Navy would still fall short of the optimum number of 24-26 such submarines.

The second Scorpene submarine, INS Khanderi, is likely to join the Navy fleet around March next year.

Google Celebrates 50 Years of Kids Coding Languages With an Interactive Doodle

Google Doodle's coding for carrots game on Dec. 4, 2017. Google Doodle

Google celebrated the 50th anniversary of Logo, the world’s first programming language designed for kids, on Monday with a Doodle that celebrates kids coding languages and is aimed at teaching children to code.

In an interactive Doodle, called “Coding for Carrots,” users help an animated rabbit navigate a block maze. The rabbit hops from block to block in response to increasingly complex code sequences the game directs its players to input.

That’s not so different from how kids coding language Logo worked.

Designed in 1967 by Seymour Papert and a team of researchers at MIT, the pioneer of kids coding languages helped kids learn about math by inputting commands that would direct an on-screen or electronic turtle. MIT’s Champika Fernando, who worked on Coding for Carrots with Google, said she was 9 years old when she first coded through Papert’s program.