Briggsy's Bitcoin Blog - Wednesday January 24, 2018

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Looking at the chart today, Bitcoin is preparing to break out of a tightening high and low price spread. While I don't anticipate the price breaking out in the up direction, this market is about as predictable as the weather these days, so be prepared for anything. But no matter what the price does in the next few days for Bitcoin, things are still in normal territory.

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Today's Crytocurrency Marketshare:

• 75.72% - Top Ten
• 41.23% - Top Ten (excluding Bitcoin)
• 34.72% - Bitcoin
• 23.70% - Other
• 0.206% - Steem
  

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Today Bitcoin's Price hit a high of $11,501, a low of $10,640 and an average of $11,071.

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Today Bitcoin's Market Cap was $183,419,000,000 US Dollars.

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Today Bitcoin's transactions totaled a volume of $9,940,990,000 US Dollars.

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The average Bitcoin transaction fee averaged $12.57 US Dollars per transaction today.

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The average number of new transactions being added every second to Bitcoin's mempool was 2.919 today.

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The percentage of Bitcoin transactions using Segwit addresses hit a peak today of 12.19%.

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There were 252,216 new Bitcoin transactions added to the mempool today.

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The average block contained 1.10 Megabytes of transaction data today.

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Today there were 46,131 new transactions left unconfirmed by end of day. As per blockchain.info there were still ~68,000 total unconfirmed transactions awaiting confirmation in the mempool by end of day, with ~22,000 of those being stale transactions that may be stuck in the mempool.

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Article Spotlight: Ratings firm issues first grades on cryptocurrencies, sparking outrage online and a cyberattack

Weiss Ratings released their first round of cryptocurrency ratings today, giving a positive outlook to some coins, while painting many as borderline s**tcoins.

Weiss said Friday on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that the agency uses a computer model to rate cryptocurrencies based on four metrics: risk, reward, technology, and fundamental aspects of adoption and security.

Weiss Ratings distinguishes itself as being unbiased in their ratings, and not taking money from companies that want their asset rated.

As for crypto currencies:

A grade of A or B can also be interpreted as the investment rating equivalent of “buy.” At the same time, investors should not be overly alarmed by a C rating. It is a passing grade, and for investors, implies the equivalent of “hold.” Grades of D” and E” are the equivalent of “sell.” However, investment decisions should not be made solely based on ratings. They are meant as a tool in the context of a broader risk management strategy.

The last part is important, because the Weiss Grading should only be used as a reference point for investors, not as an authority on what cryptos are better than others.

Apparently though, this release of crypto ratings sparked such an uproar that Weiss' website underwent a cyberattack on Tuesday night:

Weiss Ratings staff was up all night last night fending off denial of service attacks from Korea, as evidenced by numerous mentions on Korean social media of a concerted call to bring down the Weiss Ratings website. “Earlier commentary on social media expressed considerable fear we were about to release negative ratings on their preferred currencies,” said Weiss Ratings founder Martin D. Weiss, Ph.D. “So this may be an attempt to thwart our release today.”

As for the ratings, notable mentions are:
Bitcoin: C+
Bitcoin cash: C-
Bitcoin Gold: D+
Dogecoin: C
Ethereum: B
EOS: B
Neo: B-
Steem: B-
Cardano: B-
Bitshares: C+

The list was comprised mostly of D and C ratings, and no A, E or F ratings (BitConnect was not on the list).

While it may seem surprising that Dogecoin beat Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin is used more and has 1 minute block times - while Bitcoin Cash is merely a clone of legacy Bitcoin with larger blocks and more centralization of mining power and direction.

Not surprisingly, all 3 of @dan Larimers projects received good ratings, with EOS getting a B (and not even released yet), Steem getting a B-, and Bitshares tying up with Bitcoin at a C+.

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Video Spotlight

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Bonus Video

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if you want to be more proactive in this community, try using steemfollower (sign in is done through steemconnect using your steemit name and your private posting key - found in your wallet under permissions). This Video will explain how the program works. It is a great way to motivate you to produce great content, and to reward others for producing great content.

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As always, good luck, good wealth and good health to everyone on Steemit. Stay positive towards others and help the community grow. Thank you for reading and sharing. Comments are always welcome.