Crypto Tamanga

By Mulima Chibuye Guest contributor There has never been a time when one needs to be more security conscious with their digital data than now when it is common place to see social media shaming, leaked passwords, leaked conversations and a whole lot of other unsavoury information. What has led to all these hacks you may wonder, well, we do live in the information age and data is king. There is a global drive towards an e-economy spurred by e-government and the massive rollout of public telecommunication infrastructure. While we throw away the paper based files and folders, we say hello to electronic documents, flash disks, hard drives and cloud storage. With a world so interconnected, one can see why it is important to understand some basic security concepts in dealing with data. Specifically, I here discuss how you can secure your cryptocurrencies in the world today. Crypto currencies live on the internet. It is also quite possible to store them on a device that is not connecte...

I am proud to announce that Crypto Tamanga will be holding the first ever CrypTALK Session on Saturday 17th February 2018 at Muzala Lodge in Kalundu,  Lusaka from 09 hours to 12. This is a crash course in Cryptocurrency. All you need to know about Cryptocurrency, how to earn it and how to grow it. The event will be hosted by myself, Japhet, author of this blog, cryptocurrency enthusiast, serial entrepreneur, co-owner of www.truzed.com . I will have two guest speakers on the day - Mr. Mulima Chibuye who is a Telecom Engineer, Computer Science Researcher and crypto trader. The other speaker will be Mr. Ignatius Mwansa. Mr. Mwansa is a Computer Scientist, entrepreneur and crypto trader. I am so excited and so looking forward to the event. For the entry fee of K200 guests will receive vast information about how to get started with cryptocurrency. They will also walk away with a share of Bitcoin and a share of Ether. On top of that they will receive a free paper (Cold Storage) walle...

One answer to this question would be - "The second most expensive cryptocurrency after Bitcoin". However, for the purpose of this discussion we'll go with the following definitions: "Ethereum is a decentralized platfrom for applications that run exactly as programmed without any chance of fraud, censorship or third-party interference" - ethereum.org "Ethereum is an open source software platform based on blockchain technology that enables developers to build and deploy decentralised applications or dApps" - blockgeeks.com Much has been said about blockchain technology in my other post so I will not belabour to go into it here. What we need to keep in mind is that Ethereum project is built on a different blockchain from the Bitcoin blockchain. The Ethereum blockchain allows other applications to be built on it without having to build an entirely new blockchain. Ethereum works by way of executing smart contracts. Smart contracts allow progr...

According to www.bitcoin.org , Bitcoin is an innovative payment network and a new kind of money. The website states that Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or bank. In simple terms Bitcoin is digital money. A string of "ones and zeros" (bits). These bits are encrypted by way of cryptography, hence the name cryptocurrency. In fact, Bitcoin was the first ever cryptocurrency. It is the Godfather of cryptocurrency. That is why we cannot talk about cryptocurrency without talking about Bitcoin. Furthermore, we cannot talk about Bitcoin without talking about Blockchain Technology . Blockchain technology, and consequently Bitcoin, was developed by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. Now Satoshi Nakamoto is somewhat of a myth more like Keyser Soze from the 1995 movie The Usual Suspects. Some people actually believe that it is not one person but a group of four people using a pseudo name. Satoshi Nakamoto has not been heard from since 2012. Blockchain...

Today we will look at the different types of wallets available. In one of my previous posts I mentioned Jaxx and blockchain as wallets. These are types of wallets that fall into one of two categories of wallets. One thing we have to keep in mind as we begin is that a wallet is simply the place where your private key is stored. Let's get into it. A wallet can therefore be anything from an app on a mobile phone, a USB drive or a website. It can also be a piece of paper or even your brain...I'll explain. Wallets can further be segregated into hot wallets and cold storage wallets. Hot Wallet A hot wallet is any wallet which is connected in some way to the internet. This can be a wallet that is connected to a web service, a wallet installed on a computer connected to the internet or even a wallert installed on your phone. Although they are the most popular nowadays, they are the least secure because they are susceptible to malware attacks via the internet. Types of hot wa...

Now you want to get your hands on some crypto but before you can decide which crypto-currency to trade or invest in there are two important decisions you have to make. You must choose a wallet and also decide which exchange or source of crypto-currency you will use. Let us take a look at these two requirements. CRYPTO-CURRENCY WALLET A crypto-currency wallet is a secure digital wallet used to store, send and receive digital currency. Most coins have an official wallet. For example, Bitcoin Core Wallet, Litecoin-QT and Ethereum Wallet. There are also universal wallets such as Jaxx (which I use), mycellium, and many more. You will find useful offline wallets like TREZOR which is a Bitcoin wallet. If you are the type that all your stuff in one place then you might want to signup for Coinbase  which houses both an exchange and a built in wallet. (Unfortunately, at the time of writing coinbase was not available in Zambia). A wallet makes use of a Private and Public key in order ...

This blogpost will look at some of the terminology that we need to know as we embark on dealing with crypto-currency. These terminologies are important before one tries to acquire coins. Failure to get the basics may lead to loss of funds. CRYPTO-CURRENCY Digital money which is not controlled by any government or bank. WALLET A crypto-currency wallet is a secure digital wallet used to store, send and receive digital currency. BLOCK CHAIN A block chain is a public ledger for all crypto-currency transactions. It is comprised of "blocks" and is constantly growing as new records, datum, or block is added onto the chain for everyone to see. It is essentially a public database that everyone can access and read, but the data can only be updated by the data owners. BLOCK Blocks are essentially pages in a ledger or record keeping book. Blocks are the files where unalterable data related to the network is permanently stored. MINING Mining is the term used for discovering...

The word BITCOIN has recently become abuzz in Zambia following its theatrics on the international scene after its value skyrocketed from US$10,000 to US$20,000 within 4 weeks before calming down to US$14,000 where it has rallied. However, its relative non-existence on the local scene is staggeringly appalling. I find it appalling because the amount of activity around bitcoin worldwide is huge. In some countries, you can pay for goods and services using bitcoin. Just in South Africa a number of retailers are accepting bitcoin as a form of payment. So why not here in Zambia? Normally, a blog would choose to align itself with one or two particular cryptocurrencies and write about those. However, in my short experience with cryptocurrencies I have come to learn that at some point sooner or later you will have to deal with a mix of different cryptocurrencies. Therefore, on this blog I will talk about crytocurrency generally and then narrow it down to the most common ones, or should I say,...

Hi, my name is Japhet Kapambwe Mesa, a Zambian youth aged 33 as at January 2018. I started this blog upon realization that there was little 'local' information about cryptocurrency. While the rest of the world is abuzz with digital money, as a country we seem to lagging behind as things unfold. Unfortunately, the 'crypto buzz' has come with so much information overload. Additionally, the information maybe a little too technical for one who simply wants to invest in cryptocurrency without knowing the underlying issues. On this blog I will try as much as possible to make it easy for a layman such as I am to understand and gain enough knowledge to trade confidently. As a starting point, it is important for us to maintain and grow a glossary of words. Words such as cryptocurrency, blockchain, exchange, mining, lending and many more will be added as we progress. I now invite you to join me on my journey into the cryptocurrency world. Love, peace and harmony.