The term Mainnet differentiates a realnet/mainnet blockchain from a testnet network, which only exists for experimenting, testing, and educational purposes. In the Bitcoin network, both the mainet and testnet are identical, but the two networks are not compatible with each other. The testnet Bitcoin have no real value, and you cannot send BTC from a…
Read moreA Merchant Category Code (MCC) is a four-digit number listed in ISO 18245 for retail financial services. An MCC is used to classify a business by the types of goods or services it provides.
Read moreA miner is an individual or organization that “mines” cryptocurrency. A cloud mining company operates a remote datacenter with shared processing power. This type of cloud mining enables users to mine bitcoins or alternative cryptocurrencies without managing the hardware. Mining rigs are housed and maintained in a facility owned by the mining company and the…
Read moreMining pools are groups of cooperating miners who agree to share block rewards in proportion to their contributed mining hash power. Compared to the computational power of individual miners, mining pools are group of cooperrating miners, who who combine their computational resources (mining hash power) over a network, to increase the probability of finding a…
Read moreA cryptocurrency mixing service (also known as a tumbler or fogger) is a service offered to mix potentially identifiable or ‘tainted’ cryptocurrency funds with others, with the intention of confusing the trail back to the funds’ original source. Tumblers have arisen to improve the anonymity of popular cryptocurrencies, usually bitcoin, since they provide a public…
Read moreMonero (XMR) is an open-source cryptocurrency created in April 2014 that focuses on privacy, decentralization, and scalability. Unlike many cryptocurrencies that are derivatives of Bitcoin, Monero is based on the CryptoNote protocol and possesses significant algorithmic differences relating to blockchain obfuscation. Monero experienced rapid growth in market capitalization (from US$5M to US$185M) and transaction volume…
Read moreIn 2011, FinCEN issued a final rule that defined a money services business (MSB) as the following: A person doing business, whether or not on a regular basis or as an organized or licensed business The business is wholly or in substantial part within the United States The business functions as a “money transmitter” It…
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