Monat: August 2022

NOWPayments is a cryptocurrency payment gateway that lets users accept payments in more than 100 cryptocurrencies. It supports auto coin conversion, allowing merchants to accept their crypto of choice even if the customer makes payment in another one. 

The gateway supports fiat conversion and has a Mass Payout solution, a Twitch donation button, and customized solutions for casinos.

The platform gives access to a personal account manager, lets customers receive instant payouts to an e-wallet or bank account, offers 24/7 support, and is known for some of the lowest fees on the market.

Among the tools available to merchants are API, widgets, invoices, and plugins for WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Opencart, ZenCart, Magento 2, etc. Last but not least, NOWPayments doesn’t take custody of users’ funds.

How it works

NOWPayments lets online marketplaces accept payments in crypto quickly and easily. It works like this: the marketplace sets the price, lists a Bitcoin address, and receives payments without go-betweens. All payments made are visualized in one table.

Each Bitcoin payment is linked to the specific customer and their purchase. Order and payment IDs streamline cash flow.

The merchant can see the sum of money sent and if it corresponds to the original price because each payment is attached to a specific item in the store. They can track the payment under Status and get updates on their payments here.

Users of NOW can use a tool to get instant payment notifications if they integrate the API to create a native-looking payment gateway. They’re notified when a transaction has been completed.

The inbuilt crypto swap tool exchanges customers’ coins before the system reflects the payment in the merchant’s account.

Finally, the dashboard lists the number of payments the merchant has received on a specific day, in a given month, and over the course of its existence.

Key features

NOWPayments is most notable for its capacity to make accepting crypto payments online effortless and easy. You can integrate it into WooCommerce or other content management systems already being used on your website.

The platform employs a helpful support team, who accompany customers at every step of the setup process.

The crypto exchange feature makes it easy to manage a large number of different cryptos. Users can not only accept more than 100 different cryptos but also convert each one to a single, preferred digital or fiat currency automatically.

Pros

·         Easy integration into existing operations and sites

·         Responsive customer support

·         Easy to exchange crypto assets

·         Straightforward to accept crypto payments online

·         Does not take custody of user funds

·         Plugins available for a number of CMS platforms

Cons

·         No mobile app

·         No support for point-of-sale (PoS) systems

·         Sandbox documentation could be improved

Reasons to register with NOWPayments

The company behind NOWPayments is ChangeNOW, which has been active in the cryptocurrency space for many years and has never had a security issue. NOWPayments has inherited this strong track record. ChangeNOW has even helped people recover funds lost in incidents with crypto exchanges.

Users’ funds with NOWPayments are safe because the user is always in control of them. The only real risk is when assets are being exchanged. The user controls the private keys to their crypto assets and needs to be comfortable with the respective responsibility.

What makes NOWPayments unique? 

NOWPayments is unique in the problems it solves with fiat exchange, crypto swapping, user funds control, etc. Let’s look at how it does this.

More customers want to be able to pay in crypto, but some businesses accept fiat only. By providing a crypto-to-fiat option, NOWPayments helps them get more customers. NOWPayments’ range of buttons and plugins and the intuitive API can benefit any organization that wants to begin accepting cryptocurrencies.

Many businesses that already accept crypto will only take payment in the leading ones, like Bitcoin or Ethereum. It can be a problem if the customer wants to pay in another crypto.

The cryptocurrency payment gateway helps businesses overcome this issue by providing automatic conversion. The customer can pay in their crypto of choice, but the seller will get the coin or token they initially required.

Last but not least, NOWPayments stands out with its round-the-clock support. Each customer is assigned a personal account manager. The payment platform provides full assistance regardless of the issue and integration support.

Final thoughts

NOWPayments enables a simple but effective practice: the vendor sets the price, lists a Bitcoin address, and receives direct payments. As a non-custodial service, it might not be a good option for users who are uncomfortable with the responsibility of holding their funds.

The post What to know before signing up with NOWPayments appeared first on CoinJournal.

The Komodo Platform provides full-scale, end-to-end blockchain solutions for developers of different industries and levels. It offers customized, configurable blockchain solutions that are easy to deploy.

The blockchain emerged as a ZCash blockchain fork, which was a Bitcoin fork. The Komodo ecosystem integrates zk-snark technology (zero knowledge) based on Zcash. It adds a relatively rare consensus algorithm known as delayed proof of work (dPoW).

Komodo’s goal is to build a complete ecosystem consisting of various partnerships.

How it works

Komodo has a blockchain with autonomous infrastructure, achieved by means of parallel chains. These chains create a separate Komodo blockchain copy. The dPoW consensus mechanism secures new parallel chains.

Developers on Komodo don’t build on the blockchain itself. Rather, they create their own autonomous blockchains. It’s neither a sidechain nor a fork. The Komodo platform doesn’t serve as a legacy platform to the new blockchain.

Each development project on Komodo is an independent blockchain that is linked to the network. This way, Komodo can never limit any future development.

The core of the network is BarterDEX, Komodo’s decentralized exchange. The DEX is the intersection between all the blockchains. It’s powered by atomic swaps, unlike other DEXs, which use proxy tokens.

Key features

Komodo’s most important features are related to security, privacy, scalability, adaptability, and interoperability.

Security 

Komodo’s security stands out through the use of the dPoW consensus mechanism and the Zcash zk-snark protocols for anonymity. The mechanism offers Bitcoin-level security to all projects and blockchains associated with Komodo. The dPoW consensus mechanism creates a backup of blockchain data.

Privacy

The zero-knowledge proof technology used by the Zcash blockchain allows full anonymity of each transaction on the blockchain. Many users appreciate anonymous transactions as they don’t have to share information about the sender, recipient, and amount of the transaction.

At the same time, the transaction is transparent, and miners can verify its validity. Data appears just like it would for a standard Bitcoin transaction.

Another important advantage of anonymous transactions is preserving fungibility, a basic currency requirement.

Adaptability

As one of the best-known open-source projects, Komodo is well-recognized for its features and innovations. Komodo-based projects are equipped with the ability to create custom solutions depending on the different situations and needs.

Scalability

Komodo lets each project have a dedicated blockchain and infrastructure, unlike other enterprise solutions. Komodo network projects can scale at any time, and blockchains can be added to improve performance as needed.

Interoperability

Komodo’s so-called blockchain federation technology enables frictionless interoperability with federation blockchains. Atomic swaps can be used to link to non-federation blockchains.

Extensive development activity

Komodo has been very active in pushing code to its base repository. It has tens of repositories, all of which are quite dynamic. The ecosystem ranked 12th on Coincodecap in terms of overall coding activity.

Pros

·         Scores well on scalability, adaptability, and interoperability

·         Extensive development activity

·         High security and reliable privacy

Cons

·         The coin is still under development

·         Some issues with ledger synchronization

Why should you sign up with Komodo?

One reason is that security is top-notch. At the time of writing, Komodo was preparing for an external security review. They will be creating an architecture diagram and an SRS document, updating and refactoring dependencies, and doing an internal security code review so auditors can access the code.

Recently, Komodo optimized the blockchain node call amounts and added an infrastructure enhancement microservice. They are in the process of integrating QuickNode blockchain nodes into their interfaces. They created a microservice layer to be able to complete the integration.

Komodo offers convenience to its users by providing the option to collect fiat price information in the API database. This way, traders can calculate fiat prices retroactively, if needed.

Another advantage is the Komodo cryptocurrency (KMD) itself, which can be used to mediate transactions with tokens that don’t have a direct pair on BarterDEX and to enable instant zero-confirmation exchanges on Komodo DEX. 

The Komodo coin pays for Komodo’s security protocol service, is used for dICO crowdfunding on the platform, and powers UTXO-based smart contracts. If you have 10 KMD or more, you can earn 5% rewards as an active user.

What makes it stand out? 

Komodo’s dPoW consensus algorithm increases network security by using Bitcoin’s hash power. Bitcoin has the highest hash power of all blockchain networks, rendering it practically impervious to hijacking.

The bottom line

Komodo has a vast and extensive library and a reliable, solid team and community. They publish updates in real-time and provide transparent yearly and quarterly reviews. They are an excellent choice of a blockchain solution for experienced developers.

The post An objective review of Komodo Platform appeared first on CoinJournal.

Cardano (ADA) is trading near $0.53, just about in the green on Thursday evening as the crypto market looks to hold onto yesterday’s gains.

The ADA/USD pair is however facing some pressure with prices falling from intraday highs above $0.54, a price level that’s likely to prove crucial to bulls’ chances of breaking higher.

Cardano price outlook

ADA has already hit resistance at the zone this week, dipping from the supply reload area to touch lows of $0.50 on Tuesday. A previous rejection at the level also saw Cardano price fall to $0.49.

Crypto analyst Michael van de Poppe however thinks buyers could still force a rally if they hold above the critical 50-day moving average.

Cardano price chart and key price levels. Source: Michael van de Poppe

As per the chart above the analyst shared on Twitter, that price gauge remains above $0.47. The cryptocurrency has over the past few days held firm at the MA. Van de Poppe sees an upside trigger being at $0.55, where a retest could open up a breakout to new resistance around the $0.66-$0.70.

If the breakout happens, the analyst sees a 20% rally by early September.

“Cardano follows the plan and looks ready for continuation, as the entire market looks ready for continuation. Expecting to see $0.70 as possible in the next few weeks,” he predicted.

The post Cardano price: Analyst explains ADA price outlook over coming weeks appeared first on CoinJournal.