QUESTION 1
How many times has bitcoin been halved? When is the next expected? What is the current amount that bitcoin miners receive? Mention at least 2 cryptocurencies that are or have halved

The Bitcoin Halving

^{Image Source}

Beginning by explaining what the bitcoin halving is all about, the bitcoin explains that the reward to be given to miners will be reduced by a half value. So the event occurs when the reward for mining bitcoin is cut by half.

The recent bitcoin halving occurred in may 11, 2020. And the bitcoin has been halved 3 times. This is as listed below.

• First occurred in 2012 with the halving of the previous 50 blocks to 25 blocks per block.

• The second occurred in 2016, with the 25btc halved to 12.5

• And the last as mentioned above 2020 may 11th halving the 12.5 to 6.25btc per block.
  The next estimate is presume to occure in 2024 following the 4 years cycle.with 3.125btc per block.
  Also, miners currently receive 6.25 per block which is followed from the lst halving.

Examples of cyptocurrencies that have been halved.

Example of cryptocurrencies that have been halved include;

• Electric Cash (ELCASH) with a halving once a year and beginning and ending 2020 to 2030 respectively.

• Bitcoin Vault (BTCV) which occurs 1 time every 6 rounds beginning from 2019 to an end of 2024
  
  

QUESTION 2
What are consensus mechanisms? How do proof of work and proof of stake differ?

Consensus Mechanism

Defining consensus mechanism, the consensus mechanism called the fault-tolerant mechanism which is used in blockchain to reach agreements on a single state in a network among the distributed nodes.

With that, I will continue by explaining the protocols. We see that the protocols make sure that all the nodes are synchronized with each other which agree on a transaction and then added to the blockchain.

There are several types of consensus mechanisms which include;

• Proof of work
• Proof of stake
• Delegated proof of stake
• Practical byzantine fault tolerance
• Proof of capacity
• Proof of burn
  Among others.
  
  

How Proof of Work and Proof of Stake differs

Listing out the various differences between the proof of work and the proof of burn.

• In the proof of work, the reward is given to first miner who solves the cryptographic puzzle of each block while in the proof of stake the validator does not receive block reward instead, the block reward collects network fee as rewards.

• In the proof of stake, the probability to validate a new block is determine by the amount an investor stakes while in the proof of work the probability mining a block is determined by how much a computational work is done.

• In the usage of energy, the proof of work is known to be less energy efficient. They consume a lot of energy while in the proof of stake mechanism, the system are much more energy efficient.

QUESTION 3
Enter the bitcoin explorer and indicate the hash corresponding to the last transaction

Indicating the Hash of the last transaction

I begin by logging into the bitcoin explorer and we can see the has of the last transaction as shown on the screenshot below.

Transaction Hash: 622e6218c5dcbe923d4eb601ca48fb2b844748d8a908c4db9ebce1b34b6fe9c5

QUESTION 4
What is meant by altcoin season? Are we currently in altccoin season? When was the last altcoin season? Mention and show 2 charts of altcoin followed by their growth in the most recent season.

Altcoin Season

The altcoin season is very simple and straight forward. It is a time period determines when the 75% of the top 50 cryptocurrencies are performing better the Bitcoin in the last count of 90days which is known as the last season.

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We are the currently not in an alt season. As seen in the screenshot below we see the bitcoin is performing better over the past 90 days when compared to the top 50 coins.

Mentioning 2 charts of altcoins

1. AXS Token
   I will being by explaining the axie infinity token. The axie infinity token is the native token of the axie infinity game which is a blockchain game. In the axie infinity game the we have characters which are bought, used an sold in earning profits.
   The axie token has an all-time high value of $155 which was its previous altcoin season.
   From the chart below we can see the altcoin season from 25 march 2021 to 15 july 2021

^{Screenshot from Trading View}

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2) BCHA Token Going now to the bcha token, we see that it is a native token of the popular Bitcoin Cash ABC, the BCHA token as an all-time value of $400 which occurred in the last altcoin season. See can see that in the chart below from match 25th to 15 july.

^{Screenshot from Trading View}

QUESTION 5
Make a purchase from your verified account of the exchange of your choice of at least 15 usd in a currency that is not in the top 25 of coinmarketcap, tron or steem are not allowed. Why did you choose this coin? What is the goal or purpose behind this project? Who are its founders/developers? Indicate the currency’s ATH and its current price. Reason for your answers

Purchasing the Icon cryptocurrency

We can purchase the icon token in very simple steps using the binance exchange. I begin by logging into the Binance exchange and clicking on the market tap and then on the search tap I search the icon/usdt since I will be purchasing it using the usdt cryptocurrency. This is as shown in the screenshots below,

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^{Screenshots from Binance}

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The icon (icx) cryptocurrency is ranked #75 on the coinmarketcap with a current price of $2.13.
The icon cryptocurrency has a trading volume of $85964879.36, with a market capitalization of $1433348232.

^{Screenshots from Coinmarketcap}

Going to its founders and developer, the icon cryptocurrency was founded by Markus Jun and is known to be a decentralized blockchain network which is focused on interoperability.
It main project is distributing itself as general purpose blockchain protocol which is based on the native cryptocurrency ICX which runs smart contracts and adopts bazantine fault tolerance-delegated proof of stake.

^{Screenshots from Coinmarketcap}

The main reason I choose this cryptocurrency is because of the good project shown by the icon cryptocurrency and as well on the technical analysis I carried out on the token.

^{Screenshot from Trading View}

^{Screenshot from Trading View}

Conclusion

I have explained on the bitcoin halving and other cryptocurrencies which undergo the altcoin season. I have also explained the main scenario which comes about with the halving and the last and the next altcoin season to take place.
With all these, I have expatiated on the proof of work and the proof of stake with the proof of stake being an advancement of the proof of work. I have also purchase the icon cryptocurrency based on fundamental and technical analysis as shown in the screenshots above.

CC
@imagen