For storing, transmitting, and receiving digital assets, cryptocurrency wallets are crucial tools. Custodial and non-custodial wallets are the two major varieties that are available. A third party, like an exchange, manages custodial wallets, whereas non-custodial wallets allow users complete control over their assets. Although non-custodial wallets have become more common, some bitcoin users still choose custody-based wallets. We examine the benefits of custodial wallets for some cryptocurrency investors in this article.
Convenience and simplicity of use Custodial wallets are still widely used for a number of reasons, including their practicality and simplicity. Cryptocurrency exchanges frequently provide custody wallets, making it simple for customers to maintain their digital assets in addition to their trading. When contrasting custodial wallets vs non-custodial wallets the former frequently offers an easier user experience since users are relieved of the responsibility of storing their backup phrases and private keys, which can be burdensome and confusing for certain users. Instead, individuals may easily access their assets by logging into their account anytime they need to.
Giving up control of one’s digital assets to a third-party provider is the price one pays for this convenience. On the other hand, non-custodial wallets provide users more privacy and control over their assets, but they also require them to take responsibility for managing their own private keys and security protocols. In the end, whether a user chooses a custodial or non-custodial wallet will depend on their desire for convenience against control.
Insurance and security Users with non-custodial wallets have greater control over their digital assets, but there is also more danger and responsibility involved. A user could never again be able to access their assets, for example, if they lose their private key. Furthermore, if malware infects a user’s computer or gadget, their digital assets could be taken. Custody wallets, on the other hand, provide extra security measures like two-factor verification and advanced encryption techniques. Customers can feel more secure knowing that the vast majority of reliable custodial wallet suppliers also offer insurance against asset loss or theft.
Assistance and client services Custodial wallets also have the advantage of the support and customer service provided by the wallet provider. If a user encounters any issues with their wallet, the provider’s support team is frequently able to assist them. This might be quite beneficial for inexperienced bitcoin users who may have questions or concerns about their wallet. Additionally, custodial wallet providers usually hire a larger team of engineers and security experts that are dedicated to ensuring the dependability and security of their platform. Updates and solutions for any possible issues could be provided more quickly as a consequence.
Integration with trading platforms and exchanges Custody wallets also offer easy communication with bitcoin exchanges and trading systems. Due to the fact that custodial wallets are frequently supplied by exchanges, users may easily move money between their wallet and their trading account. This may prove to be of great assistance to active traders who need to move their assets quickly and successfully. Users may get a more complete view of their trading habits with the use of advanced trading capabilities and statistics that can be included in custody wallets.
Adherence to regulations Last but not least, businesses and institutional investors typically choose custodial wallets since they adhere to standards. Since they are typically registered with regulatory entities, suppliers of custody wallets must adhere to strict security and reporting standards. This may be of particular significance to businesses that may be the target of regulatory audits or compliance inspections. Additionally, custodial wallets can offer more accountability and transparency, which makes them a more desirable option for institutional investors.
Opportunities to earn interest
Another reason for the ongoing popularity of custody wallets is the chance to make money that they provide. By creating an interest-bearing account with some providers of custody-based wallets, users may earn a return on their digital assets. Custodial wallets can provide interest rates that are far higher than those of traditional savings accounts, making them an attractive option for anybody looking to enhance their bitcoin holdings. In addition, some providers of custodial wallets provide staking services, which let users be compensated for participating in the network’s consensus mechanism. This might prove to be quite advantageous for those who hold certain cryptocurrencies that offer stacking bonuses.
Reduced fees
Custodial wallets may also be less expensive than non-custodial ones. Customers usually benefit from lower transaction fees when transferring assets between their wallet and their exchange account since custodial wallets are commonly provided by cryptocurrency exchanges. Additionally, suppliers of custodial wallets could charge less for certain services like trading or cash withdrawals. This can be especially useful for users who wish to lower their transaction costs and boost their earnings.
Conclusion In conclusion, some cryptocurrency users continue to choose custodial wallets because of how convenient and simple they are to use. By handling the protection and storage of digital files, they provide a more user-friendly experience, but at the expense of ceding control to a third-party supplier. Non-custodial wallets provide users more freedom and privacy, but they also force them to take care of their own security precautions. Ultimately, the user’s interests and preferences will determine whether they choose a custodial or non-custodial wallet.
Blockchain technology has made digital currency transactions increasingly useful, practical and accessible. However, as the number of crypto users has gone up, so has the rate of cyber theft related to cryptocurrencies. That’s why it’s important to understand how to safekeep your crypto by learning about crypto wallets, how they work and what to look for in one, whether it’s digital or physical.
What is a crypto wallet?
Cryptocurrency wallets, or simply crypto wallets, are places where traders store the secure digital codes needed to interact with a blockchain. They don’t actively store your cryptocurrencies, despite what their name may lead you to believe.
Crypto wallets need to locate the crypto associated with your address in the blockchain, which is why they must interact with it. In fact, crypto wallets are not as much a wallet as they are ledgers: They function as an owner’s identity and account on a blockchain network and provide access to transaction history.
How do crypto wallets work?
When someone sends bitcoin, ether, dogecoin or any other type of digital currency to your crypto wallet, you aren’t actually transferring any coins. What they’re doing is signing off ownership thereof to your wallet’s address. That is to say, they are confirming that the crypto on the blockchain no longer belongs to their address, but yours. Two digital codes are necessary for this process: a public key and a private key.
A public key is a string of letters and numbers automatically generated by the crypto wallet provider. For example, a public key could look like this: B1fpARq39i7L822ywJ55xgV614.
A private key is another string of numbers and letters, but one that only the owner of the wallet should know.
Think of a crypto wallet as an email account. To receive an email, you need to give people your email address. This would be your public key in the case of crypto wallets, and you need to share it with others to be a part of any blockchain transaction. However, you would never give someone the password to access your email account. For crypto wallets, that password is the equivalent of your private key, which under no circumstances should be shared with another person.
Using these two keys, crypto wallet users can participate in transactions without compromising the integrity of the currency being traded or of the transaction itself. The public key assigned to your digital wallet must match your private key to authenticate any funds sent or received. Once both keys are verified, the balance in your crypto wallet will increase or decrease accordingly.
Types of crypto wallet
Crypto wallets can be broadly classified into two groups: hot wallets and cold wallets. The main difference is that hot wallets are always connected to the internet while cold wallets are kept offline.
Hot Wallets
Hot wallets are digital tools whose connection to the internet cannot be severed. Users can access these pieces of software from a phone or desktop computer to monitor their currencies and trade them. Some hot wallets are also accessible through the web or as browser extensions, meaning you can use them on a wide variety of devices.
The greatest advantage of hot wallets is their convenience. Your public and private keys are stored and encrypted on your wallet’s respective app or website, so unless they’re limited to a specific device, you can access them anywhere with an online connection. This ease of access makes them ideal for those who trade more often and are considering spending bitcoins.
Because hot wallets are always accessible online, they also face a greater risk of cyberattacks. Hackers can exploit hidden vulnerabilities in the software that supports your wallet or use malware to break into the system. This is particularly dangerous for web wallets hosted by crypto exchanges, which are bigger targets overall for crypto thieves.
PROS – Highly convenient, can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection – Easier to recover access if you lose the private key than cold wallets
CONS – Less secure than cold wallets, vulnerable to a wider variety of attacks – For custodial wallets, your keys are kept on the exchange’s servers
Cold Wallets
Cold wallets store your digital keys offline on a piece of hardware or sheet of paper. Hardware wallets usually come in the form of a USB drive which lets you buy, sell and trade crypto while it’s connected to a computer. With “paper” wallets, your keys may be accessible via print-out QR codes, written on a piece of paper, or engraved on some other material, such as metal.
Cold storage wallets are deliberately designed to be hard to hack. Unless the wallet owner falls for some sort of phishing attack, hackers have no way of obtaining the owner’s keys remotely. For something like a hardware wallet, a thief would first have to obtain the USB drive used to access your crypto and then somehow crack its password.
This high level of security may lend itself to mistakes on the part of wallet owners. If you lose your USB drive or sheet of paper and don’t have your private key backed up somewhere, you’ve effectively lost access to your crypto. Compared to hot wallets, which make it possible to regain access through a seed phrase, recovering access on a cold wallet is impossible in most cases due to the two-key security system.
PROS – More secure than hot storage wallets due to offline storage – Many hardware wallets are supported by hot storage wallets
CONS – Transactions take longer on average – Nearly impossible to recover currencies without a backup of your digital keys
How to set up a crypto wallet
Setting up a cryptocurrency wallet is a generally straightforward process that takes no more than a couple of minutes. The first step is to determine the kind of wallet you want to use since hot wallets and cold wallets have different set up processes. Then, you’ll need to do the following:
For hot wallets…
Download the wallet. Make sure the wallet is legitimate before downloading any software. Crypto scams are becoming increasingly common and it’s important to know if the company behind a wallet actually exists. For web wallets, verify that you are on the correct website and not on a fake version of it built to steal your information.
Set up your account and security features. If you are using a non-custodial wallet, this is when you’ll be given your private key, a random 12 to 24-word string of words. If you lose or forget these, you will not be able to access your crypto. You can enable added security tools, like two-factor authentication and biometrics, during or after the set up process. The process for custodial wallets is a bit more involved, and you’ll have to undergo a verification process called Know-Your-Customer (KYC) to validate your identity.
Add funds to your wallet. For non-custodial wallets, you may have to transfer crypto from elsewhere, as not all wallets allow you to buy crypto with fiat currency directly. As for custodial wallets, you’ll need to fund them using a credit or debit card before you can purchase crypto, in some cases.
For cold wallets…
Purchase the wallet online. When buying a cold wallet, avoid third-party resellers. Buy the product directly from the developer to avoid issues, such as the device being tampered with beforehand.
Install the device’s software. Each brand has its own software that must be installed onto the hardware device before it can be used. Make sure to download the software from the company’s official website. Then, follow its instructions to create your wallet.
Deposit your cryptocurrency. You’ll need to transfer crypto into your hardware wallet from elsewhere, such as from a crypto exchange. Some wallets may have an incorporated exchange that allows you to trade crypto while the device is connected to your desktop computer or mobile device.
What to look for in a crypto wallet
When looking for a crypto wallet, it’s very important to first ask yourself:
How often do I trade? Will you be trading cryptocurrency daily or just occasionally? Hot wallets are better for active traders due to their speed and practicality. However, active traders may also benefit from a cold wallet by using it as a kind of savings account, keeping the bulk of their currencies there.
What do I want to trade? Are you looking to buy and store Bitcoin or are you interested in different types of cryptocurrency, like altcoins and stablecoins? The crypto wallet you pick should support the currencies you wish to trade and will ideally accommodate any other coins you may want to trade in the future.
How much am I willing to spend? Are you planning on accumulating large amounts of crypto? Hardware wallets are ideal for this sort of activity, but unlike hot wallets (which are mostly free), they require an upfront payment to own the wallet itself. Some hot wallets have higher crypto trading fees but offer faster transactions or greater functionality.
What functionality do I need in a wallet? Do you plan on doing anything specific with crypto beyond simply trading it? For example, traders who want to make money with their crypto passively should look for wallets that allow for crypto lending, staking and deposits.
After exploring the above questions, we put together some general suggestions for what to look for in a crypto wallet:
Supported currencies – The rule of thumb for supported currencies is “the more, the better.” Unless you’re interested in solely trading Bitcoin, we suggest you opt for a wallet that supports at least a few of the more popular altcoins.
Accessible interface – An accessible, intuitive user interface is always welcome, regardless of whether you’re a crypto veteran or a newbie. Look for wallets that don’t make you jump through hoops to start basic trading.
24/7 customer support – Although more useful for newer traders, having customer support available throughout the day is always a plus. This is especially true for wallets that undergo frequent updates and may suffer from bugs or visual glitches.
Hardware wallet compatibility – Anyone who is seriously thinking about getting into crypto should consider getting a hardware wallet. Even people who don’t trade frequently should consider a hardware wallet to safeguard their most important assets. Investors with a hot wallet that’s compatible with at least one brand of hardware wallet have an advantage, since they can default to the model(s) supported by their wallet and transfer their crypto back and forth as needed.
Investing in crypto prudently
Cryptocurrencies are a new and exciting financial asset. The idea of a decentralized currency independent of the banking industry is enticing for many. The wild price swings can be a thrill, and some coins are simply amusing.
Consider the story of Dogecoin. A portmanteau of Bitcoin and Doge, the currency was a hit on Reddit, a popular social network forums site, and quickly generated a market value of $8 million. DOGE hit an all-time high on May 8, 2021, reaching a market capitalization of more than $90 billion after Elon Musk and Reddit users involved in the GameStop short squeeze turned their attention to it.
For a more sobering example, take a look at Bitcoin — the grandparent of all cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has experienced multiple crashes throughout its lifespan, but its most recent one has left a lasting impression in mainstream culture. Reaching an all-time high of more than $65,000 in November 2021, its market value has declined as part of a general crypto price drop, briefly dipping under $20,000 in June 2022.
While entertaining, the fact remains that cryptocurrencies are unpredictable assets and should be traded with caution. It’s important to consider the following dangers when asking yourself, “should I invest in cryptocurrencies?:”
Crypto is volatile. A cursory glance at the historical price of Bitcoin is enough to see massive peaks and depressions throughout its lifespan. Just recently, Bitcoin fell under $20,000 in June after having surpassed a value of $69,000 for a single coin in November 2021. The same goes for any other major cryptocurrency. These dramatic changes are not normal compared to the pace at which mainstream assets move.
Crypto isn’t backed by anything. Most coins do not have a natural resource, such as gold, silver or other metals, that is used to track their value. They’re not backed by the government and don’t track the growth potential of enterprises the way stocks and bonds do. This increases crypto’s volatility as a whole.
Cryptocurrencies are also speculative assets, which are riskier due to large fluctuations in price. Many active traders invest in them with the hope of making a big profit after their value dramatically increases in the near future — hopefully before a crash.
Crypto is unregulated. Governments and institutions worldwide are still grappling with how to regulate cryptocurrencies, asking: Do we need specific legislation to regulate crypto assets? Who should regulate crypto? Should it be regulated at all?
While this lack of regulation responds to the nature of crypto and its ethos of freedom, a lack of adequate regulation means consumers are not protected against many crypto crimes and scams. Ultimately, crypto must be studied and handled carefully, as its future remains uncertain.
Personal finance experts and advisors recommend investing no more than 5% of your portfolio in risky assets like crypto. Beginners should also refrain from riskier crypto trading practices, such as lending and staking currencies to generate revenue.
Crypto Wallet Glossary
Blockchain: A blockchain is a type of ledger that records digital transactions and is duplicated across its entire network of systems. The shared nature of blockchain creates an immutable registry that protects users against fraud. Cryptocurrencies are traded on the blockchain.
BTC: BTC is the currency code used to represent Bitcoin, which was created by Satoshi Nakamoto as the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Read our article on what is Bitcoin to find out more.
Foundation for Wallet Interoperability (FIO) Network: The FIO was established in the “pursuit of blockchain usability through the FIO Protocol.” The FIO protocol is meant to improve the scalability of the blockchain and develop a standard for interaction between various crypto-related entities.
Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) account: HD accounts may be restored on other devices by using a backup phrase of 12 random words that’s created when you generate the wallet.
Light client: Also called light nodes, light clients implement SPV, a technology that does not require downloading an entire blockchain to verify transactions. Depending on the currency, a full blockchain could be anywhere from 5Gb to over 200Gb. Thus, light clients tend to be faster than regular clients and require less computing power, disk space and bandwidth. Mobile wallets almost always use light clients.
mBTC: A common exchange value, mBTC is short for millibitcoin, which is one-thousandth of a bitcoin (0.001 BTC or 1/1000 BTC)
Multi-signature: Multisig for short, wallets with this feature require more than one private key to sign and send a transaction.
Open-source: Software that is considered “open-source” has a source code that may be studied, modified or redistributed by anyone. The source code is what programmers use to adjust how a piece of software works.
Seed phrase: Newly opened crypto wallets randomly generate a string of 12 to 24 words known as a seed phrase. Users with non-custodial wallets must keep this phrase and are recommended to write it down in a safe location, since it stores all the information needed to recover access to their wallet and funds.
With all the information in this post, I believe you’re on your way to becoming an expert on crypto wallets and the measures you can take to avoid cyber theft. Until next time!
Crypto, Blockchain and Web3 are buzzwords these days and while you might already hold some Bitcoin on Coinbase or Binance, you might also be wondering how you can move your career into this new industry as a developer.
Good blockchain developers are highly sought after and becoming an expert in these new technologies can bring you an exceptionally high income as well as job security.
It’s easy to google “How to become a blockchain developer” to find out what technical skills you will need and what programming languages you will have to learn. You will find lots of helpful information e.g. here and here.
According to the latest State of the Developer Nation Report, blockchain applications, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs have the highest share of developers learning about them.
More specifically with regards to Cryptocurrencies, out of a sample of 13,939 developers, 50% stated they are interested in them, 34% said they are learning about them while 16 % have already adopted the technology.
But what actually is Crypto, Blockchain and Web3? And – once you have the skills – how are you going to get your foot in the door and create long-term success?
Ecosystem Education
If you are a complete newbie, I’d suggest educating yourself on the origins and philosophy of bitcoin and blockchain first, as well as the evolution of Web3. There are some great free courses that will give you a solid foundation and might help you find a niche to focus your efforts on.
UnitMasters.org for example is an engaging 6-week course that will give you a good high-level overview of the Web3 ecosystem. It is very welcoming to participants from all walks of life and underrepresented backgrounds.
The free MOOC on Digital Currencies by the University of Nicosia, which is taught by prominent bitcoin educator Andreas Antonopoulos, is a great place to start if you really want to understand how bitcoin works and why it is here.
Crypto Job Boards
There are a number of job boards dedicated to Web3, but simply submitting your CV has never been the best way to go about this, in my opinion. Nevertheless, it’s helpful to know about them, so here are a few you can check out:
The best positions are often filled before they make it to a job board, since candidates are being hired from within the network of the recruiter or the organization hiring. That’s why it is important to connect with others in the space. If the term “networking” makes you cringe or sounds like a chore to you, here are some easy ways to go about that:
Attend crypto meet-ups or blockchain conferences to learn about all the things that are being built in this space. You’ll be amazed what some teams are creating out there and you will surely find something that excites you, or sparks your own ideas.
Join the online communities of the projects that you are most interested in. Most of them have a Discord community, which you can find on their websites. Start chatting with other developers in there who may be looking for team members and look out for vacancies in their announcement channels.
Start using some DApps (Decentralized Applications) – whether it’s a simple wallet to send and receive cryptocurrency or blogging platforms like Hive that allow you to earn cryptocurrency for your content. If you’re a gamer, check out games like Splinterlands or Axie Infinity. It’s easiest to start with something you already know.
No matter what your background is, begin using Web3 apps so you gain personal experience as a user. This will help you learn about their challenges or short-comings and you can begin thinking about solutions for them – whether it is UX design or their token economy. You could begin contributing to their improvements, or you could join (or create) a team that will build something better.
Many people get hired by companies because they have proven their knowledge, engagement and contribution in their communities already.
Web3 projects don’t hire staff, they recruit members.
This goes not only for other stakeholders like customers, users, block producers and investors. Crypto projects are win-win-win communities. All stakeholders are equally important in their contributions to help the project succeed.
4. Join Hackathons and coding bootcamps. Stay in touch with the people you meet there. They might all end up in different projects, so this is a great way to build your professional network.
5.Start creating content! Whether it’s your own blog, a Hive account, or your Github account. Begin creating a public track record of your thoughts or technical contributions to the space.
“Don’t trust. Verify.” This famous crypto slogan applies not only to the blockchain but also to you. Creating a verifiable track record is worth so much more than a fancy CV. Your track record will speak for itself and send projects your way, rather than you having to look for them. Project teams don’t care about your CV, they care about your proven experience and contributions to the industry.
6.Join a DAO and see how you can begin contributing. DAO’s – Decentralised Autonomous Organisations – are an essential part of the Web3 space and might just become the way we will all work and organize ourselves in the future. You can submit proposals and get your contributions funded by the DAO’s treasury, if your fellow DAO members vote for it. Check out LobsterDAO or HerDAO (for womxn developers)to get started.
7. Check out Gitcoin where projects post small tasks that you can earn cryptocurrency for. It will help you build a track record, too.
Community Is The New Currency
Everything in the crypto and Web3 space revolves around communities. There is very little of the top down structures you may be used to. The value of crypto tokens comes from their community of developers and users, and you will also end up choosing your project by the community it already has, or the potential it has to create one. (Are they building something that you think will be adopted by a large number of people? Is it going to make a difference to anyone?)
Make Everyone Want To Work With You
You may be highly intelligent, but intellectual intelligence is not the only ingredient for success. You can be a genius, but it will be of little use if nobody likes working with you.
Emotional intelligence is a highly important part in communities. Web3 is all about “we” rather than “me”. People like to surround themselves with people they like and get along with. Even though everyone can code from their bedroom or a hammock on a remote island these days – be kind, be agreeable, be generous in your communication with others. Online and offline. Be a team player. Be someone that CEO’s, investors and HR or customer service staff enjoy working with.
Making interpersonal communication skills just as important as your technical skills will help you become a highly valued and sought-after contributor and create lasting success!
Already a developer interested in Blockchain? Take the Developer Nation survey, share your views on new technologies, tools or platforms for 2023 and shape the future of the Developer Ecosystem. You will get a virtual goody bag with free resources, plus a chance to win an iPhone 13, a Samsung Galaxy S22, Amazon vouchers and more. Start here
Anja Schuetz is an Operations Management Consultant who has worked for several crypto wallets and blockchain projects. She also mentors first-time crypto investors and helps newcomers move their careers into Web3. Learn more about Anja at https://linktr.ee/consciouscrypto
In our latest Developer Nation Pulse report we shared data on the top five emerging areas of interest to developers.
Around half of developers say they are working on, learning about, or interested computer vision, according to the insights from our Q1 2021 global survey of over 17,000 developers. Similarly, 45% are interested in cryptocurrencies (e.g. Bitcoin).
However, of the developers engaged with computer vision, only 15% are currently working on the technology. Similarly, only 14% are currently working on cryptocurrencies. One in four developers are currently learning about computer vision, while 29% are learning about cryptocurrencies.
So if you belong to these group, the following book recommendations might be just the thing you’ve been looking. This post was created in partnership with our friends at Packt.
Explore deep learning concepts and implement over 50 real-world image applications.
What reviews say:
“I felt the book is very well structured and compiled. Unless you’re looking for something very very specific, you’d be able to find techniques/implementations for any and all types of problems you are working on. They cover algorithms and implementations of basic neural networks, all the way upto RNNs and reinforcement learning with PyTorch. The breadth covered by this book on the number of techniques and algorithms is really amazing.”
Build advanced computer vision applications using machine learning and deep learning techniques
What reviews say:
“There are many books out there / but this book stands out – very clear explanation of codes and contents, lots of detailed explanations for object detection, classification, visual search, matching and training in cloud.”
Over 70 recipes to master the art of computer vision with deep learning and PyTorch 1.x
“This book is good for beginners to learn about writing deep learning model in PyTorch. Book goes from basic linear model to processing videos in PyTorch and covers variety of use cases e.g. use of GANs, Style transfer project.”
Build autonomous vehicles using deep neural networks and behavior-cloning techniques
What reviews say:
“This book is about how to apply deep learning knowledge to solve self-driving car problems. The technologies mainly focus on computer vision areas. It gives readers lots of code samples, which can help readers to understand the concept in each chapter.”
Implement machine learning solutions to overcome various computer vision challenges
What reviews say:
“By far, this is one of the best books to understand how to apply deep learning in the field of computer vision. The concepts have been clearly explained. It covers almost everything from image classification, image segmentation, object detection, etc”
Design and implement computer vision applications with Raspberry Pi, OpenCV, and Python 3
What reviews say:
“This book was very helpful for me because it covers a wide variety of computer vision topics and offers lots of well thought out code examples using Python, opencv, matplotlib, numpy and other computer vision software. I followed his examples on my RPi and found that they helped me get the format and arguments of opencv commands correctly to include little things like commas, parenthesis, brackets, optional arguments and the like.”
A practical guide to generating images and videos using deep learning
What reviews say:
“The book is a great quickstart into representation with neural networks. (I also read it more deeply at times and it is great for that as well. I myself have experience with high-throughput large scale autoencoders with TensorFlow and building Facial Recognition applications. I appreciated this book a lot.)”
A guide to converging blockchain and AI to build smart applications for new economies
What reviews say:
“Addressing such large topics as artificial intelligence and blockchain at best is a very serious endeavor. Whereas blockchain after a decade plus of existence has developed a useful understanding within its marketplace, that is not at all true of artificial intelligence, better just AI. AI is now well beyond 6 decades of existence as a topic and yet remains in an evolving state with much debate and speculation worldwide, especially over ethical and scope issues. So given that the reader of this book may be either one-of or some combination of a professional scientist, a developer or simply someone wanting to learn, then yes, Ganesh Prasad Kumble’s Practical Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain book is both a good and useful read.”
Building next-generation financial applications using Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, and Stellar
What reviews say:
“This book is for developers who want to learn blocking technology by building financial applications. Kudos to the author on providing coding examples and following it with explanation. Overall it is a good book on Ethereum development and I would recommend it for anyone who wants to learn Ethereum blockchain by building fintech applications.”
Learn advanced security configurations and design principles to safeguard Blockchain networks
What reviews say:
“This book is for blockchain developers, security professionals, and Ethereum and Hyperledger developers who are looking to implement security in blockchain platforms and ensure secure data management using an example-driven approach. Basic knowledge of blockchain concepts will be beneficial.”
Is there a book or expert that you would recommend to others interested in cryptocurrency or computer vision? Do share in the comments.
Our latest developer survey is live. Let us know which emerging technology you’ll be exploring in 2021.
Every six months, the Developer Economics Survey captures the voice of more than 20,000 developers globally. Our surveys engage developers working across mobile, desktop, IoT, cloud, web, game, AR/VR, machine learning development and data science, decoding development trends.
The 17th Developer Economics survey ran between June and August 2019. The data analysed provided really interesting insights about the different developer profiles out there.
For instance, one in three developers are all-rounders. Only one in five declare themselves as specialists. There are almost four times as many introverts (37%) as extroverts (10%) among developers. This is a significant difference from the 2:1 ratio in favour of extroverts found in the wider community.
We also included several unusual labels, uncovering, for example, that there are double the number of night owl developers than early birds (29% compared to 14%).. What time is it with you right now?
Javascript remains the Queen
Looking, into programming language trends we found that JavaScript remains the queen with a community of over 11M active developers. On the second tier we have Java (6.9M) and Python (6.8M).
Our data challenges the assumption that developers’ language use is relatively stable over time. Instead, it seems that developers drop and adopt new languages all the time, depending on their needs and on their running projects.
Kotlin is the rising star among programming languages. It moved up from 11th to 8th place in just a year.
Growing interest and adoption in 5 emerging technologies
We saw a significant increase in developers’ involvement and adoption of five technologies in the 6 month period ending Q2 2019. These are DevOps, mini-apps, computer vision, cryptocurrencies, and fog/edge computing. For DevOps in particular, the percentage of developers who are either interested in it, learning about it, or have already adopted it increased from 66% to 70%.
Computer vision, on the other hand, saw a noticeable growth in the number of developers involved in it. Meanwhile, the share of those developers who are actually adopting it increased only slightly.
Interest in robotics and quantum computing also increased.
However, the share of interested developers that are working on the technology dropped.
Interest and adoption in blockchain applications other than cryptocurrency, conversational platforms/voice search, drones and biometric technologies remains constant.
Streaming games and extending reality
Just 16% of professional and 10% of hobbyist game developers say they are actively working on designing games for streamers to live-stream their gameplay to an audience. Gameplay streaming is mostly associated with brand promotion and revenue generation. Therefore, the difference between professional and hobbyist interest is to be expected.
One in five AR/VR game developers design for gameplay streaming. This might be because they are the most comfortable with different models for their games, on emerging hardware and across new business channels.
Decoding development trends across regions and screens
2 out of 5 app developers in Asia build apps for messaging platforms and/or chatbots.
34% of mobile developers used cross-platform frameworks in the last 12 months (40% of professional mobile developers, 33% of hobbyists and students).
Almost one in four mobile developers opt to use React Native.
31% of mobile developers whose primary target is iOS are using React Native. This compares with 21% of those who primarily target Android.
You can read the full State of the Developer Nation report here.
We look forward to decoding development trends in our next report. You can help shape the trends by taking the 18th Developer Economics survey here!
