While Bitcoin is the first digital currency based on blockchain and is perceived by many as the mother of all cryptocurrencies, there are many other competing digital currencies now.
A quick look at the popular website CoinMarketCap which is about blockchain info will tell you that approximately 5,392 cryptocurrencies are being traded with a total market cap of $266 Billion. Of course, not all these currencies are successful or even have a good volume of transactions. Out of these 5,392 cryptocurrencies, the top 10 in terms of market cap are [8] : Bitcoin ($BTC) - $179 Billion Ethereum ($ETH) - $23.5 Billion XRP ($XRP) - $9.7 Billion Tether ($USDT) - $6.4 Billion Bitcoin Cash ($BCH) - $5 Billion Bitcoin SV ($BSV) - $4 Billion Litecoin ($LTC) - $3 Billion Binance Coin ($BNB) - $2.7 Billion EOS ($EOS) - $2.6 Billion Tezos ($XTZ) - $2 Billion We will look briefly at some of these most traded cryptocurrencies. Ethereum This was the second player in the market after Bitcoin was launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin, a blockchain researcher and programmer. Vitalik published the first white paper introducing Ethereum in 2013, in which he proposed that Bitcoin needed a scripting language to enable automation. He decided to develop a new blockchain with a universal scripting language, but he couldn’t get buy-in to his proposal. Ethereum runs on a platform that enables Smart Contracts and Distributed Applications (DApps). Ethereum made it possible to set conditions on transactions to execute them whenever these conditions are met automatically. The development of Ether was funded by an online crowd sale between July and August 2014. The system went live with around 12 million coins in circulation (about 13% of the total supply). Following the collapse of The DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) project in 2016, Ethereum was split into two blockchains. The new version became Ethereum, and the original blockchain continues as Ethereum Classic. Ethereum is based on the concept of using “tokens”, which can be bought, sold, or traded. Tokens are basically the smart contracts used to exchange digital assets on the Ethereum blockchain. One of the most significant tokens is known as “ERC-20”, which has emerged to be the technical standard for all smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. As of 2020, more than 244,697 ERC-20 compatible tokens are live on the Ethereum network. Litecoin Litecoin, released in 2011, was one of the first cryptocurrencies to join Bitcoin and has since been referred to as “Silver to Bitcoin Gold.” It was founded by Charlie Lee, an MIT graduate and former Google developer. Litecoin is based on an open-source, decentralised payment network and uses “Scrypt” as a proof of work mechanism which can be decoded using consumer-grade CPUs. While Litecoin has a higher block creation rate and thus has more rapid transaction validation, it is comparable to Bitcoin in several respects. Besides the good developer base, Litecoin is accepted by a growing number of dealers. Litecoin had a market cap of $3 billion in March 2020 and is being traded at around $47 per coin. Ripple Ripple is a digital real-time transfer network providing fast, guaranteed, and low-cost foreign payments. Ripple, or XRP, was launched in 2012 with a mission to enable banks to settle cross-border transfers almost instantly, with end-to-end consistency and at lower costs. The Ripple Consensus Ledger (its conformation method) is unique in that it does not require mining. In this way, Ripple is fundamentally different from Bitcoin and several other altcoins. As Ripple’s structure does not require mining, it reduces the use of computing power and minimises network latency. Ripple argues that “distributing value is a powerful way to incentivise certain behaviours”. Thus, it aims to deliver XRP mainly “through business development deals, incentives to liquidity providers who offer tighter spreads for payments, and selling XRP to institutional buyers interested in investing in XRP”. To date, Ripple has found traction with this model; it remains one of the most successful. As of March 2020, the Ripple had a total market cap of $9.6 billion and a token value of $0.21. Some crypto traders, however, see Ripple’s model as a downside due to its centralised nature. Unlike most of the other cryptocurrencies, Ripple Labs owns about 65% of the tokens and hence can influence the market significantly. Bitcoin Cash Yes, you got it! This coin is another “form” of Bitcoin! Bitcoin Cash is one of the earliest and best known “hard forks” of the original Bitcoin and has been an essential part of the evolution of altcoins. A fork is a product of debates and arguments among developers and miners in the world of cryptocurrency. Based on the decentralised design of the digital currencies, significant adjustments to the code running the coin at hand have to be made based on general agreement. When different development decisions can’t agree, the digital currency is sometimes divided (forked), with the original remaining true to its original code and the other copy coming to life as a new version of the previous coin, complete with changes to its base code. As a result of one of these divisions, Bitcoin cash began its life in August 2017. The debate leading to the development of BCH was about the scalability issue: Bitcoin has a strict 1-megabyte size limit on blocks. BCH raised the block size from 1 MB to 8 MB; the aim is to allow faster transaction times with larger blocks. It also made other changes, including the removal of the “Segregated Witness” protocol that affects block space. As of May 2020, BCH had a market cap of $4.3 billion and a value of $234 per token. Binance Coin Binance Coin is the cryptocurrency issued by the Binance Exchange and is traded under the BNB symbol. Binance coin runs on the Ethereum blockchain using the ERC-20 standard and has a limited supply of 200 million BNB tokens. BNB supports several ecosystem utilities in the Binance platform including trading, trade fees, listing fees, and all other charges on the Binance platform. The crypto token has also received support from other partnerships that have helped to spread its use. It includes a partnership with Uplive, Asia’s premier high-end live video streaming platform, which sells virtual gifts for BNB tokens to Uplive’s 20 million-strong user base. Binance coin is also supported by the Monaco platform mobile app, and Monaco VISA debit card, a pioneering payment and cryptocurrency platform. The Binance platform also includes a repurchasing plan to redeem and destroy BNB tokens, by using 20 per cent of its earnings until they are purchased by up to 50 per cent or 100 million BNB tokens. As a means to preserve significant value for BNB, only 100 million BNB tokens will eventually be in circulation. EOS EOS is one of the latest digital currencies to join the list. Launched in June 2018, EOS was founded by cryptocurrency pioneer Dan Larimer. Prior to his work on EOS, Larimer created Bitshares’ digital currency exchange and Steemit’s blockchain-based social media site. Like some other cryptocurrencies on this list, EOS is designed after Ethereum, offering a platform on which developers can build decentralised applications. However, EOS is noteworthy for several other reasons. First, EOS’s initial coin offering was one of the longest and most profitable in history, racking up a whopping $4 billion or so in investor funds through a year-long crowdfunding campaign. EOS provides a delegated proof-of-stake process, which it hopes will be able to deliver scalability beyond its competitors. EOS consists of EOS.IO, which acts as the digital currency blockchain network, as well as EOS coins. EOS is also revolutionary because it lacks a mining mechanism for producing coins. Instead, block producers create blocks and are paid in EOS tokens based on their output levels. EOS also provides a complex set of rules to regulate the block generation process. The development team expects that the network would eventually be more democratic and decentralised than other digital currencies. As of May 2020, EOS had a market cap of $2.24 billion and a token value of $2.43. Apart from the most known cryptocurrencies, new digital assets are entering the market every day, usually through an initial offering process called the “Initial Coin Offering” or ICO.
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Social media could be accomplished by looking at the technological elements that make up the interests. It helps the strategist comprehend not only what is happening, but the reason why and how behaviors, actions, as well as communities happen in any provided time (social media strategy template word). The tools and techniques used in traditional disciplines including marketing, education, computer scientific disciplines, public relations, advertising, and transmission, among others, can help test and test tje behaviors of what is happening on the net. Social media professionals cannot be dependent just on the creative aesthetic opportunities social media allows us to work with and take advantage of. Instead, we will have to hone in on our enthymematic and scientific approaches in addition to fine-tune our research capabilities to make sense of the unstructured and substantial data open to understand not only what is getting presented but in what framework and situation. This enhances the growing expectation and need regarding social media professionals to have a reliable research foundation and record to help them make sense of the info and apply it in a imaginative and innovative way.
Analysis. You will have to become one together with statistics, Excel spreadsheets, info, and many other mathematical elements in terms of social media. There are two elements of the equation a successful social media marketing strategist needs to be aware of when viewing the various platforms. First, typically the information and data are usually collected in a systematic approach from the various platforms or perhaps third parties. Social media strategists must organize the information in ways that can tell us what is going on. This will aid identify trends, gaps, options, or even challenges that need to be dealt with in a systematic and utilized manner. The second element is the fact research comes down to a research in the systematic process when the data are analyzed. Quite often, the data are in raw web form and need to be organized in a manner that makes sense and is understandable to be able to both the strategist and the client/organization in question. How Is Social media marketing Like a Practice? While the prior sections discussed briefly the science (research- or theory-driven) facet of social media, it is also important to take note areas on the other side of the social media marketing coin. Understanding the creative delivery is an area most people keep company with social media, but each podium has a strategic purpose guiding each area. Creativity. The requirements of being creative today with social media are more important than. Without creativity, there is no thrill, excitement, or word-of-mouth talks that spark audiences to express content. New tools, programs, and people are coming on mother board with social media, which is bringing up the bar to take ideas that you will find considered good at any other moment in time to the next level. Any person can go in relation to sharing and creating information, but content that is one of a kind, invokes an inspired in addition to emotional response, and can lower through the digital and unrelated noise really makes an impression on the audience. That’s what exactly creativity does for web 2 . 0. It’s about not just checking out the tools or thinking creative imagination is all about being artistic. It is a light that shines for the brand and communities this help generate these progressive conversations through insights in addition to data that leads them to include these great ideas. Advised decision making (coined by Loaded Calabrese of Fizziology) is mostly about taking creativity, data, in addition to insight into account for web 2 . 0. Creativity can be disseminated from top down (organization to help key publics), but another possibility is the co-creation aspect of creative imagination, where you are able to use your neighborhood to help share, brainstorm concepts, and discover content, stories, or perhaps original ways of approaching a thought. The ultimate goal is not just to possess one organization orbrand explain to a story but also to create a interest for others to be motivated to be able to participate and share these kinds of conversations and stories together with others. When it comes to innovative approaches to be creative with articles, certain campaigns and manufacturers have successfully implemented this specific very well. Pharrell’s “Happy” video clip went viral immediately after it absolutely was showcased by millions and also inspired many to re-create the music video with their very own voice and personalization inside 2013. ALS Association’s Snow Bucket Challenge honed inside on the impact of crowdfunding for a significant cause although adding visual creativity into the mix by allowing people to generate their own Ice Bucket Obstacle videos and tagging their particular friends, family, and neighborhood members on social media. Several such campaigns stand out not merely for their creative ideas but also for their particular creative executions. To be successful in terms of creativity, you have to have the content, however you also have to have the proper delivery. For example , campaigns like BuzzFeed and Tasty became virus-like when they started creating quick videos of various recipes inside snackable forms of content that will resonated with audiences. Another campaign got a lot of attention for creating more creative partnerships in which two established brands could share virtually with their communities. Disney and Make-A-Wish Foundation came together in 2016 to raise awareness for terminally ill children with their campaign #ShareYourEars. This campaign was driven primarily through Twitter and Instagram in 2016, and for every post, Disney pledged a $5 donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Not only did the message resonate with the audiences, but the campaign was approached in a creative and visual way. In addition , it was so successful that Disney increased its cap from $1 million to $2 million for the campaign (Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, 2018). Both of these campaigns were strategic in their creative ideas, using their own brand voice, neighborhood, and ideas to formulate prosperous campaigns. Creativity doesn’t constantly mean thinking completely out from the box when it comes to proposing fresh ideas for a campaign. How it works mean is making knowledgeable decisions based on the landscape, market, audience, and brand by means of brainstorming sessions, data research, and insights gathered. In the pharmaceutical market, distribution stands for the process of moving goods (medicines) from a production facility to end consumers (patients), spanning two principal areas: distribution channels between customers and sellers, and logistics, i.e. the physical movement of products. There are in fact several drug distribution channels including, in particular, direct selling, wholesaling, retailing through full and limited pharmacies, and non-pharmacy channels.
Distribution channels employed by the pharmaceutical market are multi-tier and complex, as they involve pre-wholesaling, wholesaling, and retailing. This is because many medicinal products are initially moved from manufacture to pre-wholesale storage, and only then distributed to wholesalers. As a next step, pharmaceutical wholesalers supply pharmacies and other retail outlets dealing in OTC drugs. Some drugs are also sold through hospital pharmacies, and certain medicines are available from groceries, super- and hypermarkets, discount and convenience stores (independent and chains), gas stations, newsagents (kiosks), and even pubs. Companies’ decisions on the choice of distribution channels involve a complex set of criteria and are even further complicated by their financial resources and production capacities. More and more large manufacturers that can afford the extra investment choose to build their own direct sales systems (direct-to-pharmacy—DTP) alongside their collaboration with non-pharmacy outlets. Smaller businesses often prefer to work with intermediaries (wholesalers). Some make choices that are, to an extent, based on what their competitors do. For example, being concerned about their market share and brand reputation, a company may have to react to other businesses’ decisions on expanding their distribution channels. Another factor that can influence companies’ approaches is potential buyers’ preferences and buying behaviors. Some target groups may be distrustful toward any channels other than traditional outlets for medicinal products, where they can be provided with advice and where sales personnel are perceived as having greater responsibility for their merchandise. What matters the most, however, is the kind of product being distributed, as some products simply imply or predetermine the distribution channel to be used. For example, costly innovative drugs are distributed predominantly through shorter channels; Rx medicines may not be marketed by mail order; and pharmaceutical products that may be administered under medical supervision only are delivered directly to hospitals. Wholesaling Wholesaling is defined as all sorts of activities involving procurement, storage, and delivery or export of medicinal products and engaging manufacturers or importers of medicinal products, or wholesalers of such products, or pharmacies, or veterinary clinics, or other duly authorized businesses, with the sole exception of supply to individual customers. Medicinal products, including products moved into or out of a country, may only be handled by pharmaceutical wholesalers or dedicated bonded warehouses and consignment stores. Pharmaceutical wholesaling plays a major role in marketing medicinal products. Between 2006 and 2014, Poland’s wholesale market (primarily supplying pharmacies and hospitals) grew by 66% to reach a total worth of PLN 30 billion. Its annual growth rate thus averaged 7.3%, with wholesale distribution to hospitals growing faster than supplies to pharmacies. In 2014, wholesale supplies to pharmacies were up 5.1%, totaling PLN 25.3 billion, while the wholesaler-to-hospital market soared by as much as 14.7%, totaling PLN 4.3 billion. Despite the large number of actors (more than 600 wholesale businesses registered with WIF), Poland’s pharmaceutical wholesale market is a highly concentrated one, being dominated by three capital groups whose total share of the wholesale market in medicinal products approximates 70% (UOKiK 2015). These groups are: Pelion Healthcare Group S.A. (based in Łódź), Neuca S.A. (based in Toruń), and Farmacol S.A. (based in Katowice). In 2013, their consolidated revenue from sales totaled PLN 18.3 billion, marking an 8% increase from the 2010 level. The consolidation process in Poland’s pharmaceutical wholesale business mirrors the horizontal integration process occurring between major and minor players whereby many local wholesalers have been taken over by market leaders. The process was initiated by Polska Grupa Farmaceutyczna (PGF) taking over ten wholesale businesses based in different parts of the country. Pharmaceutical wholesalers keep a stock of more than 25,000 products, of which some 3500 are reimbursable medicines that are continuously available. The total worth of medicinal products in stock is estimated at PLN 1.6 billion (PwC 2013). Wholesalers are the key suppliers of medicines to pharmacies (around 80% of sales). In 2013, the NEUCA Capital Group, made up of more than 20 businesses, served some 10,000 pharmacies. However, the largest business in this segment is Grupa Pelion with a 30% share of the wholesale market in 2013. PGF, part of the Pelion Healthcare Group and a leading pharmaceutical distributor working with some 600 drug manufacturers and more than 9000 pharmacies, operates 13 centrally managed modern storage facilities and sells in excess of one million items daily. The Group works closely with the specialized logistics operator PharmaLink providing warehouse management and drug distribution services to more than 100 pharmaceutical industry businesses, including mostly drug manufacturers and wholesalers, and pioneering the use of a state-of-the-art system for temperature tracking in transport (Pelion 2014). Attention should be given to Pelion’s strategy adopted in 2014 and to be pursued in the forthcoming years. The strategy is explicitly founded on building close business partnerships in pharmaceutical distribution:
At the end of 2014, Pelion made an entry into the new market segment of cosmetics by purchasing a 100% stake in Polbita Sp. z o.o., operator of the “Natura” drugstore chain, and Polbita Marketing Sp. z o.o. Natura is one of the largest chains of drugstores in Poland’s cosmetics market and second best nationally in terms of brand recognition. At the beginning of 2016, it operated 270 stores countrywide, a central storage facility near Warsaw, and 14 local warehouses. The decision to take over a drugstore chain was underpinned by the need to diversify operations and hence improve performance in satisfying customers’ changing expectations. Analyses of Poland’s cosmetics market are indicative of its robust growth at an average annual rate of about 5% over the past 7 years. |