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Still Not Ready to Buy Bitcoin? Invest in These Stocks Instead – The Motley Fool

Bitcoin (BTC 0.35%) has been on a remarkable run to start the year, up 65.93% year to date. But, as any crypto investor knows, investing in Bitcoin always comes with tremendous volatility and risk. Even the faintest hint of future Federal Reserve rate hikes can send the price of Bitcoin tumbling, and many investors are still hesitant about putting their funds in a crypto that collapsed by 65% last year.

So with that in mind, the goal is to find stocks that are correlated with the price of Bitcoin, but that may provide more safety and less risk than investing in crypto directly. These stocks are typically held by exchange-traded funds (ETFs) specializing in blockchain and crypto and thus are fairly easy to find and analyze.

With that in mind, here are three stocks that could benefit from the recent Bitcoin rally.

Image source: Getty Images.

What makes MicroStrategy (MSTR -2.53%) unique is the sheer amount of Bitcoin that it holds on its balance sheet. According to CoinGecko, MicroStrategy currently holds nearly 130,000 Bitcoins, worth an estimated $3.6 billion at today's prices.

That figure is significant, because it represents more than the entire market capitalization of MicroStrategy, which is $3 billion. Shares of MicroStrategy are up nearly 74% for the year, so investors clearly see MicroStrategy as a highly leveraged bet on the future price of Bitcoin.

But by investing in MicroStrategy, you get the extra margin of safety from investing in a publicly traded software company. In other words, there's more to MicroStrategy than just Bitcoin, and you get the peace of mind of knowing that you're getting audited financial statements every quarter.

The latest twist from MicroStrategy is the creation of a new business unit that will attempt to leverage some of the growth from Bitcoin being used as a payment option. The unit will focus on tech deployments related to the Lightning Network, a Layer 2 payment protocol for Bitcoin. This could help to assuage the concerns of some investors that MicroStrategy is not optimally deploying its capital.

Coinbase Global (COIN 2.31%) also holds a significant amount of Bitcoin. According to CoinGecko, Coinbase holds 9,000 Bitcoins worth $248 million at today's price.

That's because Coinbase, as the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, has a core business activity that is highly leveraged to the price of Bitcoin. Trading volume spikes up when Bitcoin is in a bull market but trends down when Bitcoin is in a bear market. Thanks to the recent Bitcoin rally, Coinbase is now up more than 117% year to date.

So the core investment thesis for putting your money in Coinbase right now is the return of the retail investor to the crypto market. As long as Bitcoin retains its upward trajectory, investors should be willing to move their money over to Coinbase, and that will continue to boost Coinbase's stock price.

From a risk/reward perspective, Coinbase also gives you additional diversification beyond just Bitcoin. While Bitcoin represents 41.25% of all trading volume on Coinbase, the platform does offer trading access to nearly 250 different cryptos and digital assets such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Moreover, Coinbase is now active in over 100 nations, so there's geographical diversification as well.

PayPal(PYPL 1.82%) is increasingly focusing its attention on the world of crypto and digital currency transactions. In October 2020, the company began enabling users to buy, hold, and sell a handful of cryptos (including Bitcoin) directly via the PayPal platform. As of year-end 2022, PayPal held more than $600 million of customers' crypto, of which $291 million was in Bitcoin.

With PayPal, however, you are not getting nearly the same correlation with Bitcoin as you would with Coinbase or MicroStrategy. Bitcoin represents just a tiny fraction of PayPal's current business model, even if PayPal's holdings of Bitcoin are surprisingly massive.

So you really need to take a long-term approach here and understand that PayPal is much more interested in the future of payments. PayPal has been working on a number of interesting payment projects, such as the development of its own stablecoin.

And PayPal continues to invest in blockchain-related start-ups that focus on payments. According to PayPal, a lot of its future Bitcoin strategy will depend on the official regulatory stance on crypto.

As with any financial services stock, there is always the risk that PayPal could get caught up in the current banking mess. While PayPal has a proven track record as a fintech (or financial tech) innovator, it is also starting to look more and more like a traditional bank.

There's a good reason why I didn't include a single Bitcoin mining stock on this list -- all signs point to Bitcoin mining becoming an increasingly bad business, due to all the new rules and tax changes related to energy consumption and electricity usage. The government is making it very difficult for Bitcoin miners to be profitable. Yet, if you take a look at some popular Bitcoin ETFs, you'll see that they're filled with mining stocks.

For now, I'm watching companies that stand to benefit the most from the current Bitcoin rally. I'm particularly bullish on Coinbase right now, simply due to all the clever ways the company is finding to generate revenue and diversify internationally during a time of market uncertainty. That's exactly the type of company that can provide indirect access to the upside potential of Bitcoin, without all the risk of investing in Bitcoin directly.

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Billionaire VC Tim Draper Tells Businesses To Keep Payroll In Bitcoin | Bitcoinist.com – Bitcoinist

Following the implosion of Silicon Valley Bank, Bitcoin price has been surging and businesses across the globe are restrategizing their finances as a result.

Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper has published a list of recommendations for businesses in the new macro climate, in which he recommends companies keep a portion of cash in Bitcoin to cover payroll.

Things got complicated extremely quickly for business customers of Silicon Valley Bank. Big tech companies with millions and billions of dollars in the bank, are suddenly worried about their deposits.

Its caused a mad dash to diversify or move to bigger, perceived safer banks, and a huge rally in Bitcoin from $20,000 to $28,000 in two weeks. Businesses are feeling insecure about their money in an unfamiliar way, leading to uncertainty.

Billionaire investor Tim Draper has shared some strategies he recommends that could allow businesses to better position themselves amidst continued issues in the banking sector.

Among them, include keeping at least 6 months in short-term cash split across a local and regional bank, and at least two payrolls worth of cash in Bitcoin and other crypto currencies.

The idea behind the crypto-related recommendation is that even in the event a business cant access their money from a banking institution, theyll at least be able to cover payroll for two payroll cycles.

This is especially important for tech firms in the Silicon Valley area, where in the state of California company CEOs and other officials can be held personally liable for unpaid wages.

The costs of payroll can be considerable and require access to liquid funds. For example, Google in 2022 had over 190,000 employees, with an average salary of $133,000 per year according to data. Assuming no variation in these numbers, two weeks of payroll would be $971 million, while two months would be $4.12 billion.

Many employees get paid bi-weekly, which would be at least $1.9 billion per payroll cycle. And this is just one major tech company of size. If businesses actually listen to Draper, the amount of money that could flow into Bitcoin and crypto would be incredible.

And why wouldnt they listen? Draper is a venture capitalist thats made winning bets on Coinbase, Twitch, Tesla, Twitter, and Robinhood. Could this be why Draper expects Bitcoin to surpass $250,000 per coin?

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German Dwpbank to offer Bitcoin trading to 1,200 affiliate banks on new platform – Cointelegraph

Deutsche WertpapierService Bank (Dwpbank), which offers securities processing to around 1,200 banks in Germany, is creating a new platform, wpNex, that will offer Bitcoin (BTC) to all of its affiliates retail customers in the second half of this year.

The new service will feature crypto accounts alongside bank customers other accounts and will not require additional Know Your Customer procedures, according to local media reports.

Wallet-as-a-service provider Tangany and Bankhaus Scheichs Tradias digital asset trading service will also participate in the new offering. Retail customers will not hold private keys. Dwpbank CEO Heiko Beck saidthe bank planned to add other cryptocurrencies, digital assets and tokenized securities to the service in the future.

MLB Banking was the first Dwpbank affiliate to sign on to the platform and has already performed a transaction on it. MLP Bankings account and securities processing head, Paul Utzat,said in a statement:

Crypto accounts are linked to euro cash accounts, so transactions can take place without going through a separate payments account.

Related: Almost half of Germans to invest in crypto: Report

Germany has been named one of the worlds most favorable countries for crypto. DZ Bank announced in February that it was adding crypto to its asset management service. DZ Bank is Germanys second-largest bank by assets and a central institution for a network of bank coops with 8,500 branch offices.

German crypto bank Nuri, however, shut down in November under stress of the crypto bear market. It had half a million customers. On the traditional finance side, Deutsche Bank shares plummeted on March 24 as instability spread among European banks. Deutsche Bank asset management division DWS was reportedly in talks with tradias on investment in the service.

Magazine: Best and worst countries for crypto taxes plus crypto tax tips

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Max Keiser and Elon Musk Criticize AI, Here’s What Bitcoin (BTC) Has to Do With It – U.Today

Yuri Molchan

Elon Musk and Max Keiser have shared their takes on AI, saying what threats it may bring to humanity and if there is anything that can be done to prevent it

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Twitter user @iamharaldur published a post in which he expressed concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on humanity and what the long-term consequences of its use may be in the future.

Thus, he attracted the attention of two prominent figures on Twitter and beyond it innovative tech entrepreneur Elon Musk and Bitcoin advocate Max Keiser. These two shared their takes on whether AI presents a problem for mankind or not. Keiser stated that Bitcoin should benefit from AI's extinction.

This tweet caught the eye of the CEO of Tesla, owner of Twitterand founder of several other companies in the hi-tech sphere, Elon Musk. He responded that he is of a similar opinion; the questions asked by @iamharaldur are "the right questions to ask," he said.

What is more, Musk admitted that he had been thinking about similar things for many years. What he can offer as a leading entrepreneur in the sphere of new technologies is his company Neuralink. According to Musk, he set it up to create a symbiosis between the human brain and AI, and the company was launched as "a possible long-term solution" to that issue.

In 2015, Musk participated financially in the launch of Open AI, the company that has recently created ChatGPT. Over the past few months, however, Musk has been criticizing this product as "woke."

The reason is that ChatGPT has been programmed to change the texts it produces in a way so as not to offend users on any basis. Earlier this year, Musk issued a tweetstating that his interests now include not only crypto but also AI. He criticized "woke" AI and has been reportedly considering launching his own company that would be able to rival Open AI.

Prominent Bitcoin proponent from the old guard, who became interested in BTC and began promoting it a few years after it was launched, also reacted to the aforementioned tweet.

He believes that artificial intelligence is "an extinction event" for humanity. The solution to that issue to protect mankind, according to Keiser, is to deprive AI of the energy it needs for functioning and transfer all that spare energy to Bitcoin miners, so they can use it to keep BTC hash power high.

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Accepting Payment in Bitcoins How to Accept Them and the Pros … – The Coin Republic

As bitcoins rise in popularity, companies have been considering the idea of including bitcoins as a valid payment option. While cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are known for being volatile in nature, they can be a fairly safe option for payment if handled correctly. The features that make accepting Bitcoins as payments lucrative for companies include:

There are plenty of benefits that would drive a company or individual to accept bitcoin payments with open arms. One of the biggest benefits is the reduced payment processing fee. While other payment modes, especially using credit cards, incur a processing fee of 3-4%, payments using Bitcoins charge none. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is a huge benefit for merchants and companies.

While credit card companies mostly favor customers, Bitcoin is a decentralized platform. So once the payment is made, there is no question of disputes. They also present a good opportunity for companies that want to invest in cryptocurrencies. Additionally, they also make international transactions easy and thus open up businesses to new customers.

Despite the many benefits that bitcoins offer as a payment option, there are certain drawbacks too. One of them is that even though Bitcoins are quite popular, most people still prefer traditional payment methods. And even if there are customers interested in making payments through Bitcoins, there can be certain hiccups along the way and with bitcoins, payments sometimes can be delayed depending on the network. There is also no support available in case of any emergency or fraud.

Along with this, there is a constant fear of the crypto value dropping suddenly as they are known for their volatile nature. However, this can be avoided by immediately changing crypto into cash by using a payment gateway. It may charge 1% of the payment, but it is still preferable over the 3-4% processing fees or incurring losses because of Bitcoins volatility.

The processes companies and individuals need to take to enable Bitcoin payments are fairly simple. However, it is always recommended to weigh the pros and cons before venturing into the crypto world. The steps one needs to take to enable payments using bitcoins are:

Setting up a crypto wallet after getting acquainted with the rules and regulations, one needs to set up a crypto wallet in order to access the cryptocurrencies. Alternatively, setting up payment gateways is also a good idea.

Adding them to checkout processes after setting up the wallet, the website needs to be updated to include the option of using Bitcoins as a payment method.

Integrating it with accounting software this ensures that the Bitcoin transactions are recorded along with the rest of the business transactions.

Overall, accepting Bitcoin payments has its advantages and disadvantages. It is crucial for businesses to weigh the pros and cons and understand the risks involved before deciding to accept Bitcoins as a payment option.

Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while his post-graduation. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing along with being a developer. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing

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Ledger CEO: The collapse of banks is a crash course to Bitcoin | PBW 2023 – Cointelegraph

The collapse of major banks highlights the need for Bitcoin (BTC) and self-custody, according to Pascal Gauthier, the CEO and chairman of hardware wallet provider Ledger.

In an interview with Cointelegraph reporter Joseph Hall at the Paris Blockchain Week, Gauthier spoke about how recent events show how BTC can be a safe haven against the threat of central authorities. He explained that:

According to Gauthier, whenever incidents like Celsius, FTX and bank collapses happen, people flock to self-custody and to crypto. Whenever the market gets stressed and whenever people fear for their savings, you know, they rush to crypto and to Ledger, he said.

In addition, the Ledger executive also believes that people are starting to notice the reality of banks because of the current situation. Gauthier explained that many people come from the idea that the purpose of banks is to safeguard peoples funds because even if banks fail, people will be reimbursed. However, this may not be the case.

They're figuring out that actually, it's not necessarily the case. And so it's troublesome. But again, it's a crash course to Bitcoin and why it exists and why it's necessary for the future, he explained.

Related: 1inch Network co-founder to crypto newbies: Dont trust anyone, verify | PBW 2023

When asked if traditional brands coming into Web3 can potentially become a threat to the decentralization of crypto, Gauthier expressed confidence that this will not happen. He said:

According to the Ledger CEO, brands were able to learn a lesson from Facebooks failure to respect the ethos of crypto, which is decentralization. Weve seen the movie now, you know, they [Facebook] failed because they didnt respect some of the fundamental principles of what crypto is, he said. He added that anyone trying to centralize crypto is destined to fail. According to Gauthier, these are two magnets thats just not going to stick together.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom

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The Age of AI has begun | Bill Gates – Gates Notes

In my lifetime, Ive seen two demonstrations of technology that struck me as revolutionary.

The first time was in 1980, when I was introduced to a graphical user interfacethe forerunner of every modern operating system, including Windows. I sat with the person who had shown me the demo, a brilliant programmer named Charles Simonyi, and we immediately started brainstorming about all the things we could do with such a user-friendly approach to computing. Charles eventually joined Microsoft, Windows became the backbone of Microsoft, and the thinking we did after that demo helped set the companys agenda for the next 15 years.

The second big surprise came just last year. Id been meeting with the team from OpenAI since 2016 and was impressed by their steady progress. In mid-2022, I was so excited about their work that I gave them a challenge: train an artificial intelligence to pass an Advanced Placement biology exam. Make it capable of answering questions that it hasnt been specifically trained for. (I picked AP Bio because the test is more than a simple regurgitation of scientific factsit asks you to think critically about biology.) If you can do that, I said, then youll have made a true breakthrough.

I thought the challenge would keep them busy for two or three years. They finished it in just a few months.

In September, when I met with them again, I watched in awe as they asked GPT, their AI model, 60 multiple-choice questions from the AP Bio examand it got 59 of them right. Then it wrote outstanding answers to six open-ended questions from the exam. We had an outside expert score the test, and GPT got a 5the highest possible score, and the equivalent to getting an A or A+ in a college-level biology course.

Once it had aced the test, we asked it a non-scientific question: What do you say to a father with a sick child? It wrote a thoughtful answer that was probably better than most of us in the room would have given. The whole experience was stunning.

I knew I had just seen the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface.

This inspired me to think about all the things that AI can achieve in the next five to 10 years.

The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone. It will change the way people work, learn, travel, get health care, and communicate with each other. Entire industries will reorient around it. Businesses will distinguish themselves by how well they use it.

Philanthropy is my full-time job these days, and Ive been thinking a lot about howin addition to helping people be more productiveAI can reduce some of the worlds worst inequities. Globally, the worst inequity is in health: 5 million children under the age of 5 die every year. Thats down from 10 million two decades ago, but its still a shockingly high number. Nearly all of these children were born in poor countries and die of preventable causes like diarrhea or malaria. Its hard to imagine a better use of AIs than saving the lives of children.

Ive been thinking a lot about how AI can reduce some of the worlds worst inequities.

In the United States, the best opportunity for reducing inequity is to improve education, particularly making sure that students succeed at math. The evidence shows that having basic math skills sets students up for success, no matter what career they choose. But achievement in math is going down across the country, especially for Black, Latino, and low-income students. AI can help turn that trend around.

Climate change is another issue where Im convinced AI can make the world more equitable. The injustice of climate change is that the people who are suffering the mostthe worlds poorestare also the ones who did the least to contribute to the problem. Im still thinking and learning about how AI can help, but later in this post Ill suggest a few areas with a lot of potential.

In short, I'm excited about the impact that AI will have on issues that the Gates Foundation works on, and the foundation will have much more to say about AI in the coming months. The world needs to make sure that everyoneand not just people who are well-offbenefits from artificial intelligence. Governments and philanthropy will need to play a major role in ensuring that it reduces inequity and doesnt contribute to it. This is the priority for my own work related to AI.

Any new technology thats so disruptive is bound to make people uneasy, and thats certainly true with artificial intelligence. I understand whyit raises hard questions about the workforce, the legal system, privacy, bias, and more. AIs also make factual mistakes and experience hallucinations. Before I suggest some ways to mitigate the risks, Ill define what I mean by AI, and Ill go into more detail about some of the ways in which it will help empower people at work, save lives, and improve education.

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Bitcoin [BTC]: Derivatives demand soars, but what are its implications – AMBCrypto News

Market events so far this month can teach investors a lot about Bitcoins [BTC] demand characteristics, especially those related to the derivatives market. The same observations might come in handy when making informed market decisions.

Is your portfolio green? Check out the Bitcoin Profit Calculator

To recap, Bitcoins jump from 10 March was fueled by a surge in accumulation due to the loss of confidence in the banking sector. The higher confidence was particularly evident in the derivatives market. Both the Binance open interest and funding rates metrics bounced back strongly on 12 March to a new monthly high by 19 March.

Both metrics confirm a robust demand influx from the derivatives market. But what about the demand for leverage? Bitcoins estimated leverage ratio pivoted at around the same time as the other derivatives market. It grew slightly, which may indicate that market confidence is still not as high. However, it could also mean that those willing to use leverage were still relatively few.

Perhaps the best example of the impact of the leverage level in the market is its impact on price changes. For example, long liquidations soared to 304.54% on 22 March due to the surge in sell pressure. Moreover, shorts dropped by a noteworthy margin during the last few days.

BTC long liquidations also dropped sharply in the last 24 hours. This might be due to investors exiting their positions, especially now that Bitcoin is interacting within an ascending resistance line. We have seen the return of sell pressure above the $28,000 price level.

BTC has also been flirting with overbought conditions according to the RSI and the same applies for its MFI. This increases the chances of sell pressure pushing down the price, thus explaining why traders are exiting their positions.

The risk of more sell pressure is further exasperated by outflows from whale addresses. Addresses holding over 1,000 BTC peaked on 20 March and have trimmed their balances substantially since then. This is a sign that whales have been cashing out their short-term gains.

The above observations highlight a higher likelihood of the bears successfully pushing down Bitcoins price in the next few days. However, this will depend on whether there will be any new events that may accelerate the selloff or trigger a potential pivot. If the latter occurs, then Bitcoins next major target will be the $30,000 price range.

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Clever Hack Uses YouTube to Back Up Your Data in Google’s Cloud for Free – Yahoo News

Although the convenience of having your digital documents backed up to the cloud and available everywhere was once a pricey privilege, Google will now enable your digital hoarding for the price of a fancy cup of coffee: 2TB of storage for just $10/month, and even more, if you need. But theres another way to take advantage of Googles vast expanse of cloud storage, and its completely free.

YouTubes not only a great way to share videos with the world, its also a useful archive toolassuming you dont mind your video content being subjected to some aggressive video compression. According to Google, basic YouTube accounts can upload videos that are up to 15 minutes in length. But verified accounts push that limit to videos that are either 12 hours long or 256 GB in size, while the number of videos that can be uploaded every day seems to vary from user to user.

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Thats a lot of data being pushed to the cloud without the user being charged, but does it have to be strictly video content? The answer is both yes and no, as YouTuber HistidineDwarf discovered. They created a tool called AKA ISG (Infinite-Storage-Glitch, which you can find on GitHub) that takes a single zip file containing other assorted files and converts it into a video with the data stream completely visualized across framesbut to human eyes, it looks like nothing but monochromatic noise. You can see a sample file uploaded to YouTube below, but those sensitive to flashing lights might not want to hit the play button.

YouTube as a form of hard drive (Read description)

When the uploaded data needs to be retrieved, the video file can be downloaded from YouTube again and decoded. It sounds simple, but there were quite a few challenges to make this happen, including the lingering question of whether or not this violates YouTubes terms of service. (Were betting Google will find a way to say it does, so maybe dont store your only copy of important files this way.)

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The biggest challenge was finding a way to prevent the uploaded data stream videos from being corrupted by video compression: a process that strives to shrink file sizes by often discarding or altering fine details in a videowhich is exactly what these videos happen to contain. The solution was to ensure the fine details never get too fine or too small to be affected by YouTubes compression algorithms, and by never using anything smaller than 2x2 blocks of pixels, this technique has managed to avoid corruption so far, but that could easily change with an algorithm tweak.

The downside to the overly-cautious error-proofing is that the file sizes of the videos produced are often four times larger than the original zip file containing the data. So if youve got a 1 GB zip, youll have to upload as much as 4 GB to YouTube. That could take a sizeable bite out of your internet bandwidth if youre not lucky enough to have an unlimited data cap. Is it an ideal way to back up your data? Absolutely not, YouTube could delete a video containing all your wedding photos hidden away inside without so much as a warning. But it is completely free, which might make the risk worth it for those always eager to beat the system.

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Which Free Cloud Storage Solution Is Best? – Money Talks News

insta_photos / Shutterstock.com

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on Living on the Cheap.

While few people knew the term cloud computing just a decade ago, the cloud has become an important part of our digital lives. Cloud services now cover important needs like email, music, photos, and other files. One of the most important uses of the cloud is personal file storage.

Heres a look at the top free cloud storage service options today and which could be the right fit for your storage needs

Dropbox is one of the original cloud storage solutions and remains one of the most popular dedicated cloud storage products. Dropbox makes it easy to sync a dedicated Dropbox folder between multiple devices.

If you work with two or more computers regularly, Dropbox is one of the easiest ways to transfer files between computers or even your phone or tablet.

The free basic account includes up to 2GB of storage, which is pretty small, and a limited set of sharing and smart syncing features. Paid plans start at $9.99 per month for one user with 2TB of storage space or $16.99 for a family plan with six users splitting 2TB. (Heres a good explanation of how much a terabyte is.)

In addition to syncing your Dropbox folder, you can use Dropbox to backup your computer or specific folders, securely share files and documents, and access saved files for up to 30 days after deletion.

Ive had a Dropbox account since August 2011 (happy anniversary to me), and a paid account for many years. I couldnt imagine running my online business without it!

Google Drive is a cloud storage solution from the search giant you likely use multiple times per day already. If you have a Gmail account or any other type of Google account, you already have Google Drive and may not even realize it.

Free Google accounts come with 15GB of storage shared among Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos.

Paid plans start at $1.99 per month for 100GB of storage. I have the 200GB plan for $2.99 per month, which I share with my family. More expensive plans start at 2TB, but youll pay a lot more at those levels.

The powerful features of Google Photos and integration with Google Workspace (Google Docs, Sheets, etc.) also make it an appealing cloud storage option.

Drive is great if youre deeply entrenched in the Google ecosystem. Android users will find close integration with Google Drive and Google One services. It works well for syncing your Google Drive folder, backing up photos, and sharing files and photos with family and friends. If you already use Google, this is a great place to start because you dont have to sign up for a new account.

Even if youre not already signed up, the 15GB free account could meet your online storage needs without typing in a credit card number.

Dedicated iPhone and Mac users should first consider iCloud, the storage solution from Apple. Among other features, iCloud is closely integrated with Apples operating systems for automated photo and file backups. You can also backup and sync an iCloud drive folder and other folders you specify.

Free iCloud accounts include 5GB of storage space. If you need more than that, which you likely will, plans cost $0.99 per month for 50GB, $2.99 per month for 200GB, and $9.99 per month for 2TB.

I use a Macbook for work and back up my photos using iPhoto, which put me on the $9.99 per month plan. My wife also has a $2.99 per month plan of her own tied to her Macbook Air.

Because of how iCloud integrates with iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices, its great if you use them. However, if youre not an Apple person, you can skip iCloud.

OneDrive is part of the Microsoft 365 package, including the Microsoft Office suite of products (Word, Excel, etc.). The close integration of those applications makes OneDrive a great option for businesses that regularly use Microsoft Office and share between team members and customers.

You get 5GB for free with a basic account, or you can buy 100GB of storage for $1.99 per month. A Microsoft 365 Personal subscription, which includes the office apps and Skype credits, gets you 1TB of storage for a total of $69.99 per year. A family plan gives you Office, Skype, and 6TB of storage for up to six users for $99.99 per year.

Windows users may already be familiar with OneDrive, as its preinstalled with Windows and closely integrates with the operating system. Its decent for backing up specific folders but doesnt have the cross-platform support you get with Google or Dropbox. Instead, its closer to what you get from iCloud but Windows-specific.

I have a Microsoft 365 subscription because I need the office apps for personal and work use, but I dont use the storage space even though Im paying for it.

If youre an Amazon Prime user, you get 5GB of free cloud storage with your annual subscription. Prime users get the added benefit of unlimited photo storage.

Fire device owners get unlimited photo storage for images taken with the device plus 5GB for video. Paid plans cost $1.99 per month/$19.99 per year for 100GB, $6.99 per month/$59.99 per year for 1TB, or $11.99 per month/$119.98 per year for 2TB.

Outside of its unlimited photo storage for Prime customers and Fire users, Amazon Cloud Drive isnt particularly exciting compared to the others on this list.

Box is another dedicated cloud storage company with a long history of providing secure storage to personal and business users. Its best for keeping files backed up and syncing specific folders between computers and the cloud.

The free personal plan includes 10GB of storage for files up to 250MB in size. For $10 per month, you get 100GB of storage for files up to 5GB each. Business plans are available as well.

NextCloud is a self-hosted cloud storage system. If youre techy and have an extra computer lying around the house, you can use NextCloud to create your own cloud backup system. NextCloud is free to use and open source.

If youre good with computers and concerned about privacy, NextCloud is a good alternative to the larger cloud services. Just keep in mind that youre in charge of tech support and keeping redundant backups in case your system runs into any issues or drive failures.

NextCloud is free, but you have to provide your own computer and storage drives.

Theres no cloud storage system perfect for everyone, but you can likely find one or two that combine to meet your needs perfectly, or more if youre a computer nerd like me. Just be careful to avoid signing up for too much storage or subscriptions you dont need, or you could overpay for storage space you dont use.

Dedicated Google or Apple users may gravitate to one of those solutions, while those who work across operating systems may prefer Dropbox. Both Dropbox and Google Drive are top options for those who are not dedicated to a specific cloud ecosystem.

When you know what you need and how you plan to use it, its easy to pick a cloud storage suite for your needs.

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Which Free Cloud Storage Solution Is Best? - Money Talks News

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