Hello bitcointalkers, it has been a thing of great joy to me today as I logged into to meet a 100 merits reached to unlock my full member rank.
It has been an earnest desire for me to rank up to the full member rank to atleast have better preferences in the forum and today I already reached that rank and I want the house to join me in celebrating  this win.

Cheers to me.

Current number of post (Including this one): 229
Rank: Full Member
bech32 address: bc1q3aufw7py3e64njjaak0sndy59prruw4ayvdf5f
Merit earned in the last 120 days: 89

I see the speculated fight as a means of creating content for their both social media platforms and it's unlikely to happen, however if it does then it's going to be more beneficial to the gambling sector.
 
 Musk is a very successful entrepreneurs known for his numerous innovations and projects last year there were talks that would he venture into sport business when the owners of Manchester United football FC announced a sale by November last year and it was speculated that Elon was likely to bid for the club since he's a fan but it turned out to be rumours.

 Also it is said that Elon is building a phone called Tesla Pi phone from his electric car company tesla and is rumoured that he's the designer of the phone which is likely to compete with the likes of Samsung and iPhone products, but I don't see musk purchasing another company maybe he'll be more focused on achieving the success of his Mars exploration and Neuralink projects.

https://www.dealntech.com/tesla-pi-phone/#:~:text=It%20looks%20like%20Tesla%20will,not%20based%20on%20confirmed%20leaks.

 Even the government of most developed countries take loans from the world bank to sustain their economy talk more of normal individuals, just like you said many individuals in general have been there and taking loans have become a normal lifestyle for humans at large.
 But it's advisable to have a source of income before you embark on requesting for loans from banks or a wealthy individual, only a foolish man would take a loan without having any job to clear his  debt, I've witnessed a case where a man took loans from a rich merchant to clear his house bills, he might have solved a part of his problem but has attracted another problem to himself which might turn out embarrassing if he can't meet up paying up.
 There's a saying that "one should cut their coats According to their sizes" which means that you shouldn't do beyond your capacity in orherwords know your worth, when you're spending beyond your earnings you might be forced to borrow money which would make you be in debt and suffer financially, however taking loans is not a bad idea when you use the funds on a good investment.

 Op the sole aim of bitcoin wasn't to eradicate poverty, because satoshi's intention of bitcoin creation was to serve as a means of sending and receiving money online, it's sole aim was to serve as an alternative money to fiat for making online payments easier, safer and faster, without the control of the government.

 He made it in such a way that there should be no intermediaries  like banks and you can only buy and sell from exchanges but lately there's a peer to peer means where you can buy based on trust from friends or close people who already have  stored bitcoins bought from those exchanges but the selling rate may differ based on your negotiations and it's not advisable due to risk and trust issues.

 However the price of bitcoin varies with time there's loss and yield when it comes to bitcoin investment so it shouldn't be described as a means of poverty alleviation because one could loss a good amount of money when it's price is on the bear run, but there's one very useful benefit of bitcoin I love which is the fact that it doesn't require a very high transaction fee or maintenance fee like banks.
 

 They're both very valuable assets for one to have but the difference is that bitcoin is a physical asset while while Gold is physical and they both have their disadvantages in as much as they're both important commodities.

Disadvantages Of Gold
• it's goes down when their's an increase in stock.
• can be volatile over a short period of time.
• can easily get lost to theft.
• it has storage problems.
• it's price is dictated by international market.

Disadvantages Of Bitcoin
• bitcoin investment is not very easy to be understood by everyday people.
• there's no refund over loss in investment.
• easily used by scammers to defraud people due to a high lack of understanding by most users
• no stability in it's price.
• not widely accepted by people at large

 I'm really impressed with this post, cause never had it occurred to me that bitcoin could be related to kids through comic books, it shows you're a deep thinker and I applauded you for that, well children adapt very fast at the age of 7- 15 years and I could  imagine the vast knowledge a child would have when they turn 18 if being taught about bitcoin from that tender age. Well I wasn't opportuned about this at a tender age but I think my kids should  have this knowledge while growing up, so I'll suggest you check on YouTube for cartoons like.
Bitcoin and the beast
Tears of a clown

https://www.youtube.com/live/_ekzsZZGfsk?feature=share
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DdCi3X3AbgT4&ved=2ahUKEwjf6v3n--P_AhWDg1wKHYRjDdkQwqsBegQIDRAG&usg=AOvVaw3cAN3ECWTrjdTvIZfY9gax
 Or you can as well go to Amazon.com and then check of their bookshop online and search for the preferred book about bitcoin you want for your kids, I hope the link I dropped from those YouTube videos  would help.

 Left for me, i don't think Joselu  could come closer to the likes of Karim Benzema when it comes to replacing him as a top 9 of a big club like Realmadrid, better finishers the likes of Victor oshimen, Harry kane or even kylan mbappe would have been preferable.

 Judging from joselu's stats in 2022/23 season for Espanyol he had 16 goals in 34 matches added with 2 assists, well that might be good for a player of his age but not up to standards for a club like Realmadrid, they need a constant goal scorer like halland that would help them challenge for the UEFA championship title again, of which I'll prefer victor oshimen to be in that position, the  Napoli top 9 would perfectly replace Karim with ease because he's younger, a perfect finisher with pace, good scoring mentality and assists  from modric and vini jnr would make it easier for him to attain a better scoring record of the 2022/23 campaign in Napoli having 26 goals in 32 matches with 4 assists, better than that of joselu's.

I came a across a famous punter on twitter called mayor he's very good with his predictions and chances of winning his predictions are very high and he usually does some sort of giveaways to his followers thereby assisting them with funds to stake on his predictions, he has a high staking power and if you register into any of the bookies sites he operates with, you stand a chance of getting double the amount of your first deposit into the site.
 
 Well you're right because most  of this punters don't share all their winning strategies to their followers, cause they believe this bookies would take note of it and block the options, because the sites is a business for the bookies owners and they won't want to keep loosing. However what some punters normally do is drop a random game options with high chances of winning and ask their subjects to edit to smaller odds and stake high, it works most of the time but some people out of greed would want to make larger profits and end up losing.

 One thing I know for sure is that there are choices in life and everyone has a reason why they choose to do whatever they do be it good or bad, the choice of gambling varies individually, some people find it profitable so they continue in that path while some other people do it for fun and to releive stress during their leisures.

 There are still other people who see gambling as a means to financial freedom most times these set of people are jobless and see it as their last resort of earning to survive. Also most individuals are risk takers and would alwyas want to partake in things like this so far there's a reward to be claimed, these set of people do not care whether they lose or not cause they are also open to new challenges so far there's a price to be claimed.

 There are other set of people that are bored and see gambling as means of socialisation they visit the casinos or play draft like the OP said just to link up or meet new people, we all know that gambling is addictive and most people are so addicted to it that they find it difficult to quit matter how much they lose daily, such set of people needs help and are advised to see a therapist, they're still other people that think they have to continue so as to enhance their gambling skill.

 OP the addictions of gambling is not only to illiterates cause there are also graduates, business men that partake in gambling as well.

 I wasn't opportuned to follow up all the activities in the just concluded UEFA Nations league but I watched some few games and I think the Croatian team did very well and played fantastic football with the likes of modric leading the team to victory against other nations and qualifying I final stages of the tournament tournament.
 Though they couldn't lift the cup and were held to a draw against Spain which later lead to a penalty shoot out loosing 4 - 5 to the Spanish nation after a fine safe from unai Simon the Spanish goalkeeper the Croatian team did great and I was impressed with their performance, it would had been their first international trophy anyways congratulations to Spain for lifting the 2022/2023 UEFA Nations League Trophy.

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 Yeah you're right one should invest with their spare money and I pity those that go into gambling to earn a living or take it as a serious investment, gambling is a game of luck and just like football, music and movie one should see gambling as a form of entertainment and not go beyond that cause it's very addictive and excessive gambling  could lead to ruins and regret.
 I've witness a case where a student used his school fees to gamble, and ended up not making any profit, he cried and pleaded for his money to be refund but to no avail, 0lol it might seem funny but very annoying because alot of people are yet to understand that it yields more loss than profit cause this Casinos or gambling sites needs you to loss so as to make themselves rich.
 Though their are several people that are gifted with the art of predicting, they easily make profit and makes it seem easy but there's a saying that all fingers are not equal and what works for Mr A might not work for B, I'm not criticising those that gamble but the things is people should know when to quit or gamble Wisely.

 You made the right choice  investing in cryptocurrencies at that point in time, honestly I wish I had invested in bitcoin earlier, but there's a saying that it's better late than never and i think you should encourage your friends about considering investing in bitcoin as well and since  you've lasted I'm the crypto ecosystem for over two years and gain profits from it, that means you've mastered the trade and you're in the best position to teach them about bitcoin.
 Well you can as well let them know that bitcoin is a decentralized currency and cannot be controlled or monitored by the government just like the fiat currencies so they have to reason to fear cause the government doesn't determine the price of it, nobody controls or own bitcoin, it's a currency controlled by everyday users, including government officials and normal people, miners, nodes and exchanges where it's been traded.
 it is very impossible for the Internet to shut down and one can only lose their assest when trading without caution thereby avoiding risk management, theft or scam.

My Countdown to full member Rank
Number of Merit(s) left: 13 12 11

It haven't been an easy one and work to get here and I'm pleading to get a little push up to get me ranked up to the next rank and I will be so glad if I'm considered.

Thanks

It's very wise to invest in Cryptocurrency with money you could afford to loose incase of lose or drop in price of bitcoin, and also there's no best time to invest in bitcoin currently my reason is that bitcoin is likely to reach an all time high in 2024 as predicted and it just increased from $25k to $30k days ago So those that missed out on buying the Dip can as well buy now or wait for a drop In price to buy.
 According to the your post, you stated that bitcoin will not come up soon as at march and I guess the price was not close to $30k when you made such statement, so with the current rise in price I guess that has cleared your doubt, but I agree with you when you said everyone has to be careful when investing cause no one can  predict the price of bitcoin since it's a decentralized currency.

The uniqueness of bitcoin is 2nd to no others, asides from birthing other Cyptocurrencies, unlike stable coins that are backed by the USD bitcoin cannot be tracked and is highly decentralized meaning that government might find it very difficult to control or influence the price of btc, it is not like the CBDC which is regulated by a nations monetary authority.

 Also, OP just like you stated it is traded in every sphere of the market and can be found in every crypto exchanges because it is the first and most value crypto asset and very easily to be converted to fiat in most exchanges, it might seem impossible to access or trade other Altcoins in most exchanges but bitcoin is most accessible by almost all exchanges.

 I don't think you choose the right topic for this post, because you automatically become a newbie once you make a new post or reply to a thread, the word potential according to your statement should be referred to those that have an idea about that forum but are yet to join or brand-new members that yet to make a post.
 So far a newbie in the forum is making nice contributions and gaining Merits they could be referred to as potential member, full member or any other senior rank, and the more quality contributions you make more you get noticed and merited by high ranking members in the forum.

 Everyone in the crypto space would wish for this to happen at the moment but there are many challenges that's made this almost impossible to archive even in the future. Bitcoin is a decentralized currency and the government especially (U.S) would not see it'success being used as general currency.
 The government won't want a currency beyond their control, cause bitcoin can't be manipulated just like the fiat currency and moreover there are very few people currently that have a good knowledge about bitcoin including the barriers of mining it as well.
 Though it's likely to be but there a lots of work to be done before it's accepted globally where as the sole aim of satoshi was it to be used as an alternative to fiat as a means of buying and selling and also to remove third parties that are required to conduct digital monetary transfers, well only time would tell if bitcoin would be the currency of the future.

 I agree with the OP that nothing good comes easily,  because something that's worth having is sometimes not easily gotten, for instance to achieve success you need to work hard with good discipline and commitment to get to the peak , though in life, there are three kinds of people.
 First set of people are  those that makes little effort at the first trial but still get their goals.
 The second set of people are those that makes effort but still faces little challenges and encounter one or two trials but still get there goals on the long run
 Lastly are those people that seems like luck is never on their side, they work very hard more than the first and second set of people and archive little success.
 But whether you fall under any of these set of people, you still need to work to achieve success whether you put in less effort or not. Life itself is not a bed of roses it's still full of struggles, hoodles and trials.