The high bitcoin demand by the public is what is driving the bitcoin price and value. And still everyday new people are coming in to bitcoin without the knowledge of how expensive the bitcoin transaction is or slow the bitcoin network. I believe newcomers are the ones to invest in bitcoin with these issues. Bitcoin will surely struggle in 2018, if not proper measures are taken to solve these transaction issues.

Bitcoin helped a lot of people in 2017 because the value of bitcoin gained about 2000% increase in value. the bitcoin price went from $1,000 to $20,000 in only 12 months. Bitcoin has a tremendous year in 2017, the best year so far for bitcoin since the bitcoin invention in 2009. No doubt, bitcoin provide a lot of job opportunities around the world, helping thousands if not millions of people globally. Indeed, 2017 is an unforgettable year for bitcoiners because they make so much money from bitcoin.   

I started using bitcoin with three online wallets which are Xapo, Blochain.info and Luno. But i'm currently using Coinpayments for multiple altcoin, Luno for easy conversions, and Ledger wallet for long term investment. These are my very best wallets so far.

Well, here are the most controversial ones:

1. China banning ICOs and crypto exchanges.
2. JP Morgan CEO, James Dimon called bitcoin a fraud.  
3. Goldman Sachs announced trading bitcoin (still on the paper)
4. CME Group Inc, and CBoe Exchange announced bitcoin futures
5. John McAfee betting his manhood if bitcoin never hits a million dollars by 2020.

I think bitcoin price can rise and fall in any given time not only during christmas time. Whenever there is a price boost there must be a correction, you should keep that in mind. For me, the best time to sell is when the bitcoin price gets to another level by setting the new record all-time high in price, that is the perfect time to sell, if you want to.

Indeed, the time has come where bitcoin is the most popular and valuable cryptocurrency where people from Wall Street to CME are investing their money into it. Bitcoin also reached another level where people are trading it on the same market with USD, Euro, and Pounds, e.g. Square cash and CME. 

No. bitcoin will never make banks disappear because government own the banks. Some governments are even banning bitcoin in their countries to avoid competition. Perhaps, in the future some cryptocurrency, an altcoin will do.

Yes, there no guarantee bitcoin price will always go up. Sometimes bitcoin price went down. If you are unlucky the bitcoin price might go down instead of going up. You should only invest what you can afford to lose!  

Culture Shock: Bitcoin a Part of All Walks of Life in 2017



2017 will go down as the biggest year in Bitcoin’s history - with meteoric highs paving the way for the preeminent cryptocurrency bursting into mainstream consciousness.

December will forever be remembered for Bitcoin’s massive price correction after hitting the $20,000 milestone, but a lot happened in the lead up to the climactic end of the year.

Rewind to January 2017. Bitcoin had just broken through the $1,000 barrier and the talk among crypto enthusiasts was that the virtual currency was set for a bullish year. It’s fair to say that no one anticipated an eventual 2,000 percent growth before the market correction, but the statistics will tell a different story.


Google Stats

A quick glance at Google Trend’s analytic graph shows that interest in Bitcoin had a small peak in May, while it really started to garner interest worldwide around the time that SegWit2x was postponed and the Bitcoin bull run began.

It was, however, the second most searched news term globally in 2017, while it came up third in the often hilarious ‘how to’ search category.





Interestingly enough, the countries where Bitcoin was most often searched were not massive first world economies, but growing ones. South Africa topped the list, followed by Slovenia, Nigeria, Ghana then Australia.

Occupying top spots in Google’s search trends is no mean feat. It tells us that people were searching hard for information on Bitcoin, whether it was for the latest price updates or how to setup a Bitcoin wallet.

Bitcoin also occupied the number one spot for the most searched term on Investopedia - the world’s go-to encyclopedia for financial and economic terms and information.


Miners delight - cards in demand

As interest in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies grew, the average PC gamer and overclocking enthusiast saw their chance to get in on the action by using their hardware to support the world’s mining operations.

Mining enthusiasts wasted no time getting in on the action which quickly led to a massive surge in demand for graphics cards - which are needed to solve the cryptographic puzzles that are used to validate transactions on cryptocurrency Blockchains.

Just half-way through 2017, graphics card manufacturers AMD struggled to keep up with the demand for cards.

Rivals Nvidia boasted superior stock prices this year and the adoption of Blockchain technologies by the likes of Uber and Airbnb led analysts to predict even greater growth as both chip manufacturers hold the key - hardware.

Nvidia’s stock price even mimicked Bitcoin price for the better part of the year - although the company was uncertain of its future in the market amid regulatory changes in China, which accounts for a large contingent of the world’s mining operations. Proposals were made to manufacture mining specific chips to protect the company from constantly changing consumer needs.


Bitcoin gets celebrity approval

Along with its newfound notoriety, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies also got a celebrity stamp of approval in 2017.

Boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather grabbed headlines on numerous occasions, as he stepped in to promote a number of ICOs using the Ethereum Blockchain.

Football giant Leo Messi also joined the fray in an endorsement deal with Sirin Labs, which creates hardware to support Blockchain technology.

The list literally goes on and there are some surprising names here. Top of the list is rapper Snoop Dogg, alongside actors Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashton Kutcher.


Luxury items for sale

As Bitcoin boomed, more people looked to take advantage of the appreciation in value which saw some luxury items, from mansions to custom cars, go on sale - not in dollars, but in Bitcoin.

For the right price, people could get their hands on a golden Rolls Royce, a Caribbean island, an upmarket flat in England’s famous Notting Hill, or a mansion in Miami.


Trying to keep up

The explosion of interest in Bitcoin was a boon to the market but it also proved to be a massive stress test for exchanges, their servers, infrastructure and payment systems.

From November onwards, major exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini, Bitfinex and others had to upgrade their systems to meet the massive influx of new users trying to open up wallets on their exchanges.

This caused a major headache for many users due to the slow transaction speed. However, without the massive increase in volume, many of these exchanges may not have upgraded their systems - which is crucial in the development of more efficient exchanges.


Media spotlight

The ever-growing interest in Bitcoin inevitably led to the subject being covered more extensively by mainstream news outlets. The likes of CBNC, Fortune, Bloomberg, CNN and Fox to name but a few ramped up coverage on the subject.

Every other day, these media giants hosted financial analysts, cryptocurrency experts, Blockchain engineers, basically anyone with a wealth of knowledge on the subject to help inform opinion.

As mentioned above, Bitcoin was the second-most searched news term on Google - feeding traffic to these websites and their various interviews.

Financial experts like billionaire hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz and renowned stock analyst Ronnie Moas led the way in terms of price predictions. Meanwhile, traditional financial institutions like JP Morgan, Bank of France, Coutts Bank were staunchly opposed to cryptocurrency adoption - as was reported by numerous mainstream news outlets.

If 2017 was anything to go by, we are in for a bumper new year. The cryptocurrency market valuation is bound to be top of the list, but constant advances in Blockchain tech and new offerings should see crypto garner more media interest in 2018.


Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/culture-shock-bitcoin-a-part-of-all-walks-of-life-in-2017

Bitcoin Headed ‘Below $5k,’ Is ‘One Of Silliest Things’ - Dennis Gartman To CNBC



Gartman Letter creator and former trader Dennis Gartman has said Bitcoin will trade “below $5,000” and that it is “one of the silliest things in a long time.”

In two appearances on newly Bitcoin-bearish TV network CNBC, Gartman stressed the implausibility of the virtual currency and said he would have no contact or exposure to it.

“I'm very bearish on Bitcoin, I think it's one of the silliest ideas I've heard in a long time," he told its Futures Now segment Saturday.

Speaking on Worldwide Exchange previously, Gartman added Bitcoin makes “no sense whatsoever.”

“I won't trade it. I won't be long of it. I won't be short of it,” he announced, failing to see the merits of “some sort of an asset that has no real asset value behind it.”

The Wall Street veteran’s perspective is typical of the highly critical approach a diminishing number of traditional finance figures continue to hold on Bitcoin.

While some of the most famous naysayers have either U-turned or quietened down on the topic, some, including central bank chiefs and even entire governments, maintain that it will evaporate.

For its part, while previously adopting a neutral stance on Bitcoin, CNBC recently turned the tables dramatically, publishing practically all warnings about investing in it while championing the alleged benefits of an altcoin, Bitcoin Cash.

The network’s Fast Money segment has been especially vocal, its Twitter account causing a stir when it published pro-Bitcoin Cash material some considered was verging on aggressive in nature.

    #bitcoin closing out 2017 on a .... pic.twitter.com/iSXHLWU0mX
    — CNBC's Fast Money (@CNBCFastMoney) December 30, 2017

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-headed-below-5k-is-one-of-silliest-things-dennis-gartman-to-cnbc

For me, investing in bitcoin since 2016 is one of my best investments. We started 2017 bitcoin was selling around $952 and by February bitcoin price reached $1,120 and by May, bitcoin was selling around $1,700. from that movement, i knew bitcoin is going to be on another level in 2017. thus, i invested more. During June/July bitcoin price claimed to $3,000 up to $4,000 in August 2017. I was still holding, after when the China banned ICOs and crypto exchanges in China and Jamie Dimon called bitcoin a fraud, i was still with my coins. I sold them later in November when the bitcoin price reach $12,000. As we are now looking in to 2018, I'm looking forward to investing more in bitcoin and potential altcoins.  

The best investment i made was investing in altcoins. Over the last few months i managed to invest on some of the few potential altcoins which turns out to be the most profitable investments for me ever. When you find the good altcoin with potential the best thing to do is invest some money into it and in time, boom! you make a lot of profit.

No doubt gold has more user base than bitcoin because bitcoin have less 50 million users - what is important here is which one is more valuable. Gold has medium value with market security while bitcoin has huge value and less market security in terms of fluctuation.  

Investors Still Wary of Bitcoin



Setting aside a massive December price correction, Bitcoin has pushed its way into the minds of ordinary people all over the world.

Google stats for 2017 have Bitcoin as the second most searched news term of the year, as everyone from plucky investors, cryptocurrency newbies and diehard technologists look for the latest news and price updates on the lucrative cryptocurrency.

With a market capitalization of over $11 bln, Bitcoin has made many a millionaire with its rapid appreciation in value this year. Investors flocked to buy Bitcoin during its most recent bull run which started in November which saw the price skyrocket to an eventual high of $20,000.

The almost inevitable correction in the lead up to Christmas sent jitters through the market and many investors will have lamented the dramatic drop in price.

It's not surprising to hear financial analysts and industry experts describe an apathy towards the market due to the volatility seen in recent weeks. Both big businesses and individual investors still seem wary of putting their money into cryptocurrencies.


Small players

Speaking to CNBC this week, American billionaire Tilman Fertitta, who made his fortune as a restauranteur, believes the average man won’t go near Bitcoin until they have some sort of insurance.

    "They don't have the money. It's just paper. That's all Bitcoin is, is paper, but it's not insured by the FDIC today. And until it's insured, a lot of people are never going to buy it.”

Nevertheless, the 60-year-old isn’t opposed to the idea of Bitcoin becoming a widely accepted payment method in the future, even by some of his businesses, ranging from casinos, hotels to restaurants.

    "I mean, I remember somebody walking into my office and saying, 'The world's going to change. There's this thing called the Internet.' And that wasn't that long ago. So we have to remember this. It's just something new and everything moves at a quicker pace today."


Big players

Larger financial institutions have already entered the cryptocurrency fray after the launch of Bitcoin futures contracts on CBOE and CME trading exchanges. The NASDAQ and Goldman Sachs are also set to jump onboard in 2018 - paving the way for wider mainstream adoption.

Nevertheless there still seems to be a reluctance for bigger corporate players to invest some serious capital into the market.

In an interview with CNBC this week, head of currency and forex technology company FiREapps Wolfgang Koester said big companies want a less speculative environment,

FiREapps provide insights into the likes of Google and Ericsson, but Koester says big companies will not invest in current cryptocurrencies and are waiting for state-issued digital currencies, backed by regulation.

    "They are saying we can't get involved with Bitcoin, but we like the idea of Bitcoin and others. We like speedy transactions at a lower cost. They are waiting for governments to issue those digital currencies so that they can take advantage.”

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/investors-still-wary-of-bitcoin

ICOs Raised $4 Bln in 2017, What 2018 Has in Store



2017 has definitely been a record-breaking year for ICOs: a fiat equivalent of some $4 bln have been raised, and the number of successful token placements have increased to a couple of hundreds globally. Yet, in the same year, traditional IPOs are estimated to have raised $188.8 bln in total of 1,624 deals, according to E&Y IPO Global trends report. Only in third quarter, 2,645 venture capital deals amounted to $42 bln.

ICOs have raised less about two percent of global IPO proceeds, but ICOs not IPOs, and not venture capital deals, are the talk of the street these days. Why?

In one year only ICOs proceeds have surged almost 40-fold, from $96.3 mln in 2016. In 2014- 2015 the amount was microscopic. More than 180 new ICOs are scheduled to launch in 2018, according to ICObench listing.

It would be superficial and arrogant to explain the ICO explosion only by desire of newly-rich crypto-miners to invest their unexpectedly reevaluated digital assets in something productive and to protect themselves against volatility. It may be the case, but it doesn’t explain the whole case. In fact, there are three root causes of ICO success.


The good reason

ICOs and cryptocurrencies exploit fundamental flaws of the traditional funding methodologies. They bring justice and equality to projects from underprivileged geographies, sectors, and don’t rob founders’ share while doing so.

Traditional financing is tilted towards an intermediary, not a creator, and it is designed to lower the risks of that intermediary, not the investor or founder while maximizing intermediary’s yields. It basically works around the principle of Matthew 12:15 - “Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” Simply saying, it takes money to get more money.

Classic venture financing is orders of magnitude harder to achieve for those who live outside global hub cities. Most US funds won’t even consider financing an enterprise not domiciled in the US. Venture capitalists normally claim a hefty part of the equity in exchange for the money, so investors, irrespectively of their share, greatly influence the decision making of the founding team, and not always for good.

The first answer to these problems were crowdfunding platforms. ICOs have just made another step towards reducing the friction behind crowdfunding, de-intermediating it further.

The bad reason

Getting venture financing, let alone reaching for IPO afterwards, requires the team to distract themselves from the product development, marketing and promotion. Compliance, legal and due diligence procedures make the auxiliary mission of securing the funds for the project a separate task, as complicated or even more complicated than launching the product itself.

It’s not the only reason behind the ICO triumph.

Despite cyber-anarchists’ wet dreams, states won’t go anywhere anytime soon, and legal norms for ICO didn’t appear out of thin air. As they say in the military, service regulations are written in blood – of those who died to teach others a lesson. Stock exchanges and financial markets are regulated not exclusively to keep the profanes out. It is because most scams, frauds and crashes have already happened there. Sooner or later, ICOs will be regulated. And we should rather be a part of the solution to this problem, not the problem itself.


The ugly reason

In ideal post-Blockchain smart-contract, self-governing, crypto-anarchic world,  imagined by technophiles, we should all be singing “Hosannas” by now, praising human progress and ingenuity.

But we wouldn’t be humans if a life-changing invention weren’t used to cheat, defraud and steal. Cryptocurrencies and subsequently ICOs aren’t an exception, and there are and always will be frauds of course. Traditional financing doesn’t necessarily offer substantially better investor protection. Even the most stringent due diligence doesn’t guarantee against fraud. Crypto investment schemes are especially prone to it because of anonymity. 

ICO segment is still in its infancy, yet this baby is gaining weight alright. Childhood illnesses are many. First and foremost, crypto world has a severe reputation problem. The SEC calls for extreme precaution when investing in ICOs. To gain trust, we should start from within, and establish it first with the community.

Even in the absence of governmental regulations, self-regulation framework of ICOs will inevitably arise. Moreover, to avoid overregulation and unnecessary intervention of governments, it is essential that the community keeps policing itself better than any regulator. That’s exactly where the sector is headed – otherwise, it won’t survive.


What to expect in 2018

In coming year ICOs will offer more projects to serve the broader community, not limiting itself anymore to the Blockchain infrastructure development, payments and speculative trading. It will less much less revolve around purely financial technology. In 2017, we have already seen examples of Blockchain notary public, Blockchain-based real estate investment, loyalty programs, supply chain management, intellectual property rights management and other real-world applications. We’ll see more of that in 2018.

- By Sergi Dromo (Sergi Dromo is a cyber pessimist, techno-philosopher and unorthodox thinker.)


Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/icos-raised-4-bln-in-2017-what-2018-has-in-store

Crypto Market Crash - Not The New Year’s Present Everyone Hoped For



The cryptocurrency market has experienced a powerful drop this Friday and Saturday. Coins were losing value across the board, with just three of the top twenty by market capitalization displaying growth of over 10 percent: Cardano, Qtum and Neo.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, has dropped from a Friday high of $15,266 to as low as $12,350 on Saturday. The past two weeks have been very volatile for the original cryptocurrency, as it has achieved an all-time high of $20,000 on Dec. 17, 2017, only to hold it for a single day and consequently lose about 32 percent of that value, as of press time.



The latest fall seems to be the continuation of that trend, with no recovery in sight yet.

Ripple, which has just recently displaced Ethereum as the highest altcoin by market capitalization, has similarly dropped by at least 20 percent over the past two days. Despite experiencing a powerful surge this week, it hasn’t been spared from the “crypto massacre.”



Fortunately for holders of Ethereum, its drop has been less prominent. A fall from $769 to $685, constituting just an 11 percent loss of value, compares much more favorably to the performance of Bitcoin and Ripple. Especially if you consider the slight recovery of 2.22 percent over the past 24 hours.



Overall, 2017 has been a good year for Ethereum, seeing the coin rise from mere $8 to its own all-time high of $750 and beyond, and so far it seems to be maintaining that dynamic.

Other prominent cryptocurrencies have also lost value over the past two days, including Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, NEM, Dash, Monero, and others. This year has been very positive for the vast majority of coins, possibly indicating that the crash of the past two days is a temporary retracement of that progress, which may be followed by resumed growth.

As of press time, most cryptocurrencies have either started growing or slowed down their downward trends.


Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-market-crash-not-the-new-years-present-everyone-hoped-for

US Dollar Will End 2017 as Worst Year Since 2003, While Bitcoin is Up 1,372%



The US dollar has recorded the largest annual decline in value since 2003 and is forecasted to end 2017 at a three-month low against other major currencies like the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen.


Separating money and state

Meanwhile, Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency in the market with a $227 bln market valuation, is en route to ending the year recording a 1,341 percent increase in value, as one of the most profitable cryptocurrency in the global market behind Ripple, Litecoin, Dash and Ethereum.



Several analysts such as Chris Gaffney, president of World Markets at EverBank, told Reuters that the value of US dollar would likely further decline throughout 2018, with no signs of short-term recovery.

    “The dollar will face more headwinds in 2018. The Fed won’t be going at it alone in terms of taking off more gas from the stimulus pedal.”

Jens Nordvig, CEO of Exante Data, also told CNBC that while it would be normal for analysts to expect a recovery after such a large loss in value, this time, most analysts have a negative bias on the US dollar.

Nordvig said, emphasizing the rapid growth rate of the global economy and key players like China:

    "We have a negative bias on the dollar, which is extraordinary considering that interest rates are going to rise at a very good clip. It got too strong before January, and the other factor is that global growth is very strong.”

Long-time Bitcoin investors and cryptocurrency researchers believe that the rise of cryptocurrencies as a new emerging asset class is playing a small role in the decline of fiat currencies across the globe, by separating money and state.

For many decades, governments have had absolute control over the global monetary system, especially of the fiat currency system with which they can easily manipulate the supply of circulating money.

In November, ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees noted that Bitcoin is continuing to grow in terms of market valuation, user base and user activity because as a decentralized currency and store of value, it is providing an alternative financial network to the fiat currency system. Voorhees said:

    “Why does Bitcoin keep growing? Because it's time to separate money and state.”

In response to a criticism of the abovementioned statement, Voorhees added that although short-term price bubbles in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets are fueled by greed, long-term price growth demonstrates the demand for non-state finance. He explained:

    “The short-term price bubbles are full-on speculation, agreed. But the long-term increase in value and price is due to the fundamental utility of non-state finance.”


Most important chart

Earlier this month, Zerohedge released a chart entitled “The Most Important Chart in the World,” which demonstrated the decline in the value of the US Treasury since 1987. While Bitcoin has recorded consistent gains throughout its eight-year history with the exception of 2014, since more than 30 years ago, the US Treasury has been on a decline.



Consequently, analysts have started to evaluate the long-term bubbles in the traditional finance industry, and whether emerging assets like Bitcoin should be described as bubbles or traditional assets that have been on a decline for many decades should be considered as long-lasting bubbles.


Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-dollar-will-end-2017-as-worst-year-since-2003-while-bitcoin-is-up-1372

Ripple Becomes Largest Altcoin As Bitcoiners Issue Warnings



Ripple (XRP) has overtaken Ethereum as the largest altcoin by market cap in a surge which has divided the cryptocurrency community.

After the payment network’s token reached as much as $2.65 on some exchanges this week, investors are celebrating returns which have topped 1,000 percent in just three weeks. At the start of December, XRP traded at just $0.24.

Multiple altcoins have seen astronomical gains towards the end of this year as Bitcoin’s own surge fueled copycat behavior which saw new all-time highs for assets including Monero, Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.

With a market cap of $91 bln at press time Saturday, however, it is XRP that has stolen the show from Ethereum, which currently has a market cap of $68 bln. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s overall market share has sunk to new all-time lows below 38 percent.

Reasons for Ripple’s rise revolve around new partnerships with traditional finance, institutions keen to leverage its technology to cut costs and save time.

Despite its newfound successes, however, Bitcoin figures appear wearier than ever, highlighting the project’s centralized structure and comparative lack of use cases for XRP versus the platform itself.

“There is a clear mispricing here between the (past) and the (future),” BitFury CEO George Kikvadze commented on Twitter Friday.

    Ripple - Centralised Solution; Trust in One Company - Worth $100Bln?

    Bitcoin - Decentralised Solution; Trust in Mathematics and Cryptography - Worth $235Bln?

    There is a clear mispricing here between the PAST and the FUTURE
    — George Kikvadze (@BitfuryGeorge) December 30, 2017

Popular personality WhalePanda meanwhile went further, comparing Ripple’s ethos in terms of bonafide Blockchain qualities to notorious MMM scheme OneCoin.

    If you really believe Ripple, which isnt even a blockchain project, is the future of cryptocurrencies... then I have some Bitconnect and Onecoin to sell to you.
    — WhalePanda (@WhalePanda) December 30, 2017

Placeholder VC’s Chris Burniske and Blockchain technologist Preston Byrne also voiced concerns about the rate of XRP’s growth.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/ripple-becomes-largest-altcoin-as-bitcoiners-issue-warnings

SegWit2x Version 2.0 - a Farce?



If we are to believe what we are told - the Bitcoin Blockchain has forked once again after the revival of SegWit2x.

The fork, which was abandoned in November due to a lack of consensus among original signatories of the New York Agreement, proposed an increase in Bitcoin’s block size from 1mb to 2mb in an effort to improve its scalability.

Much like Coinbase’s surprise announcement of Bitcoin Cash support a week ago, SegWit2x’s revival popped up on the internet courtesy of a new website, headed up by a completely new team of developers from those that had worked on the original SegWit2x code.

The developers celebrated the launch of SegWit2x at block number 501451 on Dec. 28, although potential users will only have access to the new B2X coins on Jan. 15, 2018.

    The Long Awaited Launch of New Bitcoin SegWit2X Fork Finally Took Place! pic.twitter.com/GC46rYFoOI
    — Segwit2X (@Segwit_2X) December 28, 2017

According to the website, B2X features will include a unique address format, a two and a half minute block generation rate while the mining complexity will be recalculated after each new block is generated.

Furthermore, the block size will be increased to four mb, as opposed to the original two mb proposition by the original SegWit2x developers. Replay protection is also being touted, which was a major shortcoming in the proposed fork a few months ago.

All of this sounds great - but it actually sounds too good to be true.


Outlandish promises of Satoshi Nakamoto’s premined Bitcoin

In addition to their proposed changes, the developers have promised to give users a share of 2 million B2X coins, which they claim stem from Satoshi Nakamoto’s original pre-mined Bitcoin. Like Bitcoin, B2X will have a 21 mln coin cap.

We are told that supporters of the fork will get a share of Nakamoto’s originally mined Bitcoin, converted to B2X at a 1:1 ratio.

    “In addition, we will distribute a proportional number of "Bitcoins of Satoshi Nakamoto" to all those who support hardfork! By “Bitcoin of Satoshi Nakamoto” we mean what the founder and chief developer of Bitcoin BTC mined at the time of zero network activity. They will be credited to the crypto-exchanges and wallets of our partners gradually. The list of partners will be constantly updated on our website! Even if Satoshi Nakamoto wants to get B2X for his pre-mining, he is not able to do this, as we blocked the initial blocks for conversion to Bitcoin SegWit2X. It is worth noting that this present to users who supported us will be credited sometime after the basic conversion 1:1”

Furthermore, the developers insist that only those two mln coins will be premined.

    “Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin BTC will be mined and distributed proportionally to all Bitcoin holders on the crypto-exchanges and wallets of our partners (2 mln). There will be no additional pre-mining!”

As Cointelegraph reported on December 28, the SegWit2x GitHub repository actually shows that six mln coins will be premined - with three different addresses committed in the code at different block heights.

The picture below shows two of the three different pre-mine commands going to different wallet addresses.
Pre-mine commands




Pump and dump fears

What this suggests is that the developers will have access to 6 mln B2X coins when trading begins, giving them a massive amount of power over the valuation and supply of the newly-forked cryptocurrency.

If and when people start trading B2X, there is a chance that the developers could pull a ‘pump and dump’ move, selling their new coins at inflated prices, making quick returns on coins that they’d premined.

According to Investopedia, this practice is a scam and is illegal.


Futures trading

Another factor that points towards fishy behavior is the fact that B2X futures contracts are already available on some exchanges - meaning people have started betting on future valuations of the cryptocurrency.

An insider could stand to make some massive short-term gains - with those futures having launched on Dec. 19, according to the website:

    “Already now, Bitcoin SegWit2X futures [B2X] are traded on large crypto-exchanges, the list of which is constantly replenished. Stay tuned for updates on our website and social channels!”

Coinmarketcap data shows that futures trading of B2X has been highly volatile - after hitting a high $1205.05 on Dec. 27. That has now dropped to $272.25 as of Dec. 30:

SegWit2x [Futures] Charts




Wallet support

B2X will be supported by FreeWallet and Zumminer, but other wallet providers like Trezor have distanced themselves from the project on their Reddit page. It’s also bizarre to see that exchanges like Coinbase have not made any statements about the new launch.
 



Draw your own conclusions

All of this information could point to an outright scam. A completely different team of developers seem to have hopped on the SegWit2x bandwagon, hijacked the name and are looking to make a quick buck out of gullible and uninformed investors.

Their website may look legitimate, but poke around enough and there are holes everywhere.

The fact that most of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges have not even recognized the fork or the new B2X coin shows that the legitimacy of the fork is questionable at best.

It will be interesting to see what the coins are trading at on Jan. 15 - and how the wider cryptocurrency community reacts.


Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/segwit2x-version-20-a-farce

Yes, of course, why not? that is a good start, you can start saving for the future. Those that saved their bitcoin today are the ones to profit in the future. It's not mandatory that should start saving bitcoins with huge investment, you can start small and work your way up. Never mind the market price and everything, in two to three years time you will be the one laughing and enjoying what you've invested today.