Satoshi was not a dictator, and his biggest mistake was to allow Gavin Andresen to participate in this experiment. If Gavin did not run to his masters, Satoshi would most probably still be around. Satoshi realized when these agencies got involved the experiment would fail, so he went dark.

Satoshi is not here to fight for Bitcoin, and it is now our duty to defend it against the people who wants it to fail. We should consider this as phase 1 in the attacks, because the other Blockchain based Ledgers are still under development and when they are done, we will see phase 2. ^hmmmmm^

The "Blockchain" phenomenon, is born from a situation where true innovation has been lacking for years in the Fintech scene. People have used outdated private ledgers for years and there was not something earth shaking to talk about.

Now, Bitcoin enters this scene and it wants to disrupt many big empires, in bypassing their services. These services cannot allow this to happen, and they cannot stop it from happening, so they adapt. They jump on the "Blockchain" hype bandwagon and they dump Billions of dollars into creating their own version of the technology.

In the end, these adaptations of the Bitcoin technology, is in all likelihood just a new variation of their old ledger systems. ^smile^  

I think it is a bad idea for people who have not been introduced to Bitcoin yet. These physical bitcoins confuse people. because they think bitcoin is a physical coin. It would be a much better gift for people who are already into Bitcoin, and would appreciate the gesture.

I would rather offer some sort of fancy paper wallet, with instructions on how to create your own paper wallets or a easy manual to show them how to create a web wallet. < Something that would stimulate adoption >

I once bought a gift at a discount through Purse.io and I included the proof with the gift. The person was so impressed with this that they asked me to help them to setup their own account, so that he could also buy items at a discount. < This shows them the benefits of using Bitcoin, over other payment methods >  

You have this so wrong, it's not even funny. " Bitcoins, unfortunately, is only used to buy illegal products " WTF, so you are then just as guilty of this than the other people using this technology? I buy food and drinks with Bitcoin every day, and it contains nothing illegal. ^hmmmmm^

Those who can buy any product, can chose any method of payment they want to, and if Bitcoin has features that allow them to make this easier or more private, then they would opt to use Bitcoin.

Can someone possibly work out, when the break even point would be, when the miner reward & fees will not be enough to sustain the cost of mining. I have heard that +/- $200 per Bitcoin is about the breakeven point for mining to still be profitable at today's exchange rates.

I know there are a lot of variables, but it would be interesting to have a broad idea, even a guess at which point mining would not be profitable anymore. < Work on averages, if you really need to > 

There is a Operating system, called "Tails" which you download from the internet, and it's got a Bitcoin wallet built into the OS. You boot up with it, bypassing most of the viruses that target more commercial Operating systems and then you create your wallet. It took me a few hours to download the OS, burn the ISO to a DVD and then 5 minutes to configure the wallet.

Certainly not the best way to do it, but a bit safer that Windows based applications. ^smile^

It will, because of two reasons : One being the fixed house edge and the other being the uncertainty if this same script contains some sort of backdoor to leech the funds. When someone says, I have a bulletproof script that guarantee you to make free money, and I want to give it to you for free, then you must consider why that person is doing that.

What is he or she getting out of this?

The other thing is, you are spreading a script that might take too much money out of the site, causing it to go down. These sites gives out money, because they are profitable and they take some of the money to pay their expenses. If for some reason, they are not profitable anymore, they will just close down. ^hmmmmm^

Did I understand this correctly? Your Slots are not provably fair? The traditional currency casinos use firmware that are embedded into a RAM chip to store the software. This can be altered with a firmware upgrade, but that is not done by the casino.

So you guys have full access to the software and can adjust certain parameters as you want? < House edge? > I thought the suppliers of these games adjust this themselves or is this just applicable to the shared jackpots?

Can we have a new one, whilst this one is still running? Hopefully the new one will not be that remote. Did you promote this only on this forum or did you promote it on social media too? The success of this is dependent on the exposure it gets, and how many people hear about this.

This thread stays on the front page for only a few days, when it gets bumped or only a few hours depending on the traffic in this section. It is actually strange that they have not moved it yet to the Games & Rounds section. 

I wonder how many people will participate in this, if everyone is running to Bitcoin to protect their wealth? I think more people will hoard this year, if the special offers are poor. The merchants will have to go all out this year to grab the attention of the customers.

I was hoping for some specials on the different hardware wallets. I already have one, but it's close to Xmas and I want to buy some for some friends. < Hint : Buy 1 / Get 1 Free >

I will just double check with the merchants to see if these deals are legit, because last year there were many scams.

We are not protected from geopolitical risk. If China bans Bitcoin < Political decision > then you will see a massive drop in the price. If the USA implement strict regulations, you will see a drop in the price. So we are not immune to the influence of these poor decisions being made by these governments.

We do protect fiat currency holders when their currency depreciates, due to poor political governance, but Bitcoin has it's own problems too. 

Ok, Let's test that theory. Explain to us how you will explain to the tax authorities, if you suddenly generate additional income of say $20 000? They will flag you for a audit, and then you have to show proof of the income you generated. How are you going to explain that money?

A lot of the gambling sites are not regulated, so they can basically do whatever they want. If they do not want to pay you, because of some technicality, then they can check your location and withhold the payment. So just be aware of that.

We know people break laws every day, eg. Speed limit / underage drinking and they get away with it, until one day when they get caught. Tax evasion carry heavy penalties, so just be aware of that, if you make use of these sites. 

Did you know, Amazon.com started as an online bookstore, later diversifying to sell DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs, video downloads/streaming, MP3 downloads/streaming, audiobook downloads/streaming, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys and jewelry? ^smile^

You should concentrate on a smaller market first, to see if it gains momentum and then expand to other retail items. Amazon's initial business plan was unusual; it did not expect to make a profit for four to five years.

You have big shoes to fill, Amazon has :

Revenue              US$107 billion (2015)
Operating income   US$2.233 billion (2015)
Net income              US$596 million (2015)
Total assets      US$65.444 billion (2015)
Total equity      US$13.384 billion (2015)

The idea would be that people who has not bought bitcoin before, see these specials and buy bitcoins to be able to buy these specials. The affect of more people buying bitcoins, should push up the demand for the available coins, and this should in theory push up the price.

The other side of this is that existing hoarders of coins, will start buying some of these specials with the hoard coins and this floods the exchanges with more coins, pushing the price down.

So depending on who participate the most in this < New adopters vs Hoarders > will determine what happens with the price.

Well, I hope they will accept bitcoin in Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates soon. I want to visit them to ride the Formula Rossa, the world's fastest roller coaster with a top speed of 239 km/h (149 mph).

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi was named the "Middle East's Leading Tourist Attraction" at the World Travel Awards 2015. It is the first and only Ferrari-branded theme park and has the record for the largest space frame structure ever built.

Now, that would be another bucket list item ticked, if I could manage to visit them and pay for everything in bitcoins.

According to the new report, global investment in fintech companies totaled US$19.1 billion in 2015, with US$13.8 billion invested into VC-backed fintech companies, a 106 percent jump compared to 2014, and a record year for VC-backed fintech investment. <Mar 9, 2016>

Guess who is suddenly investing the most? http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/09/banks-pile-into-heady-fintech-funding.html

They have done nothing for years, and when they realized how disruptive Bitcoin will be to them, they quickly started to throw money at the problem. ^LoL^

Glad to hear from a local perspective. ^smile^ How would this influence your decision to buy more or less bitcoins now? I cannot see how this will have any influence on people's decision to buy other currencies. Yes, they might have to settle for smaller denominations, but this will suit the poor people better, because they seldom use the larger notes.

Would like to hear your take on this. ^smile^

Just to clarify, for the people who does not understand this. Even if you found a way to receive the winnings, you should also consider that you might be breaking some of your local laws. How do you declare that income to your local tax authorities, if it was acquired through something that is illegal?

The fact that you are doing it, does not make it legal. You should find out what your local laws state regarding online gambling, and only then signup at these sites. Some of the legal / regulated online gambling sites will monitor the traffic and automatically forbid players who signed up from a location that do not allow online gambling. < Nothing stops you from using anonymous proxies or VPN's, but it is still illegal, when you bring that winnings into your country >

You might get away with it, until you hit that big jackpot, and then you get flagged. The site can then deny your eligibility to receive that money, and you will have no legal recourse to fight it.

Most people just keep quite, because they know that they are breaking the law. You should make sure that you are not a victim of this, when this happens with you. Not all these sites are regulated, and they might use this as an excuse not to pay out large Jackpots.  ^hmmmmm^

I was just thinking about the people, signing up for online gambling without knowing the consequences of their actions. In many countries, online gambling are not allowed. So even if you win the $$JackPot$$ at these Bitcoin Casinos online, you would not be allowed to withdraw that money, legally into fiat.

A lot of these casinos knows this, but they still accept your bets. They do not have to pay you, if you signed up with their service.

So how many people know their laws and what is allowed in your country regarding online gambling?

The strange thing about people, saying NO about this is, most of these people are already using some sort of service that function like a bank. < They are centralized, and they charge additional fees and they are not secure > The people are so used to relying on third party services like banks, that they transition to similar services, without thinking about the consequences. < Losing control over their private keys & giving up anonymity and sacrificing their security >

Say, NO and then stay away from these third party services. Run your own node and store your own coins in cold storage. ^smile^