The difference is that in the US they had capitalism and most of the Latin American nations drifted towards socialism. The problem with socialism is that although initially there will be a lot of positives (such as eradication of poverty and free healthcare), very soon the government will run out of money. In case of Venezuela, the petroleum revenue was not growing in line with the growth in the population. Also, the socialist government in Venezuela seems to be very corrupt, even when compared to the other socialist regimes (such as Cuba and DPRK).

Well... that can be a problem. They are T20 specialists and not ODI specialists. In ODI, you need to build you innings and there is a need to bat patiently (especially if the conditions are supportive to bowling). But I don't know whether these players have that capability or not.


They are very good bowlers and all of them are performing well right now. Shannon Gabriel had a very good series against England this year. And Kemar Roach picked up 18 wickets in 3 tests during the same series (He was the one who bowled out ENG for just 77 during the first test).

So all the teams have played 12 matches each, and 2 matches are remaining. DC, CSK and MI have almost guaranteed playoff spots, with 14 points or more. The last remaining spot will be in contention for some more time, but SRH is the favorite now with 12 points. KKR, KXIP and RR have 10 points each, but SRH is having a large difference in the net run rate over these teams. So with 90% probability, my prediction for the playoffs would be: Delhi Capitals, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

A lot of people have advised me on the necessity of keeping a part of the altcoins for long-term. I followed their advice in some cases and now I am regretting about my decision. None of the altcoins that I held for long-term gave me a good return. During 2018, many of the alts went down by as much as 95% or more. Even now, when the Bitcoin is undergoing a bull rally, these alts are not showing any hint of a recovery. Anyway... the alts are still in my wallet and they will be there for the next few years.

Winning by 34 runs in a T20 match is big. It means a net run rate of +1.70. And as you can see, now the KKR net run rate is in positive (before this match, it was in negative). But their problem is that even now, SRH is having a much higher net run rate when compared to them. So in case they win the match against KXIP today, then it is almost certain that SRH will go through the playoffs. The remaining matches for SRH are against MI and RCB. I think they can afford to lose one match and still qualify for the playoffs.

West Indies has some of the best players in the world, but their team bonding is not very strong. If they bond together as a team, then they will be able to beat the strongest teams out there. But when that doesn't happen, then they can go down even to the minnows, like what happened in 1996 against Kenya. One advantage for them is that the pacers such as Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach and Ashley Nurse can prove very efficient in England, as the ground conditions will allow a lot of swing and seam movement.

There is a strong possibility of a bull run this year as many of the analysts are saying that the coins are looking under-priced. Also, the block reward halving may occur in around one year from now and the bulls may start accumulating the coins before that date to get the advantage of reduced supply. The best thing to do would be to plan ourselves, to be prepared for the bull run. We need to plan how much coins we are going to sell at different targets. I have already created plans to sell 25% of my coins, in case the exchange rate rises to $50,000 per coin.

Bitcoin may receive a temporary boost, as users are rushing to convert their USDT to other crypto-currencies (primarily the BTC). This is evident from the Bitcoin dominance, which has risen to almost 55% now. Another factor that is influencing the prices is the bearish momentum affecting both BSV and BCH after the Craig S Wright drama. Ripple is also facing some issues. In general, none of the crypto-currencies apart from Bitcoin is looking to be in good health and this should propel BTC over the $5,500 per coin mark.

North Korea is helped by both China and Russia, because they don't want the American military bases near their territorial border (the Americans already have a number of military bases in South Korea and Japan). Venezuela doesn't have that advantage. It is located far away from both China and Russia. Russia is currently helping them by purchasing gold and other metals, but I don't think that they are going to offer any financial assistance to the Maduro regime.

Within a few years time, most of the countries will move towards digital cash after abandoning physical cash. Some countries such as Sweden are already trying to reduce the supply of physical cash. But that doesn't mean that decentralized crypto-currencies will be used. If the decentralized currencies become popular, then the government will lose control over the population and it will become very difficult to manage the federal debt. So this scenario is not going to happen in the foreseeable future.

How cheap are solar panels in your country? Setting up a portable solar power plant (including the inverter and battery) can cost up to $10,000 in my country and here it is a big amount. Even at industrial scale, solar electricity is quite expensive when compared to other forms of energy such as nuclear electricity, thermal electricity and hydro-power.

And in case of Venezuela, the solar panels and other components will be even more expensive (if they are available at all), due to the ongoing embargoes and sanctions. As far as I know, the solar panels needs to be imported from Brazil as they are not produced in Venezuela.

I can't tell you about the absolute numbers, but can give you the percentages. My (crypto) portfolio composition by value is as following:

BTC - 93.94%
BCH - 4.39%
ETH - 0.84%
ONION - 0.47%
TMT - 0.23%
Others - 0.13%

As you can see, more than 98% of my portfolio is made up of Bitcoin and BCH (received the BCH as free airdrop after the forking event). I was never a big believer of the altcoins and although I may have missed out on the altcoin bull run of 2017, I don't regret about it now.

Something really important happened today....

Temporary ODI status has been granted to Namibia, Oman, US and Papua New Guinea, as per the results of 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two. Both Hong Kong and Canada lost their ODI status.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/26612338/namibia-png-secure-odi-status-wins-hk-oman

PNG had earlier lost the ODI status after the 2018 World Cup Qualifier, while Namibia last played ODIs during the 2003 world cup. 

Not many are going to like my suggestions. But I would still say that both Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV looks under-priced right now. But investing in both the coins can be risky and you should take the risk only if you are OK with it. A few other alts that can be considered for investment at this point of time includes Stellar, Monero and Binance.

Once again, death over issues for SRH. They have lost wickets in a hurry and now they're at 137-6 with just 12 balls remaining. With two over remaining, they should try to get another 23 runs to set a target of 160. That will give them an outside chance of a victory. Both the opening bowlers bowled well for RR (Varun Aaron and Oshane Thomas).

A lot of obstacles are lying ahead of the $6K level. Everyday we are getting discouraging news about crypto. Today there was a news that the Indian lawmakers are proposing to completely ban any kind of crypto-currency trading. India may be a small market, but there will be some impact on the prices. Also we already know about the proposed mining ban in China. What we need at this point of time is some good news from the big markets to resume the bull rally and to diffuse the reservations regarding Bitcoin.

I don't know about the distant future. But if you ask me about the near future (2020-21), then I would say with a certain degree of certainity that ETH will remain as the no.1 smart-contract platform. The developers are still working hard to increase the efficiency of the platform and the competitors such as ADA and EOS are lagging miles behind ETH.

I was thinking that the market has stabilized, but then yesterday it tanked by close to 10% (before making a partial recovery). The exchange rates are still holding above $5,000 per coin, but there is no sign of any decrease in the volatility. So it is up to you to decide whether you want to go for investment at current conditions. For me, it looks too risky.

Yobit didn't paid the dues for the users who participated in its previous signature campaign (including me). If they want to run another campaign, then they should make payments to all the users for whom the salaries are due. We have been waiting for almost two years now and there is no communication from the Yobit admin, despite repeated support tickets and emails.

Crypto users include both bears and bulls. If the prices increase then the bulls will be in profit and if the reverse happen then the bears will rejoice. Both are market events and it is similar to what happens in other markets (such as equity and bullion). Now we all know that crypto-currency will survive and thrive in the near future. So it is up to you not to get carried away by the temporary ups and downs.