rare.. scarce..

hmm
rare = you cant easily find any because there isnt really a place normal people can get to it
scarce = its available and many can have a bit. but it has limited supply

bitcoin actually has 2.1quadrillion sharable units. and average joe could get their hands on it quite easily.

however.. rarity/scarcity alone are not the cause of large prices.
take for instance my dog. it does 2 poops a day. (730 a year, as it gets older it will start to poop less. and so eventually when it dies there will be no more poops being roduced.

anyone want to buy my dogs poop.. only about ~4000 will ever be produced..
.. no takers?
.. thought not

..
its more about utility/function that gives bitcoin a value. EG it had no value until 'bitcoin pizza' event when people seen a practical use for bitcoin.
the cost of production has mor of a factor into a price than 'rarity/scarcity'

EG if it didnt cost gold miners thousands of $ to mine an ounce. and instead cost 10cents /ounce. they would sell it as fast as they can mine it and the price would stablise at somewhere near the cost of production (10cents as oppose to +$1k)

victims?how many people paid ~$9k for a coin thats not bitcoin core.

just like dollars
a)if a european paid ~0.60eur for 1 A.U dollar.. its all fine as thats the going rate for a au dollar
b)if a european paid ~0.80eur for 1 A.U dollar.. its not fine as thats the going rate for a US dollar

c)if a european paid ~0.80eur for 1 U.S dollar.. its all fine as thats the going rate for a US dollar
d)if a european paid ~0.60eur for 1 U.S dollar.. its better than fine as thats cheaper than the rate for a US dollar

only in scenario (b) would there be a problem.
but i doubt anyone is a victim. its all just a ploy for CORE to grab the brand/trandmark.. which NO on/ no side no team should
its all about open to  anyone in conversation to say they have 'dollar' / 'bitcoin'

core are just butt hurt that their bilateral split plan to control the network did not automatically come with any rights to "bitcoin"

also reading the article

Hayden O, a cryptocurrency technical analyst and trader and organizer of the meetup, will represent Bitcoin Cash

it was actually BLOQ (paid by same investors as blockstream) that created bitcoin cash (node: bitcoinABC)

to me. its all kardashian drama just to finger point distractions of look at these people shaking their ass.. while not taking notice of core(trump) taking over the country.

but hey.. seems the OP is a reddit sheep and just believes without checking or even open minded out of box thinking about the realities of real information

lets use a fiat analogy:

american visits a australian tv show about fiat
american... U.S dollar is the dollar
australian.. then whats with the australian, canadian, singapore dollar
american... U.S dollar is the dollar
australians.. no it aint. we have the dollar, they have the U.S dollar
australians.. "i got 99 dollars but a U.S aint one"

then an australian visit a american show
australian... A.U dollar is the dollar
american.. then whats with the american, canadian, singapore dollar
australian... A.U dollar is the dollar
americans.. no it aint. we have the dollar, they have the A.U dollar
americans.. "i got 99 dollars but a A.U aint one"

in short "dollar" is owned by no one.
if anyone from europe wants a dollar. then it depends on what community they are talking to. or more simple to ask A.U or U.S before handing them what they want at the appropriate rate of what they want.

if anyone from fiat wants a bitcoin. then it depends on what community they are talking to. or more simple to ask core or cash before handing them what they want at the appropriate rate of what they want.

bitcoin is no longer decentralised.
core seen to that with thier and bloqs team effort to create the bilateral split to give core the main power of the (now)core network
they are even going as far as suing people for using the bitcoin brand.. even though no one owns it, and neither should core own it

..anyway..

so "distributed" is the new term
the big investment companies behind blockstream and others that are paying the main devs of core. already know and planned this. its why they are buzzwording "distributed ledger technology(DLT)" rather than decentralised blockchains
google already has 628,000 results just for that term. top results for me included the UK governments R&D papers and worldbank

the main devs know that LN is not a blockchain. but for the major hubs(banks2.0) having a ledger of managing multiple channel multisigs. distributed ledger, covers not only things like LN but also the now centralised blockchain. all in the same new buzzword

which is what all their investors are pushing them to develop.

 

i just grabbed the data for just the last 30 days (upto 29th)
and the price is still not quite out of the woods.
left side of the vertical red line is where the graph of previous post stopped. right of the red line then shows the next(recent) 10 days


once the blue (price) line stays above the orange(cost) line. then we are safely out of the forrest where the forrest bears live (out of the pocket) and then we will probably be n the field of bulls

but again still kinda on the edge and still can run in either direction right now

i have not found a good public chart that displays this.
but the data is available. i got the hashrate and market price data (in CSV format) from blockchain.info and with 30 seconds of copy and pasting, i made the chart

most dumb trend anals only look at price data and nothing else which i find shameful.
i found mining cost data to be informative because the october 2013 ramp up in price was due to ASICS first coming online and the
cost of mining jumped. simultaniously the market price jumped too. so there are some patterns to using mining cost data

but when you mentioned this recent drop being a "bear pocket" i instantly noticed the out of trend "pocket"(U shape).. wher the price went below mining cost (red zone in my previous post chart)

so yes this recent period was a "bear pocket".

error of first paragraph

it did not start with seashells
it started with goods barter

1 caveman axe for 1 cavemans daughter of adequate age
then
10 loaves of bread for 1 horse shoe

sea shells were not a currency used at the coast because seashells were abundant
it was not a world wide trade thing and was not something that was wid spread. basically sea shells were only used by certain clans (villages)

however.. where barter did turn into 'coin' was done here

IF people paid ~$9k for a bitcoin cash.

i doubt any did.

so australia should not use "dollar" because america has more population

the solution is simple
"bitcoin" is for conversational purposes the same conversation nations have about "dollar"

in conversations with people that ask for a dollar. .. ask 'is that US or AU you want'
in conversations with people that ask for a bitcoin. .. ask 'is that core or cash you want'

as long as australia dont charge the US rate... as long as america dont charge the AU rate
as long as cash dont charge the core rate... as long as core dont charge the cash rate

then there is no conflict or fraud.. its just opening the mind to the broader conversation and understanding of decentralisation

like i said..
australians will continue to say they have "99 dollars but the U.S aint one" no matter how much america want to cry they own the dollar
americans will continue to say they have "99 dollars but the A.U aint one" no matter how much australia want to cry they own the dollar

whats next..
india Vs pakistan fight over "rupee"
Mexico Vs Philippines fight over "peso"
 .. based on what.. population

no
ok my last couple posts where ELI-5.. lets take it a layer deeper and go to ELI-15

core is a team that develop bitcoin-CORE.... NOT BITCOIN (2013-2016)

the core team do not develop other nodes they only develop one node bitcoin core.(2013-2016)
there are other nodes of other programming languages that in a decentralised world would run on the same currency network as core does.
in a healthy same network consensus competition of decentralisation..

but core want to own the network. to have no competition. unless the other nodes are subsiduaries of core and want to be SHEEP to core rules rather than consensus/decentralisated competition

think of it this way
imagine core as 'bank of america'(BoA)

the currency network which BoA runs on is U.S dollar. there used to be other banks that also run on the U.S dollar network.
BoA(bitcon core)
JPMorgan(bitcoinXT)
wells fargo(bitcoin classic)
goldman sachs(bitcoin unlimited)

all wanting to run on the U.S dollar network and all have to lobby with the nation on how U.S dollar regulations should change
(all wanting to stay on the same network and all wanting to use the beauty of satoshis 'consensus' invention of one network and upgrade by majority decision.)

but BoA REKT them
(2017+)
so now BoA own the U.S dollar network and those other banks are gone (for bitcoin analogy purposs only)
now BoA not only control a payment network. they want to claim they own "dollar" and say australians cannot say/trade or use "dollar" any more

so.. people..

get your heads out of the gutters of kissing cores ass.. and ask your self
are you protecting "bitcoins" decentralisation of no ownership, no centralisation..
or
do you want a central team core owning bitcoin.

lets reword the OP's question and see how you feel..

remember not to wear team core defence helmets.
wear the bitcoin decentralisation cap

just like wearing the dollar cap. and treat the question like a debate between america and australia.

many of you hopefully should surprise yourself at how team centralist defensive you are, rather than currency decentralist

no one owns bitcoin

and no the core team should not either
this is just a big assed ploy to give core team more centralised control of bitcoin

handing bitcoin.com to the core team is the opposite from decentralisation.

bitcoin is like dollar

america have dollar
australia have dollar
canada have dollar

in normal conversation a canadaian CAN happily say they have dollars in their pocket but it aint U.S dollar
in normal conversation a american CAN happily say they have dollars in their pocket but it aint canadian dollar

an australian forex CAN put.. "buy dollars or buy U.S dollars"
an american forex CAN put.. "buy dollars or buy A.U dollars"

if a european wants dollars the conversation is.. "do you want U.S at ~0.8Eur/$ or A.U at ~0.6/$"
if a fiat holder wants bitcoin the conversation is.. "do you want core at ~$9,000k or cash ~$900"

so the conversation is there is bitcoin core and bitcoin cash
so the conversation is there is U.S dollar AND A.U dollar

there would only be fraud if bitcoin cash was selling bitcoin cash coins at the bitcoin core rate
there would only be fraud if Australia was selling australian dollar at the american dollar rate

...

the bilateral split last summer. which was instigated by the BSCartel(barry silver portfolio of blockstream and bloq) ensured that
the 2 projects went in different directions

unlike clams which was a unilateral fork... bitcoin core and bitcoin cash done a bilateral split.. not unilateral
its not a
_________________core
            \_________cash
(unilateral)

or a
             _________core
_______/_________cash
(unilateral)

but was a
           __________core
______/
          \__________cash
(biilateral)

yep it was a bilateral split not a unilateral split..

core DO NOT OWN brand bitcoin............ no one does!!!

america dont own the dollar and cannot claim trademark rights ro it. and cannot claim that australia is a figment of peoples imagination

so just get used to talking about bitcoin the same way as "dollar"

if your only half sure on something... obviously only sell half

solves both problems

if it goes up, you are still making profit
if it goes down, you still have fiat to buy more at the new discounted price

win win in short

bitcoin is the vehicle. but core want to be the one way street. if you do not follow their one way roadmap. they will divert you off thier one way street and use all their roadblocks to push you off their road unless you accept thir toll and their maintenance plan. even if you see pot holes. if you complain about their pot holes they will just divert you off their road.

you may run a vehicle but your not in control of the direction

NO ONE should own bitcoin
the bitcoin brand is decentralised. no one has ownership

meaning core do not either

bitcoin core is not 'the only' bitcoin

the community decide what they personally hold in their pocket is cash or core, and only in common terms of talking to others in the same
currency do they abreviate it. but it does not mean the other side cant use the same common abreviation terms aswell

its best explained like this

dollars
no country owns dollars.
there is canadian dollars
there is australian dollars
there is american dollars

an american can for the simplicity of common conversation say that what they have in their pockets are dollars.
bit the reality is they have american dollars in their pocket
but in no way does it mean an american can claim that australia/canada dont have/use dollars

a canadian can for the simplicity of common conversation say that what they have in their pockets are dollars.
bit the reality is they have canadian dollars in their pocket
but in no way does it mean a canadian can claim that american/australian dont have/use dollars

an australian can for the simplicity of common conversation say that what they have in their pockets are dollars.
bit the reality is they have australian dollars in their pocket
but in no way does it mean an australian can claim that america/canada dont have/use dollars

back to describing bitcoin events:
..
unlike clams which was a unilateral fork... bitcoin core and bitcoin cash done a bilateral split.. not unilateral
its not a
_________________core
            \_________cash

or a
             _________core
_______/_________cash

but a
           __________core
______/
          \__________cash

it was a bilateral split not a unilateral split..

core DO NOT OWN brand bitcoin............ no one does!!!

th conversation is

european: "i want dollars"
exchange: "is that american, canadian or australian your interested in"

fiat holder: "i want bitcoin"
exchange: "is that core or cash your interested in"

.. and remember this vital point
the BScartel (blockstream & bloq funders) were the ones orchestrating the bilateral split.
namely gmaxwell employing samson mow to USAF propaganda a fake NON-consensus election.. and bloq to implement a fake opponent to core.

so it was the same BSCartel that created bitcoin cash and core fork.. ver did not even instigate it.
so wheres the finger pointing at jgarziq, gavin, and gmaxwell for making bitcoin cash

as for the "victims"
if they wanted to buy bitcoin and only paid ~$800 (under $1k a coin) then they are not a victim

much like fiat
european: "i want dollar.."
exchange: "ok thats 0.61euros per dollar.." hands over 1australian dollar
european: wow thats cheap, but its not a US dollar
exchange. no, you never requested U.S. and you paid the correct amount for a australian dollar
european: ill sue you for not giving me a U.S dollar at the AU rate
exchange: "good luck trying"
vs
european: "i want dollar.."
exchange: "ok thats 0.81euros per dollar.." hands over 1australian dollar
european: whats this crap, its not a US dollar. i paid the price of a U.S dollar
european: ill sue you for not giving me a U.S dollar and giving me a AU dollar but not at the AU rate
exchange: "oh crap i dun goofed"

or more simply
a: "iwant an apple"
b: "thats 50cents" .. hands (a) a fruit apple
a: "i wanted a phone im gonna sue"
b: "for 50cents.. not gonna happen you get what you paid for.. but your a good comedian, goodluck with the day job"
vs
a: "iwant an apple"
b: "thats $500" .. hands (a) a fruit apple
a: "$500 for fruit. i wanted a phone, im gonna sue"
b: "oh crap i dun goofed"

i wonder how many victims paid more than $7k for 1 bitcoin cash... i would say there were none.. so they paid for what they got

it is NOT as easy as setting up in country Y. and offer exchange of btc to FIAT A where you hope country A governing Fiat A cant touch you..

mark kerpeles learned this lesson.
while being set up in japan. he infact did offer the exchange of bitcoin for US dollars. and so although he was in japan he did have
US SEC on his back

other exchanges have seen this too. even ones set up on them special island have had to refse to serve US customers and not trade to USD

and those that had some licences for some US states to offer USD trades. still could not offer services to New York state residents without
having a NY bitcoin licence.

so its not a simple set up in island Y and be free to serve the world authority free.. if you are going to handle fiat A, expect to have to obide by
FIAT A regulations. even if your not in country A

the lightning network DNS will have a hotlist of prefered well conncted nodes to hand out to new users.

now who do you think these DNS managers are going to decide are top of the list... themselves


hint blue nodes are all one person/entity

both my edited image and the one provided by quin do not prove decentralisation, but prove distribution.. there is a difference.
think of the blue dots as a bank branch of a bank corporation. each blue node has a separate bank branch manager that
authorises payments of its customers of that bank branch. but its all part of a bigger corporation... oops i mean "factory" cough cough

also carlton banks hints at the "grid" concept.. which is done via the DNS list choosing best nodes(to be the corners) to promote to fresh users.
put short.. you cant have a grid unless your controlling who connects to what.
in a decentralised network there would be no control of who connects to what. thus impossible to create a grid in a true open decentralised randomly selected network

yet LN has a autopilot feature, a DNS seed,
and remember if you imagine a grid of squares.. who do you think will be the (hubs) well conected corners


P.S just wait until the explanation of 'channel factories' gets the ELI-5 treatment. then it all becomes clear to average joe

when fiat was attached to gold. the gold value of fiat was linked to the energy burned by the gold miners
EG
if it cost $1000 to mine gold a gold miner wouldnt sell their gold for less than it cost them to mine it.

since fiat detached from gold. the value of fiat IS linked to the minimum wage labour (calorie burn) of low paid workers
EG
an hours labour is worth £$X. no one would work for less than £$X so  £$X is worth an hours labour

should read

thanks to gmaxwells partners in a mixer and pools for no longer intentionally spamming the blockchain.
every time core wants a BIP implemented, spam attacks happen.
then when core get what they want the mempool has died down.
but next time core want the community to do something, expect an increase again and expect fingers to be pointed in every direction apart from core partners who cause the spam as their way of suggesting new feature X is desparetly needed as it will help reduce spam

funny how the spam event of mid 2015 coincided with needing to get a bip activated
funny how the spam event of late 2016 coincided with needing to 'get segwit activated by christmas 2016'
funny how the spam event of 2017 coincided with getting segwit activated

yet UTILITY of segwit is not even 15%..
yep not enough to cause a dent

and even funnier. if 95% of community actually wanted segwit. there would be 95% of tx's now using segwit addresses.. but they are not
so segwit has no claim to being the solution

op use full links
op dont use old links that are sourced to bloggers.

the articles you chosen are not well wrote articles by reputable reporters, they are articles found in what is known as the blogging sections of brand sites, but not endorsed or editorialised by editors of the main site

in short

---

one story is about 'trending anals' screaming a trend of 'death cross' based on historic chart data (in march!!)
sorry but you cant crystal ball someones future/bitcoin prices by showing history. all you can do is convince people/bots to follow history again to hope it causes your prediction

its been 50 days since that article so the moving average of that article is gone

anyway lets make up a stupid random new predicting story
in the month saturn passes the sun people sold.. so everyone should sell
.. that month approaches
.. everyone panics because of my dumb mantra
.. everyone sells
now i proclaim im psychic.. though if i kept mouth shut it wouldnt have happened

but now everyone is stupidly stuck in a self fulfilling cycle.

its like dont walk under a ladder as it is bad luck.
yet more people have accidents due to the worry of that myth, than would have if they never heard it.
eg walking under a ladder, remembering the myth. then walking backwards to undo the myth. only to then trip up because they walked backwards

---

(again.. in march!!)
the other linked story is about a small town with hydro power only enough for 20,000 residents exceeded its power capacity and needed to 'purchase' electric from other grid sppliers due to bitcoin mining. so the town decided to ban commercial sized bitcoin mining.
after all one ASIC can use as much electric as some residents whole house.

---

the third linked story is about criminals using monero. this opinion is based on market caps (facepalm).
firstly you cant identify who is criminal or legit user of monero or bitcoin basd on market caps
secondly the article then moves on to waffle about criminals then using game credits and paypal.. i guss the blogger cant make up his mind and overall just wanted to post an articl to suggest less crimals are using bitcoin. without showing definite proof, but only supply suggestive opinion