As far as I know, if you've lost your password or private key, there is no way to recover your wallet. And I think you can only decrypt the priv key with your password. Even if you had your Keystore file, you need your password. I don't suppose you have your mnemonic phrase? You could try entering that without your password.

You didn't happen to print your paper wallet when you created it? They prompt you to do one at myetherwallet and if you accept it prints a pdf for you. Your unencrypted private key will be there if you did.

Exactly. This was likely out of their hands. What they should be doing now instead is to find a replacement issuer. I know this won't be easy, given tightening AML/KYC requirements and the increasing hostility of EU financial systems towards non-EU users. A lot of people used Xapo chiefly because of their fee-free transactions. The debit card made it worthwhile to stay. They might have foreseen this happening and prepared for it. They might want to look at partnering some of the recent card-focused ICOs. Monaco comes to mind.

But I suppose this is the price of mainstream adoption, Bitcoin users will eventually be subject to the same fiduciary requirements and restrictions if they want to spend it as fiat.

Nice links, thanks for sharing!

I'm not in the least well-versed with NFL but no one can watch Hollywood without knowing some of the big names in American Football. As you can't pick the same team for following weeks, I'm going to go on tight bookie odds for my first few rounds, leaving the "giants" towards the end. I like the pickings for the very evenly matched Cardinals vs Lions so my first week's pick will be Arizona Cardinals. It's one of the first games also, so I'll find out very quickly if I'm around for Round 2!

Also guys, the Bitcoinrush free pool needs your picks by Thursday 5pm EDT so don't forget to lock in your picks.

I was just saying yesterday about Bitcoin's maturity and resilience, evidenced by how each "catastrophe" has only served to push Bitcoin back temporarily. If anything, this temporary is only getting briefer, allowing Bitcoin to gain fresh momentum to push for new ATHs. There is, however, still a voice at the back of my mind telling me that the long correction has yet to happen and will be nastier the longer delayed. But with this kind of recovery, it's hard not to jump on the optimism =)

I think we're in for a little consolidation at around 4,500 this week though. Still a ways before breaking - and staying above - that nice round 5k target. At any rate, anything above 5k before November will be a good cushion for possible bad outcomes. But go ahead and prove me wrong, Bitcoin.

Well done to Syria for reaching the playoffs, what a game! Some feat achieved for a country who's played all their matches away from home, in conditions sometimes worst than a League 2 team in many countries (I recall lost buses, missing clothes and changing schedules when they were in Malaysia). Not to mention the terrible war which has killed so many footballers from this proud nation.

They still have to beat Australia to qualify but with so much at stake and a crazy horde of supporters, I won't be surprised if they just about slip through! Betfair's the only bookie with odds on this game (Syria at 12/5 now) and seems even they think the underdogs have a reasonable chance.

1. The transaction was indeed confirmed.
https://blockchain.info/tx/4dff99ac6d86c41cdfc84f0d9776cedb5e5e299321f9a5deb4a993c4ce62fe85

2. The address you sent to has that balance (0.14384925 BTC), the output of the transaction you specified.
https://blockchain.info/address/1NhawnXd53eV78aDqHoEYsV4m2LZX59aFZ

3. The output is "unspent" because it is not yet "spent", or part of any further input. Basically, all is the way it is supposed to be. In fact, if it were "spent", then you wouldn't have that balance at the address.

Why exactly do you think the transaction didn't go through? Confirm with the company that the address (1NhawnXd53eV78aDqHoEYsV4m2LZX59aFZ) is the one you needed to spend to. If so, just show them that it has the coins you sent.

Even based on the little information I know, I'd say yes (I'd say even 10% is at the very least a large minority!).

1. According to that first news article that surfaced about the China ICO ban, crypto funds from Chinese hands formed about a quarter of ICO funds raised this year.
2. We already know that some of the largest mining pools are based in China, thanks to cheaper costs of operations (aka cheap electricity). If in doubt, you only need to look at the Bitcoin mining hashrate distribution, let's say even a simple one from blockchain.info: https://blockchain.info/pools
3. Further proof? Take a look at the largest markets by volume on coinmarketcap.com. Three of the top 5 are Chinese exchanges.

Indeed you are right. I wonder what my eyes see sometimes! Just realised after making my account there the updated numbers, they're still mighty impressive. I'm just about to make my mind up about playing at this new site. Something modest, though, probably a single Litecoin I have lying around in some exchange. If it confirms quickly, I'll be wagering from tomorrow. So maybe you'll see that LTC total crawl up a bit =)

By the way, didn't the old Betking have an investment option? Or did the ICO funds take care of the bankroll issue?

If you look back as far as three years ago, you can find almost instant correlation of Bitcoin price and negative news. The Chinese government in December 2013 banned Bitcoin transactions when price was peaking at over $1,000. It almost immediately lost $200 and when the ban took effect, and Baidu stopped accepting Bitcoin, it went all the way down to $500. It took a while to recover, but take a look at the dips of this year alone (which is still only eight months old). Every "negative news" took its toll... from the ETF decision to the hard fork. But the following rebounds happened with equal speed, even surpassing previous highs.

I'm not saying this pattern is sustainable. I still think a long correction is way overdue. But Bitcoin has reached a point of maturity it didn't have three years ago and as a result is a lot more resilient. If anything, the ICO ban's outcome is somewhat muted, not the cataclysm that one would expect from such news.

The moment a lot of us have been waiting for. Personally, am already a huge fan of one casino and play regularly at another, but always wondered about the reputation of BetKing. 22k BTC wagers on your first day ain't too bad at all.

The bonus looks extremely tempting too, so looks like I'll jump in for a bit. actmyname's put a decent strat on that I generally follow, although I suspect I'll be way more patient using autobet - let's see if discipline holds!

Kudos on the Segwit addresses on site. First gambling site I've seen implementing this.

Welcome home ajax, I'm always keeping an eye on these threads every now and then. Been putting off bets for a while but with the international break over I'll be homing in again on EPL. You looked at Bitcoinrush sportsbook yet? They just relaunched as planned, so might be moving some of my wagering there over the next weeks once the system's stabilised.

Also, what's your take on Magos? I'm definitely into alt betting on sports, just a bit wary of new projects yet untested. Current market prices mean you get a bit more value for ICO tokens tied to ETH and BTC, but it all looks too shaky for now.

As the Chinese like to say, threat is the perfect mirror of opportunity. All these so-called enemies have also been - at times - the biggest boost for Bitcoin. More governments are friendly towards it than against. More banks are lining up now to get on board the latest blockchain tech. And the community? Who else is driving up prices if not the buyers (and the sellers!)? We get it, we trade for it, we spend it, we now need it more than ever before. Given the choice between earning fiat and Bitcoin, I'd take the latter any time, even though it gives me an immediate 10% loss (for fees and spreads). That's my belief in it and I know I'm not alone.

Actually, these "surprises" happen often enough in football. The odds of a draw were 40/1 so roughly, you can expect these kind of match-ups to end up in a draw perhaps once every 40 games That's why you don't bet for straight outcomes on these kinds of heavy favourite matches. What you want to bet on is other options... shots on target? Corners? Straights on the favourites are very poor value anyway at less than 1/10 but they do make good options for parlay multipliers.

Forbes really should watch their content or they might be in danger of becoming the financial Huffington. I've noticed a number of click bait articles appearing even on the parent company. Their subsidiaries seem to be a bit wonky at times too. Or maybe they just need better staffing to monitor and filter paid press releases (though this is actually a cover story!)

This isn't to say they haven't put out good stories - and the main content of this is also good (hey, welcome onboard, big continent!).

Can't really blame the editors and journalists who aren't crypto experts in the least. Oh wait, you can blame them for not doing their very basic research. That is still a pre-requisite of journalism, isn't it?

China's population is only about a sixth of the world's and yet it accounts for about a quarter of all ICO funds raised. That speaks volumes for how much crypto muscle it already wields. Once can only speculate how much it will continue to grow over the next few years. China's official stance has changed in the past so this decision shouldn't be seen as an end all.

Take heart. When China's central bank banned Bitcoin transactions in 2013, not long after passing $1,000... value dropped more than 20% and continued dropping til it lost more than half value in the weeks that followed. The recovery, you all know.

Maybe you weren't around in September 2014 (yup, three years ago) when Paypal did in fact accept Bitcoin, along with Litecoin and Dogecoin (that's no longer the case today). Yes, all ye Doge lovers, you can always take pride in the fact that you were once accepted currency by a mainstream payment processor, where so many alts have failed.

Did it help change the game? Not really. Yes, the wave of merchant adoption in 2014/15 helped Bitcoin lose some of its unwarranted dark market association. Yes, the merchants looked cool for having a Bitcoin logo on their site. But it didn't really help sales. People weren't really buying their stuff with Bitcoin.

There's still a lot of value. Any alt would kill to have people accept them. But it won't change the game.

One point to note: they accepted it via Coinbase, GoCoin and BitPay... as do a lot of other merchants. In fact, a lot of so-called Bitcoin casinos also accept Bitcoin through a third-party wallet. Because in the end, these merchants, like Paypal, actually convert the Bitcoin you send through Coinbase/GoCoin etc. to fiat, I don't really consider this as adoption. But for technical purposes, let's say yes, it still qualifies.
 

While I immediately disagree with central invervention, I would have to say that this is the right move, in the context of protecting a lot of normal people. This can only be the result of pressure from very vocal and public complaints against the majority of Chinese ICOs, mostly people new to crypto, burning entire life savings into buying something they didn't understand. There's an entire microcosm of Chinese forums and social media filled with "netizens" who got bit by the latest ICO hit and run. It's the fault of greedy people thinking they found the latest way to multiply their money without any effort.

This is really reminiscent of the steps the Chinese government took with so-called P2P lending platforms in China when hundreds of them (many accepting Bitcoin) fleeced millions of dollars from Chinese citizens under the guise of business lending. I'm almost certain the same groups running them are behind a lot of ICOs.

It would have to be coins worth less than 10 satoshi... to be able to buy more than 6 million coins. I suppose that is a sort of pump. Expect a lot of shilling to happen. Maybe if they really have a large group each with their own small bags of BTC to add to the mix, they might be able to achieve some kind of movement. But like you said, with no support. Their main problem would be to get enough attention for buy orders to come in. Likely is the group members will be the ones conned into doing that.

I guess I must really be too outdated to understand that this works! Lovely world of crypto indeed.

Lukaku's simply in the form of his life. I remember when people were asking early last season if he was the best striker in the EPL. I personally didn't think so, but judging from his ratio of scoring and his performance in national colours, I might have been guilty of overlooking him. Belgians will really enjoy taking the dig at neighbours Netherlands for the next few years!


It will be everyone's loss of the Oranjes don't make it, but am afraid you're right. Just wasn't pretty seeing them go down to France last week. The French draw is only going to prolong this pain. Sadly, this downtrend looks to continue for another generation.

Two weeks before the match but I don't see any really good odds on outright match winner (Golovkin best odds 4/6 and Alvarez 6/4). Seems just completely evenly matched so a KO is unlikely. I would put down a bet on Golovkin victory by decision (7/2 at Ladbrokes) and another on Alvarez by decision (11/5). Small margin of profit if the Mexican pulls through but would give good returns on Golovkin, whom I'd expect to win anyway.

Also, would put even bets on rounds to end at 5-8 (11/4) and rounds 9-12 (9/2).