The proliferation of ICOs especially in the year 2017 resulted into some of them being accused of offering securities instead of just the usual tokens. There had been projects which were served cases by SEC and many of them prayed that SEC will instead formulate something that can be acceptable by both sides.

Hence, SEC has the 'no relief' action to give chance to those accused of dealing with securities but later on proved that they are actually not based on the things they achieved so far with their corresponding projects or platforms.

I am sure that many projects got some sigh of relief with this development. With securities now clearly defined as opposed to just offering tokens, let's see if there will be new projects originating or based in USA this time. 

Those factors have been talked a lot especially on this forum and we generally agree that they pushed bitcoin recently so much farther from the bitcoin winter and into the bullish mode where it is now. When there are good news that can affect bitcoin the market may respond according though not all times, of course. Next year, we are expecting that the scheduled halving can trigger more growth for this cryptocurrency...and if ETF can be approved eventually then they can be double blessings. Just like forex or stocks, bitcoin is following the same pattern of being influenced by developments and events related into the industry.

Even right now, there are already many good developments coming from Lightning Network. Now, having said that, I would rather have people who are hard at work for the good of bitcoin than with people who are only good at hyping and commanding the attention of the media and the people. The tasks at hand are not that easy and certainly those can be taking a lot of time so we have to extend our understanding and patience. Eventually we can see the fruits of their labors soon.

I stand with those people, especially women, who’ve lately been calling out maltreatment from members of the bitcoin community and citing rude and abusive behavior as proof of that community’s lack of inclusiveness. These are people who believe in cryptocurrency technology’s potential but feel discouraged to believe that they belong to the community’s dominant white-male subculture. If this technology is to fulfill its global potential, the community associated with it must confront this problem.

But the real point of this column is not to just defend these critics. It’s to debunk one of the more common positions adopted by those who take issue with their complaints, particularly on Twitter. In doing so, I hope to emphasize just how important the concepts of “community” and “culture” are to the healthy development of crypto technology and the ecosystem growing around it.

The only way to do that is to spur the kind of open debates that have always driven the progress of human culture — those which shifted norms and mores to the point that it became unacceptable to own slaves, to spit in public, or to jump a queue. So, listen up, bitcoin. It’s time to confront your toxicity.

Further Read: https://www.coindesk.com/why-bitcoins-culture-war-matters

Do we have a bitcoin community lacking inclusiveness especially for women? That seems to be the impression of the many in the face of the reality that this is men-dominated circle. However, there is no stopping anyone regardless of gender to enter and be a part and parcel of this growing platform. Is there really a toxic bitcoin culture ongoing and hindering participation of those in the fringes?

My thought is that he can just be another claimant to the title but so far since he may not be able to move those bitcoin just because he is incarcerated but then again a person with a will can always find a way. So maybe we should just wait for the time when he can be released from the prison so he can finally prove to be the real guy. The search for the genuine Satoshi Nakamoto will not stop all because we continue to get fascinated by his whereabouts. And until we can see, meet and talk with the original, the space for speculations is always open. Enjoy! I am thinking of nominating myself to be Satoshi Nakamoto too.

A newly-proposed relay protocol could reduce the “transaction bandwidth” used up by bitcoin nodes by up to 75%.

Called Erlay, the proposed protocol alters the way transactions are relayed so that they use significantly less bandwidth, an important resource for the nodes that make up the network. The authors include The University of British Columbia researcher Gleb Naumenko as well as two bitcoin development heavy-weights: Greg Maxwell and Pieter Wuille.

“The main idea is that instead of announcing every transaction to every peer, announcements are only sent directly over a small number of connections (only 8 outgoing ones). Further relay is achieved by periodically running a set reconciliation protocol over every connection between the sets of withheld announcements in both directions.”

Further Read: https://www.coindesk.com/maxwell-wuille-co-author-proposal-for-a-big-boost-to-bitcoins-bandwidth

I am not really a technical person but I understand that this proposal can help bitcoin a lot in improving its security so we are hoping this can be added to the Bitcoin Core after the necessary testings and experiments. This is one of the many good developments that for sure will push bitcoin further in terms of security and scalability. The evolution for the revolution is real!

The long-awaited approval of exchange-traded fund (ETF) by SEC has been postponed again to allow more time for the agency to think about the whole thing. However, many are already saying that there is really a slim chance that ETF can be approved in the near future due to many reasons but on the other hand there are those who are very positive about it.

Here is a quote you might want to read: "The SEC last postponed a decision on both the Bitwise and VanEck/SolidX proposals at the end of March, kicking both to May. The regulator has yet to approve any bitcoin ETFs, though both experts in the space and officials with the agency seem to believe that it’s only a matter of time."

I have been so optimistic with bitcoin lately that any minor correction or dip I considered as good news and something not to worry about. What happened in May is just a foretaste of what bitcoin can do in June, am sure of that. The energy and enthusiasm for bitcoin remains to be strong and pervasive and it can soon spill-over to people outside of our community. Many analysts are agreeing that in months leading to 2020, we can see bitcoin goes up and down but generally growing positively to the joy of many traders and hodlers. Of course, we should not be taking my words like a guarantee as anything can happen with bitcoin being a very volatile beast.

Of course, it can be a big trap especially if there is no advisory of that restriction before anybody will be using the platform. You see, there are now many exchange sites working only for the interest of the people behind it and not thinking of the welfare of its users...soon those sites will just a natural death because people will eventually know what a platform is up to. I am glad to see this warning and brought up here so that anybody can search for it online and they get aware of the situation before doing business with PayBito.

I am very much interested with this offer but I am also aware of the many risks associated with such a dumping project. I once participated in one in 2017 but it left me with worthless tokens I can't sell because by the time I was about to sell the price dropped significantly...means I was not able to ride the high point. Will this group offer me a different experience?

We thought that with the help of cryptocurrency, we can live in an "island" that is separated from reality and away from the regulating eyes of the government until the industry encountered the bite of so many scams and hacks which eventually changed the mindset of the many. We then realized the wisdom of the saying: "No man is an island." Now, many people are open to regulations as long as the main intention is to protect the investors and not to hinder the growth of the industry. I am hoping that Elrond Network can be showing us the better and balance approached on these many concerns.  

I am a little sad that Fidelity Suite failed to reach the needed soft cap however I am sure that if the team will not give up with this platform, eventually things will be turning out good for the whole project. I am then wishing that you guys can get the right partnership you are looking for. I am continuing my support for this good project and will spread the words of positive things for Fidelity Suite. Good luck to all team members!

One thing I learned with all of this bitcoin thing is that it is on the evolution in the face of growing challenges and problems it is tackling on. Bitcoin is going to be a big game-changer so it must not let itself just stay in the corner and watch while the whole world goes by. There are now many experiments and developments going on to address flaws in the network and I think that soon there will be so positive changes that users everywhere will love. We just have to give bitcoin the time it needs. The problem of scalability and micro-transactions are two fronts that are being addressed right now by devs.

Week 2: May 28  - June 03
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I find your story encouraging and I am hoping that soon more and more will have the same experience so we can realize the beauty, advantages and benefits in using bitcoin instead of the usual banking system. Though I am not believing that we should do away with banks, I think that people should be including bitcoin as one of the most viable options...this message goes to many merchants as well to start thinking how they can incorporate bitcoin into their ecosystem.

The best for LocalBitcoins to do is to relocate their headquarters somewhere maybe like Malta where Binance is now. However, pressures from governmental authorities can follow anywhere they want to. We are already living in the time when regulations are beginning to change the face of cryptocurrency especially on areas of privacy and anonymity s the government is using the concern on money laundering as the basis for some crackdowns. I am sure that the people behind LocalBitcoins are also sad with this development but they know what are their choices are. Competition will surely step in for this market...let's see how things will transpire on this niche of an industry.

Hello. I am participating in the ongoing Zest.Fund Gleam competition. Here are my important details for guidance:

Twitter:      https://twitter.com/theBitme
Telegram:   https://www.t.me/BlockZeen
Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/tombiz123
Wallet (ERC-20):    0xff9903661D0611D1263b0E6b5c912a5a4054d21f
LATOKEN:   hunterbounty700@gmail.com

Thanks  alot for this good opportunity and good luck to all participants. I am sure that soon Zest.Fund can be soaring into the sky and we all want to be a part of its amazing journey!

I think I would love to own this watch which I am sure can have a ready market willing to splurge on and enjoy the capacity to receive bitcoin at a flash. We are still a long, long way so behind when we talk about mainstream adoption but with development like this I can only say that maybe soon we can get there. I am expecting this kind of trend to continue through the years in our quest to spread the good news of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. As always, adoption is the key to everything.

Peter Schiff can be right or can be wrong it does not matter at all. What is important for anyone who is involve with bitcoin is never invest everything you got just because you heard that your 18-year-old neighbor is able to date his girlfriend in a fancy restaurant and gifted her with a ring that is worth $5,000 taken from his bitcoin earnings. That is not what healthy investing is...and this advice goes to all types of investment not just with bitcoin. Why would anyone invest all of his life's savings with bitcoin, in the first place? Placing one's eggs in many baskets has been a good wisdom to guide us all. No need to listen to hypes and promoted stories in the media or elsewhere. There will always be hypes in any industry...as long as we are dealing with human beings, for sure.

That can happen if there would be a resounding success to happen in Awabar Fukouka  bar so let's hope that there can be a strong patronage from the bitcoin community in Japan. Things eventually boils down to sales, nothing more nothing less. This is one way we can show to the world that bitcoin is actually money that can be utilized anywhere to buy anything and not just another investment tool to keep on hodling.