Bitcoin is not competing with paper money. But with money controlled by central banks. This is the main discussion that can end Bitcoin or make it the main means of store of value or for monetary exchanges. Governments may decide to end paper money, but keep as the only accepted currency in a country for government negotiations, tax and fines payments, digital money. Bitcoin is more them any kind of digital money.

I believe that a stable coin with a gradual increase in its offer could have some use. But the difficulty would be to have this option controlled by a mathematical model, rather than being controlled by individuals, groups or governments.

Reuters
Trading firms are negotiating buying, selling and lending digital currencies like bitcoin and ether over Skype, catering to big investors looking to avoid rocking already volatile online exchanges.

FILE PHOTO: A web camera is seen in front of a Skype logo in this photo illustration May 26, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
Some 20 traders as well as clients such as wealthy investors, bitcoin miners, payment processors and, increasingly, hedge funds, have in around five years spawned an over-the-counter market moving hundreds of millions of dollars of cryptocurrencies daily, mostly via online messaging, participants told Reuters.

“Generally, you would go trade through an OTC desk when you have a large block trade you want to do without moving the market too much or incurring too much slippage,” said Kevin Zhou, founder of cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund Galois Capital. The traders work at firms including Chicago-based Cumberland Mining, a division of proprietary trading firm DRW Holdings; Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N)-backed bitcoin payments firm Circle and New York-based broker-dealer Genesis Global Trading, owned by Digital Currency Group.

OTC trades are not reported and independently audited, but some dealers said their desks often handle more than $100 million of cryptocurrency trades daily with minimum ticket sizes between $75,000 and $250,000.

OTC trading may appeal to those wary of stashing coins and fiat currency with digital exchanges after high-profile hacks and other issues.

“When the big [exchange] hacks happen we tend to see business go up,” said an OTC trader who asked to remain anonymous.

The OTC transactions are settled through bank wire transfers and by sending cryptocurrencies to digital wallets.

To be sure, OTC trading carries its own risks to participants. Price discovery is murkier, and there is higher settlement risk. Clients also need to trust brokers to vet counterparties to avoid inadvertently helping launder illegal funds.

VOLUME SPIKE
Genesis on average handles $75 million to $80 million in trades daily, 10 times year-ago volumes, Chief Executive Michael Moro said, and in December hit record monthly volume between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.

Boston-based Circle handled up to $4 billion in OTC trades monthly over the past year, spokeswoman Jennifer Hanley said.

Cumberland has been adding employees and opening offices in Asia and Europe, said global head of trading Bobby Cho. Cho previously worked at exchange itBit and SecondMarket, DCG’s Genesis’ predecessor. Most investors message traders directly, but are required by firms to undergo know-your-customer and anti-money laundering checks with their compliance departments, traders and investors said. Trades are settled bilaterally, generally by the firm’s back office.

“We needed a tool that was global and more or less free and Skype provided that,”

The price is much lower than I imagined. The big question is, how long would they be using these machines to mine? Is it possible to identify? Cause doubt they were not already using such machines, and are only now passing on to other users.

There is a difference between identifying, finding and following. Identifying a scammer having only a random address is very difficult. This address would have to have a tag on some other service.

Finding the address used by a scammer depends on others to identify the address that was used by him.

Now, following an address you already know that has been used by a scammer is very simple. Just search for an explorer of your choice.

Bitcoin can only have smart contracts on a side chain. It is not feasible to introduce smart contracts into the main chain as is the case with Ethereum and Cardano. RSK is the best known project in this sense, but it is still in beta. It was released in January on mainnet after more than 3 years of development.

That sucks for those who invest in Litecoin. To be honest, since Charlie announced that he did not have any LTC anymore, I could never again rely on the development of the project. To be just a beta test of Bitcoin, a lighter version is not enough for it to succeed in the long run. It would be necessary for them to work to offer greater and better options.

At this point in time when a good part of the people who entered after November are in panic, this type of news has a destructive potential. We need to be careful about commenting on this. There are already several tools that monitor the portfolios associated with the trust. It is well documented.

There is no such service. Besides, it would be very expensive to write something extensive. You will lose money and still be harmful to the entire network. What you can do is write using the options of signing an address using the option on wallets.

As with futures, large hedge funds would be very healthy for Bitcoin. It is sad news that they decide not to operate in this market anymore. We need people and funds who think long term.

No, it's not. Lately we have several examples of sites whose purpose is to rob you. They use fake links and profiles on twitter, facebook and forums. Be careful with the websites you enter.

What is wrong with this title? The user did not commit suicide, he threatened to commit. But it is, in fact, a very complicated time. And such technical mistakes make people even more desperate.

I agree. It's fast, very fast. It has a great team of developers. It has been on the market for a long time, being tested several times. It offers options that others only glimpse. Definitely an excellent investment.

This kind of speculation is completely unnecessary. Even more at this point. It takes some logic before imagining a particular price. What does the roadmap foresee, is that in these 2 months something spectacular can be launched? Or some great fact related to smart contracts, where ETH is undoubtedly the best player, can become universally accepted?

I think one of his big problems is that he's addicted to various things. Addicted people are always in need of cash and because of this they accept to receive money by the most diverse types of service.

There are still many difficulties that have considerably reduced the volume. We need positive news that re-establishes market confidence. But at the same time, the stock market is also facing problems. So everyone is looking for safe haven instead of big and risky returns.

I remember that electricity there is one of the cheapest. They will miss a great opportunity to increase income and receive a great injection of technology fruit of the advances of the greatest revolution of the last times.

Why do people still insist on this unrelated story? It's exactly the same as saying that anyone using an internet connection is two steps from a file containing child pornography.

Besides, no one owns a Bitcoin. People only have access to move the Bitcoin in the public ledger.

I'm hardly going to invest in a project that featured one of the most bizarre moments on twitter. I do not know how people dropped so fast, a scam like that. They deceived thousands of people.
In addition, this project has so far offered no real advantage over any other. They have not yet launched the mainnet and are already among the largest in marketingcap.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/cardano-blockchains-first-use-case-proof-university-diplomas-greece/

Cardano Blockchain's First Use Case: Proof of University Diplomas in Greece
GRNET, the national research and education network of Greece, is working on a pilot project with blockchain research and development company IOHK to verify student diplomas on Cardano, a blockchain that launched in September.

The project is notable because it is the first official use case of Cardano, a proof-of-stake-based cryptocurrency and soon-to-be smart contract platform currently under development by IOHK.