You do not need a masternode, PHR uses PoS 3.0 so there is no network weight / coinage. It's a bit tricky to figure out the rewards. How many PHR are you staking ?

Thanks for the answer, he signed up yesterday, username is @wondersauce. If you need any other info let me know !

Hey guys, I have a friend that joined the platform recently and is still waiting for approval. Is there any way for me to approve him by sending him some Steem or something ?

Thanks !

Waves and Ethereum are difficult to compare, I believe at the moment they are targeted at two very different sector of the market. The user experience on the waves wallet is easy, it includes gateways for several coins, a DEX, token creation etc. However the staking rewards are small ( only the fees, no inflation by mining ), there is for now no smart contracts ( however they are planned in the future ) and one could argue that distributed getaway for BTC, ETH etc on Waves are not truly decentralized.

I like Trezarcoin for PoS, however it's a PoW/PoS hybrid so it's not full on PoS.
I appreciate Phore (PHR) that is a combo of both PoS 3.0 and Masternodes and that has a solid product and yearly ROI, check it out.

This year looks like a bearish year until proven otherwise by either : technical development, or an unexpected change in the global economical context. We have time, Rome was not built in one day and so is crypto. If you believe in the technology and invested responsibly you will be rewarded.

Fear of regulation, rumors of Ethereum ASICs ... And the general crypto downtrend. When the price of bitcoin goes down, people panic sell their alt as a getaway to FIAT. Dropping the price of BTC further and starting a global panic on the market. Lots of mainstream investor entered in November / December of 2017 and they are not ready for the crypto swings.

In my opinion this is classic FUD, when it's not India, it's China or Korea. This is just market manipulation by those big market actors, trying to take advantage of the regulation-induced bear market. If anything there is a good buying opportunity for all of us.

Ethereum has the potential in 5 years to be the new reference in crypto. However it has its limitation and it will need to adapt and overcome its growing pains where bitcoin seems to be struggling now. More TX/s, lighter blockchain, better smart contracts, efficient PoS... Otherwise it is bound to be overcome by a new generation crypto in the next 5-10 years.

This coin is serious and looks like it has everything it needs to succeed. Product development takes time especially in such an innovative field. I'm confident in the future of OMG, just wait and see.

I have to disagree with you, PHR is holding extremely against market conditions. The price in USD is not representative of the value of PHR. I think a better metric is to look at the PHR/BTC price which has been holding really well compared to other cryptos. The team has a great  product, good business plan and good communication. Strong fundamentals, I see PHR flourishing in the upcoming quarter.

Is it planned to have more consistent updates on this thread or is it expected for all investors to follow up on the project on Maid's forums ?

Glad to see you haven't given up on your annual tradition. It's always a pleasure to come by and hear your opinions !

This call was expected for a long time, China has always operated like this : ban until they figure out how to regulate the crypto market in their favor. I will not be surprised to see the ICO & Exchange ban lifted during 2018 once the regulations are in place.

Crypto projects needs time to reach maturation ( look at the beginnings of ETH, BTC ... ) I believe in 2017 many project went up way to fast, compared to the product they currently have. While it may be a good time to enter ADA after its impressive growth and correction, I don't think selling ETH ( and I hope not at loss ) is a good idea. ETH is an established currency that is solving real problems, and in these bearish times and other FUD it's always a good time to accumulate ETH ( re : the DAO )

Unfortunately it's not as easy as this. Bitcoin has the first mover advantage, a well known reputation, a solid and reliable team and product. It's also widely accepted as the currency of reference in crypto.
Now bitcoin has disadvantages, as you mention the coin re partition is not perfect, it's tx/s is not scalable in its current state  and it lacks many features that other altcoins bring to the market.

A good portfolio is the perfect balance between serious altcoin projects and established currencies such as bitcoin, that no matter what will always hold value.

Don't forget that this is a beta release, I agree with you the user experience needs to be on point in order to have adoption. However this is the first stone for the marketplace and what really matters is that it works. There is now a  solid basis to build a great product.

Or you can buy a raspberry pi and run the wallet on there. It's cheap and has a low electric consumption. Way more worth it that an EC2 instance in my opinion. 

Often overlooked but one of the first and  most solid ERC 20 token : Augur (REP) which should be released soon. Serious team, a functional and audited product. I think it's a serious candidate to be listed on Coinbase

Yes it's possible, however I don't think you need a VPS for that, just stake from your local wallet. I wouldn't expect more than  2-3 stake per month ( 2.8 PHR per stake ) with 500 coins, so you'd at least save the cost of the EC2 instance.