The biggest advantage for me is that it's free of government's influence and tax-free in most countries, making it easy to spend on the dark web.

There are no certain predictions when it comes to Bitcoin. It may hit $15k in just the next couple of years or may take a whole decade to reach there. Nothing is sure in the bitcoin world, my friend.

Coinbase is the way to go. There is plenty of information on the internet about the procedure. Look it up!

Wait until the heat surrounding hard fork taking place in August cools down. Once the certainty about Bitcoin is back, you will have plenty of options to choose from.

Two completely opposite things: Yahoo made way too many mistakes on their part - failing to keep up with the technological advancements, and once realized the mistake, refusing to sell when the offer was right. On the other hand, Bitcoin is seemingly run by smart people which is the main reason why it's leading the race with such a large margin. To put in a nutshell, Bitcoin is there to stay and won't fade away like Yahoo did IMO.

Maybe too expensive! and way too unstable?

Well, this will surely help Bitcoin become more popular among the common people and grow the crypto community. Why I'm excited? Because in the end, it's us bitcoiners that will reap the benefits from it. More countries need to follow the footsteps of Japan.

Bitcoin will never make banks disappear. Why? Because the quantity of bitcoin is not enough to be used worldwide replacing fiat in all countries. 

IKR? I am running a personal forum and DAMN these spam guys have way too much time to flood it with irrelevant stuff. Seem like I need to implement the same policy as you guys. You guys are doing a great job Btw. Keep it up.

I have been out of touch for a while and was lacking this information. This thread has provided me with plenty of it.

Kano is the way to go. Works pretty well for me.

What VRobb said 

I really appreciate your work, Matt. You have no idea how many problems your simple post has solved for me. Thanks a lot!

Why all the threads created by rickbig41 are blocked on this forum?

In terms of Mining, yes. In terms of flow, No. Since the electricity is relatively cheap in China, about 60% new coins are generated by Chinese mining firms. Out of top 10 mining companies, 4 belong to China. So yes, it's safe to say that they partially control BTC.

BitcoinCore, Blockchain, Coinbase, MultiBit, Armory, all are pretty cheap and safe to use. But I would suggest Coinbase as its available in both in the US and the Europe. The fees go around 1-3% based on your location, so confirm the fees before making the transaction.

If your friend thinks Bitcoin can be hacked, good for him. But ever since the Bitcoin appeared on the radar, not a single time it has been breached. What your friend doesn't understand is that BTC is not some random network operating next door. It's the most widely used, yet the most secure cryptocurrency out there. You will need plenty of supercomputer and some killer programming skills, and after a few years, you might be able to hack into one bitcoin address.

Trading, hands down. If you have the required expertise and knowledge of trading coins, you'd turned into a Bitcoin lord in a matter of days. However, if you are a beginner, then you will need to keep yourself updated through recent news, TV shows and stuff, else it will be extremely hard for you to succeed. Good luck!

Even if Bitcoin gets banned, it won't have much effect on the community. People will continue using it since there is no way track them down. For example, Bitcoin is already banned in countries like Russia, Iceland, etc. but the locals are still able to use it and make transactions through BTC. Since the currency is decentralized and there is no system to track the transactions, it's almost impossible to put a complete ban on it.

The best Bitcoin investment is Bitcoin itself. Due to high volatility, you can always play around with buying some bitcoins and hoping for the value to appreciate. And the best thing is, you don't even have to wait for years for its value to go up. Although overly volatile, it more often tends to go up than dropping down. Currently one BTC = $1135.72. With the constant growth in users, the currency is steadily heading towards stability. So, I would suggest you consider your investment options within the realm of Bitcoin instead of looking up outside.