It's kinda funny reading through the research papers, because one group's narrative is to highlight how harmful mining is and exaggerate their numbers to make a (false) statement, and the other group's narrative is to highlight how non-harmful mining is. In both cases it's better to just ignore the research papers because you won't get any closer to the truth at all.

In all honesty, I don't even care about what the actual impact is. Neither have I ever cared about what the impact is of Google's datacenters, or the financial system's consumption of electricity. Just use it if it's useful to you, if not, then don't use it.

One day people will be happy that Bitcoin exists, because it's picking up where Gold can't fulfill its promise as currency in today's digital era.

It's definitely a good thing for Bitcoin overall, even when it isn't doing much for it in the near term. In the end, whatever people are interested in that's crypto or blockchain but not Bitcoin, they will get involved in Bitcoin later on anyway. Education is key, and when even universities are jumping on board, that's a development I can only welcome.

It might help people actually value the fundamentals of whatever they invest in, and fundamentally speaking, Bitcoin is a sound investment that belongs in every portfolio, even when you don't like it. I know some people who aren't that fond of Bitcoin and are exposed to mostly altcoins, but they at least acknowledge the importance of an allocation to Bitcoin.

If even people who don't really like Bitcoin because it's boring or "slow" still own Bitcoin, that's a damn powerful statement. 

I don't think it's related to Trump at all. The economy was on its way up before Trump was elected, but as always, the sitting president gets the credits for everything good that's happening with the economy. Similarly, I'm pretty sure that the next president during the implosion of the debt bubble will be blamed for that even though it's not the president's fault at all.

I honestly don't believe any president is capable of changing anything about how the system works and heads down with more debt every single year. It requires a change in the core structure of the monetary system. With the same people making the rules, how likely is it that a change is going to happen? Decades of evidence we have to know that it is not likely at all that something is going to change.

It's hard to think of the price stopping at $5800 when we get to dip under the $6000 level. I'm confident that it will be a quicky to low $5000's in case we do have more weak hands to shake out. The 200 weekly MA is a magnet and will be where I go balls deep one more time. Currently it's hovering just under $5100 and moving up week after week.

That being said, too many people aim at sub $6000 levels currently, which only makes it less likely to actually happen. Of course, dumb money can be right too just by luck, but in general, they are wrong far more often than right, and that makes me a tiny bit more bullish.

People obedient to the state think otherwise unfortunately.

If you wait for approval in order to use Bitcoin in whatever shape or form, you don't understand Bitcoin. It's that simple. Bitcoin is designed to cut through the power central entities have over you. It's a blessing to possess such an asset, yet people are too brainwashed to realize that. There will be a time they will regret not having bought and held Bitcoin, but that's when it's too late.

I legit couldn't care less about what the rules are. I will never let a stupid law prevent me from using Bitcoin, the purest form of money.

That. I legit have never seen anyone around me who made profit openly share with the world that they made whatever percentage of profits. It's none of people's business. On top of that, saying that you make such profits can attract the wrong type of attention. Smart money doesn't signal they're rich, they keep their mouth shut and act poor.

The funny part about most people like OP is that they all 'made' 500 or 1000% profit. Why not just pick a lower more realistic figure? Most professional traders don't even make that much profit.

Nope. People don't care enough about decentralization to actually impact any company or financial institution. For years people have made fun of Apple in various ways, said that it would be the next Nokia and whatnot, but they are worth $1.3 trillion as of today's valuation. You can fit Nokia's market cap in its prime 10 times in Apple's market cap easily.

Bitcoin's market cap can fit like 10 times in Apple's market cap too.

Sorry, but how do you know that? The sole purpose of a company like Apple is to make money, and keep its shareholders happy. No one gives a crap about Coinbase's move.

Actually, CashApp has been one of the top financial applications in the US App/PlayStore for quite a long period of time now. In other words, plenty of people know about it.

I wish they were offering their services within my country, but unfortunately they don't. I read somewhere that they were planning to roll out their service within Europe, but that can take a long time if it isn't their main priority and their licenses haven't been granted yet. I like to side with businesses that are building on top of the right coin and have the right intentions.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/jack-dorsey-says-cash-app-support-for-lightning-network-a-question-of-when-not-if

Not sure when Lightning will be integrated into CashApp, but it will happen eventually, which makes their platform even more user friendly, and provides new people a much better user experience, especially when they plan to buy their first satoshis during a fomo stage with high network congestion.

Volume is low, but keep in mind that initiating a DDoS doesn't have to cost all that much. If they demand something like 1BTC they will profit big time. It may sound like a low amount, but for the little effort and cost needed to execute such an attack it's extremely profitable. I really hope they haven't paid anything if their claim of being extorted is legit.

I can somewhat respect these smaller exchanges for not artificially increasing their volumes to rank up high on sites such as CMC. Usually a sign of honest business.

Pretty common domain for scammers to use. If you see domains like; btcprofitsdirect, btctraderpro, btcwalletsafe, etc it's 99% likely to be a scam.

http://whois.domaintools.com/btcbuyerseller.com

Domain is registered like 6 months ago and only for a year, of which 6 months are left, which isn't a good sign either. Serious businesses register their domain for at least a couple of years, and they will pick a short and brandable domain that looks professional.

Quite contradicting. First BitPay is one of OP's best bets, then you warn him that they don't have a good reputation. 

Another point of importance is that BitPay doesn't allow anyone to accept Bitcoin without KYC. Most people looking to accept Bitcoin on their site aren't willing to go through such requirements, and that's perfectly understandable.

In case OP isn't interested in BTCPay, Coingate accepts Lightning payments and a variety of altcoins. They do not require KYC to accept crypto, but do require KYC to have the crypto be converted to fiat and sent to your bank account. If you just stick to accepting crypto you'll be fine. Coingate offers free Bitcoin withdrawals too, which is pretty neat.

OP's forum name is exactly how I react to news articles like this; Lmaoooooooooooo!!!

That dude is broke as fuck. CSW needs daddy Calvin to open up his wallet each time he has a plan but not the money to execute it. Not in a hundred years do I believe that Calvin thinks CSW is satoshi, he just wants CSW to do the dirty work for him. The only thing that matters to him is to make as much profit as possible, hence the reason BSV's roadmap is to be a corporate and compliant network.

Ehm. Isn't the main purpose of these coins to be traded back and forth anonymously? I would say it's much better to have centralized exchanges not mess around with them. It obviously hurts the liquidity, but in return you get a greater deal of privacy. Anyone buying such coins from a centralized exchange to finance or buy something the state doesn't want is a dumbo.

Also, the actual use of these coins is highly overrated when it comes to their privacy features. Not enough people care enough about what features they offer to actually be upset about exchanges removing them slowly but surely. I expected the use of these coins to pick up, but adoption wise they haven't gotten anywhere.

How so? By owning 'too many' of something that already is super scarce, especially when it comes to the circulating supply within the speculative market, they would make every Bitcoin super duper happy with the increase in price. States are mainly hoarders of assets, and when they hodl their Bitcoins, it can only propel the price to much higher levels, especially after the halving reducing the rate of inflation.

I however do not like the idea of states owning Bitcoin, because it gives them the incentive to actually attack the network in case they want a transaction of a rival state reversed, or for whatever other reason. Let them stick to Gold hoarding and people do Bitcoin hoarding. Much better basis to build on. States can't be trusted and they don't like freedom, more reason to steer clear of them.

That's a fair concern, but I'm actually more concerned about fiat than Bitcoin, mainly so with how the demand for a tiny dot such as Bitcoin can only increase in the long run, thus the purchasing power of those holding it.

I think an additional demand factor for Bitcoin is the fact that physical cash is being banished slowly but surely. Bitcoin is the only digital asset that you can hold permissionlessly. In the same way, I strongly believe it will increase the demand for physical Gold because there will always be people valuing something they can actually hold.

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I'm a fan of anything that is durable and portable to be used as a wallet. I have been experimenting with steel plates that I engrave private keys in manually, and I actually like idea behind it. It's far more durable than a paper wallet, plus it can resist temperatures of ~1000 degrees celcius. Inside a safe, it's destined to last.

Steel plates cost a few bucks, and an engraving pen costs somewhere between $25-$50 brand new. Great value for money I would say.

That's not going to work. Gold isn't the ultimate safe haven asset people think it is. If a global crash is artificially initiated, it will also tank the value of Gold because most of the actual price discovery happens on derivatives markets, and what are they used for the most? Right, it's speculation, not for safe haven purposes.

Gold doesn't automatically pay your debt or bills. In order to get that done, doesn't matter who it concerns, it will need to be sold for fiat. The most in-demand asset will be fiat. Everything else will very likely suffer and bleed for years straight. Bitcoin will fall as well. The only people who think that Bitcoin is a safe haven asset are those within the space, the rest just considers it to be a wild west casino.

That's legit disgusting.

I would never be able to live with myself having a salary of +$400,000 knowing that I am being paid by people who donate to help people in need. I'm pretty sure that they do help quite a bunch of people world wide, but they could do far more if they stopped acting like a business that's profit oriented and needs to splash big money to attract the best people. It's a charity ffs.

I'm absolutely not againt people being paid money because they invest their time and dedication to their goal, but this can't be justified in any shape or form.

That's quite funny. I'm pretty sure that you haven't been warning people in a similar fashion for buying at levels close to the $14,000 peak this year.

Technically speaking, there is far less risk involved buying today than there was buying at any level above $10,000. Everything you do in this market is risky, but one is better off buying into a ~50% dip from the high than buying into an obvious fomo market.

The bull run that we have had this year was very small compared to the ones in the past, so the market has to shake out fewer weak hands. On top of that, it's extremely difficult to get more bearish with the block halving coming up.

What exactly did you expect from them? It's a professionally traded market, which means that they just follow the trend as it comes. Trend has been down and kinda sideways, so what other than more of the same is there to expect from CME? The only slightly bullish aspect of CME currently is that there is a slight premium, which is indicative of demand, but still not a guarantee that we will head back up.

As long as stocks are usurping all the attention in the financial market Bitcoin will likely just stay 'boring' and bearish. The stock market looks like a bubble that will have a very nasty pop eventually. So much paper wealth generated and so little actual liquidity to allow freshly minted millionaires and billionaires to cash out together.

Correct observation.

BitUSD is quite a joke. Its 'value' is backed by BitShares tokens, which means that if the price of BitShares tokens tanks or pumps, the value of the "stablecoin" adjusts to that. It's more like a trashy pump and dump coin rather than an actual stablecoin. Can't back a stablecoin by trashy coins or tokens that inherently are super volatile and have no fundamental value. You're asking for problems that way.

DAI does a better job in being a decentralized stablecoin. Not perfect, but good enough; https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/single-collateral-dai/