Not much. CBDCs are still fiat currencies that are made digital. They're not much different from the fiat that we use through fiat online wallets. It's just that there's no more hard cash representing them. They remain centralized because they're still issued by governments' central banks. They are still subject to the same inflationary mechanism. They're still continuously devalued. They're still under the control and decision of a few powerful individuals. The disadvantage, however, is that they're more easily tracked, monitored, frozen, seized, confiscated.   

The point is it doesn't actually compete against Bitcoin.

It's not a bad idea for casinos to try to assure their users that they are doing well by showing proof that they indeed have the money. But, well, there isn't a big call for it right now despite the series of bankruptcies happening in the crypto industry. Is it perhaps because there hasn't really been a crypto casino that experienced some kind of a bank run?

But now I'm curious, how many casinos out there can actually provide the funds in the unlikely event that all of their users decide to withdraw? Or how many casinos out there that are also secretly using their players' money for investment or marketing or something else?

I don't want to jump right into the conclusion that the rise in mortgages and credit card and other debts is caused by people buying stuff they don't need. It's possible they really need a house or a car or some stuff but since they cannot pay it with cash, they are forced to pay it with credit. I mean, you know how hard the times are right now.

As for me, I prefer not to borrow or take a loan or buy some stuff with a credit card. Hell, I don't even have one. My strategy? Only buy stuff I need and can afford.

But people should be wary about wallets that are claiming to be open-source and decentralized. After all, these words are like marketing terms. They've been taken advantage of, exploited to gain users, used to entice them. Do wallets claiming to be decentralized and open-source truly decentralized and open-source? The ordinary users cannot tell.

Just recently, Trust Wallet became popular primarily because of CZ promoting it using the FTX fiasco. Not your keys, not your coins, he says. Self-custody is the better way. As a result, the price of Trust Wallet's token, TWT, soared all of a sudden and more than doubled in just a few days. But how decentralized and open-source Trust Wallet is? I bet those who moved their funds to such wallet cannot independently verify.

And, contrary to their marketing claims, it seems it isn't open source at all. So the transparency label could easily be faked.

05- Darker45

Please and thank you!

I am also disappointed with the fiat system but I don't think it is wise for me to just have a total of $100 in all my bank accounts. A huge chunk of my worth is also in Bitcoin, but since I know very well how Bitcoin's price is very volatile, I admit I cannot risk not to have fiat savings.

I have a number of reasons in mind. For one, I won't easily convert my Bitcoin, especially during bear markets. So I have to have fiat for my regular expenses as well as for possible emergencies. After all, spending Bitcoin is not easy where I am.

You mentioned about making money with Bitcoin and your involvement with trading and investment. If you don't like fiat in the banks because they're just using your money for their own benefits, I'm afraid that's exactly what crypto exchanges and investment platforms are also doing with your Bitcoin.

You might want to reconsider your alternatives.

You seem to have started great, but ended up with a complete U-turn. All's well that ends well but since you ended up terribly opposing yourself, I guess you need to do some unlearning.

If you hate coins that have companies managing them, then you should hate Tether. If you hate all other cryptocurrencies because they are all scam, then you should perhaps hate Tether more. At least with some crypto projects, their developers and issuers are not actively intervening and controlling their coins.

Anyway, first and foremost, Tether's USDT is not 1:1 backed by USD reserves as claimed. USDT's circulating supply is around 66 billion but they don't have $66 billion to back it. So, much of the USDT that are circulating in the market right now are minted out of thin air.

And speaking of FTX, the issuer of the token FTT that nosedived after the former figured into severe financial mismanagement, Tether once again showed why you should hate it during the FTX fiasco. Following FTX's bankruptcy, Tether froze $46 million of USDT owned by FTX. Not only is Tether controlling other people's money in their token, they also did it upon the request of law enforcement authorities.

There are many actual and possible consequences following FTX's collapse. Here are some right off the bat:

• Other crypto companies could also collapse. Voyager, BlockFi, Genesis are some of these. If they won't completely crash, they will certainly be facing a very difficult crisis.
• So many clients not just of FTX and its arms but also of other companies affected by their bankruptcy will have their funds stuck for a very long time or, worse, lost for good.
• There will be a serious revisit of existing crypto regulations which will result into various amendments and additions and possibly stricter approaches.
• Financial transparency and status among centralized platforms is becoming a must.
• The prices of cryptocurrencies falling, thereby further delaying their recovery.
• Some crypto users possibly abandoning exchanges and other centralized platforms.
• Trust, confidence, and perception levels of crypto going low.  

I agree. It's nice to hear this from a newbie. I hope you are living this advice of yours. It may also help to spread this very simple yet very important strategy to your fellow newbies in your local crypto community.

If I may go a little further, though. It may actually not be enough that you HODL your Bitcoin out of centralized exchanges. Take it out from any custodial services, from any wallet where you don't solely control your private keys. Take it out from closed-source wallets as well. If possible, HODL them in a cold wallet. That's the safest option!

I don't think the fall of FTX has anything to do with Ethereum shifting from PoW to PoS. Altcoins may shift from one consensus mechanism to another but it does not in any way affect the fate of centralized exchanges. Altcoins may fork. Altcoins come and go. But they don't dictate whether a crypto exchange will go bankrupt or not. The fall of FTX is mainly because of mismanagement. It happened because Sam Bankman-Fried and his associates were irresponsible!

This is going to be an exciting fight. Both of them are young and undefeated and have powerful punches. But saying that this match is going to be bigger than a potential Spence vs. Crawford match is an exaggeration. Neither Davis nor Garcia is comparable to either Spence or Crawford. Neither Davis and Garcia has made it to any top 10 pound-for-pound rankings. On the other hand, both Spence and Crawford are top pound-for-pound fighters, in ESPN, The Ring, BWAA, and others.

Anyway, I'm for Tank here. Although Ryan has really a significant height advantage and is also quick and is even the more aggressive fighter, I think Tank's left is more powerful than Ryan's right. Ryan may have the reach, but Tank is a great counter puncher. It also doesn't help that Ryan has been fighting against unknown fighters recently. Nothing prepared him for a strong and talented opponent as Tank.

Can Binance also get bankrupt soon? Yes! Can it get bankrupt tomorrow? Yes! Can it get bankrupt any minute from now? Yes! So everybody should be withdrawing their funds out of Binance. And all centralized exchanges and custodial platforms for that matter, because they all share the same possibility.

There is more than one reason for Binance to crash any minute from now. Yes, it could be about regulation. But they could also be linked to a corrupt or sanctioned government, illegal marketplace, hacker group, and many others. They could suddenly be fined a huge amount. They could suddenly be prosecuted. CZ could be arrested. They could be hacked any minute from now. Or somebody from the inside could steal funds from their cold wallets. Or they might scam exit and vanish into thin air.

My point is that for as long as your funds are not under your sole control, it is always possible to lose it any second.

74- Darker45

Please and thank you!

First and foremost, Bitcointalk is not a money-making machine, so I doubt Elon would be interested in this forum. Second, this forum is a Bitcoin-centered site and Elon is not really a big fan of it, so I don't think he would be drawn toward this idea.

But since this is a question of if, I don't agree if Elon is going to buy it. He would only be turning this forum into something else we won't probably like. But then, of course, my agreement doesn't matter, although I think many would also be opposing it.

The cash out feature is not always available. If the game has already started, it is possible that it won't be made available anymore. So if I were you, I'd already grab the opportunity to cash out as soon as a long streak is already made. Especially in a 15-bet parlay, it is more than enough for me to cash out in my 10th win. But if you're decided to really stick to your bets whatever happens, then go ahead and wait until the last game. But it is going to be painful to realize in the end how much prize you've wasted just for the last game or two.

On a side note, 15 bets, even 10, in a pool is way too many for me.

Have you even tried deleting one? You can actually do that. It's not a function exclusively for moderators.

But why delete? I mean, what's the big deal? Do you have to be so embarrassed of your posts when you were a newbie that you want to delete and forget them? How about you look at it from a better viewpoint and appreciate the improvement you've achieved through the years and ranks?

You still have more posts than activities so deleting some posts does not necessarily mean a reduction of your activity.

09- Darker45

Please and thank you!

As for me, I totally forgot about it. I can't even remember a single word from my seed phrase. But I think this is totally understandable knowing that you don't make use of it every now and then. The last time I made use of it was years ago; that was years before the pandemic. That's a recovery phrase and recovery doesn't happen all the time.

I think it helps crossing very unfriendly boarders not to raise suspicion about listed words or words engraved on a piece of metal. So writing sentences or poems or, yeah, songs that contain those words might help.

2 or 3 might be a very conservative prediction. BlockFi and Voyager are about to die, probably sooner rather than later. Well, they should have died a long time ago if not with SBF. But with SBF now hitting the bottom, these two will certainly fall. Except perhaps if somebody else is interested to acquire them. This sister company of Grayscale, Genesis Global Capital, might be the third one. There will surely be others. So there are probably more than 3. They're all definitely very busy right now controlling the damage caused by the fall of FTX to their companies.

$15,000 for Bitcoin is a big possibility. Although all these things that are happening with centralized platforms right now don't have anything to do with Bitcoin, I guess it can't be avoided that it's dragged down as well.

My thoughts is that the primary reason why FTX collapsed is that SBF is irresponsible. That's it! It doesn't have anything to do with something else. He wanted to become big. He wanted to create an image, an empire. He wanted to be as rich, influential, and powerful as possible. He spent left and right. And because he's using his clients' money for the same goal, he failed. He was bound to fail. He was a ticking time bomb. But it was CZ who actually triggered the bomb to finally explode!