It is all about finishing second for Barcelona this season, and they are going to do just that. Barcelona really fought their way back up, after they were in a very difficult position at the beginning/mid-season, an awful amount of credit has to go Xavi's way, with what he has done thus far they can look at next season and smile. It was very important for Barcelona to finish this season on a very impressive note, it gives them the needed motivation/morale to approach next season and challenge for major trophies.

It is what it is, and sometimes i can't completely blame people who only suddenly become interested when there is a sudden hike in the price of Bitcoin, the risk is something they prolly weren't ready to handle (with the mindset it could continue to go down), and you can also add that they prolly have a faint knowledge of the network (epecially its history) or they have been cajoled by the media to believe negative things about the network.

One thing people who want to speculate with Bitcoin should know is that they must have a large amount of patience, it is easier for your eyes to light up when the market is great and when prices are appreciating, but what of when there is a correction period, would you panic and be affected by FUD. The best way to grow a Bitcoin portfolio is to adopt a strategy, especially for those who are not financially stable to buy a lot at one go, DCA is one strategy that could help, and in the long run they could have something worth hodling, it is far much better than only being interested when there is an appreciation in price, that way you always miss out, of course that is if you are a speculator.

It is an individual thing, but the things is this, it is a currency, as in a medium of exchange that can be used to make purchases here and there in places where it is already being accepted, it is also an asset for speculation on the price, it is up to you the individual to make up your own mind on how you choose to use it. And nobody is actually claiming to hodl for life, there is quite a lot of prospects with Bitcoin, first of all it is a long term project that is still a long way from harnessing its potentials, thus for speculators they have to wait for the long run to really make great ROI, that 'long period' isn't technically holding for life, it is just that there are a lot to come with the network, but everything still boils down to the individual, you decide what to do, you shouldn't even take advice from anyone in the first place.
All of these are actually great, and no one can fault you for that, this is how a lot of people use their Bitcoins too, but we can't question how other people use theirs, if they are more into the long term, then great. For example even though i believe Bitcoin really has a great long term prospect, i can't really ask/force someone else to see that and hodl with me.
I am afraid this last part of your post is off-topic i'm sorry.

I am not ruling out the possibility of exchanges claiming they were hacked so they could claim people's funds for themselves, it is very well possible, that is why one is not meant to 'trust' on the network, you have to take responsibility, verify all of the time, and always protect yourself thoroughly. But i doubt every exchange that has been hacked did something like this, remember the individuals perpetrating this hack are also very intelligent and smart, and they can pounce the moment they detect any vulnerability. But having said that, and whichever is true, the most important thing to do remains not to keep your funds in an exchange, keep only small amounts there if you must keep something, remember if it is not your keys, it is not your funds.

That is not correct, Klopp has won only one CL league trophy with Liverpool, actually that is the only CL trophy he has in his managerial career, he has an opportunity to win his second, and Liverpool's second under his managerment come the 28th of this month, but to say he has won many CL titles with Liverpool is completely wrong information.
To be honest i really do not understand what it is you are saying, there was no way City could meet Real in the final, they both met in the Semi-final, and the winner was going to battle it out with Liverpool in the final, Real managed to win and set up the final between themselves and Liverpool.

It always looked a strong possibility that Haaland would end up at the Etihad, i mean, with the kind of football City play, and the manager they have, there prolly may be no better place for Haaland to move to than City, when this deal is finally official, City would have gotten themselves an absolute bargain, cause in my opinion the transfer fee/clause is not really astronomical, so it is a very good deal, for a fair price. I am already excited, and i can't wait for next season already.

City have also signed Alvarez remember, so that is two young, top class strikers heading City's way next season, Pep would absolutely love it the way his club is going about their transfer business. They should just go on and wrap up the EPL title this season, and start getting ready to shine again next season.

It is as simple as that, Arsenal are favorites based on their recent form, but in football you never know, notwithstanding they (Arsenal) have raced ahead of the other teams contending with them for the CL spot, they currently top spurs (who are closest to them in 5th place) with 4 points, and they know a win will guarantee them a place in next seasons UCL (with two games to spare), it is going to be a difficult game, but i think Arsenal can do it, even if they do not win, a draw with Spurs would be just fine and they would look to settle the whole matter in their next game against Newcastle.

From this point on i do not see how Arsenal can fail to qualify for the CL next season, except they completely capitulate and throw it all away, but that is unlikely to happen, Arteta is getting the most out of his boys, and they could be an interesting prospects in major competitions next season.

It is the champions league final, and some of those details could prolly not come into play, just 90 mins (and possibly extra 30 minutes/penalties) and the game is over, poor decisions, a mistake or anything could absolutely decide the match; but take nothing away from the Liverpool defense, they are pretty solid, but what i am saying is that a lot could happen that day to expose them.
Even if they do not win it, he would still be a contender, but if Madrid wins it, then his position becomes way much stronger. Not to forget that his country France is also a strong contender to win the world cup, so it looks like Benzema really has strong odds to win the next Ballon d'or award.
He was brilliant when he came on against City in the Semi-final. Carlo Ancelloti would definitely know the better time to play him, but he could be a better option for the second half, prolly come into the game with his energy, when opposition players start to get tired.

Pogba's disappointing spell at United would mean nothing if he moves to City, cause that is where the attention will shift to for United fans, they would consider it unacceptable if one of their own goes over to their crossroad rivals, i know it has happened quite a few times in the past, but such players are always greeted with hate/animosity by fans of their former club, and that is what Pogba would face should this happen, it could even go as far as him receiving threats from a few United fans.

Having said that, this is just rumor for now, i see no reason why City would want to sign Pogba, they have enough midfielders for now, and there seem to be no need to add another to their payroll. What City need now is a world class striker and maybe fullbacks, cause they look short in that position. Other than that i do not see any need for new additions.

Requesting/begging for merits isn't the right way to go about it, you'd have to actually make posts that will meet the merit criteria of other users and merit sources, if you make it a habit of begging for merits, other users would just ignore you, and then it becomes even more difficult to earn merits.

As for 'how things work', if you actually did read the link posted above, then you would know how things work/what will happen if or when you earn a merit, for you, it wouldn't be much, you'd become a jr member when your activity catches up, if you stay at just one merit though, you still wouldn't be able to join the merit process/system/economy as you will have just 0.5 Smerits which is not sendable, you can also then add a signature, and a few others. But what is most important is that you won't earn merits if you continue in this way, garner Bitcoin/crypto/forum knowledge and start communicating with others here, not to earn merits, but with a genuine desire to discuss, help others and improve the general forum quality.
He very well could. But that would definitely be an incorrect use of the trust system, cause from my interpretation, that is not what it was designed for. In this case, at best, the ignore button should do if it becomes constant and annoying.
Then buy a copper membership: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=credit;promote

While most of those new hot topics that quite a lot of users start will hardly come off as zero or low value post/thread imo, i do not think the bulk of them are actually hunting for merits per se, cause if you really look at it, more established users who prolly are already up there as Hero or Legendary users are also guilty of this.

If you ask me i'd say it possibly is the desire to share the latest (mostly positive) news about Bitcoin (and sometimes general crypto stuff) to the community, as a result of that, it skips their mind to check if another user prolly beat them to it (seeing the news first and had already posted such), not a big deal anyway, we could always point them to the first topic on the issue and request they lock theirs, which they mostly oblige.

The believe that 'new topics' get more merits is also incorrect in my opinion, what gets merits is constructive posts/threads, if the new topic is constructed properly, with correct facts that is of help here then it gets the merits it deserves, if it does not, and is redundant, then it gets nothing (just being a 'new topic' for the sake of it is not a criteria for merits). On the other hand if regular posts imbibe all of the characteristics i just mentioned then it would get the merits; but all of these still depends on if MS/users who like the post and want to merit it see it.

With everything everyone has said thus far, i would just like to add a very important one: in all, remember that your Bitcoin is not technically stored in whichever wallet you use, your Bitcoins are stored in the blockchain network.

What that means is that there are no funds in your wallet, but keys you use to make transaction, meaning you must keep your keys/seed phrase safe, if you do so then you then you are on the path to protecting your funds firmly without any breach

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Now why you are advised to use open sourced/non-custodial/cold/offline wallet is that it keeps you safer and far away from malware and other vulnerabilities that could hurt, but you must still keep your keys/recovery phrase properly when you use them. On the other hand, when you use a hot/online/closed source wallet you are exposed to quite a lot of vulnerabilities that you can lose your funds to. Using an exchange/custodial wallet should of course be an absolute no to anybody who has done their research, remember when you don't own the keys, the funds are definitely not yours.

There is no denying the fact that Bitcoin is volatile, it is yet to attain stability, but we could see that in the coming years, remember how old Bitcoin is by the way. Fiat currencies are also subject to inflation, and quite a lot of them lose a lot of their value, especially currencies of underdeveloped countries, it does not make them any less of a currency, does it. If you look at most fiat currecies from three years ago till now you'd see how much value they have lost to inflation; a product of the pandemic, printing more money, etc, Bitcoin on the other hand plunges based on supply and demand factor, FUD, etc. So that is it, different kinds of currencies, with different characteristics.
The thing is this, all of this is caused by volatility, and anyone who uses or plans to use Bitcoin must know this, they have to do their own research, i do not know much about the inflation levels in Europe, but if i am to use my country as a case study, and use cooking gas as the example in my case study, right now we are paying twice the price for a kg of cooking gas compared to what we payed last year, that is inflation, the cost of living is up here, and the value of our money has reduced. That is somewhat the same scenario with Bitcoin volatility, do not also forget that we are talking about fiat currencies that dates back to many years ago, and Bitcoin that is a relatively new currency.
It is 100% a currency cause it is a medium of exchange, of course you just said it is possible to purchase your car with it, every other thing like its volatility is part of its downsides, which every currency/medium of exchange has.

Yes i know it can be difficult for newcomers at first, struggling to get acquainted with a new forum and all, but the thing is that the rules are there for all to see, even newcomers, and there is the 'search' and 'help' button as well which newcomers can get started with to get a grasp of what to do and what not to do; there is also another option of introducing 'yourself' as a newcomer (which quite a lot of newbies do) and ask other users to help you with information that will be of great help to you, users who do all of these get up to speed pretty quick; there is no other way the forum can 'guide' you if not through this, and you asking questions as well.

Yes, and i am pretty sure that is the position in which they are going to finish this season, they are above 3rd place Sevilla with 5 points, though Barcelona have played a game more, but i do not think that will matter too much, even if Sevilla win their outstanding game and all of their games left, Barcelona would as well take care of their own business themselves by winning their remaining three games.

I am proud of Barcelona this season, i know they couldn't win the league, as a matter of fact they had no chance of winning it, but to fight back from the position in which they were some months ago is amazing, one time this season people actually ruled them out from qualifying for the CL this season, but all that seem to be forgotten now, Xavi deserves an awful amount of credit for coming into the team and building back their confidence and winning mentality. Now i cannot wait for next season, it is really going to be like old times i am sure, with Barca and Real going toe to toe for the title.

Op created his account yesterday to complain about Kriptomat exchange, and the Kriptomat team created theirs today to respond to the claims of the OP, maybe i am overthinking things, but looks somewhat to me like they are kinda shilling the exchange, mind you i could be totally wrong, but i am wondering how the Kriptomat-team account that was created today suddenly came up with a response to OP on his issue here, how did they get to know about it or something, how did they also know who the exact customer is.

Please do not make multiple posts in a row mate, just merge them into one. And just so the thread can look aesthetically pleasing, try not to quote a long post completely, when quoting it, you can either clear out everything and leave something like '<snip>' there, or just clear out the part you do not need, and leave the ones you want to directly reply to (just as i did right now with your post). You can find out more information about how to do it in the link below:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3749076

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Now back on the topic, i think all pressing issues in the country are important, whether it is a hike in price of kerosine, fuel, aviation fuel or what have you, a hike in any of these commodities affect every citizen irrespective of financial level, for example, one average individual in normal circumstances spends 30,000 naira per month on energy for his home (be it money for cooking gas, electricity, etc), another rich person spends a million naira on the same thing in his more sophisticated home, if there is a hike in price, and the former now spends 60,000 naira, and the latter, 2 million naira, it clearly affects the both of them as they are made to spend more than normal.

The news is popular not because it affects the 'wealthy' like you said, but because it is the latest negative 'development' in our country, domestic flights can't even be said to be for the wealthy, for example, in normal circumstances a flight from the South West to the South East should not cost more than 25-30k naira when you are flying in the Economy class, and with that price, an individual who is fairly comfortable without too many financial responsibilities can afford it, it is the same hike in aviation fuel that has made the price to skyrocket, making it unaffordable atm, the very reason why they are completely shutting down till further notice. Finally, this negative 'development' would not even affect the wealthy like you presume, the wealthy would still board private jets, and pay for private planes and go to wherever they want to go to unhindered.

Centralized exchanges would always work in this way, you can't use them and not expect to be censored, locked out of your funds, banned/account blocked for one reason or the other, even if you are not from Russia, and even if this war didn't happen, as long as you use centralized exchanges and store your funds in them, the funds are not yours, and they can pull up one policy against you at absolutely anytime, and you lose your funds, not to even talk of hacks. Overall Russian citizens who use Bitcoin/crypto should stay away from centralized exchanges, at least for now, if they want to buy and sell crypto they should do so through p2p outside of a centralized exchange.
Or no dump at all.

The AON (airline operators of Nigeria) have announced that there is going to be a shut down of domestic flights from Monday, 9th of May 2022, due to the hike in the price of aviation fuel

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I am pretty sure quite a lot of us have seen this news already, for those who have not, this is the latest development at the moment in our country, travelers would no longer be able to board planes from one destination to another within the country till further notice as the AON bemoans the high cost of aviation fuel, claiming it moved from 190 naira per litre to 700 naira per litre, that is an astronomical increase if the information is correct, and that has been the reason why the cost of flights in the past months has been extremely high, i am sure those who travel by air here noticed the increase.

So, should this shut down take effect on Monday, it is going to inconcenience quite a lot of people who travel by air, and i am pretty sure some of us here constantly travel by air, especially when we are heading to a far destination, like moving from the West to the East, or from the East to the North, etc. I think quite a lot of people would have to reschedule their travel plans (as long as it is not urgent) and wait till all of this is resolved than travel by road. If your means of transportation within states in the country is by air, what is going to be the alternative should this problem linger, i can't comment on this cause i do not travel by air within the country as i do not have enough money for that.

The news: https://www.okay.ng/fuel-hike-airlines-to-shut-down-domestic-operations-from-monday/

That is exactly what they need to do, no more, no less, and i am pretty sure they know this, they will try to do it, but anything is still possible, the pressure is going to be on, in the three games left, the fans and the players of the both Milan clubs will feel it severely, but the players must try their best to keep their heads, and finish on a high.

For Inter, their job is simple: win all of the remaining games, and hope AC Milan make a mistake/slip up. As for Ac Milan, their job is straightforward, win their remaining games and they are champions again, after quite a very long time. I want Inter to be Champions, but if Ac Milan win it, then they deserve all the credit they can get.