Firstly, obviously there are certain restrictions put on cryptocurrency businesses within China. But that doesn't mean that Chinese investors are just completely gone now.

We've already seen some mining companies within China as well as exchanges relocate to overseas locations as a result, and even though they are not technically within the bounds of China, the same investors are still within the market.

I don't even think that it's that hard at the moment to get ahold of bitcoin or sell bitcoin within China with all the p2p alternatives. Even though the payment processors say that they're going to crack down on these activities, it's very hard to regulate correctly.

The biggest long term issue arising from this is probably the affect on China itself, they'd losing a lot of revenue if they were to regulate and tax these crypto entities instead of not letting them take part, imho.

Are these two people necessarily spokespeople for google, though?


I mean, these people aren't wrong when it comes to bitcoin mining. Most people tend to think that bitcoin mining is profitable, while in reality, unless you have very cheap electricity and have a whole farm of mining rigs as well as cheap equipment, you are very unlikely to make a profit just by solo mining or joining a pool.

But they're certainly wrong about cryptocurrencies not being real money. It's much realer than fiat currencies in my opinion simply because nobody is able to 'print' more of it, when they feel the need to, as to inflate the supply. But again, they may not represent google's stance on the matter at all.

I don't think that this will make much of a difference to people who pay their taxes regularly. There is a lack of information when it comes to how exactly blockchain will be incorporated into the tax verification process, but it certainly seems like it would increase the reliability and integrity of the entire system.

And it's not just tracking taxes either. A lot of other countries are exploring using blockchain technology to issue their own national tokens/cryptocurrencies.

Whether this is good or bad is up to debate, but I'd personally not be too excited with all these centralised projects that simply use blockchain. It really means nothing in terms of the development of decentralised currencies imho.

I realy don't think that banks will be "extinct" any time soon.

Even with blockchain and bitcoin potentially going mainstream in the very near future, it is foreseeable that banks would simply start offering services that integrate these technologies instead of being totally replaced by them like many others have suggested.

To me, it's obvious that banks right now can only stay relevant if they are able to adapt to changes in technological trends, which includes cryptocurrencies. I wouldn't be surprised if banks start using blockchain ledgers to keep internal records in the near future and offer investment packages revolving around crypto as well, in order to suit demands.

First of all, I don't get why just because some people choose to speculate on the price of bitcoin would automatically mean that the price of bitcoin wouldn't be able to go up anymore? I mean, these are really not mutually exclusive by any means.

You're right about last year being one of the biggest bull markets that we've seen, though. And I do believe that last year's bull market will probably be the most in magnitude that we'll see in a while, to be frank, due to the fact that now the entire bitcoin sphere is a lot more mature and it's harder for such percentages of gains to be achieved.

But bull markets are a part of the normal cycles that occur within bitcoin, and with the halving coming up in 2 years time, I would definitely be confident in saying that a bull market would be due as soon as prices bottom out, which I believe isn't right now. Of course, I don't expect it to be anything near last year's growth, though.

It's very possible.

It's obvious to me that bitcoin prices would return to a bullish market come 2020 due to the halving. As bitcoins get scarcer to mine, their value has historically appreciated both because of this increased scarcity as well as the fact that markets are psychologically wired to react to news of block halvings in the past.

Whether or not there would be an all time high is unknown at this stage simply because of the size of last year's pumps, but I'd say that it's probable due to all of the new institutions that are becoming invested within bitcoin. Regardless of whether it happens, the prices right now imo are extremely cheap and should be taken advantage of through dollar cost average buying.

You pretty much nailed the reason.

It all comes down to whether or not the government is supportive of crypto businesses or not. Malta is obviously really one of the countries that are pushing for crypto regulation with some pretty nice incentives for businesses who do want to be based in their country.

Ultimately, I think this is the way to go forward. Instead of being negative towards bitcoin with countries like India with their draconian measures, I reckon it's going to benefit the government as well as crypto businesses to actively try to regulate the exchange scene with positive regulation without overly strict rules, as the revenue in the future would be tremendous.

I definitely think that in the majority of countries around the world, bitcoin is legal until some form of restriction gets put onto it by the government.

The reason is simple - there are many unregulated fields that are operating right now, none of them necessarily having any legislation around them. But it doesn't mean that they are illegal because there isn't anything explicit saying that.

It makes no sense to prosecute someone without any laws backing it, but of course, if you live in a totalitarian state that would be completely different. But all laws that attempt to ban the use of bitcoin is honestly useless because there is simply 0 enforceability around it with the decentralisation of bitcoin.

What is your definition of 'real money'? Is it just fiat currency?

In that case, I would not consider that to be real money because the central banks and government supporting these banks are able to debase the currency that they issue because at the end of the day, they hold all the power to print more of it whether on paper or electronically. In that sense, bitcoin is a lot "realer" than fiat.

But it's not hard to see bitcoin potentially playing a much bigger role in global commerce, especially online commercial activity, in the future due to its convenience and nearly feeless structure, as well as its capped supply. I honestly don't find it hard to fathom, we're already in this parallel bitcoin economy stage somewhat.

We've known this previously.

There was at no stage a ban on bitcoin as something that you are able to hold. The bans came in the form of bitcoin exchanges and also investments relating to bitcoin, but China seems to still hold a neutral stance when it comes to ownership alone.

I doubt that this will be able to affect the bitcoin sphere that much, partially due to the fact that China's influence on bitcoin has already diminished thus far. But it is a good clarification for all the bitcoin holders within China, and good to see that the government isn't going overboard and attempt a futile attempt at banning everything.

A while ago I believe there was an article about coinbase's credit card deposit/buy BTC services not available to certain credit card holders within the US due to the providers blocking access, but apart from that, I haven't heard anything of this nature.

There may be cards that doesn't allow you to purchase bitcoins interest free, aka you'd be paying all the interests on your purchases at the regular cash advance rates.

If your purchase is legitimate and you're not doing anything shady, and your credit card provider isn't blocking it proactively, there shouldn't be any issues. But if you want to be clear about their policy and interest charged on crypto purchases, then you should clarify with them directly.

With Kraken delisting GBP, you might as well forget about buying/depositing it on any major international exchanges. The fees of converting GBP to EUR or whatnot to deposit onto Bitstamp would probably make it not worth it anyways.

I'd say that localbitcoins would be your number one option here if you're purchasing small to medium amounts, you can pretty much find offers with any bank and there is relatively low risk as long as you follow the escrow instructions.

I know that there are some big time traders with thousands of trades that are operating with GBP so for large amounts you could even negotiate the rate with them. I mean, it's very flexible overall. Especially if you're trading internationally and also, KYC is not necessarily required.

Honestly, bull markets can simply be caused by the market becoming excited.

A lot of the reason why last year's bull market was so large in magnitude was indeed because of the fear of missing out factor within it, and also the fact that everyone within the market seemed to be extremely optimistic during that stretch of time. That itself does not need any causes because of the cycles that are within the market.

The bitcoin halving could also play a role, though, with the block rewards becoming scarcer. Of course, there must be new adopters to fuel this long term growth which I think it's fair to say we're seeing right now despite the bear market, with both individuals and corporations.

I personally do not think that a bull market is necessarily around the corner right now.

With the current period of consolidation and sideways movements, I expect this current trend to continue well into the future, potentially even mid to late next year. Overall, there just hasn't been enough time elapsed from the bear market to say that it has bottomed 100% yet. And also, there seems to be no potential causes for a complete change in sentiment in the entire market in the foreseeable future.

I'd expect stagnation and occasional dumps to happen over the next 6 month period or so, before any real chance of recovery can be seen. That said, it is a great time to accumulate due to the low prices and the fact that the bottom should be very close, and that many institutions have shown interest in bitcoin which should cause speculative interest, regardless of whether there are any actual benefits that brings.

Unfortunately, most day to day transactions are indeed still carried out via fiat currencies.

It is also important to note that fiat currencies do not only exist in paper, but can also be in the form of online, electronic currencies. Even blockchains can be fiat currencies if the founder or the creator is able to exert direct control over it, which is something that is impossible with decentralised cryptos like bitcoin.

There are various ignorant entities out there that claim that bitcoin is a ponzi scheme, but like you said, if anything, fiat is the biggest illusion of wealth that there ever was. With bitcoin, it's backed by trust of the community but there is actually something that is tangible to trust - the capped supply of coins. With fiat, the power to create currency out of thin air is often abused that leads to debasement.

It definitely doesn't make sense to me why they would want to do this.

Sure, you could argue that people with more of a net worth would be able to make better decisions with their money, but if they were investing in regulated ICOs that have been screened, who cares if lower income workers invests in that? It's their money ultimately. If anything, this is an obvious attempt to try and restrict access to these investments and to discourage ICOs from starting in the first place.

But as you said, it is very geographically limited and we've already seen tons of crowdfunded projects in the past not offer their products to the US and China, so not really surprising.

They are definitely alternative store of values in my opinion. Even though bitcoin has been increasing in market cap and I believe will be the most convenient and thus used decentralised asset in the future, precious metals should still have a fairly significant place in this.

I don't know if there will be a direct correlation between precious metals prices and bitcoin prices, but for sure, I think the value is undervalued right now.

There simply hasn't been a bull market for a long time, and with the stock market potentially heading into recession, we could see a resurgence of silver and gold prices soon. Again though, I doubt that it will ever exceed the growth and potential of bitcoin and silver since it's so inconvenient to actually use.

It depends on where you are located and the jurisdiction that you are under.

But generally, there shouldn't be much of a risk as long as you are transacting with bitcoin only, or bitcoin for goods or services without the involvement of fiat currencies. If you are trading bitcoin with fiat currencies, especially with peer to peer platforms, you may have to check up on whether or not you need a license for that.

You may also need to check up with whether or not you'll need to pay CGT on certain transactions, even if it was just purchisang goods/services, depending on your country's definition for CGT rules, it may still constitute a capital gain.

Bitcoin mining does use a lot of power. There's no doubt about it.

However, there isn't really an issue with it using that much power as long as the energy that is being used is renewable and environmental friendly, such as hydroelectricity, and wind power plants. In that case, it does not cause any damage, at least not any more than say, banks or the mastercard/visa networks.

In many cases in fact, IIRC, bitcoin mining is using up excess renewable energy that would have been wasted anyways.

So thus, it's really non-issue in my opinion. Besides, this power is going towards a purpose, it's not just wasted.

India is really going overboard with their crypto policy.

I honestly don't know what they are trying to achieve here. Them restricting access to bitcoin ATMs will pretty much only mean that crypto exchanges will dry up and run out of business in their country, doesn't mean that it will prevent anyone from accessing bitcoin at all.

But I guess this does show just how determined they are to stop bitcoin, whatever their motivations are. Though, they need to realise that even if they do ban all exchanges and all bitcoin ATMs and companies altogether, there will always be p2p trading that they can't stop.