not necessarily, it's quite possible that trading an altcoin with a load of luck can net you a decent net gain all at once rather than over a period of time. imagine if you chose one coin and got lucky with a pump, and ended up with say, a 500% profit. a counter example to what you said about gambling could be seen as well: a poker player doesn't necessarily generate big sums at every game, chances are they play hundreds of hands in a week that generates a reasonable amount of profit for them over a period of time. to be honest, trading is just another form of gambling in a loose sense. the only real difference i see is that trading is generally more accepted socially.

that and this topic are not even remotely close to being comparable in any sense of the word. and before you even say anything, i've read up on the topic of the student being the sole passenger of that train too. we're talking about the complete shift from a fiat currency system, which the great majority of the world uses in this day and age, to a completely digital form of currency; it;s been tried before with auroracoin, but i havent really kept up with is, im assuming it failed. this isn't at all comparable to the government keeping a railway open for one student to be attend school; are you able to comprehend this? this isnt even about phasing out something for a replacement, the railway was to be closed, and is being kept open so a student could attend school up to their graduation. just. stop.

it sounds almost like a trope at this point, but i could actually see that happening. theres actually no downsides (for the chinese government) to china creating and mandating the use of their cryptocurrency in the future. they can create it however they want that would give them unlimited access to the finances of their citizens, track everyone's daily dealings, and most importantly, maintain control over their currency. in a digital world, this is actually their ideal solution. the only problem is international trade when other countries decide they dont want to accept china coin or whatever in their trade deals.

it's a never ending cycle here, the fudsters are managing to keep this china thing alive for quite a while this time around though. unfortunately.

this exactly. 5000 usd isnt some magical point or something, its probably that nothing will happen. in any case, we did either break or come very close to 5000 a few weeks ago, i wasn't really keeping track.

i see this being the more likely possibility, i can't see japan completely phasing out the yen for a digital currency in this day and age. why? for international trade. i can't see the rest of the world just up and adopting j - coin along with japan for the purposes of trade.of course, japan could use a different nation's currency as a means of international trade, but i don't think we'll see that happening. in any case, for a timeline of 2020, that gives just a bit over 2 years to convert to a completely digital economy, and i just can't see that happening considering the infrastructure that would have to be established in such a short time to support such a massive system. japan does have a lot of cashless solution in place already, such as the suica travel cards, but a lot of merchants do not even have card readers and only take cash there. to completely restructure the system like that, i think the nation would need at least 5 years at an accelerated pace of development, with 7 or 8 being more realistic.

it's not a profit for certain, just that you can expect to net a profit with an investment in a casino over a period of time to the positive EV (expected value) that it offers. of course most casinos do take a fee in exchange for allowing investors to take advantage of this without having a casino of their own, so it's not the full edge you might be taking advantage of, but you can generally expect to make money. that being said, it is expected, not for certain. it's not a money making machine or anything, you have to keep in mind that those are other players you're gleaning money off of, players that can and will win big given enough time, and you may see a loss.

that's why it's worth taking the time to know whose casino and reputation you're betting your money on, there's a couple that are openly transparent with their investors and can be well trusted with others' money.

you're playing with your money, im not sure how you feel on the subject, but it's my money, and if im playing, im not going to play for fun with disregard for my assets; im going to play to win out regardless, and if I lose, so be it, i lost and ill just let it go. simple as that. i feel a lot of people that can't find in themselves to stop playing on a loss go in with a similar mindset, but have an extremely difficult time letting go of their loss and actually bouncing back from it. similarly, they can't seem to find the self control to stop on a chain of wins or on a big win, and eventually keep playing until they end up with less than what they began with. it all comes down to knowing when to stop and reset.

investment is by no means an assurance or guarantee that you will net a profit. it only means you can expect to net a profit in the long run proportional to the house edge and the portion of the bankroll you've contributed to. if the players on the site win, the investor loses a proportional amount, and vice versa in the case the players lose. never get that false idea in your head that investments are a guaranteed profit.

of course it's less risky, if anything, it's expected to generate profit on the long run. instead of playing in a -EV environment set to profit the casino, you're taking advantage of it. as far as the casinos themselves go, there's certainly a wide variety of well established and trusted sites, but there is always the off chance they decide to take it and run; after all, they do control the coins you've invested, and you're also trusting them to deliver the correct payouts to the investors on the site's total generated profits.

first piece of advice, never give them a free pass out of their situation. this serves no purpose  but to enable them to continue. of course, they might not take it as such and go on to turn over a new leaf, but with most addicts, this is almost never the case. helping them out of their situation is handing them a free pass; you drag them out of the hole theyve dug themselves into, and they don't learn, their mind is focused on feeding their addiction and nothing else. if anything, theyll use to chance to just repeat their mistake on a larger scale, until no one else can help them. by all means, no harm in giving them a push in the right direction, but don't give them a free pass, especially for family and friends. big rule to follow with money: never loan to friends or family, chances are you wont get it back.

that mindset, the way i see it, only serves to further one's attachment to gambling and eventually converts them to addicts. personally, i think it's more important to set limits for yourself going into something like gambling, and adhere to those limits you set for yourself strictly. i think people take way too lax of an attitude with gambling, which i can't understand. you're playing with your money, and i think that fact alone dictates you need to take a more serious attitude regardless of the amount involved.

the religious zealots like to inject their beliefs into any and all conversations and topics to make their beliefs relevant to themselves, just ignore it.

considering the wording in most legislation, chances are, that if bitcoin is banned, it's because alll cryptocurrencies are banned. it'll probably go something like: '... digital currencies that utilize a blockchain ledger as a means of tracking, recording, and processing payments...' which would cover just about every coin out there. this is just one loose description, the lawmakers of any governing body can cover all cryptocurrencies with more general definitions put into a bill. however, it all comes down to how well they are able to enforce such a policy, the way i see it, it would take an unreasonable amount of resources to do so, and might not even be worth it to try in the end.

it might be possible to exchange it on an exchange based in another country, but you are still using it within your country's jurisdiction, that would still be illegal.

i've told you the same thing in out previous pm exchange, i have no need to make a trade right now. i dont care that you're willing to send me paypal funds and give it 180 days, i have no need to make a trade at this time. the pharmacist has already stated my exact thoughts on the matter in his previous post in this thread:

the quoted portion sums up my thoughts pretty neatly. you do have an extensive history of successful trades dating back quite some time, but again, i have no need for paypal money. it's quite strange to me that you're so ready and willing to send me money, and even going as far as to wait 180 days before being given bitcoin in return, but even stranger that you're insistent on making a deal with me even after i've clearly stated that i have no need for a trade.

as much as it perpetuates a negative stigma of bitcoin, you need to show the bad parts of what happens in the cryptocurrency world. there's no point in making bitcoin seem like a perfect idea, people need to be aware, or be given the opportunities to be aware of everything they can concerning their finances. it might be nice to just hear good news all the time, but there's no point in sheltering people in the long run. whatever media outlet's youre watching that only cover the positives of bitcoin, id advise you to stop watching those.

anyone will use anything available to them. not using the resources available to you is just limiting yourself, nothing more. as it follows, normal currency, the kind we're used  to is widely used by criminals as well, in fact, the great majority of criminal dealings involve fiat currency. so why is it not illegal? there's zero actual substance to the 'criminals use bitcoin' argument as far as i can see.

given the standard of volatility of bitcoin, a 10% dip in price isnt that uncommon, personally, i'd just disregard and move on (and i have). i havent really seen any big piece of news pertaining to bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general, might just be an early adopter cashing out and driving prices down a bit.

that's a pretty baseless analysis, you've just plastered words in the text box with zero thought put into it. as im typing, bitcoin has gone back up to 3800, and i dont think i saw it even get to 3550. get out with your spam fueled prediction.

i dont think this has anything to do with china, or at least, the events concerning china of the last few weeks. if anyhting, it might be big holders in china dumping their coins on the market and driving the price down a bit. in any case, it's no reason to panic, the price has already recovered anyways.

being unemployed pushes people to look for any possible source of income, yes, but it also gives them a lot of time. with this time, i'd reckon that many people find the will to research bitcoin and cryptocurrencies a lot, which eventually leads them to this forum. given that, it's natural that they would discover signature campaigns and the potential income that they can provide. however, i don't get why people keep equating bitcoin to a job; not even a bitcoin related job, just bitcoin itself.

it won;t be stable until it's adopted by a majority of the world's population, and is made the standard for currency. as it is, there are too many variables that affect the price of bitcoin on a daily basis.

sig updated. also, with the ico date (october 3rd) approaching, any news as to how much longer the campaign will last?

as far as 'blaming your luck' goes, i think gambling is the one exception that it's justifiable. gambling will always come down to a game of chance, nothing can change that. all gambling boils down to weather your draws or rolls favor you, that can not and will not ever be changed. however, the blame can partially fall on the player for continuing to play, just digging themselves into an even deeper hole by stubbornly refusing to cut their losses and get out. that however, is the only thing that can't be blamed on luck. of course, you could counter that by saying making bad plays in a card game, where a player has some degree of control, puts the player at fault, but im disregarding that for the sake of this response, because im assuming that will be a nonfactor; after all, who plays with the intent to lose?

how is that so? i wouldn't consider myself wealthy at all, yet i have access to bitcoin and feel comfortable using it on a regular basis. maybe we have differing definitions on what 'wealthy' entails, but my income puts me below the poverty line, and in the lowest federal tax bracket, i dont think theres too much to discuss on that matter, but who knows.

the knowledge on how to make calls or text messages isnt too far off from the knowledge required to use bitcoin; you've got a wallet, a password to encrypt said wallet, and addresses that you copy and paste to send to, i don't see how having a substandard education would limit people from doing this, it's pretty straightforward. just because it's a more technical form of payment doesn't necessarily make it difficult to use.

id think the great majority of bitcoin users aren't wealthy at all, its just average, normal citizens. of course, the rich and powerful might control a majority of the coins, but i dont think that matters too much here.

i dont really think unstable prices has anything to do with it, there's just no justification for a government to go off of to ban anything because of its volatility. I think at first, it could have been valid to make the point that the government did not have a good grasp of what bitcoin is, but it's not really the case anymore. at this point, any major government should be well aware of bitcoin, its uses, and its inner workings. going off of that, if there was to be a reason for a government to ban bitcoin in at this time, it would be because bitcoin poses an economical threat to that government. for example, a more authoritarian government might not like the idea of a decentralized currency being used by a majority of its people, because they cannot control it.

i confirm this deal was made.

i wholeheartedly disagree, there have been plenty of major scams in the past, and plenty of ongoing ones as well. naturally, there will also be a plethora of both attempted and successful scams in the future. in addition, a handful of these scams do make it to gain mainstream media attention, i remember seeing some coverage of bitcoin pyramid schemes somewhere a year or two ago somewhere, not going to find it right now, but im pretty sure a google search would turn up this and plenty more. in addition, you can just browse the scam accusations section of the forum for plenty of successful scams that took place on this forum. point im trying to make, scams have plagued the bitcoin community since its inception, and it's not going to stop, but it hasn't had an affect anywhere close to destroying bitcoin.