Thanks for the list. It'll be pretty useful for sure for those who want to have the smoothest and quickest verification process that is possible when choosing their exchanges, in that they are able to base their choice off these criteria with actual data backing it up.

I'd like to see you experiment with localbitcoins - recently they have started to force traders with significant volumes to start verifying their accounts, and I have no idea how long their verification process would take.

However, it's important to note that individual cases will still vary between the time taken for verification, and that's the ultimate flaw of this table. I've seen cases where it took weeks for users to get verified on poloniex, even though it was almost instant for you.

Based on the recent reviews of others, it seems like that either they are having some management problems in the short term, or simply have exit scammed. It's probably the latter, considering the extent of the withdrawal problems and unresponsiveness of the site management/support at the moment.

Their account on bitcointalk has also been tagged by suchmoon, which is not a good sign, especially when there are several accusations going on right now and they haven't even tried to respond in any shape or form.

Again, this exchange seems unlicensed, and we don't know its exact whereabouts. Seems like a Chinese exchange, which probably meant that it was either prone to government bans, or that it's operating under a country that is unknown. Either scenarios doesn't seem to indicate the trustworthiness of this particular exchange, even before all of these new problems coming out.

Exactly what I'm thinking as well.

The fact that they're asking for OP for money in return for a so called 'certificate' is obviously ridiculous and purely fictional. It's playing on the minds of people who have just gotten conned, but they still have some hope of getting their funds reimbursed. Just like in OP's case, obviously. Indeed, it's double the profit for the scammers.

I wouldn't say that cloud mining is always unprofitable, but 99% of the time, they are either ponzi schemes that aren't actually mining, or will be incredibly unprofitable over the long term. I wouldn't even invest in Hashflare, which is regarded to be more trustworthy than a random one that OP has found on google (namely Payforks) due to their shady behaviour.

I really don't know how this can be anything but the harsh truth.

There has simply been no fiat currencies that has held its value, over long periods of time. You could look at the US dollar and say that it's been around for decades. However, if you actually look at the 'real' value of USD, you'd find that it's on a gradual yet consistent decline.

It's not just paper money either. It's fiat currency in any form, even if it's electronic. There is a distinct difference between electronic fiat currencies, that have centralized supplies, and a decentralized alternatives such as bitcoin. Bitcoin has value, because it is supply is controlled in a decentralized way, unlike government issued currencies.

I had a legacy account that I wasn't bothered to verify, but I signed in today and basically, you were able to fill in the "profile verification" form with any name you want, even if it doesn't match your account first and last names. After that, you're redirected to Netverify to complete verification.

I have no idea whether or not verifying your account like this will actually result in a positive result (50/50 probably), but it's worth a try first. I couldn't find any past cases.

If it doesn't work, then you'd have to contact support. As slow as polo support may be, I think they'll be able to help you. Just clarify that you signed up with an assumed name, and now you want to verify it. They should at least be able to withdraw your funds for you after verification, even if it means that your account is suspended.

There should be a lot more firms like this one popping up in the future. We're seeing an strong inflow of institutional interest, and in my opinion, this interest will most likely continue to grow, and as regulations mature, will actually put these interests into actions.

Also, bitcoin will definitely be around/exist for as long as there is interest in it, regardless of what public perception of it may be.


This was the most interesting part of the article.

It does seem reasonable to suggest this, as bitcoin is essentially a better version of gold with all the store of value properties whilst being more convenient, however, it can definitely be utilised in a multitude of ways that may not necessarily mean fulfilling the previous roles of gold. For example, bitcoin being the the currency of the internet in the future that they mentioned could definitely be a possibility.

If it's merely exchanges requiring basic personal info, and an ID, then I don't think that there are any negative effects from that. Sure, it may mean that these regulated exchanges will attract less new users, but the fact of the matter is that new users rarely use these major exchange anyways, because they are looking for the quickest and most convenient trade possible.

What concerns me is really overly draconian KYC measures, such as when an exchange asks you to provide every single detail of a deposit that you make, and especially these measures being placed on exchanges that were previously used for their anonymity. For example, LBC has tightened up their verification scheme due to EU regulation. Right now, it's not restricting newbies from trading anonymously yet, since verification is only required at significant volumes, but if in the future it changes so that even small time traders need verification, then it can negatively impact bitcoin trading for sure.

We can't stop the process of regulation, and there are defintiely positives as well. But these are the things that I think are cause for concern.

I don't think so. I believe that we will probably see some sideways movement mostly, or potentially even some adjustments downwards. The market is still sentimented towards the bearish end, and even though some are trying to say that BTC prices will take a major leap in the latter half of the year, I don't think that it's ready for that yet.

The best case scenario for short term speculators right now would be bitcoin breaking through the $7.8-8k resistance, and initiating a small rally.

But there won't really be any trend reversals on a major scale, i.e., this suddenly becoming a bull market and people start buying irrationally. That's not going to happen this year, at all, imho.

This is the site, right: https://payforksmining.com/?

Unfortunately, this is an obvious scam. There is no background whatsoever on the 'company' if you research it, and there is no proof that they are actually mining. Plus, their site just seems extremely unprofessional.

You simply don't need any sort of certificate in order to withdraw money that is yours, and it just further reinforces the fact that they are scam. It simply doesn't make any sense, paying $2k to withdraw your own money? Clearly, they were just trying to get as much money from you as possible. Please, do some research and use your common sense next time before putting money into these scam/ponzi schemes.

Well, first of all I don't expect this to be a realistic scenario. It may happen, if given more time than just a mere 2 years since adoption would grow and fiat would depreciate over tho long run, but it seems unlikely that this will happen all in the span of 2 years.

However, if it would happen, to me there are one of two possibilities:

1) Fiat hyperinflation globally causing the price to grow naturally as bitcoin is independent from fiat, and also a decentralised asset
2) Huge bubble in bitcoin markets, with herds of FOMO buyers.

Again, I don't see this happening. But I think that if it does happen, the first possibility is more likely. However, it's important to note that $1 million by then would be worth a small percentage of what it is worth right now.

Did they even provide you with a reason as to why you are even forced to complete their verification process all over again, when you presumably already have done this in the past? It seems very weird that they would demote you to legacy status all of a sudden.

Their support is definitely unresponsive. One of the worst supports out there for sure. I've stopped trusting them personally a long time ago.


I think a lot of people expected their customer service to get better as Circle bought them. However, after Circle bought them we're just seeing complaints with delays with verification, and support doesn't seem to be getting much better either.

You're one of the lucky ones out there. As far as I know, a lot of people in Venezuela don't even know that bitcoin can benefit them drastically, let alone actually using bitcoin to hedge against hyperinflation, as you said.

BTC is very accessible globally, which imo makes it extremely suitable for the purpose of storing wealth for those in countries that are currently experiencing an economic slump, and rapid inflation on the fiat currency.

Honestly, you don't even need to be an early adopter. I'm fairly sure that bitcoin is guaranteed to hold its value much better than the Bolivar, even in a huge BTC crash. That's the benefit of holding bitcoin for me in the long run. There is a limited supply, that is hard coded into the system. Which means that it won't be depreciating all the time, like fiat.

Very sophisticated scam indeed. Rarely do we see this level of complexity in these types of ICO scams. Sorry for your loss, but at least you were able to pull out of the second investment deal, right?

It must take a lot of manpower and time for these guys to organise this group and make everything look legit, especially with voice chat. Them doing so probably means that it's very profitable for them to pursue this venture, which makes me worry about how many people actually got scammed in total by this.

Anyways, I would never invest into anything with an intermediary, when I am able to do so directly. A bit of common sense in regards to how they're able to get the so called "discounts" from ICOs would have definitely helped avoid this from happening.

I'd disagree.

The bear market isn't over yet, and there is no point being so bullish right now when we clearly have not seen enough momentum for a full-on bull market that you're trying to predict here. $7k is only a temporary floor, it may not hold up next time there is a dip.

You're essentially saying that bitcoin will 8x by the end of the year, something that I find extremely unlikely. There are cycles within the bitcoin price history, and if you check those cycles out, you'll see that we still have at least a few months to go before consolidation and the bear market bottoms, and the recovery starts happening.

I think it's just a pretty simple scam where the founder of this project is literally creating a new ERC20 token and selling it, most likely with no intentions of developing an actual blockchain to fulfill their promises.

I mean, firstly, you've got a newbie posting all this which is already shady. Secondly, the site is full of grammar errors. Thirdly, there is no team listed. All of these to me point to a scam.

Even if they're not a scam, they're not going to deliver on their promises. It's obvious what they're trying to do, which is to get as much ICO investments as possible before they get called out.

It seems unlikely right now to see bitcoin all of a sudden overtake fiat in terms of daily usage. I think that there is a chance that this scenario will eventually happen, although currently we're definitely not close to that yet.

But you have to understand that bitcoin is a currency. If people feel like that they want to cash out their bitcoins in order to partake in some other venture, they are welcome to do so. People are already using bitcoin to invest in assets, so it's not like it's going to be any drastic changes here.

I don't really understand where your concern is coming from, honestly. There will always be demand for bitcoin, as a store of value. Not always will people want to invest in things or buy things, and even when they do, the bitcoin just ends up on another person's hands. If you're talking about the fact that once adoption hits its peak, there is no more room to grow, then that could be true to some extent. In that scenario, if it ever happens, I would definitely try to seek to invest in other things with more potential since bitcoin's potential by then would be mostly fulfilled, as in your scenario, fiat is already completely worthless. It's completely hypothetical, though.

It's such an obvious scam. You could tell from the name alone.

But 12-20% per month and a shitty roadmap that promises a Bitconnext debit card just further reinforces the fact that this is a scam. Jeez, even legitimate bitcoin debit card companies right now is struggling with new regulations in this area, and you expect to launch your own debit card line?

Real arbitrage trading is rarely based on having so much capital, and more about finding opportunities and taking advantage of them.

It's quite ironic, because apparently the 'problem' their whitepaper tries to address is literally "HYIP/Ponzi schemes", when clearly they are exactly that, if not worse.

I really doubt that bitcoin will be able to all of a sudden spring into a bull market just because the resistance near $8k is broken. To me, there is more likelihood in bitcoin dropping to establish a new bottom under the $6.5k support and consolidating.

But how does China come into the equation here? I don't really see them as having as much an influence over the market anymore, unless they decide to reform their crypto regulations to be more welcoming to cryptos, which could definitely spark a rally. But rumours alone wouldn't change anything.

For me, we are still in a bear market that will last at least a few more months. Don't expect a bull market to come by any time soon during this quarter.

Even if the seller sends it as a gift/friends & family payment, they still have the ability to charge back. To my knowledge, they are able to always claim that the transaction was sent at a time that their account was hacked, and get the money charged back.

Even escrow doesn't protect you against that. Escrow only protects you against getting scammed during the transaction, not chargebacks.

I wouldn't really deal with paypal at all, if you are trading on LBC or paxful. Unless you're dealing with someone extremely trusted and has a ton of feedback, but even then, it's not risk free. Another thing that you could do is exchange bitcoin to SSL then to USD funds on Virwox. Virwox should be trusted enough, however with all their fees, I doubt it'll turn out to be a good deal.

Bestchange offers a list of exchangers with paypal. They should be trustworthy in most cases, however, you can't count on these sites to be risk free either.

First of all, how does a random crypto project have anything to do with bitcoin?

I agree that bitcoin is still probably on its way down and we haven't seen the bottom just yet, but there is simply nothing that would suggest bitcoin will drop below $1k at any time during this bear market. There would simply be so many people trying to stock up on cheap coins at that point, if it does happen.

It's important to note that the adoption numbers for bitcoin is drastically increasing every time there is a bull market, and that's the reason why that we actually haven't seen bitcoin drop to or below its price at the start of the bull market during a bear market. Instead, every time there is a bear market, prices bottom out at a level that is around double the starting price. $3-4k as a bottom is reasonable, but $1k simply is not.