Images like this make it seem like we are still very early.  Imagine if Bitcoin does take over the world's reserve currency.  You could be in the top 2% of wealthy individuals in the world for a cost of around $50,000 today.  That to me seems pretty amazing.  Sure, it's a risk.  What if Bitcoin fails?  Not to mention $50,000 isn't exactly peanuts as it is now and owning that much BTC is already out of the question for most.  You have to ask yourself what if it succeeds though...  You could be there with front row seats to the biggest wealth transfer in the world, but decided to play it safe...  Buy Bitcoin.

It's easy to look at the math and what has happened in the markets and call ETH staking dumb...  It's not like Bitcoin has done much better...  Personally, I had no intention of ever owning ETH and found myself with some (not a ton) that had accumulated through various means over the years.  I started staking it because why not?  Would I have been better off selling everything at the exact top, sure.  Is that realistic?  No.  I believe that ETH will return and hit new highs again someday.  Maybe then when you look back you'll realize that you weren't making a couple hundred bucks a month, but a couple thousand.  At that point it will look dumb not to have staked.

Crypto is fun.  Do all the things.  Stake.  Mine.  Spend.  Stack.  Do it all!  Just don't try to make money trading it back and forth. 

Once the primaries are over with I hope that there are more opportunities for betting on this election.  I really would feel more comfortable if a site like Stake (shameless promotion alert) offered this as a bet.  Sure, I'd put some money down and likely on Trump.  I think the smarter move might be to bet on Biden having another four years though.  At least that way you get to make a little bit of money as a hedge for the disaster that the Biden administration would continue to let unfold on his watch.  If Biden loses, that is it's own reward and worth whatever amount you lost.  Although I think America is already in too much debt to be turned around at this point anyway.  The covid overreaction was the nail in the coffin.

I think Ayton will be able to rise to the occasion and keep Joker from going absolutely insane like he did last series.  You also have to figure in that Jokic isn't 100%.  Denver wasn't even sure if he would be able to play in the final two games of the series, so that has to be taken into account a bit as well.  I actually think both teams are full of talent and this will be a great game.  I'm sort of thinking that Denver will be able to take game 1, just because the Suns lack experience playing together, but I don't think Denver wins this series without an injury to Durant, Booker, or Ayton.  If those three can stay healthy and adjust to what the Nuggets are doing, I think Phoenix takes this series in 5-6 games.

I voted 97%.  I think if people are okay with a 3% inflation rate then they should be ok with casinos taking 3% of their funds as well.  Why not?  Funny to see that is the amount that has received the most votes.  This shows that people are just ok with losing 3% of their money as it has been engrained into us our whole lives with inflation targets.  Economics aside, 3% seems reasonable to me for a fee paid for services rendered, in this case allowing users to bet with the potential to make money.  It's important to figure other things too.  Some casinos have crazy withdrawal fees and betting requirements that should also be calculated.

This fight surely had it's share of drama.  Between Tank Davis claiming that people were trying to rub steroid cream on him in order to get him to fail a test, to Tank having a mole in Ryan Garcia's camp giving him information, to Ryan Garcia having an injury he suffered in training...  Not to mention the violence charge Davis was facing...  Then the bet for the purse...  Ryan Garcia wanting to be Tank Davis' friend afterwards...  This was one of the more unusual fights in recent memory.  It seemed to me that the drama surrounding the fight was bigger than the fight itself.

I don't think it's debatable if any other coin could possibly be the King of Altcoins.  I think market cap speaks volumes for itself and no other coin is close.  So many other coins also take advantage of Ethereum's blockchain to process their tokens, etc...  What would the altcoin market even be without ETH?  How would things like USDT and Polygon even work without ETH?  I also think the amount of regulators that are in bed with ETH already will make it difficult for any other coin to reach that level of success.  People have begun shutting doors behind BTC and ETH to lock out any newcomers.  Big money has spoken.

I'm pretty sure that the Grizzlies are tired of Dillon Brooks and his attitude.  The LeBron poking the bear comment was probably the last straw and I think Brooks knows it.  That's why he was so defeated in the series after that.  I think he's a bad influence on Ja Morant, and they need to start surrounding that kid with people who are going to make sure he doesn't get shot in a strip club parking lot pretending to be a gangster some random night.  The icing on the cake is that LeBron didn't even stick around after the game to shake hands.  He sent a message to the league.  Put some respect on his name.

Looks like the market didn't do much after the swings last week and is back to a consolidation phase just under $30K.  The fact this is happening just below $30K instead of above it makes me think this rally may be starting to lose a little steam.  I'm sure the movement of mtgox coins spooked some folks into selling but the buyers were there to scoop up the BTC and bring the price back up.  I think we've got some choppy trading in the near future but once the mtgox coins and US gov coins are bought up, it will be off to the races.  That should supercharge the halfining and set us up for a nice run into the next bubble as spot ETFs begin getting approved.

I've received a few questions about my escrow service lately so I thought I would respond here. 

Yes, I am still doing escrow. 

Yes, the OP fees are still accurate.

There are probably cheaper options for escrow services out there, so if you have a smaller trade I would advise you to look elsewhere.  However, if you have an important trade to make involving a lot of funds and you want to make sure it is done correctly, there is no escrow out there that has handled more BTC than myself in escrow deals for users of this forum.

I’ve (@NastyMining) started following the Stake account on Twitter and I have been quite amused by the massive wins I’ve seen on there. I knew people were playing with high stakes but seeing people win jackpots in the millions is mind blowing. The people that win never even seem all that shocked with their life changing wins. It’s pretty interesting to see.

I’ve found that when it comes to not being poor it is mostly how a person handles their money, not how much they make that determines their net worth. If you’re the type of person that needs new cars and expensive shoes, you’ll probably be broke your entire life no matter how much you make. If you stay away from debt and don’t waste money on things you don’t need, you’ll probably end up quite well off financially. However, most people today don’t know how to live within their means.

This Lakers vs Grizzlies game was over by halftime. The Grizzlies have given up and I don’t think any of the Lakers stars will even play in the fourth quarter. A dominant showing for the Lakers as they prove they underperformed in the regular season and are going to be a problem in the playoffs. Now we wait to see if they’re going to be playing the Warriors or the Kings next.

Looking like the Kings are going to take the win against Golden State tonight. They’ve got their biggest lead of the series with just over 4 minutes left. That means the Kings have recaptured home court advantage for game 7. The Kings seemed to overcome bad officiating all night long which makes the win that much more impressive.

LeBron is up next tonight…

I agree. Currently the only place to discuss NFTs is in the altcoin tokens section. Now that NFTs are a reality on the Bitcoin blockchain it makes sense to have a place to discuss and learn more about them. I for one think that Ordinals are a great step towards being able to bridge some of the missing functionality of smart chains to Bitcoin.

It’s pretty clear at this point that our food chain is under attack. I’ve seen it locally and of course read about all the fires nationwide at various distribution and manufacturing plants. It seems the folks with the money want the rest of us eating crickets instead of cows and chickens. I have no doubt that many of us will be eating more alternative protein sources in the future.

I’ve made some pretty bad bets in my time. Lately I’ve gotten into the habit of betting alongside the largest odds public bets I can find. Most of the time they pay back several thousand times the original bet. I’ve never gotten one, but who knows. Maybe one of these days I’ll make a few grand off a bet that cost a few cents and I can praise this no bet is a waste motto.

I hope the Kings can extend the series and get their home court advantage back. Tonight is hands down the biggest game of the year for them. Would love to see it go well.

Then you have the Lakers second attempt to send the Grizzlies home. AD and LeBron both made some big promises for tonight, so it should be a great night of basketball. One of the biggest of the year for me as a Kings supporter.

Boston won and sent the Hawks home for the year. That leaves the Celtics matching up with the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round of the playoffs. That sort of feels like the eastern conference finals to me as I don’t think the Knicks or Heat are going to be able to beat whoever wins between the Celtics and 76ers.

Short term the chart is showing some bearish signals. Looking at the weekly chart you can see signs of a double top with lower highs. That is pretty much a death knell for short term investments. I personally wouldn’t be surprised if we smashed through $30K any time. If I were a trader relying on chart analysis though, I’d be selling here at $29,600 to buy back around $27,500.