Well, the way I address a problem like this is usually through a Escrow service, but you do not want to do it that way. (So you obviously have to accept the consequences of that decision) Now on the other hand... using Escrow services for small purchases defeats the purpose of using Bitcoin to save money on fees, because it inflates the price of the whole purchase.

I normally do a test run with the cheapest product or service to "test" the merchant/retailer and then scale up my purchases if I am happy with their service. Obviously you cannot do this for all purchases, but it helps me to "validate" if these merchants are worth supporting.  

Also, the "irreversibility" advantage is advantageous for the seller and not for the buyer, because the sellers are being scammed by reversed transactions ..after they provided the service or product. 

Can someone please post any of these devices or gift cards that you received for your reward points? I have not seen a single person boasting on this forum or bragging with their "reward" that they have received from Stake. 

I am not saying that it is a scam, but I would have thought someone would have shown some sort of appreciation towards Freebitco.in for some reward that they had received.    (Can you post the proof that it was send to you from Freebitco.in... do not just post the reward)

Well, Thanks to this slot..... "Black Wolf Hold and Win" I have managed to crawl out of a hole and back to playing like a King!  ....None of my favorite Slots have been paying these last couple of days and I have been chasing my losses... and digging my hole deeper and deeper. (Then this Wolf... literally gave me a BOOST! to recover some of my losses)

It is just a great feeling when you get the BOOST with 7 moons ....and then you get the feature right after that and you round it off with 3 jackpot wins...(small ones.... but still a good experience) 

I am still chasing the full screen Moons to win the Grand Jackpot.... but it gave me enough moolah to play longer. 

 

Governments have been cracking down on Crypto currencies since New York introduced the BitLicense back in 2014. They just have to have control over everything people do and what they own, so this will never stop. We have seen the totalitarian tendencies from the so-called democratic governments during the Covid epidemic, like Australia and the USA... and this is just going to get worst. 

So, when governments say they care about the people and they want to protect them, then you should be worried. They will start using scare tactics like "Bitcoin is used to fund terrorism and/or Crypto currencies are linked to Child pornography etc.." to get an excuse to ban it or to over regulate it. 

Well, from the point of view of New York.... let's just look at what happened with them in the early days of Bitcoin, namely :

Benjamin Lawsky wanted to profit from Bitcoin, by creating the most complex business license for virtual currency activities in the world (called BitLicense) and this was developed and implemented back in July of 2014. He was the Superintendent of Financial Services back then, but he knew he could make big profits by charging people to "assist" them as a consultant to adhere to all the "red tape" that was required to get that license.

So, he single handily f#%#cked the New Yorkers in the early days and created a huge barrier to entry for Crypto businesses to flourish. The bureaucracy and politics in these cities.... killed their innovation and paused their progress as a Crypto currency hub.  

Well most of them are Alt accounts, so they not going to be bothered if they are going to get banned for a few days or not for rain farming. In any way... feeding a Alt account to reach the $3000 wager requirement is not going to be worth it... just to rain farm. (It will cost you more than you will gain, if you had to wager $3000 to qualify.... and during "reloads" the chat is full of people that are just there to milk the reloads and to get some rain.)

The mods know this.... so they are super vigilant and I have already seen several people getting banned for rain farming these last two days. 

Lots of Negative Nancy replies to this innovation in here, but they are missing the bigger picture. El Salvador introduced this, because they want the mostly poor citizens to pay less remittance fees for international money transfers and they want them to pay less Banking fees.

They also want to create a city with less taxes and also an opportunity for international Crypto mining operations to relocate to, with renewable "clean" energy. They also want to create a tourism magnet for all Bitcoiners around the world... where you can pay with your favorite alternative currency. 

The thing is..... with all new technologies ...there are challenges that need to be addressed and nothing comes without any problems. The news articles are focusing on smaller issues and they are ignoring all the positive things that come out of this decision. The remittance is a LOT cheaper now and the Banking fees (Transaction fees) are much lower..for a country with a lot of poor people.

Do you think African countries had zero problems with MPesa when they introduced that? Now MPesa is being used all over some African countries with little or no resistance from their citizens.  

I would have thought people would be ecstatic that you not going to get taxed to death... but looking at the responses here, I think people accepted that citizens should be taxed and double taxed and triple taxed to run a city.    

A lot of people missed the "tourism" angle here and this being the main goal for this city. More tourism = more income for the city and more VAT on products and services that are sold.

Let's be positive that someone are thinking "out of the box" and trying something new.  

There is no "golden" rule on what Plinko will pay out on.... lately it seems as though Stake nerf'ed the s@#$t out of it, because my last 1000x on Plinko paid out on 130k bets. (Not worth it to play it like that)


We are paying now for that "DOUBLE" post monthly, because Stake has gone into FULL feeding mode to get it back... and to feed the 1000s of Alt accounts that popped up to eat the reloads. (It is as clear as day to see when the RTP has been altered to feed) 

Explained: What is El Salvador’s Bitcoin city? - Source : https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-el-salvador-bitcoin-city-7635303/

Quote: " El Salvador, the only country to recognize Bitcoin as a legal tender, is planning to build an entire city based on the largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin "

The city will be funded with the issuance of a $1 billion Bitcoin Bond....    The city will be built near the Conchagua volcano to take advantage of the country’s geothermal energy— to power both the city and cryptocurrency mining.

Imagine this .... "The residents of Bitcoin city won’t have to pay any income, property, capital gains or even payroll taxes." 

Now, do you guys think a city like this will ever see the light of day.... and will it work? This looks like a pipe dream ... but it might just be the city of the future.

A city like this can be a Bitcoiner's dream come true, with all the countries banning Bitcoin and/or taxing it to death! It will also be a good option for miners to relocate to, if they ban mining in other countries. 

They are full of sh1t..... How has the rest of the world figured out to pay Capital Gains on their Bitcoin profits? ....but not Russia. 

The Blockchain forensic tools that some companies has developed is so powerful that it is actually beneficial to these tax collectors, because tax evaders can be identified and fined on top of the taxes that they owe the government. Russia has some of the most talented IT Specialists in the world.... but they claim this nonsense?

                       They just looking for excuses to eliminate the competition for their local fiat currency. (Russian ruble)

Yes, this is a very common trick from many new casinos, because they want to push their wagering levels to increase their profits. So, it basically work like this...

1. They indirectly say that they require KYC information, but they do not block people from depositing, if they do not adhere.
2. They allow people to play without restrictions, but only fully verified users qualify for bonuses.
3. When you win something big and you are one of those unverified users, they block your withdrawals. (Now, suddenly it is an issue)

So as long as you can bump their user statistics and their wagering statistics.. then you are invisible to them... but when you want to withdraw, they pull the "KYC" card. 

People play here, because they get free money every hour from a faucet to play. You will find that the majority of the players are actually faucet abusers and the other are hardcore "crash" fanatics.    I can also say from experience with other similar sites, that the faucet will dry up.. as the membership grow. (Sites like this just use the faucet as a recruitment tool and once a specific amount of players are reached, they stop the faucet payouts)

When they stop the faucet, a lot of faucet abusers leave the site and a handful of people are left behind. (Many of them are the lucky few that could make something from the faucet payouts that they received.) 

The thing with Fractional reserve practices is this... The Banks created money out of nothing, because Fractional-reserve banking is the system of banking operating in almost all countries worldwide, under which banks take deposits from the public are required to hold a proportion of their deposit liabilities in liquid assets as a reserve, and are at liberty to lend the remainder to borrowers. Source : Wikipedia

You cannot create bitcoins out of nothing, because Bitcoin has a fixed supply and that cannot be changed without a majority vote from full nodes. They will never allow that, because that will reduce the value of the bitcoins they own now.  

OP, some very good questions there 

So to answer your question, if it is a good idea to buy a house with Bitcoin, I take you back to this article that was posted in 2018.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/03/heres-the-one-thing-you-need-to-buy-a-house-with-bitcoin.html  and I quote : " a Lake Tahoe property that sold in 2014 for 2,739 bitcoins, or $1.6 million. " .....  

Based on the Bitcoin price today at $57,460 ..those 2,739 bitcoins will be valued at roughly $157,382,940  (So even if the property market boomed like crazy, you will never see an increase in the value of that property at that rate over the same period.)

The other scenario is this... IF the Bitcoin price drop to say $1000 ....those bitcoins will still be worth $2,739,000... but the property will be worth a lot more.  

Well, these guys are trying to re-invent the wheel..... Mike Hearn and his R3 buddies has already developed the Bank App for the future.... so they are a bit late for the bus. https://www.r3.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/The-Future-of-Corda-ENG.pdf

Bitcoin is suppose to disrupt the Bank system.. not helping it to defeat or replace Bitcoin.    Satoshi Nakamoto saw how the Banks were allowed to f#$up and then get several government bailouts to rescue them.. so he developed Bitcoin to disrupt them. (or give people an alternative) ....now Banks are trying to kill Bitcoin with it's own technology.. (scary) 

It is perceived to be more "clean" and less harmful to the environment than nuclear energy. Spent nuclear fuel is stored either in spent fuel pools (SFPs) or in dry casks.. but wind and Solar energy have zero waste that needs to be managed. 

Nuclear energy is by far the safest energy source. It has more than 330 times fewer deaths than coal; 250 times less than oil; and 38 times fewer than gas. ... Nuclear power is clean, efficient and effective. Nuclear power does not discharge harmful emissions into the environment like coal and oil. Source : https://www.altenergymag.com/article/2020/03/what-is-the-safest-energy-for-the-future/32904

Coinbase is a US company and they have to adhere to KYC/AML regulations... so you do not even have to think about their actions when they are approached by law enforcement agencies. I think Coinbase will hand over the information..even if they do not get subpoena for it, because they do not want the government to close their doors. 

The law enforcement agencies will get tipped off about illegal activities and then they will follow the "red tape" to make a legal arrest. (The courts will require that the correct procedures were followed to acquire the evidence) 

You have it totally wrong here..... If you want to reduce gambling addiction... you need people to post their bet slips with "losses" and not "wins" ...because that will help them to see that people are losing a lot more ..than what they are winning.

I put a $500 bet on South Africa vs England in yesterdays Rugby match and South Africa lost... I also put a bet on Watford FC to lose against Manchester United FC and Watford won with 4 - 1 goals.

So if you want to win.... just ask me what I am betting on...and then bet on the opposite team, because I always lose.