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. 

Nah, I asked Eddie in the beginning of his Stream session today and he said that there were indeed players abusing Mount Magmas and they temporarily disabled it. He did say that Push Gaming would look into it and that they would re-introduce it.. once the loopholes has been sorted out.

I am just glad that the abuse of the Slot has been stopped and that it will come back after it has been fixed. It is truly an amazing Slot and I hope Push Gaming will make more Slots with Daily and Mega Jackpots like this. 

The thing is, people are slowly but surely recognizing that Fiat currencies are failing them.. and that it is losing value over time. The US Dollar has lost significant value over the last few years, so people are looking for alternative currencies that are storing value and not losing value.

The status as a global reserve currency for the US Dollar are losing it's appeal for most currencies.... so Hillary can warn all she wants to... the threat is not Bitcoin, but rather the US Reserve Banks printing the US Dollar ..like cheap toilet paper. 

This is the scenario that we have been talking about for years.... and I think the sentiments and thoughts about that was that if this might happen, then people will sell their coins and move over to another Alt coin... or develop a new coin that will suit the need of the people moving to the new coin. 

These governments will have a very stormy relationship with the tax payers, if they have to continuously buy more and more hash rate to "dominate" the mining power of all these coins. 

I see "Mount Magmas" Slot is now disabled... giving error_Softswiss_Game_inactive. So I sincerely hope Stake is not going to stop hosting it at all now. It is one of the best Slots on Stake and I also think one of the most popular ones, because it gave some people some chance to win a Daily Jackpot that was only availlable for people that are gambling at Stake.

Let's hope Push Gaming can remove the feature that only people with the highest stake can win the daily Jackpot and the Mega Jackpot and that it can payout at random intervals and not a specific time of the day.

Just love that game.... and also a lot of my friends that are playing on Stake!

You are saying ..."sold online in the market" ..so I presume that you are referring to second hand hardware wallets? The new hardware wallets that you buy directly from the hardware manufacturer are safe, but you have to check if the hardware wallet was tampered with in transit to you.

The second hand hardware wallets that are being sold online (as new) should NEVER be trusted, because the previous owner had access to the Seed and can easily monitor the wallet to see if coins are being stored on it and then he/she can use that Seed to steal those coins from you... (common scam)

They seal the package as if it was sealed at the manufacturer, so you will think that it is new. They will say something like.. "Won in a raffle, brand new"... etc.. etc.  

Why would Banks want to work against the "hand" that protects them? The government used tax payers money to bailout the Banks, when they nearly collapsed.. and these Banks know that.

The Reserve Banks manipulate interest rates to favor Banks and they print the money that generate income from fees for the Banks. So there are zero chance that any Banks will ever go against the will of their governments. 

The (competition) will never tell you that they are wasting a lot more energy than Bitcoin mining. They will never tell you how "dirty" their payment option is, when it comes down to the small details. (Metal for coins need to be mined and then refined and only then can those coins be minted.)

Fiat currencies need to be transported... (fuel) ..it needs to be kept safe in vaults with 24/7/365 days of CCTV that are using a lot of electricity. The ATM's use electricity .... the card machines are using electricity... etc... etc.

This discussion should compare apples with apples.. and not apples with strawberries.   

So it really does not matter if the debt ceiling is increased or not... the outcome will be the same. The government cannot honor it's commitments and the tax payers become the safety net again.    The only negative impact will be market sentiments... but who will worry about that? (The US are one of the strongest economies in the world and they have bounced back from several "near" market crashes before)

Also if all fails... WAR is the solution. These wars give them unlimited funds to stimulate the economy and to create jobs for the unemployed. (Cannon fodder for the rich and powerful) 

The whole idea behind "decentralized" platforms is ...

1. Increased security ( A centralized platform is a easy target for DDoS attacks and hacks)
2. Freedom - Governments cannot take it down easily.
3. No Centralized control (A corrupt entity cannot influence decisions)

So is this "decentralized gaming platform" really decentralized if the owners are known and also the location of their operation? Can they be taken down? (yes) ...are they really free? (no)  

So what "better" medium of exchange are the middle class using? 

1. Fiat currencies - Well most fiat currencies are printed like toilet paper and losing it's value. (Controlled by governments)
2. Credit cards - Debt / high fees / Charge backs / fraudulent transactions / Controlled by Banks / Credit card scams
3. Debit cards -  Controlled by Banks / High fees / Slow transactions between different Banks / fraud

No my friend... try again... your argument and comments are full of holes and fallacies.   

What are you smoking?

All Crypto currencies or digital currencies that are controlled by a centralized entity or a government is doomed to failure. We have first hand evidence of this with fiat currencies that are being manipulated and printed like toilet paper. 

A centralized entity will have full control over the supply and also the transactions that are done or not being allowed on these platforms. (They can block transactions / wipe out the history of specific transactions / add transactions / confiscate people's tokens ...etc.. etc.)

This is sooooo wrong!

I am a bit disappointed today, because one of my favorite Slots on Stake has been hijacked by the highrollers on Stake. Mount Magmas was one of the slots on Stake that grabbed the attention of a lot of smaller gamblers with huge dreams. You could bet as low as $0.20 and still had a chance to win the daily Jackpot.

Unfortunately highrollers like @Whale20 has now figured out how to win it every other day and they are milking it to death. (crushing the hope of the smaller gambler to win these jackpots)     (The more you win it, the more you will win it with their strategy)

I hope the developers (Push Gaming) can fix this loophole to make it more fair towards everyone that are playing this Slot. (Bigger Stake wins / Predictable payout times)  

Please Stake... look into this loophole and make it fair for everyone....  

This casino tick a lot of my good boxes, but unfortunately I do not like all the strict KYC/AML requirements that needs to be done, before you can play.    There are loads of fun sites like this, with most of these features.. that require almost zero verification.. so it is an easy decision to make.

The main goal of Crypto currencies was to have some form of pseudo anonymity to protect you from hackers and criminals and to give you some privacy for your financial matters... but tokens like this goes directly against these principles. 

#OP, I think one of the plus points with a thread like this is that casinos are very competitive and when they see that someone are actually posting their fees in a comparison like this .... they re-think those percentages and they change it to be more competitive.  

I always thought Stake adjusted the fees ...based on the type of coin you are withdrawing from their platform and not a standard fee for all withdrawals that are done.  

Thanks for this valuable information.