No it is not the only way to convert your cash to Bitcoin, i mean Bitcoin transactions were expected to take place without a third party, which exchanges obviously are, so that means you can convert your fiat to BTC through P2p transactions, and right now I'm not referring to P2p options on exchanges, but with another Bitcoin user who sends you Bitcoin for your cash, but such transactions requires trust, and in this network you're not expected to trust anyone, and that's were the dilemma lies. Having said that, there are reputable users on this forum who trade btc for cash, they have been doing it for quite a while and are trusted to a very, very large extent, people who are paranoid of trading on exchanges can find it easier trading with such users. But overall you will be fine on centralized exchanges if you don't store or leave your funds there and you don't trade on fraudulent or new exchanges.

You can say it "could be $100 in future", but have you as well thought about the possibility of it also being $0 in the future and it wouldn't be the first or the last coin to go somehow along that line, pump and dump/lottery coins are not the best coins to invest in, that's not to say you can't be lucky, but when investing there are other more vital factors to look out for other than just luck.

I'm pretty sure this coin is not going to be sustainable for the long term, thus making it a short term project, your decision to invest in whatever it is out there or not is entirely your choice, but if you're to put your money in this project, make sure it's for the short term and most importantly, it must be an amount that "you can afford to lose".

I second that as well, you know it's not actually bad whatever this billionaires and rich individuals say about Bitcoin or other dex cryptocurrency or in whichever way they chose to endorse it, be it even for their own benefits, after all the network is decentralized and users have freedom to use their funds how they choose and can air their ideas of the network how they want to. What is wrong is how users really take their word for it, or invest in the network in reaction to what one billionaire or the other said, investing should be as a result of ones believe in a particular network and in how sustainable they think the project is for the long term.

You have a good point, but it's not really that easy to let one of your best players go, sometimes players don't really want to leave, but they make it look like they want to, so the club can address some issues they prolly aren't comfortable with (most times it's wages). Then again it does not matter if a player wanted to leave a club or not, I believe as professional footballers they always play to the best of their ability, cause they are not just playing for the club, but for their individual accolades and development, thus even if PSG stop Mbappe from leaving, he'll still deliver his best for them next season.

Having said that, the real fear for PSG should be the rather short time he has left on his current contract, if they do not sell him now, they run the risk of him leaving the club for free if they fail to convince him to renew his contract as the season progresses; and for a player like Mbappe that'll bring the club millions of pounds if they sell him, it'll be a big loss if he goes for absolutely nothing.

Nigerians have already accepted digital currencies, I mean Nigerians love the idea of decentralized cryptocurrencies and they have been buying and trading it for quite a while now, the problem is, the government has no control over such dex crypto, thus they first banned Bitcoin transactions through exchanges and now it's the idea of a CBDC, my point is basically this, the government aren't doing this to facilitate the idea of a digital currency or to stimulate people's awareness of it, but it's more of their own benefits on the basis of control, and then a ploy to prolly take the attention of Bitcoin and other dex crypto they can't print or control.
If you live in Nigeria, you'd prolly understand the state of the Nigerian Naira atm, the country imo doesn't need more "monetary policies & methods", but rather should channel it's attention to providing a better economic condition and put greater efforts in fighting the present state of inflation plaguing the Naira. I'm afraid this is no growth whatsoever, and a large percentage of Nigerians would definitely share in my sentiments.

No it does not, Fiat/cash (in this case, the Nigerian Naira) will still be used with the centralized digital version that are working on launching as soon as possible, and I think that's the same case in every other country that's working on a CBDC, like China (digital Yuan), the U.S (digital dollar) or even the EU (digital Euro) etc. To the best of my knowledge, CBDC's doesn't mean cash will be totally replaced, though the government could enforce some compulsory payments to be made using their digital currencies so as to compel more people to use it, but for now, cash will very much be around (except they have plans of a total overhaul sometime in the future).

I know I've said this sometime before but I'd say it again, I honestly see no reason why the Nigerian government are working on launching a CBDC, tbh, if you are a resident of Nigeria you'd actually understand why I'm indifferent to this motion of a CBDC, first the government restricted Nigerian banks from working directly with crypto exchanges for no exact reason, they prolly did that cause a CBDC was at the back of their mind, Bitcoin is not outrightly banned, but they have made it somewhat uncomfortable (cause p2p price has risen) for people to buy and sell it.

Inflation is high in Nigeria at the moment and the naira is devaluing day by day, imo, there are more than a million economic problems in Nigeria that are yet to be solved, thus making the idea of a CBDC somewhat of a misplaced priority, I mean for a developing nation with lack of opportunities and a high level of unemployment, they should rather embrace the idea of Bitcoin, than launching a CBDC that will be controlled just like the Nigerian Naira, this act does not better the life of the average Nigerian in a struggling economy, it only satisfies the governments ego and prolly a way for them to embezzle more funds.

I don't think that City would go into next season with just Gabriel Jesus as their only striker, he is not a bad striker, but he is not a top quality attacker either; and then again I know Pep won the league last season without a real marksman upfront, but surely they must seek reinforcement in the striking position, and I think the main reason why Pep didn't really field a striker too much last season is cause Kun was mostly injured and Jesus isn't too good. Having said that, City also need to win the title that has eluded them for so long, and that's the CL, and I think that they'd need a born scorer if they are to achieve that.

Coming into a new season, many of the big teams would have probably signed new players into their team making them stronger than they were the previous season and difficult to predict a winner; I know City have been brilliant in the last couple of seasons and have won a good number of titles along the way, this somewhat makes them favorites for this season title, but the other big teams wouldn't just be pushed aside, Liverpool, United and Chelsea are all Contenders for the title, we will see which team sets the pace and in the most form from the beginning of the season to mid-season, it's more often than not the team that goes home with the title.

You're prolly not alone, but I'm afraid, the majority of people who share the same thought as yourself are either trying to spread unnecessary FUD, or do not understand how the network works and it's original purpose.
However you choose to use the network, spend or accumulate coins is your sole decision, but mind you that Bitcoin is definitely going mainstream, do not be confused, that's not to say that there'll come a time that Bitcoin will be the only currency used, Bitcoin is definitely going to be universal cause sooner or later, with all the dictatorial policies governments keep implementing, people wouldn't be able to resist the freedom and control of funds Bitcoin offers it's users, this will make more and more people to use it and hence mainstream adoption.
Like I already said, you can buy and spend the way you deem fit, but I am pretty sure that people who believe in the network aren't 'dreamers', it's (Bitcoin) actually a currency that can change the financial system for good.

There is one last reason he'll prolly leave for, and that's to have a new experience in a different team and league, it happens to many players, especially when they are successful and have won everything in their present club, they thus want to try our something new, a different experiment to see how good they'll fair there.

Having said that, I think Chelsea should not really be going after Lewandowski, he is 33, and in his very last years at the top of his game, if they can get him cheaper, then that's fine and good, but as it stands, it's apparent Bayern wouldn't sell for anything less than 50 million pounds, and that's even if they are willing to sell.

The thing is merit is a highly subjective matter, what that means by extension is that as far as it's your smerits in question, you can do with it however you deem fit, you can possibly give as much as you want to a particular post when you want to (the only thing you can't do with your smerits is to sell them to other users or use it to merit your alt account).

You also do not have to give out all your smerits quickly, you can keep taking it slow so you don't run out of them quickly since you're not a merit source. There is no guide I'm currently aware of on how to spend smerits and that is cause of how really subjective it is, a personal guide in my opinion can be, if you see a good/HQ post, give a fair amount of smerits to it, it's better you don't give too much (though "too much" still depends on you) so it doesn't look like a suspicious merit transaction.

This in indeed another point to highlight and extract the pros and cons, I know there are quite a lot of countries working on the possibility of launching CBDC's sooner rather than later, as a result of the finances required as well logistics and other whatnots, it's mostly developed countries that are actually obsessed with the CBDC, regulation and anti-Bitcoin ideology.

But having said that, I find it somewhat surprising that even developing/underdeveloped countries are actually weighing up the possibilities of launching their own CBDC in reaction to Bitcoin, it doesn't even end there, they are also issuing sanctions and regulations at Bitcoin and dex crypto (just as Nigeria did), I find this to be counterproductive, so many of this country's do not have a functioning economy, plus there is a high rate of unemployment in their land, ordinarily, stopping Bitcoin should be the last thing they should think of when you consider the myriad of economic problems facing them, I find it to just be a clear case of misplaced priority.

I think some (new) users are getting the whole purpose of this thread all wrong, your 'goal' should not be to be like filliponne, but rather in developing sufficient Bitcoin and cyrpto knowledge (like he did), cause thats the only reason why filliponne is where he is in the forum at the moment, the 'goal' isn't solely merit earning, but quality forum contributions that will continually earn you merits effortlessly.

Having said that, aspiring to be like filliponne isn't bad at all, but it doesn't just stop in "I'd like to be like you', you'll have to actually work towards it by showing your contributions on the forum are worth the appreciation of others, if you're unwilling to make the required effort or you're are in the network and forum to basically 'get rich quick', then there's no need for all these aspirations, cause they'll sadly not be achieved.

Whilst that is very much possible, the question, or rather concern is what damaging measures the different governments (countries) that make up the European Union will take within this next five years and definitely more as they work on their CBDC's. There will prolly be tighter regulations as well as policies initiated to discredit Bitcoin as not being safe, reliable...or whatever compared to their CBDC's, obviously before CBDC's come on board, Bitcoin would have gone a very long way, my only concern is actually how many users will be convinced and cajoled into believing some of the lies the government will cook up to try and see if CBDC's will be more used than Bitcoin.
Isn't that were they are making a mistake, should CBDC's which are centralized be launched in 'reaction' to Bitcoin, I mean, we all know Bitcoin is decentralized, and not just that, there's freedom and control to use your funds just the way you think is right, but the digital dollar, Euro, Yuan, or any centralized digital (shit) coin is actually the opposite of that, should the government not actually be 'trying to stop' Bitcoin with more regulations (I know sooner or later they'll run out of it), rather than creating digital currencies that will work (and be printed) almost in the same way as their fiat currencies

Well, that's your strategy, but if I'm to drop my opinion on that, I'd say it's not a reliable one, first and foremost; you can't be sure you'd see the aforementioned coins at the following prices anytime soon, and then again their present prices, for example Bitcoin is at $31,792 at the time I was writing this, is relatively cheap putting into consideration the price it was a few months ago, and thus making now a pretty comfortable time to accumulate it. You'd prolly have to wait for quite a long long time for Bitcoin to go below $20k, and then what if doesn't.
Mind you that prayers don't change/move the market situation.

That's not how football transfers work all the time, players can change teams even when you don't expect them to, in Sterlings case, last season he really lacked playing time and was used sparingly by Pep Guradiola, he has had a quite brilliant time at City in the past couple of seasons, but looking at how things went last season plus the way City are seriously chasing Grealish, I wouldn't be surprised if Sterling moves out of the Etihad.
Lewandowski is a world class striker, prolly the best out there, but he is 33, that's were the question of age comes in, how many years will he be able to represent your team if you decide to sign him, obviously Bayern have had his best years, and then again he won't still come cheap, I'd be expect Chelsea to go for a much younger striker, if they can't get Haaland.

I don't know why you're receiving this message that your good will either not arrive or will be delayed significantly, it looks like the sort of message that would have been sent early last year when the pandemic "shed it's milk teeth" and countries were still coming to grasp with what was going on and ways to control it, now that vaccines are in progress, there should not be too many problems, except this message is for a completely different reason, while China prolly just puts the blame on covid-19.

I think if Haaland signs for Chelsea, Timo Werner's playing time will reduce drastically, then the problem is that Haaland costs so much and imo, he hasn't really been brilliant for many seasons running to be really worth that much, Dortmund will prolly scare aware possible suitors for Haaland with the price tag they'll request for him, Chelsea will only get him, only if they are ready to pay an extremely high transfer fee.
Tammy Abraham already lacked quite a lot of game time last season, so it's reasonable if Chelsea release him, as for Odoi and Ziyech, I honesty thought they actually had a future in Chelsea, I'm surprised their names are mentioned in players set to be released.

The policies employed to control the pandemic were no doubt inflation-bound, such as lockdowns, printing more money etc, but I consider most of those policies to be inevitable as at when they were implemented. The effects of the pandemic generally was always going to cause economic struggle, especially in the form of inflation and hyperinflation. The thing is, diverse economies will react to this situation differently, Bitcoin serves as a hedge to inflation/devaluation in fiat currencies, but imo being a Bitcoin user doesn't mean we'll celebrate inflation, cause we're all citizens/residents of a particular country and if inflation gets worse, it'd definitely affect us all.

Having said that, I don't think countries with a really functioning economy, especially prior to the lockdown will face inflation constantly for a very long time, measures will definitely be put in place to curtail it sooner than later, underdeveloped countries would face most of the brunt of this pandemic, I mean, for some of them their economic situation was already in the mud before the pandemic kicked in, it has made things a whole lot worse, and they may have to cope with inflation for quite a long while.