By saying that you will put your bull market profits to good use, do you mean to say that you will be converting your Bitcoin to fiat?

It seems to me you have a plan not to continue HODLing and instead convert your Bitcoin. Perhaps you will do it as soon as Bitcoin breaches $100,000 or more, or perhaps you have a specific price target for selling. If you are indeed planning to do it, the best thing to do when the bear market finally arrives is to buy the dip. Not at once, of course, as there might be a series of dips. But I think it is wise to make a buy back during bear cycles of the market.

First and foremost, are you really the PR person of Swapzone or are you, in your own words, simply vouching for it? If you are simply vouching, then this is by no means an announcement thread and shouldn't be in this specific section. But if you are a legit staff of Swapzone tasked to create an announcement thread here, please do it in a more direct way, unlike the way you are doing it now.


FAQs are supposed to be questions pertaining to the platform you are promoting, in this case Swapzone. So you don't provide general responses. The questions refer to Swapzone. Why respond vaguely?

While China's economy is very much unlike other mainstream economies in the world in certain respects, I think I still consider it a traditional economy in the sense that it is still a fiat-based economy. China's economy is indeed unique. Its socialist market economy offers a hybrid approach which allows both capitalism and private ownership to exist and thrive alongside a larger and more powerful and influential state-owned business sector. However, at the end of the day, they share a common ground with the rest of the world's traditional economies. Theirs is the power and control of money. This is something they simply cannot let go. And that's the primary reason why China will never ever adopt Bitcoin as a currency.

People in ground zero are expected to be devastated. When I said there's actually joy in disaster, I was referring to majority of the government agencies, politicians, private companies, NGOs, and other organizations and agencies that are responding to it. They may seem to be the good Samaritans, but most of them are actually just exploiting the opportunities provided by disasters.

There's so much money during disasters. Calamity funds are released. Strict procurement laws could be waived. All kinds of grants and aids are coming from all directions. There's also a spike in the demand of certain goods and services. Infrastructure and all kinds of projects abound. Corruption almost always accompanies disaster response efforts.

So whenever the rich helps the poor, it does not necessarily mean the rich means it. It could simply mean that by helping, the rich gains something.

Bitcoin has united people. Bitcoin has addressed poverty. Bitcoin has zero tribalism. Bitcoin builds courage and makes people patient and teaches them perseverance. Bitcoin symbolizes cultural unity. Bitcoin makes world peace. Bitcoin solves inequality. Bitcoin eradicates injustice. Blah blah blah. Stop building a religion around Bitcoin! If Bitcoin and you would still be around after a hundred years, you will see that disunity, poverty, tribalism, injustice, and so on remain.

Majority of altcoins nowadays are living merely on hype, marketing, and promotion. To many coins, that's actually all they've got. Perhaps utility follows, perhaps not. Developers are simply creating coins and encourage people to buy them, not because there is a particular use for it but because the price is said to be growing in the future. Why? Because more people will buy it. That's just actually the point. Token burning is just one part of this whole shit show.  

Anyway, as newbies, they shouldn't be hunting for potential altcoins. It's not their business.

What the man is saying is true. I agree that a currency should function well as payment first and foremost. And while there are advantages in using Bitcoin, there are also reasons why it remains to be not the most convenient payment method.

However, I think Zhou did not mention the one biggest reason why Bitcoin, or other independent cryptocurrencies for that matter, will never be adopted as a currency of his country. The main reason, which should sufficiently stand alone, is actually that China will never give up control over money. Using Bitcoin or other independent cryptocurrencies means losing that control.

I'm not sure about this. There have been signs that Binance is not giving their best, or perhaps spending enough, in terms of security. Binance itself was hacked and tens of millions in Bitcoin were taken. More than a year later, Binance figured in another controversy when its customer's KYC data were leaked. Personal information of about 60,000 Binance users was compromised. And now, Binance-owned coinmarketcap is also hacked.

Binance's reputation, at least in terms of security, will never be the same again. And they should certainly do something about it. This is not about competition against other sites offering similar services. This is about their security.

Kind of weird.

There are a lot of wealthy people out there. They could buy anything they want. Well, even those they don't want they probably also buy, perhaps just for the sake of buying. I'm not sure if they even appreciate what they are buying.

Anyway, perhaps Roland Orzabal was right in calling this world a mad world. And that might include the crypto world as well. People are spending money on meme coins and meme posts. Well, it's their money. They have the freedom to do whatever they want with it.

But this is not a discussion about Bitcoin.

Yeah, of course, of course. It is going to be centralized. That's 100% expected from the government not only because the control over money is the source of all power but because the current economic structures are highly founded upon a system in which the government has the authority over monetary decisions. Otherwise, the entire economic paradigm has to shift. But the efficiency of the use of the blockchain technology might be the primary reason why governments and their central banks will embrace it.

Are these spoon-feeding instructions even needed? Sometimes tutorials like this make me think the intended audience are mentally-handicapped individuals.

If anybody has successfully created an account in an exchange, it means he/she is also capable of navigating through the withdrawal or deposit features of the exchange. Don't you think it is a bit too much to instruct the exchange account owner to click on deposit if he/she wants to make a deposit? And click on next or confirm after he/she's done with a step?

While I am not saying that human beings are necessarily bad and unjust and unfair, the problem with us is that we always want to be pleased. So when we lend a hand, it is almost always to please ourselves more than pleasing others. The direction would always be inward or toward us. There's oftentimes a helping hand, especially in times of disaster, but the primary consideration would always be that it shouldn't be too bothersome. Or if it is, at least there will be a kind of compensation in whatever form. Humans always ask first, "what's in it for me?" We always have motives.

I've been involved in a number of disaster projects in the past, and the common thing when disaster strikes is that, except those who are hapless victims to the tragedy themselves, people are joyous. When disaster strikes, there's money overflowing; there's opportunity for tax discounts plus free promotion; there's a huge demand for goods; and so forth.

It is less about Coinstar and more about Walmart. I don't know how strategic the locations of the rest of Coinstar's Bitcoin kiosks are but as far as Walmart is concerned, the foot traffic is very high. Statista has it that in 2020, Walmart stores have a daily average of 37 million customers.^[1]


I doubt there is somebody here who buys, or will buy, Bitcoin from one of these kiosks, save perhaps those who wish to try for the sake of trying. People in this forum must already be more or less aware that there are much better options.

Anyway, I am looking at this development more as an effective way of spreading Bitcoin awareness among non-crypto people than a way of giving Bitcoin fans and supporters the opportunity to buy Bitcoin.

Incidentally, I was scrolling Bitcoin Twitter earlier today and stumbled upon a comment coming from a user who had just come to know about Bitcoin because of the newly-approved Bitcoin ETF. I wanted to share that here but I cannot find the comment anymore. Anyway, my point is that these hundreds of Bitcoin kiosks in Walmart stores could also serve as the first time or the stumbled-upon or discovery moment to many people.

Having said this, I doubt this approach of selling Bitcoin is sustainable. After all, it is generally banking on non-crypto people. But this will definitely benefit Bitcoin in general nonetheless.

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[1] https://capitalcounselor.com/walmart-statistics/

Well, it's not Walmart itself. Walmart is just hosting Coinstar kiosks which sell Bitcoin. This is in partnership with the crypto wallet and exchange, CoinMe.

For those who have been into Bitcoin for some time, this may not sound interesting at all. But given the fact that this is Walmart, the largest retail company in the world, bringing Bitcoin to the masses, this is rather big. This is bringing Bitcoin to the mainstream. For a start, because this is still in the pilot phase, 200 Coinstar kiosks are installed inside various Walmart stores across the US. If this is successful, this might become bigger in the future considering that Walmart has thousands of stores in the US.

The good thing with Coinstar kiosks is that retail buyers are allowed to buy small amounts of Bitcoin for as long as they're paying with paper bills. The downside, however, is that you are required to setup a CoinMe account which requires KYC. In addition, there is also a 4% transaction fee plus another 7% cash exchange fee.

Do you think this will be successful?

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Sources:
1. https://www.reuters.com/business/walmart-allowing-some-shoppers-buy-bitcoin-coinstar-kiosks-2021-10-21/
2. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/10/21/walmart-has-quietly-begun-hosting-bitcoin-atms/
3. https://www.reuters.com/article/walmart-cryptocurrency-idUSL4N2RH4BL

I'm amused by this post.

I guess there is not much to learn about meme coins really. How a meme coin works actually doesn't matter at all. By the mere fact that a coin is called a meme coin, it is already an outright admission that it is a coin made for fun. In other words, it is a joke coin. It shouldn't be taken seriously in the first place. So there is really no point comparing an original meme coin from a fake meme coin. Is there even such a thing?

Well, the crypto market is still highly a wild wild west territory. People are literally investing money in jokes.

I don't know if you are just using the wrong words here or you really meant them, but I don't quite agree with you. I mean, is there really a need to buy a dice machine? I guess this is just all about you, all about you merely wanting it because dice is one of your favorite gambling games.

Also, I don't agree introducing gambling to minors. That's a big no no for me. As a matter of fact, gambling is illegal to minors in almost all countries.

Why don't you teach your son something else like basketball, football, playing the guitar or the piano, fishing, and so on? Why gambling? Why even introduce it? I would understand if he's interested and approaches you first asking questions related to gambling, but if you are the one making the first move, I'm simply not for it.

It isn't. And I think I've already grown to a certain age and probably seen enough of how humanity works that I consider anybody raising this issue as naïve. I mean, the issue is legit, of course. It calls for action. We, as individual persons and collectively as human beings, should address it.

Alas, fairness is an abstract word which might prove to be impossible to expect from humans in real life. The intolerable economic chasm within humanity is already the sum-total; it is already the general illustration. It is already the bigger picture of how it is actually impossible for humans to be humans. If we go down to the second-to-second, minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day interactions between one human being to another human being, you will realize that fairness is a helpless concept.

To be quite honest about this, I wasn't expecting the figures to be this high. This is really surprising to me. Months ago, I was even saying this Bitcoin ETF thing is not necessary and has in fact already lost its beauty even before it came out because of the countless rejections. I was very wrong about my assumptions. I was expecting the reception to be relatively poor. I couldn't even feel the same intense hype before when this kind of product became a hot topic. I also considered the fact that this is not even the first Bitcoin ETF in the region. Neighboring Canada has it already.

But, my goodness, this proved to be so huge. This was in fact so much anticipated. And to think that this is just futures and not the spot thing.

I agree. There are indeed such kinds of people in society. But I think they are not totally parasites in the sense that they are still paying taxes in their own limited ways. I mean, who could avoid paying taxes when every time you buy something you are already paying taxes? As a matter of fact, the act of buying itself adds to the economy already.

Well, in the case of the poor parasite, if he/she is eating food, wearing clothes, living in a shelter, and so on all for free, perhaps he/she is a complete parasite. But if she/he's got cash sometimes and uses it to buy stuff, he/she is not an absolute parasite.

Bluffing is indeed a risky move. And it is a world harder to execute smoothly in a poker game against real people in front of you than against online opponents. Bluffing makes me really uncomfortable and I know that a professional poker player could easily read my expressions and gestures every time I lie, which is basically what a bluff is all about. But, like you said, you kind of need to do it once in a while. You've got to shift strategies from time to time in poker.

Perfect bluffing needs a lot of practice. But I think I can easily pull off a nice bluff in an online poker game.