Questions: 1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies? I jokingly learned the basics about crypto back in 2013 when we learned we could use our computers on campus to mine (but never did). Then actually learned and became part of the environment in 2014 after learning from a friend about Bitcoin.
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin? I bought my first bitcoin from the same friend that taught me about it. I helped him out by buying it OTC.
3. How did you get on the forum? I think I stumbled across it from google.
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies? Some others have mentioned this, but due to the overwhelming amount of choice we'll likely not see crypto in mass adoption anytime soon. Probably about 99% of cryptos are shitcoins, while the ones that have been around a while and have been tried and tested. There are probably some great projects pushing great ideas, but it's just that we'll be swarmed with cash grabs every time.
4.2. When did you start collecting physical coins - bitcoins? I started collecting back in 2014. One of my first purchases was for a casascius 0.1 coin with milk spots on it.
4.3. What is the rarest and most expensive collectible coin? The rarest
coin would be the Casascius 1,000BTC 1oz. gold coin loaded. Based on
https://casascius.uberbills.com/ only three have not been peeled yet, while two have.
There are other awesome rares like the Casascius 1,000BTC bar, which has two loaded out of the original sixteen loaded bars.
4.4. Please tell us about the market for collectible crypto coins? Is the market increasing? It's been increasing since I joined around 2014. Although unfortunately it has had bad actors releasing coins then sweeping the funds later, but has ironed out in the last three years I'd say. We've had more reputable companies come in, and small projects start up. Such projects like BTC China and Denarium are some of the larger companies playing. Then we have many reputable and trusted members, like Polymerbit, Minerjones, Bitcoinpenny and many other veterans of the collectible community that have done their own projects and releases (sorry if I missed anyone, you're all awesome tho). Collectible art has also taken off too, and has grown the environment a large chunk as well.
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum? As an older member of the forum, I get to be at a crazy advantage over newer members by already being in the legendary status. So here's my take, the merit system does try and cut down on signature campaign spam, which was a large problem back 2015-2016 I think. Nowadays I'm not as active to see what's going on, but as long as members are posting useful information I feel that signature campaigns are alright. But in reality, signature campaigns push members to make more posts and post quality goes down.
Overall, signature campaigns are great in moderation and the merit system is a great idea, but may need some more tweaks.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users? Since I'm primarily a collectibles guy, the most useful topics are those documenting previous collectible releases (there are so many), and those that document trusted people and untrusted people. Most senior members and legendary members in that section are very helpful and want to push an even better environment. Whether that help be from assisting with trades as a middleman (the almighty mantis shipping), to those that want to help members with information and learning.
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum? I cannot answer this, since I'm not a very active member on the forums anymore.
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects? I used to. Then figured out hey most of these side projects are pump and dumps and stick to BTC, LTC and XMR.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss? Honestly have way more loss stories from pump and dump coins, haven't had any big profits tho. I sold BTC before the whole 2017 runup to buy a car thinking I could just buy back in a couple months later. We'll likely never see those $900 days for BTC again.
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem? Haven't looked into it at all, but based on the definition it sounds like more ethereum congestion. I do think having a decentralized exchange is a great idea for privacy, and smart contracts do have a use. But many ethereum projects I've seen seem to be just cash grabs. There are many pointless tokens just marketed in different ways, and will probably die off in 6 months.
Hopefully the system is cleaned up and more useful projects appear.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution? Anonymity is vital anymore. With as much data tracking that is done today, we have to create our own privacy. If you're fortunate enough to live in a place that practices GDPR, it's a godsend knowing that you can sort of delete your footprint. Now it won't delete everything, but it'll clean it up.
Also as someone within the technology field, it is amazing how much tracking we do on people. Whether it's targeted ads, internet provider logging, geo tagging, just the amount of aggregate data for a single individual is insane. Honestly, that just needs to stop, but it's always been a trade privacy for convenience (and profits for the company).
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read? Coin Making Guide: From Sketch to Strike
A comprehensive guide to designing and manufacturing coins, medals and bars.
by Jonathan Frammingham
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years? These probably won't make as much money as other random currencies/tokens, but I solely believe in these three:
BTC: the gold standard of crypto
LTC: the silver (also speedier) standard of crypto
XMR: the more private standard of crypto
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020? Who knows, but could repeat December 2017 hitting $18-20k. I'd bet it'll stay between $11-19k however.
15. P.S. (Optional)
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