Yep, unless there's a WWIII or the US performs some kind of financial wizardry, it seems inevitable that US citizens are going to be using Canadian dollars or Mexican pesos (or maybe euros) as their preferred currency.  But somehow I have a feeling that none of those things are probable except for a war--and that's frightening.

With regard to silver and gold, I'm not sure their recent rise is tied to deteriorating economic conditions.  That could be the case, but if you remember the years leading up to 2011, it was really just speculation that drove gold and silver to all-time highs (though silver had reached $50 in the 1980s because of the Hunt brothers if I'm not mistaken).  That might be what's happening now, because asset prices have been rising across the board for some time now, with metals (including copper, too) lagging stocks and crypto for years.

Gold & silver are not going to be used in any sort of hyperinflation setting, nor is bitcoin--at least not widely.  There have been recent examples of hyperinflation in a few countries (over the past few years), and if a country's currency suddenly becomes worthless people will try to get access to and use another stable fiat currency.  That makes a hell of a lot more sense to people than using gold/silver, which they might not have and don't have money to buy or bitcoin, which also has to be purchased on an exchange that the typical citizen might not be familiar with (or familiar with bitcoin for that matter) or have the patience to figure out. 

Everyone is comfortable with fiat currency.  Much fewer people are comfortable using an alternative like bitcoin, which carries an extremely high volatility risk, not to mention network fees that can be costly and the fact that you really have to know how to get it and use it and keep it secure, which might frustrate some folks who are in the midst of an economic crisis.

This topic has been discussed quite a few times over the years, btw.

Good to see you admit that, even with the qualification tacked onto the end of it.  

Honestly, it's hard to believe that you and I joined the forum less than a year apart, because to me it seems like you've been a member for way, wa-ay longer than I have.  That could be because you were involved in some drama when I was a lurker in 2014 (though I'm not sure about that), or it could just be warped perception that happens after a decade of seeing someone's posts.  


Wow, there are some names in that list I haven't thought of in a very long time, and I didn't realize DarkStar_ had left the forum, so that's something I just learned.  A lot of those members had strong presences here and established reputations, and I think they also added to the spiciness bitcointalk used to have some years ago, which for the most part is gone.  I always wonder what's happened to a member who's disappeared unexpectedly (like TMAN and Spoetnik and a few others I can't recall off the top of my head), and that was the case with you as well.  I think I asked the question offhandedly in a post not too long ago, so at least now I know.

By the way, if you wanted replies you probably shouldn't have made this thread self-moderated.  Just saying.

Yikes--I know OP wants to buy from an exchange (which y'all keep calling 'providers') using a fiat currency I've never heard of, and that's a problem in itself.  But OP, I hope you know the APY% you're paying on that card and have plenty of spare money in case bitcoin happens to go south just when you're running low on funds to pay the rent or buy cat litter.  There are some cards I've seen in the US where annual interest rates are close to 30%!  And that isn't even a rare thing.  I know we're all hoping bitcoin shoots up to $100k or higher, but just step back and take a good look at what your plan is if you haven't already.

If you have, from what I'm reading the prospects of you converting MMK to bitcoin or any crypto on a legitimate exchange are pretty slim.  If you want my blunt but honest opinion, you should buy bitcoin with the cash you have to spend on extras, not with debt that probably carries an interest rate that borders on usury.

It's little things like this that Theymos really ought to update, because I see why OP is perhaps confused about the feature.  This is what it looks like when you click on "Members":



But what the link should really be is "Member Search".  Or at least that "view all members" link should be deleted and there should just be a field to search for specific members in.  Stuff like this shows just how ancient-ish bitcointalk is and how badly in need of some touch ups it is.

By the way OP, I search for members quite often using that functionality.  If you ever reference a member in a section like Reputation or Scam Accusations, for instance, it's a good idea to find the member's profile link and use it to create a hyperlink in your post, e.g., Foxpup is a vivacious, vile, voluptuous vixen.  Just an example there; no one touches me where I pee whilst wearing a mask and brandishing handcuffs unless it is that specific member.

Don't know if you've noticed that while there are numerous unwritten, unofficial rules, Theymos is very much hands-off when it comes to being an administrator.  There's no way he's going to get involved in someone else's business or try to somehow act as the government does when it regulates commerce.


Oh, I've no doubt you could--and I'd probably agree with the outcome of 99% of your dictatorial decisions.  Thankfully this forum is run by a dictator who seems to be absent most of the time, thereby leaving the community to police itself when it comes to scamming and the myriad issues that pop up constantly.  What a forum!

I'll take it on face value that everything you said is true--but even if there are aspects that are disputable, this is a coin I've had my eye on and off of pretty much since it got created.  Just for the hell of it I took a look at their website today and was surprised to see how lousy it is.  This is a coin with masternodes and other features, but there's absolutely no information about anything on the website itself except for links to other websites (like Twitter & Facebook, and fuck them). 

The reason I paid attention to Neoxa is because the idea behind it seemed novel to me at the time, but who knows, I could be mistaken about that.  But it sure as hell hasn't caught on in the crypto community.  Eh.

I just stumbled across this thread, and *wow* I'm blown away at the charges but somehow not entirely surprised by the alleged behavior on the part of Ver.  I'd no clue that he'd become an ex-pat, either.

But yep, taxes and all the laws regarding them are indeed crazy in the US.  However, in other countries the actual tax rates are even higher (though I don't know how complex the laws are, or how fucking hard they make it for the average person to file their taxes without resorting to expensive software or hiring an accountant).  I don't think the IRS is looking to put people in jail necessarily, but they just make doing your taxes unnecessarily difficult/costly as I just said.  The amount of money involved in this case is huge, but for "little people" who owe back taxes or get caught up in tax issues, the IRS usually settles with them in the form of a fine, penalties, whatever and they don't end up in prison.


No offense to the younger generation, but that has a lot to do with immaturity in a lot of cases--Roger Ver is an exception if he flaunted his wealth, but I have heard tell of a lot of young, crypto-wealthy people making it known on social media what their financial situation is, how rich they are, and even if they didn't get in trouble with the IRS, they got robbed.  Plus even if Ver weren't vocal about his wealth, I'm sure the IRS would have had its eyes on him anyway and they've got enough investigative power such that they don't need to resort to following his escapades online, you know?

Damned if I made any money investing in bitcoin back in 2014 when I certainly could have.  Nor 2015 for that matter--and it was through sheer lack of belief on my part in the potential growth of bitcoin's price that kept me from buying it at what now would be a ridiculous bargain.  I can't think on it too long lest I start ripping the hair off my head.

But enough of me.  OP's post looks like a bunch of blibbering blather, merited by some unknowns.  For a shitpost, that looks pretty suspicious.  Just sayin'.

That's interesting--I thought when it appeared on my screen that it was just a new feature Theymos had introduced for everyone, not something you got to see once you reached a reporting milestone.  You'd think I'd know stuff like this after all this time, but alas.

Charles-Tim, it's nice to see you're still actively reporting a lot of posts/threads after being here for 4 years.  There was a time when I would spend maybe 1-2 hours a day just looking for shitposts and the occasional spam thread to report, but around 2018 when the merit system got rolled out I sort of lost my enthusiasm.  That probably isn't unique to me, so hopefully newer members and ones who aren't burned out on reporting (like yourself) will keep up the fight, because the moderators definitely need help from the community.  I'll still report posts if they're in the wrong language or are obviously spam, but if I were to spend any time in the altcoin section (for instance) I'd probably start feeling like I was fighting a losing battle very quickly.  There are some sections that seem to be immune to reporters and mods--like a mutant cockroach infestation or some such thing.

Props to all of you reporters of bad posts and threads!

OK, so I didn't check his profile in case he listed where he's from (not that I'd believe that anyway), but do you know what country he's from and/or why he seems to have such a problem with the Nigerian community?


That's probably true, since a lot of the Nigerian members also post in the main English section and there are quite a few of them who make decent posts.  OP just has a bug up his ass it seems.  You know what you said is true and so does everyone else on the Nigerian board, so just let his little slight against you guys slide right off you like H₂O off a duck's ass.

OMG, no matter what OP did to earn his bright red negs, there's no fucking way he should ever be in a bounty or campaign that requires any sort of writing and if I may be so bold he really should GTFO of this forum.  I'm basing all of this on just the first English-bending, degenerate post he made in this thread.  Typical disgusting display of a whining shitposter who got caught being dishonest and greedy.

Seen it a hundred or more times, and if I stay on bitcointalk for another 9+ years I've no doubt it'll be a case of ad nauseam infinitum.  Pass me the bucket.

Yep, and I'd be willing to bet many people (especially younger ones) in the US don't realize how close to 1984 we've gotten because of that day.  I couldn't name every rule created in the Patriot Act or every new restriction, but if you need quick evidence that ordinary citizens continue to be treated as potential terrorists, look no further than your nearest airport and all of the TSA employees and equipment they have at their disposal.  Sadly I think you're correct that those terrorists did score a major, long-lasting victory with the 9/11 attacks.

But the reach of those rules in the Patriot Act is far too extensive IMO.


I'd answer "no" to that question, but not because of a profit/income motive.  Discussion and promotion of mixers ought to be allowed on an internet forum, especially since mixers aren't illegal per se (right?).  Some mixer owners have broken the law, and no doubt so have some mixer users but it irks me that there's what appears to be a witch hunt going on, i.e, mixers as a whole are being shot down by the government for spurious reasons and Theymos was essentially forced to take the step that he did so as to not put the forum and everyone on it under the government's scanning election microscope.

Oh by the way, people should care about their financial profits, and it's not unreasonable to expect that most people do very much care about their income and finances on a forum that's dealing with money.  Yep, they ought to care deeply about privacy as well, but just look at how many people put their whole lives on social media for christ's sake.  I'd say most people don't value privacy at all, or at least don't realize the peril they put themselves in when they do crap like that.  Anyway, end of rant.

I haven't looked, but I have a feeling I'm the biggest "merit fan" for some of the Nigerian members based on BPIP data, because in the past year or so I'd gotten a lot of requests for post history reviews from members I'm fairly sure were from that country.  I don't really pay attention to, much less keep track of, what countries people are from even if it's public knowledge. 

If I gave too many merits to members (Nigerian or not) who might not have deserved them in the opinion of others, I'll just say that I tried to be as generous as my conscience would allow.  That was in retrospect, a mistake and it's why I chose to end my offer.

But there have been quite a few members of the Nigerian community who've shown their passion for bitcoin and made interesting posts (often with a little bit of humor thrown in, which is rare here), even if their grasp of English wasn't the best.  I certainly have nothing against their community.


Toward the end of my post review offer, I was beginning to worry about that merit-sharing, because I would often take a look at the merit histories of the people who were PMing me and see that there was a lot of that going on.  That said, I don't know what country or countries or communities were involved for sure, though I do think it was happening with some of the Nigerian members.  I couldn't tell if it was simply taking the merits I'd sent them and distributing the sMerits amongst their own community members (sort of in lieu of a local board merit source) or if it was straight-up merit abuse.  I just got a bad feeling about it in my gut, because I know the level of shenanigans that shit can get to when it comes to ranking up.  Anyway.

Well actually, I paid $2.50 for a McDouble, not $5.  They were going for $1 each maybe 10-15 years ago (though I admit I haven't kept up with McDonald's menu pricing), so even at $2.50 it wasn't that bad of a deal.  When I saw the prices on the combo meals--a fish filet with fries and a drink, for example--my eyes almost popped out of my head, though.  That's where inflation has hit hardest as far as Mickey D's is concerned, and it's probably because those combo meals are what the typical drive-thru customer orders.

Anyway, I lost my taste for fast food some time ago and only ate there because I was on foot and was starving at the time.


Oh wow....I had not noticed that, nor was I familiar with OP's username.  Not that it has much to do with this thread, but good on you for pointing that out.

In restrospect, Hydrogen was probably making those posts in Economics strictly for CM.  However, the topics he'd post about that would spark discussion were pretty good IMO, and the quotes from news sources were ones I would never have found on my own, since I don't generally follow crypto news except for what I gather from bitcointalk.

He also never even came close to the maximum number of posts for the CM campaign if I remember correctly, nor was he a shitposter, so I still have some appreciation for his participation in the Economics section.  But the reason why it seems like he was just posting for pay is that he basically disappeared after the CM campaign ended.  Oh well.

OP....before I even comment on your topic, may I suggest you not create threads with enormous Great-Text-Wall-of-China posts?  Just scrolling through yours, I immediately don't want to read it as I'm 98% sure you're going to be using far more words than are necessary to get your point across.  Thank you in advance.

*10 minutes later*

And now that I have donned my forum muck boots and waded through the aforementioned wordspray wall, I'm having a damn hard time trying to find the importance of your concern, much less all of the writing you've dedicated to it.  Do you live in a first-world country?  This isn't an insult if you don't but if you do, your ability to do things ranging from buying a house to buying stocks on margin to getting a credit card depends on you having some history of debt repayment.  It's a bullshit system IMO, but that's the way it is. 

Wealthy people?  Oh hell yes they use debt.  If you're smart enough to find an investment that will pay you 15% a year for instance, it makes complete sense to borrow money at a much lower rate to finance the purchase of that investment.  That's smart use of debt--and it's why wealthy folks tend to remain wealthy if they've held onto money for any length of time.

The rest of the plebs?  The only way I can put this is that debt is like a loaded crack pipe that all of them seem to want to partake in a-smokin'.  Credit cards, student loans, car loans, mortgages on houses there's no chance in hell of paying off.  Et cetera, et cetera.  And OP?  Please go back to my first paragraph and read it again.

I'll go you one better:  102% alts for sure.  That is to say, I'm so sure those fuckers are idiotic alt accounts, the likes of which I've been seeing for years, that said certainty defies traditional statistics to a greater extent than you dared to in your post.

It used to be that the worst of the shitposters clustered their crap in sections like Bitcoin/Altcoin Discussion, but it's only been in the past few years that they've invaded the Economics section as though there's an enormous billboard on some highway in S.E. Asia or Africa linking to it.  Economics used to have tons of great threads in it, and some really good discussion.  Hydrogen used to start a bunch of threads based on news articles, most of which were interesting enough that I'd either merit him or post something.  Now all I see is a lot of shit topics with even shittier replies therein....but what can be done that hasn't been tried before?

How much bitching can be bitched until the constant complaining achieves nothing but frustration?  I could answer those questions myself, but that'd do no one any good.

Funny this thread got started when it did....I just ate at McDonalds for the first time in a long-ass time, and being the cheap bastard that I am I got two McDoubles because they were 2/$5 at the particular McD's I was at.  

I thought nothing of that, because I'd heard that fast food prices were getting jacked up so fast I was surprised anybody was eating out anymore.  And Christ, those cheeseburgers weren't even as good as they were back in 2011 when I'd eat at McD's several times a week.  But in any case any of you haven't noticed, inflation was rampant in 2021-22, and it's just now starting to ease its way back toward the 3% level in the US.  If a single cheeseburger at McDonalds was $7 at this point, I would not be shocked.  Guess what I'm saying is that things could be a hell of a lot worse if you're eating there.


Nope.  Nor can it solve any social problems, including poverty or any of the other things I've seen threads created about over the years.  If it could solve them, surely it would have by now, no?

I agree--but I just want to add that while it is possible to get a name change (hilariousandco must know that, too) I'm not sure if Theymos would do one for a low-ranked member or not.  All of the name changes I've seen have been done for higher-ranked members, and I assume the reasoning behind that is that if Theymos started granting such changes to Jr. Members, newbies, or even Members, his inbox would be absolutely flooded with requests.

OP, your Copper Membership might complicate things since you paid for that title.  In any case, Theymos advised me that if you don't get a response from him in something like 2 weeks to a month, you just have to keep reminding him.  I'd take the previously given advice and just start up a new account if I were you, though.