DeFi platforms have security concerns that is why you can see tons of defi platforms hacks in all these year from this thread: DeFi hacks [history]

Traditional finance institutions are the direct competitors for defi so I don't know how both can be merged.

Many of you know that memecoins are all the rage right now, but with so many to choose from, it can be hard to know which ones are worth investing in. If you're thinking about jumping on memecoin, it's important to do your research and understand the risks involved.
So personally, I'm currently holding two memecoins that I believe have the potential for significant growth: $WIF and $BABYDRAGON.

I know we are all going for the gains in memecoins, so I currently have these two, which can possibly give me some gains. And $BABYDRAGON is one of the memecoin I'm  looking out for most, since it has some momentum and is about to be introduced to platforms like Bitget market, with potential opportunity for an uptrend.

You guys can also give me suggestions on memecoins, like what key factors should I consider before investing in it?

I think the same scenario as bitcoin will also happen with ETH. From now until the moment of decision making, things will definitely not go smoothly. But negative/positive information will come out to bring doubt/trust feelings in ETH, although I also speculate that it will also be approved.

Because the Bitcoin ETF has paved the way for other cryptocurrencies to have an opportunity, a bit of a similarity in history because the Gold ETF was approved first and then the Silver ETF, so let's be positive about the issue. Hey, even if they refuse in May, it can't prevent this from happening in the future.

Cryptocurrency opposes censorship, but I see a compromise. Balance is key - not too loose, not too tight. I trust the developers to adhere to Bitcoin's decentralization. This is sensible, responsible innovation.

Regarding Bitcoin's digital money role, I hear you. Now that major institutional players are involved, it seems more like a gleaming digital gold than a daily cash. And who knows, this could change again? Bitcoin always defied convention. It may surprise us yet.

Sure, "pleasing the wealthy" is a concern. Personally, I think the Bitcoin community is stronger. All of us matter, not just the big players. Bitcoin is a grassroots movement at its core. Every voice matters on this path. Continue to believe, participate, and hope for the best. As much as the developers, we hold Bitcoin's future.

TRON is not necessarily a bad product or coin. You may not approve of their way of operation but that doesn't make them a bad coin.

Loads of people are using tron for transactions on a daily even more than they use usdt and if we go by that statistics then tron isn't actually what you said it is

In just January the Solana stabelcoin volume reached a new record of $300 Billion. That is the largest transfer volume in a single month for it. And the first time it passed Tron.

And now there is rumors that there is going to be a Solana ETF. Asset management company Franklin Templeton does think it will happen.

https://ambcrypto.com/solana-stablecoin-volumes-rise-but-is-sol-losing-2023-gains/

I think Bitcoin ETF approval is good news not only for Bitcoin but for overall crypto as a whole.

Recently, I heard the Blackrock CEO say they will apply for Ethereum ETF. And we know it whenever Blackrock applies for an ETF, then they get it. At least that's what happened every time, excluding one time when it was denied.

We will soon see people using ATMs to exchange their crypto for fiat quickly after seeing chains like BNB do it quicker than Bitcoin.
Bitcoin might not be used all the time but will remain OG crypto.

It's been years and while America is definitely weakening I don't see this "America is losing to x country" narrative.

Every country's struggling right now, even those that we think could contend against USA like China. It's say that it's almost to the point of propagandism that we're seeing stuff like this and it grinds my gears cause just like the "bitcoin is dead" notion it's like every time we see something go wrong with America we immediately assume it's gonna fall next year or whatever. As I said, there's clear signs of struggle on the US's side and it's likely that within our lifetimes we see them handing over the superpower crown to another country, but to immediately assume with specific timeframes that it's going to fall to this country or that state is just a bit annoying at this point lol.

Russia's in no position to set a war against the west when they can't even finish the war they started against Ukraine, Israel's busy fighting Palestine, The EU is dealing with their own problems that they can't even fix themselves, China housing and economic bubble is expected to pop anytime soon, Japan's economy is dwindling and so does its birth rate, and people in that country are killing themselves, while US is left to fend off for itself but it doesn't matter when the whole world is burning anyways.

Best for what? Investment or Privacy be clear about it next time.

If you are looking for investment purposes then it should be Monero, because it has the potential to grow and is always paired with Bitcoin. Another benefit of investing in Morero is staking, it is not as easy anymore as it used to be when it got listed the first time on an exchange. Accumulating more whenever the market is in red will help anyone reach the goal of earning the staking reward.

If you are looking for complete privacy then Monero has proven it is the best. All other coins you have listed came after Monero and you can call it the father of privacy coin. A lot of users who are active in the forum use it to hide their Bitcoin transaction trace, which I would consider a is a good habit in the current environment we are living today.

The second layer aims to solve problems that cannot be implemented on the main network, such as scalability to millions of transactions every second, or fees close to zero, or a privacy layer, or anything whose implementation is limited in the main network, such as merging more than one blockchain/token in the same blockchain, such as Wrapped. These are the main reasons. To use the second networks. Some people invest in the second layer because some features may lead to an increase in the price, so these tokens are viewed as a good investment.

Right now bitcoin is highly disappointing to me.  I have always held the belief (even though some or many disagree with) that in order for bitcoin to truly be adopted/utilized by the masses, than it needs to be able to be used as currency, even for micro transactions.  I really wish the Devs would fix the issues with the meme pool being clogged ( fn ordinals).

FTX is gone, so are the FTT. They are on liquidation stage and it's not wise to keep any FTT token. There's a clear message in coinmarketcap that "The FTX bankruptcy proceedings are underway. The FTT token no longer has any use, and may be liquidated by the estate to pay creditors. Please proceed with caution."
People should not overlook. Not everyone knows about the condition of this token and they might be interested how high the coin was at a time. It would have been better for the exchanges to stop trading FTT for normal users but they don't. So everyone should have a detailed look on past, present and future of the coin.

Monero is the synonym for privacy. It's the most used coin in darkweb. Other alternatives are not actually in use and some like zcash has documented vulnerabilities. I have no idea about what new techs are cooking on the privacy sector but monero has been a leader for quite some years and would continue to be in foreseeable future.
Privacy based coins might not be the ideal thing for normal investors or traders to deal with. As it would get more difficult to redeem then in and out in the future.

Bitcoin went with tons of ETF applications years ago and the successful approval of it that happened recently has a backbone. If it is with the ETH ETF, IMO the chance is like 40/60. 40% chance of getting approved and 60% chance of being not.
40% in a sense that Bitcoin has been approved and that can influence the decision, 60% of being declined due to probably many setbacks and factors that will be figured out by SEC if these are like the first few applications.

For me, I will go with the highest TVL layer  2 network chain, which is the Arbitrum.

I am also actively using Arbitrum, that's why I chose it. I am using it therefore I am satisfied and able to achieve what I want to happen.
Although, there are already lot of layer 2 networks right now which most of the platform support especially DeFi, I still choose Arbitrum.

Define best? Best in terms of what?

If we're talking about ecosystem size though, definitely Arbitrum and Optimism. Polygon should be #1 in terms of ecosystem size, but I don't think it's technically an L2 yet. It's currently more of a pseudo L2.

Check this out: https://defillama.com/chains

The best will come from programmable privacy. Look at some projects that are being developed: Blacknet, Aleo, DarkFi.

Modern zk-SNARKs, like their Halo2, don't rely on the trusted setup.

Why there needs to be another meme coin that needs to change your life. There are countless project in the market that can outperform every crypto in the market in the upcoming altseason. We have seen this before that in every cycle some project outperform every other project in the market. In the last season we have seen sol, luna make massive pump and there are good project in terms of technology and adoption. Meme project can only pump if a whale wants to play with its price and in most cases you will be late till you identify that game.