People must understand that bans aren't exactly bans, even when the country itself explicitly states so. In most cases it's only done to halt a specific part of the market, where the government in question tries to come up with more suitable regulations, to later on again allow people to dive into ICO's or whatever. Governments are very slow with catching up, which more often than not results in vague situations because of how there are no clear rules. In order to prevent that, 'banning' a certain aspect is for them the only way to move forward. I may even believe that China is probably following a similar path, but you never know how things will play out with such a paranoid country.

Look at the long term charts, Bitcoin's entire existence has been a rally, and that will continue in the forthcoming years. People should ignore the peaks, since they only display the speculation aspect of this market, which is never a good indicator/metric. If you follow the line of all the previous bottoms, which is more an indicator of the actual value, it clearly shows how much the price has actually gone up throughout the years. People focusing on the peak of $20,000 are fools, because that in no shape or form reflected the market back then, and even not now. In that regard, I would even state that current levels are on the higher side. My personal valuation would be between $7000-$8000 for the market in current state. If the price rallies up another time, we'll likely see that the next bottom is still under the $10,000 level. Free fucking advice peak seekers.

That's a non reason. The merchants who dropped Bitcoin as payment option did so purely because of the fact that barely anyone is using his coins to pay with, and that you can't blame Bitcoin for. It was obvious from the very beginnin that this was bound to happen. Merchants stating that the higher fees and the volatility were the reason for them to ditch Bitcoin, are nothing more than liars. They falsely try to justify their actions by naming up volatility and high fees to be the main reason. Volatility firstly isn't a concern since they use payment gateways to take care of the volatility exposure, and the fees were going to increase anyway, and especially if the market suddenly exploded, which it did.

The main thing with altcoins, and especially with shitcoins obtained through bounties, is that you should NOT keep them for long term holding purposes. Altcoins in general are horrible long term investments, and in case an altcoin does happen to increase over the longer term, it's either because Bitcoin has gone up, or that it got pumped badly. Too many variables making sure that holding altcoins is a bad way to move forward. Don't forget that with LN coming closer and closer, altcoins will have to swallow a major hit, and that perhaps this year already. Bitcoin's 'incompetence' is what drove people to altcoins, and when you take that 'incompetence' away, they'll come back because everyone wants to hold Bitcoin, and rightfully so.

Centralized versions don't really have to be afraid of hackers or ill minded people in the end, because it won't be a problem to reverse transactions. It doesn't only grant banks more control, but directly also the government, which is quite worrying. In current times a government needs to force a bank to take certain actions, but with this development, they can act on their own, and that without having to justify their actions, because they make the rules at the end of the day. The convenience that people will or may gain, will never justify the freedom that they end up sacrificing for that. However, people as dumb and ignorant as they are, they won't see any dangers in this like I and some others here do, and still use it anyway as their only means of exchange.

It's funny and not funny at the same time. Legally, one in Russia isn't allowed to use Bitcoin or any sort of crypto currency as means of payment (ie, money). With that in mind, it's quite weird that MailRu allows people and businesses to pay for their service in a way that by law is not allowed. MailRu in this case isn't doing anything wrong legally, because they don't deal with Bitcoin at all due to them being partnered with BitPay. At the end they just receive the fiat, and that's it. It's a smart move from them, but one that's weird with the aforementioned in mind.

Quote from the article;
That's surely not just targeted at the international market, and for that reason again a very questionable move. If Russia won't step in, it once again shows that they are selectively enforcing their own laws, and for that reason shouldn't be taken serious. If you don't even respect your own laws, how can you expect others to do so?

Russia once and for all needs to come up with proper regulations that for each entity is easy to follow, and to abide by. Trolling needs to stop.

It's no longer just a case where people fall for schemes because of their ignorance. It's pretty safe to say that the majority of the people investing in schemes, do actually know what they are investing in, but ignore all dangers because of their never ending greed. Their idiotic logic basically is that as long as they get in early enough, they'll outlast the scheme, and walk out with profits. In other words, regardless of how much effort is being put into educating people when it comes to this subject, it's of no use. In current times we have to deal with low IQ baboons jumping into any dangerous investment opportunity on purposely, and there is literally nothing that you can do about it, and I don't even care anymore. If people find it necessary to pump money into obvious scams, let them do so. It's their money that they are burning, not ours. These people don't need education, but mental help.

It's actually going to be somewhat inevitable at some point. It's not that long ago where I have seen a documentary of someone who's accessing his house, his work, paying for stuff wirelessly, etc, all with the chip he had implanted in his hand. Currently we're all like, wtf, who would do such a thing, but as time goes by, it will become less weird, and may even become normal to the extent where even the average person jumps on board. In most cases people go for that what offers them the best possible convenience and usability, and implanting a chip might fit in that category. The only thing that we don't know yet, or not completely know, is how secure they are, and what happens if someone just rips your skin open to take that chip out.

It's impossible to know for sure, but it definitely looks like they are severely insolvent. I have seen how even non crypto services acted similarly, and it all ended bad, unfortunately.

It's not every time. People have complained a lot about their deposits were not posting for half a day, or even days straight.

It should worry you. While you still don't experience any problems, which is quite an achievement on its own, withdraw your funds as soon as possible. It's just not worth it to keep your funds in an exchange that might turn you into a victim as well, and with everything that's going on in mind, it doesn't even make sense to keep using that exchange.

That's what I am wondering when it comes to Cryptopia as well. Plenty of warnings and scam accusations, but yet people dive into that shithole like there is some sort of a 50% sale going on. I think the main factor driving people to these exchanges, is the fact that other exchanges more and more start to ask for personal level verification, which is something they don't want to expose themselves to, and thus go for the only available options, which more often than not are utter shit/scamcoin exchanges. Seriously, the stupid nature of the people in this market is something I will never get used to. Anyone using these exchanges is just asking for it to get scammed, and in my opinion even loses the right to complain.

It's called insolvency. I have said it before already, but what's happening is that they fill gaps with debt, and that's never a good way to move forward. In easy to understand language; at the moment you deposit Litecoin for example, Cryptopia will use your coins to fund the withdrawal requests of people who've been waiting for days or weeks. It's almost like a scheme structure where early birds get paid out with the money flowing in from new investors. One way or another, something is horribly wrong, that's for sure, but what I don't understand is how people despite all the warnings and complaints, still deposit funds in an obvious shithole. In some cases you have to understand when to ditch an exchange, regardless of how many shitcoins they host that other exchanges rightfully aren't willing to list.

The main level to beat in the very short term is $11,780, which may seem to be an easy target, but let he market not fool you into thinking so, because just around the $12,000 level we will face another resistance level that may turn out to be hard to break through. Only if we demolish $12,000 comfortably, I believe in the market to at least test the $13,000 level. That being said, it may very well be that we're stuck in a long term repetitive $8300-$12,000 range. If that's the case, we basically need a bullish trigger to give the market the incentive to move up. I honestly don't really mind a 'slower' market, especially with how we don't know how many more MtGox coins will get randomly dumped. We will only know when they officially announce a next statement explaining their actions. Even if there aren't any MtGox being dumped on the market, just the fact that this thought circulates in people's minds is enough already to demotivate them.

The best sort of revenge is silent revenge. Meaning, I look at how the value of my Bitcoin holdings has increased throughout the years, look at how people panic and fud, and then smile conservatively. I seriously don't care how much people and the media try to spread fud in an attempt to tank the market. In the long term it's nothing more than noise for Bitcoin's price, and let the long term value be the only thing that actually matters. Funny thing is that while people do initially say that they will be buying if the price has gone down, they don't actually end up doing so because they from that point expect the price to dip even further, and that's mostly where they go wrong. The price shoots up, they wait, the price goes up further, fomo kicks in, and bam, they bought back above the price they sold at.

Not only that, but it's also the fact that he's talking about Tether, which is just another altcoin in reality. If Tether at whatever point implodes, he's stuck holding worthless tokens that no one wants, and where even exchanges might instantly distance themselves from Tether. It's the risk of selling because of how a whale plays the market, and the risk of having something (Tether) that can become worthless instantly at any time of the day. I would rather hold an actual altcoin to wait for everything to calm down, than having to go with Tether.

Not sold since the previous user just seems to be a troll with a throw away account.

It's simple, if the public isn't able to verify how much funds have actually been raised, and the government itself doesn't release anything that even remotely shows proof of these finances, then it just didn't happen. Seriously, how much of an ill minded person do you need to be in order to financially support a system that goes against everything humanity stands for? It's heartbreaking how that government is responsible for babies and little childeren to starve to death because their parents can't buy any food because they don't have any money, and in case they do have a small amount of money, there isn't any food to buy or other resources to buy. People literally fight for every crumb of bread they can find, it's horrible.

I strongly hope that the current exchanges have enough moral standards and principles, and respect for humanity, so that they won't be listing any of this ICO crap. If they do anyway, people should immediately stop using these exchanges and let them bleed till they can no longer maintain their operations. What the Venezuelan system is doing is called genocide.

I just hate how +90% our financial transactions and wealth is being processed and maintained by corporations, where for every action permission is required from a central party. Why does anyone need to ask for permission to move value from one place to another? It's mind boggling how the majority of the people still don't acknowledge how much of a problem this is. I care so little about fiat, that I haven't even cashed out one single Satoshi in the last 2 years, and will definitely not do so in the forthcoming years. I think I'm almost confident enough to say that I will probably never sell my coins for actual fiat. Seriously, why should anyone sell the future (Bitcoin) for something (fiat) that goes back in time, and only loses value? Makes zero sense. Just wait till the time is there, and you can spend your coins on actual goods in each and every store. Makes more sense.

The problem with parking illicit capital in altcoins is the lack of actual confidence in them. Bitcoin is like Gold. Despite the fact that there are more precious metals, people in most cases always go for Gold, and in this case they will always prefer to have their capital parked in Bitcoin. The only thing they might end up doing, is using Monero as a first step to get rid of any potential taint, to have it later converted back to Bitcoin through decentralized exchanges. And yes, I do believe that OTC is the most preferred way to either sell or buy Bitcoin in this case. I wouldn't even be surprised to find out that OTC volumes have significantly surpassed the volumes on exchanges at some point. People more and more move away from centralized services, which is a good thing.

It's not about being an idiot at all, but how these corrupt bastards are using this as an opportunity to increase their own holdings behind the scenes. If you know for sure that the market will tank badly, you'll sell every satoshi that you have, and then simply use the MtGox coins to crash the price further down, at which you will be buying back your own coins. I am sure if they did everything well, they more than doubled their own Bitcoin holdings. These people have no moral standards, and thus aren't shy to use everything they can in their advantage to benefit financially. This market is literally infested with such individuals. Mark, the fat fuck that he is, became more wealthy than ever before.

It's not per se more difficult, but forex brokers offer so many (gambling tinted) features to play around with, that people nowadays have started to see it more as a fun game rather than something that requires solid attention and understanding. Forex brokers even advertise with how you can sign up and start investing/trading within a few minutes, which indicates that the main focus is no longer attracting professional parties towards forex brokers, but also the average joe, which is dangerous. Most people experience direct failure on forex platforms because they get involved in options and whatnot, which is something that they don't seem to understand. On most crypto exchanges people aren't subject to these desctructive features, and as long as that is the case, they are somewhat protected against themselves.