Apparently, yes.  When I opened this thread, I though it might have been necrobumped by someone from three years ago, but nope--the bitcoin ETF is still a thing.  I'm not sure how much people care about the success or failure of them anymore, but it's been an issue that never got any resolution.  Sure would be nice if it could be put to rest one way or another IMO. 

I wouldn't invest in any crypto-based ETF, but that's just me and I know they'd be popular among a certain class of investors who prefer trading on stock exchanges rather than crypto ones.  So in so far as that's true, I do hope these ETFs come to fruition, much as I was hoping that Bakkt would launch successfully even though I knew I'd never use it. 

As always, you put my thoughts into words more eloquently than I ever could. 

Black Panther was a movie--and a comic book well before that.  Whether Africa is the birthplace of human civilization or not, there is nothing even closely resembling Wakanda anywhere on the continent.  From much of what I've seen, many parts of Africa have remained in the dark ages, even if they've got smartphones and are buying bitcoin.  That's not a knock against the citizens; I think it's the governments that have kept the people repressed for a long, long time.

I'll be honest, I haven't read much about the proposed city, but I'm going to do exactly that after I'm finished writing.  My gut is telling me the above statement is probably correct, however.  I'm not sure a city like Akon would turn out to be an improvement and likely would even fall short if you compared it to a typical city in a first world country. 

But my gut is also telling me "why not give it a shot?".  Lots of people seem to think cryptocurrency is a panacea for many economic ills, and it would be an interesting experiment if nothing else.

That was precisely the thought I had when I saw the subject of this thread, and I'm sure we're not the only two people wondering if the flood of scammy DeFi projects is about to arrive.  Looks like it's already started--and with the same old tricks, like plagiarized whitepapers, fake or nonexistent team members, etc.

I don't know a hell of a lot about DeFi, but it sounds like there could be some good things done with it.  Let's hope whatever good projects get developed don't get buried underneath a mountain of shitty scam projects.  That's basically what happened during the ICO boom, except that I don't think I even saw one ICO project that was even close to being worthwhile.  Those were all just cash-grabs.

I've always assumed that most plagiarism that happens on bitcointalk is due to members wanting to increase their post count in the face of a language barrier, i.e., those members can't write posts in clear English which is what is required by most bounties/campaigns.

And of course they're going to keep doing it even if they're banned.  Most of them know they can get away with it, at least for a while, so they take their chances.

Definitely word-spinning and not paraphrasing.

I wouldn't go so far as to say this is a big conspiracy, but the world's reaction to COVID-19 has been way out of proportion to the actual threat it poses--so I'd say you're 100% justified in starting to think this isn't as bad as governments and media outlets are saying.

Seasonal flu is an "infinite loop" of viral infection and this could turn out to be just like that.  The world can't stay locked up forever, though.  Life has to go on, whether there's a risk of infection or not. 

That, or when society stops overreacting to the threat the virus poses.  I'm hoping an effective vaccine is in the pipeline, but I also hope people come to their senses and stop thinking this is an Ebola outbreak or something similar.

I would assume if that were the case, Coinswitch would have taken steps to make things right with OP's account.  When you don't get any communication in situations like these, it makes the entire experience way, waay more frustrating.

Silly question indeed, but maybe he abused the referral system or something?  I'm definitely not accusing OP of anything whatsoever, just thinking out loud.  But then again, if he did violate Coinswitch's rules you'd think they would notify him or communicate something at least.  As far as the evidence goes, I would advise OP to post what he's got since this is a scam accusation thread--but there isn't much anyone here can do to help you.  But by presenting evidence that they screwed you over, you'll be damaging their reputation which might force them to respond.

I think I've used them in the past for some small trades and never had a problem.  That doesn't really mean much, but hopefully this will turn out to be an error of some sort and not a scam.

No, it's definitely not the same and I think newbie traders who start off using leverage can and do get themselves into serious trouble by trading (gambling) with other people's money that they're paying interest on.  I've never traded on margin and never intend to--and believe me, I understand that your potential profits can be much higher but I don't like the level of risk associated with it, nor do I like borrowing money.

And in general, even though I do think that bitcoin is going to head much higher in the next year or two, I would not recommend that anyone take out a bank loan or even buy it on margin on an exchange.  That's just me, though.  The crypto world is filled with individuals who have a much higher tolerance for risk than I do, so I wish all of the margin traders--and whoever else borrows money to buy crypto--the best of luck.

Wow, I was surprised at the voting results. 

I don't frequent the altcoin section much anymore, but I think it would be a great idea to have symbols for at least some of the most popular altcoins--and though I'm not a coder I can't imagine it would take a lot of extra effort to implement something like this.

And those other symbols OP suggested aren't bad ones to add, either (except perhaps the ones for gender; that's a Pandora's box that I don't think ought to be opened).  I'm pretty satisfied with how bitcointalk looks and functions, but I do think it could use some little additions like these.

I respect your opinion, but the fact remains that bitcointalk does have an altcoin section, and the traffic it draws probably isn't insignificant.  What's the harm in creating some symbols for ETH and a few of the other top coins?

Though I mostly agree with this, I wouldn't merit any of satoshi's posts, and I don't think I've ever merited any of Theymos's.  That isn't because of their post quality, but because I don't think the merits I would give them would be distributed in turn to other members who need them.  Theymos does merit posts, but I think he's got far more sMerits than he can send at the moment.

As for typical members I send merit to, I don't check to see what they've done with their merits in the past.  For one thing, it would be time-consuming to do that, and for another I just don't care all that much.  So ultimately if I know for a fact that a member is completely inactive or a known merit hoarder, I might pass them over if I see a quality post made by them, but I don't have hard-and-fast rules as far as that goes.

Is the US clinging onto "legacy tech" as old as coal?  That's news to me, though I have to admit that I'm no expert when it comes to how our country is powered.  I'd like to think the whole world has moved on from dirty fuel sources such as coal, since there are so many other options available.

Now, whether Trump's decision with respect to the Paris agreement could affect the global economy, that's anyone's guess.  From reading that article and his statements, it would appear that this is a political decision made in an election year with no regard to the underlying issues--and that's a shame, but this is Trump we're talking about here.

I have got my fingers and toes crossed that he does not get reelected in November and that his replacement will at least attempt to undo some of the damage Trump has done to the country (and the world, for that matter).

No kidding, and I've formed the impression over the years from reading posts on the forum that a lot of people jump into trading (crypto, forex, whatever) without understanding even the basics of what they're doing.  And it's no wonder that so many of them lose money in the process.

So as to whether OP ought to trade Forex or crypto, that's a decision that should be made only after you've become familiar with each one and it's also a matter of personal preference.  Thus, nobody is going to be able to tell you whether you should trade this or that--you might hear opinions, but you've got to make up your own mind.  And even after you've done all your research and decided on what to trade, you still run the risk of losing money.  The advice you're going to hear over and over on bitcointalk is to not wager more than you can afford, and make that your golden rule for your own sake.

That could well be true--I can't agree with you 100% because I don't trade currencies.  But if we assume that you do have to use a lot of leverage in order to make a profit in forex trading, I'd stick to crypto if I were OP.  Leverage has gotten a lot of traders into a lot of hot water.

OP, please read parts of this thread and all of this one and stop posting enormous images that add nothing to the thread.  Thank you.

How is Japan a "crypto superpower"?  What would make any country earn that title anyway?  If I were to think of any country that's a crypto superpower, it'd be China since they dominate in terms of mining (or used to; I'm not sure if their government outlawed it yet or not).

Props to them, and I wish Germany all the best when it comes to integrating crypto into their banking system--and in the people's everyday lives, too.  The United States really needs to start catching up when it comes to banks and crypto.  So far I haven't seen any US banks who are willing to touch bitcoin with a ten-foot pole, and given that bitcoin has been around for over a decade I find that surprising.

Well, they're listed on the TSVX exchange for one thing (though I don't know much about them except that they're Canadian), so if they pulled a typical crypto scam they'd be in some serious shit.  Scammers generally don't go through all the steps necessary to incorporate themselves and issue stock....but you never know.

The stock price is $0.06, so it's a penny stock and hence is extremely risky even if the business has any merit to begin with.  Penny stocks are subject to manipulation, and I stay way far away from them when I'm buying stock.  And OP, just because a stock has a very low valuation doesn't make it undervalued.

That's my impression as well.  It's like those "hey guys, look at this new [insert whatever here] I just found!" type posts you see from time to time, and you know they're just trying to pump up something they bought so that they can unload it on the suckers who subsequently buy it.

Of course not; nor do I think Trump really cares about the privacy effects of these two apps.  There's probably a lot more going on behind the scenes as far as motivation goes that the public isn't aware of, and I don't take any statements by Trump at face value.

The US isn't at war with China, though the relations between the two countries are strained to say the least.  My hope is that Trump won't get re-elected in November and that all the damage he's done can start to be undone by his replacement.  I wouldn't put money on it, though, as I never underestimate the stupidity of the American voters.

Nah, that's been the case for many years now.  Trump might not like it, but he certainly hasn't done anything constructive in terms of bringing jobs back into the US which are currently being done in China and other countries.  He's just a big bag of wind.

Woah!  I woke up not too long ago, opened my Electrum wallet and noticed that bitcoin had surpassed the $12k point.  It was pretty close to that for the past week or so, but I wasn't sure whether bitcoin was going to break to the up or down side.  And man, back in April I was pretty certain that we wouldn't even see it at $10k this year, so this is a nice surprise.  The only question in my head is whether these gains can be sustained or not.  There's been a lot of money being pumped into all the markets, so there's been a lot of buying of many different asset classes--but if the money printing presses stop running or interest rates start to rise, bitcoin is in trouble (same with the stock market and precious metals).

Assuming the good times keep rolling, it'll be interesting to see how close bitcoin can get to a new ATH this year.  I'm not hoping it'll happen in 2020, but it'd be nice if we started moving to that point.

Out of a population of billions, that's a drop in the bucket--and that sounds harsh, especially if you knew someone who died from COVID-19, but facts are facts.  We can't keep wearing face masks and staying away from each other and not going to work just because there's a virus out there that causes mild symptoms in the vast majority of patients.  The response IMO has been way out of proportion to the actual threat.

Personally, I'm glad we're starting to see life slowly moving back to normal, and I can see it around me in little ways.  There's going to be some damage done to the economy as a result of the lockdown, which probably hasn't been reflected in the stock market yet.  The longer businesses stay closed, the worse it's going to be for the economy.

And I would say that a complete newbie to bitcoin probably wants to get a wallet in a hurry, since that's the first thing you need if you want to own bitcoin.  And assuming they are in a hurry and are presented with a choice of a huge number of wallets, they might not know which ones are good and which are complete crap.

Yes, newbies should absolutely do their research before choosing a wallet, but the reality is that a lot probably don't.  I know I wasn't very choosy when I picked my first wallet and I sure as hell didn't know about all of the important features that I do now that I have some experience. 

Lists like this to help noobs are not a bad thing.  There might be some disagreement about certain things, but overall I think they're helpful to someone who's just getting started.

All of that is important, of course, but I don't think any of these things negates the importance of wallet recommendations.

I'm not, and it's only getting worse, believe me.

I couldn't read what was in that link because I don't speak Russian.  That's why I criticized you for not creating a proper scam accusation thread with an English translation.  I'm not in anyone's gang, nor am I in any of Yahoo62278's campaigns.  If this website is a scam then I would hope he would cease managing the campaign post haste, but as I said this isn't going to happen with lightning speed.  Yahoo62278 has to figure out what the truth is and then decide what he's going to do.  Just calm the fuck down and be patient.

Now that ryap12 posted a translation, it should be easier for the English-speaking community to figure out what's going on.

Maybe it's because many video games these days have microtransactions built into them, which a lot of people (including gamers) think is akin to gambling.  If that isn't the reason, I sure as hell can't think of one. 

That might be your primary complaint, but based on that statement, buying crypto is prohibited as well.  That's not a good thing either. 

I'm not familiar with how banking works in Bangladesh.  Is Bangladesh Bank the ruling body with respect to banks, or is it just one bank among many in Bangladesh?  In the US, if my bank banned me from using my debit card to buy crypto/video games/whatever, I could just ditch them and open a bank account at another bank that didn't have those restrictions--unless it was a law and not a bank policy.  So could you clarify what the situation is in your country, OP?

I hadn't read about Grayscale (but I'll check it out), but I was aware of MSTR's purchase of bitcoin, which I find to be very ballsy for a publicly-traded corporation to do.  Their stock was up a lot at yesterday's close, though I'm not sure that has anything to do with them buying bitcoin.

Warren Buffett certainly knows what he's doing, and the fact that he's ditching banks stocks has me thinking that something big is brewing, either in the banking sector in particular or the economy as a whole.  It's probably going to end up being both.  Buffett has also invested in metals before.  Some years ago he bought a bunch of physical silver if I'm not mistaken, and he made a tidy profit on it.  And if he's buying a single mining stock, it's likely not simply because he wants to invest in gold.  The business is probably an undervalued company that he's going to hold for the long-term.

This is some pretty interesting news, and it kind of reflects the crazy world we're living in right now.

It's not that he's too old.  Buffett is a very smart man and he just doesn't see it having any long-term value--plus his shareholders at Berkshire Hathaway would probably revolt if he did get into crypto.