I will try my best but my knowledge is limited on the matter. As far as I understand it Segwit and LN will be on two different chains and unless Segwit is always in every transaction regardless of LN or not which I don't know. However, when LN gets activated I believe that the mempool will be next to always empty, not right away but once adoption picks up like Segwit taking 6 months. Lastly, I am not sure about if they will be deactivated or not that is beyond my understanding on this matter, but would be curious to read more developed opinions

Poloniex had a lot of issues last summer, that is why they receive such huge flack as of late but generally they are decent as an exchange. However, I myself prefer trading mainly on Binance now but that is purely because they have most of the alts I had as of late. As long as the exchange doesn't scam me and has sufficient funds I could honestly care less, I traded XRB on Bitgrail and that worked out excellent. For me in that regard, there is no best exchange, just exchanges.

Yes we all want to buy low sell high that is the name of the game of course. Maybe I am in a small minority but I don't honestly care to trade Bitcoin much anymore, and my main thing now is creating awareness and education for adoption. I believe if we inform those who are currently misinformed or have no information we can get this technology adopted faster and with more trust. In fact that is the most ironic part of it all because Bitcoin is decentralized so they need not trust a third party or any other person in order for the system to work, it works purely on math.

Maybe only in dictator run countries like North Korea and Syria is Bitcoin banned, anywhere there is freedom or capitalism or a high standard of living Bitcoin is being explored believe me.

If you are deadset on privacy coins mooning, which I think is a good assumption given everything we know, then I would bet on a basket of privacy coins that are undervalued. If you don't want top market cap coins then aim for mid to small caps like

XSPEC
ONION
CLOAK

I invested something like a little over 500% but here me out before you call me the world's dumbest dumb dumb.

1) I am a young 20 person who has no kids and wife
2) My amount was small, dont think the 500% is a house or trust fund (its not)
3) This is literally once in a lifetime opportunity, this industry hasn't changed in 400 years

So yeah call me dumb but I saw the risk v reward accurately weighed it out and thought it was a good decision. It will be an even better one this summer when I can cash out (and believe me my calendar is marked ), and if all goes sour so be it, I am prepared for this too.

I don't think there is such a thing because a premine off the bat has negative connotations and you are going to have to prove yourself to the community. Look at how much flake DeepOnion has gotten and they are nearly done their airdrops. Yet people still think that is a scam! That is why I think the onus is squarely on the preminer and I think it is a fun challenge to have to proof yourself, because after all you will have majority of a currency there is no reason random people should trust you.

I believe they are panic hodling, sure some are selling but most are yelling to their lungs and are blue in the face about how the market is making them sick. What this generally means is too many people are over-extended and only so many are playing a game they can control and handle.

Having a hard time would be a bit of an understatement. It is literally the same slave like system but on a blockchain. Putting the world blockchain in front of what you are doing won't all of a sudden make it free, open, censorship resistant, neutral, and decentralize the currency now would it? If it is centralized it is still crap and that is likely what would happen here with these government backed coins.

I am gonna try and get the best of both worlds but I am also going to try and time it down to a tee. I don't care if it is 5am, 12am, or 6pm I am going to be awake and around for the snapshot of that block.

You were right all the way up until the last part of that statement. Some current holders don't want to invest more or are over extended they wouldn't be happy to see lower prices, only some savvy investors are waiting for the dip ready to buy back in.

Gonna give it a bullish answer or 75-90k. I don't think we will crack the 100k mark or even come close but I think we will surpass 50k and have an unexpected rise similar to this past year.

Examing your 3 principles we can see Bitcoin has utility because currently you can send money anywhere within 20 minutes for a matter of cents which is amazing. The tech has already surpassed Visa and once Lightning Network gets online fully it will scale much larger than currently. Lastly, I think people have wisened up to what is going on with Bitcoin now and can see it isn't only drug dealers. They can also see a lot of smart people investing their money into it, and they can also see it most probably isn't a fad. Pretty sure we have broke all the barriers needed to get mainstream adoption, now we just have to sit back and watch it unfold.

It is never too late to invest (well it could be) but we are still in the first half of this game for sure which means there is plenty of time yet. If I had to estimate a timeline for early majority to get in I would say we still got roughly 5 years left of time. Perhaps less but there is ample time yet.

Obviously most here are super bullish on BTC and gonna say yes to that poll but what is most telling is that somebody bet one billion dollars on bitcoin this past week and that should make you even more bullish!

Nobody "coincidentally" spends one billion on something they don't think is going to do well. They wouldn't put it in on a falling knife therefore they have extreme confidence in this play and if that isn't the most bullish indicator I don't know what it is. They could be wrong of course but I would like to think the people will all the money are a little bit smarter than me at this point in life (not always true but benefit of doubt here).

I don't think it will make an ATH in March but I do have confidence that we will slowly rise. In fact I hope we slowly rise over time because then there is no need for pullbacks. However those hysteria ups and downs are good for the market too, it leaves more room for entry for new people and at the same time shakes out the weak hands.

An understatement but I gotta ask you all are surprised that a corrupt government pulled a corrupt move? I mean I didn't even bat an eye when I saw this because look at who is running the show. Same goes for other shady governments, it does suck but you in no way should be surprised by these rulings.

The net effect in my country is amazing and I couldn't be more happy to be living in a free, truly democratic society. One that welcomes innovation with open arms and doesn't throw its people in jail for exploring new options.

Not only could they not destroy Bitcoin but if you look at the 5 stages of grief they have now in my opinion moved on to stage 5 and we all know what happens there. If not I will paint it out for you.

1) Denial=That silly Bitcoin thing can't work
2) Anger=Only drug dealers and pedos use it
3) Bargain=We want blockchain not Bitcoin
4) Depression=?? (Skipped it or similar to 3)
5) Acceptance=Oh shit guys, lets change something before they leave us

How I view it we are in stage 5 and by the time that happens they are already screwed and left behind. They can try innovate now but they innovate on a linear curve whereas cryptos innovate exponentially. Good freaking luck catching up banks, you dug yourself an unfathomable hole on this one .