Bitcoin is decentralized and run by an algorithm. That algorithm generates bitcoin but doesn't store them. That is why it is not possible to hack bitcoin code in order to receive bitcoin. That's why hackers don't try this. But gambling websites are centralized in nature and uses a database to store user's information and their bankroll details. Hackers can hack gambling websites to receive user's data as well as temper the script to generate winning amounts. That's what Cobalt is trying to say. Hope this helps!

Your portfolio looks good but not great in context of the dynamic economy we are going through right now. While I consider real estate is a great asset to have but it also serves another purpose of having a decent living space. So it may not always serves as an investment unless you sell it off. However, having 30% in cryptos and only 10% in banks are really very aggressive according to me. It should be other way around, while 30% in banks and precious metals and 10% in cryptos. I can understand that cryptos can outperform bank's return but at the same time it is very fluctuative in nature. So you may earn 40% return from cryptos in good times but you may also loose 40% in bad times.

Also try investing in stocks of blue chip companies and mutual funds. It comes with tax savings benefits and also offers a decent return compared to what banks can offer. The main point of my suggestion is to diversify your portfolio by reducing your exposure from the cryptos. Add stocks, corporate deposits, mutual funds and obviously Insurance. Even though Insurance is not considered as an investment asset, but it proves its worth during unforeseen events.   

Ok, lets get the facts right first. Cryptos in India is not banned so there is no question to lift any ban. People are free to trade cryptos in India. However, the central bank directed every regulated bank in India not to provide services to the crypto related companies. But this matter is now in the hand of the Supreme court. So nothing is official yet.

The news about the 18% GST is also not confirmed yet. It is a proposal given to the GST council to impose such tax and the matter is being debated with the council. If it happens, it will effectively kill the crypto to crypto trading in India while give boost to the crypto to fiat transactions. However, the matter is in a very nascent stage and we really don't know what the outcome would be.    

I am really not aware about the actual scenario of Philippines' banking industry. So when the article said the minimum balance required is $2,000, I gone ahead with the same understanding. So now my question is, if the banking system is accessible to everyone and a bank account can be opened with only $40, I don't see any reason for the remittance centers to exist.

In my country India, I can open a free bank account without any minimum balance requirement. So here I don't see a huge scope for remittance centers to operate. As a result we only have big corporate remittance companies like western Union, Moneygram and Paypal operating in India. They usually don't have much standalone shops set up for them, instead they operate within the Banks. They set up their small kiosk within a bank branch to facilitate the remittance.

So I believe you can understand the question here. If the banks are accessible to everyone and don't bring any financial burden to their citizens, why Philippines have a lot of remittance companies operating in this country. There must have a been a gap somewhere which I am trying to understand.   

Utter nonsense! I see this as an organized effort sponsored by an organized corporate entity to de-frame bitcoin. If this hospital want to genuinely help people, they should start rehabilitation program to come out of facebook addiction. This facebook addiction is actually harmful for the society which only fills up company's account without fetching any personal benefit.

That's true and I am not denying that fact! Every industry has a downside as well along with it's positive side. But that doesn't really make the entire industry look bad. Lets take an example of crypto currency itself. We all know it's a very important innovation of this decade. But crypto currency is being used for activities like money laundering and terrorism financing. Does that make crypto currency look bad? Obviously no! Gambling addiction is not good but when it is played for entertainment, I see no bad in it.

Since the nitty gritties of the partnership is not out in the market, I am really not sure about how they are going to do it. However, I assume the system will be like this. Remember, we are talking about cross-border payments here and not the domestic transactions. Cross border payments usually require one or two partner banks to facilitate a payment which increases the commission and thus the cost to the sender.

So I believe Banco Masventas is adding Bitex to eliminate other partner banks which may help the bank to reduce cost. I doubt any other exchanges will be added to this system and Bitex will take care of the conversion formalities. However, this is what I assume because the main model of operation and partnership is not available for public viewing.

How come a regulatory committee "under the coin launching firm" would be beneficial? If the regulatory authority works under a coin launching firm, don't you think they would be receiving unwarranted support from the regulatory body? That would give that coin launching firm an extra edge over the competition. So that is not a feasible idea.

Cryptos are decentralized in nature and any attempt of forced centralization would only harm the cryptos in general without bringing any value to it. Also cryptos are truly border-less and international. So any local regulatory body would not be able to bring any impact either. So cryptos are best at its current status, without any centralized regulatory authority.

There are services like Localbitcoins and paxful. Make use of those services. If your volume is not significant, then these websites will not ask for your ID and verification. Maintain and low status and never do a transaction with a significant volume, that may act positively on you. There are people who are willing to do cash transaction with you without going through banking channel. Explore these services and you will have your answer. 

A little correction is needed in your thread. Banco Masventas has partnered with Bitex and not "Dicks" (really!!!?). They are planning to explore bitcoin payments using bitex platform. A normal person will pay in fiat and bitex will convert it into bitcoin to send it to the recipient bank. The recipient bank will receive the money and convert it back to fiat. That is the basic operational structure of this partnership. They are trying to cut the intermediary banks to lower the commission and maximize the profit from each cross-border transaction, which is actually possible with cryptos.  

That's a very serious concern. Governments know that they can't control the cryptocurrencies. That is the reason why they are trying to get information about the crypto users and assess the situation to take further step. A full sized regulation is inevitable for sure where crypto users will be identified by the government and forced to comply with their own rules and regulations. But as you correctly asked, if the anonymity is gone, what is the use of crypto?

The answer is decentralized exchanges. earlier I was also a little skeptical about using a decentralized exchange, but looking at the requirements of majority of the exchanges, I think it is the best tool available for us right at this moment to fight this situation. 

Blockchain is definitely being developed continuously. We now have a lot of different versions of blockchain created by the many other individuals or companies, customized for specific usage. I have also seen few ICOs have developed their own blockchain for specific use in healthcare, sports and energy sector. So blockchain is not only about money always, it's more about the technology now.

My country is not particularly supportive to the cryptos but at the same time, our Prime minster tweeted that our Energy Ministry is exploring options to use blockchain to make our energy network more efficient and to streamline the distribution network. IBM has already started providing enterprise blockchain solutions and services to the interested corporates.

We all know Mr. Jamie Dimon for his hostile attitude towards cryptos, but JPM bank has already filed for a patent to use blockchain technology to facilitate intra-bank payments. We have many other instances of blockchain adoptions worldwide.

So the world has now started acknowledging the power and benefits of blockchain. As more corporate will start their R&D activities on blockchain, we will see a lot of other usage as well. Especially healthcare can use blockchain to maintain their own integrity as this particular sector is lacking serious integrity issue in many countries. But that's just the beginning and a lot more will unfold as the technology progresses. 

If you haven't read the first part of this series, please read it HERE.

So today it's time for Macau. I have researched a lot about Macau before creating this topic and came across some really good resources which has correctly pictured the effect on Macau's economy from the gambling business post 2002 when the government decided to end their monopoly and allow private business to build and operate gambling business. The key pointers are as follows,

1. Significant growth in GDP and GDP per capita:
Starting 2003, the GDP and GDP per capita of Macau has seen an annual average growth of around 10.3%. Prior to that, the average annual GDP growth rate of Macau was only a mare 1.5%. The chart below says it all,



2. Boost in tourism industry:
With the end of monopoly of the government from the gambling industry, Macau government created IVS (Individual Visit Scheme) in 2003 to attract China visitors to enter Macau for leisure. Prior to 2003, Chinese tourists could only visit Macau and Hong Kong during business trips or group tours. So in 2004, Macau seen total 16.6 million of foreign tourists which represents an increase of 40.3% from the previous year. With the completion of more casinos in 2007, total number of tourists reached 27.0 million during that year. This represented a 250% increase in total foreign tourists from 1999, and an 800% increase in Chinese visitors.



3. Growth in Gaming Tax & Gaming Revenue:
In 2000 and 2001, total gaming taxes were $706.5 million and $787.3 million respectively while the business were operated by the government. However, with the private investment into gambling business and the creation of IVS, total gambling taxes reached $5.5 billion.



Along with the above mentioned key pointers, there are other positive effects like employment, infrastructure and local businesses are also seen a significant change post 2002. Currently, gambling industry accounts over 60% in Macau's GDP. Macau stands as an excellent example on how gambling industry can take the entire economy of a country to a new height.

News source: CLICK HERE

Damage control system is hard to implement. Instead right education can control most of the things here as you've correctly pointed out. An educated gambler never becomes addicted to gambling because he knows where to stop. But if a person is playing completely out of greed, can become addicted easily if that person manages to get one or two wins.

If I have $1,000 with me as a surplus money, I may indulge myself with gambling with probably $200 and rest I can keep for other things. But if I indulge in gambling with the entire amount, I really can't blame anyone if I don't have money for food that day. I can only blame my addiction to gambling. That's what makes the difference between an educated gambler and an addicted gambler. Proper education about gambling can reduce the negative impact of gambling to a great extent.

Union Bank - One of the Largest Banks in the Philippines recently joined hands with Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin to fix the hole in the financial inclusivity issue of Philippines.

The issue:
The banking system in Philippines can only be accessed by the high net worth citizens. The reason is the default balance requirement of minimum $2,000. Which made a large portion of the mass outside the reach of banking system and they are heavily dependent on the local remittance networks. In any major cities of Philippines, remittance outlets are seen in every corner of every street like street food stalls. However, local remittance industry lacks serious level of business and operational integrity due to the unregulated nature of their business.

The proposed solution:
Union Bank will use ETH blockchain to bring transparency, security, robustness, and efficiency in the local remittance business with the help of ConsenSys, who are a market leader in this segment. Union Bank believes that this technology might be able to drastically improve the current financial infrastructure and ecosystem of the Philippines while keeping the costs under control. Which may be beneficial for Banks to provide services to the lower income group citizens of Philippines. Along with Union Bank, five other rural banks of Philippines are also joining in this collaborative project.

The conclusion:
Blockchain improving lives around the world! Famous British writer Mr. Arthur C. Clarke once said,

"Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases:
1- It's completely impossible.
2- It's possible, but it's not worth doing.
3- I said it was a good idea all along."

Blockchain is a revolution and we are just seeing the world slowly started acknowledging that!

News source: https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/05/27/one-largest-banks-philippines-implementing-ethereum-consensys/

The operating process of gate.io is very questionable in nature and I think the community should stop using it with immediate effect. I have never used this exchange until today. I just sold off my LYM tokens for ETH today and now Gate.io is asking for my KYC. My concern is that why it was not asked while opening the account? They are asking for KYC while withdrawing the funds. This is not a proper way to do business. They should have asked for KYC while opening the account.

The amount is around $100 which is not significant. So I consider it gone. I have also sent a support email but I doubt they will help! Such exchanges with serious lack of integrity should not be used by the community members.

I have already created a thread about it back on May 1st, 2018. See the link below,

Malta Approves Three New Bills to provide regulation to crypto market

The three proposals are,
1. Virtual Financial Assets Bill
2. Technology Arrangements and Services Bill
3. Malta Digital Innovation Authority Bill

However, I doubt anything has been specifically mentioned about whitepaper here. These bills are covering the matter at a very high level. If you want to get more closer look at it, I suggest you to get in touch with a lawyer who are expert in crypto related matters. Because looking at these bills, it's hard to pinpoint anything about the whitepaper specifically.

In our society, the general idea about gambling is negative. People don't miss a chance to criticize gambling even if they have never experienced it in their lifetime. I have been fighting against this particular social taboo through this community. I have already created two threads about it and you are welcome to pour in your feedback to those threads as well.

Thread 1:
Why gambling is portrayed negatively almost everywhere?

Thread 2:
Benefits of gambling? Yes - it exists!

Today's topic is another addition to my fight against this social taboo. Not many people know how the economy of a country can be befitted from gambling industry. Today is the first part and we will talk about USA. The next parts will be based on Macau and so on. I came across an article on this exact point, published by CNBC. Even though the article is almost 4 years old, but didn't loose its significance. It shows how gambling industry has benefited the economy of USA.  

Few key points mentioned in the article:
1. Direct employment of 570,000 people, with total jobs impact of 1.7 million (including nearly 200,000 government jobs)
2. Revenues of $81 billion in 2013, including $30 billion from Native American casinos
3. $38 billion in taxes paid
4. $102 billion in direct economic impact, and when you throw in all the spending done by employees in the general economy, the total impact is $240 billion (this does not include spending on casino construction).

You may hate gambling due to many reasons, but you can't really deny these positive points about gambling industry which are directly impacting the economy of a country favorable to it. So spread love about it, not hate!

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2014/09/30/casinos-and-gambling-business-jackpot-gamings-impact-on-the-us-economy.html

As Franky correctly mentioned that if the trader or the group of traders maintain enough funds to cover the placed trades, then it can't be called as spoofing and it is a part of a trading strategy. That is correct theoretically!

But we should not also look away from the fact that it plays a psycological game with the other traders to influence their trading decision. Even though theoretically they are not doing anything illegal, but in practice they are achieving the same goal as of spoofing. Can't say it's a good practice.

This is not a good news at all and may kill the crypto business in India. From what I read in the article, it seems like the cryptos will be considered as intangible goods in India. So every transaction will consider as a transfer of goods and related services that will come under the purview of GST council. As per the basic legislative structure of GST, it is imposed on the market price of any goods. So if the government starts charging 18% GST on a transaction, that will mitigate the profits in majority of the trades, effectively discouraging the crypto traders for executing any further trade.

However, I am keeping p2p trades outside of this negative view. Because most of the p2p traders are earning bitcoins and other crypto currencies by providing services like freelancing, blogging, coding etc. So they will only loose 18% from the earned money and get rest of the money in to their bank account. These call of crypto earners will be positively effected because their earning will then considered as a legal one.

I believe this is the proposal given to the GST council and nothing has been finalized yet. Lets wait for the development and final outcome.