Exactly. Governments truly don't want people to gain anonymity, because of money laundering concerns and tax evasion. They believe that privacy solutions within crypto land, would encourage people to perform such nefarious activities. While it's true that crypto can be used for money laundering and tax evasion, the mere reason that prices are volatile would greatly defeat the purpose. I believe that's why Fiat currencies like the USD and EUR are still used for said illegal activities than crypto itself. Privacy-oriented solutions either via mixers or anonymous protocols should be embraced by everyday people in order to protect their sensitive transaction information being exposed towards malicious actors. After all, privacy is a human right. Some people may say that they "don't have anything to hide', but the truth is that this "is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say" (according to Snowden).

Right now, Bitcoin mixers are the target within worldwide governments. But they'll not stop until they put an end towards every single privacy solution within the blockchain industry. If successful, privacy-oriented coins and mixers will no longer exist within the future. Fortunately, it's becoming harder for governments to tackle crypto's anonymity in part because of its distributed and decentralized nature. In the end, we'll have a stronger Bitcoin capable of withstanding anything on its path. With privacy solutions such as Mimblewimble, Dandelion Protocol, and even CoinJoin-enabled wallets, anyone can still obfuscate their transactions within the Bitcoin blockchain. Hence, governments efforts against centralized mixing services like Bestmixer will turn out to become in vain over time. Just my thoughts

That's certainly true, mate. While it's difficult to live off crypto during a bear market, you can still use them as an alternative to Banks. After all, crypto proves to be a safe haven against undesired situations within the mainstream world. Since crypto isn't backed by any government or central bank whatsoever, it's able to provide true censorship-resistance to its users. Of course, you'll need a Bank to conduct transactions using Fiat currencies since they're still largely dominant within the mainstream world. By leveraging both sides (crypto and Banks), you'll be able to maintain a steady financial future.

We often enjoy the stability of Fiat currency via a Bank of our choice. But we can also reap the benefits of crypto's censorship-resistance, in case our economy were to fail in the future. Slow speeds and high fees are no longer an issue within crypto land, as there are already solutions such as DAG-based cryptocurrencies and the Lightning Network. For some people, Banks are convenient for their daily lives. For others, crypto is their top choice for sending money worldwide without barriers. Right now, you cannot earn a decent income with crypto as prices are declining each day. But a savings account in a Bank, will allow you to earn a steady flow of income even if the annual percentage rate is relatively low compared to crypto.

Nonetheless, with crypto's dependence of Fiat to survive in the mainstream world, it becomes harder for anyone to live off it. You can live without crypto, but you cannot live without a Bank. Which is why, I believe that living only on crypto is more of a dream than anything else. Just my thoughts

That's certainly true, mate. Ethereum may have far more advanced features than Bitcoin itself. But the latter has been the very first cryptocurrency in existence. Without Bitcoin, altcoins wouldn't been born. One key difference between both Bitcoin and Ethereum, is the supply model. The pioneer cryptocurrency has a deflationary model where no more than 21 million coins will ever be mined. In contrast, Ethereum has an unspecified maximum supply that could lead it towards constant inflation over time. Because of this, I believe that Ethereum might never be able overcome Bitcoin in the future. Bitcoin's market cap is way bigger than that of Ethereum and other altcoins on market. Ethereum would need to gain a massive boost in price, while Bitcoin remains in decline for it to be able to topple the largest cryptocurrency in the world.

But this is very unlikely to happen, whereas Ethereum will do better as a complement of Bitcoin for years to come. It'll be interesting to see how everything unfolds in the future as both cryptocurrencies improve towards unparalleled scalability. By then, Bitcoin would become big enough as a financial system for people looking for censorship-resistant transactions, while Ethereum would become the go-to platform for decentralized applications. Whereas Bitcoin cannot fulfill certain tasks, Ethereum will (and vice versa). It's good to know that the Ethereum development team and community have been dedicating themselves into the project to make it as strong as Bitcoin in the future. While most altcoins will die in the end, Ethereum will remain as a viable alternative to the Bitcoin blockchain for many generations.

Nonetheless, with many scalability upgrades coming into both Bitcoin and Ethereum, they'll surely dominate the whole Blockchain industry as we know it. Ethereum has a long way to go before it's widely adopted among businesses, corporations, and even governments worldwide. Still, it'll be one of the few cryptocurrencies that will stay active within the mainstream world no matter what. Just my opinion

Exactly. It's obvious that Bitcoin is still the #1 cryptocurrency on the market, since it has been the pioneer in the Blockchain industry. Other cryptocurrencies are simply considered as "copies" of the original idea/project which is Bitcoin. No matter how hard altcoins try in adopting new and exciting features, they'll never surpass the "King of Crypto" in the future. Many people trust Bitcoin on top of other altcoins simply because it's the most secure and resilient cryptocurrency to date. Despite its slowness in transaction processing time, and high network fees, Bitcoin is the store of value that no one would miss nowadays.

While all of this is true, altcoins still have a future if they manage to deliver constant development and innovation. They could easily complement Bitcoin in ways where it cannot fulfill certain tasks. One good example of this is Ethereum which is a platform for decentralized applications (aka dApps). Since Bitcoin doesn't have smart contract functionality, Ethereum could fulfill the tasks Bitcoin cannot accomplish within the mainstream world. Combine them together, and you'll obtain wonderful results in crypto land.

Nonetheless, as Bitcoin grows in mainstream adoption, it becomes harder for altcoins to replace it. The only way this could happen is if Bitcoin fails altogether. But so far, it's been doing great without disruptions whatsoever. With a proven track record of stability and reliability, Bitcoin could remain as the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Hence, altcoins will simply stand behind the pioneer cryptocurrency for years to come. Just my thoughts

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The best thing you could do is to quickly convert your "GAS" into a stablecoin of your choice for piece of mind. That way, you could protect yourself against high fluctuations in price within a bear market. I believe that NEO is a very good PoS coin, that allows you to earn some passive income without even having to leave your wallet open 24/7. Right now, it's pretty undervalued considering that it's a smart contract cryptocurrency like Ethereum. Perhaps, you might get lucky with the launch of NEO 3.0 as prices could hit the roof across the market. We all know how people become extremely hyped or excited when a crypto adopts new & attractive features. In the short term, NEO could easily hit $50 or more within the next bull market. As long as you keep buying and staking NEO at cheap prices, you'll be able to stack a lot of money for the future.

Personally, I've been buying lots of NEO, as well as, Bean Cash. They're extremely profitable at the moment as they have a high reward ratio. Of course, most PoS coins have a greater risk than those that are PoW-based. But, they're truly rewarding if you manage to hodl them (and sell some in exchange for a stablecoin like Tether) until prices start rising again across the market. Whenever there's a new PoS coin released on the market, it's best to grab the opportunity of becoming an early adopter before it's too late. All in all, it seems to me that the aforementioned coins are the best ones to invest into right now.

That's certainly true, mate. The main intent of governments worldwide is not to stop mixers, but the whole crypto ecosystem in its entirely. This specifically applies to privacy-oriented solutions, as they tend to be much more difficult to track or trace for taxation purposes. Cryptocurrencies like Monero, Grin, and other privacy-oriented ones are at high risk from being attacked massively by worldwide governments. The same thing applies to Bitcoin mixers, and non-custodial mixing services. Believe me, the only reason why most governments have been legalizing Bitcoin is because of its transparency. With this, governments will be able to effectively tax every transaction made on the Blockchain with ease. As long as crypto can be taxed, it'll see the green light from worldwide governments.

Now, imagine if Bitcoin would've been an entirely anonymous cryptocurrency. It could become a threat against governments and central banks for the mere reason that it cannot be taxed with ease. Their excuse will be that they're trying to prevent money laundering and other criminal activities when that's not the case. Hopefully, as the crypto ecosystem becomes bigger and stronger over time, governments would be unable to effectively destroy it in its entirety.

Nonetheless, I wouldn't worry too much about Bitcoin mixers since they only represent a fraction of the blockchain network's value. The real deal would be privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies like Monero and Grin with a large number of people using them. If governments decide to ban the exchange from Fiat to a privacy coin, then the previously mentioned cryptocurrencies would become completely worthless within the mainstream world. Just my opinion

You do have a point there, mate. It's possible that Libra might have a positive impact on our economic system because of its partnerships with renowned companies worldwide. With top players in the business sector like eBay, PayPal, and even Visa, Libra could gain a massive boost in adoption within the mainstream world. The US has realized how powerful Libra will become once launched as a global cryptocurrency for the world. For that reason, it's been doing its best trying to stop the development of Libra at all costs. Considering that Facebook is a centralized entity, it's much easier for governments to take action against Libra in this regard.

Whenever Libra will become successful in the future or not, we cannot know for sure as it's still too early to tell. With many oppresive central banks and governments worldwide trying to put an end towards the launch of Libra, I highly doubt that Facebook's cryptocurrency will disrupt our economic system in the future. Still though, whenever it's in the form of Libra or another corporate-backed cryptocurrency, Blockchain will be the one true technology that will greatly disrupt our economic system as we know it. With due time, we'll be able to see the results sooner than we've ever imagined. Whatever happens, neither Libra or another cryptocurrency launched by a centralized entity will be able to become a threat against the very existence of decentralized cryptos such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. Just my thoughts

Exactly. Right now, the numbers are telling us that it's nearly impossible for Ethereum to surpass Bitcoin anytime soon. However, we cannot discard the possibility of ETH overcoming Bitcoin in the future as crypto behaves in many strange and bizarre ways. The high volatility in prices makes certain cryptocurrencies rise on top of others across the market. We've already seen how Ripple's XRP cryptocurrency has replaced ETH in terms of market cap several times. Of course, ETH has regained its rightful place on the market. But, the trend repeats itself every time there are wild fluctuations in price. For once, ETH was heavily used as a gateway into the ICO world. Now, that's a thing of the past as ICOs have experienced a massive crackdown from worldwide governments (especially the US).

Things aside, I believe that Ethereum will do just fine as an alternative to Bitcoin. After all, ETH is not meant to be a store of value. The world's second largest cryptocurrency by market cap can be useful as a sort of "fuel" that powers smart contracts worldwide. This would allow Ethereum to become a highly-demanded altcoin for years to come. However, its price might not increase that much because of its undefined maximum supply.

Nonetheless, it's safe to say that Bitcoin will remain as the "King of Crypto" for the foreseeable future while Ethereum will remain as the "Prince of Crypto". Both camps have their distinctive advantages/disadvantages one from another. People can use ETH or BTC depending on their daily needs. With the power of smart contracts on Ethereum, and a resilient store of value on Bitcoin, the Blockchain ecosystem becomes a better place for people within the mainstream world. Just my opinion

That's certainly true, mate. It's been quite some time since crypto has grown into a large ecosystem within the mainstream world. Given how many companies, businesses, and even governments have become interested into Blockchain technology, the odds of crypto failing in the future seems to be bleak. Blockchain is crypto's biggest success where it has been proven to be quite versatile for financial applications. The only way for crypto to go to zero in its entirety, is if Blockchain technology fails altogether. But that seems very unlikely to happen in the future, as the space has gathered the attention of developers and researchers worldwide.

I believe that the reason why many people are saying that "crypto will go to zero" is simply fear out of anything else. This is probably because of crypto's price volatility where prices can hit the bottom or a new All-time-high within an instant. While this is true, it's evident that crypto and Blockchain technology will be here to stay for a long time. After all, enterprise-solutions for Blockchain technology is already in the works by IBM, Ripple, and other prominent companies within the mainstream world. In the future, it's hoped that Banks would make use of privately-owned Blockchains for finance greatly increasing the adoption of the whole industry within the mainstream world. Hence, crypto going to zero in the future looks unlikely from happening anytime soon. Just my thoughts

This may sound like a stupid question, but I've been wondering if Zero-Knowledge Proof on Smart Contracts are widely possible these days? Ethereum, being the world's second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is planning to use ZK-SNARKs for its own benefit. But I'm not sure if the Zero-Knowledge model will be used on the whole Blockchain itself or the smart contracts/dApps living on the ETH blockchain.

Anyways, I find Zero-Knowledge Proofs to be quite an interesting technology for preserving one's privacy. Imagine if smart contracts would gain the ability to hide sensitive information from prying eyes. Their uses can be expanded both in the corporate and government sector as we know it. ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens could benefit greatly from this as well.

Nonetheless, what are your thoughts?

Personally, I have found out that fee-less cryptocurrencies are extremely convenient for sending micropayments worldwide. Most of them are blazing-fast in transaction confirmation times, making them an attractive choice on top of Bitcoin or Ethereum. Cryptocurrencies such as EOS, Steem, and Nano have no fees at all, becoming a favorite among several crypto enthusiasts (like me).

However, it's yet to be seen whenever a fee-lees structure is a viable solution for the crypto economy. I mean, if there are no fees on the Blockchain, then how would delegates maintain their loyalty to fee-less cryptocurrencies? I believe that in order to maintain long-term stability, there needs to be an incentive via the collection of fees among the network's users.

Nonetheless, do you think that fee-less cryptocurrencies are the future of the crypto industry? Or are they simply a niche?

I know that there's been a few cryptocurrencies around (like Phoneum and Electroneum) which allow you to "mine" coins on your phone or tablet. This is great for the average person, as it allows them to secure the network (while getting paid in return) without much effort. However, a cleaner solution would be PoS as it's not resource-intensive as PoW is. Mining cryptocurrencies on a phone, could greatly reduce its battery-life and lifespan as we know it. With PoS, that's not longer a concern.

As such, I'm curious to know if there's a PoS cryptocurrency which you can "stake" on a mobile device such as a phone or tablet? I know that it's largely impossible to store the whole Blockchain on a mobile device (due to bandwidth and storage limitations), but a SPV implementation would be the ideal solution for "staking" coins on the go. What are your suggestions/recommendations?

As of now, Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency with the most nodes available worldwide. It's been doing well with only 10 years since its inception. However, I believe that in order for Bitcoin to reach true censorship-resistance and reliability, it needs to expand in areas far beyond reach. It would be nice to have Bitcoin nodes distributed across space in order to be prepared for any catastrophic event on Earth. Imagine having Bitcoin nodes on the Moon, as well as, planets like Mars and Venus. This would allow Bitcoin to stand the test of time for generations.

However, it's yet to be proven if this solution is viable after all. What are your thoughts?

That's certainly true, mate. Bitcoin is already a winner for sending money worldwide at lower costs than traditional payment processors. It may not be useful for sending micropayments yet (due to high fees), but it's improving every step of the way. Right now, there's no reason why merchants should avoid Bitcoin in the first place since there are many regulated exchanges available within the mainstream world. Of course, there's the issue of price volatility. But, merchants could easily gain the stability of Fiat by choosing a stablecoin such as Tether or USD Coin. I believe that as more people join the Bitcoin cause, the more it'll become accepted by merchants worldwide. The main advantage traditional payment processors have on top of Bitcoin is scalability. Once Bitcoin gains the ability to process millions of transactions per second at faster speeds and lower costs than before, it'll gain a massive boost in merchant acceptance like never before.

Thankfully, the Lightning Network will surely bring Bitcoin towards the mainstream adoption it deserves. It may not be a perfect solution for scaling Bitcoin, but it's the best thing there is in order to make sending micropayments a reality once more. Only then, Bitcoin will be able to directly compete with giants such as Visa, PayPal, and MasterCard. Time will tell us whenever Bitcoin will prevail over current traditional payment processors or simply remain as an alternative payment system for the world. Considering that Fiat is still largely dominant within the mainstream world, the last scenario is very likely to happen within the future. Just my opinion

That's certainly true, mate. Dogecoin's influence within the crypto community has been such, where it's still widely used by people worldwide. It may not be as actively developed as other top cryptocurrencies on the market, but it's one of the good-old cryptocurrencies that has stood the test of time. It's impressive to see blazing-fast and cheap transactions within the DOGE blockchain after a long time since its inception. I believe that Dogecoin has been able to retain these characteristics because it's not heavily used like other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. The inexpensiveness of DOGE is sure to attract a lot of people into it. It's no wonder why Vitalik has shown some love to the cryptocurrency.

Perhaps, someday Dogecoin will gain the attention it deserves among developers in the mainstream world. If that ever happens, you could expect Dogecoin to gain a massive boost in price like never before. A few changes here and there will make Dogecoin as attractive as Bitcoin is nowadays. But even if Dogecoin remains as is for the foreseeable future, it'll remain actively traded across several exchanges for a very long time. It's up to us to support DOGE as much as we can, in order to keep it alive for future generations. With its current state, Dogecoin is a perfect cryptocurrency for micropayments worldwide. Hopefully, Vitalik would do something in the future that would make Dogecoin better and stronger than ever. Just my thoughts

Honestly, NEO has been an undervalued coin for a long time. Big players like Ethereum, EOS, and TRON have taken the world by storm as they've gathered the most number of users and decentralized applications into them. NEO has a great technology for scalability, but it's been behind its rivals because of the lack of marketing/promotion. Not to mention, the bear market of 2018 has greatly affected its price across the crypto market. We'll have to see how everything unfolds with the next iteration of NEO (NEO 3.0) that's bound to happen soon.

With current prices, I believe that NEO is still a bargain. Imagine buying and staking NEO while its "GAS" token heads back towards its original price levels of over $95 per coin. It would truly make you extremely wealthy in no time. But everything will depend on how many devs are willing to bring their own dApps to NEO for the mainstream world to use. Despite this, NEO is a PoS coin that's a little hidden gem you wouldn't want to miss. I would stake NEO, Bean Cash, and even Ethereum (once it becomes a PoS coin) for years to come. They've been proven to be highly profitable over time (especially Bean Cash), despite their ups and downs. Staking pools makes our lives easier by allowing us to reap the rewards without opening your wallet 24/7. Still though, only decentralized solutions (like Pool of Stake, and Rocket Pool) would be the best choice for pooled staking.

Nonetheless, I hope to see new and exciting PoS coins with attractive rewards for their investors. They're much better than PoW coins because of their high-reward ratio. But be aware, that most PoS coins are extremely risky because of their huge supply within the crypto market. Only good-old PoS coins and those with a decent supply will survive in the long run. Just my thoughts

It's true that Libra's prominence within the mainstream world, will greatly benefit the crypto industry as we know it. But I don't believe that Facebook's cryptocurrency will disrupt our economic system, because it'll largely depend on Fiat for its survival. Being a stablecoin, indicates us that Libra will never be an independent cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and Ethereum. It's more like a central bank which lives on the digital realm than anything else.

With many governments and central banks attacking Libra before launch, I doubt that it'll have a large prominence within the mainstream world. Facebook's vision of dominating the world's economy might not become a reality after all. I believe that the main disruptor of our world's economy will be Blockchain technology itself within the future. This is because governments will devise their own digital currency solutions backed by Blockchain tech. But of course, this will take a long time to become a reality as the world is not ready yet for digital money. Various companies and startups will come up with diverse solutions in order to improve our economy for the better. It may not be Facebook in the long run, but another company will (probably Ripple?) within a couple of years from now. Just my opinion

That's certainly true, mate. The Blockchain industry has improved a lot since Bitcoin's inception back in 2009. Governments and central banks have become interested in this trend for a very good reason. With so many benefits that Blockchain technology provides, it'll be hard to avoid it anytime soon. I believe that crypto projects which deliver real use cases to the mainstream world will be the only ones that will survive for years to come. Given how big the industry is nowadays, it seems very unlikely that crypto will go to zero anytime soon. Only altcoins which are overhyped without any use case at all, will go to zero in price. The rest like Bitcoin and Ethereum will retain their price for years to come.

It seems odd that some people are spreading the word that crypto will go to zero within the future. The reason for this could be that they don't truly understand how the industry works or how big it has become over time. High volatility in price, has made many investors fearful of the crypto industry. But with due time, things would normalize as governments legalize the space within the not-so-distant future.

Nonetheless, it's important to know that good things won't last forever. If by any chance Bitcoin or Blockchain technology fails, then you could expect for the whole market to go to zero. Time will tell us the fate of the Blockchain industry as governments worldwide apply their specific rules/regulations. Just my thoughts

Agree. So many things could happen within a time-frame of 5 years from now. After all, the Blockchain industry improves exceptionally fast over time. In 5 years, it's hoped that Bitcoin's Lightning Network is ready for mainstream use delivering instant, and cheap micropayments worldwide. This will create a level of demand that's never before seen since 2017. People will buy Bitcoin in mass, as it'll become an extremely versatile cryptocurrency in the future. A target of $100k per coin would be largely possible within a couple of years from now. Even many experts have predicted that Bitcoin will reach $1m soon. Everything will depend on the level of demand among people in the mainstream world for sure.

Nonetheless, with enough patience and dedication, early adopters (like you and me) could obtain greater benefits within the future. On the other hand, newcomers into crypto might sell their Bitcoin during the bear market. Once Bitcoin's prices get past $20k, then I'm sure that people will gain the sentiment of "FOMO" once more. The target of $100k seems more closer to us than we've thought. Just my opinion