Technical chart can't be correct always. Even though I want bitcoin to touch even higher than 20 grand, it looks difficult this time. Bitcoin is facing massive scaling issue due to which the numbers of unconfirmed transactions and fees, both are increasing. Unless we find a permanent solution to this scaling issue, it is hard for bitcoin to sustain even at 17 grand. However, it is just my personal opinion and I will be the happiest person if the price touches 20 grand again.

Tax payment is a necessity and No one should ignore that. Doesn't matter whether you are earning from your job or from Cryptocurrency. I always include my earning from Cryptocurrency in to my tax information sheet and pay appropriate taxes. If you have done that, at least you will have the ground ready for talking with the tax authorities if they come looking for you. I always keep my tax records updated with my crypto earnings so that my tax authority can't call me a tax evader. At least I will have something to counter them.

Just another addition to our ignore list. Like Merrill lynch banned crypto investment using their network, similar way, we also need to start moving our business to elsewhere. I am actually not surprised by this step and more banks will be added to this list sooner or later. Whenever one door closes, many doors open up. So the more banks join this ban list, more new opportunities will open up and more new businesses will start to help us moving our money to crypto market. So just ignore Merrill lynch for now, it won't have any impact on bitcoin price for sure, especially when it started to recover.

That's strange! I have used yobit for a long time and have never faced such issue. However, first check in blockchain that your transaction is confirmed or not. If it's confirmed then the issue is on yobit's part. Only their support staffs will be able to assist you.

But if the transaction bis not confirmed yet, the probably you can use some transaction acceleration service. But I don't think a trans would be pending for 3 days in a row. Check if the network relayed the transaction properly.

Holding is not trading. It is just an investment like bank deposits or general stock market investment. You see  value and good future in a crypto, you buy it and wait for price increase. That's not pure trading, that's investing.

To start with pure trading, you need to track the market very closely. You have to identify opportunities and then place orders in the market accordingly. It requires a lot more effort to become a trader than to become an investor.

Both strategies are good. But trading has a higher probability to generating higher income. So choose wisely based on your risk taking capability.

The fees doesn't really depends on the age of the wallet. It mainly depends on the network congestion. Also since you have many smaller inputs it needs consolidation before you send a bigger amount out. So whatever wallet you use, you will have to pay similar fees. In some wallet though you will have the option to choose fees, but the lower you choose, the longer it will take for confirmation. So we are left with very less choice until lightening network is implemented.

I think here global means the majority of the countries. That is expected to happen. Till date, we have very few countries who have either banned it completely like Morocco, Bangladesh or Israel, or legalized it like Japan. Majority of the countries have not yet reached to a conclusion yet. However after the recent price surge of bitcoin, a lot of countries are now analyzing the situation to come up with some concrete plan and framework.

So once they come up with their decisions, you will either have it legal or illegal. But to come up to such decision, countries will have to go through some tough actions to get to the root of the actual situation. So a crackdown and further investigation will surely take place sooner or later.

Try Localbitcoins platform. It allows users to buy bitcoins instantly. However it is just a platform that connects traders from around the world. So be sure to check offers from your country amd the reputation of the trader before opening any trade request. You can also buy with cash if you see any local trader offering such service. I hope this helps!

It's true that a lot of people have started investing in altcoins pushing their price to all time high but I don't think the game of bitcoin is over yet. Since the bitcoin network is slower than usual due to higher volume of transactions and the fees is also high, people are investing in technically superior coins pushing their price higher. But that's a temporary solution.

Once the lightening network will be implemented, the network will be able to handle transactions more efficiently. The majority of the investment will flow back to bitcoin. We will just have to wait for some more time.

Banks are seeing crypto currency as a threat to their business and also pushing the government to ban it permanently. So they are now unofficially calling a war against it by unreasonable means. The problem is not going to a better stage anytime soon until the government provides a proper framework for using the cryptos. Once a framework is given by the government, then such problems can be tackled. But if the government bans it, you are fucked.

It entirely depends on your risk taking capability. The risk here is hacking. An exchange can be hacked and you may end up loosing your bitcoins held in exchange wallet. Same is true for your personal wallet as well. It can also be hacked but the probability is lower because hacking exchange is profitable and personal accounts isn't.

The amount differs from person to person. So you may be ok with 0.5 btc to keep in an exchange, but this amount is way higher for me. So it is impossible to come up with an exact amount.

Yes, that is sad but true. But if you have noticed that the overall crypto market is increasing in size as investors are investing in different assets. I believe, the price dropped mainly because of the congested network and high transaction fees. Because nothing significant had happened in global level that can be cited as the reason for price drop for bitcoin.

But the positive thing is that, the overall size of the crypto market is increasing. Probably not by the bitcoin, but with other assets. I hope the scenario will change in the new year and we will be able to see bitcoin growing again.

Thank you for the answer! But how would I create a segwit address that starts with 3? Does Electrum support that? Also as you said that the transactions will be slightly bigger than the conventional one, will there be any issue in confirmation?

I don't think bitcoin will be ever recognized by the entire world. Probably a handful of countries will adopt that but majority of the countries will turn their back to bitcoin. Because Banks are already seeing bitcoin as a big threat to their business. SO they will push the governments of their own country not to legalize bitcoin. Bankers have a strong lobby in any government because they fund the majority of the government activities. Government will have to listen to them.

There are already few countries like Israel, Morocco, Bangladesh who have already banned bitcoin to be used in their country. In 2018, I see the list is increasing. because not all governments are progressive like Japan. So the governments will prefer to ban it instead of providing a proper framework to their citizens.

Bitcoin is pseudo anonymous in nature and can't be considered as completely anonymous. Every transaction is recorded through a public ledger known as blockchain. So everything can be monitored through that ledger. Definitely cash transactions are more private as it will not be seen or monitored by others, but large amount of cash handling is a problem. Here bitcoin offers you more value. A smartphone is what you need to make a bitcoin transfer. So it is easy for handling compared to cash transactions. 

Hi friends,

I have recently created one segwit address using latest version of Electrum wallet. The address starts with "bc1". However, I am not able to send funds to that address from my blockchain/coinbase wallet. These online wallets are not recognizing the "bc1" address as a valid one and not allowing me to proceed further.

Can you please let me know how it can be possible to send funds to my segwit wallet from blockchain/coinbase?

Thanks in advance!

I too believe the same and already started using an segwit enabled Electrum wallet. I have already generated an address which starts with "bc1". However, whenever I am trying to use my coinbase wallet to send funds to that segwit enabled wallet, it is not recognizing the segwit address as a valid one. So coinbase is not allowing me to send funds to that address. Any solution can you provide? Needless to say, but I am facing the same issue blockchain wallet as well. 

Banks are already on an open war against bitcoin and cryptos. So no bank will allow you to open an account if your company is related to crypto business. It is better to start a shell company in some other name and some other business and transfer the money in to that account. If you declare openly that your company is into crypto business, banks may first open your account but can later freeze it with your money. Otherwise prefer paying out salaries in cash or pay order. Banks hate crypto currency so they won't help you in any way.

It's not just about coinbase. Even blockchain.info is also asking for similar fees. But we have the options to change it in blockchain. I think it's high time we start using the segwit enabled bitcoin address which starts from "bc1" instead of using third party wallets like coinbase or blockchain. Start using the newest version of Electrum light wallet. While installing, it will prompt you whether you want to use a standard wallet or a segwit enabled one. This segwit enabled wallet will give us a peace of mind and super fast transaction at a very low fee. It's not super cheap but way more cheaper than coinbase.

Also it is very much possible to send transactions from a standard bitcoin wallet to a segwit enabled bitcoin address. So we all need to start using it for the betterment of the bitcoin network.

There were few reasons for the bitcoin's price dip. First reason was the bitcoin network which performed very bad. Soo many transactions got queued up pushing the transaction fees to an insanely higher level. So people started investing in technologically superior coins like ripple and ETH pushing their price in all time higher regime.

Also in the festive season, people usually needs extra money to meet their festive expenses. A lot of people including me, cashed out a percentage of their holdings for the same reason. That is another reason for the bitcoin's price dip.

Now since we have entered the new year, I believe now investors will start investing in bitcoin because the price is floating at a very lower level currently. Investors will not be late to reap that benefit once they have some extra money to invest. So I believe, bitcoin will have a bull run in 2018.