That, and to be honest, nobody cares about what happens in such an insignificant state. The few people that will be "affected" will just need to adapt to the situation and look for alternatives. Nowadays with all the alternatives people have to choose from, it shouldn't be a problem at all. It's not for nothing that Coinbase halt their services so easily there... It's not worth fighting for.

It's not a method, but more a complete gamble. Problem with coins that have barely any value at the beginning and suddenly explode in value, is that the far majority of the circulating coins are in the hands of a very small group of people. If that wasn't the case, then these coins most likely wouldn't rocket up in value. Right now the entire altcoin market is filled with these pump and dump coins. It doesn't mean you can't make any profit if you enter early enough, but the risks are not outweighing the potential benefits. One thing is sure - Bitcoin was the first ever crypto currency, and there is nothing that can replicate the success that Bitcoin had (and is still having, and will continue to have).

I can't recall having seen/heard that financial institutions are ready to implement Bitcoin's blockchain. Can you link me to an article or so? I do know that financial institutions are investing million in having their own version of the blockchain developed that they might implement at some point. But that obviously will be a centralized blockchain that will make sure these institutions remain in full control, which is no surprise. If it means that the end user will benefit from these developments, then it's a huge step forwards. Lower internal costs will surely get translated to lower overall fees, plus you potentially could enjoy instant transactions worldwide.

It's no secret that the USD is somewhat of a "backbone" currency in the world economy, but you have to explain me what you meant with;


Are you referring to people buying the USD to hedge their own weaker currency, or literally as you say "until it grows"? In case of the latter, I don't see how the USD, or basically any other fiat currency grows in value (aside from getting stronger or weaker compared to other currencies).

Correct, western exchanges will, and are pushing the price where China can only follow. It's pretty obvious how different the markets are behaving now Chinese exchanges are not the significant factor anymore. Remember how afraid people were from whatever type of news coming from China? It mostly wasn't even bad news, and still people started with dumping like there is no tomorrow. Further regulations implemented by the PBOC should have a near zero impact on the price from now on.

ETF's are a welcome investment opportunity for wealthy traders not willing to buy themselves into Bitcoin through the regular ways. It gives them confidence as even they will realize that this is an investment for the long term. It's no secret or surprise that Bitcoin has so much more growth potential than what we have seen so far. Chances are high that the recent upswing has something to do with the potential ETF approval. Traders realize that if it gets approved, that it will help bring in hundreds of millions of fresh capital. And that's just the beginning. In the same time, it will result in some sort of a drop in case the ETF does not get approved.


Aren't you supposed to only show up at the time the price is getting dumped down? Wrong timing!

All transactions posted by Lauda are more or less being operated by one entity (you just didn't want to browse through the entire list ). I tend to say that it is coming from (wealthy) BU enthusiasts, but I can't back it up with solid proof unless I find important connections.
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If at some point is proven that these addresses are in fact just troll spamming, isn't there a way for pools or nodes to blacklist coins coming from these addresses? I know it's a hated measure, but at least it would give these troll spammers less incentive to continue their nasty practices.

It depends on how your local government have set up their jurisdiction. In some cases you do have to pay tax over large purchases (e.g. property, investments in your house, cars, etc). It's not that Bitcoin offers anyone a free life without paying tax. That's something a lot people here seem to think.


To me it's not important at all. Why would you (and others) care about what is happening in a 'closed' part of the internet the far majority of the people don't even know what it exactly is? I just don't understand why people constantly worry about what others do. In one case people shouldn't be holding their coins as it is "against" Bitcoin. Other case is that people shouldn't be able to purchase drugs with Bitcoin because they are "destroying" the image of Bitcoin. It's all nonsense. People must do what they think is right. If they purchase drugs, so be it. If they stock up their coins without any intentions of spending, so be it.

I was also quite surprised to see their volumes increase, but it might have something to do with the fact that Bitflyer at this point doesn't charge any Bitcoin trading fees. I wonder what will happen witht their volumes when trading fees will be enabled again. If the demand is legit, then it shouldn't have an impact on their volumes. I like the idea of having a new Bitcoin friendly country stand up and secure itself a major position in Bitcoin. Everyone is done with China.

It doesn't matter what rules you are subject to. In case of you making use of a wallet service that happens to call itself a Bitcoin bank, and they prevent you from sending coins to a certain service or entity (like regular banks do in some cases), then it's clear that you immediately should withdraw your coins and ditch that service for ever. Other thing is that (which is also the case with coins you withdraw from exchanges) they "mark" your coins with your own personal information. If they want, they can follow where you are spending your coins, to what other addresses you send your coins to, whether or not you are gambling, etc. It's precious information that is worth a lot money. That's why it's important to mix your coins before you send them to your cold wallets, or when you just spend them.

As I said in my previous post, if you want to invest in ICO's anyway, always look if they are willing to make use of trusted forum escrows, or that an exchange is hosting the ICO. If both aren't an option that the ICO's in question offer, then just avoid them. Other than that, you can look at the developers behind the project to go through their history of projects that they worked on. Legit ICO's have nothing to hide and are perfectly transparent about everything. But the main point still is, that whatever information and precautions you walk yourself through, there are no guarantees that you end up with profits. Even legit ICO's can turn out to be a waste of money as they can fail. It's more or less remains a gamble.

Bitcoin is slowly starting to get some proper recognition throughout all layers of the economy. It will be interesting to see where all this will bring the price once things start to move in a serious manner. Chances are high that after a few years we will look back at current levels in the same way as we look at $100 right now. As Bitcoin keeps growing larger, we can expect governments to come up with all kinds of regulations. But then again, it's inevitable. We can't just expect from governments to sit back and not do anything.

If you're unfamiliar with Bitcoin and how the market works, then you shouldn't use Bitcoin as an investment tool. It's that simple. Because if you do, then it's basically the same as gambling since you just rely on hope/luck. Other than that, if you happen to make a wrong calculation where you end up buying at a level that turns out to be on the higher side, just keep holding, because as long as you aren't selling, you won't lose anything.

It's not as easy as it looks. In order to purchase ground you must investigate all possible scenarios, which a few of them are; the type of ground, the location, the climate, who owns the ground (in case of the government owning the ground, chances are high that you can only rent the ground), all kinds of taxes, etc. Then you just have the ground. Next step is building something that will then help you in getting back your initial investment amount. It could take 20 or so years. Not something I personally look forward to.

Current levels can't be considered a bubble, or a bubble in-the-making. If we shot up to $1700-$2000, then yes, it would be a proper assumption, but not at current levels. I think the price we are seeing now is just about right with demand for a big part coming from people looking to escape the tyranny of their governments. Bitcoin for these people is a great escape from their governments, plus it also offers a great investment opportunity. People would be stupid to not secure a part of their wealth in Bitcoin.

Flashy signatures aren't a big deal for me as so far (aside from what's being advertised) I haven't seen anything really annoying. So yes, everything is enabled here. What I consider to be annoying is that people (mostly spammers) constantly keep over-quoting each other plenty of times. It clutters the thread unnecessarily and makes it difficult to have a proper read.

If you're referring to the elite with hundreds of millions (perhaps even billions) of investment capital per person, then they will just laugh at current price and its volumes. If they and institutional investors massively jump into Bitcoin by pumping hundreds of millions into ETF's, it will be their play toy, where current major Bitcoin exchanges will be degraded to fun/hobbyist services. It's of course pure speculation, but if this happens to become reality, then we will look at $2000 how we right now look at $200. Peanuts.

One example is where you make use of the 'stupidity' of bots that will constantly pop up and place orders above your order, which you use to sell into. In that case you can scoop up profits of +0.10% in a matter of seconds. Usually these profits are peanuts, buts since tranding fees don't apply they are a more than welcome bit of profit that just take HFT a second or two at most. Do that x100/500 times a day and you'll be doing extremely well.

Another example is that they have no problems dumping the price down, where they fill up the buy side of the orderbook with mostly their own orders, and dump thousands of coins at once to trigger panic sellers and stop loss orders that will sell into their buy orders. After that they do exactly the opposite and fill the sell side of the orderbook with their own orders, and start buying the price up and have people buy through their sell orders.

It's insanely fast how they used to trade. I have seen several 10,000BTC orders being used to dump the price down and to lift it up like $20-$30 in CNY equivalent in a matter of a few seconds. If you just look over your shoulders and look back at your screen, it would appear that nothing has happened until you look at the charts.

ICO's right now are what insta-pre mine was over a year ago. In most cases it's nothing more than a get rich quick opportunity for the people behind these projects. It of course doesn't mean all ICO's fit in that category, but most of them do. If you really plan to invest in an ICO, then at least make sure they work with a trusted forum escrow (the more the better), or an exchange that hosts the ICO. In case the people behind the project fail to deliver, then you'll at least get your money back. No escrow or ICO through exchange, then just skip them.

It's all about the Bitcoin related ETF, and not that the SEC will start accepting Bitcoin itself. I do agree that if you want to act, that it should be done in advance of the potential ETF approval, but the point is that no one knows what the result will be in March. If you just don't know what to do, then just keep holding as the price will climb back up in case the price does happen to get dumped down at the time the ETF is not approved. It's not all that bad, at least you'll get the opportunity to enter the market at lower rates.