I am sure that at some point the block size will get a bump to allow more transactions to be processed, but the main point of attention will be when, and what update will make sure we get these much waited for larger blocks. I of course hope that SegWit will still overcome the relatively low support by pools, but in order to make Bitcoin move forwards, larger blocks are indeed a necessity. That's why it sucks that pools and certain high level Bitcoiners add more value to their empty egos than Bitcoin itself. Bitcoin on its own is a fantastic invention, but as always, people make things way more difficult.

Volatility will always remain, nothing can change that. However, it's the intensity of the volatility that should go down in the coming years. It definitely won't be a fast process, it takes time. Difference now PBOC has taken actions against Chinese exchanges is that people can no longer make use of the popular margin platform, and thus the exchange is forced to enable fees for their regular trading platform. Every massive pump or dump will now cost these people a considerable amount of money. These pump dumpers will think twice before recklessly making the price sink to far lower levels. Eventually the difference should be noticed. Give it some time.

From the poll the only option that is reasonable is the trading option. All other given options are pure trash, where people putting money in any of the mentioned sites or services are only filling the pockets of a bunch of nasty scammers. And yes, trading is not without risk, but at least you know that you are responsible for all the trades you execute. It's also common sense that should apply when it comes to people making the decision to start trading. If they don't know how the market works and just think it's all fun, then they obviously are just gambling with their money with losses as result. But if you to a certain degree know what to do, and accept the risks that are connected to trading, then why not.

It must be like that, because there is no way that Litecoin can actually benefit from a better update when there is barely any real network usage. At first I was a bit skeptic, but it may turn out to be a more than great testing opportunity if there is enough support among pools to reach consensus. Unlike the amateurish BU software, I don't really expect much to go wrong with SegWit. Only thing that is working against us are the pools that play hard to get when it comes to giving SegWit a fair chance.

If you appreciate the price to reach higher levels, then people holding their coins is a more than curcial aspect, since it diminishes the number of coins in free circulation. It's impossible for each and everyone to hold their coins firmly without cashing out and buying back at some point. It keeps the market moving, where you simply don't have to worry about people not being able to spend their coins. The higher the price is, the lower the amounts will be that people work with. Even if people do end up holding more coins, then the increased value will make sure that with the lower number of coins that are left in free circulation, they still are more than sufficient to keep people spending their coins wherever they want.

Easy example - back in the days people were buying $50 gift cards here on this forum for like 10-20BTC. Right now due to the increased price you will need a far lower amount to purchase the same valued gift cards, namely 0.0488BTC.

If you purely focus on well established company stocks, then they are way less subject to volatility than for example Bitcoin and other altcoins. However, there are enough penny stocks that you can dive into if you like volatility. But the thing als you also mentioned is, the greater the potential rewards, the greater the risks. In that regard, I don't see much difference when it comes to certain extremely low valued penny stocks and altcoin trading. In some cases it's not for nothing that the stock prices have sinked so deep. Both options are subject to heavy pumps and dumps from time to time. It's basically a pure gamble. Important is that you understand and agree that you're exposing yourself to insanely high risks.

At this point it's not even sure whether or not we'll maintain the $1000 level till next week, and yet you don't think it's inappropriate to speculate about insanely unrealistic price levels to be reached this year. Seriously, where do you think all the money needed to accommodate such a massive price increase will come from? There is absolutely no logic in your post.

Can anyone "pump" the thread where kwukduck admits he sold at such prices too? That would be an amazing thread worthy of getting a sticky in this section, to constantly remember him of how he has turned into what is nowadays left from him.

It's amazing how we are speculating about whether or not the price will fall back to below $1000 again, where back in the days people had the same things to talk about, but then on whole different price levels. But still, I am very proud of myself that I still hold some of my early 2013 $20-$25 coins. It feels very weird as back then when the price went up to $50, then $60, then $70, etc. that I was just waiting for the price to come down again to buy back some coins. But hey, we can't predict what will happen in the future.

Most of the threads that required action were created by newbies, where the spam bots that constantly pop up with their health stuff are also part of. But then again, nothing justifies threads not being moved for days while it's obvious that it belongs elsewhere. Some of them are still there while I thought that low quality threads were not allowed anymore...


Newbie spam being visible is one thing, whether or not (now Lauda is not a mod anymore) action will be taken against these newbies, is a completely different thing. And I am not talking about having a few spammy posts deleted. Spam as we used to see isn't the same anymore as even these farmers try to bump the "quality" of their post to make thesmelves look like a natural poster.


You know what the funny thing is, if you as mod don't fight spam you aren't being appreciated, but if you do fight spam, then once again it's not helping your popularity go up. It's almost impossible to do good here. That's why it's important to keep supporting those that fight spam and account farmers.

Bitcoin is already not a tool for the very poor of the world anymore, with transaction fees being easily $0.20-$0.30 in normal circumstances. It will only become worse for these people as mining pools will more and more depend on income that they generate from fees as reward halvings go by. But I have to say that all the complaining that people do about their transactions not getting confirmed is a pain in the... If you just adapt to the situation and include a proper fee that is suited for the current situation, then your transactions get confirmed within 2 blocks. If you add a lower fee anyway, then don't complain about waiting a few hours.

You completely ignore the main purpose of people using Western Union. People walk into a WU point to bring in a certain amount of money, where that same amount of money can be picked up elsewhere in the world by a known person in a matter of minutes. In some cases people also happen to use WU to pay whatever bills with cash money, where they walk into a WU point, deposit the amount to cover the bill and hand over the exact details, and WU takes care of everything. With Bitcoin if you send a certain amount of money, you are subject to the volatility that might lower the initial sending amount. In that regard, the fees of WU aren't that bad after all since you're guaranteed to get what is being sent.

Browse through the forum and you might get a clue.


Lauda as staff member had the ability to nuke newbie accounts that potentially could generate plenty of sig spam and account sales at the time they ranked up. If you exterminate the problem where it starts (newbies in this case), then eventually it will lead to a cleaner forum. Who's going to nuke these accounts now? Exactly... It's party time for account farmers looking to expand their farm gang.

Legit demand coming from a growing user base. But as you may know, there is barely any real indication beside the growing transaction volumes to know whether or not people really get attracted to Bitcoin. That's why we can only assume that more and more people are finding their way to Bitcoin due to the increased transaction volume, and eventually also a higher price. Another major aspect that may help to significantly push the price forwards, is when we finally upgrade to larger blocks. I think it's safe to say that basically everyone in the Bitcoin world is waiting for that moment to happen.

It's pointless to look back at how the price has gone up from 2 figure levels, to 4 figure levels. Back then the market was significantly smaller than is the case right now, where we also had way less coins in circulation. I much rather see people post conservative opinions than overly exaggerated predictions that barely have any chances of actually happening. If I (realistically) have to throw a prediction on the table as being my target within your given time frame, then I'd say anywhere between $1500-$2000 as peak. But it all depends on how things go regarding the block size increase. It's no surprise that this will be a factor that can heavily make or break the price in the coming year(s).

We all know that people have a weakness for winning when doing gambling. It doesn't just stay at their first gambling experience where they made profit. Because the smell of making more money (greed) is way stronger than the common sense ability of the majority of the people. I know enough people that made a decent amount with gambling, but even though they said themselves that they will quit for ever, they later ended up going back gambling to the online casinos where they lost everything. That's why it's better to stay away from gambling entirely, where you don't even try to gamble with small amounts.

You can't really blame merchants to accept Bitcoin through a payment processor (or whatever other entity) due to the volatility that Bitcoin is known for. They can't afford accepting Bitcoin directly, where they sell something for $1000 where after that the value of this transaction sinks to $920 for example. You could say that they should keep holding their coins till the price goes up again, but it doesn't work like that for merchants. Other than that, I see these kind of articles pop up from time to time, but I never see any mention of statistics of usage. It would be nice to see whether or not Bitcoin as payment option gets used a lot, or just barely.

The price as it is right now, can already be seen as it being on the higher side. Especially when you consider that larger blocks are more than ever needed. It's not a situation of that it should be done within a few years, but more that it should be done this year. That's why I just hope pools stop bullshitting with BU and XT and start showing support for SegWit as we need it to be activated a.s.a.p. Because as it is right now, this may eventually lead to the price dramatically going down, and we once again end up sitting far below the $1000 levels again.

Surveys are not a good indication tool to see how the average people think about whatever subject (Bitcoin in this case). Even if people do know Bitcoin, then it still doesn't mean that they will ever use it. Don't forget that the average people have a simple mind, where in most cases they don't understand that it's possible to have a top notch secure network running without a central authority taking care of everything. These people are used to governments and banks being the central point of their existence. They 1) can't handle the weight of responsibility of being boss over their own wealth, and 2) we shouldn't underestimate the impact of the media on people.

It doesn't matter how approved customers are, the main point of attention should be that an exchange at all times should avoid making decisions that potentially can harm their clients. No matter how the low the chances of abuse are, it still offers an opening for people to disrupt that exchange, where in that case a roll back is the only option left for Gemini. They already proved in the past to not be shy of performing a roll back even though the person that made the mistake opted for no roll back.

Yup, I have noticed that too. Reported low quality threads in the Bitcoin section take for ever to either get deleted or moved to off-topic. Reports of certain threads that obviously belong in other sections are ignored, or moved after a few days, etc. I understand that admins, global moderators and other staff members might be bussy, but this is making the forum go backwards. Plenty of newbie accounts popping up quoting each other with worthless gibberish to level up... Also, since Lauda is no longer a mod, it's play time for FarmCorporation.