Well that sums it up.

btw - don't forget that there are a couple of sub-boards where you can still talk about Bitcoin and the Bitcoin economy.

I'm not sure I would go as far as that, but there are certainly some distortions in the awarding of merit points. Whilst I was posting about the merit system, I picked up 38 points fairly quickly. As soon as I stopped, and began starting threads about the Bitcoin system, and posting in such threads, I haven't received one merit point. This may be that my posts are rubbish, or it may be that the forum priorities are now involved with crypto bounties, and the increasing of the size of sig spammers advertising potential.

Visa and the banking system consume far more energy, and they also require the use of many other resources. Maybe Bitcoin is actually helping to reduce the energy requirements.

Also, one has to lookat the underlying stats. Do they include the energy costs associated with the running of nodes. I think those are pretty negligible, as I would be running the computer anyway, and core is just a background task. However, if you want to publish negativity about Bitcoin, you could imply that all nodes are dedicated to the Bitcoin network and perform no other tasks.

It's interesting that they say "investing" rather than "speculating". At least they recognise that Bitcoin is an asset and not just a method of gambling.

I bet enquiries go up as the price falls as well.

There is an interesting article at FT Alphaville about this on this page.
https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2017/11/29/2196222/why-bitcoin-futures-and-a-shoddy-market-structure-pose-problems/

If you aren't sure about "contango" and "backwardation", then there is an explanation involving Keynesian theory on this page, -

http://prob4u.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/keyness-theory-of-normal-backwardation.html

That's true in an ideal world. But Bitcoin has a fairly limited supply, so it is easy to manipulate the "physical" coin price to make a substantial profit from the futures market. As there is no physical delivery, futures settlement will not affect the real price of Bitcoin, but will allow the manipulators to use the profits from a drop to repurchase a larger quantity of coin than they sold to push down the price. This can lead to another spike in the value of Bitcoin, and the creation of more debt as the sheep rush to borrow money to try to make easy profits.

If you know the address you used, you could check for the transactions using blockchain.info.

Offer now withdrawn, and thread locked.

I received a phone call today from the UK number 020 7616 1383. I didn't answer as I was driving at the time.
I've checked the number through Google, and several sites report it as a financial services scam site that is attempting to sell Bitcoin.
Has anybody else had these types of call? I'm wondering how they got my number as well.

I did suggest that campaign managers should not have the ability to award merit points. This avoids a conflict of interest. But we have to decide if Bitcoin Talk is a forum to talk about Bitcoin, or if it is a forum for the creation and discussion of crypto bounty.

I understood that merit points are intended to improve the overall quality of the forum, and not just a means of ranking up juniors. I don't really need merit points, but to me they indicate an appreciation by the community for a post I have made, or a thread I have started. If I don't receive any points for a topic, then I'll probably move on and leave that alone. For example, I've started a few threads that I thought would create interesting discussions, and in some cases they have, Some of the replies have generated merit points, but I have received nothing for starting the thread. This tends to make me feel that it is better for me to be reactive rather than proactive.

So the point I am making is that merit points give me feedback about my post quality. They also allow me to send points as a thank you to people that I think are helping the forum.

I think it is a really useful video, and I gave you a couple of merits to encourge you to make some more.

I agree with that with the exception of the Internet part. There are already peer to peer networks arriving that bypass the current Internet structure. Whether they will be good is a different matter. A network run by Microsoft, Amazon or Google may have disadvantages for Bitcoin users.

I think the keyword is "all". It is unwise to put all your money into any single category of savings. I think that it is important to keep some money in government pper. This will allow you to buy essentials if there ia a major problem such as a power failure. It is also worth keeping a bit in digital fiat, as this is esier to use online. I cover myself by using a credit card, and keeping the level of my digital fiat at about 150% of my outstnding credit card debt. I think that this minimises my exposure to a fiat collapse.

The rest you cam spread between digital assets like domain names and Bitcoin, and physical assets like gold and silver.

Bitcoin prices will continue to be manipulated as more and more coins are acquired by the deep state players. The only thing that you can guarantee is that it will be used to increase personal debt in the pump phase, and a reduction in the availability of coins. The result of this is that the price will continue to go up when viewed as a long term trend, but there will continue to be massive drops on the way.

This is a personal opinion based on political observation, and is not based on statistical facts.

All the world wants to know about Merit points it seems.

I suspect that merit discussions may have caused an increase in activity, and maybe some of the guys who have been disadvantaged are having a go at the forum.

I don't have a problem with the current merit button. It seems to work for me. At the moment, merit is the big obsession on Bitcoin Talk, hpefully that will die down soon, and we can get on with talking about Bitcoin. Merit points are changing things here, lets see what it is like in a week or so.

Some interesting replies about this in Yesterday's thread in the Ivory Tower.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2838558.0

I gather NameJet is not considering Bitcoin as a payment option because of the fees, the price volatility and the long confirmation times. This may be as a result of adverse publicity and lack of education causing sellers to reject Bitcoin as an option.