This just means that we're slowly inching towards an environment that is more closely associated with institutional investors than the ones that we already have. The creation of new platforms under the belt of institutional investors dealing with cryptocurrencies is interesting, for just a few years ago they mentioned that this is a technology that will never amount to anything and look at them scrambling to get their hands on the said tech. Sadly though with this, bitcoin and blockchain will lose their identity once these platforms go fully-operational, and it's just a matter of time before the ethos of bitcoin goes erased.

Can't really blame them if they saw that there are just a lot of potential candidates on what could bring them nice profits just like what bitcoin brought to those early adopters. Many had been lucky by staying with ETH and other coins and had been reaping the rewards ever since, so it's not wrong for people to place some of their eggs in baskets that are obscure and somewhat unknown but has that potential to bring them handsome profits at the table.

Awareness against such scams is what I think would be saving us from the rising numbers of such illicit activities and wrongdoings. Compliance and regulations only solves half of the equation, but if people who actively engage and participate in cryptocurrencies know the things that are being used by people to scam, they could avoid these things and not be a part of the statistic.

There's really not a single definite way of knowing which coins are irretrievable and which coins are still in active circulation. There are a lot of cold storages that seemed to be inaccessible but that's just the nature of them, and from face value one cannot tell if it's something that can still be accessed or not. With the tricky nature of how bitcoins work when they are stored, I believe there will never be a tool to know if coins can be considered as an active part of coins in current circulation.

In large transactions, yes, bitcoin could be useful and viable to move funds around easily, but if we're talking about instant and fast payments, other cryptocurrencies might be useful and sort of preferable in those situations. Of course, current payment processors would surely adapt the technology embedded on different blockchains and better themselves, creating a payment ecosystem with wider options and safe alternatives for the consumers to use.

On every website that I have an account on, I make sure that I have 2FA enabled or added additional security if 2FA is not supported. I've once had my Coinbase account hacked (with no balance on it) and the hackers couldn't do shit because 2FA is enabled and my email is pretty much secured. I would have lost control of that account had it not been for 2FA and a strong email password. Additional layer of security should be a prerequisite for websites now IMO especially those with sensitive information and financial-rated services to ensure that their peers and customers are safe from hacking.

Efforts would be dire, and if someone doesn't want to be found, chances are no one will ever find him. There had been a lot of 'Satoshis' in the past that had been proved to be fakes (hi CSW) which cannot prove themselves when asked by a lot of people. If Satoshi wanted to be found, he would have done so in the earliest of days, or at least left clues as to who he really is, but no, he was extra careful to not leave marks on the internet.

Well for one he did a great job, and he felt that his work is done, so why would he even bother coming back?

The best thing to do in order to prevent such is to head over to the department that they said they belong to and confirm whether they have some warrant for you. If these guys don't want to cooperate and head over to their department then something is definitely wrong, so report them immediately. This has been done for a long time and it's not improbable for them to use such a tactic again. Be vigilant and be keen on these strategies in order to not fall victim to their traps. Bitcoiners are easy targets due to the inexactness of the laws and regulations that the governments impose so it's easy for unknowing people to fall victim on this scheme.

A gradual increase is more inviting for me rather than a volatile one, though seeing the all-time charts, we can say that we have achieved the 'gradual increase' part albeit being a clonky one. Every cycle we achieve higher highs and higher lows, so that somehow seals what this post is about. With the entry of institutional investors and VCs in the market, it's safe to say that bitcoin's gradual increase is guaranteed, though the price should not be the only concern but also the adoption, too.

Perhaps it will not be directly NASDAQ but a platform associated to them. Even the supports know nothing about this, which gives me the idea that NASDAQ isn't directly having BTC trading onto their books. It's a double-edged sword for bitcoin to be in NASDAQ since we know that it will be exposed to more kinds of manipulation and possible dumps, but then again we know that it's a highly regulated market so the chances are lessened. Also, more participation from institutional investors means more money, more pushes and more projects, so yeah.

Volatility will never be removed on bitcoin and crypto and we certainly don't need any central banks to control the flow of coins in circulation and the value of each coin as well. That's the beauty of a decentralized, deflationary currency: it cannot fail since it has no central point, but volatility is also a boon of cryptos as due to this, merchants can't meddle with it, moreso accept it on their platforms as a form of payment. Should they accept it, they still need an intermediary to ensure profits which basically just removes yet another portion of the profits, too.

Sans the movie inclusions for comparison, I agree that we are overdue for a recession. Banks printing out money, handing out an incredible amount of loans, stocks being overvalued and the derivatives market enjoying multi-year gains, it has to come down at some point once it reaches critical mass. The first ones to fall would probably be the stocks and derivatives market, followed by real estate and so on. The increased interest of VCs on bitcoin, blockchain and crypto tells us something, though it's hard to assume at this point.

The world economy is heading towards a massive collapse at a worrying pace. It can't be stopped.

If we're talking about a few months ago for comparison then yes, we're in a continuous increase. If for all time, yes, we are still increasing still if our point of comparison is from the inception of bitcoin. Also, for 3 distinct times we have witnessed that bitcoin is undergoing cyclical stages, so yeah, the past few cycles we find ourselves bottoming way higher than the previous cycle, so if this continues, bitcoin is well appreciating in value over time.

That's where you're wrong OP. There are a lot of people who are still getting handsome profits all over the market even if the prices are down and it seems that bitcoin's end is inevitable. Shorters know this feeling and have been capitalizing on the decline ever since, only for bulls to gain the upper yet again on recent times. I'm more inclined to believe thag there have been more people who has become richer recently weven if the increase is just $200 from $3000 levels.

Those traditional investors always stating that bitcoin is a bubble while their lovely assets also come into a similar phase are those people who can't take a mirror and look at themselves. I mean, the recent stock market prices are indeed overvalued and is long due for a correction now. Also the same reason why a lot of economists are calling for a collapse by 2020 which, at plain sight of this chart alone, is very likely to happen.

Wait until the stock market burst then let's come back at bitcoin and tell that it's a bubble still.

Which IMO they shouldn't, knowing that it's not their fault if people were hacked/jacked off of their money on exchanges. It's almost impossible for people to get hacked if they aren't storing sensitive financial data on their email–a different story though if they use the same passwords for any other account that they have on the interwebs. Perhaps Microsoft did this in order to negate negative press and not really out of goodwill.

There are clubs in Makati that accepts bitcoin payments through coins.ph at one point, and if I'm not mistaken it is still an on-going deal in between the two. For me, the coins.ph wallet had been my go-to app whenever I don't want to meddle with people, line up and pay my bills. The last thing I wanted this service to have is to partner with grocery and retail stores for it to be the ultimate crypto service dealing with bitcoins, ETH and BCH.

With Shanghai and Beijing being included on the list of cities with the most CO2 in the air, I don't really think China is concerned with the environment being degraded by bitcoin mining but rather the losses their economy is getting from crypto gains produced by these miners. Some of the money that should be revolving around their economy is escaping by means of bitcoin, and that's not good news for the Chinese. Their stance on bitcoin mining is fueled and tainted with economic goals rather than to protect the environment which they are advocating.

This will not produce any effects against the price IMO and the reason why SEC suspended trading is perhaps due to some irregularities on their papers and compliance to SEC rules and guidelines. I don't think this is SEC starting to be a hindrance on startups and new firms who wish to stay on the cryptomarket but rather the SEC doing something for consumers and the cryptomarket as a whole.

That's why I don't personally believe screenshots until I see the document/page for myself with how stupidly easy it is to alter and tamper screenshots nowadays. Usually, the target of these schemes and tricks are unknowing newbies who are stupid and greedy enough to believe other people. Take for example, the bitconnect victims who never really examined things and went ahead and poured their money to things they don't understand.