Cryptocurrency has always been under scrutiny from many governments, especially Bitcoin and privacy coins more than others. This is not the first time that privacy coins fall under the radar of governments. The silk road before was thriving and then the government began cracking down on them. But it was transactions using the privacy coin Monero that they were not able to track down. That was already a huge precedent of the government's distrust toward the potential uses of privacy coins.

I couldn't agree more. Africa needs the blockchain technology more than others. Although other governments in other continents are also dirty in many of their transactions, the African people are suffering more than others. Many are dying out of the selfishness of a few. And to think that the continent is not lacking of natural resources. Natural resources like minerals are very abundant in the region. It is just that aside from the foreign players taking the major slice, the local governments are also conniving with them.

Blockchain technology will make all these transactions transparent and immediately available to the eyes of the public. It then boosts their responsibility to make their leaders accountable for anything. Especially finances, blockchain is of extreme significance to this.

1. Altcoins do not have to die for Bitcoin to begin a movement with an upward direction. On the other hand, shitcoins are dying regardless of the overall condition of the market.
2. Halving is going to take place next year. The hype around it as well as that which is built around the Bakkt launching were already present when the massive price drop happened several days ago.
3. I therefore conclude that the possibilities of where the next line goes are varied and uncertain as always.  

Although zero trading fee is attractive, it is not the only factor that is taken into consideration by many traders. First consideration will always be the availability of a lot of traded coins and trading pairs. Second consideration will be the volume. It has to have an attractive volume as well or else the trading flow will be hampered drastically. If all these are addressed first, I would be willing to try it out in this new exchange.

Not really a difficult question to answer. My favorite coin in 2019 is the same as my favorite coin in the future and way back when I started my adventure here in crypto: Bitcoin. Do I have to answer the why?

If you are asking for my favorite ICO/IEO in 2019, a few I noticed and tried to read their ANN threads but not really out of interest to invest. I have long stopped investing in ICO/IEO. XCard and Minter have caught my curiosity and they appear good enough. But I did not make a serious effort familiarizing more of them as I am not an interested investor. 

Much more important than patience is the amount of effort exerted to get to the bottom of the project one is investing. Sometimes, patience is really not paying off well. Many investors are patient but in the end, instead of gaining a little, everything is lost including the starting investment amount. It is because the project they are investing is really not a fundamentally solid project. They are not offering anything new to the market that is why they did not even last long enough to see their products offered to the bigger public. Those investors who are constantly crying and accusing projects as scam are the ones who did not do their share of digging.

Inflation is actually under the control of the government central banks and other financial bodies of the government. However, it is not all the time that the government can successfully control it on a tolerable or even desired level. Sometimes, it goes beyond their percentage target, and moves out of control. And it is during such times that the purchasing power of the fiat currency is getting weak.

It is at these particular times when Bitcoin is the best way to go. Bitcoin is not under any inflation laws or regulation. But the problem is that it is completely under the influence of the public and free market in which a whale could manipulate the prices.

In terms of major impact, there will be none. There could be an impact but it will become short-lived if there are no major complementary developments that go with it. It is not sufficient itself to be the lone force to cause a major impact. This is not the first time that people from the entertainment industry have started to voice out or express their interest or support to cryptocurrency. In fact, this is not the first time that a certain crypto project is made with the objective of direct interaction with the fans. And so far, nothing has gone far with it.

What has happened with Bitcoin's price is a pretty normal bouncing movement after a considerably long fall. Nice for you to have grabbed the price drop and bought some. That should also be the mentality of the rest. Sadly, many are feeling panic instead of joy for having the opportunity to buy Bitcoin with a price discount.

Right at this very moment however, the prices are red once again. This means that the $500 rise of Bitcoin's price is a normal movement. If it went straight up to $2,000 increase only then could we start to wonder. 

I guess the majority of us here are both HODLer and trader. If I am not mistaken, only a very small portion of us here are active pure traders. I suppose trading here refers to day trading. Trading once in a blue moon or when the price is breaking the strongest support or resistance is not a trader in the strictest sense of the term. A once a blue moon trader is a HODLer when the price is normally treading its path rise and fall path. But when sudden surges or dip happen, that's the time their being a trader activates. 

I can mention some for you.

• The best way to earn a good amount of BTC is to offer some skills, especially programming skills in exchange for Bitcoin.
• Mining is also good although it will require you to have a decent starting capital. That involves a good amount of money.
• Directly buying BTC. You have a lot of options to do this today, through peer-to-peer (P2P), over the counter (OTC), credit cards, etc.
• Buying altcoins and selling or trading them with BTC.
• Starting up a business which accepts Bitcoin payment. This is probably the best way if you are living in a place where it is completely legal and there are many Bitcoin users and supporters.
• Join campaigns here that pay Bitcoin.

That's a lot of question rolled into one.

Regarding your first and second questions, in terms of really significant effects, there are only a few altcoins that could possibly affect the value of Bitcoin, and minimally. But if there is a strong altcoin rally happening, which is almost always led by top coins, Bitcoin's value might stuck for a while or even drop a little. But that is all there is to it. Most often, it is Bitcoin that affects or even controls the fate of altcoins' value.

As to your proceeding questions, I don't think you are ready for it. The mere fact that you are asking about it here tells me that you don't have what it takes. Perhaps you start by learning the very basics of cryptography.

This is well noted. However, a lot of altcoin investors which include myself of course are considering the fact that it is much easier for an altcoin to make a x2, x3, or up growth as compared to Bitcoin. It is easier, for example, for Ethereum to climb to $340 than for Bitcoin to go as high as $16,000. Litecoin can reach $100 much sooner than Bitcoin reaching $15,000 most probably.

Another point would be that investment in altcoins is still one of the best ways to increase your BTC equivalent. HODLing BTC will keep your BTC at the same amount that you have them previously. It is not growing at all. Whereas if you invest in an altcoin, a 0.1 BTC could become 0.2 BTC in a matter of weeks or months. That's the time you convert into BTC and wait for another good entry price again for the altcoin.

It is not really that complicated. It does not mean that because you need to diversify your portfolio you will have to choose among the thousands of other altcoins, ongoing IEOs, and others you can possibly invest on. My idea of diversification is limited to the existing altcoins which have already proven their worth and contribution in the crypto development. That would actually make your options very limited, up to a hundred choices most probably or even half.

It seems we share the same experience, that is why instead of promoting about it openly to the public in casual conversations, I would rather be thrifty in words or even avoid the talk altogether. But in front of my friends and relatives, I am more open. But not really as open as I can be in online conversations like in this forum wherein my personal identity is concealed. Being too open to them about it is kind of hard because they have a very different impression about crypto and they seem to be impervious to explanations. So for now, my contribution to the spreading of awareness about crypto or blockchain is through the keyboard.

I don’t have a lot to say about your portfolio except that it lacks the 2 top coins in terms of market cap. I guess you need to do some adjustments and insert both BTC and ETH. This is a consistent response you are seeing here and so you might want to heed it. The voice of the majority here must have more wisdom than you alone. It is best if Bitcoin is the dominant in your portfolio just as it is dominant in the total cryptocurrency market cap.

My more important point though is that what you have done is too much of a risk. Do you live alone or with your family? If you are living alone, it is not much of a risk for as long as you have other regular sources of income to support your needs. If you are with a family, your decision is terrible. I hope you are giving them a decent shelter right now. Good luck with your portfolio. Just keep your emotions out of it or else you are risking your house for nothing.

This is a confirmation that crypto is indeed widely accepted in your country. That is good to hear. A domestic amazon-like market must be a huge one in your country. And knowing that it accepts Bitcoin is a great news. There must already be a clear set of policies and regulations in there since a market such as that cannot operate without complying with those.

$600-$2500 is actually pretty much decent. Although the living cost is a bit higher also, it is still a lot higher than many of the Asian countries. If the minimum wage is $1.35-$1.50/hour, that means you are living a far better life than many of the third world countries where $4/day is payed to a lot of employees.

As I have mentioned previously, we are getting digital. Even the fiat system has slowly stepped out of the old way of doing transactions using paper bills and metal coins. If the current system which is basically an old system is aware that the digital or online version is the way to go, how much more to cryptocurrency which is, by design, a digital or electronic money or cash.

Furthermore, paper bills and metal coins are prone to faking and other shady processes. Bills and coins are faked, others are not faked but printed or minted without sound basis. This we cannot do with Bitcoin for example. Everything is transparent and can be scrutinized online.

I have not encountered such an offer here in crypto. There are investments here but I think they are not offering compound interests. Binance for example is offering a lending investment. You can also invest in gambling sites. Please check if the interest they are providing is compound or not. If not, then you will manage it in a way that gives you more or less the same amount as if you are investing with a compound interest. If you have the option to withdraw your earned interest immediately, you may do so and invest them as an additional to your capital. In that way, the earning is increasing as the capital is also increasing.   

If you take a step backward and look at the larger picture, the good thing is in the long term, not in the short term. The short term could be bad as the fluctuations are constant, like the recent big drop, but eventually the picture will get better as longer spans of time pass by. The overall chart of Bitcoin at least tells us that. 


After a price pump, it is rather predictable what happens next because there will always be corrections or retracements that follow. Of course we do not know the tip of the pump but once it reaches that, it is expected that it will correct and the prices will fall down. How hard the fall is going to be, we cannot tell, although there are supports that can be seen.