I believe Fiat has a much higher risk than Bitcoin itself. Things like inflation, banks collapsing, or even getting your funds frozen/confiscated at will could make you lose everything in an instant. Bitcoin can't be debased or frozen by the government. You may say it could lose value over time if it gets "outlawed" by the government. But I don't think that will happen, especially when BTC is decentralized.

Who said BTC's value should be measured in Fiat terms, anyways? For what I know, 1 BTC will always be equal to 1 BTC no matter what. Things would've been different if people started using Bitcoin as a currency. The dream was always about "taking down" banks. Not to enrich people. By letting "Wall Street" get into the game, we've destroyed Bitcoin's original purpose. Now the industry is heavily-centralized as most people are only focused on the money. With banks still relevant these days, we can say goodbye to "Satoshi's vision" for good. Who knows what Bitcoin's future will be? Just my opinion

That's certainly true, mate. After all, USDT helps keep market liquidity afloat. BTC may be the reserve currency of crypto, but USDT is the one that manipulates everything. A collapse would lead market prices all the way down to "rock bottom". It will be a huge opportunity for new buyers, but a complete disaster for long-term holders. There's nothing we can do to prevent this.

Cashing out to Fiat (particularly the USD) beforehand might be the only way to minimize risks of loss as much as possible. You can never trust a stablecoin with shady practices. Who knows if a USDT collapse would be the "last straw" for investors to stop trusting stablecoins altogether? Just my thoughts

Not only Hashgraph uses the EVM, but it also has a much more efficient consensus mechanism (a sort of DAG). This reduces transaction wait times and fees by a large margin. Being centralized itself, makes Hashgraph superior than ETH in terms of performance and cost-efficiency. However, this comes at a cost of lower uptime and censorship (single point of failure). You'd have to decide which Blockchain network is best depending on your needs.

I see Hedera Hashgraph as the ideal "digital ledger" for businesses and companies alike. That's because of the way it was designed. For individuals, Ethereum would be the platform of choice. HBAR is still new to the industry, so we should give it more time to mature. Who knows how much it'll be worth in the future? Just my thoughts

Yes. PayPal is known to be too restrictive at times. Customers complained about getting their accounts closed for no reason. Imagine what PayPal will do with stablecoin transactions. Anything they deem suspicious, will have your stablecoin funds frozen or confiscated at will. If both Tether and USD Coin's blacklist wasn't enough, prepare yourself for the worst.

It's unfortunate the crypto industry is heading towards centralization. This is not what Satoshi wanted in the first place. With "Wall Street" in the game, don't expect things to get better in the future. Who knows how Tether will fare in the future against a highly-competitive stablecoin market? Just my opinion

Yes. There's not enough evidence to prove that manipulation is happening "behind the scenes". We're just assuming big companies and the government are doing it. What we should do is take advantage of the situation to accumulate as much "cheap" Bitcoin as possible. If you accumulate a substantial amount of BTC now, you'll be able to reap huge rewards once the market turns bullish again. The sky is the limit to how high BTC can go.

As with any investment, never make your decisions based on hype or someone else's opinion. You must do your own research to help determine what's best for you. Who knows if you get lucky someday? Just my thoughts

The tech is promising. But without real use cases, why would you want to invest into an NFT in the first place? For what I know, NFTs are nothing more than purely-speculative investments. They're only driven by hype. If developers started thinking "outside of the box", things would've been different by now. All they care about is making money in the least time possible.

At least, not all hope is lost. With big companies joining the game (eg: Coca Cola, Pringles, etc), it should only be a matter of time before NFTs become useful. Who knows if the trend will survive alongside RWAs (Real World Assets) for the forseeable future? Just my opinion

That's certainly true, mate. It's all about control. The fact that most cryptocurrencies are decentralized, makes most governments furious. On one hand, they want to attract investors into the "revolution", while on the other hand, they want to stop people from using it. The US has been acting aggresively against crypto/Blockchain tech lately, especially after the collapse of FTX. Not to mention, both Russia and Iran have been using crypto to circumvent sanctions.

The industry is just starting to blossom, so we should give it some time to mature. The more investors put money into crypto, the faster governments will legalize it. Considering that the vast majority of the world's countries are in favor of crypto, it's likely the industry will be heavily-regulated in the future. I'm fine with that, as long as crypto remains decentralized and censorship-resistant. Who knows if crypto lives alongside Fiat currencies for generations? Just my thoughts

Confirmed. Thank you!

97 - Abiky

Thanks for the raffle, OP! Good luck guys! 

PayPal has the resources and strong presence in the Fintech sector to drive its stablecoin towards non-stop success. PYUSD could replace both USDT and USDC as the leading stablecoin on the market. Only time will tell us if this will happen or not. I'm not worried about stablecoins since they don't pose a direct threat to crypto's existence. They are centralized after all. Using a stablecoin would be no different than using traditional Fiat currencies.

The only reason you'd use a stablecoin is if you want to save on fees when day trading or if you want to protect yourself from volatility without cashing out to Fiat. I think stablecoins will attract more newcomers into crypto than anything else. Who knows what the future holds for PYUSD? Just my thoughts

Bitcoin is a life-changing cryptocurrency. But that doesn't mean you will get rich quick with it. As with other kinds of money (Fiat, precious metals, etc), you'll need to make a sacrifice to help fulfill your dreams. It's a process that could take years to accomplish.

Most people only get into Bitcoin because they want to make money. Not because they believe in it. It's a pity because this moves Bitcoin away from its intended purpose. The centralization of the market tells us exactly this. No one can predict the future, so we can only hope for the best. Just my opinion

Each stablecoin comes with its risks. After all, they're not backed by the government. You'd need to trust the issuer of the stablecoin (in this case the private company in control of the stablecoin) to maintain the 1:1 peg with the USD "forever". If the issuing company faces bankruptcy or the bank with the USD reserves collapses, you can say bye-bye to your investment for good. USDT has been lucky to maintain its USD peg for long.

On the other hand, USD Coin lost its peg for a short period of time. To be on the safe side, just cash out directly to Fiat (usually to USD) whenever possible. Who knows how low will the crypto market go after USDT's collapse? Just my thoughts

Indeed. Litecoin is one of the most decentralized cryptocurrencies you can find on the market. The problem is that investors are not that interested in decentralization these days. As long as a coin makes them money, nothing else matters. If there's one thing that's holding Litecoin back, that is innovation. There are other cryptocurrencies with better features than LTC itself. Such coins usually have smart contracts functionality and a different consensus mechanism aimed to improve scalability.

These days it's all about the metaverse, AI, NFTs, and "meme" coins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. Unless Litecoin brings something "new and exciting" to the masses, don't expect market prices to go anywhere soon. Our only hope is for BTC to get bullish again for major altcoins (including LTC) to go all the way to the moon. Maybe someday LTC will be worth $1k? Just my opinion

That's precisely what's holding crypto back. By bringing back the middleman, crypto won't be able to achieve its full potential. It's like going back to the era of banking. Wasn't Bitcoin created as a response to banks' failures? Trusting a centralized exchange would be no different than trusting banks with your money.

If people only used decentralized alternatives, crypto would've defeated banks by now. Don't expect CEXs to disappear, even though the collapse of FTX had a negative impact over crypto market prices. CEXs will only become bigger and stronger than ever. Especially now that regulators are weighting on the industry. Who knows if someday FTX makes a comeback? Just my thoughts

Indeed. Unlike Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies, Monero has a steep learning curve. It uses three keys instead of two (spending key, view key, public key). Additionally, Monero wallets ask users how many "mixins" they want before making a transaction (the higher the number, the more anonymous your transaction will be).

I guess that's why Monero is not as widely-adopted as other coins (aside from the fact that it's a privacy coin often attacked by governments themselves). It's likely XMR will end up being traded solely at decentralized exchanges and P2P trading platforms due to fierce government regulations. As long as it's able to stay private and decentralized forever, there should be nothing to worry about. Just my opinion

I think the SEC's aggressiveness towards crypto/Blockchain tech is what refrained Coinbase from launching a token of its own. Once SEC chairman Gary Gensler is removed from office, Coinbase will have the "green light" to do this without restrictions. That is assuming the new chairman is crypto-friendly. If there's too much trouble, Coinbase could move its operations elsewhere (probably a country like Hong Kong or the UAE).

For now, the Base network is doing fine as a L2 scaling solution for Ethereum. People can finally enjoy lower fees and faster speeds without having to move to an alternative blockchain network that's centralized (eg: Binance Smart Chain or Solana). I'm pretty sure airdrop hunters are waiting for Coinbase to launch its own token just to cash in the rewards. However, the company could decide to exclude these entities to help prevent abuse of the system. Who knows what will happen within 1-2 years from now? Just my thoughts

Couldn't agree more with you, mate. The market is being heavily-manipulated as we speak. Not only big investment companies are doing it, but also governments themselves (especially the US with the SEC). They want BTC to crash real hard to buy lots of coins at a discount. It's likely these entities are waiting for the BTC halving to occur, before "pumping" market prices all the way to the moon. If you're smart, you'd follow their footsteps by buying as much "cheap" BTC as possible. Sooner or later, Bitcoin will reach a price of $100k per coin. Even higher, if demand continues to soar at an unprecedented rate.

I think the real trigger for a bullish market will be the swift recovery of the global economy. Central banks like "The FED" and the "ECB" need to stop raising interest rates for everything to get back to normal. At least, a new normal since the Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic are still an on-going crisis. Who knows what the future holds for Bitcoin? Just my opinion

I wouldn't say that Solana has a strong community. Rather, it's an "overhyped" cryptocurrency with a huge number of followers behind it. FTX was heavily-invested in this coin, but it ultimately failed. There are rumors the defunct exchange will dump its SOL holdings on the market. This will add negative pressure over the cryptocurrency's short-term price.

Whenever Solana will survive the tide or be left behind in the dust is yet to be seen. I'd choose other alternatives that are much more reliable and decentralized than Solana itself. It's not about speed or cost-efficiency, but rather security/reliability/censorship-resistance. Most people don't care about this, as they're only looking to make a quick buck. It's up to you to determine whenever Solana is a good investment or not. Do your own research, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Who knows if Solana's days are numbered? Just my thoughts

I think we should blame central banks for this (particularly the FED). Rising interest rates, makes risky assets a less-attractive option to mainstream investors. Until inflation is put under control, don't expect market prices to rise anytime soon. At least, the crypto market is performing better than the stocks market. By far, BTC has been classified as the "best-performing asset of 2023". Once BTC goes up, altcoins will follow.

I'd suggest you buy prominent coins while they're still cheap. We might never be able to see such low prices again after the market turns bullish. Who knows how the crypto market will look like in the future? Just my thoughts

If FTX dumps its crypto holdings, you can bet the market will crash real hard. It'll be a great opportunity for anyone to "buy the dip" before prices go back up again. I have a feeling the negative effects will be short-lived, especially when many institutional investment companies are buying BTC like crazy (BlackRock, MicroStrategy, etc). $100k may just be the tip of the iceberg as the best is yet to come.

I think that once a spot Bitcoin ETF is approved in the US, the bull market will begin. The halving of 2024 could also have a positive effect over BTC's price, but without the ETF, there won't be enough momentum for the cryptocurrency to reach a new ATH. Who knows if buying BTC at current prices will make you rich soon? Just my thoughts