Any Idea how many accounts they have or how many bitcoins they were holding? It's a sad day for their depositors. I would guess their money is not recoverable as it is now evidence, and claiming a balance may make that person an accessory. Although I doubt it's cost effective to go after most users.

Not surprising considering China banns words like democracy and oppression. Without net neutrality this is what our internet would look like also. Hell, why not ban the word bitcoin? Ya know, to protect the children.  

If you are not using a legal, registered business then you are handing your money over to criminals plane and simple. If you think that's a good financial decision... then best of luck. The moment they get into any kind of trouble they are going to disappear with your btc. You will have no legal recourse, no legal standing; you may even be considered an accessory to their crimes. At that point you will have more than your financial loss to worry about.


EDIT: well, surprise surprise.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2047405.0;topicseen

Fear smells just like money. 

Just to be clear, in the U.S. you absolutely owe tax on bitcoin gains. It has nothing at all to do with being a currency. You owe on ALL gains. If you find a diamond in your back yard you owe on that also. There is no free profit.

I only use bitcoin to make online purchases. And I have not sold any bitcoin for other currency. My formula is to buy bitcoin wait for an increase in value then spend bitcoin... then repeat. This way I am not paying fees to switch back to shity fiat. Why do that? in fact I normally deal with sellers who give me an additional 1-3% off for using bitcoin. If you look you will find tens of thousands of retailers who take bitcoin now.

It actually adjusts up AND down depending on how much mining power there is on the network. These adjustments seek to keep the supply at about 1 block discovered every 10 min. So mining may get harder, but the supply stays the same. Eventually the coins will be mined and "mining" will switch to routing transactions for profit.
No because fiat is centrally controlled and that leads to unfair practices. The issuers of fiat can just print as much as they want, even though that reduces the value of the fiat you have. It essentially allows the issuer to steal value. In bitcoin no one can stop you from using it, make you use it, set the value, decide who gets it, print more... All this and more can and is done in fiat systems.    
Consider that anyone can buy some amount of BTC and realize the growth in value. When the price rises the rich may get richer, but the poor get richer also. Whether you can afford to buy $1million in BTC or $.01 we all see the same percentage in growth.
It's just money, that's all. It is primarily a convenient store of value to trade for goods, services, etc. A fair money anyone can use but nobody can control. The opposite of fiat.

P.S. You are asking the right questions!

The first thing to learn about bitcoin is that nobody knows something that you don't. You may get 100 answers to your questions about future price, but these are simply guesses you could have made. Only you can decide what a good price for you is.

War? lol.

Such drama. I could not be happier with a process that is resolving on a solution that is a true consensus. This is exactly what is logical. Any change should be nearly impossible to implement.  Only when it is in everyones interest does a change happen. Scaling is an issue that concerns us all, these BIPs are solutions everyone can live with.
It's working!

It may fork on Aug. 1 or it may not. But it will not really become two bitcoins, rather a new version will become the one and only bitcoin and the other occurrence will be something else. If there is a true split, a hard fork, then you will have to make some decisions. If nothing happens or a soft fork happens you really don't have to do anything.

It depends on where you live. In the U.S. there has always been a capitol gains tax on bitcoin. Whatever profit you see from selling your coins is taxable. If you lose money you may also be able to claim a loss, but your profits are certainly taxable.

  WTF? I learn something new every day from you guys.
At first I thought baby lobster pearls were a new crappy alt-coin.

for what it's worth, 8 peers is a normal amount for a home computer with no modification to your network.

I don't see these as problems.

1. You DO NOT need to wait for confirmation if you use a payment processor (most do), or if the sale is not large. Credit card companies do this now for small purchases. They know that is not cost effective to do a fake transaction for $10 bucks.

2. Most retailers who take it never touch bitcoin. You pay with BTC but the payment processor deposits dollars in their bank account each day. Of course if they do keep their coins then they would be likely to make additional profits over time. Although with risk.

My guess is no new ATH until 2018.

I assume everyone is aware that the future is unknowable. Asking for what others think has a value close to zero. It may even delude you into thinking you know something.

For collateral you need "secured collateral" Like a car title or the deed to a home that the lender or escrow holds.

LOL, that is funny. 

Think of it this way. If anyone could "double" bitcoins then why would they ask you for bitcoins? It is a scam. 

For the record, that is absolutely incorrect. In most places on Earth you will owe a tax of some sort. In the USA it is capitol gains tax. No question about it.

Why would I do that?