Bitcoin may be pointless for you, that doesn't make it pointless. Wikileaks donors found it extraordinarily useful, for example. Why don't you think a merchant can both avoid the processing fee and then cash out into fiat? Those that can keep the Bitcoin are better off in the long run, but that's not always practical. Coinbase being slow doesn't mean Bitcoin is, although centralized on-off ramps are certainly an issue with the ecosystem. Honestly, I think 10-20 minute final settlement is quite fast, and will get much faster in future. It is still early days.Whole new use-cases are on the horizon wrt actual micropayments.

If you don't need it, don't use it. It is supposed to be a voluntary alternative. What more is there to say?

If you have a gpu that's somewhat decent you can run a cloudminer like nicehash. You will get paid for your mining in btc. It isn't free, you still pay for electricity, and you won't be getting a lot unless you have multiple mining systems with multiple gpus but some dollars worth of bitcoin per week is possible.

I plan on running it now that fall is here. Since it makes more money than it uses electricity and the byproduct is heat it's a win win for warming parts of your home.

-Macro factor (Market direction) - Usually at a very high level the direction of Bitcoin sets the sentiment andn mood of cryptocurrency market. This is because it currently has highest market cap and usually highest transaction volumes too.
-Micro factor (Daily moves) - A huge price change moves the other crypto in an inverse direction. This is because traders use Bitcoin to buy others and hold profits in Bitcoin too. This effectively means they shell out more even if price of other currencies unchanged.

Maybe it’s best if there is the "right" level of privacy. So that privacy is the default for small amounts and everyday transfers but with agency style effort it is still possible to track a few larger transactions. I have a feeling people might not be ready for total privacy yet.
Whatever your view on the "right" level of privacy might be, think about what level will rise in value the most. Probably something in between Bitcoin and Monero. Bitcoin (Lightning) with some privacy improvements should come close to the sweet spot.

When you sign up for Facebook, you know that somewhere in their organization, someone has access to your data. They can go, change your name or delete your profile without your permission. The reason we accept this is because there was no other way to store data online.
What Bitcoin showed was that you could create a piece of software in such a way that only the users were able to change and manipulate records. This is a paradigm shift that will alter every industry we interact with.

 Trading crypto currencies is a brilliant way to make money, however, it isn't as simple as many portray it to be. Each type of currency having several different underlying factors which affect it. Bitcoin has certainly been the most successful one, but that's mainly because of its wide acceptance. Especially if you go on to shop anything out on the dark web, you'll wonder if bitcoin is greater than USD.
 Firstly, you must be a great forex trader, learn the technical analysis involved in trading forex and using those you must find a strategy by back testing various indicators on the crypto currencies charts. Despite having enormous passion towards trading, I do not trade cryptos due to a constant fear of unreliable crashes. Stick to one, keep observing the chart and using simple support and resistances too, you should be able to make some good money.

Some people think holding is contrary to the uses of crypto, however crypto is still in early stages and the uses are quite limited at this time. A lot of people "hodl" just so they can use it in the future (or sell at a higher price) and every individual is free to make their own decisions. The beauty of crypto is you can use it however you want. Many coins can be used as a currency to purchase/sell items, to hold as an investment, to hold for future use, to day-trade, to be used as part of a platform (utility token) - so to say one way is wrong or incorrect is simply counter-intuitive and divisive rhetoric that only isolates people rather than bringing them together.

Bitcoin forks are indeed strange, but a fork doesn't increase the supply of bitcoin any more than simply creating a new coin or ICO creates more bitcoin supply.
It's a new coin, that just happens to share the same blockchain up to the point of the fork, so you inherit all the transactions that happened previous to the fork (but not after).
It's very weird, and hard to grasp why it works. The actual creation of the new coin is not a hard thing to understand. That's just mechanics.

You can’t have Bitcoin without blockchain, but you can have blockchain without Bitcoin. That being said, most people talking about “blockchain technology” want centralized, private, permissioned, limited, weak tea versions of Bitcoin so they can control it. They want this because they fear the openness of Bitcoin and because they’re late to the party. They hype their version, claiming that their version will be better, more secure, etc. In reality, they’ll perform fine until something goes wrong and the whole system will come crashing down. By the time they realize this it’ll be far too late. The Bitcoin rocket will have left.

Price volatility is often bad for transaction of value. Say I buy a car now for 1 bitcoin and the fiat exchange rate doubles in a year, i've effectively spent twice as much on that car compared to paying in fiat. Alternatively if i sell a car for 1 BTC and the price crashes, i've lost money cause my real world expenses are in fiat. If i only bought and sold goods in crypto, 1 BTC would always equal 1 BTC and it wouldnt matter, but because we have to transact in both, volatility makes it hard to use.

Though Bitcoin is technically decentralized, it can be practically centralized if a central party (be it a cartel of large miners or a persuasive group of developers) becomes powerful enough to guide Bitcoin’s development towards their agenda.
Though the economics of mining would suggest that centralization is inevitable, the degree to which users require decentralization will ultimately dictate how much Bitcoin becomes centralized. If users are ardent in their preference for a completely decentralized system, miners can’t consolidate power without risking that the network (and therefore their profits!) will be abandoned.

Digital money isn't just "money" but is part of a larger ecosystem. Consider Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). The typical process is that you use regular money to buy Bitcoin or Etherium to then buy a brand new cryptocurrency. The idea is similar to an IPO as a means to raise money, except IPOs are strictly regulated by the government. ICOs are not strictly regulated and, guess what? Almost every single ICO is scam. Fraud is literally the default.

Bitcoin has value, because a lot of resources must be spent (hardware, electricity and bandwidth) to mine Bitcoins. Gold and Silver are unfounded but they have value, because it’s difficult to be found and mined. The same applies to Bitcoin. Bitcoin has unique features, so people want it, and they pay for it.

So, Bitcoin HAS value. Countries tolerate Bitcoin, because they know that it has value, and it’s not a scam.

Two things come to mind. One is it's obvious volatility, although it's not bad for long term investment (probably). The other is the risk of losing it, since you are responsible for your own money and people are more likely to lock their house than lock their computer.

Anyone breaking in can just walk away with your coin wallets if you aren't cyber security minded!

To cite a personal example:
I'd be wary of using my Debit Card online anywhere as the layer between the debit card and money in my bank is just the transaction waiting to happen. I don't subscribe to Credit Cards. period. I know a lot many people also don't use credit cards. With Bitcoin, the wallet is not tied to my bank account and the money can very easily be loaded onto to my wallet to send across. I don't have to worry about a decline! or a network that is busy! no forms to fill out! No more threat of my data! I just shoot the money across to a Bitcoin Wallet, wait a few minutes and voila! Transaction done. For a minimal cost.
Everyone is happy!

If Bitcoin is a Ponzi Scheme, then it will be the greatest Ponzi Scheme in the history (especially if you factor in the amount of money people investing in building the mining or farm for the Bitcoin). Hence in the future it won’t be called PONZI scheme anymore.Any Ponzi scheme will be called SATOSHI scheme.

Nah, I don’t believe Bitcoin is a Ponzi Scheme…

 A large amount of new/overextended investors who will and already have panick sold during a flash crash. It is no secret that crypto currencies have gained a lot of mainstream attention and with mainstream attention you can be sure that even the average Joe will take a chance on Bitcoin for quick gains. This has led to there being lot of people who aren't used to a market correction which has happened plenty of times in the past .
 Just hodl and ride the wave!

Both yes and no.
1.Bitcoin earned in mining as exempt as of now. There is no law to tax them.
2.Bitcoin purchased for real money for investment purpose is taxed under head capital gain. Long term if held more than 3 yrs otherwise as short term capital gain.
3.Bitcoin if regularly traded will be taxable under head profit and gains from business and profession deeming a specualtion business.
4.Bitcoin received in the normal course of business is taxable under head profits and gains from business and profession.

 Bitcoin is first of its type, a crypto currency which more than 50% of world's population still haven't heard of. It is digital currency but what makes it different is that the currency has no regulator. There is no central bank like RBI or Federal Bank to regulate the flow of Bitcoin in the market. It's hard to understand how the currency came into the market and how it earned its value. The economic behind it is not easy to understand.
 Secondly, Bitcoin involve mathematical algorithms which no one can understand so easily. It requires the use special super power computers in mining Bitcoin.
 So this make Bitcoin difficult to understand.

A Cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum is also a digital and virtual currency.
A digital currency does not have to be based on encryption. It should be paperless and enable digital transactions. It should be widely accepted as a form of payment.
A virtual currency is a subset of digital currency that can be used within a defined space. Lots of online games has the concept of virtual currency that can be earned and spent based on your participation in their online universe.