IMHO, IGotSpots is annoying, incompetent, and irresponsible as a developer, but he's not a scammer. That word is thrown around too loosely around here.

I'm a little bit old to be dating now, but if I were ever to go on another first date, I would not mention Bitcoin. I also wouldn't mention fiat money, stocks, bonds, or Real estate. There are a lot of interesting things to discuss on the first date. Finances is probably not one of them.

For those who don't care about remaining anonymous and don't care about centralizing their personal Bitcoin (depositing Bitcoin onto an ATM card would be a form of voluntary centralization), it might be a very convenient way to spend their bit coin. At this point, I would be extremely leery of any ATM cards. The major payment processors (VISA and MasterCard) are not open to the idea of Bitcoin and could force the card issuer to stop excepting Bitcoin deposits with little to no notice.

It is not necessary to have full DOX, or even the name of a developer. As a matter of fact, it may even cause a felt sense of security. It is important, however, to be familiar with the developer. If the developer is a BTC forum member with a good reputation, it is a big plus. However, if the developer is a newbie, that should raise a red flag.  Please note that a red flag does not necessarily mean a scam or a bad coin. It just means that it is something to take note of.

Since you're a security rather than a coin, you're going to find it difficult getting listed on an US exchanges such as Bittrex, Cryptsy, or Poloniex. They are not licensed to trade securities and would open themselves up to some serious legal problems if they listed you.

I don't know about the rest of the world, but many countries have similar securities laws as the U.S., so you may be facing an uphill battle.

Good luck.

Hyperinflation is a very real problem in many countries, but most western countries aren't experiencing anything close to hyperinflation. Most of the points that you made are very true, but they don't support your thesis. I do believe that the world economy is in serious trouble, but we aren't experiencing hyperinflation (yet).

In many ways, New York IS the financial center of the world. Because of the globalization of the economy, it is less so than in the past, but it is still the center. Perhaps as time passes, that center will shift. But for now, it is still New York.

The fact that Litecoin will be halving it's reward is irrelevant. I don't know how many times I've seen a coin's supporters get all excited because the reward is about to be cut in half only to be disappointed when nothing happens. They seem to think that it will have some bearing on the price, but of course it doesn't. It doesn't matter what happens to the reward. It has no effect on the current supply, so it's unreasonable to expect the price to go up when the supply remains the same.

Halving of the reward only affects future supply, so at best, it might help keep the price from plumiting due to inflation, but it won't make the coin more valuable than it is today.

If the Chinese can stop another bubble from happening, I'm all for it. Bubbles always hurt the underlying economy and benefit only a lucky few. The OP sounds like he thinks that the idea of stopping a bubble is something to worry about, but I disagree. Stability is better for Bitcoin and the underlying economy.

With that said, I seriously that three Chinese exchanges can control the market to that extreme. I hope I'm wrong. Bubbles are never good because they always burst.

That is so true. It's really a shame that more people don't understant the opportunities that walls create. Not only do they provide liquidity, they provide you with an opportunity to buy or sell without moving the market. If you want to acquire a large position without driving the price up and costing yourself a fortune, wait for a big sell wall. Not only will you get the opportunity to screw somebody trying to drive the price down, you'll also get a sizable position for a reasonable price.

Buy walls give people with large positions the opportunity to exit their position without screwing everybody over by driving the price down. So don't think of large walls as something bad. Think of them as an opportunity.

Altcoin is to Bitcoin as clone was to IBM PC. After IBM lost its position as PC leader, clones were (are) simply known as PCs. When Bitcoin loses its dominant position, alts will probably simply be called coins or digital. People will forget that the term "alt" even existed as the have forgotten about the term "clone."

You can verify a bank manually with PayPal. They will send two micro-deposits to your bank account and when you recieve them, just log on to PayPal and enter the two amounts in the verification page. That's how I verified my bank account because it wouldn't accept the automatic verification method either.

Good luck.

I know you probably don't want to hear this, but trying to solo mine with your gpu is like trying to dig a gold mine using only a spoon. It's theoretically possible, but it's not going to get you anywhere. If you have your heart set on mining, I would try MiningRigRentals or NiceHash. If you time it right, you can get some pretty low rates for scrypt mining on NiceHash.

Good luck and happy mining.

Bitcoin is an absolute must, of course. You might also want to consider Doge (their community is fantastic) and Litecoin. Another possibility would be DASH. Of all the "Dark" coins, it is the user friendly and widely held.

Before you decide however, check to ensure that the coins you choose are relatively stable. The last thing you want to do is accept payment in a coin that crashes before you have a chance to exchange it for Bitcoin or fiat.

I wouldn't read too much into this. They are simply shedding some dead weight by getting rid of unprofitable divisions. It's actually a good sign (for HSBC stockholders) and should make the company stronger. It's definately not a sign of the end of the banking industry. Banks went through much worse in 2008 and the ones who survived emerged stronger.

You can only float debt for so long before you are buried in interest payments. Decades ago, the national debt didn't matter because it was all owed to domestic sources. It was like taking money out of one pocket and putting it in the other. In today's world however, the majority of the debt is foreign held and all interest that is paid leaves the U.S. economy.

The national debt (what the OP was talking about is National Net Worth. Very different animal) is a serious problem that, unless addressed, will have widespread financial consequences in the near future.

It really depends on many factors. Are we talking about a retirement account, or are we talking about discretionary investments? Is your portfolio large, or small?

For a retirement account, I would never invest in Bitcoin. It is much too volatile and a person nearing retirement age cannot afford the losses that volatility might bring. If we are talking about discretionary investments and a large portfolio, I see no reason why Bitcoin could not be a speculative investment in a well diversified portfolio. For most people however Bitcoin is too volatile.

For your average investor, I recommend investing in an index fund until they build a portfolio large enough for diversification. Then, and only then, I see no reason not to use Bitcoin is a speculative investment.

There is nothing wrong with speculative investments as long as you have a well balanced portfolio. Not only will it give you a chance to cash in on a bonanza, should it occur. It also adds a little bit of fun to an otherwise dreary portfolio.

Trying to predict when the bubble will burst is a recipe for disaster. When you recognize a bubble, it's time to get out. That doesn't mean that you have to exit the market completely. You would definately want to get out of you cyclical stocks though. Especially if a large chunk of their shares are held by institutional investors.

All bubbles eventually burst and its a pretty good idea to have a good cash position when it finally bottoms out to take advantage all the bargains available. So a partial liquidation of one's position wouldn't be a bad idea.

Just hanging on and riding the bubble looking at the long term won't help either. All that will do is erase a decades worth of gains like it did in 2008.

Sam Giancana claimed that he ordered the hit of Kennedy because they thought that they bought themselves a president when Joe Kennedy made a desk with Giancana to deliver Chicago which put Kennedy just over Nixon. But instead of being grateful, Bobby attacked Giancana and other mob bosses in congressional hearings.

Did Giancana really order the hit? Or was his claims simply the ramblings of an exiled (he was living in Mexico at the time) ex-mob-boss looking to seem important again? Maybe it was the CIA, or maybe even Castro. We'll never really know.

Personally, I believe the mafia theory. What's interesting is that Giancana and other mob bosses worked with the CIA on the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Maybe the mob and the CIA were in on the Kennedy assignation together.

You mentioned Colonial America and it made me think of the founding fathers of the United States. They were all criminals and would have been hanged as traitors had the British won. We think of them as patriots, but it all depends upon your perspective. One thing is for sure though. They were breaking the law.