[Riddles and Brain-Teasers for Bitcointalk Members (Newbies – Members)]

I am trying to come up with some entertaining ways to engage newbies in learning some basics about bitcoin, crypto, and online security.

I came up with the idea of creating stories and riddles about ways in which people can lose their coins or have them stolen. I hope our youngest forum members will find them interesting to read and discuss what went wrong. Hopefully, that will teach them how to properly secure their assets and not repeat the same mistakes as the unlucky individuals in these made-up stories.

If there is enough interest in the topic, I will add new stories regularly and handout rewards in the form of merits to the quickest and most-complete answers. 

Riddles and Brain-Teasers for Bitcointalk Members (Newbies – Members)

Local Rules:

•   This thread is intended for users of Newbie, Jr. Member, and Member rank.
•   Everyone else can freely comment, give suggestions, or propose corrections. Still, I would like to ask you not to answer the questions and give our beginners a chance to participate.
•   If you have suggestions on what kind of riddles and stories I should post next, please PM me.
•   To prevent the possibility of abuse, I WILL NOT merit a newbie whose registration date is after a riddle was posted. Your account has to be older than the date of the problem you are solving.
•   Pay attention to the stories, check the pictures, and links to solve the riddles.

This thread will have two statuses: 
 
•   Open for all ranks
•   Open only to Newbie – Member ranks

When I post a new story, the thread will be in status: Open only to Newbie – Member ranks. It means that only users ranked newbie, jr. member, and member can post. When the thread is in this mode, this picture will be visible in the OP:



If nobody manages to solve the problem after a couple of days, I will change the status to: Open for all ranks. In this status, members of all ranks can take part in solving the problem. When the thread is in this mode, this picture will be visible in the OP:

Current thread status: Open only to Newbie – Member ranks

Riddle #1
Riddle #2
Riddle #3
Riddle #4
Riddle #5
Riddle #6
Riddle #7
Riddle #8
Riddle #9
Riddle #10

[Chasing the Draw]

This is my second betting experiment which I call Chasing the Draw. A few weeks ago, I wrote about My Football Gambling System: A Betting Experiment. The idea there was to bet on draws when your selected team plays at home and on them to win when they play away from home. Just like in the first experiment, I haven’t played with real money. This is just a compilation of the team’s results to show what would have happened if you were betting in this way.

I selected six football teams: Two from the French Ligue 2, two from the Mexican Liga MX, and two from the Spanish Laliga 2.   

The selected teams:

•   Paris FC
•   Sochaux
•   Santos Laguna
•   Atlas
•   Sporting Gijon
•   Ponferradina

Why these teams and leagues?

I picked the teams positioned in the 5th and 7th place in their respective leagues when the experiment began. The idea was not to bet on the favourites because they win most of their matches. These leagues are some of the most evenly-contested competitions where many games end in draws.

I took screenshots of the league tables when the experiment started.

Ligue 2 – France

Liga MX – Mexico

Laliga 2 – Spain

The betting system

These are the rules for the Martingale system I applied:

•   Every time my selected teams play, I bet on draws (X).
•   If the bet losses, I multiple the stake by 1.5x for the next match. ($3.00 > $4.50 > $6.75, etc.). I continue multiplying the stake money until my selection wins.
•   When the team draws, the cycle restarts with the initial stake amount.

Why these selections?

Draws in football matches are very common, and the odds on these outcomes are generally rewarding. I initially wanted to try this system by doubling the stake every time my selections lost (same as in my 1st betting experiment). But Trofo suggested that it’s a good idea to increase the stake by 1.5x instead. This allows for better bankroll management and less money invested.

Are there any risks with this system?

As you will see in the team results in the 2nd post, you may experience over 10 losses in a row. In that case, you’ll need enough money to continue playing the system. If the winning odds aren’t high enough, you won’t register any profits even if your selection wins. That’s because you are increasing the stake by 1.5x and not by 2x.

How I choose to bet, and what profit/losses did I make?

•   My initial stake is always $3.
•   In the 2nd post, you will see a complete overview of each team’s results during the 2020/2021 football season. This includes the opponents, the odds for draws, stake money, and final results.
•   A profit/loss count is posted after every round. All odds were taken from a local live score https://www.rezultati.com/.
•   I think they use bet365 as a reference for their odds. The good thing is that the odds on crypto bookies are higher than on bet365 and many other fiat bookies.
•   All posted odds are from rezultati.com and show the X betting selections, respectively.
•   All results were taken from that site and compared with official stats at https://www.ligue2.fr/, https://ligamx.net/, and https://www.laliga.com/.


THIS IS NOT BETTING ADVICE, AND SHOULDN’T BE CONSIDERED AS SUCH!
THIS IS WRITTEN FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY! 

[Način upotrebe]

Mislim da o ovom alatu nije bilo riječi na našem lokalu pa ću ja da ga predstavim.
Orginalnu temu u Meti pokrenuo je LoyceV i nalazi se ovdje: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5112444.0

Kada kliknete na bilo koju raspravu, npr. Pregled Bitcointalk Signature-Ad kampanja, sigurno ste primjetili da možete kliknuti na "All" da bi čitava rasprava bila vidljiva na jednoj stranici. To je korisna opcija ako tražite neki svoj post ili neke ključne riječi gdje možete izvršiti pretragu preko CTRL+F.


Ali ako tema ima previše stranica, opcija "All" nije dostupna. Dobar primjer toga je naša lokalna tema Novosti koja trenutno ima 85 stranica.
Da bi ta ili neka druga tema postala vidljiva na jednoj stranici, može se koristiti LoyceV Show all scrapper.

Način upotrebe

1. Otvorite temu koju želite da prikažete i kopirajte njen Topic ID. Topic ID je onaj broj kojeg vidite u linku od teme. Npr, topic=901589.0.
2. Potrebno je da sljedeći link ubacite u novi post bilo gdje na forumu: https://loyce.club/showall/5102296.html.
3. Broj na kraju linka (5102296) zamjenite sa Topic ID od teme koju želite da pogledate (901589).
4. Link se more ubaciti u novi post, ne edit nekog prethodnog posta.

Poslje toga je potrebno sačekati da scrapper pokupi temu i kreira je. U zavisnosti od toga koliko stranica ima, to može potrajati i sat ili dva. Kada se stranica kreira, možete pobrisati link ako vam smeta. Link se može ubaciti u novu temu koju otvorite u Archival podforumu npr koji nije toliko bitan.

Evo primjer kako scrape-ana tema Zbirni topic za davanje merita za kvalitetne postove izgleda:
https://loyce.club/showall/4265795.html   

LoyceV tvrdi da je potrebno sačekati 10 sekundi + 7 sekundi za svaku stranicu koja se scrape-a. Gornja granica za scrape-anje je 500 stranica.

Kome ovo djeluje previše komplikovano, može koristiti i https://ninjastic.space/search.
Isto tako ubacite Topic ID, vaše korisničko ime, i ključnu riječ/riječi ako želite da izvršite pretragu na osnovu tih riječi.
Ne znam koliko je precizan ninjastic.space i da li je u mogućnosti da pronađe sve postove na osnovu unesenih podataka.     

[for free]

Offering my avatar space for FREE and donating my 1st-week signature earnings to a good cause.

After several unsuccessful attempts, I have managed to get into the most prestigious campaign on the forum – ChipMixer. I thought, what better way to mark this occasion than to give something back to the community.

Since ChipMixer doesn’t require its participants to wear avatars, I’d like to offer my avatar space for free. But it has to be for a good cause, and I don’t want to advertise for-profit organizations. A few months ago, I wore a Not Your Keys avatar. I am looking for something like that created by members of the community. I’d like to wear the avatar until the end of March.

I need your help to suggest some appropriate avatars, and then I will select the one I like the most.
Besides the avatar, I’d like to donate the payment I will earn for this week (until Friday the 12th March) to a good cause.

The organization has to accept bitcoin payments and have a proven track record. What organizations do you know which accept bitcoin and are for a good cause?

[Please keep discussions on topic! Let’s talk about user experiences and not whether you are pro or against the Lightning Network.]

It has been over 5 years since the first version of the Lightning Network whitepaper was released. LN is an off-chain scaling solution created for Bitcoin. It allows two users to make a payment channel and transfer bitcoins almost instantly and with minimal fees. If that sounds too complicated, feel free to use custodial wallets (like the Blue Wallet), where you are not required to open your own payment channels.  

This network can be integrated into altcoins as well. Litecoin already uses it. As Andreas Antonopoulos explained in his YouTube video, LN can be used on other blockchains that support multi-signature addresses and time locks.  

I will not go into any more specifics about the network because Rath_ has already written several extensive topics about it.

To learn more about it, I suggest you take a look at:

Basics of the Lightning Network
The Lightning Network FAQ

1.   I would like to know if you have ever used the Lightning Network?
2.   How often do you use it, and how would you rate the experience and difficulty of use?
3.   Which Lightning implementation did you try, and what is your favourite one?
4.   What do you think can be further improved?

Please keep discussions on topic! Let’s talk about user experiences and not whether you are pro or against the Lightning Network.

I have personally never used the Lightning Network. Not because I am avoiding it, but because I am not exchanging money with the same users multiple times that would require me to use it. I have also not yet used a service or platform where I was required to send Lightning payments.

[it does not seem to scale to the required size.]

I was reading the cryptography mailing list when I came across something very interesting that dates back to November 2008. According to Wikipedia's article about Cypherpunks, the post I am about to share below was the first answer that satoshi got about Bitcoin.

Cypherpunker James A. Donald was the first who noticed what Bitcoin will have problems with scalability. In his reply, he wrote:

We very, very much need such a system, but the way I understand your proposal, it does not seem to scale to the required size.

You can read his entire reply below:
https://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2008-November/014814.html

In a time when everyone is talking about the scalability limitations, I found it interesting to mention who realized it first, immediately after reading the original whitepaper.

[DISCAIMER]

In January I talked about The unsung heroes of Bitcointalk and found examples of exemplary behaviour by Bitcointalk members.

This will be a similar topic, but this time the main focus will be on cryptocurrency exchanges. One of the most common mistakes that users do is they send their coins to the wrong addresses or blockchains. Because these addresses belong to custodial and centralised exchanges, most of the time, the money is simply lost. Exchanges don’t want to bother recovering these funds.

In the list below, I have listed five examples of where exchanges took some time to resolve their client issues and were able to recover their funds.

DISCAIMER:
- This is not support or endorsement of any of the mentioned exchanges and services! Before you send your coins to any exchange, do your own research, check the reputation of said platform, and ask the community for help if you are unsure!

1.
 
On 28 September 2019, greggson sent $4.000 worth of TUSD to a USDT wallet address. The coins were sent from ABRA wallet to a USDT address on EXXA exchange. Naturally, the user doesn’t own the private keys to recover the funds himself, so he contacted the exchange and asked for their help.

He called the head office in Singapore and was promised they would look into the case and contact him within a few days. Three days later, greggson is told to give them the correct address to deposit his TUSD and deposit some ether to cover the transaction fees. The user deposited 0.115 ETH ($20 at the time) and waited.

Another two days passed before greggson noticed that his 0.115 ETH deposit now shows only 0.11464805 ETH. Within an hour, the user informed the Bitcointalk community that his funds were recovered and credited to his account. The exchange credited his account with USDT instead of TUSD.

YAAAAASSSSS!! I just checked my EXXA wallet and $4K of USDT has been deposited
I can't believe EXXA rectified the situation but they took it one step beyond even converted my original $4K of TUSD to $4K USDT and deposited the whole $4K into my EXXA wallet
WHOO-WHOO!! THANK YOU SO bitcointalk community and to DRAGON!!
A-L-O-H-A 🤙

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5189161.msg52696989#msg52696989


2.
 
Freewallet is a multicurrency wallet with a built-in exchange. If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s the wallet that Elon Musk criticised at the beginning of February by saying:

“Your app sucks”

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1359390452772966404

This service has a bad reputation on Bitcointalk, but that isn’t the topic for today’ discussion.
In April 2019, kingplaya4 started a scam accusation thread against Freewallet because he was missing funds he attempted to exchange over the platform.

The user sent 1.89 BTC and wanted to exchange those coins for BAT tokens. The exchange remained uncompleted for several hours, so he contacted Freewallet support to see what was going on. When he didn't receive precise details of when his funds will be sent to his wallet, he accused them of scamming.

A Freewallet representative responded that his tokens had been sent to the wrong ETH address. Therefore, it would take some time before they can be returned to the rightful owner:

Hello! We'd like to once again emphasize that as we are talking about the transaction sent to a wrong address, this case may require some time to be resolved. We are doing our best to solve it for you as soon as possible. Thank you.

Five days after the scam accusation was created, Freewallet informed the community that the tokens have been retrieved and sent to the correct address:

Hello, we are happy to inform you that your case has been successfully resolved. Thank you for your patience and have a great weekend!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5134482.msg50784980#msg50784980
 
kingplaya4 confirmed that he received his BAT tokens, and this case was successfully resolved:

Just wanted to say Freewallet did return all the coins to me and I have been able to exchange them back into BTC. They returned them several days ago, I was just waiting on making the exchange and wanted to make sure I would be able to get the coins out of the wallet and do the exchange successfully. Thanks to the freewallet representative on here who helped.

3.
 
P2PB2B.io is another cryptocurrency exchange with a dubious reputation on Bitcointalk.
In December 2019, BitcoiNaked accused them of scamming him for $3.000 worth of XTZ coins. The user says he wanted to participate in an IEO on their exchange. But that IEO got cancelled, and when he attempted to withdraw his funds, the exchange refused to authorise the withdrawal because of "suspicious activity".

The exchange responded, saying that an error is the reason why BitcoiNaked hasn't received his money, and he should try again. They also made irrelevant comments about him changing his Bitcointalk password recently and being an account seller.    

After 3 weeks, the user finally got his Tezos coins and was able to withdraw them.

So i finally received my funds into my wallet, i do feel like i had to go through so many steps and accusations to get my money. Nontheless fair play to them to deposit my money. I can't say now that i have been scammed since they returned my money, so for me now they seem incompetent, since a withdrawal for me took 3 weeks and tons of running after my funds to get a withdrawal.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5207571.msg53283849#msg53283849


4.
 
In May 2017, CryptoManiacHen sent 7 ETH from his Exodus account to Yobit. The only problem is that he sent the coins to an ETC address. The user reached out to Yobit support that confirmed that his ether had been sent to the wrong address.

A little bit later, Yobit sent the user an activation code that would allow him to claim the lost coins from Yobit's insurance fund. CryptoManiacHen entered the code on the address they sent him. His ether was returned to his Yobit account by the insurance fund.

You guys won't believe this.  Yobit gave me an activation code and then a link to enter it which had gave me the full amount of my ETH from their insurance fund.  WTF.  Problem solved. I truly can't believe it.

Has anyone had a similar experience with an exchange where funds were returned from an insurance fund like this? This is the first time I hear about it.


5.
 
The last case is from February 2021. TradeMeUp wanted to receive some tether on https://exchange.blockchain.com/, but he made a mistake and sent his client an ETH address instead. The sender deposited the funds to the wrong address, and TradeMeUp couldn’t access them.  

After he contacted Blockchain.com support, he was initially told that his money could be lost if sent to the wrong address, or it could take months for it to be recovered. Luckily, it took only three days. TradeMeUp informed the community that his coins were recovered and sent to the correct address.

Update. They returned full amount without any fees to correct USDT address less than in week. It's amazing! How i can change title of this topic (scamming is no longer actual)?

If you know of other good examples where exchanges recovered the money for Bitcointalk users, feel free to share them in the posts below!

http://loyce.club/showall/4265795.html

[Tools > Add-Ons > BBcode]

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or somewhere else. I asked hilariousandco who said it can be in Meta or Off-topic. Hope it stays here though. Here it goes.

Sometimes when I create threads, I like to write the content in Word, and then I copy/paste the text to Bitcointalk. I find the Word environment easier to work with. When a thread has plenty of bbcode entries such as bold, italicised, underlined, different font sizes, etc., it can become tiresome working with each line of text to make it look the way you want it to.

When preparing the 2nd post in My Football Gambling System: A Betting Experiment, I needed to highlight each line individually and add bbcodes for underlined, green/red text, and bold text. It was time-consuming and tiresome. I thought: There has to be an easier way to do this.

I tried with a few online tools that convert a Word doc/docx into bbcode, such as https://any2bb.com/ or http://www.ecardmax.com/hoteditor/. But that didn’t give me satisfactory results. I put the results of these two converters in the screenshot below one next to the other. Compare it with the 2nd post in my thread, and you will notice how messed up the formatting is.



After a lot of searching, I finally came across a bbcode extension for Libre Office. I downloaded and installed Libre office, installed the extension and gave it a try. I finally got somewhere and was able to produce a decent copy of my Word document.

Below is a screenshot of how it looks when you convert a Word text to bbcode with Libre Office and the bbkode extension. On the left side are the results of the conversion with Libre Office. On the right is a screenshot taken from the thread, which was edited line by line in Bitcointalk.



As you can see, they are almost identical. There seems to be a difference in the colour shades between the two screenshots. But honestly, I prefer the green colour on the left more than the original.

The resulting bbcode of the converted document is quite messy, but it works:

Code:

[B][SIZE=12pt]Paris FC[/SIZE][/B]

[U][SIZE=10pt]Round 1[/SIZE][/U][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Chambly vs [/SIZE][COLOR=#00B050][SIZE=10pt]Paris FC [/SIZE][/COLOR][SIZE=10pt]0:3
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Odds: 3.25
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Stake: $3.00[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][B][SIZE=10pt]Profit/Loss: +$9.75[/SIZE][/B][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][U][SIZE=10pt]Round 2[/SIZE][/U][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][COLOR=#FF0000][SIZE=10pt]Paris FC [/SIZE][/COLOR][SIZE=10pt]vs Valenciennes 1:0
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Odds: 3.10
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Stake: $3.00[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][B][SIZE=10pt]Profit/Loss: -$3.00[/SIZE][/B][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][U][SIZE=10pt]Round 3[/SIZE][/U][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Amiens vs [/SIZE][COLOR=#00B050][SIZE=10pt]Paris FC [/SIZE][/COLOR][SIZE=10pt]1:2
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Odds: 3.50
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Stake: $6.00[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][B][SIZE=10pt]Profit/Loss: +$21.00[/SIZE][/B][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][U][SIZE=10pt]Round 4[/SIZE][/U][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][COLOR=#FF0000][SIZE=10pt]Paris FC [/SIZE][/COLOR][SIZE=10pt]vs Nancy 0:2
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Odds: 2.80
[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]Stake: $3.00[/SIZE][SIZE=10pt]
[/SIZE][B][SIZE=10pt]Profit/Loss: -$3.00[/SIZE][/B] 

Here is how you can do it as well:

1.   Download and install Libre Office from the official website: https://www.libreoffice.org/
2.   Download and install the BBkode extension for Libre Office: https://extensions.libreoffice.org/en/extensions/show/bbkode
3.   Edit your document in Libre Office or copy/paste the finished document from Word.
4.   Highlight the text that you want to convert to bbcode.


5.   In Libre Office, click on Tools > Add-Ons > BBcode



6.   A new window will appear with the text converted to bbcode. Click inside the box, hit CTRL+A to copy the content, and paste it into your topic/post on Bitcointalk. Play around with the “equalise font name” and “equalise font size” options to see the results.




This is not a perfect solution and can’t recreate everything. But it can help with the basics.
If someone knows a better way, please share it.

EDIT: FatFork found an excellent online converter that works with lists and tables as well. It's easy to use and produces great results.
The link to his post can be found here > SCEditor

[Why is China leading the mining race?]

NOTE: I posted a similar thread a few days ago in Development & Technical Discussion that got moved to the mining section. After that, the thread was thrashed by the admin of the mining board. I would like to keep this one here if that is all right, so @mods please don't move it to the mining board.

We know that 4 out of the 5 biggest mining pools are located in China, and they control 60-65% of the world’s hashrate. My focus will not be on the pools because hashrate can be easily directed to other non-Chinese pools if needed. What could be worrying is the centralisation in the production of mining equipment and mining farms located inside China’s borders.

Why is China leading the mining race?

The biggest reason is cheap electricity. Hydroelectric power, wind farms, and energy produced from burning coal. The electricity produced by these facilities is more than the supply demands. A lot of it would have been wasted if the produced energy wasn’t directed towards mining bitcoin.

According to GlobalPetrolPrices.com, the price of electricity in June 2020 in kWh for households amounts to $0.085 in China. In the US, the same amount of electricity costs $0.149. Electricity is the most expensive in Germany, where 1 kWh costs $0.385.



If we switch to electricity prices for businesses, we see a very different picture. The cost in China is $0.104/kWh and it the US it’s $0.111/kWh. The difference isn’t that big. Surprisingly, Aruba and Bahamas are at the bottom of this list with $0.274 and $0.305 per kWh.



Low Prices = Centralisation of Mining Power?

Chinese mining firms once dominated the market by over 70%, but that rate is slowly but steadily dropping to 65% and 60%. The problem could be that still too much of the hashrate is centralised in a region under a regime that could attempt to control, oppose, or destroy it. China doesn’t keep it a secret that they want to create their own national digital currency. From the regime's point of view, the big focus on bitcoin could affect their own digital asset they are planning to release sooner or later.

They don’t have to ban bitcoin mining, but they could hit miners where it hurts the most: The source and access to power. Increase electricity costs, make it less profitable, and have them abandon ship and take their equipment elsewhere.   

The Northern American continent is now taking a decent chunk in this industry with new centres opening in the USA and Canada.

The US helps in decentralising bitcoin mining

Suppose we are to trust the stats provided by GlobalPetrolPrices.com from above. In that case, the USA's institutional price for electricity is not much more expensive than in China.   

In October 2020, the US crypto mining company Marathon announced that it partnered with a local power provider to supply them with electricity for their mining operations. The location for this new facility is in Hardin, Montana.

According to media reports, the price of this electricity is $0.028 per kWh. This is well below the figures that GlobalPetrolPrices.com reported. The initial report claimed that the company plans to install 11.500 Antminer S19 Pro with some already in operation.

In December 2020, a new announcement was made. It was mentioned that Marathon had purchased an additional number of 10.000 Antminer S-19 Pro miners. These will be delivered throughout 2021, and once all are installed, Marathon will have over 33.500 miners (not sure where the others came from). These numbers were later boosted with another purchase of 70.000 Antminer S-19 miners taking the overall count to well over 100.000 ASIC miners once all are deployed.

There seems to be ever-growing interest by some Chinese miners to relocate their operations to the States. The US offers greater political stability and freedom, not just competitive prices. This is good for the entire industry and helps in decentralising bitcoin mining. Marathon is not the only facility, and currently, there are around 15 mining companies in USA and Canada.

Another report discusses how the Chinese government has started suspending bank accounts of Chinese miners who have been found exchanging bitcoin for yuan over OTC platforms. Unable to convert their coins into fiat and pay for electricity and other expenses, some firms have shut down, while others have fled to Russia or Kazakhstan. 

What is your take on all of this? Do you believe that countries like USA, Canada, Russia, etc. will become the powerhouses of mining operations in the future?
Do you see China as a treat to decentralization?


Sources of information and further reading material:

1.   https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/mining/china/
2.   https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-miner-marathon-profitability-joint-venture-us-power-provider
3.   https://www.coindesk.com/chinese-miners-struggle-to-pay-for-electricity

[ja igram X]

Hajde da napravimo jednu temu gdje možemo pisati o klađenju na sport. Ipak su kripto kasina i kladionice gotovo najpopularniji način upotrebe bitcoina i drugih kriptovaluta. Kad obratimo pažnju na potpise koji članove nose i reklame koje se nalaze na forumu, vidimo da većina ima veze sa klađenjem. Neka nam ova tema posluži kao zbirna za sve što ima veze sa klađenjem na sport.
 
U našem lokalu jedino znam za Trofu koji voli da se kladi. Jel ima još kladioničara? Ja sa vremena na vrijeme volim da ponešto odigram ali nisam neki zagriženi kladioničar koji svakodnevno igra.

Jučer sam postao temu My Football Gambling System: A Betting Experiment gdje sam htio da vidim da li bi bilo isplativo pokušati primjeniti jednu vrstu Martingale sustava. Ideja je bila da nađem par timova i uvijek se kladim na isti ishod u zavisnosti od toga da li tim igra kod kuće ili u gostima. Sve detalje, rezultate i mogući profit možete vidjeti u samoj temi.

Klađenje bi izgledalo ovako:

- Svaki put kad odabrani tim igra kod kuće, ja igram X.
- Kada igra u gostima, ja igram 2 na pobjedu gosta.
- Ako promašim, duplam iznos za slijedeću utakmicu.
- Ako pogodim, krećem ispočetka sa početnim ulogom.

Naravno ovo je samo teorija, ali bilo mi je zanimljivo igrati se s tim. Da li je neko pokušao nešto slično ili neki drugi sistem koji vam je donio lovu?

[The selected teams]

This is an experiment of what would happen if I followed a specific system in my sports gambling. I haven’t tried it out in practice or used it with real money bets. I wanted to see how profitable it could be to select a few teams and gamble on the same outcomes for those teams every time.

My choice fell on 2 teams from the French Ligue 2 and 2 from the Dutch Eerste Divisie. All teams play in the second divisions of their respective leagues.

The selected teams:

•   Paris FC
•   Sochaux
•   Nijmegen
•   Roda

Why these teams and leagues?

I wanted to perform the experiment with relatively well-positioned teams on the table but not positioned too high to always be considered favourites. The teams need to win enough matches in a league season but not be top of their leagues. Otherwise, the odds wouldn’t be favourable.

I selected teams positioned in the 6th and 7th place in their leagues when this experiment began. You can see from the screenshots below how the league tables looked a few days ago.

Eerste Divisie – Netherlands

Ligue 2 – France

I choose these two leagues because there are often surprises. Many unexpected results and the favourites don’t always win.

The betting system

The rules are very simple:

•   Every time the selected teams play at home, I bet on a draw (X).
•   When they play away, I bet on an away win (2).
•   If the selection losses, I double the stakes for their next match. I continue to double the stakes until the team wins.
•   If the team wins, the cycle restarts and I bet the initial stake amount.
•   When two teams from the same leagues play against each other, I skip that match, and I don’t bet.

Why these selections?

Because of the odds. This betting system is nothing new, and it’s known as the Martingale system. We need odds of 2.00 or higher to be profitable. Betting on draws and away wins usually have higher odds compared to home wins. Especially if the teams aren’t league favourites (that’s why I choose teams from the upper part of the league tables).

Are there any risks with this system?

Of course, there are. You need a lot of money to buy yourself out of trouble every time your teams lose. You may experience 5 or 10 losses in a row. There are no guarantees you will win – it’s all based on luck, after all.

Another risk is that sportsbooks can ban or limit your account if they notice known gambling patterns. You should also check if using known betting systems is legal and allowed according to your bookies TOS. I don’t know if bookie’s do that and how often.

You need to consider if the sportsbook you are using has a maximum betting limit for that particular league you have selected. Maybe your bookie allows no bets above $100 for these leagues or any other league you decide to try it on. In that case, you will run into problems if you need to double your bet from $100 to $200.

How I choose to bet, and what profit/losses did I make?

-   My initial stake was $3.
-   I have compiled a list with all my teams' results for the entire 2020/2021 season.
-   A profit/loss count is found after each round. The odds were taken from a local live score https://www.rezultati.com/. I think they use bet365 as a reference for their odds. The good thing is that the odds on crypto bookies are higher than on bet365 and many other fiat bookies.
-   All posted odds were taken from rezultati.com for the X or 2 betting selection, respectively.
-   All results were taken from that site and compared with official stats at https://keukenkampioendivisie.nl/ and https://www.ligue2.fr/. 

You can see the results and the overall profits of how it could have looked if I actually placed these bets in the next post.


THIS IS NOT BETTING ADVICE, AND SHOULDN’T BE CONSIDERED AS SUCH!
THIS IS WRITTEN FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!

I posted Bitcoin mining is Made in China, but until when? yesterday in this subforum but the thread was moved to the bitcoin mining sub. Fair enough, I think it fits better in the mining section. But there were a few things in that topic that I wanted to discuss with active members here, and I think they will be overlooked in the mining section (and because of the huge wall of text). They already are. So, I will try to address those again.

Every 2.016 blocks there is a difficulty adjustment on the bitcoin network to keep the block generation time close to 10 minutes. What would happen if the global hashrate dropped significantly (50-60% for example) after a mining difficulty adjustment?

Would it affect the block generation and could blocks still be found every 10 minutes on average?
The next adjustment would come in 2.016 blocks, but how long would it take to mine those blocks?
How would the security of the network be affected and what about network congestion and unconfirmed transaction count?

I am going to quote my own thoughts from the linked thread:

Is my thinking correct that it would be much more challenging to find new blocks in an environment meant to accommodate 50% more processing power? With greater difficulty but lower computational power, we wouldn’t have a new difficulty adjustment after two weeks because it would take much more to mine those 2016 blocks. 1 month? 2 months? …

That would spill over to network costs which will go up because users want their transactions to confirm. I don’t want to focus on 51% attacks and the (in)effectiveness of those, but can a 50% drop in hashrate (network security) be equal to 50% greater chances of an adversary to successfully attack the network? An attack meant to deliver another punch, not a means to profit from it.

   

[Trading of goods that are illegal in the seller's or buyer's country is forbidden]

With the rise in bitcoin's value, sewage rats have come out of their hiding trying to get a bite. But this particular rat doesn’t just want your breadcrumbs or your money. Oh no. He wants to get you into trouble with the law, and he wants you to be his scapegoat. He is the worst kind of rat from the deepest and darkest hole.

For those of you who browse the Services section, you might have noticed a new type of scam that is making its rounds. I don’t want to help the scammer by placing links to his threads, and I would like to ask all other members who comment in my thread not to do it either.

The thread in question is in direct conflict with Rule #17:

17. Trading of goods that are illegal in the seller's or buyer's country is forbidden.

Unofficial rules


How does the scam work?

The scammer promises his victims a quick get rich scheme. He doesn’t ask you for any money, and you don’t need to do any work. The only thing you need to do is give him access to your blockchain.com account. He will top if up with some bitcoin and send you a big chunk of it.

I know what you are thinking. How is this a scam? I get free bitcoin for doing nothing! When you see an offer like that, ask yourself the following questions:

1.   If it is that easy, why doesn’t he do it himself? 
2.   Why does he need my account?
3.   Why doesn’t he make his family, friends, and everyone he knows rich?
4.   What makes me so special that he needs my help and my account?

To detect fraud, you don’t need specialised training, you only need a little bit of common sense. Be honest! Are you special? Do you possess a unique skill that only you have, and that this person can use to HELP YOU make a lot of money?

If you are honest to yourself, your answer is negative, and you feel this smells a bit like a scam, you are on the right path.


Thanks to another forum user who talked with this scammer, we now know what he was planning. What the scammer doesn’t mention in his topic is that he is using stolen credit cards to purchase bitcoin with your account! How does that sound for a quick little earner?

That is why he wants YOUR ACCOUNT. That’s what makes you special. You are the perfect person to get trapped and become an accomplice in credit card fraud. If your account is connected to your real name, and you performed KYC, you just committed credit card fraud in the eyes of the law.


Keep both eyes open and don’t believe everything you read!

[Šta je Blockstream Satellite?]

Izvor

Šta je Blockstream Satellite?

Blockstream Satellite je digitalna satelitska usluga koja korisnicima emitira bitcoin blockchain putem satelita i omogučuje im da na taj način preuzmu blockchain za svoj full node. Ovo je naročito korisno za područja koja nisu pokrivena internetom i na mjestima gdje je bitcoin zabranjen. Usluga je besplatna uz odgovarajuću satelitsku opremu.

Potrebnu opremu je moguće naručiti na Blockstream shopu:
https://store.blockstream.com/product-category/satellite_kits/

Satelitskim signalom je pokriveno više od 2/3 svijeta a kako to izgleda možete pogledati na slici u nastavku.

Izvor

Šta se šalje preko Blockstream Satellite?

Isti oni podaci i blokovi koji se preuzimaju uz pomoć Bitcoin Core klijenta, emituju se i preko Blockstream Satellite infrastrukture, s tim da su podaci optimizovani da bi se mogli slati preko satelitskih veza.

Razlika između običnog node-a i Blockstream Satellite node-a je ta da je komunikacija preko satelita jednosmjerna. Podatke možete preuzeti sa satelita ali ih ne možete slati i emitovati. Za transmisiju je potrebna internet konekcija. 

Koja vrsta softvera se koristi?

Ova usluga koristi open-source softver koji je prerađena verzija Bitcoin Core klijenta sa istim mogućnostima uz opciju prijema podataka preko satelita. Bitcoin Satellite softver se temelji na istom kodu kao i Bitcoin Core.
Korisnici mogu da preuzmu najnovije blokove i sinhronizuju svoj full-node bez internet konekcije.

Šta se dešava u slučaju loše satelitske veze?

Može doći do pucanja veze i gubitka podataka u slučaju lošeg vremena npr. Ali ova vrsta node-ova je konfigurirana na način da može da nadoknadi gubitke podatala od preko 10%. Sustav koristi Forward Error Correction (FEC) tehnologiju koja je u stanju da dekodira nepotpune podatke, otkrije, i ispravi pogrešne informacije.

Oprema za Blockstream Satellite sustav

Preko zvanične stranice se mogu naručiti dvije različite vrste opreme: Osnovni i Profesionalni paket.

- Blockstream Basic Kit košta $399.99.
- Blockstream Pro Kit $899.99.

Sadržaj Basic Kit paketa

-   Satelitski resiver
-   Ku-band LNB
-   C-band LNB
-   Nosač za LNB
-   Dodaci za povezivanje kabla
-   Digitalni Satelitski pretraživač
-   USB kabal
-   Adapter

Određene komponente je potrebno posebno naručiti. To su:

-   Satelitska antena. Blockstream na svom shopu prodaje Selfsat Flat-Panel antenu. Bilo koja druga antena (minimalne veličine od 60 cm) također može poslužiti.
-   Računar sa Linux operativnim sustavom za korištenje Blockstream Satellite softvera. Preporuka je Ubuntu.
-   Dva koaksijalna kabla. Jedan koji povezuje satelitski pretraživač sa antenom a drugi za spoj satelitska antena – resiver.

Sadržaj Pro Kit paketa

Profesionalni paket sadrži sve što i Basic paket uz dodatna poboljšanja:

-   Novra S400 satelitski prijemnik.
-   Mogućnost preuzimanja podataka sa dva satelita istovremeno.
-   Multicasting

Postavljanje i konfiguriranje sustava

Na stranici https://help.blockstream.com/hc/en-us/articles/900001613686-Set-up-a-Blockstream-Satellite-Kit nalaze se uputstva koja uključuju:

-   Montiranje LNB-a na anteni
-   Spajanje resivera, računara i antene
-   Instaliranje Blockstream Satellite sustava na Linux Ubuntu okruženju
-   Instaliranje drivera i konfiguriranje softvera
-   Montiranje i usmjeravanje antene prema satelitu
-   Instaliranje softvera za Blockstream Satellite node

Dodatna uputstva i savjeti

Kako provjeriti da li Bitcoin Satellite sustav funkcioniše i sinhronizuje node?
Kako se restartuje Blockstream Satellite sustav?
Kako emitovati poruke preko Blockstream Satellite sustava?
Kako povezati satelitsku antenu sa dva satelita istovremeno?
Kako povezati Bitcoin Core softver sa Blockstream Satellite sustavom?

Da li je Blockstream lansirao svoje satelite?

Ne. Blockstream koristi već postojeću satelitsku infrastrukturu i iznajmljuje frekvencije na 6 različitih satelita za širenje bitcoin blockchaina.

Za nas u Evropi zanimljiv je satelit Telstar 11N.
Pozicija – 37.5W
Polarizacija – V
Frekvencija – 11484.30 MHz

Satelitske stanice sa zemlje prenose Bitcoin blockchain na satelite koji su dio sustava. Ti sateliti zatim emituju podatke na područja širom svijeta koja su pokrivena signalom.

Slanje i prijem poruka

Osim sinhroniziranja full node-a, Blockstream Satellite sustav se može koristiti i za slanje i prijem poruka. Mogućnost prijema informacija, kao što su vijesti, u regijama koje su pod strogom cenzurom (Sjeverna Koreja) nudi ljudima priliku da čuju istinite vijesti a ne ono što im njihove vlade serviraju.

Jedan korisnik pod imenom SafetyFirst je emitirao vijesti preko Blockstream satelitskog sustava namjenjene ljudima koji žive u strogo kontroliranim regijama. Koliko vidim, njegov Twitter nalog i web stranica nisu više dostupni. Ali sigurno ima ili će biti drugih korisnika koji će nastaviti gdje je on stao.

Video materijali o Blockstream Satellite sustavu

Evo nekoliko Youtube klipova koji govore o tehnologiji i pokazuju kako montirati i podesiti Bitcoin Satellite sustav.

DEMO: Blockstream Satellite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrRh2pk3vDM&t

How does the Blockstream Satellite Work?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1GxxlqRkKQ

Running Bitcoin from Space with Blockstream | Part 1: Introduction and Installing Ubuntu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn3LQg_Zf98

Running Bitcoin from Space with Blockstream | Part 2 Installing Blockstream and FIBRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHJGrfL8XQk&

Running Bitcoin from Space with Blockstream | Part 3: Satellite Alignment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC8eg1M-LvE&

Running Bitcoin from Space with Blockstream | Encore - Part 4: Quantum of Solace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtB5--QtY7c&


Šta mislite, da li je ovo nešto što bi moglo biti zanimljivo za korisnike sa naših prostora?

Više informacija o Blockstream Satellite sustavu i izvore koje sam koristio možete pogledati u nastavku:

1.   https://blockstream.com/satellite/
2.   https://help.blockstream.com/hc/en-us/categories/900000061466-Blockstream-Satellite
3.   https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/the-blockstream-satellite-network-maintaining-bitcoin-sovereignty-in-space
4.   https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/blockstream-satellite-broadcasting-bitcoin-space

[Ledger debit card]

I just noticed this blog post by Ledger from December 2020 where they look back at everything that happened throughout 2020 and what is expected in 2021.
I don't remember reading anywhere else about it, but it seems they are planning to release a debit card that you can use to spend your crypto assets worldwide.

Moreover, we will produce a Ledger debit card for you to easily and safely spend your crypto worldwide.

https://www.ledger.com/blog/ledger-decoded-2020-tldr

Knowing Ledger and their other features, like buying and selling crypto through Ledger Live, I expect this to be a somewhat overpriced option as well. But who knows, maybe they will surprise us positively this time. 

Considering the recent data leaks, do you think this will become a popular product once it's finally released?
Could this be the first positive thing from Ledger in a series of negatives?

I have been reading this incredible thread written by nutildah. I can't even begin to imagine how much work was put into investigating the accounts and putting all the pieces together — my respect for nutildah and his research abilities.

But all this made me think. I am sure I can't be the only one who sees something troubling in threads like the one by nutildah. Troubling isn't the right word, but let's work with that for now. Some of you might be thinking: What is this idiot talking about? I will cut to the chase.


When you look at nutildah's thread, you see a dedication to catch wrongdoers and expose them to the public. But in this process, something else happens. You get exact instructions of WHAT TO DO to not get caught. Let's focus only on this segment. Whoever operates multiple accounts or considers doing so, has a lot of great advice on this forum of what not to do, and how to cover his tracks better. Unfortunately, that is the other side of the scam busting medal. You are the scam investigator and teacher to scammers in one person.

Thread titles for these type of threads could very well be:
Step-by-step instructions of how not to get caught when using multiple accounts in signature campaigns! or Avoid these mistakes to protect your alt accounts.


I feel like not everyone should have access to the scam accusations board, or at least to well-constructed threads like the one by nutildah. Now, if that means that I can't read them either, that's OK. We have an investigations board, and that one is not publicly available for JR. Members and lower ranks. Maybe scam investigations could walk down a similar path.

It is going to be very difficult to make changes, and I doubt there will be any. Scam accusations are supposed to be public for everyone, especially for newbies and new people in crypto. But consider the other side of the medal that I mentioned. If the methods, tools, sites, and services that scam busters use to catch cheaters were better protected, it wouldn't give those same cheaters new ideas to improve their 'work' to avoid detection. They would also not know what they are doing wrong that gets them caught.

[Yes]

One month ago, I asked the Development & Technical Discussion sub-forum members if they have the habit of checking the open-source code of the software they use. I intentionally created the poll in that board, because I wanted to know if the more technically advanced users perform code audits.

You can find the thread and the discussion here.

A total of 22 users voted on my question: Do you manually verify the code of the open-source software you use?
12 users (54.5%) answered, Yes.
4 users (18.2%) answered, No.
6 users (27.3%) answered they trust that others verified it.
0 users answered that they don't use open-source software.


I would now like to ask the general Bitcointalk public the same question.
Do you check, and do you know how to check the code of the open-source software you use?

Please vote honestly!

[Requirements:]

If you are betting on and following sports, you are probably aware of how important it is to receive timely information regarding goals, penalties, bookings, and other events that can change the outcome of a match. For that purpose, I created this step-by-step guide with pictures that describes how to enable sound notifications on bet365 online casino.

You can also check out my other guide titled How to adjust and work with the bet365 live streaming to learn how to watch tons of sports almost for free.

Requirements:

- A mobile phone (iOS or Android)
- Google Chrome installed on your mobile


It was easy to enable sound notifications for the events you wanted to follow on your computer in the past. All you had to do was select a match in-play and click on the bell icon highlighted below.


Source: https://gamblingking.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/bet365-In-Play-Betting.jpg

But for some reason, bet365 changed their layout and removed the sound notifications icon. This is how it looks today:



To enable the notifications today, you are required to make a bet on the said match, use the mobile app of bet365, or use the Chrome browser on your phone to open bet365. I am not using the mobile app, so I will show you how to enable important notifications through Google Chrome for the matches you are interested in.


1. 

Open the Chrome browser on your phone and type in www.bet365.com. I have an account with bet365, but this also works even without registering or being logged in to your account.

2. 

After you open the site, click on the In-Play button on the top left.



3. 

Select the event you are interested in. You can see the icons for all the different sports that are currently live at the top. I will select the football match from Colombia as an example.



4. 

Do you see the bell icon on the right side? Click on it.



5. 

A dropdown menu will appear. Tick Get Live alerts on this match and select the type of alerts you want to receive. The alerts will depend on the type of sport you selected. In my example, I ticked alerts for goals, red cards, corners, yellow cards, penalties, and full-time result. Every time the selected event happens, you will get a sound notification. You can adjust the volume and type of sound from the sound settings on your mobile phone.



6. 

If you performed the above steps correctly, you should now see a green tick next to the bell icon on your phone.



7. 

You will keep receiving sound notifications until the match ends or until you disable the notifications on your phone. Even if you close your mobile browser or exit the bet365 site, the selected alerts will keep coming. To turn them off, click on the bell icon one more time and untick the Get Live alerts on this match. Make sure there is no longer a green tick next to it.




Bet365 is generally very quick with the markets for all their sports, especially football. The notifications' speed will depend on if the bookie has an agent at the venue who covers the match or if the coverage is performed via TV/stream. As a rule of thumb, the markets close a few seconds before the event appears on the stream.

[1. Betonútépítő]

While watching an ice hockey match in Hungary a few weeks ago, I noticed something that looked like the BTC symbol on an advertisement on the ice. It turns out it wasn’t a Bitcoin symbol, but the logo of a company which looks similar.

I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be interesting to research which companies use symbols and logos that look like BTC. Still, they are in no way related to the cryptocurrency niche?

I thought I would find dozens of similar logos and symbols. In reality, only a small number of them reminded me of Bitcoin. Of course, you can find hundreds of ‘B’ symbols, but very few of them have any similarities.   

This is what I was able to find:

1. Betonútépítő    


Image source

Betonútépítő is a Hungarian construction company established in 1950. It was created after World War II to reconstruct damaged roads, airports, and railways in Hungary. It’s this company’s logo that I saw on the ice in Hungary.

2. Multi-B Construction Corporation


Image source
 
Seems like the B symbol is significant in the construction industry. This time it’s a Philippines-based construction company called Multi-B Construction Corporation that uses a logo that reminds me of Bitcoin. 

3. Bollinger Motors


Image source

Bollinger Trucks is a US-based company that develops electric trucks. They plan to start producing environment-friendly trucks by the end of 2021. The logo is a simple letter B, but together with the circle that surrounds it, it reminds me of Bitcoin.


Do you know of any Bitcoin lookalike symbols you would care to share?