Bitcoin doesn't hold the promise it once did, explosive growth and adoption, now the only explosion in adoption is the number of segwit users. People are using the lightning network before it's ready, potentially damaging the bitcoin ecosystem.

So I ask you, what can we do to improve bitcoin adoption, reduce fees and protect bitcoin for being crushed by regulations?

So, as many of you are painfully aware, bitcoin crashed around 30% over a couple of days, reportedly due to regulatory pressures in Asia, and a potential ban in China due to energy wastage and tax evasion risks etc. Reports suggest that China contributes as much as 70% of the worldwide hashing power, and yet we only saw a 30% drop.

Source: Report: PBoC Quashes Bitcoin Mining Ban Rumor in China

Furthermore, we saw 30%+ drops in other cryptos, even unminable, non-decentralized ones. So, conspiracy theorists, why do you think bitcoin really suffers these sporadic crashes, could it be large-scale market manipulation? Or is it simply FUD leading to a wide-spread panic selling?

So, as many are well aware, Bitcoin saw a huge rise in 2017, peaking over $20,000 in some regions;

Of course, it would be tremendous to see those kinds of gains again in 2018, but with regulatory pressure coming down hard, bitcoin has in more difficult waters than ever before.

With segwit acceptance increasing, and the advent of the lightning network likely by year end, how does bitcointalk think BTC will perform this year, and why?

Sorry if it seems like quite the noobish question, I've heard a lot about Segwit, but very little about how it works exactly, what the difference between Segwit and Legacy addresses are, and how Segwit leads to reduced transaction sizes and fees.

Could anybody more knowledgeable than me please give me a basic explanation, it will be much appreciated as I plan to switch to a segwit address ASAP as these fees are horrific.

Mod can remove or closed it for me pls. I have done my proposal.

I have receive some TOKEN from Aidrop but dont have any ETH to sell on etherdelta so I'm requesting this loan.

Edit: Loan no longer required.