[But I think bitcoin will survive.]

Recently, I have been seeing a small spike in the number of posts about bitcoin prices. Most of them seem to be out of fear bitcoins end.

But I think bitcoin will survive. Here is why I think so.

First let's take a quick look at the price charts.

Now the prices for BTC is depicted for a day. Seems like BTC is falling fast right?

Now let's look at another image.

Now this is the price chart of BTC for a month. Doesn't look that great does it. I mean the prices were volatile and seem to now be falling.

Lets take a look a the last image.

In this image can you spot the fall that easily?
Not really. It does look highly volatile. But then the prices seems to be stabilizing. The spikes seem to be reducing and there seems to be consistency.
The thing is we have looked at bitcoin up close and that's why we say things like:

Bitcoin prices are falling

Bitcoin down by 20%

Is this the end for Bitcoin


But when we start looking at the bigger picture. We can see that bitcoin has come a long way and the price chart if seen up close might show a trend towards the end. But sometimes the bigger picture needs to be seen. Don't panic bitcoin still has a lot left. It will keep fighting.

If not the price chart. Think about the fact that countries like the US and India have noticed bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and have planned to provide a verdict. I will admit that it has been delayed but the mere fact that the SEC in the US and the Supreme court in India are providing a verdict means bitcoin might just be a step closer to becoming a global currency.
At least it keeps the Hope alive.

This is just my opinion. I would really like to know about yours.
If I am wrong please prove it to me.
I am always happy to learn more.

Picture source: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/

[The Indian government appears to be like most governments - decidedly not in favor and in some ways vehemently against cryptocurrencies.]

The Indian government appears to be like most governments - decidedly not in favor and in some ways vehemently against cryptocurrencies.

But not qualifying as legal tender does not make Bitcoin an illegal asset.

The minister’s statement was clear: cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in India. They did not say ‘illegal tender’. There’s a huge difference.
This means that you bear the risk of your investment and there’s no regulation for the industry.

But today we see a crypto businessman sitting in jail because he set up an ATM in bangalore which in all fairness was not even operational yet.
It was still in the final testing phase.

This kind of bullying by the government leads to black markets, which is exactly the sort of thing the government has promised to mitigate. How ironic that the government themselves are causing it now. As such, the Indian LocalBitcoins market appears strong, with apparently better rates for acquisition. LocalBitcoins is more of a “gray” market, with peers incurring their own risk in making in-person trades on a daily basis the world over.

The government of India is in no way pure. There is corruption upto the top level of management and cryptocurrencies would help curb this.
But that's not something they would like. As much as I would like to think that the RBI is trying to protect the people and avoid any financial crisis. It does not seem fair to arrest a man who is trying to bring about a change in order to ensure transparency and fix the flaws in the current financial system. Sadly RBI loves its place of power to much to let this change come about.

Power in the hands of the people?
Seems more like power in the hands of first wolrd instituions like the RBI.

This in no way excludes the government of other countries.

Reference: https://www.ccn.com/unocoin-co-founder-arrested-over-non-functional-bitcoin-atm-in-india/

[In order to understand why the government hates bitcoin we need to understand how money actually works]

In order to understand why the government hates bitcoin we need to understand how money actually works

In the history of the United States, the US dollar has been built on the "silver standard" and the "gold standard,". This means that the value of a dollar was directly tied to the country's silver or gold reserves. This is true in case of all currencies be it the Indian Rupee or The Chinese yen. A more simplified version of understanding this would be that any money you possessed could directly be exchanged for its value in whatever material it was being backed by. This is known as a commodity currency which does not exist in the current economy.

As an example, Lets say that you own a paper currency worth $ 20. Now you can take that paper bill and exchange it for gold or any other material backing it up which had the same $ 20 value.

But in the current economy the world runs on fiat currencies whose value is derived from the government that backs it. Plain and simple, a US dollar has value as legal tender because the US government says it does. Though this system isn't perfect, it has served its purpose for many years.

The government loves fiat currency because it is centralized which means control is also centralized on the production and distribution of their respective fiat currencies via large central banks.

What this means for the banks
They can track the currency's location in bank accounts, dictate its movement, and collect taxes on every financial transaction that includes their currency. This also helps the governments to try and keep their economy healthy by adjusting the amount of money in circulation to try and stimulate Wall Street investors or avoid a financial crisis.

Now why is bitcoin made?

The basic ideology behind Bitcoin is to use a combination of public-key cryptography and peer-to-peer networking to create a virtual analogy of gold,
that is to say, a substance that is scarce and fungible. Satoshi Nakamoto devised did arrange a set of restrictions in order to ensure that bitcoin is not misued to
an extent like the fact that there can only ever be 21 Million bitcoins ever in existence and as time progresses it will become difficult to mine bitcoins.

Nakamoto in 2009 -

The root problem with conventional currency, is all the trust that's required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the
history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves
of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve. We have to trust them with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts." In contrast,
everything in Nakamoto's system "is based on crypto proof rather than trust

.

But is it really that simple

It is not as simple as "The government likes to control and tax the movement of money" that makes them seem evil or greedy. The truth however is that if all currencies are decentralized, who would determines their value?
Bitcoin is only in the virtual form, how can we protect oourself from hackers or technical glitches? These questions are just some of the reasons why there is no telling what the future of cryptocurrencies holds, but it isn't wrong to say that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will not be replacing government-backed fiat currencies any time soon. This however does not mean that there isn't a future where cryptocurrencies will be treated as regulated global currencies. Of course if we include the corrupt institutions, politicians then we can say the government is evil and greedy.

For bitcoin to become truly succesful it must be both a medium of exchange and a reasonably stable store of value.

 

[Unocoin has officially announced the launch of its cryptocurrency ATM which will be operational from 16th October 2018.]

Unocoin has officially announced the launch of its cryptocurrency ATM which will be operational from 16th October 2018.

Sathvik Vishwanath, Unocoin’s CEO, revealed this on news.bitcoin.com on Sunday.

Vishwanath emphasized, “All coins on Unocoin and Unodax can be bought using the money deposited through these crypto ATM machines. We presently have 30 differenct cryptocurrencies that can be bought.”

This can be a potetntial solution to RBI Crypto Banking Ban
Vishwanath clarified to news.Bitcoin.com that “The ATMs deployed by us do not need any banking partnerships. These are stand-alone machines that can accept and dispense cash,”

Reference: https://news.bitcoin.com/crypto-atms-india-unocoin-solution-rbi-ban/

[If you are thinking of buying bitcoins and reside in India then you probably must know what cryptocurrencies are and you also might be aware of the fact that there is an ongoing case regarding the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies in India the verdict of which is still pending.]

If you are thinking of buying bitcoins and reside in India then you probably must know what cryptocurrencies are and you also might be aware of the fact that there is an ongoing case regarding the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies in India the verdict of which is still pending.

[HIGHLY RECOMMENDED]If you were not aware of the above statements please do your research before you can proceed.

Disclaimer: This is not a detailed guide but this will help you get started and be able to buy bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency of your choice. I'm not responsible for any loss caused and I would only recommend you to do your research before diving completely into the world of cryptocurrencies.


For those of you who have purchased bitcoins late in the last year might have suffered a loss when the company zebpay had planned to shut down its operation in India and the CEO of the exchange bitconnect was accused of fraud.
This has all hampered the trust among all Indians when it comes to cryptocurrencies or at least bitcoin.

But what if there is a way to overcome this hurdle and still be able to invest in cryptocurrency.There is common belief that cryptocurrencies are banned in India which is not true. There are ways to still invest in cryptocurrencies and that does not include just bitcoins but also other cryptocurrencies

Here is How

Step 1: Create an account
There are many exchanges that still allow users to create a new account and trade in cryptocurrencies in India. Some of these are
1. Giottus (https://www.giottus.com/)                           
2. Koinex (https://koinex.in/)

Step 2: KYC
Once you have created an account on any one of these exchanges the next thing to do is complete the KYC norms. You can use your Aadhaar card, Voter ID, Driving License or Passport to complete this step.

Step 3: Deposit cash
Once you have completed the above steps its fairly simple from here on you will have to deposit a certain amount into your exchange account. There is a minimum limit set by these exchanges and it can vary for each exchange.

OR
 
Step 3: If you are not new
If you already own some bitcoins or any other cryptocurrency you can easily transfer the amount you require to your exchange account.

Step 4: Buying bitcoin
Now that you have transferred the desired amount into your exchange account you can begin trading in cryptocurrencies which means that you can buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin cash, Litecoin etc.

Step 5: Withdrawal
What if you want to withdraw. Well this is also a very simple process all you have to do is sell the cryptocurrency/cryptocurrencies you hold and once the amount is reflected in your exchange account you can transfer it to your bank account and you shall be liable to tax only on the amount of profit you have made and not the entire transaction amount.

Optional: OTC methods like Local Bitcoin (https://localbitcoins.com/) and Local Ethereum (https://localethereum.com/) can be used where sellers and buyers connect and trade crypto in fiat currency.

Additional information: In case you want to keep the cryptocurrency for future sales or for any other purpose but would also like to leave the exchange you can do so by transferring the coins to a software/hardware wallet. There are many in the market such as

Software wallet
1. Jaxx (https://jaxx.io/)
2. CoPay (https://copay.io/)
3. Exodus (https://www.exodus.io/)
 
Hardware wallet
1. Ledger Nano S (https://www.ledger.com/products/ledger-nano-s)
2. Ledger Blue (https://www.ledger.com/products/ledger-blue)
3. Trezor (https://trezor.io/)

Hope this helps

Note: This GUIDE and all the mentioned details were functioning and accurate at the time of this post. I'm not an expert and this post has been made to the best of my knowledge and in case of any corrections feel free to comment down below.

[Note:]

Note: This might help all those who want to know what bitcoin exactly is if not in-depth at least a starting point. This is in no way an experts opinion so please do your research.
Disclaimer: This post does not cover ICOs 

Introduction
Before the invention of bitcoin we used to transact using physical money and maybe store these physical money in digital form by using banks like Axis Bank, Swiss Bank, HDFC Bank etc.. which we can use to mae payments using debit cards, credit cards and various other means but then we started having digital wallets like Due, MobiKwik, Paytm and so on which helped us make payments by recharging our wallets using our bank account.

Problem
Now all this was working well but the main issue was we had to rely upon middlemen or basically banks which meant that we had to trust them with our money. This also meant that a fee was charged from the account holder for maintenance and other services. Not only this companies like Paypal acted like agents who would verify the transaction and ensure the solution to the double spending problem. Basically a payment gateway. Now again we would have to trust Paypal.

Why?
Because they will ensure the transaction is successful and now only one party has the money not both.

Didn't make sense?
Well in order to understand what the above means we need to know what is Double Spending problem.

Our current Internet works on the principles of copies which means that almost everything accessible on the internet is a copy of the original. When we download a file it is a copy of the original. Similarly with the transfer of money digitally a copy of it would be sent to the recipient and now both the sender and the receiver would have the money. In order to avoid this we needed middlemen, payment gateways to verify that such a situation does not occur.

What is Blockchain and how is it related to bitcoin? [In short]
Bitcoin is based on a technology that implements a decentralized network. The term you often hear of is 'Blockchain'. This technology uses a peer to peer connection. If you want an example of this kind of connection we can take the ideal example of torrents. Now bitcoin does operate on a decentralized system but also when a user is trying to access any information it is the original information and not a copy being presented to you. If you want to know at a glance what blockchain is I'll link another post at the end.

What is bitcoin?
Bitcoin is just another cryptocurrency.
But it isn't that simple, bitcoin is a cryptocurrency which means that it is a digital currency that does not follow the principles of the way the rest of the digital currencies operated before it. Since it is based on a decentralized network the situation that results is that now bitcoin is a digital currency that can be transferred using crypto wallets like Jaxx, Electrum. The transaction that takes place is verified by people called miners. Who are provided bitcoins for mining and not just this once the transaction is verified it is added to a block which is stored on a decentralized network. The way it solves the double spending problem is that when a bitcoin is transferred from one person to another the original is sent and not a copy of the original.

Who are miners?
Miners are people who verify the transactions using hardware specifically made for this purpose. Some hardware miners are
Antminer, Innosilicon A10 ETHmaster, STRIKER Light Mine Professional etc.
Fun fact: Bitcoins could be mined before using a normal laptop or a CPU which later proved to be insufficient.

How is bitcoin better?
It basically facilitates transparency by ensuring that the transactions are all public and it is like a big open ledger. It has a high degree of security mainly because the network is distributed and no data can be tampered with. If someone does desire to tamper with the data then they would require
51% control of the decentralized network. [It has been proven in the case of bitcoin gold]
In the event of the ownership of 51% of the decentralized network the following are possible
1. Prevention of new transactions
2. Halt payments
3. Reverse transactions
4. Double spend coins

But existing blocks cannot be modified.

Conclusion
Bitcoin seems to be a very reliable and secure means of payments and various other financial transactions. Although it is highly volatile there does seem to be a trend towards its adoption and labeling it as a valid means of financial transactions or payments as even the SEC is now about to provide its verdict in december.
There has been an up rise in cryptocurrencies similar to bitcoin like Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Clashic, Bcash, Bitcoin Core etc.
Side Note: A cryptocurrency that is the next version of bitcoin is Ethereum.
But a future where bitcoin is accepted as a means of payment in department stores, automobile showrooms and various other outlets might not be too far away.

Hope this helps 

Link: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic%3D5042773.0&sa=D&source=hangouts&ust=1538806722512000&usg=AFQjCNFjNbRtfO1aKU9VlAyEdywwAUTvUw

[Once more the court case of RBI Cryptocurrency has been adjourned]

Once more the court case of RBI Cryptocurrency has been adjourned and this time the reason is quiet astounding due to long hearing of another case. There seems to be a major dilemma even in the eyes of law when it comes to bitcoin and in a more general sense cryptocurrencies. Although the case does only relate to India

What could this mean for the Asia market ?

Source: https://kryptomoney.com/rbi-cryptocurrency-court-case-18-september-supreme-court-adjourns-case/