It can be distressing to new members reading some of the posts from old members who should be knowledgeable but unfortunately bland. The quality of reasoning (and posts)  of many Legendary members is  appalling. This could be due to the fact that they were promoted before the introduction of the merit system or they simply bought a high-ranked account to spew rubbish on the forum.

With the rampancy of signature campaigns, the tendency for participants to type to meet quota (even if they don’t really make sense is high). This is why I think that a demotion (or demerit) button is appropriate. This would mitigate the preponderance of the disappointment in reading posts from some so-ranked Legendary sounding like it’s from a 12-year old.

We even have trolls and spammers who are high-ranked members (Legendary trolls). This means that these chaps have never contributed something meaningful to the community debar having been around for ages. This ought not be so. What impression does it make on new members, especially now that Bitcoin is massively being advertised by big names like Blackrock?

You can implement this by adding a demerit button. If a member can rank up through a thousand merits, they should be demoted through a hundred De-merits. This could be open to members or assigned to moderators. You may also bestow demotion powers to intelligent reputable members like LoyceV, Yahoo62278, Notatether, Moccaccino, Logfiles, Suchmoon and others.

A ranking system should reflect competence, integrity and credibility of those it is bestowed upon. Unfortunately, the BTT system should be stremlined and made balanced through the implementation of necessary trade-offs. A system that promotes but never demotes never gets the best of its men. Let’s make this happen.

A member asked for the cost of renting my signature space and I told them. Was kinda shoked that the signature is "FUCK Royse777" What sort of signature is that. Would Royse777 or any member informed about this mind explaining? Have you seen anyone wearing that signature? I think I have but didn't observe closely. What is the purpose of this signature ad? Is it a sort of promotion for Royse777? Why the aspersion?

I just received a request for my signature spot from a member. Let me just leave this open because I responded to them after failing to see it in time. I'm open to offers if you're interested in renting my iconic space.

What renting gets you is as follows:

Several postings on a regular basis to advertise my OddJobsforBitcoin company. This guarantees regular visibility to a specific audience interested in services relevant to Bitcoin.

The forum's Bitcoin section is where regular coverage initiation takes place. I take an active part in the forum's Bitcoin discussion threads.

You will gain from interaction and discussion I start in this community by renting my signature area, which will increase the visibility of your business even more.

Tailored Posting to Meet Your Requirements: Additionally, I may change my postings to include any section of the forum debar local non-English sections. I am especially knowledgeable in games and gambling sections, trending cryptocurrency news and events and more.

If you're interested in renting my signature space, feel free to make your offers. I'll be considering offers on a first-come, first-served basis. Don't miss out on this opportunity to enhance your brand visibility and reach a targeted audience within the forum community. Meanwhile, I'll give top preference to the first requester if they respond soon.

I've always suspected that big players like Bitmain could build a lot of hashrate to increasingly centralize Bitcoin. For the experts in the house, how true is it that Ethereum is more decentralized than Bitcoin? Could it be the reason the SEC isn't bothering Ethereum and may even approve spot ETH ETF?

Here's what he wrote:

"Bitcoin (BTC) – Score: 29/60
Bitcoin, the pioneer of blockchain technology, showcases a strong foundation in certain aspects of decentralization:

Validator Count: It has the second-highest validator count, earning an 8/10.
Client Ecosystem: Dominated by Bitcoin Core, leading to a 1/10 score.
Permissionless Nature: Scores a perfect 10/10, with no permissioned elements.
Governance: Lacks on-chain governance, resulting in a 0/10.
Consensus Mechanism: Proof of Work (PoW) without native delegation, scoring 5/10.
Community Diversity: A growing “wizard faction” contributes to a 5/10 score.
Ethereum (ETH) – Score: 43/60
Ethereum leads in decentralization, thanks to its robust validator ecosystem and client diversity:

Validator Count and Client Ecosystem: Achieves top marks in both, with a 10/10 for the highest validator count and most diverse client ecosystem.
Permissionless and Governance: Shares Bitcoin’s lack of on-chain governance, scoring 0/10, but is fully permissionless, scoring 10/10.
Consensus Mechanism: Transitioned to Proof of Stake (PoS) without native delegation, earning a 7/10.
Community: Its vast ecosystem with many united factions scores a 6/10.
Solana (SOL) – Score: 32/60
Solana presents a mixed picture with high validator counts but challenges in its consensus mechanism:

Validator Count: A high validator count scores 7/10.
Client Ecosystem: A reasonably diverse ecosystem earns a 7/10.
Permissionless Nature: Like Ethereum, it scores a 10/10.
Consensus Mechanism: Proof of History (PoH) and high node requirements lower its score to 2/10.
Governance: Has plans for on-chain governance, scoring 3/10.
Community: A big ecosystem with few factions scores a 3/10.
XRP (Ripple) – Score: 17/60
XRP struggles with decentralization, particularly in validator diversity and permissioned elements:

Validator Count and Client Ecosystem: Scores the lowest in these categories, with 1/10 and 0/10 respectively.
Permissioned Elements: The presence of permissioned elements further reduces its score to 0/10.
Governance and Community: No plans for on-chain governance and a small ecosystem with powerful factions result in low scores.
Cardano (ADA) – Score: 35/60
Cardano shows promise with high scores in permissionless nature and plans for on-chain governance:

Validator Count: A high unique validator count scores 7/10.
Permissionless Nature: Scores a perfect 10/10.
Consensus Mechanism: Native delegation and plans for on-chain governance contribute to higher scores in these areas.
Avalanche (AVAX) and TRON (TRX)
Both blockchains present unique cases in decentralization, with Avalanche showing strength in its governance model and TRON in its fully implemented on-chain governance."

Can you share your caziest experience of your country's army? If you've served before or currently serving, what spooked you the most?

For me, the fact that nearly every commander secretly wants a psycho in every company to do the dirty jobs normal men don't really like is ... shocking.

Do you wonder why the biggest crypto thieves still get caught, with all that money? Imagine having just $200,000. What all that money could do for you? As a thief, you could even disapper, but you can't. You know why? There are few hiding places on earth for fugitives these days. And when you've got lots of money, those few hiding places practically make your money useless. Even Crypto Queen may not have disappeared as we presumed. How about CAR? Easter Island? Somalia? Siberia? In any case, never believe that you could steal from people and get away to enjoy the loot happily ever after. This is what these duo never reckoned with. And I think there are many like them who wouldn't mind doing anything just for money.
https://coinmarketcap.com/community/articles/65b41174f00d2a6f4b9880b8/

Screenshot: https://ibb.co/gRFcZ2M

Why isn't there a strategy to grab the private key from the exchange. After all the bitcoins are mine. Are there ways to do this? As in, in case something happens to the exchange like Mt Gox. Why is the key accessible to a hacker but not to the owner of the coin? Why are there no exchanges giving users private keys?

I read a tweet from the Eric guy covering spot Bitcoin ETF for Bloomberg, he wrote:

"My mom was over tonight and asked about the bitcoin ETFs we covering on ETF IQ lately. She’s like “What’s dif bt crypto and bitcoin? I think of it all as funny money in space. Is there some kind of mine? They need a show that explains it to me and my friends like we in 2nd grade”

So can you explain Bitcoin in a way a second grader would understand it? If you can, do in in four sentences let's see. Do it as good as Sunny Lu did for blockchain.

Update:

Here's mine:

Bitcoin's money you can't see and can't touch but you can send to folks on their computer or phone using your computer or phone. And you can use it to buy stuff like real dollar.

Former deputy governor, BOE believes Bitcoin can drop to zero. I wonder what his opinion is at the moment.

"Their price can vary quite considerably and they could theoretically or practically drop to zero." Jon Cunliffe saiid.

And what's the different between theoritical and practical drop to zero for BTC?

Can the price theoritically drop to zero but practically trade above $40k. Kinda confusing.

There's a story making the rounds on Wu Blockchain that Bitcoin block production stopped for 2 hours on Sunday. Here's the Mempool link associated with the story: https://mempool.space/zh/block/000000000000000000004687d79404b31eabff38e8806401e9ac6ad0781d3c20
I've been trying to understand the data on that page but it's not making sense to me since it's half-Chinese. Can someone verify from the data that Bitcoin network didn't produce blocks for 2 hours. It get's even more interesting. What would happen if the blockchain stalls for a whole day or two, or even a week?

[Mocaccino]

I wouldn't kno why there's no follow button in the forum. However, there are members you come across and you can't help reading everything they have to say because they're so cool, and valuable. There's a guy I cam across his posts a few years ago and since then, he has left an indelible impression in my mind. Since it's holiday and we all have some time to spend on BTT, I'd like us to appreciate such people while asking Theymos to add a follow button just the way we have the ignore button.

Who has impressed you the most in the forum? I mean someone you'll alway read all their posts whenever you see them. For me, he is a real champ ...




Mocaccino. I wouldn't miss lose him in BTT for a million bucks. Very knowlwdgeable.


Who is the member you'd read everything they have to say whenever you can?

In a previous post, I share how I have been struggling to HODL BTC long term: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5479795.0. I received a lot of helpful insights that showed me that HODLING long term is possible without the attendant financial stress. One of the most common suggestions is a change in lifestyle. I was also encouraged by the story of the Chicken Man, the Bitcoiner who sold his big house and moved his family to live in a school bus. Not sure that I can do that. I really do not consider myself a lavish person since I never flew a first class. Nevertheless, I can skip coffee breaks to buy bitcoins. Here is my plan:

Option 1 Buy small amounts of $30 daily through 2024.

Option 2 Buy based on the price of Bitcoin at the time of purchase. Say $45 if Bitcoin was trading at $45,000 and $16 if it was trading at $16,000 that day.

Both are daily options. Which is better?

Look at the Bitcoin whitepaper once more: a peer-to-peer electronic payment system indeed. Was Satoshi really envisioning a payment system so widespread that it became a preferred way of paying for goods and services? What's happening today? Bitcoin is now more of an investment than a payment tool. In fact, it's as if all the cryptocurrencies are businesses for their inventors, bar Satoshi—a means of becoming automatic millionaires rather than a peer-to-peer payment system. In fact, the quickest way to get rich these days seems to be by starting a crypto project.

Not even the guy that started Bitcoin Satoshi Vision is exempted.

Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer payment system? Nah... more of a decentralized speculative investment platform.

To be honest, I don't really own bitcoins because I do not HODL. I always see myself selling my coins due to one issue or another, possibly because I really cannot afford to live my dream of holing until Bitcoin makes me rich.

In practice, I barely earn more than $3000 from my job, my wife's mortgage, and other demands waiting to snap up the money. Sometimes I sell in a bull market, and other times I sell in a bear market. Would you say that holding BTC isn't for everyone? Am I not too broke to depend on Bitcoin for financial freedom? Yeah, I'm working for my financial independence, but Bitcoin has remained a peripheral component of that plan. Only if I can HODL for a few years.

Do you comfortably HODL? 300% is quite a lot. 1000% for me is a dream.

Can somebody explain why mining fees are rocketing?  Everyone is blaming Ordinals and BTC block size. Why can't the developers do something about it? Must Bitcoin core remain close to what Satoshi envisaged? I've asked a number of questions already so let's get some answers.

1. Why is BTC fee high?

2. How do I circumvent high fees?

3. Why aren't developers tweaking the Bitcoin blockchain code to accommodate millions of transaction like Solana and BNB? This would ven make people feel comfortable using BTC as a payment instrument instead of mainly speculative, keeping big players like Blockrock less interested and giving  small players like us time to buy.

4. How Can I Pay Lower Bitcoin Transaction Fee and Not Get Stuck?

I really admire people capable of keeping bitcoins in their wallets for years without even moving them. I see wallets that their owners never moved coins from for 10 years and wonder how they do it. If you're a HODLer. when do you hope to sell? Would you cash out if Bitcoin soars to $100,000 or sit back and wait until it gets to a million?

ONLY for HODLers please. PLease share when you'll be happy to sell.

I have an odd job of writing guides that can help people through challenges they may encounter in the crypto space. So this is simple. What are the challenges that you face with Bitcoin in particular and the crypto space in general. What guides would help you? I'll read through all, and thank you.

What's your plan for your bitcoins when you die since you've probably not shared your private keys with anyone or have you? Do you have someone you trust enough, say your spouse, to let them in on your BTC private keys or will you be buried with your coins even if there are family or loved ones to whom your bitcoins may be of benefit?
Do you have plans to share the keys down the line?
What if an accident happens and you're incapacitated or worse?

Is it worthwhile sharing the key with someone due to the unfortunate happenstance of the unexpected or do we just coast along with the hope that death is a long way off?

What's your plan for your digital wealth in case you die, suddenly? It's hard for people with no loved ones. What's your advice for such people and what's your own plan for your bitcoins when you die?


For me, I have no plans at the moment, so I hope to gain insight from your comments on what to do.

What brought you to Bitcoin? How much of it have you accomplished? For me, it is the desire to earn a living off the internet without the encumbrances of a 9-5 job and having clients from all over the world pay me for my services without the limitations and regulations of fiat (a pity Bitcoin is being fiercely regulated too). I wouldn't say that I have accomplished that since I still support my earnings with "regular" jobs. I like the liberty of being in control of my time and how I work though I still have not gained that liberty completely. Nevertheless, I believe that with the plans I've implemented, being completely free from a 9-5 or "regular" is possible in 2 years.


What brought you to Bitcoin and how much of it have you accomplished?