Right now, the world is witnessing another round of big conflict in Middle East particularly Israel after Hamas operatives were able to penetrate the small country and made some havoc moves. In the international theater, we still have the unresolved Ukraine-Russia war and there are those sounding the alarm for the possibility of the China-Taiwan turmoil as well as escalated North-South Korea protracted relations.

Now, in the face of a global chaos, do you think holding on to Bitcoin is a good idea to protect our assets? Will it be acting like gold which can be so valuable during war?

After so many details coming out of the FTX collapse, it is as clear as the sunshine that Sam and his minions committed many forms of fraud basically going against the very terms the company published...and am sure there will be more condemning evidences to look forward most especially if there are going to be cases against the man.

Now, in a very recent interview in New York Times per Forbes, Sam claimed that although he admitted to have failed in many aspects of the management of FTX he actually got no intention to defraud anybody - meaning he is as clean as white as far as allegations leveled against him while being the man at the helm of the company.

Who here think that Sam is just another victim of circumstances and not really the villain in this chaotic and far-reaching story of collapse?

In the light of the recent Freedom Convoy which started in Canada to protest the strict mandates coming from their government and the subsequent outpouring of financial donations to the truckers which are blocked by those in the government so the money can never go to truckers and then the move to instead use Bitcoin, left-leaning media personalities are now accusing Bitcoin to be the haven of white supremacists, money launderers, drug traffickers and anything illegal they can claim of!

Here is the video from Fox News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-E3S_vEzsA

What is your own opinion on this development?

Recently, I am seeing some good altcoin projects that boast of having the project and the whole team passing some form of KYC. I am not, though, familiar how the whole team KYC is done but I guess this is in conjunction with a known third-party verifier. Of course, there is no guarantee that a project and team that got its own verifiable KYC will not never run away or fail as there are many variables to be considered but then again this can be helping in boosting confidence on the part of the investor. Should this be the new standard when looking for a new project to support?

As what I have been expecting, the leadership of El Salvador is going to fully exploit all avenues they can have with Bitcoin. Under the current President Nayib Bukele, Bitcoin became the legal tender of the country, the first one to do so. And now they are planning to establish a Bitcoin City where crypto-related businesses will be encouraged to do business and base their operations, presumably for the global market. I am sure this is just the beginning on how the country can be helped by Bitcoin and cryptocurrency...and it would be exciting to watch how this can positively pushing up its economy.

I consider El Salvador to be the great Bitcoin experiment and its success or failure can be affecting how other countries big and small will be viewing Bitcoin and whether they too should be following the lead of this country.

“They always say in times of tragedy and trauma, people turn to God. That is sort of what happened with me. It’s tough to describe the experience, but basically, the best way I can describe it is I went to Bitcoin.”

Taken from here.

Well, have you thought about this idea that Bitcoin can be like a religion too? With some level of fanaticism, there can be people who are considering the Bitcoin community like a cultish one but then again all form of organization in varying degree has this energy and can even be used as a bonding agent. Now, in my opinion, while this idea can be a big welcome to some, this can also turned off those people who are not inclined to take up religious matters into their lives.

What's your opinion on this matter?

Nigeria’s central bank is doubling down on its anti-cryptocurrency stance. Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has defended the apex bank’s decision to ban banks from servicing cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.

Appearing before a joint Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions; ICT and Cybercrime; and Capital Market, Emefiele remarked that the CBN ban was in the best interest of Nigerians.

"Cryptocurrency is not legitimate money. Cryptocurrency has no place in our monetary system at this time and cryptocurrency transactions should not be carried out through the Nigerian banking system.”

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/cryptocurrency-is-not-legitimate-money-says-nigeria-s-central-bank-governor


So it looks like Nigeria is really closing its door to the continuing proliferation of many cryptocurrencies in that country. This is sad for many crypto holders and enthusiasts within Nigeria since encashing cryptos can now be harder as banks are not anymore dealing with this business and can also be sad for scammers who are using cryptos for their schemes (though they can easily shift to other means and ways, anyway). However, this will never stop cryptocurrency at all since P2P trading can easily be done.

This is an interview by  Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg’s “Front Row” with Jeremy Grantham the co-founder and chief investment strategist of Boston’s GMO, explaining why U.S. stocks have become an epic bubble and will burst in a collapse rivaling the crashes of 1929 and 2000. At the same time, he also touched on gold and Bitcoin, emerging markets and climate change.

The interview can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYfmRTyl56w

What are the lessons we can get as takeaways from this man or should be categorized him as just another prophet of gloom especially in an expanding and exciting Bitcoin bull run?

The entrance of Tesla - the very company that is always associated with Elon Musk -- into Bitcoin catapulted the coin into another new ATH at the moment and there is that possibility that soon we can finally see BTC breaking the $50K zone.

With the announcement of the investment of $1.5 Billion into Bitcoin and maybe accepting the coin as payments for its products and services, Elon Musk and Tesla can be opening the big Pandora box for other big corporate entities especially in the USA to also join the fray. Right now, there is that rumor for Apple to also do the same thing.

Such is the power of influence that Elon Musk is having in his fingertips, literally and figuratively. So do you think that this scenario can be possible - the coming in of more corporate buyers into Bitcoin?

Earlier today, Tesla Motors announced it had made a major Bitcoin purchase and planned to introduce crypto payments in the future. Some in the industry are now speculating that Apple will be the next institutional player to adopt the crypto asset.

In a market report from Royal Bank of Canada Dominion Securities analyst Paul Steves, the introduction of the tech company into crypto could create more than $40 billion in annual revenue and make waves across the industry.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/will-apple-be-the-next-company-to-adopt-bitcoin-after-tesla

I am sure this is just a speculations but not so far-pitched considering that Apple has the money, and they have the desire to maintain financial leadership into the future...they can be taking this good opportunity to be a good player with Bitcoin as the platform, just like what Tesla has done a day ago. And in case, Apple will finally decide to make a big stake in Bitcoin, this can open up an avalanche of many other big corporate entities to also join the Bitcoin party. Welcome to the real big bull run!

What is your opinion with this development?