Gavin Andresen was known to be one of the most "iconic" Bitcoin developers in the pioneer cryptocurrency's early days. After he talked about Craig Wright being Satoshi, he disappeared. Some time ago (around 1 or 2 years ago), he worked on something related to Bitcoin Cash (which you can see on his Github page). But after that, there hasn't been any activity related to Mr. Andresen whatsoever.

Do you think by any chance he'll make a comeback into the world of crypto? He could be real useful for making either Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash stronger than ever before. I know that we already have many talented developers working on both projects, but Gavin is skillful and knowledgeable about Blockchain since he's been a pioneer in the industry.

What do you think? ??

What's best for gambling online? Crypto or Fiat? As for me, I'd rather go full crypto than Fiat for many obvious reasons. Crypto may be extremely volatile, but it's anonymous (depending on the coin) and censorship-resistant. Fiat may bring convenience to people that are not tech-savvy enough to understand crypto, but it can easily be traced by worldwide governments.

Crypto enables online casinos to perform their operations in a somewhat anonymous fashion. Both the gambler and the owner benefits from this. But I understand that crypto is still not accepted at physical casinos. In this regard, Fiat is the winner.

Nonetheless, what are your thoughts?

Since I can't afford 1000 DASH for a masternode, I'm looking for an alternative option to get access to it. Such option is a service which provides masternode shares for people who can't afford said requirement for a DASH masternode. I know that there are a few out there, but I'm not sure which one's trusted and which is not.

Which is why, I want your recommendations about which service is the best and most trusted one available right now so that I can start earning from DASH masternode shares safely? Any help with this will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I'm looking for a list of crypto exchanges that make use of the Lightning Network for transaction settlement. I've toppled with an exchange called "FixedFloat" which works seamlessly trading "BTCLN" to "ETC". But I want to know if there are other exchanges that would allow me trade "BTCLN" to other cryptocurrencies, just to have a variety of options to choose from. I have to say that my experience using "FixedFloat" was seamless as the trade was executed instantly. My ETC arrived in just a matter of seconds.

I believe that the more crypto exchanges accept LN payments, the better, as people will be able to trade Bitcoin to another cryptocurrency in a faster and cheaper manner than before. Of course, LN's atomic swaps will render the need for a crypto exchange using LN payments highly unnecessary. But, this feature is still experimental nowadays.

Any suggestions or recommendations will be highly appreciated.

I've been reading about something called "Hashed Time Lock Contracts" (HTLC) where channels have a designated expiry time across the Lightning Network. This is for the protection of user's funds in case the LN node goes offline, etc. What don't know is how to tell when a LN channel will expire?

I've been using Zap wallet for PC a while now, and I only see a numeric value next to "Timelock". Is that value based on a specific block of the BTC blockchain, or is it determined in seconds/minutes/hours? Just want to be sure about this, so that I could know how long I could keep a LN channel open with funds on it. So far, I've been using the LN channel for two days without any interruption whatsoever. I don't want to close it yet, just to save on On-chain fees for a while.

Any thoughts?

Upon interacting with LN channels a couple of times, I've been starting to wonder about the privacy of LN transactions. Sending Bitcoin off-chain seems to be a great way to encourage micropayments, but it's up to debate whenever transactions are truly private from the channel's end. If a LN channel keeps a record of transactions performed off-chain, then they could serve as targets for worldwide governments. I suppose that it'll be much easier for governments to track down LN payments than on-chain BTC payments.

So far, I haven't seen a LN explorer where it's possible to search transactions made on the network. What I can only see are nodes and channels on the same. Still, I'm curious to know the level of privacy of Off-chain transactions relative to On-chain transactions performed on the main Bitcoin blockchain.

Do you think that Off-chain transactions are truly private after all? What are your thoughts?

I came up with an article across the web, explaining Ethereum's staking requirements in the future which is going to be a minimum of 32 ETH. Multiplying this with current prices, I get an average of $5,780 (USD) (at $180 per coin). This doesn't seem cost-effective for the average person, as it's somewhat expensive to start earning rewards from the ETH blockchain. If ETH devs leave that requirement for staking upon the launch of Ethereum 2.0, I'm afraid that the blockchain will be less secure than what it is right now (as less people will be able to keep the network strong).

The best solution would be to lower the minimum ETH required for staking in order to encourage the average person to support the blockchain as much as possible. With lower costs, nearly anyone will be able to join the ETH blockchain, making it much more resilient against third-party attacks. What do you think about this?

I've heard that most businesses in the crypto industry, use the technique of "Batching Transactions" in order to save money from Bitcoin's blockchain fees. But I'm afraid that I don't know how to do this yet. I've checked on my "Ledger Live" wallet, and there doesn't seem to be a feature for "Batching Transactions". Bitcoin Core may have it, but it's going to take a while before I'm fully synced to the BTC blockchain. If I could "Batch Transactions" in an easy way without syncing, it would be a blast.

Since I often send transactions to various BTC addresses, this feature would be extremely convenient for me (and other users as well) to reduce costs as much as possible. Any help, suggestions, or recommendations would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

With the advent of ASICs, CPU and FPGA mining has been a thing of the past. Most crypto enthusiasts mine altcoins with their GPUs, while others mine Bitcoin with ASICs. Every year, we see new ASIC hardware with more powerful hashrate and lower energy consumption. On the other hand, GPUs are becoming better over time, making them relevant in the crypto mining industry.

As for FPGAs, I haven't heard much about them (in the Blockchain industry) ever since ASICs took over crypto land. I've seen new FPGAs on sale across the web, but I'm not sure if it's still worth mining crypto with an FPGA these days. Because if you could still make money mining with an FPGA, then I believe that it's a great alternative to existing ASICs and GPUs.

Any thoughts?

McAfee has long been a crypto enthusiast, admired by some people in the crypto community. Most recently, he launched a decentralized exchange built on the Ethereum blockchain with the hopes of fulfilling crypto's true purpose within the mainstream world. Right now, the exchange is up and running with lots of trading pairs listed. Anyone can list their coin of choice, without going through listing fees and such. This decentralized exchange would allow anyone to start trading crypto without the need to comply with KYC/AML.

Now it's yet to be determined whenever this decentralized exchange will survive for the foreseeable future, as governments will try their best to take it down in its entirety (since it doesn't comply with KYC/AML). What do you think the outcome of this in the future? Will McAfeeDEX be the best solution for truly decentralized crypto trades or not?

[I seem to be a little confused on how to make a deposit in my LN wallet.]

I've never used the Lightning Network before, as I've been mostly conducting my transactions via the main Bitcoin blockchain. However, I've became interested in learning more about the Lightning Network since it's the future of micropayments. I may have been a long time in crypto, but I'm still relatively new to making LN payments.

I seem to be a little confused on how to make a deposit in my LN wallet. I don't know if it's possible to use the same Bitcoins (BTC) for LN transactions or do I need to convert my BTC into another type of coin suitable for the LN? How does it work? I already have the Eclair LN Wallet installed on my phone, but I don't want to deposit real BTC yet until I clear my doubts about which coin does the LN use.

Any suggestions or recommendations on how to get started sending lightning payments will be greatly appreciated.

If at some point in time I come across death, how would I actually preserve my crypto for other family members to enjoy? I mean, this should be a concern to every crypto enthusiast since all the money they've earned over time could easily be lost without the ability to be recovered by someone else. The decentralized nature of crypto, leaves us responsible of protecting our own funds no matter what.

Which is why, I'm eager to know which are the best practices to preserve my cryptocurrency in case I die in the future? Any recommendations or suggestions will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Considering that most people nowadays often find it hard to store and protect their cryptocurrencies, it's best to delegate the responsibility to a middleman. A bank of crypto would fit the bill nicely, as people would be able to secure their cryptocurrencies without ever having to follow the necessary precautions to prevent hacks or theft. As long as the bank of crypto is highly regulated by the government, then it'll be here to stay for a long time. Still though, not everyone will agree to this as it greatly defeats the whole purpose of crypto and Blockchain technology. The idea of a bank providing crypto services would only prove to be viable for newcomers into cryptocurrency. People who're experienced in crypto, wouldn't need this in the first place.

Nonetheless, do you think that a Bank of Crypto will happen anytime soon? If so, why?

The PoW mechanism used by major cryptocurrencies today, is known to become extremely centralized over time. This is attributed to the formation of mining pools which control most of the cryptocurrency's hashrate. If there was an efficient method to prevent this from happening, then PoW would've achieved a greater degree of decentralization over time. I've seen solutions like BetterHash and even Magi's M7M algorithm, but they're not perfect.

Which is why, I'm starting to wonder what is the most effective way to prevent mining pools? This I want to know, since I'm deeply interested in launching a cryptocurrency that takes decentralization in mind. Any recommendations or suggestions will be highly appreciated.

According to external sources, Google has already designed a Quantum Computer that's much more powerful than its competitors (like IBM and other mainstream companies working on this). If Google starts designing these computers in mass, then it could result in a risky journey for Bitcoin within days ahead. It's no secret that Quantum Computers are able to break our existing encryption methods, rendering cryptocurrencies completely vulnerable against them. Of course, it's widely possible to prevent this by making use of Lamport Signatures within the Bitcoin blockchain. But I believe that it'll be hard to implement into the pioneer cryptocurrency, since it'll require a hard fork of the blockchain.

Nonetheless, do you think that Google's Quantum Computer will be able to destroy Bitcoin in the future? Or will the pioneer cryptocurrency adapt itself against this new trend?

Ever since the Ethereum blockchain was created, many new and exciting things have surfaced within the Blockchain industry. Now it's possible to "tokenize" assets, bonds, and even in-game items. This has been so revolutionary that many dApps have emerged as gambling games which require no middleman at all. Gambling games that make use of the Ethereum blockchain, are often fairer than traditionally centralized ones.

As of now, there are many gambling sites that are entirely based off Ethereum. But, it's yet to be determined which one brings the most intuitive experience for even the most novice gamblers in the industry. Performance, and costs are key things to take into consideration when testing out different gambling solutions within the ETH blockchain. But this depends entirely on the platform itself.

Nonetheless, which are the best ETH gambling sites available today?

Every day, new cryptocurrencies emerge with specific features that aim to make the Blockchain industry a better place. Bitcoin has been a long proponent of decentralization, but it's not perfect. Being a PoW cryptocurrency, it's subject to mining pools where they control an enormous amount of the network's hashrate. On the other hand, PoS cryptocurrencies have the issue of making the rich richer over time. As for DPoS cryptocurrencies, they're largely controlled by big players in the industry (most often, delegates with a lot of money will vote for themselves).

This it makes me wonder which is the most decentralized cryptocurrency? After all, there's no such thing as 100% decentralization. But the more decentralized a cryptocurrency is, the better. What are your thoughts?

This may sound like a stupid question, but I've been wondering if Zero-Knowledge Proof on Smart Contracts are widely possible these days? Ethereum, being the world's second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is planning to use ZK-SNARKs for its own benefit. But I'm not sure if the Zero-Knowledge model will be used on the whole Blockchain itself or the smart contracts/dApps living on the ETH blockchain.

Anyways, I find Zero-Knowledge Proofs to be quite an interesting technology for preserving one's privacy. Imagine if smart contracts would gain the ability to hide sensitive information from prying eyes. Their uses can be expanded both in the corporate and government sector as we know it. ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens could benefit greatly from this as well.

Nonetheless, what are your thoughts?

Personally, I have found out that fee-less cryptocurrencies are extremely convenient for sending micropayments worldwide. Most of them are blazing-fast in transaction confirmation times, making them an attractive choice on top of Bitcoin or Ethereum. Cryptocurrencies such as EOS, Steem, and Nano have no fees at all, becoming a favorite among several crypto enthusiasts (like me).

However, it's yet to be seen whenever a fee-lees structure is a viable solution for the crypto economy. I mean, if there are no fees on the Blockchain, then how would delegates maintain their loyalty to fee-less cryptocurrencies? I believe that in order to maintain long-term stability, there needs to be an incentive via the collection of fees among the network's users.

Nonetheless, do you think that fee-less cryptocurrencies are the future of the crypto industry? Or are they simply a niche?

I know that there's been a few cryptocurrencies around (like Phoneum and Electroneum) which allow you to "mine" coins on your phone or tablet. This is great for the average person, as it allows them to secure the network (while getting paid in return) without much effort. However, a cleaner solution would be PoS as it's not resource-intensive as PoW is. Mining cryptocurrencies on a phone, could greatly reduce its battery-life and lifespan as we know it. With PoS, that's not longer a concern.

As such, I'm curious to know if there's a PoS cryptocurrency which you can "stake" on a mobile device such as a phone or tablet? I know that it's largely impossible to store the whole Blockchain on a mobile device (due to bandwidth and storage limitations), but a SPV implementation would be the ideal solution for "staking" coins on the go. What are your suggestions/recommendations?