[1. Personal research, otherwise known as DYOR, isn’t all about looking for YouTube videos, fact checks and crypto rating websites]

We’ve all been disappointed before and we’ve all made mistakes. Unfortunately, for some of us the costs we had to endure were significant. We should always take this as a hard life lesson and learn from it. Hence I’m making this thread to help you understand why exactly it’s important to do research by yourself and stop relying on what the shortest, quickest answer given by Google is.

This is advice from myself, who’s been around for 10 years. I’ve seen the highs and the lows, I made big mistakes along the way too. So, this is my advice for you:

1. Personal research, otherwise known as DYOR, isn’t all about looking for YouTube videos, fact checks and crypto rating websites

I noticed too many people rely on YouTube, articles and crypto rating websites. I get it, it’s so much easier to watch someone who’s made a video on Craig Wright, it’s just one click away after all. But nowadays, a lot of the crypto sphere is surrounded by big paychecks from shitcoins or people who want to change your mind. Craig would pay a lot of money to make you believe him. PEPE would pay a lot of money to make you think it’s the next big coin. And in fact, they’re actually paying (sponsoring) others to try and change your mind.

On the other hand, we’ve got YouTubers looking to clickbait. Craig Wright PROVES HE IS SATOSHI!!!!! - YouTube would be a good starter. It’s easy to create clickbait content so others can click your video, but 99% of the time you’ll have to mislead your audience. Same thing happens with articles too: stop reading titles only and always think twice about the text you’re reading. Is it a sponsored article? Could it have other purposes? I’ve seen “journalists” shit on too many people for the sake of fulfilling a hidden yet obvious purpose.

Crypto rating websites are even worse. I can never be sure they aren’t biased and sponsored by the coins they’re preaching the most. It’s a bag of money away from happening.

So yeah, DYOR is not about googling what others think. You have a brain, use it! The more you read from multiple sources, the bolder an idea becomes in your mind. And you should already know it: the more fantastic it sounds, the higher the chance it’s a scam. Look through Bitcointalk, look through other sources. Repetitive information isn’t helpful, try to look for new information.

2. Researching on your own is difficult, but it’s worth it.

Yup, it’s not as easy as 1-2-3. But if you understand who’s Craig, if you get why celebrities are trying to pump certain shitcoins and projects like NFTs, if you understand why the government’s trying to block and restrict privacy (surprise: it’s not about preventing illegal activity), you’ll start having a much clearer general vision about Bitcoin.

Learning however takes dedication and time. If you don’t have time for it, maybe it’s better to stay away from being influenced by what others think. Zuckerberg says Bitcoin’s gonna drop? Who’s he to tell us what the future holds for BTC? If you want to DCA, do it. Invest and all, but always remember wealthy people love manipulating markets and investors to their advantage. Don’t be that fool.

3. If I trusted mainstream media, I should’ve been out of BTC years ago and Bitcoin should’ve been buried 6 feet deep into the ground.

Did you know Bitcoin has been declared dead over 400 times? What do you think, does it look like it’s dying? Because to me it looks like it certainly hasn’t died ever before and is more alive than ever!

This is why DYOR is a very widespread idea here. Either you do research or you stop trusting anyone at all while planning things on your own. If you read what mainstream media has to say and trust their words, you’re over 50% likely to mess up because most of them have an agenda. Wanna use BTC? Stop it, it’s the deep web coin! Wanna have some privacy? FBI says Monero’s highly linked to illegal activity! Bisq? No way, give us your ID and we’ll give you clean BTC instead!

It’s all bullshit and you better stay out of it.

4. I trusted mainstream media before, and that’s my biggest mistake yet.

There was a time, back in 2015, when it was absolutely everywhere. TV channels, YouTubers, articles from the internet - I’m telling you, everywhere you looked! Bitcoin is dying and you can’t do anything about it. Get out, now or never!

And I did. I thought mainstream media was saying the truth only so I followed what they said. That’s the day I spent Bitcoin on the most expensive video game ever. A $60 (~0.35BTC) Call of Duty. Yes, you read that right, in today’s money it’s basically a ~$11k game I paid for. You know why?

• I was listening to mainstream media
• I haven’t done my own research
• Hence, I had to pay the price of my own laziness and stupidity.

They convinced me to stop buying Bitcoin too. Bitcoin was dying in 2015 at sub-$200. So 2016’s recovery was a thing I was laughing about. ”Look at those fools still buying BTC lmao” I was thinking, watching the markets about to die forever. Who’s the fool now, huh?

5. Unless you truly support an altcoin, stay out of that area. No shitcoins for you unless you understand what you’re doing

There was a time you bought shitcoins. Maybe it’s now. I’ve been there and done that too, and this was one of the mistakes I made.

• Especially nowadays, investing in shitcoins is a very bad idea. You need to be up to date 24/7 with it. Who knows? Tomorrow it could be a rug pull. Or they may be transitioning to a v2 contract. Or they’ve been hacked. It’s very simple - you stay behind, you lose your coins.
• Price matters, right? Because say the truth or not, we’re here for the money too - at least partially. How many times has your shitcoin made you money? How quickly does a bull run end, how abruptly? Now look at Bitcoin’s charts. If for a shitcoin you need immediate action or you lose the peak because most action happens in a matter of minutes, Bitcoin moves big but slow.

Now I’ll tell you a hurtful truth. How much shitcoin did you buy and when? Take a piece of paper and stick with me.

Write down how many shitcoins you bought and how much fiat you invested in it. Go to CoinMarketCap, find Bitcoin, go back on the chart to the same day you bought your shitcoin and write down the price. Calculate how much BTC you would’ve got if you bought BTC instead of your shitcoin.

Now compare how much fiat value you have now with your shitcoin vs how much fiat value you would’ve had if you chose Bitcoin instead. Do the same for your entire portfolio and I promise you, it wasn’t worth all the efforts of buying alts. If you stick to Bitcoin instead, maybe you move slower but you move certainly.


If you want to have a positive crypto experience, you need to be careful, dedicated, open-minded and less lazy. Otherwise, you’re prone to making costly mistakes you’ll later regret. So start now. Your favorite influencer might be the one person who’s blocking your progress. If I bought all the shitcoins influencers I’ve seem recommended me to, I’d be broke. If you bought BTC from the start, you’d be more rich. But money changes people. Want more positive results? Spend more time trying to find the best way. You’ve got a brain, you’re still ahead of many others who still haven’t even sparked an interest in Bitcoin, so start doing things better now.

As an initiative to stop this analysis and doxxing BS, I’m looking for the easiest way I can edit all my posts containing suggestions for readers to start using Wasabi or containing links to their docs. Is there a faster route than going through each and every single page of my posts and using CTRL + F to find those containing Wasabi’s name? I have quite a lot of such posts IIRC from when I used to support them heavily and I want them edited ASAP before anyone finds them and starts using their nonsense software.

Loyce, save me

I think that one of the problems Bitcoin will be facing over the long term is the aftermath of some disastrous events. I'm talking about events leading to internet blackouts or power cuts. These events include but are not limited to strong cyber attacks, fuel shortage (see Lebanon), earthquakes and so on.

If power or the internet goes down, it's safe to assume that Bitcoin becomes practically worthless/useless in an instant for anyone who's living the aftermaths. We're talking about situations like the current one Lebanon is facing. Had this happened in a much larger nation like the US, I think Bitcoin would've confronted a huge sell-off and loss of interest/trust.

We currently have Blockstream's Satellite which can be either a DIY setup or you could buy the equipment (when it's in stock anyway) off their website AFAIK. I read every now and then a bit about it, but I never had much interest in it. The reason? It's seemingly difficult for a beginner to set it up, it isn't the most portable thing you can have and it's not affordable for the regular guy. Can't see the regular Bitcoiner to own a Satellite setup.

On the other hand, there is GoTenna with their TxTenna. This one is portable, it's much cheaper but as far as I know, the company behind it doesn't care much about the regular GoTennas anymore since they took the military equipment more seriously. When you have a new company providing the regular Joes a way to go off-grid and independent from ISPs or network carriers, you as a military force have to bait them and pull them away from the average Joes .. anyway.

There must be a way to create a device that is affordable, portable and allows you at the same time to be your own bank without depending on ISPs or network carriers no more. I might be very wrong, but I think ham radios can be used to send e-mails. Not sure if there are any ham radios that you can use without a license in some countries (e.g. the US), but perhaps Bitcoin transactions could be transmitted through radio frequencies? There were some kind of radios that you could transmit over a range of up to .. 200 miles (or kms) as well? Is there absolutely no way this can be done?

We have so much technology to use and Bitcoin is imo still just at the beginning. Building a rechargeable device that allows for fully offline Bitcoin txs to happen would make it about invincible even in disastrous events. Is this a bad/impossible-to-realise idea? What do you think?

[exact]

I've been lurking on so many websites for so many years and I find it quite disturbing to see how most of the today's crypto users/investors mostly only care about "new partnerships" and "roadmaps". I feel like most of you are blindly investing in coins that either have a very long and misleadingly bulky roadmap or coins of which devs are betting you their lives that they're gonna bring their coin/token to Binance. Is this all crypto is for you? Binance listing and "roadmaps"?

First of all, besides bringing pump and dump volume, Binance/Coinbase/etc listings and similar kind of "partnerships" bring no advantage. They're literally there just to make it look like the newly listed token has some good potential. Truth is, Binance has been (at least allegedly) known for asking quite a lot of money for listings. Even if Binance doesn't, there are plenty of exchanges who do. And then, just take a look at Binance's listed coins. >50% of them are coins I never even heard about, pure shitcoins. Is it that necessary for a coin to be listed on known exchanges as a partnership or should this be coming from the exchanges themselves instead?

Second of all, these "roadmaps" are usually the exact same for all coins/tokens. New website, new wallet design, exchange, paper wallets, possibly HW support, marketing team and so on. But at the end of the day, if you look at the roadmap you need only a braincell or two to realise that all these hyped-up updates are literally worthless when it comes to the coin's development.

DigiByte brought some new tech to the crypto space for security. PoS was great for crypto development and studying. Kadena now came with a new, interesting concept of having multiple chains to avoid congestion. Monero came with the strong privacy support, PirateChain has a quite interesting idea of increasing privacy with every tx. There are a few coins here and there that come up with interesting new tech, but most of them are identical and have no real future, no real use case, no real development.

If we want this space to truly evolve, we need to come up with new stuff and test it out. Alts are most of the time testing grounds for large coins, the same way PoS was a testing ground for Ethereum and the same way some coins adopted SegWit long before Bitcoin did.

Yes, this is a rant. Take it as it is, I'm just tired of hearing "development", " partnerships" and "roadmaps" everywhere when I already know for sure they're all crap and bullshit. It's just pathetic, we should start to look for real for things that actually bring value to the crypto space.

[strict]

Daca e ceva ce se stie cert despre Apple (sau cel putin se stia in urma cu 2-3 ani de zile), Apple a spus de nenumarate ori ca intimitatea reprezinta un drept fundamental al omului pe care corporatia se axeaza in mod fundamental. De fapt, Apple are chiar si o pagina in care se discuta despre acest lucru si cat de mult conteaza pentru ei asigurarea dreptului nostru fundamental la intimitate.

Acest lucru are insa sa se schimbe brusc, sub aceleasi scuze si motive pe care in ultimii ani de zile corporatiile si guvernele le-au folosit pentru a ne lua drepturi fundamentale intr-un mod subtil si pentru multi de necontestat. Drept exemplu putem lua tarile in care astazi se poate intra ca turist doar prin localizare permanenta a turistului.


Pentru mine, motivul invocat de catre guverne <"Pentru siguranta voastra"> nu e nimic mai mult decat o metoda vicleana de manipulare psihologica. Daca ne uitam si mai indeaproape, putem observa ca intimitatea dar si alte drepturi fundamentale par a fi de fapt pe cale de disparitie.

In urma cu doar cateva zile, Apple a facut un anunt care l-a socat chiar si pe Edward Snowden. Un nou algoritm are sa fie implementat fara acordul utilizatorilor in produsele Apple, prin care toate documentele si fisierele din iCloud vor fi scanate pentru a detecta poze ale copiiilor disparuti, abuzului sexual de minori dar si alte ofense.

Mai mult de atat, inclusiv pozele din conversatii (si sper sa nu spun prostii, insa din ce stiu este vorba doar de iMessages momentan) vor fi scanate prin noul algoritm pentru a detecta automat nuduri sau alte poze cu continut grafic. Conform celor de la Apple, aceste fisiere vor fi scanate alaturi de o baza de date americana si chinezeasca de persoane disparute, cautate de politie sau care detin poze cu pornografie infantila, iar mai apoi utilizatorii care vor avea fisiere ce corespund acestei baze de date  vor fi anuntate la autoritati.

Ideea in sine nu este rea, atata timp cat cei de la Apple se limiteaza strict la a proteja cetatenii de viitoare incidente ds pedofilie. Insa daca Apple poate scana toate fisierele noaste personale pentru a gasi criminali, inseamna ca se pot folosi de ele si in alte scopuri.

Semne si mai mari de intrebare apar din momentul in care ne gandim ca exista o multitudine de minori care distribuie sau realizeaza astfel de imagini sau videoclipuri fara sa stie ca acestea vor putea ajunge mai apoi in mainile Apple sau ale  autoritatilor. Asadar, incercarea corporatiei Apple de a opri cateva cazuri de pornografie infantila vizeaza toti clientii lor, pe care acum ii depriveaza de dreptul la intimitate pe care Apple mai devreme il considera cica "unul fundamental".

Anuntul noului algoritm coincide intr-un mod ciudat cu mai multe stiri asemanatoare, desi sosite din partea altor corporatii sau institutii. Mai exact, anuntul UE prin care toate mesajele noastre vor fi luate in mod automat "la mana" pentru a gasi criminali cu mai mare usurinta si noua lege UE prin care indivizilor li se va interzice folosirea portofelelor digitale anonime. Toate acestea vin, inca o data, sub scuze "diminuarii ratei criminalitatii".

Din cate putem observa, astazi se marseaza foarte puternic pe eliminarea drepturilor fundamentale prin manipulare psihologica. Citind noua lege UE privind Chatcontrol (scanarea mesajelor pentru detectarea criminalilor), tin minte ca unul dintre articole mentiona faptul ca nu putem spune ca dreptul omului la intimitate este mai presus decat dreptul copiiilor abuzati la o viata normala. De aici putem intelege de fapt viclenia celor de la UE si incercarea de a formula legile astfel incat nimeni sa nu se poata impotrivi.


Sunt de parere ca ne indreptam tot mai vizibil, tot mai evident spre o era in care drepturile fundamentale vor fi fundamentale doar ca nume, doar teoretic, insa vor putea fi abrogate ori de cate ori guvernele/corporatiile vor considera ca este necesar. Astfel, sugerez tuturor cititorilor cu multa caldura sa incerce:
 1. Sa se intereseze mai mult de drepturile lor fundamentale si sa incerce sa puna prin propriile cercetari cap la cap informatiile pentru a afla ce se poate face pentru a se proteja de astfel de abuzuri
 2. Sa afle mai multe despre Monero, singura criptomoneda cu adevarat anonima care lupta pentru dreptul fundamental la intimitate

Si 3. Sa nu mai luati de buna orice informatie pe care autoritatile le ofera, mai ales intr-o perioada ca aceasta in care deja devine evident ca scopul anumitor legi/masuri nu este cel prezentat.

"When you trade safety for freedom, you lose both."

[must]

According to 9to5mac, Apple has just unveiled a new algorithm for its gallery app. Using "protecting children" as an obvious excuse, the new algorithm is going to scan all iCloud data for information and data of child abuse.

This is a big concern for me for a few reasons. One reason is that a lot of kids own iPhones and a lot of them have iCloud accounts. iCloud was probably never safe for storing sensitive data anyway, but now it's even more worrying since this has gone public. Two kids sexting now means photos of nude children will be in Apple's hands, and likely in the hands of authorities in case they consider thee pictures are important to keep. This is an invasion of privacy that is now public and happening, for which reason we must start looking for ways to protect ourselves.

If celebrities and large pedophile rings are not being arrested due to their fame or political links, there is no way we can expect the scanningof personal images and invasion of privacy to be a proper measure against child abuse or child sexual exploitation.

When people will start to realize privacy is important, it might already be too late. They're taking away our freedom, and they'll be trying to take Monero away as well for the same excuses.

The state is not your friend, and they've been proving this over and over again for a long time. Protect your right to financial privacy before they try to take it away as well.

[China]

In urma cu doar cateva luni, China a trecut la planuri din ce in ce mai serioase privind noul Yuan chinezesc digital, incepand sa emita asa-zisele "hard wallets", respectiv carduri e-CYN printr-un program pilot. Stirea a ajuns in randul europenilor aproape imediat si a fost, din ce am observat pana acum, in multe cazuri primita cu multa bucurie de catre restul lumii.. ceea ce ma ingrijoreaza, deoarece lumea pare sa nu priceapa cateva lucruri:

1. China este tara care pare sa marseze cel mai puternic spre o moneda digitala emisa si controlata de stat. Daca schimbam ordinea cuvintelor, am putea spune ca o tara comunista marseaza cel mai puternic dintre toate spre o moneda digitala. De cand sustinem ideile dupa care comunistii par sa baleasca?
2. e-CYN-ul nu va fi emis drept o moneda de colectie in cantitate rara, nu va avea halving-uri, nu va fi decentralizata si in consecinta este mai mult ca sigur faptul ca 1 e-CYN nu va creste in valoare precum (sau mai mult decat) Bitcoin a facut-o.

Putem trage o singura concluzie din ceea ce China in momentul de fata face: mai mult ca sigur, a ales sa lanseze noul e-CYN deoarece le ofera un mai mare control si o mai profunda supraveghere asupra cetatenilor. Imaginati-va ca fiecare leu pe care copilului i-l daruiesti poate reprezenta un semn de intrebare maine pentru autoritatile care stiu absolut totul despre fiecare RON din contul tau, sau din portofelul copilului tau.

Am observat foarte multa bucurie legata de noile monede digitale fiat, insa trebuie sa intelegem ca statul nu face altceva decat sa incerce sa ne indeparteze de crypto si sa ne atraga de noua industrie de supraveghere, control si lipsa de intimitate.

Voi ce parere aveti? Lansarea monedelor digitale fiat este o stire pozitiva sau negativa?

[Nu picati prada in fata acestei tepe, nu-i contactati si nu trimiteti niciodata vreun ban oamenilor care vand ulei de sarpe precum acesta.]

Thread tradus din limba engleza. Link catre thread-ul original: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5352140.0

Nota personala: Am decis sa traduc aceasta postare deoarece este vorba despre o teapa care s-a desfasurat inclusiv pe teritoriul Romaniei. Iar pentru ca data trecuta cand am aflat despre OneCoin nu m-am implicat prea mult in a incetini macar trend-ul prin diverse postari, consider ca macar de data aceasta pot face un mic efort spre a-l atenua.

Tin minte ca in jurul anului 2014 am aflat de pe un forum (cel mai probabil Softpedia) romanesc despre aceasta teapa, in fata careia mai multi romani cazusera prada. Se ajunsese pana in punctul unor amenintari, iar oamenii care reuseau sa intre in aceasta schema piramidala nu mai puteau iesi "cu mainile curate" din ea.


Feriti-va de noul video DeepFake cu Ruja Ignatova, realizat cu ajutorul unui actor si postat pe YouTube, prin care se cer donatii pentru a ajuta la relansarea proiectului-teapa.
Ea (sau el) declara ca ea nu mai are acces la vechiul cont. Deci incepand cu o noua pagina dupa ce a asteptat o perioada lunga de timp, ea este pregatita sa schimbe lumea  .
Daca observati cu atentie, veti vedea ca fata ei nu se misca natural ci este suprapusa corpului prin tehnologia DeepFake.

Ce este important de observat din discursul ei (lui) se afla in urmatoarele replici:
"Oameni-cheie din echipa mea s-au transformat in tradatori si nu am acces la servere sau fonduri..."
"Avem nevoie de resurse. Si vreau sa angajez cei mai buni experti blockchain..."
"Am nevoie de donatii si fonduri din partea voastra."

Teapa originala OneCoin a fost inceputa in 2014 devenind mai apoi una dintre cele mai mari scheme piramidale din istorie, creata de creatoarea tepara bulgara Ruja Ignatova (The Cryptoqueen/Cryptoregina) care este disparuta din 2017 si are o sentinta de pana la 90 de ani de puscarie.
Se stie ca detinea mai multe pasapoarte diplomatice si probabil in jurul a 230.000 Bitcoini, deci cu siguranta nu are nevoie de vreo "donatie" de la cineva.


https://youtu.be/TnUWu3tWA3M

Code:

https://onelife.earth/

arhiva: https://archive.is/skJF3

Nu picati prada in fata acestei tepe, nu-i contactati si nu trimiteti niciodata vreun ban oamenilor care vand ulei de sarpe precum acesta.

Would Bitcoin be more secure against extremely powerful computing tech with more words in the dictionary list, a larger number of seed words and perhaps a longer BTC address/privkey? Say a seed had 50 words instead of 12 or 24 and Bitcoin addresses or seeds had at least one more character. Would it be more secure against bruteforcing or high computing power?

I'm looking for a fully open-source crypto portfolio tracker but I just can't seem to find any reasonable one. Most trackers out there are on GitHub but have no reputable history behind and since I'm not a coder, best thing I can do is just rely on what other coders say..

I find it weird to give a closed-source software information about how many coins I own, when I purchased them and so on. I feel like this isn't an information to share with a 3rd party.

Do you know any open-source tracker that I can use?

I've been around the space for many years but I do not remember seeing the Bitcoin mempool this clogged ever before. It's becoming exhausting even for me to keep paying high fees. For example, due to the necessary fast confirmation, only in the past two months I have spent more than $200 in fees for a handful of txs.

Therefore, what I had to do is.. I had to find a way to use cryptocurrencies while allowing me to pay a cheaper price for my payments. In other words, I still have my BTC but they're kinda useless besides moving money without caring whether they're going to be confirmed today or within a month.

I've moved to alts, at least until the mempool unclogs. This is something I've never had to do before. The main issue I see is.. my partners have started asking me for altcoin addresses as well. They're moving off BTC too. The storage size requirement for full nodes is quite high for the average person to afford running one.

With large billion-dollar companies investing in BTC and trying to turn it into a mainstream adoption, the network is only bound to continue clogging up. If that isn't enough, remember that billion-dollar companies can afford even exceedingly-high fees for their transactions. This means that the more companies join in, the less average Joes will afford to compete with them in fees since my $10/tx in fees is nothing for a Tesla-like brand. Putting it another way, this means the billionaires will continue to be able to use the network while your transactions might not get confirmed even within a week.

I'm in this situation right now. I have over 10 payments that I've sent with a previously decent fee (6-8sat/vbyte) that haven't been confirmed although it's been about two weeks ever since they've been broadcasted.

I'm still a Bitcoin fan - don't get me wrong. In fact, I'd absolutely love to be able to continue with BTC. But between having to pay under $0.1 and $15/tx (with only 1-2 inputs!) in fees, I'd obviously choose the former. Hence, especially since I do not consider myself to be living under poor (or under average) financial conditions, I really think people will be soon starting to steer away from BTC in favor of altcoins. The bad news if this happens? Even shitcoins might get more attention..

The even worse news: unless we change this, the network might make a lot of free space for corporations while we might have to move away. What we've once wanted to do, decentralizing the economy, will only be a possibility for the rich.

Therefore, as the title says.. with a clogged network, current (or future) Bitcoin users will start leaving Bitcoin for alts. Change my mind.

As we know, we have the option to run Bitcoin Core either through the clearnet or through Tor. For me, Tor is a must. As long as it improves my privacy, it's an option I definitely wouldn't skip.

However, some people would rather run it through the clearnet. Are you running it through Tor? Why? (If your answer is negative, why not?) Do you have a specific reason?

Also, do you believe it would be better if Bitcoin Core required Tor?

You've met some random dude to purchase BTC from him. The dude sends you a transaction with a theoretically high-enough mining fee rate, but even after 2 hours of waiting it still isn't confirmed. He's desperately waiting for the tx to be confirmed so that you can give him the cash.. but the network happens to be congested, so now things become uncertain.

Here are two scenarios:
 1. The transaction he sent you is RBF-enabled. He supposedly has an unfortunate emergency and leaves as soon as you receive the first confirmation on the blockchain
 2. The transaction he sent you is non-RBF. He supposedly has an unfortunate emergency and leaves although the transaction has 0 confirmations on the blockchain

You are quite new to the crypto space so you give him the money anyway thinking it's enough.

Which of the two scenarios are now more likely to turn into a scam?

After so many pumps sparked by Elon Musk through his tweets, Musk calls Bitcoin "almost as BS as fiat money".

He had "Bitcoin" on his Twitter bio recently. His company just invested $1.5B in BTC. He sparked bull runs for a memecoin and called crypto the future currency of Earth - why would Musk back off the Bitcoin bullish mindset and call Bitcoin BS?

The tweet:

To be clear, I am *not* an investor, I am an engineer. I don’t even own any publicly traded stock besides Tesla.
However, when fiat currency has negative real interest, only a fool wouldn’t look elsewhere.
Bitcoin is almost as bs as fiat money. The key word is “almost”.

Source: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1362600676174557186

[SEED:]

I'm planning to store 3 copies of my seed in 3 different locations, but I am not sure if my method is good enough.

My plan is to use an RNG to randomize the order of my seed's words. Afterwards, I'd note down the correct order in numbers and then I'll have 6 different locations: 3 for the randomized seed and 3 for the correct order.

Example:
SEED: answer real swallow drink verify road anger note mountain giraffe cloth fish
RANDOMIZED SEED: real swallow verify answer drink anger fish mountain giraffe cloth road note
CORRECT ORDER: 4; 1; 2; 5; 3; 11; 6; 12; 8; 9; 10; 7

I would store 3 copies of the RANDOMIZED SEED in 3 different places and 3 copies of the CORRECT ORDER in 3 different places as well.

How safe is this?

[Dubai’s IBC Group Pledges 100,000 Bitcoin, the Largest Bitcoin Investment in History, to Support Setup of the Miami 2.0 Blockchain Strategy Foundation]

After Tesla, Microstrategy, BNY Mellon, MasterCard, PayPal, Morgan Stanley and many other corporations, it seems like the domino ride has only just begun.

Recently, it has been announced that Dubai's IBC Group is pledging 100k BTC (yes, $5,120,000,000 at the current price) in order to set up a Blockchain Strategy Foundation and other Joint Venture Projects. Here's a little read from Yahoo! News:

Dubai’s IBC Group Pledges 100,000 Bitcoin, the Largest Bitcoin Investment in History, to Support Setup of the Miami 2.0 Blockchain Strategy Foundation

Khurram Shroff, the Chairman of Dubai's IBC Group, [..] has pledged 100,000 Bitcoin (current value of USD $4.8 Billion) to set up the Miami 2.0 Blockchain Strategy Foundation and many other related Joint Venture Projects. Mr. Shroff's backing of Miami 2.0 Blockchain Strategy could turbo-charge use of the cryptocurrency, which is estimated to transact USD $200 Billion per day, by the end of 2021.

The pledge by IBC group, the largest in Bitcoin history, will be significant in facilitating the digital-currencies adoption across multiple industries and critical in aiding Miami's vision to integrate Bitcoin in everyday transactions.

[..]

IBC Group was recently approached by landmark U.S based real-estate developer Burkhan World Investment LLC to increase the adoption of the blockchain technology in Real Estate and to enable efficiencies in government and private sectors. "Making the largest Bitcoin investment in history is proof of our commitment to assisting cities adopt Blockchain, which we see as the key to enabling widespread adoption," reiterated Khurram Shroff.

[..]

"Enabling investment into Real Estate utilizing Bitcoin as a collateral asset will further enhance its use case as a tool to create a hybrid investment vehicle for BTC holders," said Shahal Khan, Burkhan's CEO and Founder, "Economical debt coupled with a favorable hedge for BTC holders in stable long-term assets such as Real Estate, are a double win for digital currency holders as well as developers and property owners."

Inspired by Miami's Mayor Francis Suarez's commitment to blockchain, both IBC group and Burkhan are looking forward to being a part of Miami's strategic tech vision. In a recent interview, while talking about integrating bitcoin into certain government transactions, Mayor Suarez said, "Cities like Miami, we're trying to attract tech town. It's part of a larger play to position Miami as one of the most tech-forward cities in the country."

[..]

IBC Group has always commended the government of Dubai in leading the world with its Blockchain strategy. It believes that Miami can align itself with Dubai and become the first city to completely run on blockchain in the United States.

Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dubai-ibc-group-pledges-100-175500092.html

[- Am I late to invest in Dogecoin?]

Now that we have a quite thick flow of new users, I think it's time to talk about the way celebrities manipulate cryptocurrency investors (especially newbies!) to put their money into a specific coin.

Back in December 2020, Elon Musk posted a tweet that reads: "One word: Doge". As simple and pathetic as it sounds, the tweet sparked a never-seen-before Dogecoin bullish ride.

- Am I late to invest in Dogecoin?

I am not the best financial advisor so don't take my advice for granted, but I think this is a late and very risky move to make.

On the charts, it looks insane. One who's missed the investment opportunity may think that a lot of people have become rich in the last few months.. but the reality is very different to what the graphs show.

In reality, most of the people who've bought have actually done it only recently. They've done it after the market went bullish. In other words, most DOGE investors that are now still in the markets are late investors still hoping for another bullish run to begin. But if you have not joined the bullish ride before it began, you are likely on a loss right now.

Why?

We are humans. We feel emotions and, for most of us, emotion almost always overtakes instinct. With that being said, when you take a look at an impressive graph such as DOGE's, you might get the fear of missing out.

If you've missed out on a cryptocurrency bull run, you're likely not going to catch up the Train of the Rich again but be left behind instead. And if you try to catch it, what you're doing is.. you're helping the Rich get rid of their bags, making their train more lightweight and hence faster while you, on the other hand, are going to get heavier. Once a cryptocurrency goes through an ATH, expect the richest bagholders to sell their bags. Whenever they do that, they don't care about helping the coin's price increase anymore. All they care about now is redeeming their own wealth, by dumping their holdings onto potential buyers like you.

- But it was Elon Musk who mentioned DOGE.. it should be a good investment!

No. Just because a celebrity posted a tweet in which they mention a specific cryptocurrency does not make it worth more than it used to be. However, smarter and more experienced investors know how to take advantage of this situation in which you are emotionally weak.

Once Musk tweets, the majority of his supporters will likely immediately go over crypto exchanges and purchase the coin he supposedly supports. But there is one thing we apparently forget: Musk could be holding some DOGE himself, so what tweeting its name truly does is.. it allows Musk to multiply his fortune through 3-word tweets.

The ending of these scenarios are usually quite dramatic. Before Musk started doing this with DOGE, back in 2017 another celebrity has done the same. The results? A lot of people have invested in the currencies he promoted, and whoever has been holding these currencies ever since has lost a ton of money.

On the 17th of December 2017, McAfee tweeted about Monero, Verge and Zcash, naming them cryptocurrencies that "cannot lose". Immediately afterwards, Verge had a massive price surge. Three years later, Verge is still in a struggle: it's more than 14 times lower than its ATH, it is currently sitting on the 104th rank on CoinMarketCap and it's been through a number of 51% attacks, the most recent one being.. yesterday!

- So what do I do? How do I get rich?

Trust me - if any of us knew the recipe for getting rich, we'd either keep it for ourselves or everyone would know it. But I am quite sure there is no specific recipe. You need to think your investments thoroughly and smartly.

Ask yourself: what will DOGE ever truly serve as? Because the most common answer is.. it's a meme. Do you really see a future where the world adopts a meme as a daily-driven currency? So.. does it really have a future? That is for you to decide on your own.

The main point is, ask questions yourself and seek the answers for those you don't have one yet. Critical thinking is the key when it comes to analyzing whether a choice or an investment is worth it or not - and think logically: a celebrity is not a crystal ball and they certainly aren't someone willing to make you rich.

I'm currently a Hero Member with a pretty long experience on the forum who's been in a number of signature campaigns, the last one being BestChange's. Right now, my avatar space is available for rent together with the Personal Text.

I'm usually posting anywhere I find an interesting topic, but most of my posts are around the Bitcoin Discussions, Altcoin Discussions, Beginner & Help, Economics and the local Romanian boards. My post count per week is varying between 25 and 50 posts, depending on how much time I have free.

I do not have a specific payrate I'm looking for. I'd rather be open to offers instead. So feel free to PM me if you're interested.

[Internetul nici nu iarta, nici nu uita.]

Know-Your-Customer este acum cunoscut de multi drept un proces foarte periculos prin care trebuie sa trecem pentru a primi drepturi pe un numar deloc nesemnificativ de platforme care au legatura cu criptomonedele. Cu toate ca s-a dovedit de nenumarate ori ca motivul initial al legii KYC de a lupta impotriva activitatilor ilegale financiare s-a transformat foarte lin in intentii mult mai malitioase, o mare parte dintre utilizatorii crypto par fie ca ignora acest lucru, fie ca pur si simplu nu le pasa de faptul ca, prin completarea formularelor KYC, identitatea lor acum se afla sub amenintarea continua a furtului, vanzarilor de pe piata neagra si spargerilor bazelor de date.

Internetul nici nu iarta, nici nu uita. Iar daca acest lucru nu suna suficient de terifiant, Bitcoin si aproape orice alta criptomoneda cu un registru permanent a carui istorie este prezervata atata timp cat moneda exista este mult mai neiertatoare decat orice altceva am avut de cand exista tehnologia.

Cu toate acestea, oamenii inca tind sa foloseasca platforme centralizate care necesita completarea KYC dintr-o varietate de motive. Comisioanele si ratele sunt mai bune pe exchange-urile centralizate decat ceea ce ofera ATM-urile. Procesul de cumparare este mult mai simplu si mai prietenos cu utilizatorii. Sentimentul de siguranta din moment ce pentru orice click gresit exista Suport Clienti la care poti apela. Astazi vom analiza cum blockchain-ul privat Monero elimina partial riscurile si pericolele reprezentate de procesul Know-Your-Customer.


Uneltele de crestere a intimitatii pentru BTC sunt predispuse la greseli ale utilizatorului si, daca vor fi vreodata exploatate si descifrate, toti utilizatorii anteriori vor fi afectati. Daca exista un motiv specific pentru care imi este teama sa imi cheltuiesc o parte din bani pe servicii precum mixere si CoinJoin, este faptul ca as putea fie sa fac o greseala care elimina efectul acestui tip de servicii fie ca, intr-o zi in viitor, autoritatile sau cineva cu suficient IQ sau noroc ar putea gasi o metoda de a lega intrarile CoinJoin (inputs) de iesiri (outputs) sau monedele mixate de identitatea ta.

Chiar si cu existenta CoinJoin, algoritmi foarte sofisticati inca ar putea sa analizeze monede si sa faca legaturi pe care creierul uman nu le poate face. Odata ce treci monede prin mixer sau CoinJoin, va trebui sa ai grija sa nu folosesti monedele netrecute prin aceste servicii impreuna cu cele trecute. O greseala foarte simpla dar costisitoare pe care o poti face este realizand aceasta legatura folosind resturi (change). Functia Coin Control poate rezolva asta. Insa cati oameni stiu sa foloseasca adecvat Coin Control?

Daca Bitcoin inca are cateva cai de a iti creste intimitatea, toate celelalte monede practic nu prea au. In timp ce poti trece Bitcoinii tai prin mixere, nu poti face acelasi lucru cu Ethereum, DOGE sau Litecoin. Bitcoin se afla undeva la granita dintre ceea ce ofera aproape orice alta moneda si ceea ce ofera Monero din punct de vedere al intimitatii.

Acest lucru fiind spus, unele servicii sau softuri pentru Bitcoin ofera o alternativa potential exploatabila a intimitatii in timp ce alte cryptomonede sunt predispuse la analiza euristica prin care se fac legaturi intre monede si identitati. Intre timp, Monero soseste cu intimitatea implicita si ca focus principal.

Folosind Monero, platformele pe care ti-ai verificat identitatea nu vor sti nimic despre trecutul tau financiar in afara de sumele depuse si retrase din platforma respectiva. Acesta este un lucru care m-a inspaimantat intr-un mod special in trecut: prin analiza euristica, uneltele de analiza blockchain pot afla de unde vin banii tai si unde se duc fara a iti mai cere permisiunea sau declaratia. Din moment ce majoritatea criptomonedelor au registru public si sunt doar pseudonime, este aproape ca si cum bancnotele tale lasa in urma lor o dara sclipicioasa oricand mergi la un magazin, la o banca sau oriunde altundeva.

Bancile stiu cat depui si retragi. Cu toate acestea, daca retragi banii in portofelul tau fizic, lantul de supraveghere se rupe si orice faci in continuare cu bancnotele tale nu mai este treaba lor. Din moment ce registrul Monero este privat, el rezolva aceasta problema devenind versiunea digitala a retragerii numerarului: retrage XMR in portofelul personal si nimeni nu va sti ce se intampla cu el mai departe.

Supravegherea Statului este chiar aici - si Monero poate lupta cu asta. In ultimii ani de zile, reglementarile cryptomomedelor au adus o cantitate numeroasa de legi cu intentii malitioase. De la Know-Your-Customer pana in ziua de azi, cum s-au schimbat lucrurile?

Autoritatile inca se chinuie sa lupte teoretic cu un inamic invizibil si supra-exagerat: activitatea financiara ilegala. Sub aceste trei cuvinte, o cantitate mare de legi au fost trecute prin care intimitatea devine din ce in ce mai putin semnificativa. Daca inainte au reglementat exchange-uri, azi incearca sa reglementeze decentralizarea. Incercand sa puna limite asupra portofelelor negazduite, FINCEN mi-a confirmat gandurile din trecut: conform gandirii lor, intimitatea ar trebui sa fie o crima.

Cu toate astea, Monero soseste ca o solutie si pentru aceasta problema. Portofelul monedei nu poate fi reglementat din moment ce nu exista o evidenta publica pentru autoritati prin care sa verifice daca adresa si sumele declarate "se pupa" cu ceea ce scrie in registrul public sau nu.


Asadar, prin Monero, KYC si alte legi similare (sau chiar mai rele) acum reprezinta un risc mult mai mic decat cel reprezentat de monedele cu registre publice. Spunand asta, odata cu trecerea timpului si transformarea tot mai puternica a tarilor in "Surveillance States" camuflate in libertate si democratii, putem lupta cu asta si putem incerca macar sa ne recapatam intimitatea.

Nota: postarea aceasta nu se intentioneaza a fi o contradictie a thread-ului lui @1miau ci o solutie pentru cateva riscuri si efecte pe termen lung generate de KYC si alte legi similare.

PayPal has started selling "crypto" but they don't let you withdraw. Hence, if you think about it, they could easily only literally sell numbers on a screen rather than a math-backed, miner-verified real cryptocurrency.

I was wondering what could happen from an economical point of view if they (or any other corporation) did this and suddenly wanted to manipulate markets using false coins. What could PayPal do to BTC?