How was the process done? How was your friend able to purchase $1 million worth of BTC without providing any KYC functions? Generally, exchanges have been very stringent with KYC requirements and personal records. From my experience alone, if a transaction involved high amounts of BTC, my exchange would most likely freeze my account to question the genuineness and veracity about the origin of my funds.

Though that may be the case, your friend indeed saved his fortune by converting them into BTCs. The difficult part is converting them back to cash in the exchange that he purchased them, unless he sells them via p2p transactions or via escrowing your funds.

I wholeheartedly agree with you, icopress.

Unfortunately, the majority of scammers in this forum are cloaked with green ratings as they take advantage of this position to misrepresent others. I remember, there was a situation where a famous local poster asked for a loan. His request was granted due to the green/positive ratings he accumulated overtime but he withdrew from the loan and leaving this forum again.

Positive and green ratings do not guarantee absolutely that your transaction with another person will be successful and safe. The only blanket of security that you can have is by checking if he/she has previously done multiple transactions involving the one that you are specifically asking for.

The reason is always the price- more and more people are using and purchasing BTC which affects its price on the market. Being the first cryptocurrency ever made, it already has established its name on the market. Think of it as the first phone company ever made. No matter what happens, you are at least guaranteed, by some security, that many users would somehow trust it due to its influence world-wide to the point that there are countries using it as legal tender.

While this may be the case, also remember that other cryptocurrencies depend their price on the price of BTC. Though there may be exceptions, this is considered the general rule.

I think the better approach is that instead of complete prohibition, strict regulations must be implemented in order to protect gamblers, who are addicted, in attempting to delve into such activity. There must be at least some sort of balance and middle ground on preventing gamblers from gambling too much and protecting the financial freedom and rights of gambling business owners from yielding profit.

Though this may be easier said than done, this is the only compromise that the government must take if they really want to help gamblers overcome their addiction.

This is an interesting article- most of the time we associate and perceive gambling addiction as something negative. But with the article you posted, there are at least, some positive effects of gambling when done in moderation. I guess, we often times overlook the things that give us positive effects when done in moderation.

Though I am curious- is gambling done in moderation considered also an addiction? I mean, if something is done consistently, will that tantamount and equate to addiction? I just hope that the fact that gambling in moderation can bring positive results, this does not rationalize and advocate gambling in general.

This makes sense- these tokens were primarily created by the gambling institution itself, so they are indeed in the risk of price/supply manipulation.

The difference between cryptocurrencies and casino tokens is that, the price is primarily determined by the supply/demand. The more people that use these currencies, the more the prices may increase/decrease, though the former is much more volatile compared to the latter. But you are right, they are subject to the risk of price manipulation since the one in control is the casino owner, himself.

I guess even if the prices of casino tokes kept on increasing, they are still entirely different from cryptocurrencies as a whole.

This is actually funny- I think they have been silent all this long but when cryptocurrencies are slowly becoming relevant, they show their faces, huh?

I just hope that their initiative will not be limited to only "warnings" issued by them. If they really see the effects of cryptocurrency scamming, I hope some sort of initiative and action would come from them to resolve this problem in this field. The more they try to avoid or to act like nothing, then nothing would happen in this space.

Like someone mentioned in the comments, I think you are talking about payday loans.

I remember a toxic experience back then when my uncle used my name and contact information, without my consent, and put me as his referral and as a guarantor. Obviously, when these people called me in order to settle the loan, I declined and told them that this was taken without any of my consent. Unfortunately, they proceeded to call the other referrals (which was my family members) in order to settle the loan that my uncle got.

These people would take measures in order for the debtor to pay. They will non-stop call you for like 3-5 times/day just for you to be annoyed but who would blame them?

With the recent announcement that Magnus Carlsen will not participate in this year's candidates tournament, I think I somehow respect his decision. According to Magnus, here is what he mentioned:


I do think that Magnus does not have to prove to anyone anymore. Everyone knows that he is indeed, the best living chess player that everyone has seen. The fact that he will be facing Nepo once again this candidates just gave him no motivation at all. Remember that the preparation that these GMs undergo is seemingly impossible to imagine, with all the stress and memory that they have to master.

I agree with your statement.

With almost everyone missing on sports action, most sports teams had to adjust their ways and change their system in order to integrate a new way in approaching their respective sports, while maintaining physical distancing due to the dangers of the virus. I remember back in 2020, the NBA was able to cast their games but this required very stringent rules on the players and on the teams about quarantine.

Now that most sports have been given the green signal to participate, this brought the interest of everyone again. Thus, increasing more gamblers in the process due to the long hiatus when the pandemic happened.

I partially agree with your statement.

It is somehow obvious that OP is at least attempting to spread someone's image to boost its viewers or to at least be in contact with the guy. Like you mentioned, it is someone OP personally knows or has interest in, that is why he is trying to spread his image.

Though I may be rooting for GSW during the whole playoffs, their performance speaks for themselves. They are the primary contenders for the title (even before they won this year's playoffs) and by basing it primarily on their stats, they are superior compared to any other team in the NBA right now.

I think the 'strong rules' in this forum are the ones that are obvious and unspoken, like the natural laws of life. If you think that you are cheating your way in the system by plagiarizing or spamming, then you are putting yourself in a situation where your future is guaranteed- which is to be banned by the moderators.

Most of the problems of newbies stem from the fact that they visit this forum with only one thing in their minds- which is to earn profit. While this kind of mindset is not entirely negative and bad, what makes it worse for newbies is they fail to contribute to this forum which only leads to a number of spams.

I definitely agree with your statement.

With the popularity of cryptocurrencies attracting more and more people investing, the supply and demand primarily dictates its price on the market. When BTC halving occurs, the denomination of it being distributed is lower allowing its price to further increase in the market. As far as I know, the next halving will happen this 2024, which somehow implies that its price may skyrocket once again.

Every time I hear someone suggesting the Martingale strategy, it implies that the person must have a huge capital at his disposal. The good thing about it implementing and integrating it into BlackJack is that, by odds, the Martingale strategy can pay itself in the process. As you bet more in BlackJack, the chances of a person winning and getting a favorable hand increases during the process which makes this strategy fairly effective.

The only problem that I see in this strategy is that, the odds may also be against your favor which may result into using large and large amounts of capital. The more you lose, the bigger the capital that you use in this strategy which makes this not beginner and newbie friendly to all.

I think the best thing is that you should always expect nothing in return, yet you feel satisfied in contributing to the whole forum. It is like a real-life donation, you give everything but expect nothing in return. If you see someone returned the favor, then you will feel as if you did everything you could which is more satisfying.

The problem with most newbies is that they see this forum 'purely' as a way to earn. While that may be true enough, they fail to see the bigger picture and the purpose on why Satoshi created this forum in the first place- which is to discuss BTC!

I think it has something to do with bots being associated with cost that people fail to realize that they can create one. The beauty behind these bots is that you can set the parameters on the minimum/maximum bets you can put and automatically use it to save yourself some time. Technically, gambling bots are used mostly by gamblers who are profit-driven since they let the bots gamble for them.

Gambling bots should be beneficial but it carries a lot of risk to the gambler himself since the latter does not personally see what is happening on the game.

Oh this is just heartbreaking to see if you are a fan of sportsbook gambling. These types of games should be avoided at all cost and these players and teams should be held accountable for game fixing. Though one may argue that the shot was poorly made, but at that level of competition, those players are expected to hit those shots 99% of the time, let alone at least touch the rim or be close to the net as possible.

The difference is, that shot was so far ahead that it looked like he intentionally wanted to miss it. These kinds of corruption damage the reputation of sports and also be prejudicial in some sportsbook gambling.

Nope and I have not encountered any person practicing or linking fengshui in gambling.

Gamblers and some casual players always have their lucky charm or mantra before they gamble. They tend to believe that by doing something, this will bring them some sort of good luck that will turn the odds on their favour. While this kind of practice may look outrageous, this actually helps them in easing their anxiety and giving them the push to gamble and to be fearless on their odds.

Though that may be the case, doing any some sort of fengshui to rely on one's luck should be at least avoided especially if you primarily gamble for profit. While these beliefs may have no effect or anything whatsoever on the odds, this would only help the gambler to gamble more in the process.

I think this has something to do with the fact that the price of BTC reached an ATH last year around $60,000 on the market.

Given the wide array of knowledge spread across the globe, at least almost everyone knows about the price history index of BTC over the years. With that hope in mind, majority of the BTC HODLers (including myself) rely on the hope that its price will recover sooner or later, though no one knows when.

Also, there is nothing much to do in this bearish market. If you sell your BTCs, then you lose majority of your investments. If you actually HODL, then you run in to the risk of its price decreasing. But the fact that it reached an ATH last year means that its price may potentially recover.

Regulation comes stablization but is price would be more 'controlled' in a way that it defeats volatility. I mean, the aspect of volatility is what most investors purchase BTC in the process. In the event that this happens, then what would be the difference of investing in BTC compared to investing in other instruments as well? But this kind of argument falls short when you look it purely on an investment perspective as BTC is more than just an investment.

Though this may be the case, but I think this is the only remedy if we truly want to see BTC being adopted globally and being accepted as an alternative currency. Even if China has recently ban its utilization, we may see a revival if this where to happen.