This is very sound in theory, but things are very different in practice. Fees are very high right now, so customers will have to know how to use Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. Businesses will surely save in fees, but they're effectively just passing them onto customers (they're going to need to open channels), which some may find unappealing. It's an effective way to attract crypto users though, so there's that. I don't see Bitcoin usage being able to help the economy (significantly, at least) right now, as it's more of a personal tool.

People aren't very fond of it because they don't trust Facebook's ethics, and they see this as an attack to privacy. People are coming up with worst case scenarios, but most of these won't even come close to being realized if Libra doesn't achieve worldwide success -- something which I don't see happening, considering its limited use cases.

It doesn't seem to be an exchange, so what exactly do you want to do with it? Buy coins? If so, there are other much more reputable services, depending on your jurisdiction.

Anyway, I can't to find any info on it which is a red flag on its own, and it doesn't even seem to be using https, which means any info you enter on the site could be stolen by a third party. I would not recommend using it.

Lots of adults today grew up with Pokemon. The first Pokemon games came out globally in 1998 IIRC, so the gaming franchise itself is at least 21 years old, which is basically an adult lol. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a significant crossover between Pokemon fans and crypto users.

It's pretty unfortunate about the fees. It could be because of his low view count, high fees (I mean, the current recommended fee right now for a typical transaction is about a third of his tip total), or a combination of both. Also, did he even include his tipping address in the video itself? I don't see it.

They won't necessarily be uniform, but restrictions could be similar, a la global banking. I expect regulation to reach every country eventually, but considering crypto's small size, it'll happen much sooner on certain jurisdictions as others have more pressing issues to prioritize. Exchanges could, in the meantime, choose to set up shop in these places to avoid (or at least postpone getting hit by) the wave.

Unregulated exchanges are always going to exist for sure, but I also expect them to get targeted by regulators once they get large enough. They're also likely going to be ignored by the general public (who view regulations as protection) and would need to cater to a niche audience.

I hate to break this to you, but none of these methods are particularly new. The tech is mostly ready for these attacks too -- anti viruses are good enough for as long as you don't do anything too stupid, script blockers can protect your browsing experience, certain add-ons can alert you from visiting phishing sites, etc. The problem is that users themselves also have a role to play, and that's usually where the point of failure lies.

Electrum is still safe, you just have to ignore the prompts asking you to download newer versions if any. Make sure you also download from the official source:

electrum.org

If you're still not comfortable with it, I would recommend Wasabi (wasabiwallet.io).


Surely hundreds of dollars is an exaggeration? IIRC it peaked at like $30 (and that's optional). You can get away with 6 sats/byte at the moment.

You need to pay to open channels though, which may not be ideal for some people. Off chain solutions certainly help, don't get me wrong, but I simply disagree with the notion that Bitcoin was built to help the poor. It can, but Bitcoin is inherently anarcho-capitalist in that it promotes a free market resistant to outside interference, which is far from the socialist expectations of equality some people seem to have.

Bitcoin's cost effectiveness was always a secondary consideration. It was just one of those things which happened to work out with Bitcoin's decentralization at the time. Things have changed since, and it's not even always true nowadays anymore with fees surging every now and then. The poor can't afford to wait for fees to go down to spend.

When people say Bitcoin can help the poor, most of them really mean that the poor can hold some and wait for it to appreciate; not for financial inclusion or actual utility. It could still be a cost effective means of transferring large amounts of money, but that use case won't alleviate poverty, just like having access to banking services won't automatically alleviate poverty.

I was exaggerating. I meant that I don't believe that Bitcoin could scale solely on big blocks. I'm not very interested in the politics.


Yeah that about sums up the current situation lol. It sucks, and it seems like no change can be implemented without fracturing the community permanently a la BCH (I mean, that's why the community is generally against hard forks right?). I just wish there was a better way, and there probably isn't. It's one way or the highway.

I see some people mentioning an adaptive block size limit solution, and I'd just like to point out that satoshi has floated something of the sort in the past:


Not saying I necessarily agree, as I don't believe massive block sizes are not good for the long-term health of the network, but at the same time, block size increases probably shouldn't be this contentious. A block size increase will be necessary as the userbase grows anyway, so it shouldn't hurt to increase it a little to alleviate some of the short-term confirmation issues.

Approval of trading platforms doesn't necessarily equate to improving regulations. That just means that the approved entities were compliant. The US should likewise approve any platforms that are fully compliant with their regulations.

Either way, different territories have different laws, and I don't think the size of the two countries have anything to do with it. The better question would be "why is the US clamping down so hard", and that I have no answers for lol.

Libra was announced June 18, Bitcoin hit $9200 on June 16. The current prices has nothing to do with Facebook. People are overestimating its effect on the market; it's not guaranteed to be successful just because Facebook launched it.

Well assuming a large portion of Facebook's users actually use Libra, it will literally bring crypto to the mainstream. Crypto has always come with a stigma, and this might give people the chance to see that it's only as harmful as its user wants it to be.

That being said, I don't even think Libra will do well.


Libra.

Not true. They're backing Facebook's Libra (which is as much a cryptocurrency as centralized barely-crypto coins like Ripple and Tether), but they don't want anything to do with other crypto at the moment.

As for crypto debit card alternatives, this article has a detailed list.

How to buy IPO Stock

As for ICOs, all you really need to do is visit their respective website and follow their instruction.

You risk a lot less with IPOs, considering ICOs are basically IPOs without all the regulatory mess. There might be a handful (and I wouldn't be surprised if there's literally only a handful) of ICOs worth looking into out there, but you're going to have to wade through a lot of shit, making it extremely high risk with low rewards.

In an ideal world. It's unfortunately the prerogative of merchants though, so us customers would have to adjust somehow.


ATMs are pinned to your identity, and there's no way to replicate that in Bitcoin. Either way, I don't think it's too much of a problem. Bitcoin ATMs fill a niche purpose (getting coins in a pinch, buying for curiosity, etc.), and even the average Bitcoin user can go on with their lives with zero issues without ever using one.

In the US, any transaction above $10,000 needs to be reported by law. They could probably still report lower amounts if they find you suspicious, but I find it more likely that they won't pry.

Either way, there are better options for cashing out big amounts. Some Bitcoin ATMs charge percentage fees which wouldn't be an issue elsewhere.

If they determine that Bitcoin would be good for their bottom line, I'm sure they'd hop on in a heartbeat. It's probably not worth the hassle right now.

Another major factor that I see is that people might be wary using Bitcoin for services like theirs because it robs them of the ability to chargeback if things go south.

It looks like it has already been removed. For future reference, you could report fake apps by:

• tapping the three dots on the top right
• tap "Flag as inappropriate"
• tap "Copycat or impersonation" then Submit

Let's try to make the cryptospace a bit more friendly towards newcomers.