Running bitcoin core, requires:  

• Downloading over 120 Gb of data
• Verifying every transaction ever made
• Waiting for a very long time (for it to finish)  

Doing all that just for wanting to run your own wallet in bitcoin core seems like overkill.
And it is only going to get worse as time goes on. After ~5 more years the blockchain will probably be >300Gb

I think it would be a GREAT idea to create a lighter version of Bitcoin core. "Bitcoin Core Mini"
It could be done, because for creating and verifying new transactions you do not need to have a full copy of the whole blockchain. All you really need is the info about all bitcoin addresses, that contain any bitcoins, and the inputs to those addresses.
The old transactions do not really matter for the purpose of creating and verifying new transactions.

For running "Bitcoin Core Mini" you would need
the balance and inputs of every address containing bitcoins, Eg. from today when blockchain was at block  #485732

For this info it would be enough to download a signed, trusted file of about 10Gb, and then verifying every transaction that has happened since the file was created eg. at block #485732
(New ~10Gb file could be made accessible every year or 6 months)
 
Estimated size of the file comes from:
10000000           Addresses with balance
          * 1 kb       for info of the address (inputs, outputs balance.)
                          Some addresses would need more than 1kb, some less
10000000 kb                          
            =
          10 Gb

The size of the file could be made a lot smaller, if we forget the "dust addresses", that contain only a few satochis, and are unlikely to ever be used. In those cases we could just have a list of those addresses without any additional info. (it would take minimum amount of space)  And if any of those addresses would ever be used, the "Bitcoin Core Mini" would then ask the needed info from the network, from a full node.

Anyone interested?
With "Bitcoin Core Mini" you would get almost all the advantages of a full Bitcoin Core. You could create and transmit your own transactions but you would not need to download and store over 120GB of data.
In the long run the size difference would only be getting bigger. In the future,  when the blockchain size will be  >500Gb, the Mini version would probably still remain under 20Gb  

Who would want to run "Bitcoin Core Mini" (if it is made)?
Would anyone want to be part of developing it?

I might be interested in developing it, if there is enough interest. Maintaining it in the long run is another thing.

I don't know how successful they would be in banning mining with the great firewall.

In my opinion, miners could continue searching for the next block (mining) even without internet connection...

They only need to get the info of what they are seeking, and then transmitting the result to the other side of the firewall once they do find the next block. This could be done with email, or even by phone.

Would make things a little more complicated, but not impossible IMO

Probably the easiest solution is to move your coins to a new address, after you have your new phone.
Make a new seed too, so that your old wallet would be useless. No coins in there.

The only drawback is that you will have to pay the small transfer fee.

No.
With a quantum computer it is possible to calculate the private key from the public key.
BUT,
if you use bitcoin "correctly" and you do not reuse the same bitcoin address, your public key is not visible to the attacker. So he would not be able to get your private key even with the help of a quantum computer.

The sha256 hash algorithm used in bitcoin, to generate address from public key, is quantum computer resistant.

But there are many bitcoin addresses, which are reused, and which do have sent actions in them, and those are vulnerable to quantum computers as the public key is visible.
There are more than 1000 000 bitcoins in such addresses.

Some corrections:
Address is a ripemod160 hash, so there are "only"
2^160 =
1461501637330902918203684832716283019655932542976
different addresses, that you need to check.
not the 2^256=
115792089237316195423570985008687907853269984665640564039457584007913129639936

And if you are not looking for one specific private key for the one address you want to find, but just try to find ANY address, that has bitcoins in it. (about 2000000 addresses) then you have to check only:
(2^160)/2000000=
730750818665451426033988086967063606722560
addresses.

A lot easier, but the result is still the same. It is not possible with the computers in existence now.

Yes, but women are treated more equally. Atleast where I live.

Do you really think there will be war ?

They are smarter than that. Both sides know, that no-one will benefit from that kind of war.

I don't believe that anything will happen, and if it did, bitcoin would probably be a safe haven

China did not ban bitcoin!

What ashes?
We are still a lot higher than 2 months ago.

Maybe there was a small bubble, and soon things are back to normal.

Reminds me of a time, when I recommended someone to buy an undervalued stock, which was just about to get a lot higher according to everyone.

Actually it lost 80% of its value.

I felt really bad even though she did not buy the stock. She was going to, but opening the account took so long, that the truth was revealed.

We are still a LOT higher than 2 months ago.

Only 2 months. And we also got some bitcoin cash.

Bitcoin is and has always been volatile. I don't worry yet.

I am sure that the person responsible for bitcoin to lose value is just that one single Chinese person that you will see next 

Actually chinese people are good, hardworking people. Nothing against them.

criminals, and eg. north korea can use bitcoin.

But the most worrying thing for governments is that they cant steal bitcoins from their citizens.
The most usual way of stealing is printing more money, which reduces the value of everyones money.

Banks actually try to keep inflation in about 2%.
As an exercise it is an interesting idea to calculate what happens to the value of money in 100 years if the yearly inflation is 2%.
0.98^100=0.13 and that means that every dollar will be worth only 13 cents after 100 years. That is the biggest robbery in the world.

some keyboards are also quite dirty,

not to say anything about the mouse

I think the worst "shock" is already over.  That is the news, that they will be closing.

I predict, that the price will go a bit more down, and then stay there until some good news come, and people notice, that China is not that important to Bitcoin.

How are diamonds more reliable than gold (and bitcoins)?

You should try to buy some diamonds, and then sell them the next week. You wont be getting anywhere near your money back. Unless of course you bought a rare diamond, which has been "cut" by a famous diamond polisher.

Diamond prices are held artificially high, by suppressing the production.

Bitcoins and gold on the other hand have a value, with which you can both buy and sell them. (minus a few % comission of course)
 

In that case I would sell 300 million worth of bitcoin. That would mean, I have tripled my investment, and still have 700 million worth of bitcoin for waiting its value to rise to the sky.

Thanks for the info.

Googled a bit, and found out how to become VIP or Donator

40000$ to become a Donator
and
200000$ for a VIP status.

Quite expensive indeed.
I was thinking, that I could maybe Donate 0,5 BTC, if I would ever gain access to my lost address (unlikely)
I would expect at least a " Super duper extra generous Donator, everyone bow to him" status in return 

But it seems the minimum amount to donate is 10 BTC. I wonder if there are many members, who are that rich.

Why??
I thought that avatars are just fun and pretty. Why restrict it from new members?
Quite a strange policy in my opinion.

It is interesting to read these comments.

Sounds to me, that most writers are super duper  optimistic about the value of bitcoin, which is good.

You should remember that a few months ago bitcoin had NEVER been over 4000$. We have just had an all time high for bitcoin.

I think it is perfectly natural, if bitcoin would go back to 2500$ level for a while. It wouldn't even be a "crash" if you can look with a little longer time-frame.

But in the long run, if the bitcoin scaling and transfer fee problems will be solved and if governments wont start attacking bitcoin, the price will go back to over 5000$ levels.