Not just governments, banks too. Coinbase lost their UK banking relationship with Barclays. Their new provider made dropping Zcash a condition of doing business with them.

The future of proper anon coins is likely to be non existent on approved exchanges. No doubt they'll do fine elsewhere as they provide a genuine use case.

In a world where there was no need to use fiat or deal with a centralised entity Bitcoin would do exactly what it was intended to do. And indeed it does. It's the hangover from ye olde system that's introducing all of the problems people moan about.

It was never going to magically create its own economy. It has to transition from the old one and that's still a possible outcome.

As for OP's original question, if one day we woke up and Bitcoin had converted into another Monero authorities everywhere would start pumping out kittens. It would be straight back into the shadows in most places.

Bitcoin's subtle progress around the edges is one of its greatest assets. I don't know enough about LNs or any other second layer but it's possible you will be able to opt in to proper privacy using a layer on top while the base layer remains snoopable.

That one's a first. I presume next up is having to measure one's nose to make sure you're not too Jewish.

They'll probably ask black folks to measure the volume of their skull with saline solution too.

I would respond to that with a photo of my undercarriage.

It seems to be a slightly damning indictment of its system that someone has to ask here for info about sellers rather than just searching it and finding them. I've tried it a few times and gave up in disgust a few seconds later.

Something major needs to happen to it to drag it up out of the eternal dead end it's always been in. I've also tried multiple Openbazaar search engines and they could not find one single common item. It's bordering on surreal.

But it's inevitable news. Bitcoin is worth something. They recognise that. It's going to be taxed like anything else. It's not in itself a horrific conspiracy. It's just a fact of life and brings it in line with everything else. Bitcoin is not 'special' or magically exempt in that regard.

Yup. Much better if it's curated by the operator.

There might be a wave of 'bounty' campaigns and the place would get spammed with worthless tokens, plus there've been some truly toxic-looking BTC paying campaigns that croaked before they got going that might be inserted on there to drum up some hype.

I have put £10 through my Coinbase account since its inception so I'm sure they're pleased with the little corporate robot I am. Treat them as radioactive and you'll be fine.

Every centralised service will end up like this eventually. The difference is that most yield to it with some reluctance rather than running towards it like they are.

I've no idea where one's privacy stands for things like this. It's not as if you have a great deal with Google.

I'll guess many people believe Coinbase's aspiration is the most sweeping choke hold possible on every aspect of the scene until they become a one stop shop for authorities, from asset seizures to surveillance with one handy phone call. And they might be right.

No one should be remotely surprised. The moment you enter Coinbase you're dropped straight onto the corporate cock from a great height and start rotating at speeds of up to 3000 rpm. They are the epitome of wannabe establishment, and wannabes are that much keener to get in The Man's good graces.

All users should plan accordingly.

Isn't CNBC the guaranteed touch of death? I seem to remember someone doing CNBC TA and their bullish calls were 95% wrong which is seriously impressive. You could make a fortune just trading the direct opposite of their proclamations.

One thing I didn't bother to check is who is buying all their GBTC shares.

This is slightly old but gives an idea - https://medium.com/grayscale-investments/strongest-quarter-ever-81035e384ee6

84% of inflows has been primarily from hedge funds. On one hand that's cool that institutional interest is rising, on the other many will be clueless and twitchy bitches who'll run for the door given half the chance. That delay in selling might stop that but that level of their involvement could be a double edged sword.

What reasons did they give for the rejection? Sometimes they witter on about not enough resolution for the documents. Or more likely they just intend to keep the money even if you take them back in time to watch the moments where your money arrived in your account.

Just because you don't pass their source of funds obstacle course does not give them the right to keep anyone's money. Provide them with an address to withdraw to and tell them you're terminating your relationship with them.

Cool idea. It can be a bitch to keep on top of what's out there. The services section is a bit of a mess.

I'd explain what CFNP means at the top or choose another piece of terminology as it might be confusing. And for newcomers, who are going to be prime customers, adding the minimum rank for each campaign on the main page would save them and anyone reading the relating threads time and hassle.

In no known universe would it have hit 15k. That would've been a totally illogical move that came out of nowhere.

The big arse drop may well have been pandemic related as the rest of the world ran around screaming, other than that prices have been what I was expecting. The behaviour is in line with the last halving when not much happened.

A halving takes time to digest and I didn't expect a return to 20k this year with or without diseases running riot.

Trust in China, not that there was any in the first place, is heading lower by the day.

Anyone other than the Chinese government staking their future on Chinacoin would be a nutter. I'm sure it'll be extremely powerful but that's power that needs to be kept at arm's length for the health of your own nation.

The idea of your reserves being under their complete control at the press of a button isn't going to be an appetising idea.

And as for the idea of it 'replacing' Bitcoin, that's such a pathetic, literal and mindless idea I can't be bothered to expend the calories to type about it.

I'd tell them to fuck off and abandon the account myself, or I'd charge them for my time in getting the info together not that I could be arsed to get shit notarised, but I doubt it's massively out of the ordinary since they now have fiat dealings. They probably spring it on random customers so they can show the authorities that they're being proactive when they come snooping.

Other exchanges do the same thing every now and then. I've only ever had a bank do it once which says something, and I made it all up and they went away.

Are there any funds in there right now?

The economic damage hasn't even started to warm up. Economies have been in suspended animation. Only now when reality is eased back in is when it'll start to bite. A lot of businesses will have no clients to go back to. A lot of employees won't have a job to go back to.

I had no particular truck with the idea of Bitcoin, or any high risk asset, thriving when the world is going down the bog. But the flush hasn't really started yet so we still don't really know how anything will pan out.

Change your time frame and you can make it the worst performing one too depending on what mood you're in. It doesn't really mean a great deal for now. As traders are fond of saying, and it's really boring, zoom out.

That's when your panties get shredded. Anyone getting in looking for a quick return is quite possibly going to leave just as quickly with a loss or be in for a much longer haul than they initially planned.

You'd come over as much more manly if you gave up the self moderation. That's the move of an insecure pencil neck who quivers when the real deal wanders into view and whacks his johnson down on the Xmas dinner table.

Yes. If the OTC market didn't exist at all all of these people would be on exchanges.

We have no idea how big the OTC market is so there's no way of knowing how much availability Grayscale are hogging, but it must be a significant uptick compared to the past. I don't remember them buying this furiously in the past.

Sometimes there just isn't enough OTC to go round. Available supply is finite. Most of it has to be prised out of someone who already owns it. Sometimes you'll have to go to an exchange no matter what if you're hungry to buy.