LOL You mean for IPL 2019 next year, right?

You are spot on, and everyone, including the governments,  knows that for certain.


True, Bitcoin cannot be shut down. But, what is it's locus of value? The junction where crypto translates into material goods, whether as barter or via fiat. If you are not using this locus, i.e. if merely hodling, then the value is basically just a figment of your imagination.

And, ..... this locus being a geographically defined spot, falls under the suzerainty of various national governments, all subservient to the major global hegemons, and specifically the USA, if that's your bugbear.

So, why is "big government" merely content to thrust and parry for now, and not make any big moves? It is observing the shape this movement is taking, the way the market is responding. But, make no mistake, it has that critical physical factor of superiority, the ability to impose taxes, and collect them at the point of a gun, if need be. So, it needn't act fast, it can strike at the moment of it's choosing.

What can government do? It can levy a "Carbon Tax" on "environmentally polluting" Bitcoin. It can ban mining on those same grounds like it banned ChloroFluoroCarbons (CFC) a few decades back. It can tax the mere possession of Bitcoin. It can do so with retrospective effect. Say, you held Bitcoin between September 2012 and March 2014, it will tax that amount retrospectively, and God help you if they consider the end-2017 20k peak as the relevant price.

But, you refuse to pay up. They'll lock you up in debtor's prison where they dump all tax evaders. You think of escaping to some sunny island, they'll arm-twist that place's authorities to hand you over. You think you can best them with your libertarian schemes of sea-steads, they'll "send" "rogue elements" to harass your womenfolk and cause you an inordinate amount of trouble.

tl,dr;  Long story short, there's no escaping the tentacles of big government. If BTC falls, they'll dismiss it as a "black swan" in their economic record, and no further action needed. If BTC stays put and rises, it'll wield that (super)tax weapon.

I love Virtual Reality. Unfortunately, after a short while, it gives me nausea. So, unless this kill-joy side effect is removed through innovation, I don't think I'll be able to "commit" to VR on a permanent basis.

If you live life with a purpose, or searching for a purpose, you will live a long and healthy life and with a richer experiential content, than an aimless life.

As to what exactly that purpose happens to be, you will need to plot that out for yourself, because it varies with the context of your familial and cultural background. It will be your unique version; so, go search for it all by yourself.

Basically, it depends upon the extent of obesity. A "morbidly obese" man would have a huge paunch, and much of the penis length would be buried in the huge layers of abdominal fat. That apart, his physical fitness would be reduced, and there would be hormonal imbalances as well. This will lead to impotence.

Those who are modestly overweight might find penis length reduced slightly, again because of the layer of fat on the lower abdomen at the base of the penile shaft. Also, reduced physical fitness translates into reduced sexual performance.

And, reading the title, I thought he was onto something. Sigh!

Great post! Thanks for introducing me to David Yermack's paper. Pity I don't have any sMerit on me; Yours is the kind of stuff that deserves Merits aplenty.  

Based on the rising BTC and falling Altcoins value, it seems like Bitcoin is rising because investors are taking money out of altcoins and investing it in BTC. There are no fresh investors, because if that were the case altcoins too would've risen together with BTC, as in end-2017. Fingers crossed!

Currently, Silver is literally losing it's 'shine' as investors prefer placing their wealth in Cryptocurrency rather than in physical commodities. So, if we think of 'Commodity' as a state space, Cryptocurrency is the secret of success in this arena, usurping the place previously held by silver.

Now, as regards the state space of 'Blockchain', Bitcoin and Ethereum are firmly in command, much like gold and silver in the commodities state space. If you can devise a winning formula to displace either or both of them, all that wealth locked in BTC and ETH will flow to your currency; much like the wealth locked in Silver diverted toward Cryptocurrency.

That is the secret to Blockchain success, the key to unlock the Blockchain state space. As to the exact nature of that winning formula to unlock all the wealth locked in the Blockchain state space, that is a factor for you to discover!

It would be better if you put that survey on a Google document, and then post the link here. Also, state the purpose behind your making that survey, whether for academic research, or company statistics, etc.

The US Government wants to kill Bitcoin because the US Dollar is the global reserve currency. This effectively means that the Federal Reserve can simply print new dollars for whatever reason, and the rest of the world will grunt, sigh, look on resignedly, and then everyone moves on.

If Bitcoin becomes the reserve currency, the USA loses this power, and simultaneously it's position as the leader of the world. The wonder isn't that the USA has made anti-Bitcoin or anti-Cryptocurrency noises, it's that it hasn't clamped down hard on Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrency as yet.

I won't be surprised if a future US Government driven to the edge decides to tax the possession and mining of Bitcoin, perhaps of all Cryptocurrency, maybe even with retrospective effect; and then forces the other countries to levy tax accordingly. What will you do with your Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency hodlings in that scenario?!

+1 

May Your Tribe Increase & Your ICO Succeed!

Ethereum with it's DApps ecosystem should be right at the top of your priority list. Also, BTC as the other post says. Maybe, if newer coins like NEO and EOS are offering anything better than ETH, you could have a look there too. No sense though in accepting too many, that too unknown or scarcely traded coins; especially the ones that get inflated at the founders' every whim.

The apocalypse is an imaginary construct. As such, you can establish a causal relation between it and anything you fancy. It's like trying to multiply by zero, or at other times dividing by zero.

Then there are the ICO and Blockchain roadshows. You need to interact with the whales, which is possible at conferences. In fact, nowadays there are even specialised events matching/ speed-dating ICOs and investors.

You will need deep pockets for almost one full year of relentless travel around the globe, chasing investors and publicity.

My most embarrassing moment, here on Bitcointalk.org was when I had initially posted doubts and suspicions about ICOBench, the review site, because there are lots of scammers asking for payments in exchange for a favourable review on that site. I strongly suspected, and posted as much, that the site too was somewhat at fault.

Since then, yesterday in fact, I observed that ICOBench had taken down a scamster reviewer who had managed to dupe 70+ ICOs. So, it has become clear to me that ICOBench acts on being presented with compelling information; and, as such, should be considered a legit site.

Accordingly, I planned to edit my earlier post; but now it seems that entire thread is lost, and undetectable. So, yeah, that's my most embarrassing moment relevant to this forum.   

I'm assuming you mean eResidency. The Estonian Government's website has some useful links. I've found the Facebook group 'Estonian e-Residents' to be very helpful. I'll suggest that you join that group and ask this question over there.

Bitcoin has established itself as a powerful brand through it's actions. For something that was near zero less than a decade above to trade at 20,000 within a short space of time, and to be potentially valued at 200k some time into the near future, is no mean accomplishment.

Imho, any attempt to rebrand Bitcoin will be a misguided one, and will only serve to nerf the brand.

Just a thought experiment: what if we consider the various Blockchain and Cryptocurrency launches as basically independent attempts to rebrand (and cash in on the aura of)  Bitcoin?

Dateline: 1st of April, 20XX.  

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Ain't gonna happen ever, mate, not this way.

Maybe, some such thing could occur elsewhere in the world; but, in the US, there's by far too much antagonism among the suits toward Cryptocurrency in general, and Bitcoin in particular. I just don't see any reversal in this underlying negative sentiment.

 

Lots of people have obtained the Estonian eResidency Card; and several among them have formed virtual companies "in Estonia" for ease of trading in the EU. But, I haven't come across any eResidency Card holder who has formed a company to launch an ICO virtually through Estonia.

Thanks to all the people who posted answers to my query. That was very nice, and helpful on your part.