I think you're going to find it rather difficult if not impossible, unless you find such a service in those specific countries.  Any bank card processing service in the US (and likely Europe) will flag the transactions and prevent the vendor from receiving the funds.  If the tranches are large (over $600,) they'll also get flagged for potential fraud, and cause the vendor all kinds of trouble.  


He won't find a Bisq peer that accepts bank cards, that's not a payment type provided for by Bisq1.  Even if he was able to (somehow,) or use Bisq2 he's only going to run into the issue I pointed out above. 

Technically, anyone who earns merit is a source of merit and can distribute it anyway he chooses.  But to large extent, you're right.  The merit system is a centralized system, and is rife with misuse.  I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's broken or rife with abuse, but there is certainly misuse and room for improvement.

The WO thread is a good example of frequent misuse, and almost every local board that has a merit source is yet another.  Favoritism always comes into play , as well, but that's just human nature and there's not much that can be done about that.  For years, Foxpup has been famously parodying that particular aspect of it's nature.

@thymos, maybe it's time to decentralize the merit system?  Do you want to hold another monthly lottery, lol?  The system is 8-years-old, and many of it's flaws have been made clear.

---

That reminds me, my "birth day" was a few days ago.  My account tuned 8!

Didn't suchmoon once buy an old/highly regarded account to keep it from getting into the wrong hands?  That's got to count as an improvement, lol.

The seller was kind of popular, but I can't remember his name now.  One of the OGs who died a few years back, then his account came back to life, lol.

Edit:
I found it: Gleb Gamow

Bruno, the original owner was funny as hell, but his ethics may have come into question a couple of times.

Known alts:
Phinnaeus Gage
YuTü.Co.in
presduterte

I recall one time theymos said something to the effect of we would be surprised to know the number of accounts that have been sold.  I surmise that some are very likely to go undetected. 

It's easy to say that nothing good comes from account sales, but the truth of the matter is that if an account's human backend turns out to be an improvement in terms of post quality and content, we may never notice that it changed hands.  I'm convinced this scenario would be an exception, but I'm only going by the accounts that I've detected or witnessed others detect.  It's impossible to imagine a world where things only go one way, however.  I.e. the account gets sold and the quality deteriorates.  Simple statistics and chaos theory would rule out that possibility.

It's also easy to say that any decent person wouldn't buy an account because he could rank up a newbie account on his own.  But, even talented and creative people can lack patience.

I'm not trying to excuse account sales, not by a long shot.  I'm just making an observation about what's perceived vs. reality.

I like how the article mentions that AI detecting AI is unreliable.  In fact, when I first saw this post I used AI detectors on it to confirm.  All of them claimed 0% chance that it was AI.  100% human, they said.  Well, I reported it anyway.

No human uses "springboard" and "parabolic" in the same sentence unless he's trying to mimic a robot.

No, just privacy.  I use my home server to run monerod and LND also.  I need monerod's RPC port open for my mobile and laptop wallet to have a backend, and LND is my lightning wallet essentially.  I only use tor for in-bound bitcoind peers, use wireguard to remote in when I'm traveling, and have things locked down with nftables, but I'm still not confident enough with my security to prevent a hack.  And I'd rather not have any service broadcasting to the planet that there's something bitcoin related going on at that IP.


I just upgraded my main node hardware to a Dell R630 with 128GB of ram, and it's smoking fast.  So far it's been incredibly faster and more reliable than the HP server I was running.  It would make a great production machine for a public node but as I said above, I'm too bashful to put it out there.

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's risk free to use p2p exchanges, but the risks are significantly lower than a situation where your data was leaked by CEX.  If you data is leaked by a CEX, then you know it's going to end up the hands of criminals.  Hundreds, if not thousands of them.

When dealing with a p2p trade partner, you're only leaking selective data to one individual.  Using the US as an example, and assuming that everyone with a past felony conviction  is threat, that means 0.05% of your trade partners are likely to use your information for no-good.  Statistics also suggest that 70% are released felons are likely to repeat offenses.  One out of 20 to 25 trade partners posing a threat isn't comforting, but we have to consider other circumstances; the odds of someone with a past felony conviction using a p2p exchange and the nature of the original felony.  Nonetheless, comparing that to the certainty of knowing your data is the wrong hands due to CEX leak makes it the preferable risk, in my opinion.


Zell is okay, but it's only available in the US and only select banks (mostly the big ones we try to avoid, lol.)  There are some small regional banks that offer it, and even some Credit Unions, and it's catching on so more are coming on-line all the time.  As for personal data, you have to disclose your real name, and an email address or your phone number.  Certainly not a lot of data, but that could be enough if someone is diligent and wants to find you.  For someone like me with a unique name on this side of the pond, it might make it too easy. 

Keep your powder dry.

It doesn't have to be local to use Bisq, you can exchange EUR to BTC using SEPA, Wise, and Revolut.  Just be discrete about the reason you're sending the money.  Follow the instructions and advice you are given when setting up Bisq.  There are plenty of orders for EUR, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding a trading partner if you use any of those instant fiat transfer services.

I would guess it's because some have not upgraded to the latest version of bitcoin core.  Possibly because node operators like to wait to see which version has the longest shelf life without bugs and incremental updates.  To that point; the default minrelayfee was reduced to 100 sats per kvB in version 29.1, which was released in September.  There have been two incremental updates to V29 since then, and three versions of 30.x.  

Assuming some had the minrelayfee flagged in their bitcoin.conf file to prevent stuck transactions when fees soared in the past, they may have just not adjusted the setting when migrating to a newer version.  

There could be many reasons nodes haven't adopted lower fee settings, but eventually things will settle.  Default settings have a way of making themselves more and more common as time goes on.

As for my node going down, yeah, sorry about that.  I've noticed it too.  That's what you get with a budget hosting provider, but I can't afford the $4k a month it would take to run in on AWS.

You just failed in the most epic way possible.

I feel the whole TrustedCoin 2fa set up is  geared for newbies, so trying to make a bit more user friendly is understandable.  Once someone is aware enough to understand that a second device for 2fa is more appropriate, they'll likely have learned that a TrustedCoin enabled wallet is nothing more than a multi-sig wallet which they can set up on their own without the fees.  That was my learning curve when I was a newbie, so that might just be me projecting my own experience in regards to the subject.

@cygan,
What's with the delay?  Who authorized a vacation request?  

Also, AI word salads, or at the very least, AI translations.  I've noticed many of this user's posts are getting deleted, but according to BPIP only one has been deleted by mods.

They still support the older units with firmware and security updates, they just don't manufacture and sell the older versions anymore.  That's the world we live in, but it's not all about selling newer versions.  As you pointed out about the Mk5, there's really little to no reason to upgrade from the Mk4 if that's your thing.  But the Q does offer some significant functional upgrades.

As for the move the Mk5, that's natural too.  It's still going to be their lower-price-point wallet, with some minor upgrades over the the Mk4.

I would prefer to see Foundation continue manufacturing the Core, but business decisions may have forced their hand.  The release of the Prime took a lot longer than they originally anticipated, and disclosure of a new product long before it becomes available is extremely hazardous to sales.  Many people who wanted to buy a Passport probably waited instead of buying the Core only to later buy the Prime.  This certainly caused sales of the Core to suffer, and hurt the company in ways they didn't anticipate.

Manufacturing more than one product comes with additional costs, and they may have decided that this is the best business decision.  If they focus on manufacturing only the Prime, and manufacturing rates increase, the price will come down and the Prime will become more accessible.  This might be the reasoning behind their decision, let's hope it's the right decision.

As it is, they'll continue to support the Core, just not manufacture it anymore.



I thought they were based in New Hampshire.  I know they were advertising for manufacturing jobs in that state, anyway, but that could just be where their manufacturing facility is, and not where their corporate headquarters is located.  For tax reasons, being incorporated in Texas probably makes more sense.


Laws are often written by lunatics who have little to no knowledge of of their affects.  I've been noticing this for decades since I live in a state that heavily restricts gun ownership with some of the most retarded and ineffectual laws imaginable.

I'm disappointed the Scam Accusation board wasn't renamed "Casino Complaint Department."  Even if was just for one day.

Lol, TriNinja is trying to stir up some shit 

Here, let me help you out:


I don't hate it.


Chase Manhattan gives me the warm fuzzies.

Finally thermos got some sense into his head, and is driving the forum towards growth!  Now, we just need Trump to revive Howey Coin!

I don't own any of the new gen of Trezor wallets, but the older generation has Bitcoin Only firmware.  The other choices you should consider are Foundation Passport and ColdCard.  Both are dedicated bitcoin-only wallets.


I'm not sure why you place this restriction on yourself.  Even if the hardware wallet has a battery and the battery fails, it can be powered by USBC anyway, just like all the wallets that don't have a battery.


As long as you back up your seed phrase, there's no concern here.  You can restore your seed to any future hardware wallet or software wallet that's compatible with Bip39 seeds.


By definition hardware wallets are "off-line" but the same as cold wallets.  Neither of the models you mention below would meet the definition either, in my opinion.  Some may argue, but my definition of a cold wallet would be strictly off-line storage with no capability for electronic connectivity.  That would eliminate USB connectivity (Trezor,) and NFC connectivity (Tangem.)

In fact, the only wallets that would meet this requirement are the Foundation Passport and the ColdCard.  Out of those, the only model that meets all your criteria would be the ColdCard Mk4, because it lacks a battery.


I'm not fan for many reasons, not the least of which is NFC's unproven longevity.  Other reasons you've already mentioned, and that compromises privacy.  Yet another reason is I fail to see the value of caring around a credit care size hardware wallet.  I have hot wallets on my phone, and the wallets I use to store the bulk of my stash I won't load on my phone for security and privacy reasons.  All around the Tangem just seems like a silly gimmick to me.


The Trezor is a good choice, but as I said above, you'll need to reevaluate some of your criteria.

If lenders insist on collateral they'll get very few, if any borrowers.  Unsecured loans have become the norm, and there's no putting the genie back in the bottle.  But there's no one to blame for that other than the lenders. 

Right now, the only active lender is Shasan.  If he wanted to change that, he could.  However, if he did, the result would be very few loans being issued.  One of the reasons Shasan is able to charge the rates he does is because of the risk he assumes.  No risk means far fewer opportunities to earn, and far less profit from those fewer opportunities.

This is business 101, in plain and simple terms, and we have no authority to force anyone to conduct business a certain way.  That being said, the risk taken by lenders is well known and his burden to bear.

Username: DireWolfM14
BTC Address (bech32): bc1qxn427fm9ngradwm6svp304p3wuq6eut9pum0yc

Thank you!