It's a good thing cash is around, especially when we want financial privacy. Once all of the world's countries switch to a CBDC, you can say goodbye to anonymity for good. By the time that happens, our only option would be a decentralized cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. That's if we still want financial freedom.

For true privacy, we'd need to use a mixer or a privacy-oriented cryptocurrency such as Monero or Zcash. When offline, I can't think of a way to pay for goods and/or services other than using Gold, Silver, or any other precious metal in physical form. We're decades away from seeing paper money being phased out of existence, so there should be nothing to worry about. Just my opinion

I understand BTC can be unpreditable at times. This can pose a risk for those who usually cash out their BTC to Fiat. But that wouldn't be a reason of concern for those who use BTC as a currency regardless of its current market price.

I'd say altcoins are more of gamble since they usually come and go (developers abandon the Blockchain, leaving many investors holding the bag). It's not like Bitcoin where you know it's always going to be there no matter what. You can see why governments are adopting BTC as legal tender, instead of any of the altcoins we know and love today. Maybe BTC will stablize in Fiat terms sometime in the future? Just my thoughts

That's a vaild argument. Without CEXs, crypto wouldn't had been as popular as it is right now. It's "Wall Street" that made crypto a multi-trillon dollar industry. It's very likely CEXs will survive in the long run, since they're the only means through which the government can collect taxes from you. Without them, I fail to see how mainstream governments will be able to succeed in their efforts to put crypto "under control".

While there's no such thing as a "safe" centralized exchange, you can follow the necessary security precautions to help protect your crypto from hacks, theft, or other undesired events. Just deposit a small amount of the type of cryptocurrency you're willing to trade, and you're good to go. Who knows if CEXs will reinforce their security methods after what happened with FTX? Just my opinion

Bitcoin does have zero trust mixers. The Samourai wallet has the "Whirlpool" privacy technique to obfuscate BTC transactions. There's also the Wasabi wallet which uses some sort of "CoinJoin" privacy technique. It's just there are not many options available for Bitcoin than it's the case with Ethereum these days. I wonder why developers aren't that interested in making other non-custodial mixers for BTC? It's likely they're afraid of getting caught and penalized by the government. The same can be said about ETH, although the smart contracts platform isn't as popular as Bitcoin is.

One needs to be aware of the dangers of using a mixer, especially when there's a huge crackdown against anything privacy-oriented in the crypto/Blockchain space. You could easily get flagged by the government, even when you're not doing anything wrong. Not even converting your BTC to XMR would do any help. The only way to avoid suspicion is to cash out your BTC to Fiat through a P2P exchange (no KYC), and then use the cash to buy Monero (XMR). I think all centralized mixers will ultimately die, leaving us with non-custodial (decentralized) mixers as our only option. I'm fine with that as long decentralization wins in the long run. Just my thoughts

Probably. But Elon Musk is too smart, so it's likely he'll find a "loophole" to get away with it. I'd have to say many investors are disappointed with him after making false promises to integrate DOGE into Twitter for payments. All he did was change the Twitter logo to Dogecoin's Shiba Inu (mascot) on April Fool's Day. After that, he changed everything back and now Twitter is the same as it was before. I guess that's why Dogecoin hasn't pumped that much in market price (aside from the fact that we're still in a crypto winter).

The only cryptocurrency that holds promise to become extremely-valuable in the future is Bitcoin (BTC). Not even Ethereum (ETH) will be able to succeed, especially when it's becoming more centralized by the day. The fact that developers intend to increase the 32 ETH minimum for staking to 2048 ETH says it all. I think Mr. Musk will eventually abandon Dogecoin, and go all in Bitcoin itself. Who knows what will happen in the future? Just my thoughts

Yes, I'm aware of that. But even though LTC has greater transaction capacity, it could still get clogged in the future if the NFT hype persists. I think I can live with NFTs on LTC, as long as they all move away from Bitcoin. The community will utimately decide if it wants to keep NFTs on the BTC blockchain or approve developers' proposal to block Ordinals inscriptions for good. No matter where NFTs are deployed, we can't deny the fact that ETH is and will always be the #1 platform for these kinds of tokens.

LTC is doing good for now, so don't expect it to disappear anytime soon. With Litecoin's block reward halving right around the corner (August 2, 2023), we should expect market prices to "pump" albeit for a short period of time. Just my opinion

Governments just want to instill fear with their propaganda and misinformation against crypto. After all, they don't want people to experience true financial freedom. Turns out, the tables have turned as people are beginning to lose trust in the current banking system powered by Fiat. You can see how BTC and other cryptocurrencies continue to rise even when some countries banned them (like China and Russia). What China did was force miners to move away to another crypto-friendly country. Not destroy BTC altogether.

The Chinese government already recognized the impact crypto/Blockchain tech is having worldwide, leaving it with no other choice but to embrace the revolution through Hong Kong. Even Russia is considering opening its doors to crypto. It's likely most governments will accept crypto as an alternative to Fiat by imposing taxes on each transaction. Who knows if crypto ends up replacing Fiat in the distant future? Just my thoughts

USDD is just another clone of UST (Terra/LUNA's failed stablecoin). Justin Sun literally copies other projects' ideas and tries to bring it to the TRON blockchain. There's no originality or innovation here. I guess that's why demand for TRX is so low compared to other cryptocurrencies being traded across exchanges today. The TRON blockchain is fast and cheap for daily payments, but other chains have better features and dApps that are true quality.

TRON's own algorithmic stablecoin (USDD) might fail in the future if TRX dumps real hard. It's "miracle" TRON is still alive after the rise of other smart contract Blockchains. If trading for TRX continues, it may last for quite some time. Who knows what the future holds for the project? Just my opinion

Exactly. Everything is heading off course. Crypto is slowly being taken to the hands of "Wall Street" players. Expect CEXs to become bigger and stronger than ever before. With centralization at stake, governments can do anything they want to control crypto use around the world. They can simply target CEXs and manipulate them for their own benefit. DEXs, and the other hand, are much difficult (or almost impossible) to control, rendering governments' efforts useless. However, these exchanges represent a small market share compared to their centralized counterparts.

You can still use crypto with a DEX even with government restrictions in place, but you won't get the same convenience as a CEX. I'm afraid the industry will move away from Satoshi's original vision in the long run. At least, not all hope is lost. As long as there's one decentralized cryptocurrency (mainly BTC), we should have nothing to worry about. Just my thoughts

TRON's acquisition of BitTorrent was a huge failure. The BTT token hasn't been that popular since launch. I've tried seeding some torrents to earn BTT, but I've got nothing in return. It was a complete waste of my time. I could say TRON is merely focused on hype, instead of actually delivering a working product to the masses. Founder Justin Sun is known to shill TRX and SUN a lot through social media platforms. But it's all "buzz" compared to what utility/value these tokens bring to their holders.

If there's only one good thing TRON has, is the ability to make fast transactions at the fraction of the cost of other blockchain networks. USDT is very practical on the TRON blockchain. Other than that, the platform would be nothing but pure garbage. If USDT moves off the TRON blockchain, then you can say goodbye to the project for good. TRON is open source, so who knows if someone makes a fork which aims to improve on the past failures of the original project? Just my opinion

It's all about the money. Not because people truly believe in the technology. Altcoins are often cheaper than Bitcoin itself, making them a great way to explore the world of crypto without "breaking the bank" (especially "meme" coins). While there are zillions of altcoins being traded across exchanges, only a small few will survive for a very long time. That's because the vast majority of altcoin projects are hyped without bringing any real use cases to the world. You need to be careful not to fall into the trap, and lose all of your money in a "blink of an eye".

By diversifying your investment between prominent altcoins and Bitcoin itself, you could minimize losses in the long run. No one can predict the future, especially when crypto behaves in many strange and bizarre ways. Who knows how far altcoins will go? Just my thoughts

Altcoins will never go away simply because they serve as experimental grounds to test out new features before they're implemented on the main BTC blockchain. Investors often choose alts due to their ability to reach high market prices in an instant. That is if they manage to buy coins before the hype. Some altcoins begin trading at cheap prices and end up being extremely-valuable in the long run. That happens when the coin brings something new that takes the whole crypto world by storm. It's like being able to buy BTC at a cheap price before it becomes very popular in the mainstream world.

For these and many other reasons, don't count on altcoins (the trend) disappearing anytime soon. Who knows which new altcoins will replace existing ones in the future? Just my opinion

I am aware a market price of $1 is an unrealistic prediction for a "meme" coin like TAMADOGE. After all, there are too many coins in circulation. Not only that, but the coin also lacks utility. I've only said about the possibility of TAMADOGE going to $1 in the future due to the hype surrounding "meme" coins. All it needs is someone (particularly a celebrity) to endorse it, and prices should "pump" all the way to the moon.

One thing about TAMADOGE is that it has fun play to earn games. I guess that will keep market demand from going all the way down the drain. With so many "meme" coins out there, it's hard to predict which one will "pump" next. You could lose more money than what you'll earn in the long run. Who knows how long TAMADOGE will last?

Just because Tether is doing well mow, doesn't mean it's guaranteed to last forever. Besides being centralized, USDT is heavily-dependent on the US banking system. Therefore, it could fail if the US Dollar goes all the way down the drain in an instant. If you really want something safe that will truly last forever, then Bitcoin would be your only option. The cryptocurrency is trustless and free from government and corporate control.

Of course, there's always the issue of volatility. But that wouldn't be much of a problem for those who don't care about Fiat currencies. The latter is bound to collapse soon.
Who knows what would be of stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) in the future? Just my thoughts

Lol. The cat is definitely not included. But it's quite adorable, though.

I've read that Bismuth is rarer than Silver and it's safe to the touch. It gets that "crystalized" effect when it gets in contact with the air and other elements (oxidization). This creates Bismuth oxide which gives the metal a "rainbow color". There's someone called "The Bismuth Smith" which makes art out of this metal. I'd suggest you check it out here: https://www.thebismuthsmith.com/

That said, I think I'm going to let my Bitcoin round made out of Bismuth to oxidize for a bit. It's just to see that "rainbow effect" on the coin. It will look even better in my opinion.

Received. Thanks again!

Just found a hand-poured bismuth coin with the Bitcoin logo on eBay. I've received mine today and it looks awesome. Get yours here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/175670020020

It sucks to digitally own something you know it could easily disappear in an instant. I don't think there's an NFT out there that uses a decentralized cloud storage system. That's because most NFT creators don't give importance to ever-lasting data. They just want something that would make them quick buck, even if if the server where the data is hosted dies in the long run.

To exploit NFTs' true potential, everything must be stored on the Blockchain itself (or at least, a separate network for hosting the data). Something like Bitcoin Ordinals or Bitcoin Stamps would do the trick. The only downside is that this will increase fees and slow down transactions on the Blockchain. The trend is still new, so I'd expect NFTs to improve in the future. Who knows if they're here to stay? Just my opinion

That's certainly true, mate. Privacy will be non-existent once CBDCs take over the world by storm. When paper money is phased out, it'll be difficult to "exit" the crypto world without bringing unwanted attention. You'll be limited to spending crypto at merchants and/or businesses that accept it. That wouldn't be a problem if salaries are paid in crypto.

Unfortunately, that's not the case these days. Maybe this will change in the future? Living only on crypto will ensure your financial freedom and independence from banks and the government itself. Some countries are beginning to accept BTC as legal tender, so living on crypto would no longer be a distant dream. Who knows how much longer will it take for CBDCs to replace good-old paper money? Just my thoughts

BTC saw a temporary surge in market prices because of the Blackrock ETF filing and the creation of a new crypto exchange backed by prominent financial companies. I'm afraid things will head back to the way they were before the pump because of the SEC's aggresive stance against crypto. The real deal would be the upcoming BTC halving of April 2024. Market prices will increase due to the hype (aside from that fact that BTC will become scarcer).

I don't think SEC chairman Gary Gensler will be able to "survive" after a change of government in 2025. If he's removed from office, crypto exchanges in the US will be relieved. Globally-speaking, this should have a positive effect over market prices in the short-term. Who knows if we'll see the light at the end of the tunnel soon? Just my opinion