Saving your seed phrase or private key online is convenient and, in most cases, relatively safe. The majority of us won't suffer the consequences of our stupidity until it's not, and there goes your Bitcoin, disappearing into thin air. Poof!

I've done both and have suffered losses with both methods. I usually resorted to pasting it into a text document and storing it on my computer. Otherwise, I'd write it in a notebook and proceed to never be seen again. As you can imagine, I'm pretty good at losing such information.

In my opinion, it's best to write it on a few pieces of paper and hide them in a few spots around your house, or in a couple of USB drives ( at least two in case one is lost or fails).

We certainly won't have a new all-time high, that's for sure. I'm not confident about an imminent recovery either; however, I wouldn't be surprised if we see Bitcoin trending at $30,000 in the upcoming months. I'm mostly between the first two options, but I chose the first one because, due to the uncertainty and the economic recession we're going through, I wouldn't doubt the possibility of another crash, especially in the event of another incident similar to FTX.

Honestly, I'm quite enjoying the bear market; it really assists in the accumulation of Bitcoin.

It's illogical to compare all these with real estate. It's like comparing apples with potatoes—the first one is a fruit, the other a vegetable. Yes, I agree, real estate is probably one of the best—if not the best—investments you can ever make. You can sell it, rent it for passive income, use it for yourself, or a combination of them. Whether we like it or not, housing is becoming more and more expensive; thus, real estate will always be a worthwhile investment. The problem is that if you haven't inherited a property, it's nearly impossible to acquire one yourself nowadays. 

We've seen plenty of large exchanges fail, such as Mt.Gox and FTX; I don't understand why you'd use such a random exchange; even their layout and interface feel cheap and untrustworthy, like a copy-paste template. I've never heard of it before, and it's not even among the known legitimate ones. In our era, there are even people questioning the legitimacy of Binance or Crypto.com, even those involve some kind of risk since you practically have no access to your funds, let alone an unknown exchange. Either use another known exchange or stop using them altogether.

Excuse me for not responding sooner, but due to the volume of responses and my recent grief over the loss of my cat, I didn't have the courage to go through so many replies and respond to everyone.

Firstly, as many of you have already mentioned, sitting alone (not only on New Year's Eve) generally doesn't help with negative thoughts. Going through an unpleasant phase in my life doesn't help to make me more optimistic. You see, in the upcoming days, I'll be enlisted in the army for nine months. You're not getting paid during this period, and any expenses for transportation are all yours. It's mandatory, and it's my time to go through that phase. I had to move, go through unemployment benefits, and leave my girlfriend alone in an extremely smaller house than the one we used to have. Basically, we had to leave everything behind just for this cause.

Quite a few users claimed that this emotion may be magnified depending on your country of residence, and I couldn't agree more. Currently, rents are going through the roof; the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment ranges from €300 to €400, and they are far from being decent ones, while the average salary doesn't exceed €800. Fuel and energy are also extremely expensive, while in most of Europe prices have returned to pre-war levels. Thus, not only am I not going to have any income for 9 months, but I'll have to start looking for a job right away when I return. I'm not lazy by any means; I've been working since I was 19 years old, but it seems pointless to live just to work for a meager wage just to get through the month.

As I mentioned in another post, the previous generations of my parents, people in their 40s and 50s, were living during an era in which everything was getting better, from health advancements to technology, and there was generally a higher standard of living. That generation didn't have to worry about climate change, and we're now seeing the results of our ignorance; thus, I can no longer hope that this condition is going to get much better.

Don't feel bad; who does? I don't recall ever reading them myself. It goes without saying that when you deposit money or coins into a third-party service, you no longer have access to your funds. Whether or not the crash of Celcius was deliberate, people willingly deposited their funds on the platform. We've already seen quite a few of these instances. I still use Binance to this day but I'm planning to discontinue and resort to using Metamask or Trust wallet, since these funds are actively used in staking. My Bitcoin is stored separately in a desktop wallet, away from CEX services.

Bitcoin wasn't as acknowledged in 2016 as it is now. Let me also point out that there are still people claiming that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general are a huge Ponzi scheme. With that being said, I don't blame OP for going for not getting involved earlier, but pyramid schemes aren't new by any means. Although the OP might feel stupid or taken advantage of, he's not the first and certainly not the last victim of such schemes. The point from such stories is to learn from your past mistakes in order to avoid repeating them in the future.

I also spent some time in a Ponzi so-called cloud mining scam back in 2014, I earned a few bucks and was lucky enough not to deposit any money there. It didn't even last two months.

Don't worry; we've all been in the same position, myself included. I was first involved in Bitcoin somewhere in 2013 or 2014, earning petty amounts from faucets and PTC websites that a few years later would be worth a fortune. On top of that, I had also bought 0.30-0.40 BTC for less than $100; I don't remember exact amounts, but you get my point. All of it was wasted on dumb online stuff, including gaming accounts. Not only did I waste my purchased Bitcoin, but I also spent the majority of what I earned through various sources. 

Do I regret it? Yes and no; on the one hand, I couldn't have known while I was a simple teenager with no major knowledge; on the other hand, my main regret is not sticking with Bitcoin then and abandoning it until 2017.

I've been receiving Bitcoin from signature campaigns for about two years now. I literally have no idea what my average purchase price is, but I'm guessing it's somewhere around $30,000. Personally, I wouldn't sell anywhere less than my DCA price, but honestly, knowing Bitcoin capabilities, it would be stupid to sell below $50,000. The previous ATH was almost $70,000, which would personally be a great selling point, but is pessimistic nonetheless, since we still haven't ruled out the chance of Bitcoin surpassing $100,000.

It's honestly fascinating to think that in a few years there's a chance that my money has the ability to double or even triple its current value.

Indeed, not all services are reliable and free at the same time. Even if that were the case, we simply couldn't go around to each forum post and test if it was written by AI. There are some hints that may indicate that a post was written by AI, but my main concern is that services such as ChatGPT may even create duplicate content if the same parameters are used, and it may cause post bursts and spam issues since it is capable of producing a wide variety of posts within a short period of time. AI may not produce low-quality posts, but it'll definitely create non-engaging discussions, which in some cases, may be worse than plagiarism.

This is actually the most rewarding part of the bear market. I used to receive approximately 1 to 1.2 mBTC per week, I'd have to wait 8 to 10 weeks just to earn 0.01 BTC, while now I need only 3, since I'm receiving more than 3 mBTC per week. Campaign signature earnings are no different from buying Bitcoin yourself, on a weekly basis, taking advantage of the Dollar Cost Average (DCA), reducing your risk, and setting a lower average purchase price. Generally, it's a great opportunity to accumulate now that prices are low, however, due to a personal crisis I'm going through, I refrain from using my own money.
History repeats itself, this bear market is similar to 2017-2020 bear period. A recovery is very possible within the next one to two years.

Thank you, I remember the existence of the off topic section but it wasn't appearing. For some reason I had disabled it. I'll see if it's possible to move it now.

My cat was poisoned yesterday and died today morning. I know this isn't relevant with the forum but I don't have anyone to talk to in order to let it out. Second day of 2023 and everything seems to be going great..

It depends if you're living alone or with a roommate or significant other. When I was renting with my girlfriend, we were making approximately 750–800 euros each, which enabled us to live relatively comfortably. If you're living alone, however, it's almost impossible to survive with the average salary of Greece, since a small apartment may cost up to 300–400 euros per month. Thus, if you're planning to rent alone, you'll need at least 1,000 euros per month to be relatively comfortable with your finances. In both cases, you'll be able to save a percentage of your salary each month, but don't expect any huge savings. When we were together, we'd both manage to save a relatively decent amount of money, which enabled us to go on vacations once or twice a year if we had the opportunity.

As much as people may claim that 2022 was a disappointing year for cryptocurrencies, I beg to differ. I'm not actively purchasing Bitcoin, but I'm saving each signature campaign payment I receive, which is pretty much the same thing. On average, I'm "purchasing" $200 worth of Bitcoin per month. The amount of Bitcoin I received in 2022 is significantly larger than in 2021. Thus, this market condition is a great opportunity to acquire as much as possible for the distant future, when we'll hopefully start seeing a recovery.

First of all, thank you for all your replies. I've read every single one of them but unfortunately, it's impossible to reply to everyone.
I understand what you're saying but my point is that it feels like the world isn't getting any better. The world went through massive technological advancements in the last 30 years and everything was constantly improving. Now it seems that we're in a stalemate.
Happy new year!

You're right, I'm 24 years old (soon to be 25 now) and I do have a history of being somewhat a pessimist. I don't know your age, but it's indisputable that you are older, wiser and more mature than I am. From my point of view, older generations were promised a better future, a future which was constantly improving, something that we don't see anymore, at least I don't. Climate change, global warming, huge ongoing economic recession, geopolitical tensions among many countries, excessive immigration, a possible new Covid-19 crisis are only a few of the upcoming issues that we're going to face.
The cryptocurrency market is the least of my worries to be honest, I'm trying to accumulate as much Bitcoin as possible, taking advantage of the lower prices. It would help financially however if it was booming.

Exactly, we see talks and discussions regarding climate change but no real action is being taken. I'm afraid that when we finally realise the extent of the issue, it'll be too late.
I believe that we're in the worst financial position now, and things are bound to worsen in the future. I can't speak for other countries but in Greece we had seen massive improvements in the economy between 2017 and 2019, that changed after we dum dums elected this prime minister and Covid-19 came to demolish the rest. I also read a couple months ago about Croatia adopting the Euro and I was also against it. Personally, I believe that counties that retained their national currency (such as Poland) are way better off.

And I ultimately didn't make it to Croatia this year either  

I've been reading the replies, and I'm suggesting that you wait until it's out of the beta testing phase in order to form a justified opinion. $50 per month sounds way too much for doing something you're already doing, basically for free. In my opinion, I find it hard to believe that it will be over $20 per month. If we suppose that you're actually receiving the $50 that other posters mentioned and claimed to be a petty amount, it's actually $600 per year, which is almost another full salary in Greece. We should speculate on things on a long-term basis.

The platform is running with a limited number of users so far; it'd be interesting to review it after it's open to the public.

I agree. Whether we like it or not, AI content is not necessarily plagiarized. As long as we don't have duplicate content, which might occur if a large number of users use a specific platform on a specific question such as "Should I invest in Bitcoin?" it doesn't do much harm on the forum if used in moderation. Imagine 90% of users being practically bots; that would be disastrous.

Campaign managers should prohibit the usage of AI, which would actually discourage users from using AI in their posts.

Fake exchanges and similar scams, such as phising, were always a indivisible part of the internet and cryptocurrencies. However, thanks to this forum, websites such as Scam Advisor and Reddit, it's quick and easy to spot and report them. There are a few standard points to check when coming across such websites, but sometimes, it's not that hard to become a victim. I had actually given away my wallet's private key on a fake Dapps website that I tried to connect. Stupid, I know.
I had forgotten money on Bitstamp for over 3 years and had no issues with them. Storing money on any exchange is not recommended but in general, it is considered safe-ish.

I don't know how to describe this emotion, but every year that passes seems progressively worse than the previous one in a variety of ways. The last few years seem to be going downhill, with something unpleasant occurring every single year. In 2020 and 2021, we suffered enough with Covid-19, in 2022, we thought that we'd possibly get a break, but nope, the war started on February, which was followed by excessive inflation and an economic recession.

We're now entering 2023, and things aren't looking any better. Inflation keeps worsening, energy and oil prices are extremely volatile, while in our case in Greece and Italy, despite MWH being the cheapest it has been since the invasion, we're holding the record for the most expensive energy prices.



On top of that, a few days before 2023, half of the U.S.A. is suffering a terrible blizzard, with temperatures even reaching as low as -50C. Climate change is real, and it's only going to get worse in the following years.

I'm not sure if everything has gone downhill in the past few years or if I'm overexaggerating and making it sound worse than it really is. Perhaps my sitting all alone in my bed on New Year's Eve isn't helping.

Anyway, happy new year to everyone and good luck on your bitcoin endeavors!