I feel like nobody has correctly or sufficiently explained what Grayscale is and what it does. Here is my explanation:

What is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust?
The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is basically an ETF. It's sole function is to own bitcoins. It does not have any income and it doesn't make a profit. It just owns bitcoins. It is not a custodian. It doesn't hold bitcoins for you in an account.

As an ETF, it has shareholders. Each shareholder owns a proportional share of the assets of the ETF (primarily bitcoins, of course). The shares of the trust can be bought and sold. There are currently 540,935,800 shares and the fund holds about 515,000 BTC, so each share is worth a little less than ¹/₁₀₀₀ BTC.

Where does the fund get its bitcoins?
The fund acquires bitcoins by giving accredited investors shares of the fund in exchange for bitcoins. So, for example, if you deposited 1 BTC into the fund today, you would receive about 1050 shares of GBTC. As a result, the total number of bitcoins held by the fund would go up by 1 and the total number of shares would go up by 1050.

Investors are willing to deposit their bitcoins into the fund because they can make an instant profit of about 15%. For example, 1 BTC is worth about $18k, but the 1050 shares of GBTC they would receive by depositing that 1 BTC are currently worth about $21k.

Restrictions
There are some restrictions.

• Anyone can buy and sell the shares on the open market, but you must be an accredited investor in order to receive shares by depositing bitcoins into the fund.
• An investor that deposits bitcoins and receives shares cannot sell those shares for 6 months.
• Shares currently cannot be redeemed for bitcoins.

Why would investors own GBTC when they could own BTC directly?

• GBTC can be held in a retirement account, which could mean that gains are not taxed. If you are expecting a 10x return on your bitcoins, you might consider holding GBTC in a Roth IRA instead.
• If you deposit bitcoins into the fund, the shares you receive are worth more than the bitcoins you deposited.
• You can make money by arbitrage from the difference between the value of the shares versus the value of the bitcoins they represent.
• Convenience.

It is not true that they can do anything.

• A miner cannot confirm invalid transactions because that would split the chain.
• The ability to double spend is limited because it requires mining an additional number of old blocks faster than everyone else can mine just new blocks.
• 51% of the hash power also allows the attacker to censor transactions for as long as they have 51%

As for defenses, they are mainly economic, especially against double spending. However, there is potentially no defense against a 51% attack used to censor transactions except perhaps politics.

Having the private keys means having control over the bitcoins, but it does not necessarily mean having legal ownership of the bitcoins.

1. There were too many factual errors and too much obvious lack of understanding. I felt that I would gain no benefit from continuing.
2. You obviously don't know what SHA-256 is or what it does. Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3dqhixzGVo
3. They shared onion routing with the public 20 years before bitcoin was invented.
4. I can't wait ...

For everyone that feels that talshachar's video demonstrates talent, I would like you to watch this video. It's my first ever and it took about an hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwsRDW7q82E

It's a waste of effort. Only the blocks that the pool adds to the chain will be censored, and transactions not included in those blocks will be included in the other blocks. The worst that can happen is that an affected transaction takes a little longer to confirm.

The person with the private key agreed to forfeit the money.

Yes, I think that the new line at the end is the source of all the problems.

If you are not running a full node then you are not really part of the network.

It is a tragedy that the message signing feature in Bitcoin Core is broken because it can no longer create an address that it can use for signing.

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Today is November 12, 2020.
My bitcointalk.org user name is odolvlobo.
The purpose of this signed message is to provide a way to prove
that I am the legitimate owner of this Bitcointalk user name.

-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
13GAVJo8YaAuenj6keiEykwxWUZ7jMoSLt
H476mBZzDNVFhww1lsUn4eANHFiD/m2SZ8VuQL2cHg0ic7Npyx/13HJ83+0YU3zUDXmxEPqM8SaXwIht8LmnSG0=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Here is my PGP signature:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

Today is November 12, 2020.
My Bitcointalk user name is odolvlobo.
The purpose of this signed message is to provide a way to prove
that I am the legitimate owner of this Bitcointalk user name.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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=EG9H
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Please verify and quote. Thank you.

There are so many factual errors that nothing in the video can be taken seriously. Please don't make another episode until you can fix the first one.

I was unable to finish the video. Does it ever explain how SHA-256 hashes of block headers can be used by NASA to "calculate the signals from one billion stars" or to help CERN "compute the collisions between electrons they make in their tunnels"?

BTW, it is no secret that the U.S. Navy invented onion routing.

Your primary benefit from running a full node is the security of your bitcoins.

Also, people who don't run full nodes depend on full nodes to provide them with transaction information. It would make sense for full nodes to charge a fee for that information.

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

In July 2011, I was researching alternative currencies and found out about Bitcoin (among others).

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

I bought a small amount late in 2011 in order to pay for some Casascius coins. Bitcoins were about $4 at the time.

3. How did you get on the forum?

I started reading Bitcointalk in 2011, but I didn't join and start posting until July 2012.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

I believe that adoption has been hindered by its lack of usability and its lack of strong use-cases, but those will lessen with more adoption.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

I think that if Bitcoin is seen as useful for gambling, the effect will be positive for Bitcoin and this site.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

People are better off if they only invest in things they understand. Investing in something you don't understand is no better than gambling. The level of your understanding should determine the amount of your investment.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns? Do they harm the forum?

I believe that signature campaigns are bad for the forum. They encourage people to post in order to make money rather than to learn or be helpful. I think the merit system has helped, though I think the ultimate solution is to remove the incentive for signature campaigns.

6. The most useful forum topic?

I mostly read posts in Bitcoin Discussion, Legal, Press, Development & Technical Discussion, Economics, Beginners & Help, and Serious Discussion.

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
Better formatting (tables, cough cough) and better search.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

I don't trade much. Trading is difficult to do profitably and its not worth my time and effort -- I already have a job.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

I lost some that I invested in mining farms.
I lost some bitcions when I thought I could outsmart people investing in Pirate's ponzi scheme.
I lost the small amount that I was too lazy to withdraw from Cryptsy.
On the other hand, I sold some at $18,000 and bought it all back at $4000.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

I think it has potential, but right now it is in a big bubble. People are going to get rekt when the exuberance wears off, the scams fall apart, and token prices return to rationality.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

It is mostly a precaution, but when there there is no benefit to being identified, I try to be anonymous.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

I'm reading The Bitcoin Standard right now.

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Monero. But more importantly, I would advise against investing in any coin or token that has no real purpose or is not valued for what it is intended. That means avoid all of the D-Fi "governance" tokens, and avoid any project that is just a promise or a pyramid scheme.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

I have no idea, and I don't really care, actually. I mostly hope for more adoption.

Easy? I don't think it is easy at all. If you are a presidential candidate in the U.S., you would need to import 160 million people in order to guarantee a win. Good luck!

Set the trust to Full. Ultimate is only for your own keys. Full is for other keys that have been proven to you.

Trust level explanation: https://gpgtools.tenderapp.com/kb/faq/what-is-ownertrust-trust-levels-explained

I'm not an expert on PGP, but I know that it can use ECC with 256-bit private keys, so I guess BIP 32 and BIP 39 can be applied. However, I have never seen it.

The yuan, whether digital or paper, is a fiat currency.

You (and many other people) seem to be confused about what a "fiat" currency is. "Fiat" doesn't mean that it is printed on paper.

A fiat currency is a government-controlled currency whose value is not backed by anything.

The dollar, euro, yen, yuan, franc, peso, pound, dram, ruble, rupee, etc., regardless of the country or whether they are digital or printed on paper, are all fiat currencies.

BTW, some people consider any un-backed currency to be a fiat currency, and that would include Bitcoin.

It wasn't hacked.

That's a good point. There is nothing that prevents a regulator from dictating how the custodian must operate.

I have not seen anything linking Roger directly to Silk Road and DPR. He is connected to Mark Karpeles, who is rumored to be somehow connected to Silk Road. How do you connect him? What do you know that nobody else knows?