Exactly. The very reason bitcoin couldn't be considered a security is due to the fact that it is decentralized, and therefore not released and maintained by any known organization unlike most Altcoins on the market right now, which as stated by some here are already becoming more and more centralized, with some even being built in the PoS network instead of the conventional PoW version. In any case, I think this is for the best, because at least bitcoin's not gonna be the center of their regulation efforts, or at least I think. It is basically a form of security without the label, much like Pluto failing to be classified as a planet due to failing on some criteria. But I digress, bitcoin could operate with or without the securities classification, arguably even better than if it were to be considered a security.

It's not rocket science or music theory to understand how wealth works and accumulate. Rich people get richer because they know how to take their risks and hedge in it to win more. Warren Buffett knows this much, as well as a lot of billionaires out there who made it out of the conventional wealth circle through various means, trading most especially. In any case, what I myself do to "increase" my capital and therefore my potential profits when the time comes is put more into my investments from the profits I gained in investing. For example, I invested let's say, 100 bucks on bitcoin, and I yielded a $20 profit from it. I could choose between putting the whole profit towards the investment and increase my potential profit, or a portion of the 20 bucks only to use the remaining half to other ventures.

Pretty sure you guys have some pretty heavy restrictions against bitcoin in there, or your country has outrightly banned you. That's besides the point though. The fact that a country could even control bitcoin in manners like these irks me sometimes, coz it makes me ask if bitcoin's decentralized nature is really that powerful enough to warrant being used in some places, and then I remember if it weren't this decentralized governments left and right will have vied for power already since bitcoin's takeoff in 2018. It will take time for it to happen. The government can legislate all bylaws helping people consider bitcoin as a form of legal tender but without proper education and support from the public, no one will ever use bitcoin for payments at all.

I would agree with a lot of stuff here, especially growing your own food. I've been learning how to plant veggies and how to take care of them sustainably for a while now and it's been one of the best things I have done to myself both mentally and physically. Less pesticides mean less poison my body deals with, plus it's so therapeutic too, at least for me. It gets a little expensive, especially when you're just starting and you don't know jack about planting crops but as soon as you find your groove and you grow a green thumb, it gets cheaper and more sustainable.

A lot of bitcoin purists and visionaries dismiss fiat's relevance as if it wasn't in part the cause of the cryptocurrency industry's success right now. Every coin is literally pegged to the dollar we might as well consider crypto trading as forex. Bitcoin purists saying fiat will be obsolete as if to say a coin that has been in the market that offers a little more to the table will topple a thousand-year old practice that is virtually ingrained in our genes at this point. But oh well, it's only these people you will hear negative stuff about fiat anyway. I see fiat as a worthy companion and a viable stepping stone for crypto to succeed, not an obstacle to overcome or a competitor to succeed against.

America's loss really. A lot of countries in the orient are vying to become the financial capital of the planet. Hong Kong just recently made grounds over the internet with their new legislation imposing better laws and regulations for cryptocurrencies and operations that involve such, likely just to piss of China and spit at their face but inevitably this cooks great news for the cryptocurrency world. So, if they do ban bitcoin in the USA, that doesn't necessarily mean bitcoin is dead. Yes as it stands today USA is pretty much its de facto biggest contributor but given enough time and traction the whole world will catch up with US, especially now that they are losing their grip on some of the countries they are pressing against.

Everyone's warranted to their own say, in any case I see this issue with Bitcoin Ordinals as having both good and bad sides to it.

For instance, since this spams the mempool and jacks the transaction price high, at least in the future coz the effects aren't that much apparent nowadays, this will cause huge problems for the growth of the network and the industry itself, might even cause a huge collapse as more and more people switch to a different network that is not as congested as bitcoin could be in the future.

There's also the story of the past where a certain challenge (which I forgot the details of really) urged the whole network to improve upon itself and better cater to the general public, I can see this being the more apparent outcome in this situation but the former could still pose some truth, especially nowadays.

having formal education doesn't necessarily equate with becoming a good entrepreneur because the craft is mostly action-based and not knowledge-based, although it does help to have knowledge of the ins and outs of business that most curriculums on higher education provide especially in programs that are directly related to setting up business. So do you have to earn a degree to learn how to set up and maintain a business? Not really, but does it help? Yes especially if the degree comes with you learning substantial knowledge in the art of setting said business. Do not mistake degree and educational attainment for knowledge and success, it does help take things to the fast lane but it's not necessary to succeed, especially in entrepreneurship.

I've heard of robberies and thieveries in the bitcoin world but I've never heard of one where the robber actively exploited the victim in person. This is just stupid for me but what appalls me the most is how lacking the authorities are in handling this situation. I do hope he gets his money back especially since tx details are given, perhaps he can even implore CEXs to freeze assets that would come from that address to ensure that they don't go elsewhere, but I doubt the victim had even thought of this. Nevertheless, I do hope the victim gets proper justice and the perpetrators get what they deserve.

I personally take loans for two things, personal growth and survival. Personal growth is when I wanted to expand my portfolio, so instead of wasting my money away, I take out loans from banks or whatnot with my investments set as my collateral, and then pay them with eventually. At times I go beyond my budget and are in short of cash, I take out loans from friends and family which I immediately pay as soon as I get a hold of the funds. Thus far I don't think I'm addicted per se but with investments it's become a habit of mine, and as I say even though it's a loan I could pretty much afford paying it tenfold if ever, without ever going under, so I'm good.

I personally use an analogy that bases itself with what the person is most familiar of. For example, I had a sneakerhead in my friend's circle ask me about bitcoin and how to invest in it, being the informed friend that I am, I made things easier for him by putting it to a language he can easily understand. The explanation goes a little like this.

"Say, you're a shoemaker (miner), everytime you make a full Jordan 1 shoe, you get paid accordingly (mining rewards), so it only makes sense to invest on a powerful shoemaking tool (mining rig). That's how bitcoin mining works. however, just like with shoemaking, resources for it does not come infinitely (limited supply of bitcoin), so the less resources there for making shoes (less bitcoins to be mined), the more expensive it will become." That's basically how mining works.

"As with bitcoin investing, suppose that you are a sneakerhead (investor), not that you aren't right now. You own and resell shoes but a lot of them aren't really flipping for expensive prices, then you come across a certain jordan variant that could go for a high price or a low price, depending on the season (bitcoin's volatile nature and the bull and bear market), that's basically bitcoin investing."

That's pretty much how our discussion went. I implore people to make things easier for the people who ask them so they don't go back and forth.

I know you are coming from a place that's well-meaning, and you're only concerned for your friend's future otherwise you wouldn't really say something like that to him, but I feel like the way you approached him wouldn't really sit well with him and may even stray him from your point, coz now all he's gonna think about is you not minding your business and telling him what to do. I had a friend do that to me once back then and it's a good thing we're still friends because I really got offended from the way he approached me. I also wouldn't really just haphazardly tell people about bitcoin and make it out to be an end-all-be-all investment when it's as risky as all investments go. Maybe next time talk to him in a more calm and reasonable manner, sound like you're giving advice and not reprimanding him, that's going to be a better way to approach him rather than attacking him. We don't really know his reasons for playing videogames do we? Let's be a little considerate in that case.

I think when concerning retirement, the least of your worries is spending them all up before you die, and what you worry bout the most is counterintuitively, what if I lose all of this one day? If that even makes sense. But I digress, for me, as much as I love bitcoin and will continue supporting it, I don't think I will include it in my retirement plan. The risks are just too high to put at stake especially when you consider the fact that not only are you putting your money on the line, you're also putting the quality of your retirement days at stake, which is something that holds so much value especially when you get old and frail. That's just my personal opinion on the matter, and is only ever based on the current volatile nature of bitcoin, if it changes in the future, who knows? maybe I could go about investing a few of my savings there too!

If you had to ask people for it, most of them would answer NO, including me. First off, I presume you asked your wife's permission before doing this, if so you're in big fat trouble. There's also the concept of divorce, if you knew about that. If things go south and you guys lose a significant portion of your capital investments, how would you be able to pawn your wife's important and expensive jewelry? Do you have safety nets in place for such eventualities coming around? Let me just remind you that just because the halving's coming doesn't mean it's going to pump as high as you expect it to be, I mean we can all dream but sometimes we gotta stay realistic too.

So,  TL;DR do not sell your wife's jewelry, find other ways to grab money you would use to invest in bitcoin, certainly not from your savings or what. Invest only what you can afford to lose, this one mate, is not one of it.

No silly at least I think)! I think he's referring to liquid staking derivatives, which are pretty common on the Ethereum blockchain. which is actually a good thing if you'll ask me since this is a pretty new concept in the industry although there had been iterations of it in the past that didn't really blow off iirc.Dishing out a couple hundred dollars for a very secure wallet is one of the worthiest investment you will ever make in this industry, That being said I do think the best option he could consider are ones like Wasabi Wallet, Electrum, or other cryptocurrency wallets that aren't really tied to exchanges like the ones you listed above. With what's going on with them since late 2022 I don't think it would be wise for people to trust them with their hard earned money.

I think the volatility as it stands today does more good than bad for bitcoin. I mean it literally is the reason why huge percentage of profits are gained by a majority of people in a relatively short span of time, at least compared to other forms of investment. As of now, it is also the main driving force that leads people to invest in bitcoin, so I think until we find good monetary use for bitcoin besides being a store of value, we should keep it as it is and not incorporate changes that may mess it up in the future.

This is what happens when you incorporate knowledge and experience in gambling, well most of the time. OP knows the risks that he's taking and has most definitely weighed his choices countless times before ending up on the bets that win him huge sums of money. I don't think this post is supposed to be something that should inspire people to gamble more and inevitably waste away their hard-earned cash but a statement, that with the proper experience and a level-headed outlook in gambling, you're bound to get wins. It could be as big as what OP was able to bag, it could be smaller, but wins are wins and if you know how to take care of your money bags you'd have a long and fruitful gambling journey.

There are serious implications on the global economy everytime international conflicts like this are stirred. Influences and favors are lifted or placed from one end to another, strengthening one's economy while weakening the other, if for example it is a country that exports valuable commodity, which in this case is oil, they can also cut the whole world off of their supply seriously damaging the economy and causing problems in the prices of stuff, which is primarily the reason of today's inflation rate soaring high globally.

There are effects on the economy everytime something like this happens, but what most people dismiss and what is the biggest threat is the fact that this could escalate to something worse, as it stands today, Russia is eager to show the world that they should be feared, this is going to have ramifications in the future which will not be pretty.

Bitcoin doesn't have a lifespan that it would deplete per se, but I believe it will be succeeded and outclassed by a more capable cryptocurrency in the future, which we may not even be so lucky to live in. In any case, the existence of multiple altcoins with powerful use-cases proves my idea that in the future, something will outrace it just because holding that particular cryptocurrency is a much better choice than keeping your bitcoins, even if bitcoin by that time reaches the 100k mark. We still got long ways to go though, and I don't really see this ever happening in our lifetimes only because bitcoin as it stands today is carried greatly by its price, but in the future, economic struggles may be solved and in that future, money would be the least of the people's concern. Utility and usability will be.

I don't think this aim for regulation/banning of bitcoin is well-meaning at all, even if they argue about bitcoin being used for money laundering or all that stuff. In any case, I think the reason as to why they wanted bitcoin in chains is to force the people to these unlivable and only worsening conditions of living brought about by inflation and all these economic struggles. It makes sense when you consider the fact that bitcoin in some countries act as a fresh economic start for some people. Its high volatility rate even working in their favor and making their pennies worth more. This is something that you simply couldn't do in a single lifetime when you're stuck with the current economic system, with the rich feeding off of the poor's gullibility.