I mean, I think it's probably hard to argue that Elon is an exceptionally talented businessman, and definitely has some other very good qualities about him, in the intellectual field. So, I'm not going to take that away from him. However, the reason they likely sold was stakeholders, and public perception, rather than the issue of not believing in Bitcoin or wanting to say invested in Bitcoin.

These days, reputation is everything, and especially for a car company that's trying to appear to be the greener of the alternatives. Supporting a currency which has had some very public negative news about energy usage isn't exactly the greatest look for them, even if the claims aren't that valid.

Absolutely. Especially how long, I think is an important question, that isn't so easily answered. Naturally users will point to previous cycles, but I'm convinced that this isn't going to follow those previous cycles. There's also an argument in that they never really have, but people have identified certain correlations, and ignore other things.

Even asking if its the bottom is an important question. People are invested in Bitcoin for different reasons, and someone can believe in Bitcoin, but need immediate access to their funds to not be able to ride out a bigger drop in price. I don't have any problems with anyone questioning what they've invested in, and I actually think we've probably all done it at some point.

Even if the headline isn't exactly accurate, I'm hoping this, and the events in Russia/Ukraine sort of wake people up to why they can't rely on banks. There's several weak points, where they'll just stop trading or outright reject your right to withdraw your money.

We saw it in Russia when the war started, with people struggling to take their money out, and we're seeing it with this, despite this being a rather small scale event in comparison, it's still a worthy reason to start considering Bitcoin as an alternative. This could be a blessing in disguise. Obviously, I do feel for those having difficulties at the moment.

Yeah, I'll be gone for around three weeks. I probably won't be logging in, as I don't like using my account on potentially insecure connections, even with VPN etc. Also, the part of the world I'm going to his incredibly remote, so electric isn't always easy to come by let alone internet. I'll have a sat phone, but other than that I'll be doing a digital detox somewhat.

I'll see how it goes, I've obviously got Liverpool winning every single game in that period by at least two goals, as standard. So, we'll see how it goes . Also got Manchester United losing or drawing every game, so from where I'm standing it looks sound .

Yeah, it would be some sight. I'm starting to lean towards wanting that fight. Regardless if it's boxing or not, I think Conor beats him. However, the build up would be incredible as you say.

Yeah, I'd have to agree. I didn't like Jake in the beginning mind you. Logan I liked a lot more after his incident, and how he handled it. Jake I'm warming up to though, as I'm now convinced he's just doing it for the publicity, and is probably a decent kid underneath it all.

He does rub people the wrong way, and it's funny that his latest faking breaking his back rubbed people the wrong way too. I thought, it was a decent gag, and maybe just a little bit distasteful, but at the end of the day he isn't harming anyone.

Yeah, hopefully Mason can bring back the win, after the disappointing Jack Shore loss. Although, that was still a decent fight, and Ricky Simon is an exceptional wrestler. Anyway, back to the Klein fight, the only problem I have with this fight is I quite like Klein, and I think his odds aren't really fair. I expect a much closer fight than what they're predicting. I'm probably not going to be able to watch this weekend's event, but I might put a small bet on, as I'm liking the look of some of the match ups. I'll post them later in the week.

I'm not sure why Curtis hasn't got a bigger fanbase than he does. He's a very accomplished fighter, whether that's wrestling or the UFC, as I said he has only lost against the best of the division. That's expected, especially at this weight class. It isn't like he has avoided the bigger fights either, which you could potentially say Tom has. Tom has had decent opponents, but if you compare the two, Curtis has had the more difficult journey to the top.

I don't know. I still think Curtis takes it.

As far as I'm aware, and don't quote me on this as I vaguely remember it, in the past theymos has locked accounts by banning the account which the user was confirmed deceased. Obviously, I don't know what the requirements for that would be, and not even sure if I'm remembering that correctly. I'm pretty sure it has happened in the past though. However, I can't remember who. I just checked some that were pretty public with their declining health though, and seems they weren't banned, so I'm starting to doubt if I'm misremembering it.

Obviously, the user might want to pass their account onto their family, and they're entitled to do that if they wish. However, I imagine most users would rather keep their online presence as their own upon passing.

In the unlikely scenario where a user has already made it clear to either the admins or the community they wish to pass it onto their family if they were ever to pass, I wouldn't treat it as suspicious as long as it could be confirmed. I mean, I suspect it would be treated suspiciously without any proof of that death mind, because as sad as it sounds it would likely be abused by account sellers, which obviously the community isn't supportive of.

His only losses is Ngannou x2 the current champion, and Derrick Lewis. Those are nothing to scoff at. Basically, anyone that faces Lewis will be in trouble since he always has that power punch. Probably the best in the division. Blaydes has literally only lost against the best, and while he might favour the wrestling, I don't think that's a bad thing.

The Gracies literally created the UFC to demonstrate how dominant grounded fighters are compared to those that stand up. Alright, things have changed a bit, but any time a fighter has the wrestling advantage it basically means they get to dictate the fight. They decide where they want it, and a lot of the time it causes the better striker to be a littler hesitant due to that take down threat.

Exactly, you can look at historic cycles all you want, but when you look outside of that the current situation we find ourselves in, is no where near to what it was in past cycles. I sound like a broken record now, but we're literally heading for one of the worst recessions that most of us have experienced. I don't know if it's going to be comparable to the great depression, but it might be. Since basically the whole world shut down during the pandemic, and is only a few months ago starting to fire back up into full swing. So, that's roughly two years of a stagnant economy, that means many smaller businesses would've been struggling, and likely with increasing cost of living, means they'll likely have to offload staff.

Those people lose their jobs, and therefore need to either find a job or live very frugally, and with help off the government, which then negatively influences the economy. We've already seen the downturn in the housing market, we've already seen the extortionate fuel increase, as well as the general grocery increase.

This might not sound like it's related, and you might argue that this makes Bitcoin more appealing than a fiat currency that's subject to inflation, while that might be true, people's perspectives change during times like this. They focus on necessities rather than speculative investing. Bitcoin is currently speculative investing for most new comers. So, the buying power if you will, is going to decrease massively over the course of the next year.

It depends how bad this recession is going to be, and how long we'll be in the thick of it, to be able to accurately determine whether or not Bitcoin can recover to previous levels soon. I do think this year is off the cards though, I'd be pretty damn confident in that.

Do what I've done, and basically guess well ahead of schedule. That way you'll probably be like me, and get one point rather than zero. I'm actually probably going to put in some more predictions this week, since I'm away from my office, so I'll have a little more time to do recreational things rather than work. Although, I'll definitely be looking to make the most of this bloody hot weather we have too.

I've already predicted the rounds that I know I'm going to be away on a expedition. I definitely don't expect to get any scores correct there, as I have no idea how teams will be looking with form, injuries etc.

Jake is literally the best person you could have for publicity. The Paul brothers are just absolute gold mines in that department. I haven't seen anyone else do it better. Plus, Jake knows how to push people's buttons. He has basically built his career off being the "problem child" as he calls himself.

I actually don't think he is as much of an idiot, as he's portrayed. I actually think the more I've seen of him, the more calculated his videos, messages, and basically everything is. I imagine at the start of his career, and bad publicity he was just a normal kid bending some rules, but he has simply embraced that sort of reputation, and has literally built a boxing career off of it. Plus, I actually think he's going to win in this next fight, and I was part of the gang that would just like to see him get beat, so he can stop embarrassing the sport. However, I'm not sure if he's an embarrassment any more, he has done more for boxing than a lot of professional boxers.

The odds are fairly close, not massive odds either way.

I want Tom to win, but if I was betting on the event I'd be going with Curtis, as mentioned above he has hanged with the best of them. Tom hasn't got the knockout power than Lewis has, lets be honest most don't. I honestly see Curtis either knocking him out or taking it to the ground, and winning via decision. I think it's a little bit too soon for Aspinall. Hasn't got the experience that Curtis has.

As for Paddy. I mean, yeah it isn't ideal for someone to be abusing their body like that. However, at the moment he has been winning his fights. Maybe, he starts taking it more serious when he has more serious opponents. His next match up I'm undecided. I've seen Jordan look good, and absolutely awful. So, really does depend on which version of himself turns up on the night.

As long as he keeps on winning, then it's fine. I'm not too bothered about what he does in his personal life. I say live your life the way you want, within reason obviously. If he wants to eat a truck load of food, then as long as he takes the weight cut, and fight seriously I'm not too bothered. Kevin Holland is/was a fan favourite, and he was a classic example for a period of time not taking fights seriously, which did annoy me. Paddy does turn up in the cage, and seems to take it seriously once he's in there.

I don't think he's champion material though, despite the UFC trying to push that narrative.

Shame about the shoulder popping out, put a big dampener on a otherwise decent card. I know it didn't knock your socks off, but it was a decent night of fights. I predicted horribly. Most of my picks basically lost. My bet definitely did lose, and I don't think I got one method of victory correct. I was disappointed to see Jack Shore lose his zero the most.

Anyway, onto the next event. I probably won't be able to watch this one, as I'm away for the weekend. So, probably won't be betting on it. I only bet on things I can watch, as that's the fun part. I'll save my cash for the start of the Premier League, and the event after the next.

I will say, for the Curtis vs Tom fight, I'd like to see Tom win it, but Curtis has hands, and very decent wrestling. So, it could be a good night. 

The thing is with Ortega, I find him to be technically brilliant some days, and then other days he just leaves his head on the center line, and almost invites his opponents to give him a good hiding. I do like him though, and while I have nothing against Rodriguez, I would like to see him win. His two losses come from Max Holloway, and Volk which isn't bad at all, considering the two just fought for the tile. Alright, Volk outclassed Max in every way possible, but Max still isn't a slog.

I'll probably put Ortega on my betting slip with the above in mind. The dude has only really lost against top tier opposition, literally the top guys, and while I'm not trying to be disrespectful to Rodriguez, I don't think he is quite on the level of these two.

What would the reason be of a increase? A marginal increase yeah, but I imagine we'll be rebounding for a few months at the very least. These are uncertain times outside of Bitcoin, and Bitcoin is likely the least of people's concerns in the next year or so.

You might be right not to worry about the future, but the short term, no country or company is realistically going to start accepting Bitcoin. There's too much negative stigma around it, whether it's valid or not. For example, first we have the recession which means a volatile investment isn't likely to garner much attention during that time, but also there's the energy claims that have tarnished Bitcoin's reputation a little bit, and have prevented further adoption, due to institutions preferring to keep their public relations in tact. Lets be clear, I think these claims are unsubstantiated, and rather unfair to single out Bitcoin, but that's how it goes. Truth doesn't matter in todays world, it's more about looking good, as evidence by several trends that companies tend to follow.

Probably, because there's other things going on outside of Bitcoin. The world is heading or already inside one of the biggest recessions most of us would've ever seen. Thus, it's natural to be a little bearish. However, just because buying hasn't exactly stood still yet, doesn't mean it won't. We aren't feeling the full effects of the recession yet, and within the next year, I suspect Bitcoin transactions will be down considerably. I'm not saying it'll lose further value during this, but the market won't be seeing as much Bitcoin being moved.

This will likely be worse than the previous stand stills we've had, since a recession means most people are struggling to live pay check, let alone put their money into a currency which is so volatile they might lose 70% of their investment in a week.

Bitcoin will be bought by those who have spare cash, these types of people are usually the wealthy elite, since they are the least effected by a recession. When we start seeing on mass redundancies, and job losses, that'll be when the true effect kicks in.

Although, I agree. It's not all doom, and gloom right now, and for those that aren't living pay check to pay check, you've got the opportunity to accumulate as much as Bitcoin as you can, while it's on sale.

Right, while I definitely agree with most of what you said. Investing now shouldn't be seen as guaranteed returns, and definitely shouldn't be seen as something to make a quick buck on. Bitcoin is going to be effected by the recession, nearly as much as fiat is. Okay, it being deflationary is going to help it in the long term, but for the short term (next two years at least) I'd say we'll be at a similar price point to what we're at now.

The halving should help, and also as people cope better with the recession, buying power should go back up, and therefore Bitcoin should be crossing hands a little more also.

Okay, so the Sturridge incident wasn't match fixing per say, it was breaching betting rules.

Is it part of gambling? In my opinion any self respecting bookie would void any bets made, that were lost or won due to match fixing. At least, proven by a independent body. That could be difficult, since funds would have to be frozen. Maybe, bookies should only do it to losses, and therefore void them or give them back as credit, and just take the hit on those bets that have won, to avoid freezing winnings.

It does damage the users that bet on it. If you've bet on x to win, and they throw the game, you've basically been shafted.