On the contrary, people have now realised that if they get their coins out of the exchanges and into their control it has the effect of rising because:

1- Fast trigger people don't be so tempted to sell at every minute.
2- *IF* any exchanged would be partially operating in fractional reserve the effect on coins scarcity would accentuate.
3- Once they realise how coins are way more secure under their control (assuming hardware wallets, paper wallets, etc) it's not that easy to look back.

I think it has been a great opportunity to do some clean up on current situation.

Nahhh, just some guys paranoid about a blocksize increase that sooner or later Bitcoin will need. Nothing to worry about, especially not atm.

270BTC Wall @ 3600 on Bitstamp!

The 2x? Well, by when that could be a problem either it will not or we would be already at 10K so.... I need something more inmediate.

Also, after the BCH helicopter money airdrop I don't think the market is too scared about such forks.

Btw, 1694 blocks until Segwit activation.

It seems that now that BTC-E stopped dumping laundered coins and lagging price all the exchanges are very well in sync. Bullish.

Can someone please post some quality FUD so that we don't get carried away by too much euphoria? This can't be good. Thanks in advance.

I don't remember any time where the ATH wasn't just a violent spike followed by another violent dump. Here we are having just a stable continuous rise of a few percent points per day.

Sounds like healthy growth to me, more so considering the fundamental improvements.... there will be dips for sure... but when will be next?

Also, August has never been a particularly good month for price increase, on the contrary.

Plus I am sure there have been many people profit taking along all this rise... Wonder if they will try to get back at some time in the future.

Your conspiracy brain is probably right in that those actors are doing worse things than that. But I can tell you I have dealt with extortionist on a few cases (minor ones, small companies hit by an automated ransomware campaign demanding around $300 per pc in BTC) and I can (almost) assure you it was just regular digital criminals what was on the other side.

I am confident that those actors you mention are busy with way more important issues than Bitcoin is at this time.... plus... they are not yet sure if cryptocurrencies are good or bad for their "business". Once the time comes, they will center their efforts more in taking advantage for their own goals than in simply "attacking"/"destroying".

But.... There are regulated exchanges that do have Monero, ie: KRAKEN.

Also the extortionist have a support line for explaining the "client" how to do it, there's not that much overhead for explaining how to obtain the Moneros instead of Bitcoin.. plus... when we are talking about this sums and corporates, I am sure they have access to cryptocurrencies "experts" that can obtain it for them and even provide OTC in a matter of hours. In fact I am sure it is not their financial director who personally do it... they hire someone for that (usually the same security firm that does the incident response).

Also, the get BTC now and convert to Monero later is not good. Look what happens with Wannacry ransom Bitcoins with everybody watching them... as soon as shapeshit detected the trade attempt they blacklisted (some minor part passed though).

It is way easier to guide the "client" to obtain the moneros and sent to them, and then convert to whatever (BTC probably) without that many worries that the money gets blocked somewhere along the "laundering" process or not blocked but closely followed leading to their identification and arrest.

Why I am "complaining"? Because I think that when all those arguments about Bitcoin used by criminals are completely erradicated there will be less bumps in the road to moon.

We just need to see how price reacts EVERY SINGLE TIME a dark market, shaddy exchange, etc gets closed.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/11/hbo-hack-game-of-thrones-ransom.html

Why exortionists are still using Bitcoin for this stuff instead of using Monero is beyond me. Maybe they don't know better?

On other news.... The price is reacting to Segwit exactly as predicted. There will be dips on the road... but I think I need to readjust my price target for end of year.

Btw... what happened to r0ach?

The walls have been eaten, not pulled.

Here we go....

I do. The market doesn't. The market establish price. I like price rises. As I said, I am fine with that.

P.S.: Read the news. Bitcoin locked segwit with 100% consensus... And it is "true"... yet we both know there was some "forcible pressure" to reach that 100% after BIP91 passed.

Read again.

Part 1) Sends the market the signal that the "upgrade" is unanimously consensuated. <- A signal, an "appearance". Not necessarily the "reality".
Part 2) even if it is done in a forcible way <- The reality. As the 100% is forced in second stage after a 80% consensus first stage. That's basically what hapened with BIP91..., except BIP91 was already over 90%.

KRAKEN EUR ATH touched. (not broken yet)

45BTC WALL TO GO

Oh ok, then it isn't much cheaper than living in my country. Maybe it isn't even cheaper at all.

I supposse it looks cheap in comparison to living well in USA which, yes, it is really expensive and nice houses/apartments in premiun places are still incredibly  overpriced. Salaries are also WAY higher so I guess it is ok.

I first checked the $300 video.... after being horrified by the ugly apartment (not to mention the bathroom) I switched to the $600 one... Still horrified. Why would I want to be rich to live like that?

Maybe I am a bit picky about HOME and not that much about food, etc... donno. Is there any other videos for living a "rich" life on a budget there or something?

When you say you can live with $500 per month.... what does that include?

Home Renting? Electricity? Food? Meds? Health care? Drinks? Car? Gas? Security? Clothes? Electronics? Mobile phone service? Internet?

Or is it just for home renting and food?

Yes, that makes sense. He opened the loan on the worst possible moment (skyhigh rates) but maybe most of it were 2 day term loans that have already been renewed at much lower rates.

It's a very small amount, but enough to buy me a few drinks with the interest earned alone

Anecdotical. Just wanting to know if somebody experienced the same with a more considerable amount of BTC.

Anyone else still having active lendings from end of July at the crazy rates those days?

I only left there a fraction of a BTC that I wouldn't care to withdraw so I decided to lend it. 11 days later I have had a ROI of more than 20% (2% daily). The lend is for 60 days, but the borrower could cancel any time.

Why would someone do that? If he keeps the lend until the end of the period I will make 120% on it. What is that, someone marging shorting BTC until he gets liquidated? (if not for the price increase for the huge lending interest).

Unfortunately it was a very small amount but... still... Anyone still having some active lends at crazy rates for a significant amount of BTC?

I think so. At least it seems many Russians and Chinesse do take it:

http://www.elconfidencialdigital.com/dinero/millonarios-conseguido-residencia-comprar-Espana_0_2344565534.html

But, a 500.000€ property nowadays is a 1.25-2 mill € property of some years ago when we were at the peak of the real state bubble. So the amount requirement is a bit too high currently as it is probably too much for a secondary residence (I think it doesn't need to be your "home", it can be an investment in several properties for renting or whatever that sum 500K).

Oh, there are some additional requirements such as not having criminal records and all that burocracy stuff.

I personally know some (rich) Venezuelan families which took advantage of the offer... plus registering companies here that employ themselves so that they can also access to public health system and all that shit.