If you want to get astronomical gains you have to get into a project at ground level.  Think of how much money the early investors of Facebook and Amazon made.  But for every Amazon there will be hundreds of companies that will fail miserably.  The risk vs reward potential is enormous when investing in start ups.  This is why I never recommend going all in on one project.

I actually think this is a reachable target for the end of this year.  It only took a couple of months for btc to skyrocket to 20k last year.  I know some people think this bear market will last multiple years but this time is different.  Cryptocurrency is much more mainstream and their are more retail investors accumulating coins for cheap prices.  I firmly believe we will see a bull run by the end of 2018.

There is a lot of speculation that Tether will collapse and become worthless. They have not passed an official audit yet and in their terms and service they are not required to accept tether in exchange for USD.  People are running to the gates to cash out their ether into coins that actually have value before its too late.  This may be another crash similar to bitconnect.

Exchanges often have different prices and you can sometimes take advantage of the arbitrage opportunities.  You have to be quick though because the prices will even out very fast.  I've been reading a lot of articles about tether and how it may collapse since it doesn't have enough USD to back up the printed tether.  This could be a case of people panic exchanging their tether for bitcoin so they don't get left with worthless bags.

As stated earlier in this thread, AI will be the only winner.  The development of Artificial Intelligence is very concerning and it scares me.  I think we should really stop advancing the technology because eventually it will be too intelligent to control.  Once the cat is out of the bag it will be too late and robots will reign over humans.  Some say its inevitable that this will happen but all we have to do is stop developing A.I.

This is a good attitude to have OP.  I treat gambling the same as purchasing a movie ticket or buying a video game.  I'm really just paying to have a good time.  The chance of winning money is obviously why most people gamble but I don't think people should get their hopes up too much.  A lot of us just want the chance of strking it big someday.

The people who are in panic have failed to look back and study history.  Every market goes through big corrections eventually but they always return stronger and reach new highs.  There is so much good news coming out everyday about crypto.  New mining facilities are being opened, new exchanges are opening up, the amount of wallets are increasing.  With everything that is in the works you would have to be a complete fool to think crypto is dead.

Pretend that all the fiat money in the world is gone and the whole world is only using Bitcoin.  Ignore scalability issues for this scenario.

I'm sure most of you know that most money is actually created by banks through fractional reserve lending.  Our economy is stimulated by people constantly taking out loans to make purchases.  But with bitcoin you can't loan money that doesn't exist.  Maybe we would have to change our consumerism as a society and prices would drop.  Being able to borrow money easily makes everything rise in price.   What are your thoughts?

This is what I think will happen in 5 years

-Bitcoin will be over 200k, the 6k bitcoin price of today will seem extremely cheap

-Worldwide adoption, crypto will be accepted at almost every store

-New Scaling technology, I'm not sure how it would work but right now this is the biggest crypto issue

--Bitcointalk will become one of the most visited websites in the world

It's the same as drinking, as long as it's done in moderation there isn't a problem.  The gambling addicts give a bad name to the regular Joes that like to place a few bets every now and then.

A lot of people can't walk away from a losing streak.  In their minds they believe that a win is due because of all the previous losses.  Well, it doesn't work that way.  You have the same odds every bet regardless of the previous outcomes.

This was an interesting story to read.  Most people with addictive habits are unable to quit on their own and need help in one form or another.  Quite a few people in my life have been addicted to drugs.  I know it's not gambling but you can draw a lot of similarities between the two.  For these type of people, the only thing that matters in their life is getting their next "fix".  Once they run out of money they will do anything to get more like theft, prostitution, deception, etc.

This has been long overdue.  Stock prices have been on a bullrun the last 10 years, people are unable to pay back their student loans, a large homeless population and anger at un unfair system will cause the crisis.  Smart investors are already seeing the warning signs and they have been pulling out of the markets.  I  think this crash will be much worse than the one that occurred in 2008.

I believe Oprah would win if she attempted to run for president.  Her fan base is huge from the years she spent on T.V.  She is also a billionaire with lots of wealthy friends so the fundraising will be no problem with her.  Also a lot of women and minorities will vote for her regardless of political views because she is a black woman.

I wouldn't be so negative.  There is no reason we can't reach new highs by the end of this year.  Bitcoin is still higher than it was this time one year ago.  It only rook a few months for bitcoin to soar from 5k up to 20k.  A lot of experts are still calling for a 25k by the end of this year.  The whales have made a lot of us doubt crypto prices but when the bull starts they will jump right back in.

Education is very important if you have to start from nothing.  You don't need a formal education, you can learn everything for free through books or on the internet.  There are some people that are poor through no fault of their owns.  IT is a very ignorant thing to proclaim it's all their fault.  If you lived in some of these people's shoes for a day you would change your mind.

Universal Basic Income is absolutely deserved and will be a positive for the total economy.

-GPS, Internet, Cell Phones, Computers were all created by the government (NASA and Military) but all the profits from the eventual technologies has gone to private shareholders.  These original inventions were funded by the taxpayer

-Society benefits as a whole from all the geniuses that are stuck in terrible jobs because they need to eat and pay rent.  They can focus their time on creating.

-The crime rate will drastically be reduced.  Most crime is a result of poverty.  Introduce UBI and it will be a safer place for everyone

-UBI will get people out of abusive relationships.  A lot of people are staying with others because they rely on them financially but they also get abused verbally and physically.


With that being said there hasn't been any real experiments on UBI.  The "trials" that have been done haven't been paid a lot or haven't been permanent.  People want to see it fail so they do their best to sabotage it.

I don't consider gambling addiction to be a disease.  It's better to call it a mental condition.  I do think those that develop addictive tendencies usually have a history of addiction in their family.  It can be drinking, drugs, t.v., or even sex.  Some people can do drugs once and not get addicted but others will be hooked on the dopamine. We all have different genetic makeup so we shouldn't judge too harshly on those with addiction problems.

No doubt Vitalik is a very smart buy but there even more intelligent people working on the ecosystem that are in the background and never heard from. 

Bitcoin is doing just fine without Satoshi.  I believe I similar situation would happen if Vitalik Buterin were to disappear. 

Obviously the name Satoshi Nakamoto sounds Japanese but it's probably just a fake name.  I saw an article that pointed out it was a combination of the following companies:

1. Samsung

2. Toshiba

3. Nakamichi

4. Motorola


The mystery of who Satoshi is will most likely never be solved because he did everything he could to stay hidden.

I second this.  Why use a middleman service when you can do it all yourself and cut out the middleman.  The point of cryptocurrency was to be the sole controller of your funds and to cut out the need for predatory middlemen.  Its really easy to do and there is no need to be intimidated.  I assume most merchants accepting crypto want the straight conversion to fiat because they aren't really true believers.