We all know that the world of altcoins where plagued by scam coins in the recent months. They boomed like mushrooms, crowdfunding on every idea they could get, setting up the ICO, declaring they hit the softcap in just a matter of days then finally vanishing in thin air.

There were scams one after the other that hurt the confidence rating and trust level of altcoins in general. Thus, we see a lot of investors shy away from this field. Even trading was affected too. People got fed up with scam coins that many decided to stay away from it as much as possible thus, we see lower coin capital and poor market activites too. And without movement, any altcoin is doomed.

Risk will never leave the side of bitcoin. It will be a constant companion until unless bitcoin goes under regulation and a central authority starts governing its prices, activity and usage.


Being a volatile asset, bitcoin's price will remain to be very much erratic in movement and it is really something scary for the untrained mind. But for those who knows that volatility increases probability of success, the risk surrounding bitcoin has always been a welcome attribute.

Anything can actually be used to extort from people. Any attempt for a ransom using even a cat or a dog is possible. So bitcoin should never be singled out in this aspect.

Though as of the moment, with most of the exchanges requiring a KYC, investigations could be done by tracking down the wallet's transactions. Though of course, it could be a dead end too should the criminal knew the alternatives to cashing out using a name. Or they could also stage a cash out by forcing a person to withdraw the money for them making clean their path somehow.

We could not really underestimate the creativity of these people, they have so many ways in and out of the crime they chose. And perpetrating them using bitcoin might just prove useful in many ways.

Truly, one should not dwell in the past as it will not yield any good. Instead, as the wise turtle said, live in the now, because today is a gift that's why it is called the present.

We shall find ourselves blinded of the opportunities starting back right at us if we don't choose to cope up with the loses we experienced. The pain of loss should not hinder us to miss out on the joy of gain, a clear state of mind is needed to hit the right decision at the right time as the market dictates.

And i do hope everyone finds the needed courage to move on and start believing more wisely the next time around.

I am really glad to see how many shared means and ways to somehow detect if a project is a scam or not.

But one thing i assure you, with experience, there are really no hard hitting fool proof means of identifying a scammer until you get scammed. This dubious entities learned how to play tricks on the aspects we will be checking out  to verify them and had found a number of ways to make themselves as trustworthy and reliable.

So never trust a single approach alone, mix them altogether so you could come up with a better judgement.

I think those small fine prints were never really created for fraudulent engagments by the banks. It just so happened that many will not take the time to read and understand them either because of much trust with the bank or out of sheer laziness.

One might think that the bank is exploiting this characteristics of their customer, but not all does. There are still banks out there that thrives on transparency on conditions and regulations and is not merely after for the sell of bank products and services.

Yet, on this note, cryptocurrency remains the best choice for a non-hazy, direct and transparent approach for keeping your assets free from such fraudulent activities as no one will be calling you to avail any promo or ask you to join an exclusive membership club that have fine prints too small for anyone to pay attention to.

Them being late in terms of high profitability with very small investment might be true, but it is never too late to grasp the understanding of what and how cryptocurrency works and why it does.

Though, the struggle is real when it comes to making people better understand what digital or cryptocurrency is.  It is never an easy course to discuss, but definitely not impossible to deliver. Perhaps given the right presentation and the right atmosphere, an awareness campaign will really help in cases where there is very little understanding of bitcoin and other cryptos.

Good analysis there. I do feel the same somehow, 2018 seems to be a really bearish year and the sight of the bull is nowhere to be found.

But as they say, there is really no good nor bad times in bitcoin, all has been progressive so far. But should your prediction be right regarding the bearish season pushing through till next year, giving us a not so pricey 1st quarter 2019 but a bullish next 3 quarters to come afterwards, then i think a lot of people will be happy to endure few months more till that happens.

It is really difficult to work on the bitcoin market without any prediction by your side table. There is always that possibility that the said prediction might come true just as it might not.

As what many would always say, what do you have to lose should you entertain a prediction or two? Yes it could end up wrong, but what if it turns out to be right? Then we just missed a golden opportunity.

Yes, i think that our decisions should never be based on predictions alone, yet, if the prediction came from a reliable source or a trusted personality in the world of bitcoin then considering it might not be so bad.

So i guess the more important thing here is to entertain predictions from the experts and trusted faces, ensuring your source is trustworthy is always a best practice.

As much as i support your cause, i think what you are suggesting might just re-write what bitcoin is all about.

Agreed, it is high time that scammers and fraudsters be tracked down and punished, but then, it might just compromise the pseudonymity ideals of bitcoin.

So i guess, until we thought this through as clearly as possible, the best thing to do right now, is to verify (really verify) the person you are transacting with is not a poser nor a scammer. I'm sure there are tell tale signs to pin one. Add an extra care before trusting your bitcoin to anyone especially if it involves ICO funding.

Developments in the field of bitcoin/crypto mining never ceased nor stopped, it has been a continual effort to find ways to better the mining rigs to make the system more efficient both in process and power consumption.  People have been trying to lower down everything, from cost to the power consumption, and i tell you, there has been a lot of improvement in this area.

Secondly, it is not only the systems and the hardware that are being developed (in the sense of cryptocurrency in general). But developers has been trying to find a much more faster and efficient means of proofing a transaction so that they are verified at a much faster speed and blocks are created in a shorter process.

So i'm sure that we are all set to see how mining methodologies will revolutionize soon.

Safe in terms of transaction and storage options probably, but not quite so as an investment. Any investing tool that exemplifies erratic prive movement is always deemed higly risky and never safe. And bitcoin, till date, remains to be as volatile as ever.

Though i must say, bitcoin has proven to be a very profitable investment unlike any other before it. Not even gold was able to achieve what bitcoin had achieved in multiplying its growth value.

Thus, bitcoin is indeed profitable (with enough patience and non-impulsive drive) but not as safe as many would say if we talk about investments.

If there is anything we should be being part of the bitcoin community, is that we need to be understanding of people's opinion and views regarding bitcoin.

Did you know that 6 to 7 years ago, doing a google search on bitcoin would lead you to search results that are marked with "fraud" and "volatility". But as the years roll by and more and more details became known of bitcoin, the description and search results started focusing on what bitcoin really is.

Sadly, the initial misconception got stuck as scams started sprouting one after the other, scams that were carried out by those who took advantage of how little the general public knew about bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a whole.

So i suggest, understand a little more, i'm sure they will all come around soon.

I firmly believe that by design, bitcoin will never get any harder to access in the future.

You see, among the inert attributes of bitcoin is being permission-less where there is no governing authority to screen and deny a user to access the system and create wallets as they want to. In other words, everyone and anyone is allowed to create a bitcoin wallet and transact with it for all he likes, there will be no one to stop you from doing so.

But should bitcoin fall into government regulation, then that would be a different story all in all.

Bitcoin is really a big thing in the cryptoworld as it was the one who started the crypto economy. The first cryptocurrency ever. And the one that proved to the world that a payment system of digital cash can exist without a central control. And that transparency of transaction can be achieved without compromising real world identities. When the world thought that peer to peer is dangerous, bitcoin proved that peer to peer consensus can make any record tamper proof at the same time.

It was a revolutionary tech that defied many relating principles of both computing and finances.

Same here! Guilty as a goose when it comes to pure laziness!

I mean my dad makes a spreadsheet act like it can solve all your mathematical equations and data recording needs but i would much appreciate a hand me down form that has been proven tested effective instead of creating mine and trying it out with a hit and miss approach.

So yeah, it would really be much appreciated if you could share with all of us how you do it with spreadsheet, it will really be cool i'm sure.

I'm not really into the guessing and predicting part nowadays #winks

If there's one thing i would want you (or all of us for that matter) to be by the end of the year, is to be stress free #anotherwink

Kidding aside, even the experts predicted wrong since the beginning of 2018. The bull run on April, then on July, then the great rally by September. Yet, we are now on October, no one remembered to "wake up the bull when september ends!"

So, do not be so worried about the end of the year, i think it is best to always base your predictions for the past 2 weeks (max) and forecast merely for a day. I really think it is a safe estimate.

Till date, for nearly a century now, bitcoin has been in existence without an actual global legal banking.  Even with other places in the world banning bitcoin and all form of cryptocurrencies, bitcoin gained a price value of USD 20,000 a piece last year. And it all happened as bitcoin is being attacked regarding its legality.

So yes, bitcoin can progress in the financial world even without legal acceptance, should we decide to use it for its primal design, as a digital currency.  The problem of legality has always been focused on the investing instrument and derivatives. With price volatility and concerns about price manipulation, bitcoin as an investment might just face more hurdles in the coming years since the government has started taking serious steps to really know more about cryptocurrency.

Well said. There is indeed an evident mix up between adoption and regulation. Sadly, part of people pushing bitcoin to go mainstream is regulation. Without government backing, it would definitely be difficult to have bitcoin run mainstream.

But how could bitcoin and government regulation exist together when bitcoin was created to exist without a governing authority and how could the government accept a financial tool that threatens their economic sovereignty? Somewhere, somehow, as people keeps pushing for regulation, someone or something has to give. I just hope it won't be bitcoin alone.

Indeed, most of the times, the word free has been used to lure in people to seal a deal and make them think they gained more from it than the other party.

Though scam is a very strong word, a scam-like hidden agenda is surely to take place most of the time.

There are very rare cases really when something is freely given but among the best free gifts once can receive are those that came without any condition. But never throw caution in the aire when someone approaches you for a free gift, be on guard always.