[Interviews] with Bitcointalk members

[Becky666]

@zasad@, thanks for the honor to be interview
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
Backed in 2016 three of mine colleague got introduced into cryptocurrencies and thereafter gave some good testimony about the technology which I actually frowned upon at first. This process continued, at one time they gave me some advice to join their investment group program which I turned down and later became a scam investment group program. This brought upon me a serious fear about this technology because I had some experience with MMM which I personally don’t want to experience again. In January 2018, I got married and fortunately my partner was into cryptocurrencies which got my attention and was later introduced into the technology March, 2018.  

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
Well, i didn’t bought any bitcoin because of my partner involvement into Bitcoin. Also, due to what happened to my colleagues (investment group program) I never wanted to buy any of these coins.
  
3. How did you get on the forum?
Good question: With the little knowledge I got from my partner and the prospect in digital technology future, the urge for more knowledge increased and I began search the Google. At one time, I got into Bitcoin garden which gave me an insight into the technology. In 2019 to be precise, I went for a summit titled “what billionaires do in 21st century” at Top Rank Hotel Abuja when I got introduced into this forum and created an account with the forum.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
There are two major things which prevent rise to mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. The fear of what happened in 2017 when investors trooped into cryptocurrencies which aftermath wasn’t palatable because of the drastic fall of it price. Thousands of investors lost their savings and finding it difficult to embrace the digital currencies. Also, what happened to Mt. Gox (2011 and 2014) and Bitfinex (2016) still creating fear among investors.

Permit me to say that, confusion - technical jargons also preventing mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. The so called experts can’t find acceptable answers to some questions, different websites with different information about the technology which create more confusion among its participants.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
As a gambler, I would say the promotion of gambling projects on this exalted forum has given and still giving this forum a better look among its equals in the world of crypto. There are millions of gamblers who at one time or the other visited this forum just to see forum member’s reviews on a particular gambling site. Also note that, some complaints or scam accusations aren’t from notable accounts forum members but from newbies (though this can be the other way round for security reasons). There will be more exposure if the gambling projects are often launch in this forum than the scam projects called ‘Bounties’ for ICO’s, IEO’s and STO’s

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
Candidly, 2-3 years of experience is nothing when talk about success in cryptocurrencies. Remember that, the industry still in its infancy and there are new subtleties emerging every day, so, the issue of 2-3 years’ experience won’t count for success.
As I have said earlier, the most hindrance to mass adoption are: confusion and fear, so, for anyone to succeed in this industry s/he must have special education on this technology which Is the only sure route to success. Investors without proper education on this technology are those who continuously labeling the industry as ‘scam or Ponzi scheme’.
  
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
Introduction of merit system made the forum what it is today, the decorousness we see on the forum is as a result of the merit system which has tamed thousands of spammers and shitposters off the lane.  @theymos was smart enough with the merit system.
Signature campaigns are the best that has happened and still happening which is giving the forum a good traffic, though, this cannot be measure with those days of the non-merit system that was in operation before now. Without these campaign; how do we now distinguish between scam and legitimate crypto projects?, IMO, Merit System and Signature Campaigns are the best decision for the betterment of the forum.    

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
[Guide] Factors to consider before joining paid signature campaigns.
LoyceV's Beginners guide to correct use of the Trust system
CryptopreneurBrainboss ,
DdmrDdmr
LoyceV

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
1. Nigerian Pidgin local board implementation
2. Demerit system implementation to be executed by Mods
3. Barge for scam fighters.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
Due to what happened to my colleagues I haven’t gathered the impetus to make my investment on new projects(though with the exemption of WPP project). I have always tried to make some stake with little funds, so, am not doing much on investment. For trade, in the recent bearish market I got burnt and have retraced my footsteps for more learning but trade limited.
  
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
Though the big profit was MB8coin which I bought during it early days, I made almost 300% profit, and for my big loss, was when I bought WPP token during ICO which I kept till-date and awaiting the swap from the team project.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
DEFI system is a new experiment which could see a better light from investors If the system make good impact. For us to have the needed financial freedom we clamor for, then, we should embrace this technology called DEFI ecosystem.
 
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
Sincerely, am only precaution toward my anonymity because “s/he who come with clean hands shouldn’t fear anonymity”.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology Applications

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
- BTC
- TWT
- ETH

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
IMO, the price of Bitcoin will end in a good note because of the current resistance level, and I will like to see it end with $12,000.00

15. P.S. (Optional)
Shun greed; is the only way out of this industry - a lesson I personally learned.

[zasad@]

Thanks to all the participants!
I have run out of merit, whoever has the opportunity, reward new members with merit.

[Smartvirus]

It's my pleasure to stand before the people of this forum highly represented in the person of zasad! to supersede my interview. To those who have done these, thanks keeping a print on your paths that I(we) might follow.


1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
- You know Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies came up as rather a strange thing to me once, coming from a third would country with little advancement, always used to using rather building one of your own. Cryptocurrency was just one of those tech for the cyber experts and big institutions I thought. I first heard of Bitcoin following the advent of MMM in 2017. It started with fiat and later incorporated Bitcoin in it's investment platform but then, I was more interested in what was physical, what I'm used to other than that which is more like a software, can't feel or touch and don't know anything about it's nature. So, having anything to do with it was so out of the picture.

I practically became interested in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in March 2019 when its mystery was unraveled before my eyes. I had a friend who was deep into it and sincerely, they never allowed me rest with discussions on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, bitcointalkforum and a lot of other things that went on in the cryptosphere. This things didn't really boost my enthusiasm until I witnessed a withdrawal processed before my eyes with it's equivalent in Fiat cashed out from the ATM machine. This fueled my fire and raised my curiosity to research on the field and I found out how it kept on increasing, what it stood for and how much global recognition it had archived plus, it's still a growing field. It was until the middle of last year that I finally opened an account on bitcointalkforum.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
- I bought my first Bitcoin even before I joined bitcointalkforum, that was around June last year. With the knowledge that Bitcoin keeps increasing in value with time, I was enthusiast on how much I can make by investing approximately $50. It didn't meet my expectations but then, I didn't loose either. Probably, I was anxious on withdrawal and wasn't patient enough as the case may seem.

3. How did you get on the forum?  
- This was easy. I was practically introduced to the forum by a rather active user. I don't know if it's appropriate to mention the user so I won't, but then, they really didn't let me be. I knew or should I say was familiar with the names of quite a few users even before I got here from my friends many discussions on issues of the forum. Regular users been referenced where users like Theymos and LoyceV! But yeah, I got here in December and I'm still here.

4.1 What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?  
- well, on this one, I'll say it's adoption is chiefly hindered by ignorance. When I say ignorance, it doesn't lie just in the fact that it's (Bitcoin) has not been heard of, but also, with the fact that the masses who are aware of it doesn't know how it works or operates. It remains a term in the mouth and a field they rather not research about as it's meant for only the technological literates or experts as it seemed at a time in my case.
Again, in this era of increased cyber theft, using cryptos as a way to elude security makes it rather a daring field for ignorant people.

4.2 How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
- Gambling in itself had been a rather outrageous thing and was frowned at by people of good morals due to the fact that, it not only robbed gamblers of their earnings but then, came with violence in most cases but then, since the incorporation and licensing of gambling into the cyber field where every stake on games and it's rule were clearly understood, these menace associated with gambling was remedied. Gambling in the forum has done a lot in helping the forum make the wait go round. As bettors either win or lose on stakes, benefits from ads, organizing campaigns, generating traffic and more. It kind of unifies the forum as gamblers instead of spending a lot of time elsewhere, uses the forum as a doorway to reach other crypto supported platforms of interest on the forum.

4.3 How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
- 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is quite a lot and should do in every aspect of cryptocurrency especially for a diligent user who takes due diligence in decoding informations hidden in between lines.
Also, a rather tricky aspect is when it comes to being a developer in cryptocurrency as it encompasses writing codes to get desired results. In this case yes, some form of education might be required.

5.  What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
- Nooooooooo! I'm very positive on this one. Thi has been the bases for every good and well composed research posts in this forum as far as I know it. I think a lot of things can and would go wrong in the forum, more still, moderators would have rather their shoulders burdened with a lot of moderating to do.
To think of it, the merit system works hand in hand in purifying the forum as it takes both to advance to the next stage in the growth series.
The signature campaign on the other hand, I can't really tell if it helps or not as, at times, users just have the need to post in order to meet up the required posts for payment and creating posts isn't often needs you to be in the right frame of mind for it. Hence, depending with your frame of mind, you either come up with a quality post or a low quality post.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
- Newbies - Read before posting by Lauda
LoyceV's Beginners guide to correct use of the Trust system by LoyceV
Ninjastic.space - BitcoinTalk Post/Address archive + API by TryNinja
Bitcointalk Ranking-up pipeline- Those close to their next rank (lacking Merits) by DdmrDdmr
Everything you wanted to know about BTC options but were afraid to ask! by fillippone
{Facts} Benefits of promoting (joining) a quality paid signature campaign. by CryptopreneurBrainboss
List of (un)known methods scammers user to scam users with honorable mention by Royse777

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
- As far as I can tell, the forum is just okay the way it is. I don't seem to have noted any major fault yet in the forum but then, would surely make effort to better any situation that seems to arise when it arises.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
- Investing in projects have really not been my thing, it's more like a fresh water I'm yet to taste but trading, trading is very much a crypto I'm enthusiastic about. I do just a little bit of trading on binance exchange but then, I'm still practicing my know how in the field.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
- My big loss in a trade came up with me not setting a stop loss for that particular trade. I'm not going to mention the amount as it was huge to me but might be a mare change to many others but then, on this particular trade, I ran out of data. I was a little bit relaxed as my speculations from the various analysis I had done assured me of a change of trend and that the market was going to buy. Perhaps, it would sell for a little while but then, was sure to change in no time so, I became relaxed. I always do my trading on a higher time frame and observe on a lower time frame. This particular trade was set for 4Hours. After 2hours of being offline, I finally bought data and went back online. To my amazement, the market continued selling and I lost a rather unbelievable amount to me.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
- I haven't done much research on this yet though I've come across it a lot of times but then, I hope it comes forth as a success. Still watching.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
-  It's one of the most important of the many privileges we all enjoy in this forum and I consider it a necessity that should continue to be protected.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
- I've not really read any book on cryptocurrency per say, I do more of reading cryptocurrency news on cointelegraph and watch trading tutorials on youtube and discuss it with friends.

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
- Bitcoin (BTC) as it is to cryptocurrency what gold is to Fiats.
  Ethereum (Eth) Being the fastest growing in line with BTC.
  Litcoin (LTC) as it seems to have been doing well lately.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
- My speculations puts it at $15,000.

15. P.S.
- In all you do, live a mark and make it count.


Thank you for having me, I'm most grateful to you all.

[Charles-Tim]

Thanks to all the participants!
I have run out of merit, whoever has the opportunity, reward new members with merit.

Zasa@, this interview is so great and I appreciate you have ones interviewed me before. I have a suggestion, can you be interviewing members ones in a week, the reason I said so is because people that will merit will be able to go through the interview very well than seeing two or more interviews in a day which can discourage them. Making it only one interview weekly will be good, imo.

[zasad@]

Thanks to all the participants!
I have run out of merit, whoever has the opportunity, reward new members with merit.

Zasa@, this interview is so great and I appreciate you have ones interviewed me before. I have a suggestion, can you be interviewing members ones in a week, the reason I said so is because people that will merit will be able to go through the interview very well than seeing two or more interviews in a day which can discourage them. Making it only one interview weekly will be good, imo.

I don’t want anyone to limit the timing of the response and publication. Some users respond within 1-3 days, some need a week of time, I have been waiting for interviews from some already from July 2020.
I say hello to everyone who promised to give an interview a month ago or more, I remember you.

[BlackHatCoiner]

@zasad@, would you like to take an interview (if you haven't done one yet)? I'm willing to make the questions.

[Twentyonepaylots]

My pleasure to participate on this interview along with the greatest members  

Questions:
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
-After summer last 2017, I read about it and got curious. I did not really trust it at first but seeing the market that time made me more confident digging about it.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
- I can't remember exactly when but it was around August last 2017 coz I literally see its price increasing that time.

3. How did you get on the forum?
-After searching through google about bitcoin.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
-Ignorance

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
- There's this stigma about gambling which most of people don't understand. It makes the forum actively engage to various group of people. I could not think of any harm that it can cause.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
-I believe experience is the best teacher of all time, on top of that is the massive information that lies on the internet. No need for special education about cryptocurrencies.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
-No, not at all. Merit system was implemented to control spammers in the forum, besides everyone can contribute no matter their rank is.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
-There are tons of useful topic in the forum, I can't pick which is at top for me, I'll just pick thee most helpful user in the forum and he is @LoyceV

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
-The ignore button is all I need  , probably a reaction button to a photo?

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
-YES

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
-It's a long story, maybe the figure will say enough. Biggest profit $400-ish, biggest loss is around $500

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
-I'm not really into DEFI ecosystem, I'm still watching it.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
- A precaution. No stalker please! lol

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
-None, is there any?

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
-BTC ofc.
-ETH
-TRON

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
-In my spec it will be around $16,500

P.S. - Success is a two-way street!

[chaser15]

Thanks for the heads-up OP. I will participate in your interview.

Let's start:

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

Prior to encountering the world of crypto, I'm really putting my time searching for ways and methods to earn money online. Just like others, I become an enthusiast of Paid to Click Sites e.g the famous Neobux, ClixSense, and other BUX that spread throughout the web. One of the usual ads there is pointing to BITCOIN so that's the time I became aware of it.

From there, It's been a year before I bought my first bitcoin. The purpose? I trust that someday my earnings will grow (not technically seeing Bitcoin as a currency before)

3. How did you get on the forum?

From DYOR. I like to know what BITCOIN is and if such a forum about it exists.

Just a quick Google search and I found it. I'm not new to the forum so understanding how the forum works isn't that hard.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

Trust. Doubts. Regrets. Technology.

It's clear that not all places/regions/countries are ready for this Bitcoin thing.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

Gambling is no doubt, a hype activity since then. There are lots of gamblers anywhere.

Integrating Bitcoin on gambling sites will surely increase awareness and adoption. We won't see new gambling sites popped-up today if the crypto-gambling industry is not successful.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

Not necessary to have special education. If a person really wants to learn cryptocurrency, 2-3 years is already a long period of gaining knowledge.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

Merit abuse is always there as it was subjective.

With or without merit, there's always spam.

Do they harm the forum? No in general as users are a force to improve their account in order to join a signature campaign.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

All Sticky threads are useful even some of them are outdated.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

It depends on the result of my DYOR about a certain project.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or a big loss?

It's a long story so I guess I will keep it private.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

DEFI won't be hype if it's not seen as useful.

However, that hype also leads to the attempt of scamming people.

If only there's no scam related to this DEFI hype, everything is good.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

As much as possible, I like to work anonymously.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

Not a fan of books related to crypto.

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

This is subjective. Everyone should have their own factor when choosing coins or tokens.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

Less than $15,000, that's for sure. Not expecting new ATH for at least 2-3 years.

[carlfebz2]

Im glad that i've been part of this.

Hello.
I want to interview you. I hope for your consent.

Questions:
1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
Wayback in last quarter of 2015. I became interested to be frank because of its money making opportunity and later on i had seen or know its true
usage and relevance and that really changed up my view and perception towards it.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
I havent able to buy since i do able to earn them and re-invest, do make trades and stuff. Rinse and repeat!

3. How did you get on the forum?
My friend do tell me about this forum when i do ask out on how would i learn more about cryptocurrency not only just seeing some PDF about it.

I do need actual community interaction and discussions and good thing he suggested this place and this is what i do look for.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
-Regulation
-Some people Illiteracy
-Not all parts of the world had internet connection
-Some people doesnt really like to make up some changes and still have that close-minded kind of behavior and just stick to fiat.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
Community or this forum has nothing to do if they do let out these gambling projects do make some advertisement because people do have their own free will to choose
if they do decide to engage with gambling or not.We do have our own decisions in life.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
-I doesnt need special education yet experience would really be sufficient for you to succeed or at least be sustainable in long run.
When it comes to duration 2-3 years might or might not suit out for everyone because we do have our own way on dealing with things but on general scale then
learning doesnt have boundaries.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
Wayback where this forum doesnt have Merit system where there are lots of spams even up to now but not really much compared in the past.
You can see lots of account selling since its easy to rank up with just having that activity requirement but now it is already pain in the ass if you dont even earn a single one.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Majority these are useful specially for noobs

Unofficial list of (official) Bitcointalk.org rules, guidelines, FAQ
Everything you need to know about forum 'activity, account ranks and merit
[General] How to earn Bitcoins
Stake your Bitcoin address here

When it comes to users then it would be LoyceV, suchmoon etc.

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
-Notification when someone do quote your post or reply.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
I do trade but i havent experienced nor even tried to invest with projects.I do only buy coins that are already listed on an exchange.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
Big loss when im just starting where i do waste up too much bitcoins on the time that ponzi HASHOCEAN where i do really believe that passive income do exist.
For profit then there are countless events specially on trading.I cant mention it all since i dont remember one by one.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
Just like on ICO days then this time we have DEFI.Yeah, its something new but im not really expecting that much.I just go along with the flow.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
We do all value our anonymity and this is one of the main reasons why people do love bitcoin or crypto due to this feature.In my own case then anonymity is the best thing.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
None, i dont read books yet everything i do need to learn can be found online.

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
-BTC-ETH-LTC
These had been alway my priorities when it comes to long term aspect but 80% of my port is mainly on BTC.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
$13,000 - $14,000 sounds realistic.Im not those person who do talk about million per coin.  


Thanks for the opportunity zasad@.

[eristica.com]

Thank you, I will be short, just wanted to say that I am pleased to be a part of this (I mean such a strong community).

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

Bitcoin is an ingenious solution that works with Proof-of-Work and allows you to trust each other without trusting at the same time. After that, I started to get interested in this area and around the middle of 2017 I joined Eristica as a support. Since then I have been here and I believe that we are doing very interesting and important things.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

I did not buy, my first bitcoin, or rather several, I received in the form of payment.

3. How did you get on the forum?

We announced our project on the forum, so I'm here.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

The problem is that while there is no strong dynamic and peer-to-peer economy, we are in the process of becoming, we need to wait as this will change in the future. I think that a few years of experience is enough to learn the basics, but unfortunately not enough for a successful investment. I see that many people write that a month or two is enough for a smart person to make a successful investment, but I know for sure that a smart person considers himself to be a fool because he understands how much he still does not know.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

To be honest, my two cents is not enough to judge this. Since we are more focused on the development of our decentralized project than on the policy of the forum. The rules that I read before registering are enough for me.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?

I think you yourself know that this is a Satoshi thread) But seriously, such threads as "How to sign a message" or "Test Bitcoin core" and others of this kind are very useful.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

Perhaps in the future, when equity capital appears, but I was seriously thinking, thanks for asking.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

Oh, this is a sad story, it was so long ago that I would not want to think about it, although I can say that it was the Yobit exchange, and I became convinced of its unreliability the hard way, having lost 2.5 btc.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

It is necessary that this boom, which brought this topic to the front pages of newspapers, verse, and then people need some more time to make sure that the Defi ecosystem works without any holes, so that the common man begins to trust.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

I don’t think that there is a vital necessity in this, and it’s impossible, but adding add-ons that give anonymity is right.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

I have translated part of the text in Transifex "Mastering Ethereum" by Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Gavin Wood, so this is the last I read from the literature.

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

Filecoin, ERT, PundiX

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

The price will be the same until early next year, and then it will go down to 8 thousand per bitcoin.

[2double0]

@zasad@, feeling honored for being interviewed by you. It is my pleasure to be here.

So let's start.

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

I was an addicted gambler once and I was not happy with the traditional banking system which gives Central Banks all the information of our transactions. It always pinched me in my heart whenever anybody knew or can check my transactions through my statements. Then I came to know about Bitcoins through this forum while searching for a gambling dedicated forum and a friend recommended me this place and asked me to try btc to gamble in online casinos.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

Though skeptical at first, I bought some coins in early 2014 for my gambling habits and I was lucky to win a lot those days, which turned this into a deadly combination. I sold all my btc at $600, not patient enough to wait for $1000 again.

3. How did you get on the forum?

Through one of my friends who asked me to visit this place while educating me about btc.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

I think this crypto revolution took place so quickly that people who were not so technically sound were not ready to accept this technology and are still not understanding its value but just chime in for their own financial growth by looking for higher returns alone. This mentality is one main reason (which I believe) has made people blind and the slaves of old banking system. This needs to be unstripped to make them believe in crypto and see its real potential beyond financial gains.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

Gambling is just a thing, and it is solely our decision to gamble or not, and so it becomes our own responsibility if we win or lose. I said that to clarify that gambling cannot harm the community in any way, it is my personal view on this. Mass advertising of gambling is helping this forum for sure till some extent or signatures would have been banned already because most companies that advertise here are from gambling industry.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

Any level of experience is less and we get to learn something new in the investment world every day. I am lucky to have seen the death of defi projects which can be seen as an example. Special education cannot teach an investor what their personal experience can do.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

The beauty of this forum is in merits. Something that motivates me a lot to write quality posts for the forum members as this is my passion.
No, signature campaigns help the members to do the advertisement through their work and get rewarded for their contribution to the community. Mark my words, those who are active here, like to make money while helping others. So no harm to the forum because these campaigns are the reason which draw the attention of users globally and make them come here, learn and share their thoughts every day.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?

The most useful topic is the unofficial rules version of the forum.
Every user is useful in their area, but as it needs a specific answer, I like Yahoo, TryNinja, LoyceV, Hhampuz.

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

An archive button - I need an archive button to save some pages on the forum instead of going to a third party website.

Allow mods to change trust settings from a DT to another user if that user comes out to be innocent but that DT goes offline due to some reasons.

Allow gif avatars.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

Trading because it is all transparent and on point, I don't invest as I don't want to risk my money into something I don't know anything about.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

Had a position in QNT for a very long time which gave me 20 yikes my investment, that was my biggest profit.
Sold my home and gambled away the whole month, that was my biggest loss.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

A scam of its kind, defi will not blow your mind but it will just blow off your capital.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

As my friend was the guy who referred me here, I can't say it's a vital necessity to me. So precaution is a better option. But it is good for some people to know what are you doing, and these people need to be trustworthy for you.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

I don't like reading at all.  

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

BiTcoIn
bItCOiN
BITCOIN

Now you know the best cryptocurrency to invest in the next 2 years, go grab it. I do not like any other crypto except when I am gambling and btc fees blow up, I prefer xrp or ltc at that time.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

I think $10k to $12k as it is looking stable and looks like it will hold it there.

[bitbunnny]

Here are my answers too and it's my pleasure to participate.

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
 It was back in 2013 and it was quite accidentally. I was trying to find some alternative to banks and I found on the internet quite interesting articles about Bitcoin.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
I bought my first Bitcoin the same year, so in 2013. I just thought, this sounds like a future, I want to give s try and get part of it.

3. How did you get on the forum?
I was trying to find s place where people share their experiences with Bitcoin so I searched the Internet and found Bitcointalk. I still think it's the best place for bitcoiners.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Lack of regulation, lack of knowledge and fear from unknown. Also, very rigid traditional financial system.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
Gambling community is quite big so I think that mass advertising attracts new gamblers to the forum all the time and these people might get interested in some other themes too and learn more about cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies and gambling have become connected very tight but that also might be a trap.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
Education and getting at least basic knowledge about cryptocurrencies is always good. However, your own experience is the best way to become successful trading and that takes time, patience and knowledge. It's very individual and for some 3-4 years might be enough to get know the market but still it's no guarantee you will be successful trader.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
Actually I participated in some very successful signature campaigns and as long they are professional lead and have quality they will help, not harm the forum. But good campaigns is getting harder and harder to find.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Topic about trading was very helpful and useful for me. There are so many experienced and skilled people here on forum, I couldn't pick anyone in particular.

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
Some kind of engine for fast search of archive would be nice, then top rated topics from all thread and I think we might also need new visual identity.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
I trade from time to time but not big and not so often as I used too. Now it's more for fun and to keep "in shape". I don't invest in projects, it's too risky and not my cup of tea.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
By trading and investing at one moment I gathered a sum of 7 Bitcoins. I held them for few years and for some reason I decided to sell. It was s year before Bitcoin reached 20000$. I could have made really big profit but si made bad decision and couldn't forgive myself but I learned a lesson.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
I don't like it and I don't support it, it will generate you losses.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
I value my anonymity and I think everyone has a right to it. Sometimes it's very important to try to stay as anonymous as you can but not at any price and sometimes we don't need to hide everything. We need to find the balance between necessity to have privacy and anonymity and circumstances who don't allow us that.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I read a lot but so far I haven't read any book about cryptocurrencies.

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
Bitcoin and Ethereum, there is no the third one.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
I don't think that price will change much compared to what we have now. It will be somewhere between 10000$ and 12000$.

Thank you zasad@!

[jademaxsuy]

I was enjoying to read the post of others on how did they become interest in cryptocurrency. I think I would like to share mine too so will grab this opportunity to be heard. This is only once in a lifetime activity to have this kind of unique way on expressing and be heard in the bitcointalk forum. This feel pretty good and here is my reply with the following questions.

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
Invited to join in this forum and start doing bounty business way back 2018 but it does not make good so chance my mind and instead I learn to do some quick research about cryptocurrency. This made me interest after Satoshi Nakamoto created bitcoin as a solution to financial crisis way back in 2007. I was amazed how cryptocurrency works correct me if I am wrong that bitcoin works after you downloaded and install the bitcoin software which made you part of the bitcoin network. This describe as the peer to peer network system to which allows you to move funds by broadcasting transaction to bitcoin network and then a random computer (node) will accept the transaction and add it as a latest transaction to memory pool waiting to be mine by miners that created the blocks and add to blockchain. This somehow a unique idea that has been created and I think the people behind bitcoin are genius. This made me more interest to learn and had tried to make some bitcoin transaction right after having bitcoin client or bitcoin software.

Bitcoin is a unique digital currency as what others had mention that it could be exchange to other currencies (fiat or other cryptocurrencies), buy products and services, and could also be accepted as a form of investment. Still investors will consider risk because of its market price volatility.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
I bought bitcoin as I see how things work and could earn investment. However at later part of 2018 I lost it selling afterwards due to emotional breakdown after bitcoin market crashes and as a newbie thinking that bitcoin will going to end. Now, I still invest in bitcoin but not that much and thankful to the experience I had during my losses. It made me think on how, when and what to buy not only bitcoin but other altcoins as well. Ripple and BCH was a good crypto to invest with due to its pump and dump scheme. I had experience having of these coins being pump and earn on it at the same time pulling out investment when market is good and buy back when market is bad. But it take some time before that it will going to happen like this time. I am still waiting on when bitcoin market crashes. LOL

3. How did you get on the forum?
I was invited by my friend who first knew about this forum and share what he earns in here through bounty hunting (Good Boy). However, he is not anymore active here because he had been busy from the moment that covid19 hit the world to which he is part of the front liner. I still admire that friend of my mine because he still able to earn in other ways like joining networking and now still share his profit and invited me as well but I know that he is doing networking and I do not like the way it works. Still the forum has a lot of sections and boards to explore. Reading and learning from those boards still my interest and did not come to my mind to leave the forum just like what my friend did for I am not exploring more about bitcoin and other altcoins as well.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Scams, fraud people and phishing attacks to which drag bitcoin and other cryptocurrency on bad reputation. Aside from that news popping out regarding on hi jack exchanges, team manipulated network core in some of those Defi projects. Yet, cryptocurrency is still in the process of adaptation for I believe that this technology could bring something in the community. There are really great features in cryptocurrency and as what others had told regarding on its anonymity features and decentralized in manner like storing funds where one could do whatever he wanted on the funds anytime without using third party services like the banks.

Probably, another thing that made prevent mass adoption are those government system especially to the government officials. If this cryptocurrency will be integrated in their system especially in financial aspect then all will be transparent and they could have hard time to make any corruptions activity because all transactions will be put to blockchain and all transactions will be recorded. Once there is suspected transaction then it could be visibly seen and could be investigated.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
It brings positive development in the forum. I do not exactly know on how much gambling sites had earn but I think their profit could reach up to millions of dollars in just a single platform. This will bring something good in the forum especially the gamblers to make forum lively due to their activities. We know that they had their own boards and that will not compromise other boards that are not interested in gambling.

Mostly gambling sites offers ads and bounty campaign. This will allow bounty hunters to earn more on those promotional activities that pays BTC.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?
Yes, that is already an ample time of a user to observe the market price movement of the cryptocurrency and to be able to understand on how, when and what cryptocurrency to buy. Not only a member could be a successful investor but also can even manage to put up business integrating cryptocurrency as an option for payment. It will all depend to the member's interest on learning about cryptocurrency.


5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
Not really, I do believe that those gambling signature ads had made a positive impact in the forum and to the bounty hunters that promoted those project earning some BTC. In my opinion it does not harm the forum instead it is the opposite to where it could make forum more active with bounty hunters participation.

The merit system had been also effective making other members to become effective and efficient in making post to receive merits that has been a motivation to get along with in the forum. Merits could be hard to earn from other members of the forum but still it is possible for them to earn they just need to know on how to become helpful in the forum. I myself is the proof that I was once a shit poster but now I am more concern about the forum and to check every time I post that should be meaningful as part of participating an active discussion.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Merit system, cryptocurrency news, speculations, gambling section especially the discussion about the NBA ongoing finals (Lakers Vs. Miami), Campaign with a cause started by some users like @cabalism13 and @CryptopreneurBrainboss.

Well, there are many helpful users nowadays and are active in posting at beginners and help section. However, I was thinking about @jetcash on his side regarding on merit grabbing post and the spammers.

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
Designate assistant section moderators and staff, merit source and add voluntary team that will help identify scam related projects in the promotional activities.


8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
Not, doing this trading or investing in projects. I am more interested in earning BTC and get more of it if possible because in the near future bitcoin will become one of the best digital currency in the world. This is what I have been foreseeing in regards to cryptocurrency and that bitcoin will be adapted for community consumption. And if that time comes I do hope I had some bitcoin in my digital wallets.


9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
Big loss, when I was newbie I invested in bitcoin and then losing it on 2019 when bitcoin market is crashing. sighs, still not getting some of it but I think I am positive that over a period of time with the way I am investing in bitcoin and collecting of it then I think I could overcome losses over the period of time. Hopeful!

Big profit, yeah I remember that time that I was promoting ICO projects and was able to earn from the tokens being sold. I think that was more or less 4 ETH. I think that value of ETH before is good already for me because I have low salary earnings in my current job until now! huhuhu

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
At first I was impress and it even impress more when some of the Defi Projects had been become HYIP, but same as with ICO projects the hackers had made a some ways to take advantage on the Defi projects and those are the manipulation of the core for them to withdraw money without getting notice. I do not really know but this info I get was base on the news that has been circulating recently about the Defi Projects.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
Yes, Banks had stolen identity of their clients and that could be use in illegal activities by some banks personnel for their own interest. So bad right? But if there is a system that could do service like banks but does not require you to disclose your identity then that would definitely be better right?

So, identity is very important for us not to disclose because this can lead to hacking, phishing, and getting fraud by some people that has interest in getting of your funds. There are many modus operandi runs in the internet so we need all to be more careful and advise the family members not to believe directly every message they receive in their emails or sms or other platforms like social media.


12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
Cryptocurrency investment for dummies, Kiana Danial
Blockchain revolution by Alex Topscott
Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper
The cryptotrader by Glenn Goodman
Crypto beginners Stephen Satoshi


13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
1. Bitcoin
2. XRP
3. ETH
4. BCH


14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
14K USD. I think that would be ideal market price for bitcoin. However, I am wishing for a market price. You know why I am hoping because I am selling already and would like to go over again. I am making a short term hold for bitcoins.

15. P.S. (Optional)
The forum has been one of the best cryptocurrency discussions. I think this interview uniquely started by @zasad is one far good move in order to get the status of of the members in regards to cryptocurrency and the forum. I do hope that with the questions above being made some members or users will be able to put up a data or statistics that could be relevant to the studies in the near future.

[SyGambler]

@zasad@ thanks for the great topic mate , really good reads

Hello.
I want to interview you. I hope for your consent.

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

in summer 2014 I remember finding a post on facebook for someone talking about PTC sites and talking how you can make money online
well the site was paying like 5 cents a day BUT it had a punch of ads for bitcoin faucets so I started digging what that bitcoin thing is

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

I never bought a single satoshi , at that time I had 0$ to my name and there isn't any easy way here to buy/sell bitcoin
all the bitcoins I have were made mainly from poker , it all started with faucets and poker freerolls then signature campaigns here 

3. How did you get on the forum?

I was playing poker in a site called luckyflop ( which closed long time ago ) and someone in chat mentioned the forums here , he was talking about other gambling sites so I jumped here and started checking other gambling bitcoin sites

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

can't talk about other countries , but here it's really hard to buy/sell crypto and nobody here even use online banking in general ( pretty much all transactions here are in cash)
so in my country it's really hard for the people to accept the idea of a coin sitting on the internet

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

as I stated before pretty much all what I made came from gambling , so for me more ads mean more opportunities
people should just do their own research about gambling , the majority will lose money but some will be able to make money ( talking about +EV gambling here )

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

Learning never stops , with 3 years experience I guess everyone should be fine but improvements should never stop especially in crypto where every few months there is a new trend where you can make tons or lose tons of course 

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

the merit system has its goods and bads , overall it made improvement for the forums and reduced spam but some members who are making some good posts are still having much harder time ranking up when we compare it with people who achieved legendary before adding the merit system

personally can't talk anything bad about signature campaigns cause it helped me really a lot during my start , it can definitely help newcomers with their new journey so I see it good as long as the manager is doing a good job

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?

useful topics kinda depend on the interest , for example there are tons of useful topics in the mining section but if you aren't interested in mining you won't  really bother digging it
for me pretty much all the topics in the gambling boards ( even ANNs ) are useful for me since I'm always looking for new sites and promos

for users IMO anyone who is helping answering any question is doing a great job

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

I kinda like it how it's now , but maybe it's time to update the forums since everytime I try to introduce someone here he tells me that the forums look like it was created in the 90s 

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

I rarely trade and even when I do it there is nothing serious , for investments all my investments are gambling related ( mainly investing in casinos bankroll )

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

as a gambler you will have several ups and downs , so single scores aren't really that important  but my biggest score that I remember was winning Fortunejack Copa America leaderboard for 1 BTC

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

haven't really digged it much so far so I can't really tell

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

as much as I like to stay anonymous it's really hard these days where the majority of big gambling sites require KYC at some point , same thing for the big exchanges
I hope at someday this will change , but it's what it's now

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

the bitcoin standard and I didn't even finish it , I think books don't add any value unless the reader is totally newbie

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

I only trust bitcoin as an investment , still use other coins like trx and eos for betting on their dapps but I usually exchange everything back to btc after

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

more than 1K$ probably   

[pooya87]

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

i heard about bitcoin back in 2011 during the initial price rises and when a lot of people were mining bitcoin with their PC. but by then i was working on my dissertation and didn't have any time so i ended up forgetting about bitcoin. it was partly because of the terrible definition of bitcoin i received from the one who told me about it!
then i heard about bitcoin again in 2014 but this time i had more free time and also i saw bitcoin not just as something you mine and make money but as a currency i could use to purchase anything without needing to sign up on any website, do KYC verification, rely on centralized companies,... so i was hooked. which is why i have always viewed bitcoin and introduced it to others as a currency only.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

i think it was somewhere in 2014 during the time price kept dropping from $500.

3. How did you get on the forum?

through google while searching for some questions that i had as a newbie.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

volatility is the main reason preventing bitcoin's mass adoption. other than that being different (user has to handle their own keys, security,...), to some extent clients not being user friendly enough, and some of the FUD about bitcoin that has misled a lot of people.

lack of utility is preventing adoption of cryptocurrencies. nowadays most of them are being created purely for pump and dump purposes even though their advertisements are filled with lots of pretty promises.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

i don't think it has any effects on development of the forum, but when they end up being spam not just advertisement they contribute to lowering the quality of the forum as a whole and may turn some experts away that don't like seeing so much spam. but the same thing could be said about any other form of spam.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

it is hard to say, i think people are very different. some people are more risk-takers and can handle it, some are more familiar with investment, while some others have no idea what to do with their money, how to trade, invest, etc.
i usually suggest that people should watch the cryptocurrency market for at least 6 months before entering it and unfortunately no amount of experience is ever enough to get you prepared for the altcoin manipulation.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

i think the signature campaigns have gone full circle multiple times. they used to be just a way that people could make some satoshis for the posts they made, then they became spam fest, then things became better as ban hammers came down and campaign managers came along, then things got worse again as a ton of scams called ICOs were started and now we are back at first place with little spam. this last cycle was mainly due to merit system alongside a lot of bans that also made things extremely difficult for account farmers/sellers hence decreasing the spam.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?

it is tough to choose a single topic or even a couple because on any subject there are numerous helpful ones.
as for users, most of those in technical boards are excellent. to name a few: achow101, ETFbitcoin, o_e_l_e_o, mocacinno, nc50lc

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

notification when your posts are quoted!

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

i used to do more trades before 2018 but i got scammed a lot by centralized exchanges and i also got too busy in life that i haven't really traded for some time now.

as for investment, i have never invested anything in any altcoins and i don't really see bitcoin as an investment as i explained above. my investment in bitcoin is my time when i contribute to the open source projects that interest me and i think they are helping the bitcoin community grow.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

my biggest profit and biggest loss is probably the same thing!
i used to work on a trading bot and test many different exchanges. one day i found a new one and purely to test my code, i signed up there but used a throw away email address (one of those temp ones you get anywhere) and deposited about a 800 Doge which i received as a donation on reddit to start the trading experiment.
long story short i ended up turning that 800 Doge (about 50000 satoshi) to 0.2 bitcoin after a while using my scripts but i couldn't withdraw it because i didn't have the email address anymore

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

i can see some merit in the decentralized fund raising idea but i think the negative sides of it are too many that they are overshadowing any positive side it may have. and when the only usage that we see every day is from scammers and lazy people who want to make some quick money by using some hyped up thing, all we end up seeing is negativity.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

i think privacy is more important that anonymity (i want to keep whatever i do to myself) and it is not just vital but it is everybody's right.
of course the definition of these two concepts are usually mistaken with each other. i think there is a good explanation here:
https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/how-does-privacy-differ-from-anonymity-and-why-are-both-important/

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

i have never read any books!
everything i know, even the most technical aspects of bitcoin and cryptography, i have learned from the internet (mainly this forum but also stackexchange and partly reddit).

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

i will never do such a thing.
i don't see altcoins as a viable investment because i have no faith in any of them long term and i also believe that tokens are completely useless even more so than coins so they have even less viability in long term.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

it is always hard to say and when it is in such as short time as 2.5 months it is even harder. i believe that we are at the beginning of a bull market so there is a good chance that price will be higher than the current $11k price but since it is just the start it won't be that much higher.

15. P.S. (Optional)

one thing is always certain, a revolution was started by bitcoin that can not be stopped or undone. thanks to Satoshi the decentralized money is a part of our world now, and everyone will eventually accept that even if bitcoin made some of them obsolete.

thanks for reading.

[stompix]

Sure, why not, it's always nice to find out some stories, too bad mine is nothing special

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
I was playing Travian back in 2012, and after it has become some of a freemium game my guild used to pull funds together so that the top players who had no real means could get some help, and once someone mentioned paying in Bitcoin, that was the first time I've heard about it but it took me more than a year afterward to really start inquiring about it.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
The first bitcoins I bought were not meant for me and I used them as a means of payment for some codes, I must also confess that the firsts bits I actually kept for myself were not entirely mine, not your keys not your coins. I really treated bitcoin as a game for quite a long period.

3. How did you get on the forum?
The same friend that first mentioned bitcoin to me told me about it.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
I'm probably one of the most bearish users around here, I still believe that bitcoin is a bit ahead of its time, there are lots of people who are still afraid to be in charge of their own finance, the same people who can't think for themselves and desperately need a strong hand leader even if by this they forfeit their liberties, people who would be too stressed or clearly incapable of storing and keeping their saving safe.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?
I'm not a gambler and the only times I gamble are when I try to make a point with friends, going by the saying of putting the money where your mouth is, I don't know we can talk about positive and negative effect, but I'm pretty sure we can't talk about "harm", that would be an exaggeration.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

Bitcoin maximalist here, you don't need skills to buy and hold. For altcoins, so-called investing skills come well after luck.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
The merit system was the thing that helped cleaning the forum and stopped a lot of spam, as for the signature campaign as long as they are well managed and managers don't allow useless spam they are not harming the forum, quite the opposite.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Probably the introduction topic, and the whole beginners and help board, and if ain't it should be . As for the most helpful users, there are quite many, and listing some while forgetting ones and at the same time putting them in an order like ranking wouldn't be fair so I'd rather not do it.

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
First would be the banning of proven scammers, then probably the demerit button and finally bringing back the features in the ignore button, some users should know that guy is ignored by the entire board and that would prevent feeding the trolls so many times. Of course, all can be abused and have drawbacks but the forum would be better with them not without.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
I stopped trading years ago, and I think I'm getting too old and to busy to keep up with new projects, so again no.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
Well, I don' have one, I made small gains and small losses, as I said I'm not much of a trader nor investor and I usually play around with little money.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
Just an overhyped fad.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
I wouldn't call it vital, of course, I would keep as many details about myself hidden as its nobody business who I am and what I do for a living but at the same time  I don't think my life will end if somebody would find out my name or my address, after all, there are hundreds if not thousands of people who know me in real life, and probably a lot of them hate me more than people on this forum.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I've never fully read a single one.

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

Bitcoin, BTC and BTC.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
Somewhere between 10-15k$, as I said, I'm not a trader because I know I suck at anticipating things.

[zasad@]

nc50lc (Legendary)

Let's start

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

"Honestly, Ethereum is the first cryptocurrency that I got interested with.
That was late 2016 when I started mining ETH.
I've heard of Bitcoin way before that, may have stored some and "played" with it but I can't recall."

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

"Is trading ETH for BTC counts?
That's months before the BCH fork and the newbie info about "free forked coins" that you'll get by hodling Bitcoins in your wallet.
Since Bitcoin's performance (market-wise) is good, I made it my 1st HODL priority."

3. How did you get on the forum?

"I've got here for checking the ANN thread of Electroneum in 2017 (that was really buzzing in social media at that time).
And since there are a lot of "other opportunities" other than GPU mining, I have been sticking around."

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

"Various reasons but I think the major hiccups are the Governments and negative views of people regarding cryptocurrencies.
There won't be an adaption if the people themselves think that cryptos are currencies for cyberciminals or scam,
that must be due to misinformation, lack of knowledge or both.
The Governments that ban cryptocurrency is another problem for obvious reasons."

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

"As I noticed, people who visit bitcointalk to solve their wallet/client/other issues don't care bout what's being advertised.
IDK about Regulars but whether they like it or not, they'll return whether there are gambling banners in the page or none."

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

"Every person learns at a different rate, so it depends on them if they should "invest" now, later-on when they've learned to be-their-bank or learn by other means."

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

"It didn't harmed the forum, it reduced spam exponentially but the start is kinda unfair to those who would have ranked-up in a matter of hours/days after it was applied.
Specially when you're ready to upload your Avatar"

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?

"Other than the developers in dev forums which aren't that active: pooya, HCP, jackg, Dave and other "tech support" (in respective order).
For topics from all boards, some are equally useful, most aren't; but some are fun to watch."

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

"

• Dark Mode without relying on third-party scripts.
• Spoiler Tag to ease scrolling and for more formatting options.
• Reporter's badge, its dedicated thread in Meta has been inactive for a while.

"

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

"I only invested in an ICO once, it's Electroneum, most of my coins are from trades."

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

"I probably wont share but there was an 'April Fools Joke' that really pissed me of since it hilariously blown the price big time that I didn't expected traders will take seriously."

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

"While it's useful in most cases, it's also became a cheap tool for scammers.
I don't care much for the centralization issue of some projects since those wont function without a pinch of centralization."

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

"I don't think revealing one's identity would give more advantages than disadvantages."

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

"lightning-network-paper.pdf, it's still on my desktop."

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

"Bitcoin, Ethereum and Monero, 1-2 years is short and their price mostly sync.
For higher time periods, add BitTorrent (I guess)"

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

"My wild guess is $12-20k."


Thanks to nc50lc for the interview!

The end.

[DooMAD]

Thanks for the invitation.  My answers to some of these turned out to be much longer than I thought they would:

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

I first head about Bitcoin around mid-2013.  I had started to distrust the national media, so started watching news channels from other counties.  While watching RT, I happened to catch an episode of the 'Keiser Report' where they frequently discuss how corrupt the traditional banking sector is.  Naturally, that resonated with my own impressions of the world, so I got into a habit of watching it.  In a few episodes they started talking about Bitcoin. 

I didn't quite "get it" at first because they only discussed the speculation side of it, but figured I'd look it up.  Found some Andreas Antonopoulos videos and started to understand the idea a little better.  Played with a few faucets (as they were actually worth the time in 2013) until I was ready to buy.  Kept digging and learning more.  Fast-forward a bit and here I am today.  I grew tired of Max Keiser after a while, though.  Bit over the top.  Too much bluster.  Also, that altcoin he launched was an absolute atrocity, so that was probably the nail in the coffin.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

I bought my first bitcoin in late 2013.  Seemed like a no-brainer after what I had learned and also taking into consideration the torrid state of traditional finance.  I wanted an "out" and here it was.  It was an in-person cash trade because handing out bank account details is extremely risky and I've always been wary of that.  Met them at their house, which I'd been to many times previously, handed them a wad of cash, they sent the BTC to my address (along with a much smaller amount of LTC and NMC to their respective addresses, since I figured I'd diversify a bit). 

The whole thing felt a bit frantic, as the BTC price was climbing pretty rapidly on a daily basis at that point, so I was naturally eager to get the trade done.  Managed to get onboard around the halfway point of that early bull-run to ~$1200.  Then continued holding all the way back down to around $200.  It was a concern, initially, but I never considered selling.  Quite the opposite, In fact.  I bought a little more on the way down, having originally planned to buy more on the initial purchase if it weren't for the price rising so quickly.  

3. How did you get on the forum?

Can't remember exactly.  Probably just found it on a search engine while researching.  Glad I found it, though.  I've learned more here than on any other website.  Aside from bitcointalk.org, the only other social platform I'd recommend to others is bitcoin.stackexchange.com because pretty much all other social media is terrible.  This place is a veritable treasure-trove of information and knowledge.  I like to think I do my part in helping keep it that way.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

In short, bad first impressions and bad habits.  Lots of people are somehow given the impression Bitcoin is some sort of get-rich-quick scheme, so straight away they're off to the wrong start with some pretty big misconceptions about what they're getting into.  Or they avoid getting into it at all, because they would naturally be wary of get-rich-quick schemes.  On top of that, most people have spent their entire lives trusting financial institutions and don't know how to function any other way.  People tend to leave their funds in the hands of third parties because it's "convenient" and then they effectively receive a third-rate experience of what Bitcoin really is.  If they don't embrace the mindset Bitcoin was founded upon, they're probably going to have a poor experience and they definitely won't receive all the benefits Bitcoin potentially confers.  I know some of us die-hards sound a bit stuffy and boring when we talk about the underlying principles and personal responsibility, but Bitcoin was designed this way for a reason.  Person A signs the transaction over to person B and that's it.  Job done.  You don't introduce any middlemen to the equation, because they can then block your transactions or lose/steal your funds.  Which kind of defeats the purpose.

As controversial as it may sound, until people can understand crypto properly, I'm beginning to feel like "mass adoption" would actually be a bad idea right now.  I don't think human beings, generally speaking, are ready for Bitcoin.  They've got too many bad habits to unlearn.  I want Bitcoin to be for everyone, but at the same time, I want everyone to be safe when they use Bitcoin.  And right now, most of them would use it in an unsafe way.  They need a bit more time and a lot more common sense so they don't hand their money over to twitter scammers impersonating celebrities, as they're seemingly prone to doing.  We don't need more of that, so mass adoption can wait until people are smarter (again, generally speaking).  I know it sounds harsh, but I don't think it's wrong to believe that, given the depths of sheer foolishness I've witnessed recently.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

Honestly feeling a fair amount of indifference to this question.  I figure if these projects are going to find a way to advertise somewhere on the internet, it might as well benefit our little economy here.  Probably doesn't make a big difference in the grand scheme of things, though.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

Firstly, I'd draw a distinction between investing financially and investing conceptually.  Not everyone does both.  If people are just looking to gamble, they don't require a great deal of education to do that, aside from being able to spot obvious scams.  But if people really want to understand the ethos of Bitcoin and get involved in the correct way, then yes, spend as much time as you can educating yourself before taking the plunge.  As I pointed out regarding mass adoption, there's a great deal to learn.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

Having been around prior to the creation of the Merit system, I can comfortably say the forum is a much better place as a result of it being implemented.  There's now a certain expectation that junk posts won't be considered acceptable, which is healthy for the community as a whole.  It's still sometimes a challenge to find a stimulating conversation, but that might be partly due to the fact that I've been around long enough to have heard many similar ideas rehashed over and over.  But the quality is still higher than what it was in the olde days.

And I think, even more important than merit, is the sterling work some users do in reporting plagiarism and bots.  It's bad enough to have similar ideas rehashed, but when it's the exact same post you read just two pages prior, suddenly duplicated next to another username, that's when it gets really tedious.  It really is a community effort to keep that crap to an absolute minimum, so my thanks go out to those people.

As for signature campaigns, the honest answer is it depends on the campaign in question.  Some definitely have higher standards than others.  It's clear there are always going to be a few companies that just want to advertise their product cheaply and aren't overly concerned if their participants are producing good-quality content or not.  Sometimes it feels like they target a bare minimum, but could probably do better if they tried.  It's a tricky one to get the balance right.

I do think signature campaigns should be prevented from forcing participants to make a minimum number of posts per week/month/whatever to qualify for a payout if that hasn't been done yet.  Making people post when they have nothing worth saying is a really bad idea. 

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?

Wow, where to begin?  There are so many fantastic people dedicating their time and effort to help.  I suppose if I had to nominate one person in particular, since they're noticeably absent at the moment, I'd give a shout out to DannyHamilton.  I do miss their well-reasoned and informed contributions to the forum and hope they return at some point.  For topics, this one is crucial reading for anyone who isn't quite clear on what this Bitcoin stuff is all about:  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5215927.0

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

Uh... I think I proposed adding descriptions for some of the subforums that don't currently have descriptions once.  I'd like to see more strict guidelines for the Press/Media board to prevent spam and maybe cut out the cryptoblogs who sadly haven't proven to be any more respectable than the mainstream media in terms of journalistic integrity.  Other than that, I'm fairly content with how things are.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

I'm quite cautious.  I used to dabble with altcoin trading in small sums, but haven't logged into an exchange in ages.  There are just too many reasons not to do it anymore.  I don't trust any of them and can't comprehend how people just leave vast sums of wealth in the hands of total strangers on the internet.  It's downright crazy when you stop and think about it.  Another factor in the decision was the increase in prevalence of KYC/AML requirements, which I'm convinced creates more identity theft than it prevents.  Fortunately, when the exchange I was primarily using annouced they were implementing KYC, I was up overall and decided to quit while I was ahead.  Dumped any alts I had on that and any other exchanges for BTC and withdrew it all.  I don't have much in the way of altcoin holdings these days.  Only the ones that never got deposited online. 

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

Since I was always pretty cautious back when I did trade on exchanges, most of my "losses" are theoretical ones caused by not selling at the right time.  I'm still holding some Byteball/Obyte which at one brief, glorious moment was probably worth around 3 BTC.  It's sadly nothing like that value now.  Definitely regret not selling that when I had the chance.  But they were completely free to obtain (via what was quite possibly one of the only few credible and legitimate "airdrops" the community has ever seen), so I take solace from the notion that it's not an actual loss.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

In theory?  Sounds good.  In practice, based on what little I've seen?  Sounds utterly abysmal.  I call shenanigans.  If it really was decentralised finance, it wouldn't be so profitable to exploit and there wouldn't be anywhere near as much hype around it as there currently is.  Maintaining a safe distance unless I start to see signs of legitimacy.  For the moment, I just get the impression people are brazenly glossing over all the negativity and obvious scams with ICOs and simply rebranding them DEFI, or "wrapped" tokens to pull the same old stunts all over again.  They're just trying to make a quick buck with marketing buzzwords and outlandish claims.  Avoid at all costs for the moment.  There might be a few honest attempts in the mix, but most of it looks pretty toxic.

That said, I'd love to see a day where we can completely abandon custodian exchanges and consign them to the history books where they belong.  I still love the idea behind "atomic swaps" which would allow purely peer-to-peer trading between blockchains.  It's just the current trend I'm not keen on, where some people are clearly abusing the idea to sell snake oil through mindless tokenisation.  Overall, it feels like the technology isn't there yet.  There's still a fair bit of development work to go before atomic swaps are truly viable to enable the kind of genuine decentralised trading this current, largely illegitimate, DEFI fad wishes it could emulate.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

Not really.  I certainly wouldn't go as far as saying it's vital, but at the same time I feel like I could have easily done more to obfuscate it. 

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

Never have, heh.  In some ways I like to think I'm a clever person, but in other ways I'm an absolute philistine.  I should read more books. 

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

Can't offer any specific advice, since I'm mostly out of the altcoins game.  And wouldn't feel particularly comfortable doing so even if I could.  If you are going to speculate, make sure you're thinking for yourself.  You can't rule out the probability that someone is a bagholder of any given coin and is looking for a way to pump the price so they can get out.  I've said this already in a recent topic, but never ask for investment advice unless you're in a position to be able to verify what you're being told or you trust the expertise of the person providing the advice implicitly. 

Also remember that trading is often as much blind luck as it is looking at the fundamentals of each coin and reading charts and so-called "technical analysis" (which you need to take with a large pinch of salt).  Speculation is a variety of gambling.  No ifs or buts about it. 

I will, however, say sternly what to avoid.  People need to get the hell out of Tether/USDT while they still can.  I can see that ending badly for all involved.  Stablecoins in general seem pretty shady to me, but Tether is blaring all the warning sirens. 

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

Ask me in thirty years or so.  I've got no plans on selling any time soon.  My concept of "value" isn't in how much fiat I could obtain for my Bitcoin in the short term.  Future purchasing power is certainly of interest.  Maybe one day I could buy a house or something.  But for the most part, this is my "nest egg" or retirement fund.  I can't trust society with safeguarding my conventional state pension and I sincerely doubt many in my generation are going to get one at all, let alone one they could actually afford to live on comfortably.  Troubling times ahead, methinks. 

15. P.S. (Optional)

Caught me a bit by surprise, so thanks for asking me.  Honestly wasn't expecting to be contacted for one of these.  Hope people find it interesting or useful.  I better get on with reading a few of the other interviews I've missed since I last checked in on this topic.  Cheers.  

[madnessteat]

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

I became interested in cryptocurrencies not so long ago. It was at the end of 2017. I remember then my friend told me that with the help of GPUs you can get cryptocurrency. That's when I opened this door 

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

My first Bitcoins I received after about two weeks as I assembled and launched the mining rig. I began to buy and sell Bitcoin after getting acquainted with exchanges.

3. How did you get on the forum?

One time I read an article about super profits from bounty campaigns. That article and led me to the forum. Unfortunately, I could not get rich, but instead I learned a lot of interesting things and met cool people.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

Governments

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

To a greater extent, such gambling advertising is harmful to society, but I believe that everyone chooses their own future. Gambling has always been and will always be. Cryptovalues only allowed to hide from the regulators.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

I think there is no need for education. It is necessary to have free money, time and desire to study.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

I did not find a time when there was no merit system on the forum. On the one hand, signatures harm the forum, and on the other they increase activity and attendance. So this is a very controversial issue.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?

In fact, the forum is a lot of useful topics and you can spend a lot of time to choose the best, but never come to some solution. I think that every participant is important for the forum.

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

Introduction of displaying the user trust in absolutely all sections, banning the use of multiple accounts, as soon as possible transition to a new engine.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

I have rarely traded on exchanges lately, but I invest my money in various projects for the medium and long term.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

I don't like to discuss my assets very much, but when investing in ICO I lost several times quite large funds.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

For DeFi future. But it is for new technologies, not speculative projects.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

I became much more careful on the Internet in terms of anonymity and confidentiality after I came to this forum.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

Andreas Antonopoulos - Mastering Bitcoin

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

I do not give investment advice   

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

$17000-20000 

15. P.S. (Optional)

Thank you for the invitation to the interview.

[skarais]

Thank you for the interview invitation and now let's start one by one.

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?

I became interested in crypto in early January 2017 even though a friend told me about crypto in mid-2016.Trading and investing are the reasons why I was interested in crypto.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?

I don't remember exactly when that happened, but I believe I bought my first crypto a week or two after I got my exchange account in February 2017.
Actually I didn't buy bitcoin at that time because I had very little capital. I bought ethereum and traded it.

3. How did you get on the forum?

Forum are the most sought after if someone is familiar with bitcoin and altcoin. This is because forum are a place for the community to gather and discuss thing related to crypto. This forum has lots of experienced and knowledgeable users so I can use it as a place of learning and also get a little extra capital to trade through bounties and more.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

The government and its regulation are the biggest barrier to the mass adoption of bitcoin and altcoin. Moreover, not everyone around the world is aware of the existence of bitcoin and crypto today. So in my opinion government, regulation, knowledge are some of the things that prevented the mass adoption of crypto until recently. I think another consideration for this is price volatility.

4.2. How do you think mass advertising of gambling projects has a positive effect on the development of the forum or harms the community?

We can all determine which choices are good and which are not. Deciding to become a gambler simply because of forum advertisement, the risk has to be accepted. Gambling will have a negative impact on everyone and that must always be considered.

4.3. How do you consider whether 2-3 years of experience in cryptocurrency is enough to successfully invest or does an investor need to receive special education?

Knowledge and experience are factors that can increase the chances of success in investing. Investing without knowledge is tantamount to suicide. Money, knowledge, experience are all we need. There is no need to learn specifically to become a crypto investor in my opinion, because that is not a guarantee that we will always be profitable.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?

The merit system is a great way to improve the quality of most users post and prevent spammer from rank up. So far I think the merit system has been quite successful and makes the forum look cleaner than before.
The signature campaign doesn't break the forum in my opinion if it's done by a quality poster.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?

In global: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=703657.0
In Local: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=764664.0

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

I only wish the best for the future of the forum. I want forums to improve the security system so that it is not easy for hackers to steal user account.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?

Yes, I was a trader at first but not for now.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?

Regarding the amount, maybe I don't need to say it here. But I have experienced profits and losses like any other trader.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

New trend for now. I'm not really interested in that.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

Between necessity and prevention. I want to gamble without being recognized and I will look for sites that do not require KYC as a precaution. I don't want people to know how many crypto assets I have right now because it's quite risky. So anonymity is a necessity for prevention.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

I don't have it, I'm just used to knowing something about bitcoin on the internet. There are no physical books.

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?

1. Bitcoin
2. Ethereum
3. Litecoin

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?

I'm not sure how much it will cost at the end of the year. But I think the price of bitcoin at that time was around $15000- $20000 and that is quite realistic to think about.

15. PS

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to answer that question in a concise and straightforward manner. I'm not an expert in this field, but I'm just trying to learn something useful for me and the community. May be useful.