[Interviews] with Bitcointalk members

[RHavar]

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

I guess I first started casually following bitcoin in 2011-ish. I was interested in the idea of being able to transact without middle-man, but was turned off by the fact it was an entirely new currency and I've always felt proof-of-work is rather wasteful. At some point I sort of gave up on waiting for the perfect currency, and went all in on bitcoin.

2. How did you get on the forum?

Started on this forum so I could shill my casino(s). Ended up staying to get into feuds with scammers and what not.

3. Many people write good reviews about you as a good developer. If it's not a secret, please tell us what projects are you working on now?

After selling bustabit, I worked on a bunch of projects related to bitcoin privacy for a while. I guess I burnt out, and haven't done any real development for at least the last 6 months. Probably longer, I haven't kept track.

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

I used to own bustabit, which was (and still is) a pretty big casino (in terms of wager) and when I ran it had a razor thin house edge. And for anyone that doesn't know, casinos (at least honest ones with whales) have massive swings in profit. If I made or lost a million dollars of bitcoin, I wouldn't even think twice. Wouldn't affect my day in the slightest. Yet I'd consider $15 too much to spend on lunch. I guess for my sanity, I compartmentalized "bitcoin" from "real money". Bitcoin have just been magic internet points to me.

5. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

I'm really not that anonymous, although if I did it again, I'd probably put more effort into protecting my privacy. I've met several of my customers (and competitors!) in real life. Some even know where I live  

6. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

I've actually never read a cryptocurrency book, and can't imagine I'd ever read one (unless it's some sort of entertaining story...)


7. P.S.

While I'm on my soapbox, this forum should remove self-moderated threads. They're just a tool for scammers. If low-quality content is a problem, maybe the thread author should be able to opt into some soft of increased moderation standard that can be enforced by moderators.

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[Apocalipsa]

Although I am not really following this thread, I noticed this by happenstance:

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
Merit system is great.  Post good content and you get merit.  Before every clown posting all day became a legendary.  Sorry, that’s special place for special people, such as myself.  In fact we have too many legendarios now, we need one more level of separation.  Soon.

Liar.  As of this writing, you have a total of 339 earned merits.  You should be stuck at Sr. Member rank.  You are a fake “Legendary”.

You are correct that there should be a separation between idiots who spent years actively shitposting before the introduction of the merit system, and special people such as myself.  (All of my merit is earned, yes; and it took me less than 310 total days of actually active posting with the merit system to sail past 2000 earned merits.)

Now, somehow, you must have obtained merit source status.  According to BPIP, you have sent 3464 merits (!)—including 16+24+3+7+7+7+1+7+7 = 79 merits that you have sent to the “Bitcoin SV” account, which is alleged actually to be a korner alt.  That would be 46.6% of your earned sMerit—if you had neither cheap “Legendary” grandfathered merit, nor the source merits that absolutely should not have made available to you.

You people don’t deserve me,

Why do I suspect that you may be my secret fan, and you may be stealing from me?  

I am sorry that I somehow missed that before.

Dude, git yer boyscout panties on cause BSV lovin’ Vlad just gave 33 merits to BitcoinSV and another 33 merits to hv_, another BSV fanatic. 

It’s almost like he’s got zero respect for your noob opinions, bro.  Don’t give up now, don’t let no fraud legendary beat ya!   

[Vlad2Vlad]

Dude, git yer boyscout panties on cause BSV lovin’ Vlad just gave 33 merits to BitcoinSV and another 33 merits to hv_, another BSV fanatic. 

It’s almost like he’s got zero respect for your noob opinions, bro.  Don’t give up now, don’t let no fraud legendary beat ya!   

Ya Lil’ snitch.  Lol. 

BSV reprezent!!!  Mo’ merit bombs inkoming. 

[LTU_btc]

Hello , i want to interview and thanks zasad@ for give me chance

Really? It's your first post on Bitcointalk and you're already posting interview. Wow! Sorry, but I doubt that @zasad invited you...

[zasad@]

Hello , i want to interview and thanks zasad@ for give me chance

Really? It's your first post on Bitcointalk and you're already posting interview. Wow! Sorry, but I doubt that @zasad invited you...

After this interview, he now has to work very hard to become one of the best members of the forum

[nullius]

Dude, git yer boyscout panties on cause BSV lovin’ Vlad just gave 33 merits to BitcoinSV and another 33 merits to hv_, another BSV fanatic. 

It’s almost like he’s got zero respect for your noob opinions, bro.  Don’t give up now, don’t let no fraud legendary beat ya!   

Ya Lil’ snitch.  Lol. 

BSV reprezent!!!  Mo’ merit bombs inkoming. 

For the benefit of those who like these interviews, Vlad and his sockpuppet have been asked to take this up with me elsewhere.

Subject: Yo Sitch!

[—idiotic vulgar PM, quoted in full—]

[...]

Wait your turn.  And meanwhile, you and your sockpuppet should please stop trolling the interviews thread.  Although it was very unwise for that thread to take your interview, I am not inclined to derail it just because you are neurotically fixated on attempting to bait me there.  (Your posts thereby are indeed being followed and archived—even the deleted stuff.)

[Vlad2Vlad]

Dude, git yer boyscout panties on cause BSV lovin’ Vlad just gave 33 merits to BitcoinSV and another 33 merits to hv_, another BSV fanatic. 

It’s almost like he’s got zero respect for your noob opinions, bro.  Don’t give up now, don’t let no fraud legendary beat ya!   

Ya Lil’ snitch.  Lol. 

BSV reprezent!!!  Mo’ merit bombs inkoming. 

For the benefit of those who like these interviews, Vlad and his sockpuppet have been asked to take this up with me elsewhere.

Subject: Yo Sitch!

[—idiotic vulgar PM, quoted in full—]

[...]

Wait your turn.  And meanwhile, you and your sockpuppet should please stop trolling the interviews thread.  Although it was very unwise for that thread to take your interview, I am not inclined to derail it just because you are neurotically fixated on attempting to bait me there.  (Your posts thereby are indeed being followed and archived—even the deleted stuff.)

Oh boy, sounds really serious.  Do you have a cracker Jax box badge and all that too?  Haha. 

And there was vulgarity in my PM to you.  Boyscout, coward and sitch are actual terms - I guess you might just be an over-sensitive liberal.  Put your big boy pants on now, Columbo!  Lol

[guigui371]

Heya All,
zasad@ asked for an interview so here we are :

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
Pure luck, I read a quite popular newpaper on a beach in Spain while on holiday. It was July 2013.
And the title of the article was "This strange currency that went from $10 to $300 in a few months".
I forgot about it, until December 2013 and the new highs of $1000. I registered and here comes the rabbit's hole.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
December 2013 - January 2014
At that time I had the choice of Using Mt Gox (Japanese) or Bitstamp (Romania).
For ease of use, I went with the one accepting SEPA: Bitstamp .... It was my 1st good decision.
If I chose mt gox I would probably have lost faith in the system.

3. How did you get on the forum?
Probably thanks to Google. I was looking at Linden dollars and I thought those were the crypto.... thank god I found the forum and stayed away from linden $ / second life


4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Dude it is 2020 ... soon 2021  and no one is making it easy to accept BTC.
Like AML / KYC prevent the small businesses to accept crypto for a small amounts. Banks are not helping.
The technology is not easy. Try to explain to your grandma that no, she can't take a screenshot of the Seed on her iPhone, No icould is not a suitable storage place .... 
Everywhere you look, you see danger signs... I understand that no coiner are afraid.
I think we need more centralization (like Binance or Coinbase) with real guarantees and insurance so our parents (Boomers) feel safe to shift from their 0.5% APY banking savings to crypto denominated savings / Defi  .....


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 have partaken in paid signature campaigns. But never for gambling. And I really didn't do must shitposting.
It has been noticed that gambling signature advertising brings clutter/shit posts.
Also, for 1 winner there is 99 losers. But hey, the big boss (Theymos) is a libertarian. anyone is free to click on the betting banners and try their luck.


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 2 or 3 years is plenty, but people should invest carefully and with common sense. 


4.4. I see a decrease in activity in many local boards. What do you think needs to be done to develop activity in local boards?
The only local board I go to is the French one. And As a matter of fact, I decided to stop posting there a couple of weeks ago due to the attitude of a couple of members that are known racists. I already feel better by not going there anymore. I can't talk for the other boards.
The German one looks pretty dynamic.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
The Merit is cool, allow to see who is "beneficial" to the forum. It is not a perfect system but it is useful.
The campaigns are also a good tool. For many people, the $30 / $50 per week is an incredible opportunity to increase their lifestyle.
However, I would probably implement a system on top of the existing system: something like a downvote and upvote.
Where (let says DT1  and DT2) could vote down shitty one line poster (cleary bots or account farmer) so their account would be "blocked" for a week if they have 20 or 50 votes. And Banned if they are recidivists.


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

Most useful topics would be the ones about seed management/extraction / storage and protection.
Most helpful users are: {insert list of the member in the top 20 Merit received hahahah}


7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
a) As explained above a feature where DT1/2 could mute/block/ban bad members / leeches / shitposter
b) What about a lottery where people could "spend" their merit and enter a draw for some of the money made from advertising
c) a smartphone app ?


8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
I don't do "day trading". So I guess i'm more into investing in project. I have a bag of crypto and i look their $ value go up over time.
Recently I've been farming on ETH and BSC defi projects.  Great money to be made and no need to sell coins, just utilise my current capital.


9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
You mean like that time where I bought 1  masternode of DASH as $1 each, saw it go to $1.5 milion USD and didn't sell ..... maybe one day they will go back up.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
It is the future, but it needs regulation.  We already have a few back actors, it will be worst in the coming months / years with more and more complex exploits.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
A little bit of both, I live in a safe place, so i don't really think to much about it. But in the same time i'm quite cautious and don't talk about crypto in the real life.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I never read one.

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
BTC - LINK - ETH  ... this is not investment advice.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
Les than 45 days to go.  I legit have no idea. I would say less than $30k

15. P.S. (Optional)
If some of you make big bucks in the (hopefully) bull season, don't forget that many children don't even have drinking water or food available.
https://www.unicef.org.nz/donate-in-crypto  accept crypto donation   (unicef USA also accept crypto donation, but I couldn't find their website).

[tvbcof]

...
15. P.S. (Optional)
If some of you make big bucks in the (hopefully) bull season, don't forget that many children don't even have drinking water or food available.
https://www.unicef.org.nz/donate-in-crypto  accept crypto donation   (unicef USA also accept crypto donation, but I couldn't find their website).

UNICEF!?!  Are you fuckin kidding?  At the very best they want to solve the food shortage problem by getting rid of kids.  Likely they have plenty of crypto complements of their child trafficking operations.  Might as well supply certain other 'enlightened' markets with needed material in the process of 'solving world hunger', eh?

[Rmcdermott927]

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

I got interested in crypto for the same reasons a lot of people did; we saw the early adopters get rich and we wanted a piece of the action as well.

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

I had been involved in bitcoin for a while before I actually paid fiat for any crypto.  I got into altcoin mining while it was still fairly profitable with a handful of Nvidia gt 750’s and mined like a wild man.  

3. How did you get on the forum?

I had to search my first posts for the answer to this one.   I had set up a p2pool node and was looking for ways to get miners to help mine on my node.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?

We have a whole generation of people, who happen to be the generation with the most money, who are terrible with technology.  I don’t see my parents or aunts and uncles using bitcoin to buy groceries any time soon.   However, I think the generation that grew up with AOL and high speed internet will adapt just fine.  So in one word, the answer is TIME.

4.2. When did you start collecting physical coins - bitcoins?

I thought collectibles were silly for the longest time.  Then Luckybit started running competitions for the Kialara labyrinth.  I had never seen anything so cool!   Collecting quickly became an obsession.   I created 2 different brands of collectible coins within a few years.  

4.3. What is the rarest and most expensive collectible coin?

I think the Casascius bearer bars are the most difficult to find and have some of the highest premiums.

4.4. Please tell us about the market for collectible crypto coins? Is the market increasing?

I think it is just beginning.  The creativity I have seen over the past few years makes me proud to be a bitcoiner.  I have .999 fine silver bitcoined themed playing cards and I have silver bars, coins, and even posters.   I do this for the art!

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

This is a hot topic.  I’m feel the merit system which was meant to fix trust abuse actually enabled it.  Merit is inappropriately and disproportionately given on a regular basis.  

In terms of signature campaigns, that all depends on the campaign manager.  As long as managers ensure that the participants are constructively participating in the forum, I see no harm.  

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

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2439910.0

All new users should become familiar with escrow services and the escrow process.  It’s the number one way to avoid being scammed.   Many people have unfortunately learned the hard way, myself included.  

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

I would like to see a more balanced trust system with less potential for abuse.   A better marketplace system with a more streamlined way to buy and sell items would be great.   I would also like to see some more features that could streamline auctions, such as built in countdown timers and automatic ending of bids once auctions are over, perhaps almost like bitify or eBay.  

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

I’m really bad at trading.   Coins I had faith in, like RVN with its easy to use built in token system wound up being disappointing from a price and adoption standpoint.  

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

I live in a state where power is very expensive.   They have a tendency to estimate electric meter reads for many months at a time.    About 4 months after I started mining, I got a $2000 electric bill when they came to read the meter.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?

Unfortunately I don’t know enough about it to have an educated opinion.  

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?

It’s not necessarily the anonymity, but the option of anonymity that’s nice.  Some people on the forum have met me and know my name.  But some people prefer to stay anonymous and that’s their choice.   It’s nice to have the option of doing business without names and faces involved but unfortunately it also invites some malicious actors from time to time.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?

Does Chasing Casascius and Mining Pools count? Haha

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

Like I said I’m really bad at trading so I wouldn’t want to steer anyone in the wrong direction.   But investing in Bitcoin itself would be my advice.   I think we will see exponential growth sooner rather than later.  

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

I think we might see $20k, and once that dam breaks, who knows where our ATH might land!

[qwk]

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

I got interested in crypto for the same reasons a lot of people did; we saw the early adopters get rich and we wanted a piece of the action as well.

Probably the most honest answer in this whole thread.

[Vlad2Vlad]

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

I got interested in crypto for the same reasons a lot of people did; we saw the early adopters get rich and we wanted a piece of the action as well.

Probably the most honest answer in this whole thread.

Mine was more honest but this is the reason 90-95% got into crypto, so props to this guy for admitting it, nothing wrong with making some easy money if it’s legal.  But few see what crypto means, internet 2.0 - metanet, and the big picture, the future that’s at our doorstep.  It won’t be all easy money and parties. 

They’re just here for easy cash transfer so spend it while you can cause you won’t have much time. 

[Astvile]

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
Back in 2016, my friend introduce me into cryptocurrency and this forum. Frankly saying I got in cryptocurrency because I'm in search for online income because back then I was a broke kid wanting to have my own money to buy my own things.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
I didn't buy any bitcoin until my first bounty pays off here in the forum. But after I learned trading I then invested my own money into bitcoins and starting trading with it.

3. How did you get on the forum?
My friend introduced me here, to be real he introduce me for the earnings here in the forum. But in the long run I value my learnings more that I learn here from the forum.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
The scams I think. Because of the people who uses bitcoin in dark and scam ways, people and the government sees bitcoin as a negative entity not wanting people to use it totally. Many people are staying away from bitcoin because of the scam news here and there where bitcoin is included.

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?
For most people I think advertising gambling projects isn't a harm at all. This can be a harm for different person, yes gambling is addictive but if you have self control you can stay away from getting addicted for sure.

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 is still short I guess. As for me I always ask some people whos been in the game for a long time. Some advices from the ones who really know the system is what a investor need to become succesful.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
For merit and signature campaigns, they didn't harm the forum that's for sure, instead it made the forum healthier because users are able to post good and meaningful replies/threads after the merit system is established.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Everything here in this forum is helpful in many different ways. You can always find answers to what you are asking here because most of them are already posted in a thread and answered by hundreds of users.

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
1. An mobile application is first for me since I'm with my phone most of the time and the forum doesn't have mobile view on phone browsers it'll be much easier to navigate in phone.
2. I think an enhancement in servers maybe? because there are some times that forum gets down and I'm unable to access it, I don't know if its my internet or the forum.
There are just 2 things that I want to implement here in the forum.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
I mainly trade on exchanges but I rarely invest in projects, because I have a bad history from investing in projects.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
A big loss of me is my wallet getting hacked. I lost about 6-8 bitcoins that time back in 2016. The saddest part about it is bitcoins price isn't that high that time and when bitcoin reaches $20k that's when it hit me really hard the mental stress thinking I lost like more than $100k

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
Some of them are decent I think, some are not.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
Privacy is important for everyone so I think its a vital necessity. We need to protect our own identity for our safety ofcourse.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
The bitcoin revolution by Alex Tapscott, Don Tapscott. Haven't finish it yet I'm just a few page in the book.

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
For me, Bitcoin Ethereum and XRP will be good investment for the next 1-2 years.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
I want to see bitcoin beat its previous ATH by the end of 2020 and rise even more in 2021.

[haidil]

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
precisely in 2016 when the family's economic situation was very difficult, and I didn't have a job. and I have to take care of my two younger siblings, at that time I told a friend who contributed to my life about my situation at that time. at that time he explained about crypto and invited me to work on a bounty project. slowly I followed various projects and at that time I got my first salary at that time enough to eat, and I am very grateful. and I get more and more active in doing each job, and a little bit buying altcoins, in early 2017 I was depressed because our parents' house was going to be foreclosed, at that time I could only pray. to be precise, my prayer was granted at that time maybe because of the prayers of my parents. at that time bitcoin and other altcoins went up fantastically. and at that time I could prove that I could pay all my parents' debts and finance my own marriage. And until now I have always believed that behind adversity there must be a way, and God will always help us.

[favebook]

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
precisely in 2016 when the family's economic situation was very difficult, and I didn't have a job. and I have to take care of my two younger siblings, at that time I told a friend who contributed to my life about my situation at that time. at that time he explained about crypto and invited me to work on a bounty project. slowly I followed various projects and at that time I got my first salary at that time enough to eat, and I am very grateful. and I get more and more active in doing each job, and a little bit buying altcoins, in early 2017 I was depressed because our parents' house was going to be foreclosed, at that time I could only pray. to be precise, my prayer was granted at that time maybe because of the prayers of my parents. at that time bitcoin and other altcoins went up fantastically. and at that time I could prove that I could pay all my parents' debts and finance my own marriage. And until now I have always believed that behind adversity there must be a way, and God will always help us.

Though, what else happened and at that time? 

[guitarplinker]

Thanks zasad@ for the interview invitation!


1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
My interest started with bitcoin in early 2013 when I discovered that I could make money by mining with my computer's GPU. My computer was sitting idle most of the day, so the idea of making some extra money with it appealed to me. I enjoyed computers and technology, so bitcoin was a natural fit for me as it involved both of those interests.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
I don't recall ever purchasing bitcoins, I only acquired them through mining and selling products/services. Mining and faucets were the sources of my earliest earnings.

3. How did you get on the forum?
Forums are a great way to share knowledge and expand your knowledge. I was interested in learning more about mining so joining the forum was a natural progression.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Excellent question, I'll interpret mass adoption as "being widely used and an alternative to other payment methods" and focus specifically on bitcoin. I think one of the biggest roadblocks to mainstream usage is the convenience other payment methods offer.

Credit cards offer instant verification of transaction success and transaction reversals, two features bitcoin doesn't. Near-instant payment verification has been demonstrated by other cryptocurrencies, but I think we still need to solve the problem of reversable transactions while maintaining a decentralized network. Once cryptocurrencies offer the same features and guarantees of traditional payment methods, I think mass adoption will come naturally. In the meantime, I don't think people are willing to give up the conveniences offered by non-crypto payment methods.

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'll focus on official forum advertising for this question. I think ads are a good way to cover the costs of running the website, but it would be great if the ads weren't all for gambling sites. Gambling can cause people to get desperate, and Bitcointalk has seen more than it's fair share of scams over the years.

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 don't think a formal special education is required to understand what you're investing in and how it works. However, it does take time and patience to learn how bitcoin works. I've been familiar with bitcoin for a number of years but there are still black-box parts of the protocol.

4.4. You have not been active on the forum recently. What happened? Why do such experienced users forget about the forum?
You're right, it's been over three years (!) since I actively posted. What happened? Priorities changed and I became busy with other interests. Although I'm still interested in bitcoin, my area of interest has changed from mining to how the bitcoin protocol works under the hood. I really enjoyed the days when GPUs could earn reasonable money mining bitcoin, or when ASICs first came out and we were amazed by how efficient they were. I'm sure most people who GPU mined could tell you a story or two about janky mining setups - things like that made mining so enjoyable. These days it seems tough for an average Joe to make money mining, a few big players have captured the mining market with efficient and high-hashrate ASICs. That's to be expected when there's money to be made, but it's a shame that what got me into bitcoin is no longer feasible for people like me.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
The merit system seems like a good addition. Before merit was introduced, time and time again we'd see accounts "rise the ranks" by making garbage posts, only to be sold later on to be used for signature campaign income. I'm hopeful the merit system cleaned up some of this spam, although I haven't been active enough lately to decide for myself.

As for signature campaigns, I think they can benefit everyone if managed correctly. I ran the Rollin.io signature campaign for quite some time, and managed applications with a bit of an iron first. I like to think the Rollin.io signature campaign was an example of a well-managed campaign where everybody won: Rollin.io received publicity, participants received fair pays, and the forum wasn't being polluted with spam posts.

As for signature campaigns in general, they're a bit of an unusual concept. I haven't seen them on other forums before, and I'm not sure they'd be welcome additions to other forums. I think the desire for personal gain associated with bitcoin makes it an easier sell on a forum like this.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Most helpful topic is a tough one, so I'll choose a section instead. Development & Technical Discussion has lots of great resources for learning about bitcoin's internals.

As for most helpful users, there are a few I can think of. LoyceV seems like a great asset to the forum. I've traded and talked with Blazed a number of times, he seems like a good guy. BiPolarBob made the forum interesting for a number of months with his giveaways (looks like his account has since been hacked?).

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?

I think I'd revisit the policies on doxxing. Admittedly, I've been involved in a couple of the witchhunts on this forum that resulted in a dox, but I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the risks. Releasing an inaccurate dox can hurt an innocent person's reputation. Thinking of the dox threads I've followed, nothing came of the dox even years after the fact. Nobody got their money back, and nobody heard from the scammer again. Doxxing seems like a bit of a wild-west technique and I'm not convinced it helps recover funds. With bitcoin, I think we need to accept that if we've been scammed, we're not getting that money back.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
I've done both. I did a bit of trading on Cryptsy back in the day, and I had invested in a couple shares of bASIC-Mining. Neither of those ventures ended well. 

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
I remember when bitcoin hit $1000 for the first time in late 2013. I had started mining in April of that year and decided to cash out by buying some computer hardware. I suppose that could be considered a big loss too, if I had kept those coins and sold them when the price peaked in 2017 I would've done a lot better. Hindsight is 20/20.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
I think replacing middlemen with smart contracts is exciting, I could see this type of system helping to mitigate the 'transaction reversal' problem I mentioned in 4.1 if it's straightforward for everyday users.
 
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
As soon as you buy or sell a physical good the other party knows who you are. I've bought and sold a lot of goods on this forum so it's just a precaution.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I haven't read any crypto books, but I find the Bitcoin wiki to be an excellent reference.

[Karartma1]

Thanks zasad@

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
I am interested in Bitcoin, mostly. I made already too many mistakes when I tried to diversify in altcoins a while ago. I heard of Bitcoin from a friend in 2012 and I rapidly dismissed it. Then, in 2014, when connecting the dots about how money works and how bitcoins fixed the fiat currency plague, I started devouring everything btc.
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
I no longer have my ebay account but maybe I bought 0.5 btc on ebay in 2014.
3. How did you get on the forum?
It was the only good bitcoin knowledge resource in 2014, I was researching about mining, the impact of bitcoin on the economy and the rest of it. This is such a great place: I wish this guide by LoyceV could have been available back then https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4928968.0
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
I don’t care about cryptocurrencies, it should be clear by now. By the way, nothing will prevent the mass adoption of bitcoin.
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?
Let’s not be naïve here: the forum runs on ads (mostly from gambling sources). We are adults and we should be able to discern what are the positive and negative impacts of this.
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’s not about time, it’s about passion and dedication. I’ve seen noobs getting better than some legends here in less than a year. 😉
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
I have no opinion on this. I don’t care about merits and such. I am here for long-term glory: being able to tell my kids I saw bitcoin before others.
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
I trade only fiat into btc, that’s it. My altcoin madness is long gone.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
Lost big on a few dice sites, that’s enough. 😊 And scammed once https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2022797.msg21401828#msg21401828
10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
Bitcoin is the only decentralized finance around.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
I believe it is both: do no harm, be kind and give a hand to others. These are my rules and I hope others will respect my integrity.
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
The Bitcoin Standard by S. Ammous
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?
Too much
15. P.S. (Optional)
Donate some corn when you can
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1574482.msg15806332#msg15806332

[Chris Barth]

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
Sometime in the early days of 2019. I never believed that I'd join cryptocurrency. My friend sent me a link on WhatsApp and I was like... 'Nah, I don't so such thing'. Actually, it was because I never knew what he was talking about and I never took time to look into it. Bounties brought me into cryptocurrency but, the prior thing Now is the features of the decentralization. I'm glad I know bitcoin.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
Never did. And that's because ain't nobody goina collect bitcoin. You'll still have to convert back to fiat for monetary usage.

3. How did you get on the forum?
From my answer in question 1, I knew this forum from a friend who was trying to make me know what bitcoin was/is.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Two things I'd like to point our, firstly, the fact that some people see it as a scam (since it isn't physical money). Secondly, people are changing the use of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is now seen as an investment (buy low, sell high) by everyone. Someone met me about a month ago and told me how he invested in bitcoin and that he now wants to sell it. I thought for a while and realized that if everyone agrees to see bitcoin as a currency too, real time users will troop in too. Not just these 'investors'

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?
No matter how long you spend in the crypto sphere, you sure can't be perfect. Some people like me are smart enough to understand everything in months. So, for some people, even a year is enough. A long term investor doesn't need to go for some special training. If they can see the potential, and have enough funds, they're good to go. However, short term investors may need to be taught how to study the market.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
The only disadvantage I see is that people post some unnecessary stuff because of it. But there are some people who post credible stuffs and replies (whether they've got signature or not). So, 80% no and 20% yes.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
Most helpful users - I'd mention mk4 and DdmrDdmr. These two seem to have a sense of understanding and I believe they are quite helpful to the forum. The others I may not remember.

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
I love this question! 😅
Firstly! I don't like the UI of this forum so I'd update it so it looks smart.
Secondly, I'll create a mobile app version of the forum.
Thirdly, I'd occasionally hold bitcoin contests on the bitcoin discussion area.

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
Yea, I trade on binance and I've invested in some projects. One of the projects is hybrix.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
For all my time of trading, I've never had "big" profit of loss. It's just normal. One of the losses was when I invested in a scam project (about a month ago). It didn't really hurt me tho. About $40 or so. That's the biggest I've lost. I guess Lady Luck's got my back.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
It is a vital necessity. Trust me, people could treat you differently if they knew who you were.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
Never read a cryptocurrency book. I hope to read a fiction book about cryptocurrency tho.

13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
I'd say HY(hybrix) , I don't really know which else to mention as I do not want to mention random names.

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
A new ATH if not, then it will reach $20k.  I started saying this from when it was 16k and I'm more confident about it based on the present price.

15. P.S. (Optional)
If only bitcoin transaction fee (for a 1 min transaction) was low, a lot of people will make payments using bitcoin. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[seoincorporation]

Until now i had the time to answer the questions, but is nice to be part of it, thanks for the invitation zasad

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
2014... i was searching for a way to make money online and I found it 
2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
Never, I had never bought bitcoins, I like to earn them with my work and see them as an extra income.
3. How did you get on the forum?
I see in a casino someone mention the forum, I take a look and see a thread where a guy was offering money if someone helps him to fix his server, in the moment I create my account, make a post and after some time the job was done and I receive the payment. That's how I get in the forum and you can see in my post history.
4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
The mass adoption of bitcoin is prevented for the transactions confirmation time, if we have 2500 transactions in a block every 10 minutes how do you want that 1% of the world population send a transaction in the next 10 min? And the adoption of altcoins is prevented by 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?
Casinos, Mixers, Exchanges, and any kind of service should have an opportunity to be advertised on the forum. I think this is the best place to promote a crypto-project.
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
3 years on the business shows how risky it is... Some people buy at $19k 3 years ago and had to wait that time until they recover... but some people buy this year at $10k and now they almost double up. Even if you have experience in cryptos trading we learn things news each month.
4.4. I see a decrease in activity in many local boards. What do you think needs to be done to develop activity in local boards?
I think we need a better SEO structure for local sections and already posted my initiative on the meta section:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5170503.0
5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
I don't think they harm the forum, both of them are a way to force the users to post quality and that makes for the forum a good quality site.
6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
The welcome by satoshi... and theymos as the most helpful user.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5.msg28#msg28
7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
-Like/Dislike.
-Embed Videos.
-Cryptos Wallet.
8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
Yes. I do both.
9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
Some months ago I hit x9999 on a casino for a 0.1btc profit in my first 3 bets on that day... The fun fact is that the day before that I spend 0.1 chasing that multiplier So, there it is, a story with a big profit and a big loss.
11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
I'm not trying to be anonymous, I have nothing to hide.
12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
Mastering Monero by Serhack, is a book that all should read, you can get it free or for a donation:
https://masteringmonero.com/
13. Advise 3 cryptocurrencies/tokens for investment in the next 1-2 years?
1.-Bitcoin
2.-ETH
3.-Clamcoin
14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
Maybe $25k, with the hot news we had this year I don't know how high the moon rocket will go.
15. P.S. (Optional)
As I always say, this forum is a great opportunity to make business... I see it as the money forum where people are talking about money while trying to make more money while trying to spend their money. so, just ride the right wave.

Thanks again for the invitation and good luck to all!

[taufik123]

1. When and why did you become interested in cryptocurrencies?
I am interested in cryptocurrency starting in 2016 because some of my friends recommended, cryptocurrency is a digital currency technology that will have a good future in my opinion.

2. When and why did you buy your first bitcoin?
I bought my first Bitcoin too in 2016 and tried to trade bitcoin. Bitcoin back then wasn't as hype as it is today.

3. How did you get on the forum?
I entered this forum because of my friend's invitation and then introduced about cryptocurrency and bitcoin.

4.1. What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrencies?
What prevents mass adoption of cryptocurrency is the regulatory issues it provides. because not all governments provide good and pro regulation of cryptocurrency.

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 think mass advertising of gambling projects is common in this forum and does not harm the community. If there are pros and cons it is common.

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 also does not guarantee successful investing in cryptocurrency. As cryptocurrency activists we must also learn about how to invest properly and can be profitable. Receiving special education is also a better way to get to know more specifics about cryptocurrency.

5. What do you think of the current Merit system and signature campaigns?  Do they harm the forum?
The merit system is a system that really helps forums avoid cloning accounts or farming accounts. Since the merit system was implemented, it is not easy for new accounts to get high rankings. Need good post quality. For signature campaigns also influenced by the merit system, signature campaigns are now followed by members who really contribute and have good posts in this forum.

6. The most useful forum topic? Most helpful users?
All the topics in this forum are useful and provide us with new knowledge. Answer all our questions. What we want to look for is in this forum. The most helpful of them are @LoyceV, @DdmrDdmr @Coolcryptovator @cabalism13 @tk808 and many more that I can't mention one by one.

7. 3 things you would implement on the forum?
1. Bitcointalk App for Mobile
2. Better security system
3. Like button on posts

8. Do you trade on exchanges or invest in projects?
I did both. Trade on an exchange and make a few investments in a project it really recommends.

9. Tell a story about your big profit or big loss?
in my 2017 i have several altcoins among which are XLM and ETH and at that time all altcoin prices went up and reached ATH. I managed to sell it at the highest price. For some disadvantages I have experienced mostly in trading and some scam projects.

10. What do you think about the DEFI ecosystem?
The DEFI ecosystem is a new ecosystem that allows people to get loans by guaranteeing their crypto assets. The DEFI ecosystem is a get-rich-quick-lose scheme because when the price goes up it starts from hundreds to thousands of percent and vice versa.

11. Is your anonymity a vital necessity or precaution?
Anonymity is a vital necessity to keep private information about ourselves private in forums so that it is not exposed by many people.

12. The last cryptocurrency book you read?
I have never read any cryptocurrency books, I only study online from one website to another and also watch some videos on YouTube. Most of my cryptocurrency knowledge comes from this forum.

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

14. How much will Bitcoin cost at the end of 2020?
$ 20,000 is likely to be achieved and currently bitcoin is still struggling to achieve it and will make a new history with the new ATH.

15. P.S. (Optional)
Stay healthy during the pandemic and hold your bitcoin before a new ATH is reached. moment is a bitcoin party