I had not posted too many articles about Bitcoin use in South Korea in this thread, and today, I came across this one, which has some interesting and current discussion.

https://news.bitcoin.com/south-korean-bi...ries-year/



This article discusses internet competition for financial services, and predicts that bitcoin will be triumphant amoungst some of the big players of Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook and banks...

Will be interesting to see if the prediction comes true.



https://news.bitcoin.com/in-the-battle-b...he-winner/

Here's some interesting discussion of seg wit - on reddit from within the past day or so.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comment..._fork_ill/

I'm starting to believe that you are a bot, not a human. Yes?

I find some nonsense to some of the descriptions of what is going on in bitcoin in respect to the changes in bitcoin's trading volume, due to the changes in china... such as the below article.

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoins-volume-...exchanges/

In essence, many of these kinds of claims seem to have one more reason to suggest that bitcoin is dead, and/or dying because trading volume has considerably reduced after the chinese implemented fees and discontinued margin trading.


But the fact of the matter is that at least temporarily the trade volume in china is much more reflective of reality (not as fake and not a bunch of bot trading with no fees).

Surely, it is going to remain interesting to continue to watch how this plays out, and whether chinese actually revert back to some of the fakery.. or if in the end, the trade volume in china becomes something that we can more realistically measure and to really get some meaningful assessments on how trade in china compares with trade in other locations. Seems a bit more legit to me in recent days, but I am still trying to see how it is playing out, too.

Here's a Reddit thread discussing (within the past 10 hours) how some of the Bitfinex hacked coins from August 2016 are being monitored, and there are suggestions in the thread that some of the smaller amounts of hacked coins are being sent to various exchanges as a kind of test - to verify whether the coins can be sold.


https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comment...l_list_of/

There is other speculation in the thread that the person moving the coins may not even realize that the coins are Bitfinex hacked coins, and instead was sold the private keys at a discount and therefore is unwittingly attempting to move the coins to his/her accounts/wallets.


Edit:

This below-linked article supplements my above comments, and provides some additional explanations.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitfinex...y-offered/

Here's a great video by Andreas Antonopoulos from last summer that provides a thrilling overview of Bitcoin and why it's going to be such a big deal in the future:





The guy has a bunch of great videos up that I've just started to go through; his talk with Joe Rogan (#844) was particularly entertaining.

From today's nice little 3-4% pump (still in progress), it might be a good idea to provide an article link.


https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comment...this_year/

This is pretty much an article about Tim Draper making predictions that are wrong.. but he is still predicting $10k in the near future (namely this year).

Whether you assign a 75% probability to $10k ocuring this year (which I would not assign anywhere near that level) or a .75% chance (which is pretty low but could be more realistic) or somewhere in between, just contemplating the fact that $10k is possible in a year, should cause folks to take at least a small stake in BTC.. Whether that is $10 or $1,000 or some other comfortable amount.

But whatever, I am not pumping anything, and you guys can do what you want. I do understand that if you have never invested in bitcoin, it can take a bit of time just to figure out what you are going to do, and maybe to set up an account or a wallet and to get to some point of comfort and familiarity in your ability to enter (and then to also have an ability to exit, if needed, - which exiting ability was one of the first things that I considered when I began investing in BTC - more than 3 years ago - and exiting is way more easy today than it was 3 years ago - even though it still may require some learning about and considerations of options).

(01-28-2017 12:07 PM)Isaac Jordan Wrote:  Here's a great video by Andreas Antonopoulos from last summer that provides a thrilling overview of Bitcoin and why it's going to be such a big deal in the future:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxlzQ-6ON6Q&t=327s[/video]

The guy has a bunch of great videos up that I've just started to go through; his talk with Joe Rogan (#844) was particularly entertaining.

Yeah, that is a nice short video of Andreas (only 17 minutes), and I had not seen that one before.

Regarding Antonopoulos, the #844 episode on Joe Rogan, I did a quick google search because I recalled hearing Antonopoulos and Rogan at least a couple times previous to that #844 episode from September 2016, and I saw on Google that there is episode #446 from January 2014 and there is episode #581 from December 2014.


It is also funny that one website lists episode #581 as Joe's "top" episode.....

https://neurogum.com/blogs/neuroblog/850...eck-it-out

I guess his listeners really liked episode #581.

That is a pretty interesting blurb of an article and results of a case - linked below.

In essence the guy was fined for mining bitcoins on his government employer's computer system.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/former-f...ve-server/

Sure it is true that a lot of employers have acquired technologies to prevent employees from doing as many things as they used to be able to do with the computers of their employers.

And another interesting point, is that the prosecutors were not really able to determine with any kind of precision how many coins that he had mined between March of 2012 and June of 2014 - but wow.. it is likely that he was able to mine quite a few.... especially since the difficulty was not as high during that time.... but I am certainly no expert in mining or various options that may have been available to him in using government computing power.

Check out this linked article about Argentine banks beginning to require 1% charge for enterprises to deposit cash...

http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/01/30/argent...terprises/


Seems a bit ridiculous.. like the banks are their own worst enemy - attempting various ways to monetize transactions - while also seeming to make a kind of war on cash?

The good ole days when we used to be able to earn interest on our deposits.. now, it is as if the bank does not want to use our money - maybe they cannot figure out how to make money on deposits because instead of loaning money to folks to make money, like in the good ole days, they figure that they can make more money by either engaging in risky betting or by getting government handouts (or do they call them bailouts).. Is that it?

This linked article lists a few interesting charts related to bitcoin mining, trading and volatility


https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-in-numb...nt-charts/


This linked article has links to a few quasi-governmental documents that are not really seeming to be against bitcoin, and kind of discuss positive aspects regarding faster payments, etc.

http://www.coindesk.com/fed-paper-dlt-di...landscape/

This linked article from Forbes has very decent analysis of bitcoin price and why there seem to be ongoing upwards price pressures.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanche...4aa7c30cd1


This linked article discusses with some technical details various utility aspects of bitcoin - to assert why it has intrinsic value.. (there's that phrase again)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-31...-education

This article has a decent discussion regarding how come bitcoin could become much more intricate in society in a way that is much faster than previously considered.

https:[email protected]/look....hcbwdgg9i

This linked article has a decent discussion of gold versus bitcoin, and maybe I am linking it here because it is similar to my own views (and financial position) in regards to my not owning any gold, but I am fairly bullish on bitcoin.. (goes without saying? hahahaha)


https://vinnylingham.com/gold-is-getting....f1sa31ffd

This is an interesting reddit thread discussing how the litecoin's network's activation of segwit is likely going to be a boost to bitcoin's support of segwit.


https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comment...e_bump_on/

For guys who are more video inclined, here is a short (about 6 minutes) interview on bloomberg


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/20...r-everyone

(01-02-2017 10:31 AM)SunW Wrote:  

(08-03-2016 08:36 AM)SunW Wrote:  Bought 20 @ 521. Ridin the wave

(01-02-2017 08:13 AM)SunW Wrote:  

(05-29-2016 02:12 PM)SunW Wrote:  Thread has 371,817 views

Price was $517 then and now it has 461,416 views. Dayum.

(08-03-2016 08:36 AM)SunW Wrote:  Bought 20 @ 521. Ridin the wave

Gots me a problem. I have too many bitcoins from purchases last year and this year.

I want to see if I can predict btc's price close again and make it 3 out of 3 years right. For 2017, btc will end above $1825. This thread will have over 1 million views.

Bitcoin is closer than the thread is.

(02-02-2017 04:30 PM)SunW Wrote:  

(01-02-2017 10:31 AM)SunW Wrote:  

(08-03-2016 08:36 AM)SunW Wrote:  Bought 20 @ 521. Ridin the wave

(01-02-2017 08:13 AM)SunW Wrote:  

(05-29-2016 02:12 PM)SunW Wrote:  Thread has 371,817 views

Price was $517 then and now it has 461,416 views. Dayum.

(08-03-2016 08:36 AM)SunW Wrote:  Bought 20 @ 521. Ridin the wave

Gots me a problem. I have too many bitcoins from purchases last year and this year.

I want to see if I can predict btc's price close again and make it 3 out of 3 years right. For 2017, btc will end above $1825. This thread will have over 1 million views.

Bitcoin is closer than the thread is.

That's what you get for making a double prediction... you increase the odds that you may be wrong ---- at least on one of them... but then, if you are right on one of them and wrong on the other, then you will probably still claim that you were right. hahahaha I already see where this is going, even though we still have 11 more months to wait.

I think that Trump is making a lot of institutional people nervous, even though in the stock market they are kind of holding some steady.. for the moment..


But, yeah, it seems that interest rates did not rise (even though they were kind of slated to rise a bit), seemingly related to some of the difficulties in predicting the Trumpster.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/busin....html?_r=1

That might contribute a bit on the margins in terms of additional upwards price pressures on bitcoin.

Sometimes folks in western countries (or countries with relatively low inflation levels) have difficulties relating to the utility case of bitcoin.

Sometimes, sharing information about what is going on in other countries, such as Venezuela, as in the below-linked article can be helpful towards better understanding bitcoin's possible utility.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/201...126d833aa1

Sure, we can have a price correction at any time, but the reality of the matter remains that we continue to have decent upwards price pressures and momentum.

http://www.coindesk.com/bullish-sentimen...n-to-1000/

About a week ago, while we are floating in the lower $900s (and even upper $800s), I was inclined to believe that $1k was going to be a bit more difficult this time around, as compared to the beginning of January - however, after the price started to move upwards, with decent momentum, my thoughts changed regarding $1k and my thinking was that $1k would be passed relatively easily and likely get into the above $1050 range.. before any meaningful price correction.

I am currently thinking the same thing - that we are likely going to get into the 1,050 to $1,120 price range and then likely experience a decent amount of resistance that could cause another meaningful price correction before making a new ATH... Surely, a meaningful price correction can happen at any time, but it seems reasonable to consider that currently we continue to have a decent amount of continuing upwards price pressures that are beyond mere manipulation...



Here's another article that supports additional rationale for continued upwards price pressures on BTC.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/us-dolla...oin-price/


A third article regarding the same theme... attempting to explain ongoing upwards price pressures on bitcoin.

https://themerkle.com/bitcoin-price-rise...-interest/

And, wow... regionally, there can be considerable differences in BTC prices, including BTC prices reaching nearly $1,600 in Nigeria.

https://themerkle.com/bitcoin-price-spik...n-nigeria/

(02-05-2017 04:06 PM)Isaac Jordan Wrote:  

There are quite a few folks that feel most comfortable with some kind of financial advisor, and maybe that can be more the case when they may have already been somewhat successful with various traditional investments.


In late 2014, when bitcoin was in the upper $300s (like floating between $380 and $400), I had sent a mass e-mail to several friends and relatives to let them know about bitcoin and suggesting that they should consider it as an investment.

There were a few folks that responded back to me, and if they seemed interested, then I sent them $5 or $10 through Circle. My uncle was one of those guys that I had sent $10, and about a year later, when he had not opened the e-mail, I was able to reverse his transaction and to get the money back.

So in early 2016, when bitcoin was around $450, my uncle contacted me and asked me what happened to the money that I had sent him. I said that I reversed it, since he had not opened the e-mail, but I agreed to send the same quantity of bitcoin to him again... which I did.

At that time, I had a phone conversation with him for quite a while, and he kept hemming and hawing that his financial advisor was not too keen on bitcoin, and he sat on it again for another several months, but then he contacted me again in summer 2016 when bitcoin was in the upper $700s, and he bought some coins at that time (maybe he bought around $300 worth - hardly a drop in the bucket), and I had recommended dollar cost averaging to him, and he did not buy any more, even though the price dropped thereafter to mid $500s and then floated between upper $500s and lower $600s for quite some time.

He doesn't really seem to listen to much of what I say, but he did contact me again recently, so I know that he is watching it. For example, in late December he contacted me, and I pretty much predicted what had happened with price that it would go past $1050 and then we would likely have a 15% price correction or more (which ended up being nearly 35%... go figure)... The second time was a few days ago, he said something about some USA legislators being against bitcoin.. and pretty much I said, so fucking what.. that, by itself, is not news unless we see it play out in a way that is news.

My point is that he really seems to b give a lot of credence to his financial advisor, and he feels that he has been pretty successful with that, so far in his life.

This below-linked article provides a summary discussion of six indicators to assess the vitality of bitcoin - namely: 1) transaction volume, 2) price, 3) hash rate, 4) number of wallets, 5) trading volume and 6) volatility.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/long-ter...-hashrate/

Those indicators are not comprehensive, but they are good baseline ideas.

For example, we could also look at VC investment, development, media representation, and google searches too, and there are probably other important ones too... yet I am not sure if spam attacks, scandal or trolling activities would be good ones, even though those ones exist, as well.

I have attached two articles here. The first article attempts to give an overview description of segwit, lightning network and mimblewimble.

The second link contains a technical video presentation of mimblewimble (which video presentation may make a bit more sense in the context of getting an overview description first)


1) https://themerkle.com/segwit-vs-lightnin...blewimble/

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiUGu48JTd0