This was expected to happen after the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs by the SEC. There's nothing we can do about it, other than try to encourage people to maintain "self-custody" of their coins. The more BTC is left at centralized exchanges, the higher the chance of big institutions and governments acquiring most (if not all) of the supply will be.

While miners and nodes are still in-charge of consensus, we can't underestimate the power of economic holders. Fortunately for Bitcoin, "Wall Street" holds only 1% (AFAIK) of the circulating supply. So there should be nothing to worry about. At least for now.

They might exist by then. But don't expect any new ATHs, Especially when the "meme" coins mentioned by the OP have a large circulating supply. Inflation will greatly affect market prices over the long term. That's why I believe investing in "memes" is a losing game. But to each their own.

At least we know Bitcoin will outlive most of the "shitcoins". The crypto market behaves in many strange and bizarre ways, so we should expect the unexpected. Would you imagine DOGE hitting $1 or SHIBA and PEPE going as high as $0.01? That would be a "miracle". We'll see what happens in the long run.

Gas and oil won't last forever, but OPEC countries still have vast amounts of oil reserves. The number seems to be increasing by the day. That's odd, because I remember when experts once said that the supply of oil on the planet was scarce. Guess they were wrong. If there's plenty of oil left, the industry won't be going anywhere. That means gas-powered cars, generators, etc. will continue to be relevant. More carbon pollution for the planet.

Nuclear and solar energy holds promise, but the infrastructure is not there yet for mass adoption worldwide. Countries need to invest heavily in these technologies if they want oil to become history. The government would be responsible to force such a transition (like Biden's EV mandate in the US). Some countries have big economic interests in oil (like Venezuela, the UAE, and Russia), so it would not be easy to fully transition into clean energy. We'll see what happens in the long run.

Yes. L2s and sidechains is where the money is. Besides that, many investors shifted their attention into blockchains with smart contract capabilities. So hard forks would be very unpopular. At least, for now. Back in the day, forks were a way for developers and whales to get "free money" with their existing holdings. Exchanges noticed their schemes, and went as far as being "picky" when listing forks within their platforms.

With forks having little support from exchanges, they ultimately faded away into oblivion. Only Bitcoin Cash is around, but it's still widely unpopular. I wouldn't worry about a new fork for a very long time.

Of course they won't. The only way this can work is if governments "reset" the Internet, giving businesses ample time to jump back in. But would cause a temporary disruption in the economy. The cost of taking down Bitcoin by shutting down the Internet is simply not worth it.

Either governments embrace the revolution or get left behind in the dust. They're already joining the Bitcoin bandwagon by regulating it. With KYC checks and whatnot, they will be able to enforce partial control over Bitcoin. Most governments are already taxing Bitcoin, so they have nothing to lose. I'm sure that one way or another, Bitcoin will survive. Just my opinion

Most people don't want to use Bitcoin as a currency because they're only interested in making money with it. Or simply because they don't know how to use it as such. El Salvador acted too quickly, and ultimately failed as a result. It's too early for Bitcoin to be adopted seriously as legal tender. Besides scaling issues, Bitcoin also needs to deal with volatility. It's why most countries are skeptical of it.

Unless these issues are solved, governments will only go as far as adding Bitcoin to their reserves (a store of value). The "Digital Gold" narrative, tells us exactly where this is heading into. One can only hope Bitcoin doesn't turn centralized in the long run. Just my two sats.

I think they're taking the risk hoping they would please the regulators in the long run. After all, having their own blockchain will allow them to comply with regulations better. Tether and Circle will be able to control who spends or deposits stablecoins within their own blockchain network. It goes far beyond just "blacklisting" addresses on multiple blockchain networks. The thing is, they could be subject to banking laws and regulations by doing such a move. In other words, more regulatory scrutiny from the US government.

Well, the current administration is pro-crypto, so maybe they won't be as "tough" on them as the previous one. Only time will tell us the fate of these stablecoins. If USDT and USDC fail, another centralized stablecoin will take their place. As simple as that.

Well, that's the plan. To "deanonymize" as much Bitcoin users as possible by forcing them to go through KYC. Governments did this with centralized exchanges, and now they're trying to do it with banks. I think they will succeed. Especially when most people don't care about their privacy, or even decentralization/censorship-resistance. They're only into Bitcoin for the money.

By providing Bitcoin-based deposits, banks can benefit from market price volatility. They'll be able to make more money this way than simply investing in stocks. Pretty smart, huh? I hope that despite these efforts, Bitcoin remains decentralized. The community must stay strong no matter what. We'll see what happens in the long run.

I think you mean Bitcoin is portable, whereas Gold is not. That's one of the key advantages of Bitcoin. You can store it within the smallest medium possible, hidden in plain sight. Millions, if not, billions of dollars can be moved anywhere in a safe and discreet way. You can't do that with Gold. Carrying bulky bars and/or Gold coins will bring unwanted attention.

Not only Bitcoin is portable, but its supply is predictable too. No one knows how much Gold is in existence, but everybody knows there will only be 21m Bitcoins. This predictability should make BTC even scarcer and more desirable than Gold. With "Wall Street" quickly flocking to Bitcoin, you can see what the craze is all about. I'd keep buying BTC regardless of price to build true, generational wealth.

Institutions don't control Bitcoin for now. But if they keep buying large sums of the circulating supply, it's possible they'll control the market in the future. The core blockchain, however, will remain decentralized. Assuming miners and nodes are outside of their control. Given that Bitcoin goes up in price within a short amount of time, institutional investors are starting to abandon Gold in favor of BTC. Of course, this doesn't mean it's "game over" for Gold. But rather, demand will diminish as investors flock to the "next big thing".

My guess is that institutional investors will hold both BTC and Gold for complete peace of mind. We should also follow their footsteps. Imagine how far Bitcoin will go if capital keeps flowing in. $1m per BTC would just be the "tip of the iceberg". See you in Mars.

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Lot 4: 0.00105 BTC

I think you mean Bitcoin is portable, whereas Gold is not. That's one of the key advantages of Bitcoin. You can store it within the smallest medium possible, hidden in plain sight. Millions, if not, billions of dollars can be moved anywhere in a safe and discreet way. You can't do that with Gold. Carrying bulky bars and/or Gold coins will bring unwanted attention.

Not only Bitcoin is portable, but its supply is predictable too. No one knows how much Gold is in existence, but everybody knows there will only be 21m Bitcoins. This predictability should make BTC even scarcer and more desirable than Gold. With "Wall Street" quickly flocking to Bitcoin, you can see what the craze is all about. I'd keep buying BTC regardless of price to build true, generational wealth.

Institutions don't control Bitcoin for now. But if they keep buying large sums of the circulating supply, it's possible they'll control the market in the future. The core blockchain, however, will remain decentralized. Assuming miners and nodes are outside of their control. Given that Bitcoin goes up in price within a short amount of time, institutional investors are starting to abandon Gold in favor of BTC. Of course, this doesn't mean it's "game over" for Gold. But rather, demand will diminish as investors flock to the "next big thing".

My guess is that institutional investors will hold both BTC and Gold for complete peace of mind. We should also follow their footsteps. Imagine how far Bitcoin will go if capital keeps flowing in. $1m per BTC would just be the "tip of the iceberg". See you in Mars.

Me too. I'm also interested.

At some point, all of the world's fossil energy sources are going to run out. Many predict that will happen by the year 2052. That's only 27 years away. Either the world finds a viable alternative to oil, or chaos will ensue. Besides wind and solar energy, we also have nuclear energy. The world's first fusion reactor is being built in France, promising a cleaner and safe alternative to existing fission reactors. If countries start building such reactors in-mass (emphasis in "Fusion" not "Fission"), all of our energy problems will be solved.

As for vehicles, they can run on hydrogen which last longer than lithium-ion batteries (used by EVs). Toyota is building cars with this tech. With all of this, the oil industry will become history. I understand there's a lot of money involved in oil (big, wealthy companies don't want the oil business to end), but sooner or later, everyone is going to have to find an alternative. Unless, there's plenty of oil that would last for "millennia" like you've said. Only time will tell...

I guess big investors are manipulating prices to buy more Bitcoin at a discount. I mean, who doesn't? Good news not only for Trump himself, but the rest of the crypto community. And now that the FED is considering lowering rates, things will be even better. A weaker USD = higher market prices for risky assets in the long run.

Now that you've mentioned Trump's "World Liberty Financial" project, I've read online that one of Trump's companies wants to file an application with the SEC to launch spot ETFs. Totally bullish, imo. This partnership with Crypto.com should be "music to our ears". What's next? A partnership with Binance? One can only hope. We'll see what's next in store for crypto during the remainder of Trump's second term. I don't think there will be another President of the US as bullish as Donald Trump in the history of crypto.

Bitcoin is censorship-resistant for now. But what if big companies, governments, and institutional firms run their own nodes and/or miners? Since they have a lot of capital and resources, they can make a big difference on the network. And with mining pools being centralized, we should expect the worse.

I believe solo mining is the only decentralized way to truly-defend Bitcoin against a 51% attack. But I could be wrong. Developers can come up with a solution to prevent mining pool centralization, though. That way, Bitcoin will be more resilient against manipulation from "big players". Governments and institutions are amassing a large portion of the circulating supply with the hopes of "owning" it all. So long as the rest holds a greater portion of the supply, there should be nothing to worry about.

Yes, I remember. That was a smart move by the developers. The problem with this was that many people ended up leaving the project out of desperation. Everyone wants "free money" without having to wait. It prevents airdrop hunters/farmers from dumping all of their coins at once, though.

I think the days where quality projects gave airdrops are over. Most of the airdrops you see are not really worth your time and effort. Especially when the tokens or coins you receive have no real use cases (worthless). Real money in crypto can only be made by either mining, staking, or working for it. Hopefully, newbies realize this in the long run.

I hope so. Because now ETH is trading below $4.5k. It reached $4.9k for a brief period, though. If the market remains bullish, going above $5k would be possible. I've read that the Fusaka upgrade is bound to get activated soon. It will be another milestone in scaling the main Ethereum blockchain. Perhaps, it will add more fuel to the hype, effectively "pumping" market prices to the moon.

Despite this, all of the eyes are on Bitcoin. Partly because most institutional investors are buying it. They're also buying ETH, but not as much as BTC. Once ETH reaches a new ATH ($5k and above), the altcoin season will truly begin. Just diversify your investment, and you shouldn't have any problems if the market crashes all of a sudden.