I have a serious question here that I'd appreciate any feedback on. Let me preface this by saying I've been mining, hording, and trading BTC and Alts for the last few years, and the upcoming BTC fork on November 16th, 2017, when block #494,784 is mined, is the most concerned I've ever been.  This is why: Up until now the BTC ticker has always been on the "right side" of any forks.  I know that's really just this past summer's fork with BCC because I'm ignoring Bitcoin Gold, but I also think of the ETH fork that led to ETC and how ETH stayed on the right side of that fork (IMHO).  The "big" coins have always maintained the ticker on the right side of the fork. But, I think that all changes with this next fork.  Even if you disagree with me, go with me here, we'll cover that at the end.  If I understand it correctly, and at least going by what Coinbase is going to do, the BTC ticker will stay with the non-segwit fork and the fork...

As most of you already know, there are 2 BTC forks happening in the next couple of weeks.  One is the Segwit2x fork scheduled for November 16th, 2017.  The other is the Bitcoin Gold fork, which already happened yesterday, October 23rd, 2017. What is a Fork, why are we doing these forks, and what happens to the coins I hold during a fork are the common questions regarding forks.  Let's dig into each of those a little bit. A "Fork" is just a fancy way of saying someone has made a 2nd copy of the code and decided to take it in a different direction.  For example, imagine you have a team of programmers working on some code to make a crypto coin.  Monday morning arrives and the programmers get in an argument about what features their coin should have.  Some want it to be able to be mined by the general public, others want it all to be issued at once and have no mining support.  Some want it as fast as possible even if that compromises anonymity, other...

As per my earlier posts about BitConnect.com and BitFinance.biz, I am getting mixed results and therefore sending out a big caution flag about BitFinance.biz. BitConnect has been doing exactly what they said they'd do.  They've been paying about 1.2% per day for the past 8 weeks or so. BitFinance was doing the same, paying exactly 1.0% per day for the past 4-5 weeks.  I've done several $1250 withdrawals over those weeks, but, I did a withdrawal last week and I did not get paid yet.  Normally I get paid within 24 hours.  That's a warning sign that maybe all is not good.  It still might work out, but until we know for sure I wouldn't recommend putting any money into BitFinance until we know more.

It seems that October of 2017 will be the month of the Fork.   After recently surviving the first Segwit fork a couple months ago, which led to Bitcoin Cash, we now face another "Fork" on October 25th which will create Bitcoin Gold. I use the term "Fork" lightly there because it isn't really a fork, instead it is an air-drop.  That is to say the BTC code isn't really forking like it did for Segwit, but instead on October 25th Bitcoin Gold will magically appear for anyone that holds any BTC. Not much is known about Bitcoin Gold other than it's main purpose is to put more power in the hands of the small minors at the expense of the big mining farms.  Bitcoin Gold will be able to be mined on simple home based PC hardware, whereas regular BTC requires custom build ASIC mining rigs. There is also a big Ethereum (ETH) fork coming in a few days on about October 15th (on block 4,370,000).  That is a true fork and will be the launch of the Byzantium upgra...

Earlier this month I talked about BitConnect.co and BitFinance.biz, two places that provided HYIP investment opportunities.  These are very high risk, but very high return "investment" plans (to use the term loosely). Shortly after writing that I put $10k into BitConnect and after less than a month I have already pulled out about $3600 in interest payments.  I chose BitConnect because it paid twice the daily rate that BitFinance paid.  I would have preferred to use BitFinance, and if I were looking to be more conservative I would have, but I couldn't pass up the 1%+ per day rate offered by BitConnect.  To me BitFinance would be preferable because BitConnect was already a couple years old and these HYIP programs tend to run their course in a few years or less.  That being said, one thing that sets BitConnect apart from all other HYIP's I've seen is they have a BitConnect Alt coin (BCC) to go along with their program and that coin has been performing very we...

EDIT Oct 21st, 2017 - Note that BitFinance is no longer in business.  They were even worse than the typical HYIP scam in that they only lasted a month instead of several years.  As of this date they continue to collect money but they do not make payouts.  DO NOT DEPOSIT WITH THEM! I typically talk about different Crypto coins, particularly Alt coins, but for a change I am going to look at a couple different ways you can make money with Bitcoin.  In fact, what if I told you there is a way you can double your money in 3 months or less?  Sounds crazy, and maybe it is, but it is out there. As you know, Bitcoin itself is a risky investment.  Nobody knows where the price is going or how long it will be around.  Is it a flash in the  pan "bubble" or is it a true technological marvel that will change the way we look at currency from now on. I personally feel that Bitcoin, or more specifically "Blockchain", is a noteworthy invention that is here to...

In my June 28th post "Ants in the Pants - Jumping the gun with my NEOs coin purchase" I touched on why I like Antshares (ANT).  As a quick review here, Antshares can be looked at as a Chinese version of Ethereum (ETH).  Antshares has the addtional benefit of paying dividends in the form of Antcoins (ANC). At the time, ANT was trading at about 0.0018 BTC, or about $7.50 per share.  As of today, ANT is trading at 0.0042, or about $13.50 per share.  That's an 80% increase in about 20 months, nothing to shake a stick at.  But, I see ANT potentially trading at close to the ETH price, which right now is $250 per coin.  ETH has been trading as high as $400 per coin in mid June. If ANT were to approach those prices, that's at least a 20-fold increase over it's current price. Needless to say, ANT remains one of my favorite ALT coins in terms of "Home Run" potential. Note: ANT doesn't trade on Poloniex but it does trade on Bittrex.  Also check out my e...