hapnin

Bitcoin has more than doubled in price in the past year.

On an even longer timeline, we're all dead.

I'm basing it on eight years of experience in Bitcoin.

"Bitcoin for coffee" and the like is a waste of the tech, imo. Buying network services such as you described is a better use as intercountry payments with debit cards isn't always feasible.

Bitcoin's use is better as a transnational currency when traditional payment channels are cumbersome. To be frank, Bitcoin still has some work to do in the payment channel dept but Lightning Network is getting there.

In the US, there are more than a few places where you can trade out btc for gold/silver and sell the metal for fiat. It's preferable to selling on an exchange, imo.

If you can't spend now, hang onto your btc until you can. Saving is always a good idea.

Of course only small communities have a majority of btc. Too many people - geeks included - spent too many years believing the fud being broadcast about Bitcoin while others were collecting btc. I've seen the blistering scorn from some here on HN over the years.

When I first ran across Bitcoin in 2010, I thought it was a scam but was intrigued by the tech. After studying it for about a month, I realised it wasn't a scam (though scamsters abound in cryptocurrencies, as in all things money) and went around to my friends in the tech community in my city to show it to them. They know me to be literate in networks and cryptography but only one person in the ten or twelve I approached was equally interested. The rest poopooed Bitcoin, some outright laughing me out of their offices.

Institutional thinking is what kept a lot of smart people from even looking at Bitcoin early on. The findings in this study shouldn't be surprising. In five years, should the internet still be functioning, Bitcoin will be more spread out than it is now.

I'm a child of the 60s/early 70s who grew up watching Fred Rogers. My environment was hell as a child. His show was a small counterbalance. Every little bit helps.

My paper wallet has never asked for KYC/AML info.

Bitfloor. That was a doozy too.

Whenever I need them.

I generate keypairs using the reference client on an offline device that never touches a network.

Private keys can be imported and spent using almost any wallet: Coinomi, Mycelium, the reference client, etc.

Fireproof boxes.

I hope Coinbase gives you your btc when the run starts next year or two.

I've been holding btc in paper wallets since 2011. They're easy, free and no one has access to my btc but me.

"Hold my private keys" has the same intellectual heft as "hold my beer and watch this".

I'm old and now believe in the hereafter. I walk into a room and ask myself, "What am I here after?"