An Update to my Book

I'm excited to announce that I'm working on an update to my very first book, Zero to Moon. When I wrote it, I'm not sure how much I really understood about publishing, or even writing. In a lot of ways, I was a completely different person then.

The book had gotten pretty dated. Many of the services I mentioned are long gone. But revisiting it also reminded me of just how fun the early Bitcoin experience was. With a little bit of work, you could earn your own small slice of Bitcoin. At the time, I remember writing that I'd earned 8 cents worth.

I thought it would end up being worth more than that. Turns out, that 8 cents is worth about $7 today. And that's just from one small transaction. I did this many times back then, and more importantly, I didn't just hold the Bitcoin I earned. I reinvested it, and that whole process is what the book actually walked through.

Unfortunately, that world is mostly gone now. Websites don't give away Bitcoin anymore. Bitcoin today is treated more like digital gold: something to hoard rather than spend. Given how popular it's become, that shift makes some sense too. There are real limits on how many Bitcoin transactions can happen at once, which makes using it as everyday currency a lot harder than it used to be.

Anyway, stay connected. Here's a link to my newsletter for The Frug Life, which in many ways is the spiritual successor to this blog.

The Principles of The Frug Life Booklet Free!

This Booklet is unfinished and unedited, but has useful advice. Your feedback and questions will be answered and included in the next version of the book.

Built with Kit

Investing in Gold Silver and Bitcoin The Frug Life

 I did an podcast episode talking about bitcoin, you can listen to it here.

Update

 There is a very brief update on this blog on my new podcast. 

Money for the Rest of Us "Crypto—Innovation or Insanity? Meme Coins, Hacks, and Strategic Bitcoin Reserves"

 As you probably noticed, I've given up on writing my own content here at BTC+, but I'm happy to share some of the Bitcoin related content I have found on the internet. One of my favorite finance shows (besides my own of course) is Money for the Rest of Us. I've linked a recent episode here saying about the US starting a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. 

A trade

 My involvement with crypto over the years has waned.

At one point, I was constantly looking for content ideas, researching and writing crypto related content. Now I have moved on for the most part. Many of my favorite Bitcoin and crypto related services are gone. 

But not this week. This week for the first time in possibly years, I conducted a crypto transaction. The transaction itself was simple, I bought ten bucks of LTC. Now, as I have said before. I don't think crypto itself is a good investment. It's like investing in checks or investing in a foreign currency. It's a method of exchange, not a cash flow producing asset. 

But I did this because I was paid 25 bucks in bitcoin. So spending 10 bucks for 35 bucks of crypto is a pretty good deal. 

I did this on this app called SoFi, it is quickly replacing Robinhood as my favorite investing app. They offer some great sign-up bonuses. Use my link to get $50 when you invest $1,000.

https://www.sofi.com/share/invest/2588771

I also did a post on The Frug Life recently reminiscing about some of the good times on this blog. You can read that post here. 

I don't think those old times are coming back anytime soon. But I still might have an adventure or two left in the crypto verse. 

Actually, I wrote this post quite a while ago. Funny enough though, that LTC I bought is now worth $40! So I made quite a bit off this trade.  Paypal also offered me a similar deal, where they gave me $25 to buy $25 of crypto. So for the first time, I actually bought ETH, my first holding of it. 

In short though, I’m always looking for deals to be had in the crypto space. They aren’t quite as common for me as they once were, but when they do happen. I will report on them here! On a side note, this particular deal has ended. Actually probably quite a while ago. Still Sofi has other deals that might be worth looking at.

Podcast: Not your Keys, not your Crypto and Bank Runs

With all the madness going on with FTX, I did do a podcast episode talking about bank runs and bank regulation. I think it is interesting to contrast it to the environment that crypto is regulated in, which is to say, there is much less regulation. Tradional finance instituions have much greater consumer protections. Make of that what you will, but it is important to understand that before you send your money somewhere.

QoinPro closed?

 I’m really out of the loop.

But a service I mentioned before,  QoinPro is now out of business. I’m retaining some contents from there website here in case it shuts down, but they state:

Where can I login?

Logging in to your account is no longer possible. QoinPro reached "End of Service" status and the decision to discontinue was made in 2019 after no viable business model could be found.

So if you had any money on there,  I believe it is gone at this point. They did  “QoinPro has discontinued all services, but all active accounts (with on-chain transactions, referrals or logins after June 13, 2018) have been maintained and transaction histories are available upon request. Other accounts have been purged.”

However, I think if you were in a situation like me, with just a handful of referrals, I didn’t have any really meaningful amount of crypto on there, just dust. So it is gone. I thought I read something about fees, etc. 

What are the storage fees for crypto

QoinPro cannot be maintained indefinitely. As of January 1, 2022 a storage fee of $12.50 USD (in the LTC equivalent) will be charged for the few accounts that still hold crypto, although they will be waived for the first few months (see below).

Fees will go up by $12.50 USD / month every first day of the calendar year.

So for me, this probably means I have nothing there.

https://docs.qoinpro.com/faq/account-access-and-closure

Video: FTX Bankruptcy Explained!

Well, as you might have heard, FTX was going to buy Voyager, but it looks like that won't be happening now. Here is a great video from one of my favorite youtubers on what is happening with FTX right now. 

Voyager and Celsius News

Truth be told, I'm behind, I'm way behind. I am so behind on crypto events, while I downloaded both the Voyager and Celsius apps, I didn't deposit any crypto with them. Which seems like a good thing given recent events.  But here are some recent events concerning both companies if it interests you.  As will be no surprise, I have no plans at this time to visit either of these businesses in person, as I once attempted in the past when a crypto company failed. 

If you want to know what has been keeping me busy, I am writing still, just not crypto news. It actually is a fantasy novel. Join my email list and you may even get some advance chapters from the book!

Join the Newsletter

Subscribe to get our latest content by email.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

Built with ConvertKit

LTT on Norton Crpyto

 I found another great crypto related video on YouTube. As crypto becomes more and more mainstream, I find less need to share this kind of content myself, but I enjoyed it enough I thought I would still share it here.

The Crypto Cruise Ship?

I recently read an article about a cruise ship tethered in the ocean, when you can live and spend your bitcoin. That's right, the "MS Satoshi" is setting sail, or more like, staying put. After taking a vacation recently on a cruise ship, the offer sounds very interesting to me!

According to the article, you can buy a cabin as a condo of sorts for $25,000 USD.  You will also have to buy a mean plan when you play to stay, as there are no cooking facilities in the rooms. Also, there will be a month "HOA" fee of sorts for the maintenance of the ship. 

Per the Article, "The company says the 804-foot, 777-cabin, 12-deck ship will be anchored 30 minutes from Panama City  in the placid waters of the Gulf of Panama." It sounds like the perfect climate for a home, although, I'm not sure how you might get there.

Also accounting to the article, "[The ship] promises three restaurants, a juice bar, two cafes, three bars, two pools, four whirlpools, a water park and more. Bitcoin will be accepted throughout the ship for all goods and services, alongside US dollars and other forms of payment."

Sounds like a blast!

Here is a link to the full article.

 https://cruiseradio.net/you-can-live-retire-cruise-ship-for-25000/

CRYPTO MINING | Get Rich or Die Buying #1

A great video on Cryptomining. I get questions all the time about mining, people asking if it is a good way to make money. Well, there definitely had its moments and it might again some day. But for now, I don't think I will be doing any mining anytime soon.

Volatility and market manipulation in cryptocurrency

This is a guest post, who would like to remain unnamed.

"Currently, there is no uniform international approach to Bitcoin and its legality will depend on where in the world that you reside. However, as gain more experience and knowledge about Bitcoin, and the cryptocurrency industry in general, it is likely that at least a certain minimum level of regulation will come into place in the vast majority of countries."
--Andrew Norri, Blockonomi


In recent weeks Bitcoin’s price has been steadily climbing. It’s not the kind of rally as seen at the end of 2017--where investors were made millionaires practically overnight; but anyone with a sizable investment in the cryptocurrency has definitely been seeing some respectable gains. However, the market hasn’t seen such an enormous shift in price since; which--unbeknownst to newcomers--harkens to the overall unpredictable nature of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin may appear to be a lucrative investment from afar, promising huge returns over a short period. But that doesn’t take into consideration the factors driving the market, and the unspoken language seemingly governing its market trends. No--not the source codes (or white papers) underpinning blockchain’s technology--but the actual prime movers of the market, constructing the illusion of its alluring appeal.

A lack of general consensus on Bitcoin's regulation might be one of the challenges slowing down its mass-adoption, with cryptocurrency still being somewhat in its infancy. There is still plenty to learn about the industry and the implementation of blockchain. However, crypto isn't some rogue economy where there will be a rally every time someone sneezes (Or is it?). One could maintain that the vast majority of bull runs seen in Bitcoin's history were due to market manipulation. All the more reason to set a minimum level of regulation. So why is Bitcoin so volatile? Generally speaking, this dynamic is sometimes hinged on the confidence of investors; ie. Will geopolitical events and news headlines discourage investors, producing a widespread sell-off? Other factors to consider include the risks imposed by holders of larger proportions of the currency or the uncertainty of Bitcoins future and store of value.

The news plays an influential role in guiding the market. It’s no secret that those seeking to manipulate investors would use this to their advantage. Rumors of regulation, exchanges being hacked, fakeouts after slow and meticulous nail-biting rollouts (Verge)--you name it. Crypto has seen it all, to the detriment of wide-eyed investors. The bankruptcy of crypto exchange Mt. Gox back in 2014 is one example of how the news can negatively affect the market. Inversely, great news is likely to spur interest as more investors would buy into Bitcoin resulting in the price to climb. Bitcoin’s low liquidity can also cause price fluctuations whenever holders of larger proportions (upwards 10 million) seek to liquidate their position (Nathan Reiff, investopedia). None of these factors account for the purely technical aspects of crypto that are influencing the market as it stabilizes and matures. 

The State of Facuets

Recently, one of my favorite faucets, https://freedoge.co.in/ shut down.

The site gives the following explanation:

As of today, the Free Dogecoin Giveaway on FreeDoge.co.in is shutting down.

We've always viewed this giveaway as a means of giving back to the community, however, we're compelled to discontinue the service due to large-scale account abuse on the part of some errant users. We know it's unfair to the rest who have been amazing members of this community, but unfortunately, we have to take this step. We do not have the resources to fight back against this abuse since most of our time is spent on managing FreeBitco.in.

Also, we will eventually shut down the Multiply Doge section as well. Nevertheless, for now, paid and deposit plays won't be affected and will keep running as usual. Thank you for participating and making the Free Dogecoin Giveaway the success that it was, and we hope we can keep making this remarkable community bigger and better.

P.S.: The bitcoin faucet on our sister site FreeBitco.in is still going strong, and we're giving away up to $200 in Free BTC every hour. We'll be adding an option which would allow you to link your FreeDoge.co.in to your FreeBitco.in account, redirecting referral traffic accordingly. You can head over to FreeBitco.in to sign up and enjoy these benefits.

This is really a shame, as this was one of my favorite faucets. Additionally though, I think it makes me more nervous about the sister site, https://freebitco.in which I still use, and get some interest from.

And while I also have newer faucets at BTCPOP and TradeSatoshi, the earnings just haven’t been as good as they have been back in the day. My early use of faucets when bitcoin was less than $1k really paid off. Sure, I was only getting pennies at the time, but once bitcoin exploded, it actually became worth something. I think faucets right now are kind of a waste of time, At the same time though, if bitcoin does really take off again, faucet activity might be worth it.

If you do think bitcoin will explode again, check out the faucets I mentioned above. Or my faucets tab.

Blog status update

A few months ago, I announced that BTC plus was going to have less content in the near future. I think this point was discounted due to the fact that a decent amount of content was in fact made for the blog in the following months. Well, the time has finally come that the content well has run dry. I don't have any new plans for the blog right now and I am all out of content. If you do have content you would like to have covered, comment below and I may still be able to help.

Also, I still have the audio content that is somewhat recent. Why not give both a listen. If more people comment and engage, I may create more in the future.

Libra Infographic

Everyone is talking about Libra. Well instead of write about it, how about you look at this gorgeous infographic created by MrBtc.org. I hope you enjoy!

Buying Lodging with Crypto

With bitcoin’s price fluctuating so much lately, there has been more cryptocurrency news than normal, which in many ways is a great thing. As Crypto becomes more and more mainstream, more and more vendors start accepting it.

In the earlier days of bitcoin, it could be really hard to spend. Not many sites accepted it and it really was difficult to use as a currency. Well, bitcoin isn’t limited to a single pizza website with mediocre customer service or a few online retailers. Now there are many things you can buy with bitcoin. For example, now you can buy a burger with bitcoin. Or even more exciting, you can buy lodging. That’s right, a place to stay! The site is called Numundo, and you can book lodging and experiences across the world using 6 different cryptocurrencies: including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Dogecoin, Litecoin, and Monero. Also, some of the experiences don't even cost money. They even have searchable work-trades worldwide. It is all a very interesting platform. Check it out here!

Should I invest in Bitcoin?

As some of you might know, I started a podcast! Well in this episode I talk about bitcoin. Check it out!

"WARNING: The Truth About Bitcoin"

There is so much hype about Bitcoin right now, even non-crypto people are talking about it. Well, here are some interesting thoughts, enjoy!

Bitcoin Gold

I finally decided to deal with some of my  Bitcoin Gold (BTG).

On a few of my exchanges/faucets I have been given some BTG due to the fork in late 2017. It is actually a bit complex. Here is a excerpt

When was Bitcoin Gold created?

Bitcoin Gold forked the Bitcoin blockchain as scheduled after block 491406 (2017-10-24 01:17:35 UTC).

The new Bitcoin Gold blockchain began actively growing at block 491407 (2017-11-12 at 13:34:01 UTC), about two weeks later.

During those two weeks, the community developed and tested the necessary changes to prevent accidental or malicious complications between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Gold (unique addressing and replay protection), as well as the changes necessary for Bitcoin Gold to run on a completely different network of miners (a change of algorithm to restrict ASIC mining and enable GPU mining).

Technically, Bitcoin Gold was created on 2017-10-24 but not usable until 2017-11-12.

Here is the website. But some of the advantages of it is it is Asic proof, “Replay protection”. Replay protection just helps ensure that transactions are sent on the correct blockchain. For example if you wanted to send classic bitcoin, replay protection ensures you don’t also send BTG in that same transaction. (more on it here). Overall, BTG doesn’t see that unique, lots of other coins are asic proof. The only reason it is noteworthy enough for me to write about is because I have some! I will also have to do a post of getting BCH from a software wallet, and possibly one on BTG.

And to do that, I need a new exchange, check them out here

If you are a fan of Cryptocurrency, you may also be libertarian leaning like me. If that is the case, you may be interested in apparel from The Mad Statist, check out this awesome “MAKE TAXATION THEFT AGAIN” shirt out here!