While many celebrities have been jumping on the Bitcoin bandwagon recently, Lindsay Lohan nailed it with her, 'bitcoin to the moon' tweet. After all, a bandwagon won't get you to where Bitcoin is going, but a rocket will.

I concur with Lindsay. Bitcoin to the Moon!

 On the 12th of July last year, I published the tragic story of Pastor Phil Vollman, in the article, Crypto Thief Fleeces Pastor of 14.2 Bitcoin and 507 Litecoin.  This included a video interview with Phil, conducted by Brian the UK Bitcoin Master and Rocky Palumbo.

​In that interview, a TallyCoin fundraiser was launched, seeking to return 14.2 Bitcoin to Phil. Twice a week since then, Brian the UK Bitcoin Master has used his YouTube channel as a platform to faithfully promote Phil's cause. During that time, 42 donations, adding up to just over 0.2 Bitcoin were received. Phil, being the sort of person that he is, was highly appreciative of every single donation, no matter the amount. He expressed this over and over, however, the possibility of reaching the target of 14.2 Bitcoin seemed out of reach.

That was, until yesterday, when an anonymous donor contributed 13.9995 Bitcoin to achieve the 14.2 BTC goal and bring about a Christmas miracle for Phil and his family.

Today, Phil returned to Brian the UK Bitcoin Master's YouTube channel, to discuss and celebrate this amazing turn of events. You can watch the video below.

Recently, I wrote an article about the forthcoming FreeMarket.one trading platform, titled, Anonymous Crypto to Precious Metals Trading is Set to Become a Reality. The platform aims to be a marketplace that bridges the gap between virtual cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, and physical assets, such as gold and silver.

To provide anonymity, FreeMarket.one utilizes the Tor network, and to ensure security, it integrates blockchain technology. The project is part of the Bitcoin Rhodium (XRC) ecosystem of development.

While there is much 'engine room' building behind the scenes, the image above shows the latest progress in what the user will see when interacting with the platform. Given the current rate of progress, it is anticipated that public beta should be released at the beginning of the fourth quarter, 2020.

The price of gold and silver has surged recently, as investors seek to protect their wealth during this time of global economic uncertainty. This has been mirrored in the cryptocurrency markets, where Bitcoin, Ethereum and a plethora of altcoins and DeFi tokens have achieved significant gains.

These market movements have put a spotlight on cryptocurrencies and precious metals, drawing renewed interest from those who normally invest in more traditional assets, such as, stocks and real estate.

Given this, the timing of a soon to be released crypto to precious metals trading platform, could not have been better. Enter, FreeMarket.one, which aims to bridge the gap between these virtual and physical assets, using the Tor network to provide anonymity and blockchain technology to ensure security. The project is part of the Bitcoin Rhodium (XRC) ecosystem of development.

FreeMarket.one beta testing is set to take place this quarter. Currently, you can download a technical test version of the software. Details of this can be found here.

To keep up to date with the latest developments, follow twitter.com/FreeMarketOne, and if you're interested in becoming a vendor on the platform, email here.

Happy 2020 Bitcoin Halving everyone!

Yesterday, the third Bitcoin Halving took place. This is an event that occurs every 210,000 blocks, which is roughly every four years. What happens is that the block reward given to Bitcoin miners for uncovering a block (i.e. a file that records the most recent Bitcoin transactions) is cut in half. A block is mined approximately every ten minutes.

When the Bitcoin network kicked off in January 2009, the reward for mining a block was 50 Bitcoin. The first Halving in 2012 saw the reward cut to 25 Bitcoin per block. In 2016, the second Halving reduced that to 12.5, and yesterday's Halving, number 3, dropped it to 6.25 Bitcoin.

Unlike government backed money, where the supply is increased every time more is printed, Bitcoin is scarce and its supply capped at 21 million. At the time of writing, there are only 2,623,575 Bitcoin yet to be mined.

Just four more years until the next Halving ... and what a four years it is set to be! If the last four years in Bitcoin are anything to go by, we're set for a fascinating ride. Are you on board?
​
image source​

On his recent trip to Australia, I had the privilege of meeting Adam Meister aka 'The Bitcoin Meister'. Adam has a popular YouTube channel where he does a live show every day. Five days a week, he presents 'The 1 Bitcoin Show' where viewers can learn the latest happenings in the Bitcoin space. On Fridays, he hosts a wide variety of knowledgeable Bitcoiner guests on his 'This Week in Bitcoin' show. For a change of pace, on Saturday, Adam shifts the focus to other topics he is passionate about in 'The Beyond Bitcoin Show'.

Those familiar with Adam's shows will know that he is super energetic and overflowing with enthusiasm for Bitcoin, health and fitness, travel and life in general. Spending the morning chatting with him in person, I found that who he is on screen, he is in life. Adam practices what he preaches, and has a wealth of fascinating Bitcoin knowledge and stories to share from his travels to many countries around the globe.

Adam's business savvy, exceptional self discipline and 'buy and hold' Bitcoin strategy, have enabled him to live outside of the 'rat race' that many only dream of escaping. He has set things up so that rather than having a fixed address, he travels the world, living in Airbnb accommodation.

He is a very cool guy to hang out with, and he even gave me a Bitcoin t-shirt and a rocking 'old skool' style Bitcoin badge. I certainly hope that our paths will cross again one day.

Be sure to check out Adam's YouTube channel, subscribe and as he famously says, 'Pound that like button!' here.

Just when I thought holding Bitcoin couldn't get any sweeter, I received these Bitcoin chocolate coins for Christmas. Unsurprisingly, they were smoother, creamier, tastier and sweeter than their fiat counterparts.

​Someone knows me well ;)

Pastor Phil Vollman discovered Bitcoin in 2013, and despite a modest wage and a tight budget, he began accumulating small amounts. Over the next five years of disciplined savings, he managed to amass 14.2 BTC, along with 507 Litecoin.

Now this was no prosperity preacher plan, with dreams of lambos and luxury living. Rather, Phil, hoped to secure the financial future for his wife and children, including an adopted daughter, whom suffers from a disability.

Unfortunately, on July 29 last year, Phil's Bitcoin hopes were dashed when a scammer stole all of his 14.2 BTC and 507 LTC. This was not because he kept his crypto on an exchange that got hacked. In fact, Phil stored his private keys on a Trezor hardware device. However, on this particular day, when plugging the Trezor into his laptop he was prompted to do a firmware update. What Phil didn't realize was, that although the website appeared identical to the official Trezor site, it was a fake, set up by the scammer. 

Despite his better judgement, Phil followed the prompt to enter his seed words, which then allowed the thief to transfer away all of the Bitcoin and Litecoin. After so long taking the utmost care with crypto security, one mistake and years of saving and sacrifice were gone. And the reality is that at 68 years of age, with the current price of Bitcoin, there is no way that Phil will be able to acquire that much again. That is unless...

... the crypto community pulls together to help. We did it for Andreas Antonopoulos after Roger Ver questioned his investment choices. Some even did it for Peter Schiff, in an attempt to warm him up towards Bitcoin, despite his net worth already being 70 million dollars. So can we do it for Phil? I believe, yes.

With the backing of members of the crypto, business and Christian communities, a support site and fundraising campaign has been set up to get Phil and his family back to where they were before the thief struck.

A list of those supporting this campaign can be found here.
​You can donate and follow the progress of the fundraiser on Tallycoin.
Along with Bitcoin & Litecoin, Pastor Phil is now accepting donations of Bitcoin Rhodium (XRC). The QR codes for Bitcoin, Litecoin & XRC donations are also included below this article.

While I have only touched briefly on it here, Phil and his wife have lived an extraordinary life of serving and caring for others, particulary sick, disabled and unwanted children. You can read their full story, written by published author, F. Daniel Somrack, here: Bagpipes, Bitcoin and Broken Dreams.

In addition to this, crypto YouTuber, Brian the UK Bitcoin Master, hosted a show where Bitcoin storage and security expert, Rocky Palumbo, interviewed Pastor Phil about the loss of his Bitcoin and the events leading up to it. You can view it below and really get a feel for the heart of this man.

December 2020 Update: Pastor Phil's Tallycoin fundraiser goal has been reached. 
Watch the video below for the full story of how it happened.

On a recent trip to England, I had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with rising crypto YouTube sensation, Brian the UK Bitcoin Master. Not only that, I got to strap in and hang on, as Brian demonstrated the exhilarating acceleration of his cool, black Mercedes Benz convertible. Nice.

Brian is as decent a bloke as you'll meet. A friendly, honest, salt of the earth kind of guy, who is passionate about Bitcoin, his family and living life to the full. The way he presents on his, Bitcoin for Beginners YouTube videos is the way he comes across in real life. Genuine to a fault.

When it comes to Bitcoin, Brian's philosophy is simple, yet powerful... Buy some Bitcoin from a reputable exchange, such as Coinbase. Get it off the exchange and onto a hardware storage device (his preference is the Trezor). Get on with enjoying your life and wait for the halvings (an event every 4 years where the number of Bitcoin mined in each block is halved) to see the value of your BTC grow.

For Brian, Bitcoin is a savings account that anyone can use, with the potential of changing their own financial future and that of their family for generations to come. This can be done without the risk and stress of trading and without investing more than you can afford to lose. Buying a small amount of Bitcoin each payday or whenever you can afford to, adds up over time. And if the first ten years of Bitcoin's price growth are anything to go by, saving BTC could be far more lucrative than saving GBP, USD or whatever your local currency might be.

To learn more about Bitcoin, be sure to subscribe to Brian's YouTube channel. He livestreams twice a week, bringing you the latest BTC news and interviews with experts and influencers in the Bitcoin and crypto space.

This brilliant song and video clip, 'Bitcoin Please Go To Moon', featuring 'bearish' Tone Vays and 'bullish' Mike Novogratz​, was created by 1thousandx.

You will find the lyrics and video below. Enjoy!

Lyrics
Bitcoin please go to moon
Stop going sideways now
Tone Vays say
We going down to 1k
But Mr Novogratz say
We have
Baaaaaa-
ttooooo-
-med out
Battomed out
Novogratz is bullish
Battomed out
Tone Vays is bearish
[Tone] Bearish target is 1300
Novogratz is bullish
[Novogratz] Bitcoin can be at 40 000
Let us go to moon
pls