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.

MimbleWimble Coin (MWC), a recent airdropped cryptocurrency that was acquired for free by Bitcoin holders who signed up for it, is delivering an exceptionally high rate of return. MWC were awarded at a rate of 40.41 per BTC registered. At the time of writing, MWC is trading above 0.0006 BTC.

MWC is a fork of the high profile privacy coin, Grin. Like Grin, and its equally well known counterpart, Beam, MWC utilizes the groundbreaking anonymity features of MimbleWimble technology, however, it also combines this with the power of scarcity, by having a capped supply of just 20 million. This limit on the number of coins, could well be the reason that investors are moving in and pushing up the price.

At the moment, MWC is trading on the Hotbit exchange (which doesn't require KYC) and via OTC on the MWC Discord channel.

For more information about MWC, visit the official website MWC.mw

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 ;)

A hardware wallet is an essential device for keeping your Bitcoin secure and giving you complete control over it. If instead, you have your Bitcoin at an exchange, it is certainly not safe and you don't control it, they do.

Exchanges can be hacked, shut down and are susceptible to internal corruption. Just ask anyone who held their Bitcoin at the Mount Gox exchange when it collapsed ... bye, bye Bitcoin.

Having your Bitcoin at an exchange gives them control of your private keys, which means they decide which, if any, hard forks of the blockchain (such as Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold) they will support. As a Bitcoin holder at the time of a Bitcoin blockchain hard fork, you are entitled to an equivalent quantity of any cryptocurrency that is formed by it, however, that is only if you control your private keys. When Bitcoin is at an exchange, the decision to support a particular hard fork and reward holders is up to them and so you may miss out.

Some of these hard fork created cryptocurrencies have become significantly valuable in their own right. Those who held their Bitcoin private keys on a hardware wallet at the time of these forks were rewarded with a matching number of the new coins for free. These could then be held as an alternate investment, sold for cash or used to obtain more Bitcoin.

Controlling your own private keys, via a hardware wallet, also gives you the ability to claim free airdropped cryptocurrencies that are awarded to Bitcoin holders, like Bitcoin Rhodium, MWC and Hex. Once again, if your Bitcoin is on an exchange, you forego such opportunities.

If your hardware wallet is damaged, lost or stolen, your Bitcoin is still safe, as the thief or finder wouldn't know the information required to access the wallet. You, however, can restore your entire Bitcoin balance on another hardware or software wallet, because you will have the information to be able to do so.

When purchasing a hardware wallet, it is important to do so from the manufacturer or a reputable distributor, such as, CryptoHWWallet or Coinstop. This way you can be assured of receiving a genuine, brand new, untampered with, product. Never buy one on ebay.

Don't leave it any longer. The risk is real. Secure and control your valuable Bitcoin with a hardware wallet today. 

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.

Boom! The Bitcoin rocket went parabolic today, blasting from the low 11,000s through $12,000 and onwards, falling just short of $13,000. While the price has dipped slightly since then, BTC is still showing strength and appears to be building for another push higher.

Above, you can see the current move compared to the Bitcoin bull run of 2017. Once again, the angle of the surge is nearly vertical. Strap yourself in, coz it looks like we're in for a thrilling ride. Bitcoin to the Moon... all aboard!

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Bitcoin is on a tear today, smashing through $10,000 and now $11,000, with no signs of slowing down. This latest move, means that BTC's value has more than tripled since its yearly low in February.

The mood amongst cryptocurrency enthusiasts is reminiscent of the 2017 bull run, which reached a point where daily $1,000 moves upward were expected. This time, however, the expectation is for a much higher level to be reached. While such gains are by no means a certainty, the belief in a significant new all time high has Bitcoin history on its side.

​Will the dream become reality? In my view, yes. Bitcoin to the Moon!

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Bitcoin's move from $9,000 to breaking the $10,000 barrier has been swift, and led to an immediate surge to just shy of 11k. After a slight dip from that point, BTC is now consolidating around $10,700.

If what happened from here in 2017 is anything to go by, then the stage seems set for a monster bull run to a new Bitcoin all time high. The difference being that this time the fundamentals of BTC, and infrastructure built around it, have advanced significantly. Throw into the mix, the announcement of Facebook's crypto project, Libra, and it appears that the perfect storm is brewing for the original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, to go where it has never gone before.

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Bitcoin smashed through $9,000 just moments ago and is still on the rise as I type. This comes after a couple of previous attempts over the past three weeks, the second of which, saw the price plummet by $1,100. The recovery from that point, demonstrated the strength of the present BTC market, with a base established for the current push upwards.

During the 2017 crypto bull market, once Bitcoin broke the $10,000 barrier, the move to $20,000 was swift. Right now, if Bitcoin gets to 10k, increased awareness will see an even greater mainstream media frenzy than last time. The fear of missing out that this will create, combined with a huge increase in the quantity and capacity of Bitcoin onramps, could see unprecedented numbers of new investors piling in. Then... you do the math... Bitcoin to the Moon!

image source

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.