@angelikip

@angelikip 19 December 2020

Hey, everyone, I have a new channel on LBRY. No content yet but the first 15 people that follow me at https://lbry.tv/@angelikip:a will get a follow back from me to their own channel. If you don't have an account, this is an invite link https://lbry.tv/$/invite/@angelikip:a We both get a reward if you sign up with it!

@angelikip 16 December 2020

Bitcoin Over $20,000! An Interesting Ending to a Difficult Year Who doesn't like good news, especially in a year like 2020? Every person in the crypto world had been not-so-patiently waiting for the moment when Bitcoin would shatter the previous record lasting since December 2017. And today, the 16th of December, was the day it finally happened. (from coinmarketcap.com, taken a few minutes before posting this article) It is showing no signs of stopping immediately either. It looks like there will be some excitement yet for the remaining days of 2020. Bitcoin has of course pulled a lot of other coins up with it in its bullish trend, resulting in the market cap surpassing 600 billion dollars. On a personal note, I must admit that I am a little more excited than I would normally be since I made a prediction on this website in late November that it would hit $20k before the end of the year. It's not very important in the grand scheme of things and lots of other people had made the same prediction, I am certain, but it's still nice to get it right. How high can the price go? When will we have the next correction? These are the most exciting questions to ask at this time.

@angelikip 30 November 2020

Is Freebitco.in Worth It? For people who have been interested in cryptocurrencies for more than a minute, it is impossible to not know what faucets are. For those who don't know, a faucet is a website that pays a fraction of a cryptocurrency, hence the given term "faucet" because it's like it "drips" crypto to people. There are some very well-known faucets and one of the biggest and oldest out there is freebitco.in which gives the user a certain amount of Satoshis. So, here is a personal review of Freebitco.in including my personal opinion on whether it's worth your time. **The Actual Faucet** Freebitco.in used to give a lot of Satoshis in its earlier years. I myself joined in 2017 and while I don't remember how much they were giving out anymore, it was certainly better than the current rates. Why? Well, the short answer is that Bitcoin's price rose. The long answer is that not only did the price rise but they also implemented a system that rewards people who gamble it on their site so they could get back some of the BTC that they give. I have obscured my percentage but as you can see you can get to the next bonus reward by gambling what you earn. This notification appears every time you click on the faucet page so you can't miss it. While the hourly standard reward might be low, it still offers you a chance to win some of their higher rewards which can even reach $200. If you're lucky. **Gambling - Betting, Multiply BTC, Lottery, and the Earn BTC feature** **Betting** - You can use the BTC you earn to bet on a lot of events or even deposit BTC if you want. Most of the events are sports-related (soccer, NFL, cricket, etc.) but there are other kinds of events like predicting award winners or predicting Bitcoin prices. You also get referral commissions on bets made by your referrals. **Multiply BTC** - This is a normal high-low game where you bet on whether the number will be higher than 5250 or lower than 4750, while the number can be anything from 0000 to 9999. There are quite a few options on how this game can be played, making it more complicated for those who wish to do so. I would be careful with my bets there, however, because this has actually happened to me by playing the normal high-low game As you can see, you can bet 16 sequential times and get a number lower than 4750 all 16 times. For me, it doesn't matter if this is a product of a random algorithm or a scammy algorithm. While I believe it's the former it just means that, just with most gambling games, the house usually wins. And yes, I lost all that I had on the faucet at that time (which wasn't much) otherwise I would have tried a 17th time out of curiosity for how many sequential lows I could get. **Lottery** - There is a weekly lottery and users can gather tickets either by using the faucet, by buying them or by wagering a certain amount of BTC. Referrals also give users tickets when they use the faucet. Just like any lottery, there are small chances of success. **Earn BTC** - Hodling BTC can be lucrative, so many websites have enticing offers to convince you to do that on their website. Freebitco.in is offering users an annual interest rate of 4.08% which is attributed daily to the user's account. The only stipulation is that the user has more than 30,000 Satoshis in their wallet (0.0003 BTC). With deposits available, it is not a difficult amount to get. And they also pay 25% of what your referrals are earning on Earn BTC. There are also other features like rewards, contests, and it's worth looking at the settings for the referrals because you can offer them incentives so you can both earn from the faucet. There's also the Golden Ticket lottery which can, according to the website, win you a Lamborghini. ****So how good is Freebitco.in and is it worth the time?**** I think that any old user will tell you good things about it. Personally, I'll say this: The current faucet payout is very low, and it's even lower if you choose not to gamble anything. If you're a new user looking to signup, just know that it's a good site but it will take you a long time to get anything of value, unless Bitcoin reaches one million at some point. That doesn't mean it's a bad site, it means that the time to accumulate Bitcoin via faucets is getting closer and closer to the end when Bitcoin is so valuable. On the other hand, these are still free Satoshis you're getting, so as long as you realize that there's a small chance you'll get any good amount of BTC from it, it's okay to get the reward from the faucet. Besides, it takes a mere few seconds to get it and you can claim each hour. It is a legitimate site and I have personally cashed out so I know that the withdrawals are real. (Author's Note: I am interested in people believing my review, so I will not be using a ref. link to show that I have no reason to persuade anyone into being my referral. That does not mean I am against them nor that I discourage the practice of people sharing their links.)

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@angelikip 19 November 2020

Bitcoin Touches $18,000 - Market Capitalization Reaches $500B In what has been a great month for Bitcoin and the entire market, prices surged once more on November 18 when Bitcoin reached 18,000 dollars. The last time Bitcoin had reached such a price was back in December of 2017, during the bull run that eventually had led to the record price of $20,000. Bitcoin's dominance in the cryptocurrency market is at very high levels, ranging at around 66% and its market cap is currently at almost 330 billion dollars. At the same time, the cryptocurrency market cap reached 500 billion dollars, a number last seen in early February of 2018. The market had first reached $500B in December 2017, also aided by Bitcoin's bull run, and had even reached almost 830 billion dollars in January of 2018, its highest point yet. Also, at that time, Bitcoin had experienced its lowest point of dominance, at around 32%, which made sense because people had started capitalizing on Bitcoin's profits, selling it to buy altcoins, which had led to an altcoin season. **Bitcoin Close to Reaching Old 2017 Record - Is There an Altcoin Season Coming?** If history repeats itself, then Bitcoin is going to make another historic record, surpassing its old one, followed by a subsequent drop in price and people will start buying altcoins which will lead to a lot of altcoins rising. And it could also mean a new record on the cryptocurrency market cap, which in the past had been achieved after Bitcoin had already started falling. This time the market cap rise could be even bigger, possibly over one trillion, since the number of cryptocurrency coins and tokens has dramatically risen in the three years that have passed. One could argue that not all of these coins have value but that was also true three years back. No one is a magician or an oracle of course but there is cause for optimism. Good news such as Paypal's adoption of cryptocurrencies has helped boost the prices. And the general uncertainty that currently exists in the world, while it's obviously bad for everyone, has urged people to look for alternative ways of making payments, ways that don't involve banks or governments. People are looking past the obvious choices and the choices that, while tried and tested, have always helped the rich and have never given a chance to anyone else.

@angelikip 9 November 2020

A question for more knowledgeable members of this website: Is there a way to find my own activity, for example all the comments that I have made and all the upvotes that I have done in other articles? I am sure this is a question that other members must have too. I hope the community has an answer.

@angelikip 3 November 2020

Divided America and the US Elections Today is an important day for the United States of America. It is Tuesday, November 3rd, and it is Election Day. The people will be voting for the next president of the US, deciding whether Joe Biden of the Democratic Party or Donald Trump of the Republican Party will be the leader of the country for the next four years. This election can be proven to be one of the most important ones since the two men and the two parties have very different approaches in many major issues, including but not limited to how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. It has been reported that already there has been a bigger voter turnout than the previous elections in recent years, and certainly a big increase in the mail-in ballots, a fact that can be attributed both to the coronavirus and people's willingness to be a part of this significant decision this time. The US has never been more divided than now. A lot of major issues have made Americans angry. And politicians' divisive rhetoric has made things worse and have increased the chasm between the two sides of voters. The people who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 were clearly trying to send a message to a corrupt political system that they felt did not represent them and was mostly self-serving. It will be interesting that if four years later, and as he is shown to be losing in the polls, if they will vote the same way again, having gone through a Trump presidency and knowing what to expect from it. On the other hand, Joe Biden has been the opposite of Trump in almost every way during the pre-election period. Calm, reserved, and factual most of the time, he has been trying to prove to the American people that he can step out of Barack Obama's shadow and become the next president of the United States, gaining a lot of support by not only the Democrats but also a lot of Republicans who are reluctant to support Trump after some of his political failures. A lot of questions await after this day: when will the election results be ready? Will President Trump accept the election outcome if he loses? Will there be unrest in the United States, depending on the outcome? How will the outcome of the elections affect the rest of the world? Only time will tell. -- (I know this is a divisive issue for a lot of people right now, especially in the US, but I want to make a plea for the people who comment to be civil in their comments.)

@angelikip 21 October 2020

Bitcoin Boost Due to PayPal? Since the news that PayPal is allowing cryptocurrencies, among them Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash, on their platform have broken out, there has been a significant increase in Bitcoin's price (as well as other cryptocurrencies), which for a while had been hovering around $10k. While these lines are being written, Bitcoin is at $12,800 (about 10,790 Euros) and is possibly climbing even higher. **A Temporary Rise? Probably.** While the news about PayPal is a very positive sign toward the goal of adoption, the price boom is sometimes followed by a decline. It is possible that this will happen later this week when people will get over their enthusiasm for this news since the market is driven by sentiments more than logic. However, I believe that as soon as PayPal actually allows the buying and selling of these cryptocurrencies, since now there is only an official announcement, there will be a new rise in Bitcoin and definitely a rise in the other cryptocurrencies that will be added too, possibly even a rise in the whole market because this kind of opening to a major adoption is beneficial for the entire market. PayPal is affiliated with more than 26 million sellers and they are planning on implementing cryptocurrency payments to merchants in early 2021.

@angelikip 20 October 2020

"The World Has Gone Mad" or Has It Always Been That Way? How many times have we heard that things keep getting worse and worse in the world? A constant source of negativity in our lives. Has our quality of life really changed so dramatically in the last few decades? Granted, the timing of this article, considering we are amidst a pandemic, will obviously be prompting the reader to scream yes at the top of their lungs. However, this will not last forever, and sooner or later, the entire planet will be back on its feet and people will still be having the same negative talks. Is it a product of our times? Or was it always that way? **Negativity Bias** Before everything, we need to recognize the negativity bias, which is the tendency to think that bad things will always happen and not be overly optimistic. It is actually part of human evolution, a remnant of days where humans needed it to survive against predators and other threats. They needed to have them on their mind constantly if they wanted to overcome them. Nowadays, however, it is something that hinders us more than it actually helps us. That doesn't mean that we have to let it define our lives. Recognizing that we have a negativity bias is the first step in working to overcome it. Our thoughts, our behaviors, are things that can be controlled if we actively work to think and behave more positively. Leaving that aside (but not forgotten), let's examine some important sources of negativity. **Young People Are More Pessimistic Than Ever** We thought that Millennials were the most pessimistic generation of our times, and then Generation Z started growing up. The oldest Generation Zers are now 25 years old, so a lot of them are at an age where they should be working and being out there chasing their dreams. Instead, everyone is trying to be an influencer and a lot of them are unable to find a job. Why? Well, obviously, the two things, not being able to find a job and trying to be an influencer, are connected. Sure, fame has always been appealing to people of all ages and generations ever since fame became a thing, but not being able to make money the traditional way has turned even more people to seeking fame than it would have if there was a growing economy and there were plenty of jobs around for people to be able to support themselves and to have a steady income, instead of trying to gain followers and chasing fleeting promotion deals on the internet. However, even being an influencer is not for everyone. A lot of people fail at it for a multitude of reasons which leads to even more negativity. Seeing a few of their peers succeed in it and the accompanying feelings of jealousy make matters even worse and contribute to a depressed generation. **A Look at the Past - The 20th Century** The 20th Century had two World Wars but people still view the 21st Century as having started terribly, and that was before the pandemic. How is this possible? For starters, very few people who had lived even the second World War are alive right now. Therefore, people don't have the experiences of those who lived through that time so they can't make that comparison. However, a lot of people who had lived through the 50s and the 60s are still alive right now and they can compare that time as being better than today. This is a matter of not only opinion but is also based on race, gender, and sexual orientation. For example, not a lot of women would say that the 50s were a particularly good decade for women. Non-white people who were minorities in their countries probably wouldn't say that either. It is a sign of a quite substantial privilege to be able to say that an age where not all people enjoyed the same human rights was a good age. Still, the decades following the Second World War are always romanticized and remembered fondly, and one of the biggest reasons is the economic growth that happened in most countries around that time, which lasted until the end of the 20th century. That, accompanied by the astonishing technological achievements that happened at the same time contributed to making people more optimistic and hopeful for the future. A future which for many came up short and didn't live up to their expectations with an immediate economic crisis at the start of the new century. **The 21 Century - A Setback or the Effect of Globalization?** The last two decades have been the result of overall poor management on humanity's part. All the bad relations between countries, the growing economic equality between the rich and the poor, the mismanagement of the environment, and blatant refusal to acknowledge there is an environmental issue to begin with, all the intolerance toward people who may seem different than what we would want them to be, it's caught up with us. And the effects spilled all over the 21st Century. There are examples everywhere. And, here's the thing: *there is nowhere to hide anymore*. Every bad act is filmed and uploaded for everyone to see. It is the best and the worst thing at the same time. Bad things always happened. But now we get to see it. And we get to see a lot of it, most of us are members on social media and get a front seat in humanity's worst acts, without even needing to look for them. There is no bigger contributor to the feeling that the world has finally snapped than being served a daily dose of negativity every time you get online. **Is There a Way for People to Be More Positive?** Absolutely. But it needs to be worked on individually. Something will always be going wrong in the world, that doesn't mean that we have to spend our entire lives being depressed and feeling helpless. We should start by taking control of ourselves and our lives. Nothing will happen unless you actively try to change it, whether that is on an emotional level or otherwise. Emotionally, people can try to have positive thoughts, they can look at the good things in their lives and in the world instead of the bad, they can limit the time they spend on social media and shut off the toxic people around them who are poisoning their lives with constant negativity. Not all of this is easy but it eventually leads to a healthier mind. And a healthy mind is the key to a better life overall, one with fewer worries and more time to enjoy the beauty that exists in the world.

@angelikip 16 October 2020

Crypto: How to Explain it to Your Parents Over the past few years and since I have started using cryptocurrencies, I have had a lot of friends, family, and acquaintances ask me about them every time they learn that I know more than the average person about them. My own parents were interested at some point and through my guidance, they managed to invest small amounts. Explaining it to older people might be a bit harder than explaining it to someone roughly your own age but it can be more rewarding in the end. Why? Well, older people are the ones with the money, of course. Young people might be more receptive to the idea of crypto but a lot of them can't afford to invest. However, there are some things you must do (and a lot you must not do) when explaining crypto to your parents and older people in general: a) **Your parents are not dumb.** Some might be technologically challenged because when the 90s and 2000s rolled around, they thought computers were a "trend" and they wouldn't take over their lives. Consequently, they didn't make it point to familiarize themselves with them until it was too late, and now learning about anything technologically related sounds like an insurmountable task. It is not, though. Coming into daily contact with technology is key to helping older people to be more comfortable using it. Do not mock them for their technological ineptitude, help them become more experienced with it instead. b) **Cryptocurrencies are an extension of the technology your parents do not understand.** So, what do you do? Obviously, you DO NOT try to get technical with them. Your parents either want to know why you spend so much time on crypto or talking about crypto (probably making sure crypto is not some secret internet cult) or they want to invest in crypto themselves. Explaining what crypto is doesn't have to get too technical. Use examples, your parents already know what a normal currency is, cryptocurrency is not such a big leap. Your parents know what an investment is. They know about gold, stocks, bonds, probably futures. They possibly have PayPal and an e-banking system. Check out Wikipedia's link on cryptocurrency for a definition if you expect to receive questions about it that you don't know the answers to. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency c) **Don't lie to your parents (seriously, don't do it).** Do not try to make cryptocurrencies more appealing to them, they are, after all, a possible investment and a risky one at that, especially when you think of how many scam crypto coins there are out there. Do not push them to invest because it is their money after all and if they put all their retirement money and something happens and they lose it, they are not young enough to make it from scratch. Make sure they understand the risks and that crypto is not a bank with a steady investment plan. And, finally, if you are worried about a coin that your parents want to invest in, warn them against it. It is still their decision to make and they are adults but you have to voice your concerns. d) **Don't be offended if your parents are not interested in crypto.** Maybe you spend a lot of time on crypto and you want your parents to like it. But if they don't, it is not a big deal and you cannot force them into being interested in it. It is not worth fighting with your family over it. And you certainly won't create a good impression about crypto if you become an aggressive supporter of it (seriously, I have seen people do this, it is a huge turn off for people who have nothing to do with crypto). **In conclusion,** there are ways to inform your parents about what cryptocurrencies are but you have to be patient in explaining it, you have to guide them through it, make sure they understand the risks, and know when to back off if they end up not caring about it.

@angelikip 15 October 2020

My First Post A little about me: I have written in various platforms over the years, such as Blogspot, Livejournal, and more recently Steemit and Publish0x. I have been writing periodically for the last 12-15 years and in English as soon as I had the knowledge to write since it’s not my first language. What will I write about: I have been too specific in the past about what I’ll write and it usually ends up limiting me and making me think too hard to come up with a them. So I won’t do it this time. I will be writing about anything I consider interesting.