List of questions about [Bitcoin]

The Day Everything Fell Apart

From Will to  Maybe : The Slow Backpedal

The crypto world is watching one of its most prominent bulls get a little less bullish. Tom Lee, Chairman of BitMine, has publicly cooled on his own $250,000 year-end Bitcoin price prediction, a call he had been championing since early 2024.

During a CNBC interview, Lee shifted his language significantly. Gone was the confident reiteration; in its place, a more cautious optimism.

I think it's still very likely that Bitcoin is going to be above $100,000 before year-end, and maybe even to a new high, Lee stated.

This marks the first time Lee has publicly walked back the $250,000 target, a figure that stood out as one of the most aggressive on Wall Street. Other crypto leaders, like Galaxy Digital's Mike Novogratz, had already expressed skepticism, suggesting "crazy stuff" would be needed for BTC to hit that level.

The 10-Day Rule: Why You Can't Look Away

So, why is there still hope with only 35 days left in the year? Lee, along with many other execs, pointed to a critical Bitcoin statistic: it makes almost all of its gains in just a handful of days.

This idea was famously highlighted by Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley, who noted that missing Bitcoin's best 10 days means missing nearly all of its returns. The data is staggering:

1- In 2024, Bitcoin's 10 best days delivered a +52% return.

2- The other 355 days averaged a -15% return.

This pattern means the market can feel dead for months, only to explode in a matter of days. The implication? If you sell now, you risk missing the entire rally.

A Rocky Road to the End of the Year

Lee's tempered outlook isn't coming from nowhere. Bitcoin has been fighting strong headwinds since October, including a massive $19 billion market liquidation triggered by geopolitical trade announcements.

The asset only just reclaimed the $90,000 level after a worrying six-day streak below it. This is especially puzzling given that November is historically Bitcoin's strongest month. The current struggle has left investors wondering if the usual seasonal magic is gone.

Lee's Track Record: Prophet or Pundit?

Let's be real—if the $250K call fails, it won't be Lee's first miss.

1- The Miss: In 2018, he predicted Bitcoin would hit $125,000 by 2022. It finally got there in October 2025, three years late.

2- The Hits: But he's been right, too. In 2017, his base-case forecast of $20,000 by 2022 was achieved in December 2020. His bullish $55,000 scenario was also hit in March 2021.

The lesson? Even the experts are often early. Their long-term thesis can be right, but their timing is notoriously difficult.

The Bottom Line

Tom Lee isn't throwing in the towel; he's just adjusting his expectations. The dream of a $250,000 Bitcoin by New Year's Eve is on life support, but the prospect of a surge past $100,000 is very much alive. For investors, the message remains the same: in a market driven by a few critical days, the cost of not being in it could be far greater than the cost of staying in.

Every crypto trader has experienced this moment: You see Bitcoin trading at $95,000. You hit the "Buy" button. But when you check your transaction history, you realize you actually bought it at $95,200.

That gap—the difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which the trade is actually executed—is called Slippage.

While a small percentage difference might seem negligible on a $100 trade, slippage can eat away significant profits on larger orders or during periods of high volatility. Understanding why it happens and how to prevent it is the first step to trading like a professional.

Why Does Slippage Happen?

Slippage isn't a fee charged by the exchange. It is a market phenomenon caused by the mechanics of supply and demand. It generally occurs due to two main factors:

1. High Volatility
Crypto markets move fast. In the split second between when you confirm a market order and when the matching engine executes it, the price might have jumped. If the market is pumping aggressively, your buy order might get filled at the top of the candle rather than where you clicked.

For many crypto investors, the dream is simple: buy Bitcoin, hold it for decades, and retire on the profits. But there is one major obstacle standing in the way of that dream: Taxes. Every time you sell or trade crypto for a profit, the taxman takes a cut of your capital gains.

Enter the Bitcoin IRA. This specialized financial vehicle combines the explosive growth potential of cryptocurrency with the powerful tax advantages of a retirement account. But how does it work, and is it worth the complexity?

The Self-Directed IRA: Breaking the Rules

If you call up a standard brokerage like Vanguard or Fidelity and ask to buy Bitcoin with your retirement savings, they will likely say no. Traditional financial institutions generally stick to stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.

To invest in crypto for retirement, you need a Self-Directed IRA (SDIRA).

• The Concept: An SDIRA puts you in the driver's seat. Instead of picking from a menu of approved funds, you can invest in alternative assets like real estate, gold, and yes, cryptocurrency.
• The Custodian: You cannot just hold the Bitcoin in your own Ledger wallet. The IRS requires a qualified custodian to hold the assets on your behalf to maintain the tax-advantaged status.

The "Killer App": Tax-Free Growth

The primary reason to open a Bitcoin IRA is the tax benefit. Depending on the type of IRA you choose, the savings can be massive.

1. Traditional Bitcoin IRA
You contribute pre-tax money (lowering your income tax bill today). The crypto grows tax-deferred. You only pay taxes when you withdraw the money during retirement. This is great if you expect to be in a lower tax bracket when you retire.

2. Roth Bitcoin IRA
This is the holy grail for many crypto bulls. You contribute money that has already been taxed. However, all future growth is tax-free.

• The Scenario: Imagine you invest $10,000 in Bitcoin. Over 20 years, it grows to $500,000. In a regular account, you would owe massive capital gains tax on that profit. In a Roth IRA, you keep 100% of the gains.

The Risks and Downsides

While the tax benefits are appealing, Bitcoin IRAs come with specific risks that standard accounts do not have.

1. High Fees
Self-directed IRAs are not cheap. Unlike the zero-fee world of stock trading, Bitcoin IRAs often charge setup fees, monthly maintenance fees, and holding fees. You need to ensure the potential returns outweigh these costs.

2. Volatility
Retirement accounts are usually for "safe" money. Crypto is volatile. If Bitcoin crashes 80% right before you plan to retire, your golden years could be in jeopardy. Financial advisors typically recommend limiting crypto to a small percentage (5-10%) of your total retirement portfolio.

3. No FDIC Insurance
Cash in a bank is insured by the government. Crypto in an IRA is not. If the custodian gets hacked or goes bankrupt, you could lose your funds. It is vital to choose a provider that uses cold storage and carries private insurance.

Diversification is Key

A Bitcoin IRA shouldn't be your only retirement plan, but it can be a powerful addition to it. By adding an asset class that doesn't move in lockstep with the stock market, you are building a more robust, diversified portfolio for the long term.

Conclusion

A Bitcoin IRA is the bridge between traditional finance and the digital economy. It allows you to bet on the future of technology while shielding your gains from the IRS.

Unlocking the Digital Vault: A Realistic Look at Bitcoin Mining

The whisper of  Bitcoin mining  carries a certain mystique in the digital age. It conjures images of humming warehouses in remote, cold locations, of powerful computers solving impossibly complex puzzles, and of a modern-day gold rush happening entirely in the digital realm. But beyond the buzzwords and the hype, what does it actually mean to mine Bitcoin today, in 2025? Is it a accessible path to digital wealth, or an industrial-scale operation that's closed off to the everyday person?

Let's pull back the curtain. At its very core, Bitcoin mining is the invisible engine that makes the entire Bitcoin network possible. It’s not about physically digging for coins; it’s a sophisticated process of using computational power to secure a global, decentralized financial ledger. Think of it as being the auditor, the security guard, and the mint all at once for the world's most famous cryptocurrency.

For anyone from a curious student in Toronto to an entrepreneur in Nairobi, the allure is understandable. The idea of earning Bitcoin without directly buying it on an exchange is powerful. It feels like being at the source, tapping into the very creation of new coins. Yet, this excitement is almost always tempered by legitimate concerns: the staggering cost of equipment, the fear of an unbearable electricity bill, and the technical complexity that can feel overwhelming. This guide is designed to walk you through that reality, separating the golden opportunity from the fool's gold.

The Heartbeat of the Blockchain: What Mining Actually Does

To truly grasp mining, you first need to understand the problem it solves. Bitcoin is a decentralized system, meaning there's no central bank or authority to verify that you didn't just spend the same digital coin twice. This is known as the  double-spend problem.  The blockchain is the ingenious solution—a public, tamper-proof ledger that records every single transaction.

This is where miners step in. Their primary job isn't just to  create  new Bitcoin; it's to validate and confirm batches of transactions, called  blocks. They gather transactions from the network, compile them into a block, and then compete in a global computational race. The goal of this race is to solve a cryptographic puzzle—a kind of lottery where you guess a winning number. This process is known as Proof of Work.

The first miner to find the correct solution announces it to the rest of the network. The other participants then quickly verify that the answer is correct and that the transactions within the block are legitimate. Once a consensus is reached, this new block is added to the end of the blockchain, creating a permanent and unchangeable record. For this monumental effort of securing the network, the successful miner is rewarded with two things: a fixed amount of newly minted Bitcoin (known as the block reward, currently 3.125 BTC after the 2024 halving) and all the transaction fees associated with the transactions in that block.

This cycle repeats roughly every ten minutes, creating a rhythmic, predictable heartbeat for the Bitcoin network. It’s a beautifully designed system that incentivizes honesty; attempting to cheat the system would require an unimaginable amount of computational power, making it economically irrational.

The Practical Journey: How Would You Actually Mine Bitcoin?

So, you understand the theory. Now, what would it actually take to set up a mining operation in your home office, basement, or garage? Let's walk through the practical steps, acknowledging the hurdles you'd face from the very beginning.

Your first and most significant investment is in hardware. You can't mine Bitcoin profitably with a laptop or a gaming PC anymore; those days are long gone. The industry standard is now dominated by specialized machines called ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits). These are computers designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to solve the Bitcoin mining puzzle as efficiently as possible. Models like the Bitmain Antminer S19 Pro or the WhatsMiner M30S are common workhorses, but they come with a hefty price tag, often ranging from two to four thousand dollars each. They are also incredibly power-hungry and loud, sounding like a high-powered vacuum cleaner running 24/7.

You hear the big words all the time: decentralization, immutability, transparency. They are the promises of blockchain technology. But have you ever stopped to ask how it all actually works? What is the core invention that makes it all possible?

The answer is surprisingly simple, and it's called the public ledger. If that sounds like a boring accounting term, I get it. But trust me, by the end of this guide, you'll understand why this "boring" ledger is one of the most exciting innovations of our time. Let's break it down.

Imagine a Shared Digital Notebook

The easiest way to understand a public ledger in blockchain is to imagine a special kind of digital notebook. This notebook has three magic rules:

• It's Public: Everyone in the network gets an identical copy of this notebook. You can see every single entry ever made. There are no secrets.
• It's Permanent: Once an entry is written in the notebook, it can never be erased or changed. It’s written in permanent, digital ink.
• It's Run by Everyone: There is no single "boss" in charge of the notebook. The community of users collectively verifies and agrees on every new entry, making it virtually impossible for one person to add a fake transaction.

That shared, public, permanent notebook is the public ledger. It's a record of every transaction that has ever occurred on the network.

The Bitcoin Public Ledger: A Real-World Example

This isn't just a theory; it's real. The Bitcoin public ledger, for example, is a complete history of every Bitcoin transaction since the very first one in 2009.

You can actually go and view it yourself using a tool called a "block explorer." You won't see names, but you can see the digital addresses and the amounts transferred. This radical transparency is what builds trust in the system.

Why This Matters to You

Okay, so it's a transparent notebook. So what? What is the cryptocurrency ledger's real value to an investor or trader?

This is where it gets interesting. The features of the public ledger directly create the value proposition of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin:

• It Creates Trust Without a Middleman: You don't need to trust a bank or a government to verify a transaction because the public ledger is verified by thousands of participants. This "trustless" system is revolutionary.
• It Provides Unmatched Security: To change a transaction, a hacker wouldn't just need to alter your copy of the notebook; they'd have to simultaneously alter the copies of thousands of other users all over the world, which is practically impossible.
• It Guarantees Ownership: The ledger provides an undeniable, public proof of who owns what at any given time.

Your Gateway to This Technology

You don't need to be a computer scientist to interact with this technology. When you use a professional trading platform like BYDFi, you are using a secure and efficient gateway to buy and sell the very assets that are recorded on these powerful public ledgers.

You're not just buying a coin; you're buying a piece of a revolutionary system built on transparency and trust.

Bitcoin Signals a New Breakout Phase as Institutional Momentum Builds

Bitcoin is once again at the center of global financial discussions, as prominent fund managers and market strategists suggest the world’s largest cryptocurrency is preparing for another major upward move. After months of consolidation and volatility, growing alignment between US regulators, Wall Street institutions, and blockchain innovation is reshaping the long-term outlook for Bitcoin.

According to leading voices in traditional finance, the current market structure does not reflect weakness but rather a reset that could lay the foundation for a powerful rally extending through 2026.

Bill Miller IV:  Bitcoin Looks Ready to Move Again

Bill Miller IV, chief investment officer at Miller Value Partners, believes Bitcoin’s technical and structural indicators are lining up for a renewed breakout. In a recent interview with CNBC, Miller explained that Bitcoin’s price behavior shows signs of building strength rather than exhaustion.

He highlighted that Bitcoin has formed a higher base compared to earlier cycles, a key signal often associated with sustained bullish momentum. From his perspective, the market is transitioning from speculative trading toward long-term capital allocation, a shift that fundamentally changes how Bitcoin should be valued.

Miller also emphasized that short-term declines should not distract investors from the broader trend. Bitcoin’s volatility, he noted, has always been part of its identity, and historical data shows that the asset has never experienced two consecutive losing years.

Regulatory Signals Are Turning Into Tailwinds

One of the most significant changes supporting Bitcoin’s outlook is the evolving regulatory narrative in the United States. Statements from US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins acknowledging that capital markets are moving on-chain have been widely interpreted as a major shift in tone.

Rather than resisting blockchain innovation, regulators now appear more focused on integrating it into existing financial frameworks. This development reduces long-standing uncertainty and encourages institutional participation, which has historically been a major catalyst for large price movements in Bitcoin.

For many investors, regulatory clarity is not just a political issue but a signal that digital assets are becoming a permanent part of the global financial system.

Wall Street’s Deepening Commitment to Blockchain

Beyond regulation, Wall Street’s actions speak louder than words. Financial giants such as JPMorgan and other major institutions continue to build blockchain-based systems for payments, settlements, and tokenized assets.

This growing infrastructure suggests that Bitcoin and blockchain technology are no longer experimental tools but foundational components of future finance. As traditional financial firms allocate resources, talent, and capital to on-chain solutions, Bitcoin benefits from increased legitimacy and long-term demand.

According to Miller, this convergence of technology and finance represents a  whole new ballgame  compared to previous crypto cycles driven primarily by retail speculation.

Why the Recent Pullback Isn’t a Red Flag

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading near $93,700, roughly 25% below its all-time high of $126,080 reached in October. While this decline may appear significant on the surface, many analysts argue it is a healthy correction rather than a sign of structural weakness.

Zooming out, Bitcoin remains up year-to-date and continues to outperform most traditional assets over longer timeframes. Market observers point out that corrections often reset excessive leverage, making future rallies more sustainable and less fragile.

Tom Lee, chief investment officer at Fundstrat Capital, described the late-2025 market shock as a necessary reset that cleared unhealthy leverage from the system, allowing Bitcoin to enter 2026 in a stronger position.

Multiple Scenarios for Bitcoin’s Price in 2026