Dunstan Teo

Chief Consultant, KRYPTOIA

Does blockchain technology protect copyright reliably?

It does, provided the law in that jurisdiction agrees that smart contracts are a form of contract. If not, it would be community regulation and how the community would deal with a perpetrator.

Is cryptocurrency still a smart investment?

Being a Bitcoin maximalist, I truly believe in bitcoin, not BCHabc or BCHsv. As for the other cryptocurrencies, platform currencies with real use cases and communities which are using those coins as forms of gas are good investments. As with every bear market, people start losing faith. Have they noticed that they themselves are the cause of bear markets by shilling every coin to the moon instead of allowing the coins to slowly gain real value and credibility? Sometimes, it is a matter of what they truly believe in. If they believe in fiat, which many of them invest to gain cryptocurrencies, then cryptocurrencies would not be such a good investment for unskilled traders. If they believe in the vision and the tech, then they should form the support and value for the currencies they truly believe in. After all, fiat is worth as much as what they are told it is worth.

Which cryptocurrency is a must-have in the investment portfolio? 

Only Bitcoin.

Which are your favourite cryptocurrency exchanges?

I’m looking at DEXs rather than centralized exchanges as I believe that we should have our own wealth sovereignty. So none have fit the bill. We are building one at the moment for every major blockchain.

What will be the Bitcoin course in your opinion this year?

Currently now is a bull trap, April there will be a minor bull run. After that, the market would tank again.

Is there a cryptocurrency that has more promising positions than Bitcoin and Ethereum?

Stellar in it’s decentralized form with smart contract capabilities and privacy capabilities.

What do you think about the success of BitTorrent? Will this somehow influence the industry?

Firstly, Tron does not have the tech to support the number of transactions that BitTorrent currently generate.

2ndly, BitTorrent does not use the current Tron blockchain other than to raise funds, well I hope not after point one.

3rdly, BitTorrent is just one company. The industry should now be building, looking to improve UI/UX to ensure that the tech is mostly hidden as a layer and not make it so difficult for people to adopt the tech, looking to do proper business development and not just shill their tech and also look to protect the space rather than to shit on it. Those actions would truly influence the industry, not the success of any company.

Brad Nickel

Founder Blacknox Crypto Hodling Co

Does blockchain technology protect copyright reliably?

I am not really aware of blockchain plays in the copyright space, but it could eventually be an opportunity. The inherent problem with a copyright model on blockchain is the lack of recognition by governments if you choose to “file” copyright on the blockchain, but do not file it with a government entity. The good news though would be that the blockchain would be able to be proof of having created something on a specific date and time using blockchain.

Is cryptocurrency still a smart investment?

It is for me and millions of other people. I believe that cryptocurrencies will replace money as we know it now and that banks will continue to screw up and allow humans to harm other humans in the current system. The blockchain is based on a code, so it doesn’t have the freedom to manipulate. In the long term, it will prevail and so the investments made today should have value.

I am not a financial advisor though, so no one should take my advice on investing.

Which cryptocurrency is a must-have in the investment portfolio? 

Bitcoin is my must have. Everyone has to make their own decisions about what works for them. I actively trade a lot of cryptos, so I have involvement with a lot.

I highly recommend a great deal on the market right now and that is the Masternode coin called GoByte ($GBX). Masternodes are a way to print money and they provide incredible value. I am an advisor and investor in GoByte and I know what the team in planning and working on, so I am very excited by the prospects.

Which are your favourite cryptocurrency exchanges?

Binance for trading. I think that company is making all the right moves.
Coinbase for safety and security and for getting my cash out.

What will be the Bitcoin course in your opinion this year?

I think it will go up this year, but no one can predict anything. This is a volatile and dangerous market, so anything can happen, but I think that a bull market is very possible.

Is there a cryptocurrency that has more promising positions than Bitcoin and Ethereum?

There are a lot of great possibilities out there, but nothing has more potential to me than Bitcoin. The advent of the lightning network is going to change the usage types and the possibilities to create powerful applications on top of the network.

I do think that when Telegram launches their coin, all bets are off for what marketshare will look like. That is a network with hundreds of millions of users with a huge number of those involved in crypto. Telegram will give those users a platform for transactions and for making money. It is going to be a very powerful play if done correctly.

What do you think about the success of BitTorrent? Will this somehow influence the industry?

If they can leverage it properly. That project has a history of failed monetization and none of the crypt/blockchain based media projects have had any semblance of success outside of the crypto community. I think their built-in userbase gives them more potential for success, but I also worry about a project like Tron that already has a lot on its plate trying to also run a media company. I find that my clients in the crypto space often lack the business skills needed to succeed. I think Tron and BTT are great projects, but I am still not sure about whether they will succeed or not. BitTorrent though at least has a userbase to leverage.

Simon Cocking

Senior Editor at Irish Tech News, Editor in Chief at CryptoCoinNews, business mentor and advisor.

Does blockchain technology protect copyright reliably?

It definitely has the potential to do so. Therefore it is possible to give a qualified ‘yes’, and it offers a better solution than what we have currently.

Is cryptocurrency still a smart investment?

Yes, If you buy the right cryptocurrencies. Not all of them but many will die if they have no utility, network or large user base. It has to be something that needs tokenisation and offers value and a better way of doing things than what it is replacing. Investors also need to recognise that they need to be in for the long game, and not merely looking to pump and dump – down that path lies many burned investors.

Which cryptocurrency is a must-have in the investment portfolio? 

Ha ha. Bitcoin will hold it’s value, every time it falls then big investors look to buy up more – so as a long term play it is looking good for 2020, especially as the next mining halving looms in May 2020. For the other top ten tokens, we are still in a period of format wars for many of them. Some are going to do very well, and some are going to fade in value, depending on who manages and grows their network and utility the best over the next 6 – 9 months and beyond. Chose the right ones here and you will be looking very smart in 12 months time.

Which are your favourite cryptocurrency exchanges?

That really depends where you are based in the world and what you are trying to buy and sell, horses for courses. If the UX is good, the funds don’t get locked up, the wallets don’t get raided, and the CEO doesn’t die holding the sole password, then these are better exchanges to work with. I do have some I like for sure but there are a lot out there and we will see who survives over the next year and beyond.

What will be the Bitcoin course in your opinion this year?

As mentioned above, Bitcoin is currently holding fairly stable. If too much gets sold, then others will step in and buy. If it rises too high, too fast, then bigger holders will offload to capitalise on profits made. Overall it is looking like it will make a steady, and much more gradual rise, not like 2017 levels, but a more mature, and hopefully less volatile upward progression.

Is there a cryptocurrency that has more promising positions than Bitcoin and Ethereum?

Yes, for sure. The challenge will if they achieve network growth and user usage. Many cryptos do a lot of things better than BTC & ETH, the challenge is whether they can achieve adoption and utility.

What do you think about the success of BitTorrent? Will this somehow influence the industry?

Am currently chatting with Justin Sun, it is an exciting time for them. They have done well for sure, the question & challenge is now what they do with the funds they have raised. They’d like to influence the industry for sure – but as with all the other cryptos we have been discussing above, they will still need to achieve usage of their proposed token by a wide and active community for the token/coin to have value.

Roberto Capodieci

Advisor, Blockchain Tech Expert

Does blockchain technology protect copyright reliably?

Blockchain is a technology, Reliability of the implementation is related to the design of the implementation itself. It is like if someones asks: “Does database technology provides data search reliably?”. Yes, but it all depends on the way the database is structures, queries are run, and all the software around it is coded. Same thing applies for blockchain technology implementations. Surely a blockchain that offers immutable data entry is a great tool for copyrights management.

Is cryptocurrency still a smart investment?

I am not a financial advisor, and I wish I had an answer to this question for my own investments 🙂

When I hear someone willing to invest in crypto I just tell them to never put money that they are not ready to lose. I see it like a trip to Las Vegas: it can be fun, but the majority of people go home broke.

Which cryptocurrency is a must-have in the investment portfolio? 

Again, I am not a financial advisor, thus I am not entitled to offer investment suggestions. It is actually illegal to do so without a proper license. All I can say is to understand who is behind the project of a crypto, and see how many speculators are around doing pump and dump to make money out of the inexperienced traders.

Which are your favourite cryptocurrency exchanges?

Exchanges (those that convert FIAT to crypto and vice versa) are very much located where the user is: per say, if I live in China I need a local company and if I live in Holland I need a local exchange, as most exchanges don’t serve international clients and accept only local bank transfers. As I live in Indonesia I find indodax.com to be the most reliable and efficient exchange.

What will be the Bitcoin course in your opinion this year?

I have no opinions on how Bitcoin will do. I just hope it will go back up! I am a technology expert, not a finance (or crypto finance) expert. I can say that technology wise Bitcoin’s blockchain is behind compared to many of the new blockchain technologies that are coming out now. Yet is the most popular cryptocurrency and this is here to stay. Let’s consider that the Internet Protocol is not so good, yet is a standard and it is a very old technology still in use. Will Bitcoin upgrade its blockchain to something better and more efficient? Who knows, I doubt it will. Yet Bitcoin is a brand, not the technology behind it, so it may transact to a better technology without losing the brand, as it has done a few times creating orphans such as Bitcoin Cash, and more recently all the various forks.

Is there a cryptocurrency that has more promising positions than Bitcoin and Ethereum?

Cryptocurrencies are a matter of finance and manipulators. If we are talking about technology, I can say Yes! Keep an eye on BlockchainZoo.com, as we will release toward the end of 2019 the beta of an evolution of blockchain. A step ahead from Ethereum, and still many steps behind to how the decentralized Internet will be in 10 years!

What do you think about the success of BitTorrent? Will this somehow influence the industry?

BitTorrent is an application that uses the Torrent protocol. One of the first great applications using a P2P network to share files. While many don’t see it, Torrent technology is the parent or grandparent of Blockchain technology. The premises are very similar, and blockchain is a great evolution allowing many to collaborate on the updates of a single database. For the people interested in decentralized systems, Torrent has been a great inspiration, and is right in forums talking about P2P that I been introduced to Blockchain back in 2009-2010!