Tour of Northern Thailand

In this video, I take you on a tour of the Chiang Rai province of Thailand while discussing Bitcoin, its adoption, regulation and outlook for 2019. We meet a long neck hill tribe and introduce them to Bitcoin. We eat live animals and go to an amazing festival to get rid of bad luck and help the Bitcoin Bull run start in 2019.

I have been in Northern Thailand for the last couple of weeks and it is going to be very hard to leave. This region is bathed in sunshine at this time of the year with daytime temperatures of 25-30 degrees with hardly any humidity. Nice cool evenings of 12-20 degrees making it the perfect place to enjoy long days and a beer by the river at night. There is so much to do and every day has been filled with tranquillity, colour and always something unexpected.

One of the Hardforking team has opened a guest house here called Satoshi House. If you’re interested in Bitcoin or want to come and work on Bitcoin projects get in touch with him.

Apologies for any offensive content

Religion played a major part in the evolution of monetary systems then the state took this role. In Bitcoin, we have a monetary system separate from the state and I think time will show us the massive benefits this will offer. We are one planet, one people and the time is coming for a global currency.

As far as eating live animals goes, I do apologise for any offence and to the Shrimp. It is not something I will be doing again.

Long Neck Hill Tribe and Bitcoin Adoption

It took me a while to educate family and friends on what Bitcoin is and it might be a while before remote communities understand it and use it. One-third of this planet has no bank account. In Bitcoin and a few other cryptocurrencies, we have real hope of banking these unbanked people. Smartphones are all that is needed from a hardware perspective. With the proliferation of these, I see a real application for Bitcoin, especially in the Third world. 80% of Africans have smartphones and in many countries, the solution to the banking issue is solved by things like mobile minutes being used as a unit of exchange. This is happening in Kenya for example. This is, however, a centralised system with many points of failure. I think we will see Bitcoin step into this space sooner rather than later.

Bitcoin Outlook for 2019

Bitcoin in 2018 has been a year for the bears. The end of 2017 was a crazy bull run of retail investment. Many investors got FOMO, the fear of missing out, and it has been a tough year for them if they are not HODLERS. I suspect many will not come back to Bitcoin for a good while.

I see 2019 as the year of institutional adoption. This is underway already and as the regulation around on-ramps, exchanges etc, increases the ability for large institutions to get a foothold in this new asset class, large Bitcoin purchases with only grow. These are shrewd investors who understand this space much better than they did a year ago. I think the current price level and further likely drops will see them taking significant positions. They didn’t get as rich as they are by buying assets at the top of the market. They always know when to buy and I just hope the retail investor doesn’t get burnt twice by buying in at the top of the market again. I think the next Bull run is some time off, maybe the end of 2019 and will be driven by institutional players first then retail investment.

Learn Bitcoin Now

For anyone contemplating entering this market, now is the time to learn and learn fast. Know why Bitcoin is different from the other cryptocurrencies, know what the different versions of Bitcoin are all about. Hardforking is a Bitcoin site, always has been and always will be. We have stayed away from the ICO boom and from promoting projects we did not believe in. I have been harsh on many media outlets as they are just scammers promoting shit coins for payoffs, changing their position on many things including Bitcoin to suit the highest payer. This is also true of many YouTubers. Go back and look at the commentary of media channels and the crap they have pushed on people and find trusted sources to help you learn in 2019. There is a wealth of information in our resource tab and throughout the website so be sure to check out our content.

The team at Hardforking wishes you and your family’s peace and love for 2019. We will stay committed to bringing you Bitcoin content that informs and entertains. Happy New Year!