The price of steem has been going up a lot recently as well as the price of many other altcoins and bitcoin. Here are just a few of my thoughts about the key information that I’ve heard about that could be of interest. This is not any kind of investment advice and some of the information that I’ve come across may not be correct because is has been filtered through my memory from reading a variety of sources. April 26, 2018

I’m happy today, sunlight reflects off my art objects and rocks, f/2.4 1/579 4.3mm ISO50 – click for viewing full screen

* Bitcoin was recently declared permissible under Sharia Law and the price went up right afterward. * India and Pakistan appear to be restricting trading through central bank policies. * Bitcoin block reward is having sometime soon, (in May?) * A lot of large conferences are happening worldwide in Bitcoin and Altcoin investment. * US tax season over, potentially easing selling pressure. * Bitcoin mining is becoming restricted in some areas because of the high use of power. A couple key points to ponder: ## Restricting Bitcoin Mining I doubt everyone is going to stop mining Bitcoin at once and leave the next block seeming impossible to solve. I doubt government agents are going to be raiding Bitcoin mining farms, seizing computers and torching routers, but that would make a good movie, lol. Using ‘free’ electricity to mine bitcoins is harmful in that it drives the price up for everyone to the point where suppliers will need to charge more. For example, free use of electricity in dormitories for bitcoin mining will just drive the cost of everyone’s housing up. If bitcoin mining is restricted through legislation or other economic disincentives the difficulty should adjust downward for mining. I don’t think this will cause much of an issue but we may see a trend for people who are interested in mining to drift into collection proof of stake coins. Steemit is in a unique position to allow people to invest in steem without the need for lots of electricity, always connected high speed Internet, esoteric Bitcoin mining hardware, or a large cash investment. As bitcoin mining becomes more restricted, steem and other altcoins prices may increase. ## Money Laundering One of the big ticket items that could derail cryptocurrency is excessive government legislation designed to prevent money laundering. India and Pakistan have recently been using this issue to justify shutting off banking support for crypto trading. There are a lot of issues to consider here - certainly organized crime laundering cash and printing up counterfeit bills has been an age old problem. Privacy oriented cryptocurrencies such as Monero and BitcoinDark, could be some of the first things on the chopping block if world governments get together with serious intent on cutting down on things like tax evasion and other unsavory behaviors. On the opposite end of the spectrum is something like Steemit, where transactions are publicly viewed. Anyone can view a history of how steem or sbd was moved through the blockchain or postings were made that generated rewards. This can help prove that the funds were not gained through illegal means and provide some way of showing why the government should not take all the funds away. ## Theft or loss of cryptocurrency As coins become more valuable, theft or loss becomes more of an issue. With cryptocurrency, “Your the bank,” and large sums of coins can become a target for theft. With most cryptocurrency, the coins can be moved immediately into other wallets or exchanges where they are very difficult to trace. With enough information on someone, any on-line backup wallet files can be discovered and potentially broken into. There have even been cases of people being robbed at gunpoint to get cryptocurrency. Coins with a lot of technical computing solutions built into the blockchain like Ethereum could be subject to bugs in the code that are exploited by devious hackers. I think the fact that steem power can not be quickly moved and changed into some other cryptocurrency makes it less of a target for theft. Even if someone discovered your password and locked you out of your Steemit account, you should be able to recover your account before they are able to move your funds. This is provided that you know your original password. *** Thanks for reading! I always value your support and comments. The picture was taken by me with my Galaxy S9+.