Looking back at my investments towards the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018, I would probably be a lot more cautious. Dived in a bit quick and took some unnecessary risks. Not saying I regret them, just that I should have been more patient and waited to see where the market was moving. This has been especially true with ICOs, almost all of them have been listing on exchanges at below their ICO price.

A perfect solution for any crypto savvy traveller, the opportunity to change unused holiday currency into Bitcoin on your way home. Hopefully we'll see these installed in airports worldwide in the next year or two, I'd definitely use it anyway.

https://the Url is blocked due to spam #Cpspam/news/netherland-airport-installed-bitcoin-atm/

Could even pay for the next holiday if all goes according to plan 

I was convinced to get involved in crypto over a few drinks. Since then, I have probably brought in another 4 or 5 people, simply by having a conversation. Obviously they weren't blindly following me, but pleased that I at least persuaded them to investigate the opportunity further. Not talking about random strangers, just friends and family. Hasn't exactly been plain sailing, especially as a couple of them made their first purchases in February, but nobody has dropped out yet.

Tournament Bets:

To make it interesting, I'll allocate a 1 BTC starting pot with 0.02 BTC per bet (unless stated otherwise) and keep a running total throughout the tournament. No guarantees on winners unfortunately, but hopefully can have a bit of fun throughout the tournament.

Open:Winner:Loser

No. of completed bets: 108
No. of winning bets: 40
No. of non runners (stake returned): 1
No. of losing bets: 67

Status of completed match bets: 2.16 BTC staked - 4.0054 BTC returns = 1.8454 BTC current profit

I'll edit the post daily as the tournament progresses, both with new bets and with the result of any completed bets. Feel free to add your own predictions.

1. Colombia to win Group H on nitrogensports.eu at 2.37

2. Egypt total tournament goals over 3.5 on nitrogensports.eu at 2.066

And a prediction for the opening game.

Thursday 14th June - Russia v Saudi Arabia

3. Traditionally the first game of the World Cup is a low scoring one, so I'm going for under 2.25 goals on cloudbet.com at 1.95.

Edit 1:

Friday 15th June - Egypt v Uruguay

4. Over 2.5 goals and both teams to score on sportsbet.io at 3.10

Friday 15th June - Morocco v Iran

5. Morocco over 1.5 goals on sportsbet.io at 2.90

Friday 15th June - Portugal v Spain

6. Both teams to score on sportsbet.io at 2.10 (2.02 on cloudbet.com)

Random Double

7. Spain & Portugal to advance from Group Stages (1.40) & Panama to finish bottom of Group G (1.50) on sportsbet.io at 2.10

Edit 2:

After Day 1 and Day 2 done it's 1 from 4, but think I'm warming up. Looking ahead to Day 3, mostly goal scorers. Was looking at France win and both teams to score at 2.95, but think Australia might struggle to make an impact in their first game (no doubt I'll be proven wrong).

Saturday 16th June - France v Australia

8. Griezmann to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 1.98

Saturday 16th June - Argentina v Iceland

9. Messi to score first on sportsbet.io at 3.45

Saturday 16th June - Peru v Denmark

10. Eriksen to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 3.39

Saturday 16th June - Croatia v Nigeria

11. BTTS on sportsbet.io at 2.13

Edit 3:

Well it's not getting any better, should have stuck with the France win and both teams to score, at least would have got a better return on the one winning bet. Only two winners from eight so far, anyway, onto Day 4.

Sunday 17th June - Costa Rica v Serbia

12. Serbia to win on cloudbet.com at 1.85

Sunday 17th June - Germany v Mexico

13. Germany to win and over 2.5 match goals on sportsbet.io at 2.03

Sunday 17th June - Brazil v Switzerland

14. Brazil to score in both halves on sportsbet.io at 2.24

Edit 4:

Another tough day, with both Germany and Brazil failing to live up to pre-tournament favourite status. First round of games almost finished, so trying to do a bit of catching up.

Monday 18th June - Sweden v South Korea

15. Sweden to score over 0.5 goals in first half on sportsbet.io at 2.24

Monday 18th June - Belgium v Panama

16. 2nd half total goals over 1.5 on sportsbet.io at 1.95

Monday 18th June - Tunisia v England

17. Over 9.5 total corners on cloudbet.com at 1.99

18. England over 1.75 total goals on cloudbet.com at 2.07

19. Alli anytime goalscorer on sportsbet.io at 2.80

Edit 5:

Trying to recoup some losses with an outside bet on the Russia v Egypt game, think Egypt will be more adventurous knowing that a loss will likely send them home.

Tuesday 19th June - Colombia v Japan

20. Colombia over 1.5 total goals on sportsbet.io at 2.07

Tuesday 19th June - Poland v Senegal

21. Over 2.5 total goals and BTTS on sportsbet.io at 2.75

Tuesday 19th June - Russia v Egypt

22. BTTS in second half on sportsbet.io at 4.40

Edit 6:

Finally a decent selection and managed to recover some losses, second half goals seem to be the winning combination so far. According to https://www.foxsports.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/stats there were almost twice as many goals scored in the second half compared to the first (15-27). Second round of games could be different though, as teams that lost in the first round need to be more attack minded, as opposed to the first round when not losing is a decent result...

Wednesday 20th June - Portugal v Morocco

23. Over 3.5 total match goals on cloudbet.com at 3.88

Wednesday 20th June - Uruguay v Saudi Arabia

24. Uruguay to win both halves on sportsbet.io at 2.28

Wednesday 20th June - Iran v Spain

25. Spain 2nd half goals over 1.5 on sportsbet.io at 2.42

Edit 7:

Not an impressive day yesterday, results all went as expected, but goals were in short supply. Some interesting bets for Day 7 though, hoping for more goals as the prices on Argentina and France seem decent. Going to throw in a double.

Thursday 21st June - Denmark v Australia

26. Tim Cahill to score anytime on sportsbet.io at 4.10 - NON RUNNER

Thursday 21st June - France v Peru

27. France total goals over 1.75 on cloudbet.com at 2.29

Thursday 21st June - Argentina v Croatia

28. Argentina total goals over 1.5 on sportsbet.io at 2.31

Thursday 21st June - Argentina v Croatia/France v Peru

29. Argentina total goals over 1.25 & France total goals over 1.75 on cloudbet.com at 4.58

Edit 8:

Another shocking day today, so back to the drawing board once again. The last time Brazil played Costa Rica in the World Cup they beat them 5-0, and I'm expecting much of the same tomorrow, but leaving a bit of breathing room just in case Costa Rica sneak one past them.

Friday 22nd June - Brazil v Costa Rica

30. Total match goals over 3.5 on sportsbet.io at 3.30

Friday 22nd June - Nigeria v Iceland

31. Iceland 2nd half goals over 0.5 on sportsbet.io at 2.05

Friday 22nd June - Serbia v Switzerland

32. First half highest scoring on sportsbet.io at 3.40

Edit 9:

This World Cup must be a dream for the bookies, can't be the only one on a losing streak. Anyway, trying to get a bit back today. Looking forward to the last round of group games when everyone knows what they need to progress, everyone seems to be playing it safe at the moment.

Saturday 23rd June - Belgium v Tunisia

33. Hazard to score any time on cloudbet.com at 2.60

Saturday 23rd June - South Korea v Mexico

34. Son Heung Min to score any time on cloudbet.com at 6.37 (sportsbet.io only 4.70)

Saturday 23rd June - Germany v Sweden

35. Over 2.5 match goals and BTTS on sportsbet.io at 2.27

Edit 10:

Finally a day that went according to plan, even though it took two injury time goals to bring it in. On to another one, and going for a few on the England game. Hoping for a big win, and John Stones scoring a header from a corner for the outside bet.

Sunday 24th June - England v Panama

36. England total goals 3+ on cloudbet.com at 2.42

37. England to win both halves on sportsbet.io at 2.60

38. Asian Handicap England -1.75 on cloudbet.com at 2.07

39. John Stones to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 14.5

Sunday 24th June - Japan v Senegal

40. Sadio Mane to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 3.52

Sunday 24th June - Poland v Colombia

41. Colombia to win and BTTS on cloudbet.com at 4.79

Edit 11:

Another good day, mainly thanks to John Stones grabbing a goal; could've been better if England had held off the gas in the first half and spread their goals out a bit more - but what to do, I'll take it, in the green for the first time since Day 1.

Monday 25th June - Saudi Arabia v Egypt

42. Egypt total goals over 1.5 on cloudbet.com at 2.02

Monday 25th June - Uruguay v Russia

43. Suarez to score first on sportsbet.io at 5.60

Monday 25th June - Iran v Portugal

44. Portugal highest scoring half - first half - on sportsbet.io at 3.40

Monday 25th June - Spain v Morocco

45. Total bookings over 3.5 on sportsbet.io at 2.60

Edit 12:

Shame Salah couldn't bring it home with a hat trick, would've added another couple of winners. Ah well, not complaining, goal scorers are padding the pot nicely, so going to mostly stick with that for today. Don't want to jinx it, but I'm on a roll   Not the most sensible of bets, but I like a bit of history, so going to give Tim Cahill another chance to score at his 4th World Cup in a row too. If he doesn't play, it's money back, and if he does...

Tuesday 26th June - Australia v Peru

46. Tim Cahill to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 4.71

Tuesday 26th June - France v Denmark

47. Christian Eriksen to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 5.10

Tuesday 26th June - Iceland v Croatia

48. Gylfi Sigurdsson to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 4.99

Tuesday 26th June - Nigeria v Argentina

49. Penalty to be awarded on cloudbet.com at 2.78

Edit 13:

Wasted bet on the Cahill score, but sticking to penalties and/or penalty takers proved to be profitable once again. Should have known that Denmark and France would be a bore draw, but wasn't expecting it to be quite as boring as it was. Onto the penultimate day of the Group Stages and I doubt there'll be any bore draws in these 4 games, could well see Germany or Brazil on an early flight home unless they follow Argentina's example.

Wednesday 27th June - Republic of Korea v Germany

50. Mesut Ozil to score anytime on sportsbet.io at 2.38

Wednesday 27th June - Mexico v Sweden

51. Granqvist to score anytime on sportsbet.io at 7.80

Wednesday 27th June - Serbia v Brazil

52. Coutinho to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 3.40

Wednesday 27th June - Switzerland v Costa Rica

53. Xhaka to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 12.4

Edit 14:

So Germany are heading home for an early bath, and Brazil made relatively easy work of Serbia. I'll take the win on Granqvist scoring a penalty, more than covered the others. Last day of the Group Stages on Friday and it's a bit tough to spot winners. Senegal v Colombia looks to be the match to watch, could be a few goals in that one.

Thursday 28th June - Japan v Poland

54. Lewandowski to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 2.56

Thursday 28th June - Senegal v Colombia

55. Colombia win and over 3.5 total goals on sportsbet.io at 5.00

Thursday 28th June - England v Belgium

56. Over 2.5 total goals on sportsbet.io at 2.31

Thursday 28th June - Panama v Tunisia

57.  Khazri to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 3.02

Edit 15:

A few surprise entrants into the last 16, but no real shockers.  Reckon about 6 of 8 are 'predictable', so going to go for a couple of bets before I move onto specific games. Europe are dominating the last 16 but I don't see the same picture once we get to the quarter finals. First day of the last 16 and I think South America will get a clean sweep. France still not impressed me and Portugal relying on Ronaldo too much. Looking forward to a couple of high scoring games.

58. Uruguay, Spain & Croatia all to win on sportsbet.io at 8.62

59. England, Brazil & Belgium all to win on sportsbet.io at 4.53

Saturday 30th June - France v Argentina

60. Over 2.5 match goals and BTTS on sportsbet.io at 2.80

61. Double chance Argentina/Draw and BTTS on sportsbet.io at 3.20

Saturday 30th June - Uruguay v Portugal

62. Uruguay win and BTTS on cloudbet.com at 7.59

63. Over 3.5 match goals on sportsbet.io at 5.80

Edit 16:

Two out of four wasn't bad, and a decent return especially on the Uruguay win. Shame to see Messi and Ronaldo heading home on the same day, but to be honest, they were both playing in teams that didn't perform. France stepped it up a gear and, in my opinion, have established themselves as one of the favourites for the tournament. Onto the second day of the last 16 and the hosts are in action today, unfortunately for them I think they'll be going 'home' too. At least they won't have to go far.

Sunday 1st July - Spain v Russia

64. Spain win and BTTS on cloudbet.com at 3.89

65. Cheryshev to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 8.11

Sunday 1st July - Croatia v Denmark

66. Rakitic to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 7.70

67. Croatia v Denmark full time result - draw - on cloudbet.com at 3.46

Edit 17:

Missed today's games, didn't get time to get on before they started. Thinking I probably would've lost on the Brazil game as I would've taken Mexico to score at least one, but might've snatched a winner on the Belgium game with the high score. Anyway, it's all irrelevant, onto Tuesday's games. A decent England win should bring in a few winners and that's my call.

Tuesday 3rd July - Sweden v Switzerland

68. Rodriguez to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 8.85

69. Sweden draw no bet on cloudbet.com at 2.06

Tuesday 3rd July - Colombia v England

70. Maguire to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 20.60

71. Harry Kane to score first on cloudbet.com at 4.48

72. England total goals over 1.5 on sportsbet.io at 2.50

73. England to win on cloudbet.com on cloudbet.com at 2.13

Edit 18:

Couple of days break and it's back on for the quarter finals. Had a mixed bag of results the last couple of game days, so looking for a good return over the weekend. The first two games look like being absolute crackers, so going to go mainly for goals and sneaking in some decent value long shots.

Friday 6th July - Uruguay v France

74. BTTS on cloudbet.com at 2.34

75. Over 2.5 goals and BTTS on sportsbet.io at 3.05

76. Griezmann to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 3.00

Friday 6th July - Brazil v Belgium

77. Philippe Coutinho to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 4.09

78. Over 3.5 total goals on sportsbet.io at 3.50

79. Kompany to score anytime on sportsbet.io at 17.00

80. Over 2.5 goals and BTTS on sportsbet.io at 2.17

Edit 19:

Disappointing one yesterday, plenty of close calls for some good returns, but none of them came through. Kompany almost grabbed a goal, Uruguay should have scored, Brazil had more chances to put another goal away in the second half than I think Belgium have had in the entire tournament. Anyway, onto the second quarter final day, and I'll be backing England and Croatia to join Belgium and France.

Saturday 7th July - Sweden v England

81. England total goals over 1.5 on sportsbet.io at 2.39

82. Correct score Sweden 0 England 2 on cloudbet.com at 7.81

83. Harry Maguire to score anytime on sportsbet.io at 17.00

84. Total corners over 9.5 on cloudbet.com at 1.94

85. Harry Kane to score first on cloudbet.com at 3.91

Saturday 7th July - Russia v Croatia

86. Will there be a red card - yes on sportsbet.io at 5.00

87. Rakitic to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 6.62

88. Croatia corner handicap -1.5 on sportsbet.io at 2.19

Edit 20:

Managed to get some nice winners on the England game, defenders coming up for set pieces has netted me a few throughout the World Cup, and Maguire didn't disappoint. Both semi finals are very tough to call for winners, but starting with tonight's game.

Tuesday 10th July - France v Belgium

89. Over 2.5 total goals on sportsbet.io at 2.10

90. Griezmann to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 2.85

91. France over 1.5 total goals on sportsbet.io at 2.40

92. Kompany to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 20.00

Edit 21:

Not the classic I was hoping for, although the result I expected. One goal proved the difference in a tight game between two evenly matched sides. Defenders were the key, with France's back line limiting Belgium to mostly half chances. Griezmann should have put his chance away, which would've brought in two of the bets, but unfortunately it wasn't to be. Now England v Croatia to see who will join France in the final on Sunday. England should be strong enough to tie it up, but a moment of magic from one of Croatia's talented midfield could see Croatia making life a bit difficult.

Wednesday 11th July - England v Croatia

93. England to win on cloudbet.com at 2.34

94. England over 1.5 total goals on sportsbet.io at 2.60

95. England win and over 2.5 goals on sportsbet.io at 4.10

96. Harry Kane to score first on cloudbet.com at 4.30

97. England to score in both halves on sportsbet.io at 4.10

Edit 22:

Shocking run on the two semi finals with not one winner, England decided not to show up after 45 minutes and it basically killed any chance of them getting to the final or any bet getting a return. Two games left to increase the pot, so it's onto England v Belgium on Saturday. Bookmakers are wise to the fact that the 3rd place play off normally sees plenty of goals, so a bit tougher to find a winner there too. Not expecting to win the correct score bet, more of an optimistic (stupid?) punt.

Saturday 14th July - England v Belgium

98. Over 3.5 total goals on cloudbet.com at 2.56

99. Correct score Belgium 2 England 3 on cloudbet.com at 25.9

100. England total goals over 1.5 on sportsbet.io at 2.15

101. Sterling to score anytime on sportsbet.io at 3.55

102. England to win the most corners on sportsbet.io at 2.28

Edit 23:

Finally managed to sneak a winner, but another disappointing display by England put the rest out with the trash. One more game to go to decide who becomes the new World Champions and how much my tournament profit will be. I'd be happy with a small profit on the final day, but going to go for a couple of long shots to boost the pot too, can't resist it. Think it might buck the trend of low scoring finals, so goals are once again the inspiration.

Sunday 15th July - France v Croatia

103. Over 2.5 total goals on cloudbet.com at 2.83

104. France total goals over 1.5 on sportsbet.io at 2.40

105. France win and BTTS on cloudbet.com at 5.31

106. Griezmann to score first on cloudbet.com at 5.29

107. Varane to score anytime on cloudbet.com at 10.60

108. BTTS in first half on cloudbet.com at 7.11

Edit 24:

Well at least it finished on a high after the semi finals took an unfortunate chunk out of the overall profit. One of the best World Cup Finals in recent years, and as expected goals did indeed prove to be the winning ticket. Over 92 units profit after 108 bets in 64 games. Not a bad return for a month's 'work'.

Sportyco are running a World Cup predictor competition. Sign up before June 13th and get a 500 point headstart. Get points by predicting results and correct scores. Bit of fun and the most accurate 'predictors' can win prizes of SPF tokens. Free to enter, just need to register your email to start. Sign up using the below link.

https://game.sportyco.io/r/5b1f9a974255d/

A credit ecosystem for trusted financial transactions. Build up personal ratings, based on reliable and trustworthy behaviour within a social group. Every action on the platform reflects on the rating. Aimed at three different social groups - friends, relatives and acquaintances, co-workers, and people associated with one institution, e.g. university. 5% of tokens available during the pre-ICO with a discount of 50%. Beta version of the app already in operation, access available via the website.

https://lendsbay.io/

Many projects simply fail to collect their desired funds during the initial period, especially since the market dropped a few months ago. Extending the ICO and/or bounty is unfortunately a necessary evil, I would rather they managed to raise the money required to move ahead with the project, as it is more likely to be a success and the value has a better chance of holding/increasing. Not much point in getting tokens on time if they're worth nothing when they hit the exchanges. It does mean that shares are usually diluted though, as more people join the bounty campaign. Nothing much you can do about it, I just try and be as selective as I can with choosing bounties to participate in, but it's never guaranteed.

Adoption is essential in my opinion, at the very least within the sphere that it operates, otherwise how can it be used as a viable currency? Looking back at the origins of crypto, their vision was about decentralization and not exclusivity. The risk will always be there that the big institutions (or even big individuals) come in and end up controlling a majority share, basically defeating the objective, but without adoption currency is basically useless. I'm looking forward to more decentralized exchanges taking a bigger share of the market, the current system is too heavily biased towards the main exchanges, but that's another conversation altogether.