Is this sudden price hike and change in features a marketing ploy in anticipation of a Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday sale that will bring the prices back down to where they were 48 hours ago?

Nevada, Have you tried the casino's?

I found out that Quicken Loans was having a "cyber monday deal" that offered identical interest and terms as the credit union deal I was working on, but offered closing costs that were about $2k lower.  

The only similarity I see is BitCoin was an investment vehicle which until recently was the domain of the professionals who understood it well but now its become a mass market casino where everyone with $200 in his pocket thinks he can partake and make it big.

Hope you have a great Monday after Thanksgiving without ... spending a lot on Cyber Monday shopping

I got the course for cheap through a cyber monday deal and figured even if I didnt receive the license, the knowledge gained will be valuable in the long run.

I believe so, DT will leave the United States like a busted Atlantic City Casino.

In Atlantic County, there's more and more talks about jobs coming back into AC due to Hard Rock Casino and Ocean Resorts (previously Revel) opening this year.

By the way, what's your opinion on the Everett Real Estate prices now that the casino is coming in?

I've been told there are legal battles between the casinos and AirBnB and that could last quite a while before settled.