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US Begins Regulating BitCoin, Will Apply "Money Laundering" Rules To Virtual Transactions
Last November, in an act of sheer monetary desperation, the ECB issued an exhaustive, and quite ridiculous, pamphlet titled "Virtual Currency Schemes" in which it mocked and warned about the "ponziness" of such electronic currencies as BitCoin. Why a central bank would stoop so "low" to even acknowledge what no "self-respecting" (sic) PhD-clad economist would even discuss, drunk and slurring, at cocktail parties, remains a mystery to this day. However, that it did so over fears the official artificial currency of the insolvent continent, the EUR, may be becoming even more "ponzi" than the BitCoins the ECB was warning about, was clear to everyone involved who saw right through the cheap propaganda attempt. Feel free to ask any Cypriot if they would now rather have their money in locked up Euros, or in "ponzi" yet freely transferable, unregulated BitCoins.
For the answer, we present the chart showing the price of BitCoin in EUR terms since the issuance of the ECB's paper:
Therein, sadly, lies the rub.
As central banks have been able to manipulate the price of precious metals for decades, using a countless plethora of blatant and not so blatant trading techniques, whether involving "banging the close", abusing the London AM fix, rehypothecating and leasing out claims on gold to short and re-short the underlying, creating paper gold exposure out of thin air with which to suppress deliverable prices, or simply engaging in any other heretofore unknown illegal activity, the parabolic surge in gold and silver has, at least for the time being - and especially since the infamous, and demoralizing May 1, 2011 silver smackdown - lost its mojo.
But while precious metals have been subject to price manipulation by the legacy establishment, even if ultimately the actual physical currency equivalent asset, its "value" naively expressed in some paper currency, may be in the possession of the beholder, to date no price suppression or regulation schemes of virtual currencies existed.
It was thus only a matter of time before the same establishment was forced to make sure that money leaving the traditional M0/M1/M2/M3 would not go into alternative electronic currency venues, but would instead be used to accelerate the velocity of the money used by the legacy, and quite terminal, monetary system.
After all, what if not pushing savers to spend, spend, spend and thus boost the money in circulation, was the fundamental purpose of the recent collapse in faith in savings held with European banks?
So, as we had long expected, the time when the global Keynesian status quo refocused its attention from paper gold and silver prices, to such "virtual" currencies as BitCoin has finally arrived.
The WSJ reports that, "the U.S. is applying money-laundering rules to "virtual currencies," amid growing concern that new forms of cash bought on the Internet are being used to fund illicit activities. The move means that firms that issue or exchange the increasingly popular online cash will now be regulated in a similar manner as traditional money-order providers such as Western Union Co. They would have new bookkeeping requirements and mandatory reporting for transactions of more than $10,000. Moreover, firms that receive legal tender in exchange for online currencies or anyone conducting a transaction on someone else's behalf would be subject to new scrutiny, said proponents of Internet currencies.
And just like that, there goes a major part of the allure of all those virtual currencies such as BitCoin that consumers had turned to, and away from such rapidly devaluing units of exchange as the dollar and euro. Because if there was one medium of exchange that was untouched, unregulated, and unmediated by the US government and other authoritarian, despotic regimes around the insolvent "developed world", it was precisely transactions involving BitCoin.
That is no longer the case, as the bloodhound of the Federal Reserve has now turned its attention toward BitCoin, and will not stop until it crashes both its value to end-users, and its utility, in yet another attempt to force the USD, and other fiat, upon global consumers as the only forms of allowed legal tender.
The rising popularity of virtual currencies, while no more than a drop in the bucket of global liquidity, is being fueled by Internet merchants, as well as users' concerns about privacy, jitters about traditional currencies in Europe and the age-old need to move money for illicit purposes.
The arm of the Treasury Department that fights money laundering said Monday that the standard federal banking rules aimed at suspicious dollar transfers also apply to firms that issue or exchange money that isn't linked to any government and exists only online.
Naturally, the actual object of US monetary persecution, is BitCoin:
"We are beyond the stage where this was just funny money and a fun online thing. This is used as a currency," said Nicolas Christin, associate director of Carnegie Mellon University's Information Networking Institute.
Bitcoins can be used in a host of legitimate transactions—for example, website Reddit allows users to upgrade services using bitcoins and blog service Wordpress.com's store accepts them as a form of payment. Pizzaforcoins.com also lets bitcoin savers pay for deliveries through Domino's and other pizzerias.
The problem with virtual currencies is that defining what is permitted in a narrow regulatory sense, is impossible, which is why any definition will be as broad as possible: after all what better way to spook users than to make virtually any transaction borderline illegal:
Creating clear-cut rules for virtual currencies is difficult. A FinCen official said that anti-money-laundering rules would apply depending on the "factors and circumstances" of each business. The rules don't apply to individuals who simply use virtual currencies to purchase real or virtual goods.
The new guidance "clarifies definitions and expectations to ensure that businesses…are aware of their regulatory responsibilities," said Jennifer Shasky Calvery, FinCen director.
The FBI report last year said Bitcoin attracts cybercriminals who want to move or steal funds. "Bitcoin might also logically attract money launderers and other criminals who avoid traditional financial systems by using the Internet to conduct global monetary transfers," the report said. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment when asked about the agency's concerns regarding virtual currencies.
We were not the only ones to expect imminent intervention from Big Brother:
Some firms say they anticipated the rules. Charlie Sherm, chief executive of bitcoin payment processor BitInstant, said his company is already compliant.
Mr. Christin of Carnegie Mellon said that he believes Bitcoin's dominant use right now is speculation.
"When you have a commodity or currency whose value has grown as rapidly as Bitcoin it makes sense to hold on to it as a speculative instrument," he said. It also is commonly used for online black markets or gambling sites. "Whether used for money laundering…there is no smoking gun."
As to the question of timing - why now - the answer is simple. Europe. After all, it was only yesterday that we wrote that "In Spain, The Bitcoin Run Has Started." It is self-explanatory that if such an exodus away from legacy currencies and into BitCoin was left unchecked, more and more people would follow suit, which is why it had to be intercepted as early as possible.
The jump in the bitcoin exchange rate this week also coincides with concerns euros could be taken from retail bank accounts in Cyprus to fund a bailout. Internet blogs say speculators are looking toward currency alternatives.
Well, if internet blogs say... Of course, internet blogs also say that if and when the fascination with virtual currencies fizzles, all those who are disgusted with the abuse of fiat will not cease from seeking USD, EUR, JPY, GBP and CHF alternatives, but will merely go back to the safety of having hard assets as a currency, namely silver and gold, instead of electronic ones and zeroes, which the US government, in all its Orwellian benevolence may one day, for lack of a better word, hack right out of existence.
On the other hand, the regime's desperation is reaching such a level that a Executive Order 6102-type confiscation of all hard asset currencies may not be far behind.
Because forewarned, is forearmed.
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Bitcoin to the Fed/banksters is like 3d printing is to the ATF/gun grabbers.
Come and take it!
Pathetic. I agree, the ponzi is almost at fever pitch.
Sad. Such a silly and pathetic attempt to control, control, control.
Good news: I saw a hillbilly - looking pickup truck with an "End the Fed" bumper sticker. Wow - can you imagine 20 or even 10 years ago? Progress is being made.
fever pitch indeed, the drama is growing faster than Ben's balance sheet. I only hope the seams blow out soon, hopefully this weekend.
Janet is going to put all of you in a tent and torture you till you pledge allegiance
Pledge allegiaqnce to Mexico in Espanol ?
These motherfuckers are going to stop at nothing.
Correct.
Fuck those fucking motherfuckers!
Hit them with eloquence!
Napster was probably the music equivalent of bitcoins. It made the music industry titans irrelevant but then got shutdown. But the tradtional music industry never recovered. Perhaps bitcoins will do the same to the banks. Regardless, the world of digital currencies is here to stay even if bitcoins die.
Napster was a monolithic server system. So they could kill it.
Bitcoin is like BitTorrent. Peer-to-peer and globally distributed.
Totally agree. They can't bring bitcoins down like they did with napster and that's probably the reason the inventors want to stay anonymous. Also, bitcoins transactions are tiny compared with downloading an MP3 or a video so it is much easier to hide them.
"that's probably the reason the inventors want to stay anonymous'
LOL. Just like the swiss bank account holders want to remain anonymous.
This is way out there... but this could also be a great big fat honeytrap organised by the state to introduce their one world currency. The mystery of BTCs bginnings together with the even more mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto just gives me the creeps.
BTC/fiat conversion is riddled with conmen online, even face to face exchanges via LocalBitCoin are 'problematic' to say the least. I can only speak for uk experience but the idea of meeting eastern european men in public places to do exchanges will never catch on with the public at large.
Last but not least the problems MtGox are having with banks shutting them out ie. Barclays in the Uk.. CIC in France doesnt bode well.
Agreed. I've said it before, I'll say it again bitcoin is the start not the end and the algorithms behind crypto-currencies can and will be improved upon. Necessity will drive usage. The collapse of the euro will make or break crypto-currencies as a mainstream alternative. I know guns and gold but not everyone has that option bitcoin gives those little guys a resource to ride the storm out and temporarily shelter their savings when they have no access to gold and the paper fiat is worthless. It allows the economic engine to at least keep turning when there is no banks and no one wants to take the paper. Remember the businesses can take those coins then exchange them into paper that is still worth something like USD then use that to purchase or trade with.
They'll stop at nothing? You must have been napping. We drove through "nothing" years ago.
1.6B+ hollow points that the dyke cunt refuses to explain:
http://www.infowars.com/congressman-asks-big-sis-to-explain-huge-ammo-purchases/
Geneva Convention prohibits use of hollow points in battle.
The FBIs concern and involvement is understandable... After all, the Justice Department is renowned for it's stand on money laundering...
and gun running.....
That kind of explains the sudden and instantaneous one percent ramp in Ag yesterday, since---as in all things government---some are more equal than others and get the news first.
Two words to my government: FUCK YOU!!!
Bitcoin is the best thing that ever happpened in modern finance. Now it's being terrorized.
No bit coins, but govt bit coins. Or, if it is not going to be THEIR digital money system to track and trace, then it is NOT going to be for anyone else to track and trace either. No wonder the cia was asking the creators questions about this some while ago. What ever happened after that, and what was talked about in that meeting? Prolly something like the meeting(s) the Russian oligarchs are having with the politicians and banksters in Cyprus now, maybe?
Besides, everybody knows that all this money changer game playing with people's emotions, and whole countries monetary systems to purposely kick off the "IMF Riot" is all being steered towards the one new digital machines world order of the money god system. The babylonians are just ticked off that someone beat them to it.
Pray for peace and stability in Cyprus. Let them understand how this has all been a set up.
(Historical document for research purposes only)
"Bank several times states - with cold accuracy - that they expected their plans to spark, "social unrest," to use their bureaucratic term for a nation in flames."
http://www.gregpalast.com/the-globalizer-who-came-in-from-the-cold/
Funny, I just started with BitCoin 3 days ago. As a "research" experiment. Had to know what it was about and how it worked. So I'm an "expert", right?
None of this surprises me. The first and primary problem with it (in it's pure form) is that the whole thing is IDEAL FOR MONEY-LAUNDERING. It's absolutely perfect for that. Money disappears in country A, reappears in country B (in the local currency, no less!), clean as a whistle. There was NO WAY sovereign governments were going to allow that to continue, and it looks like they've taken first steps to squelch that in the US.
Those enforcement actions aren't likely to put a big dent in BitCoin. The real attraction is that there are 21 Billion BitCoins and there will never be more than that. Like gold, but there aren't even any more gold mines to take more out of the ground. (Yeah, yeah, I know they said that about Beanie Babies- point taken, I get it, don't beat that dead horse in front of me, I already get it).
What will put a big dent in it is if people start using it to actually do a large number of transactions for legitimate purposes. THEN IT'S IN COMPETITION WITH LOCAL CURRENCIES. At that point you will see sovereigns move to actually outlaw it. Then it's over. That time is, however, quite a long way off. You can't really buy shit with BitCoin right now. It's a curiosity. If you only had BitCoin you might not starve to death (pizza delivery) but you sure as hell ain't paying your electric bill with it or putting gas in your car with it.
Full disclosure.... I have a grand total of $500 fiat bucks in it right now (more with the recent BTC exchange rate run-up). If I lose it all, I am unlikely to starve. Not that anyone here gives a shit if I starve, but that's my total involvement.
That is all.
There are 10.9 million today and will only ever be 21 million.
& the check is in the mail & I promise not to cum on your face...
It's not some central banker's promise; it's just math. 21 million is all you get.
If you know of a reason why it isn't so, please do share; you could bring down bitcoin single-handedly with one comment!
.
ooops.
sorry, your line just made me laugh. . .
I don't do the digital currency thing, but appreciate that you shared your experiment with it here. . . as with most things, the govt. tends to get involved when it becomes worthwhile for them to do so - be it profitable, or just to keep the reins tight on their farm'd creatures, let 'em know who's boss, etc.
will be very interesting to see how they "paint" the story for the masses - "drug runners, baby eaters, trrrrsts" - we shall see. . .
cheers.
Mean while Arizona is on the verge of allowing gold and silver to be used as legal tender.
http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en/mineweb-political-economy?oid=...
I'm not sure what to make of this and what they are doing in Utah but if it means folks can go to local community gold banks some day and swap from cash to gold and back again or take loans out using gold collateral in such a way that gold is given due respect as money (not like pawn shops) then this is how you open the door to large numbers of people owning gold.. where it's convenient to work and transact with, where your not taxed on the sale or exchange and where common folk can escape from the banksta niggas ponzi schemes.
,
given Utah's speshul state-us with .gov, I'd give this story the ole one eye'd stare. . . 0.o
reckon they're flushing out the secret stashers?
For you, my special customer, this $30 dinner you and your wife had, I will give you special discount, only $1 (silver).
Send in inaction jackson
I've tried to not knock on the Bitcoin too much. The way I see it, it's standing in opposition to central bank bullshit, so it deserves support, as it's sharing tent space with Gold and silver.
On the flip side however, it was only a matter of time until the Feds came knockin'.
"Banks can't have competition in this here free market".
Freedom - 0
Statism - 7*
However, this game is in early innings.
* Digital Money Trust. Digicash. E-Gold. E-Bullion. Liberty Dollar. Intrade. BitCoin.
It won't be long before AG Holder busts some small time BTC player for laundering money and makes an example out of him and he's off to Gitmo.
If HSBC or any other bank launders money he's sucking them off and tells them to put the money shot wherever they please!
Bitcoins just BIT the dust.
Lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth going on right now. I bet that feels like a swift kick to the gut.
Can't wait to read what all the bitcon people post here tonight.
LOL...the U.S. is collapsing, and you can't do anything about it! How's THAT kick in the gut feel? "Oh, beautiful, for spacious skies..." SING IT, LOSER!
Bitcoin is a scam. That's why the FEDS are looking to regulate it. it's to save you from yourselves.
People like you are not "slightlyskeptical", but paranoid.
And by that logic, it's okay to ban guns and salt and transfats and smoking and giant sugary soft drinks in New York, because Nanny Bloomberg is saving us from ourselves, yes?
You are such a douchebag.
You should be prevented from posting such tripe online so you don't look like a douchebag. If I were to show up at your house and confiscate your cable modem, it would be fine and dandy, because I'd be saving you from yourself, right?
*I* decide what I need saving from. It's called freedom and personal responsibility. I don't have bitcoins because I prefer the shiny stuff I can hold in my hands and guard with lead, but that doesn't mean that no one else should be able to have bitcoins. People research bitcoins and decide it's the right choice for them. Fine, that's their choice. But no one has the right to regulate it, especially not a government who says it is regulating it for "safety reasons" when they are really regulating it to save their own asses when confiscation time comes a-rollin' in. They want us all to save our fiat in the bank like good little sheep. Fuck 'em...they want my savings, they can come in person and take 'em. They can look me in the eyes as they steal the money needed to feed, clothe, house, and clean my family. Then they can live with themselves after seeing what they do in the flesh.
What does the Fed's shit taste like on your tongue? Go pledge allegiance to your flag, you coward...
"the U.S. is applying money-laundering rules to "virtual currencies," amid growing concern that new forms of cash bought on the Internet are being used to fund illicit activities."
What? Bitcoins are transacted on-line, under the intense scrutiny of all the regular monitors of everything we do and say. Like this forum, your e-mail and your credit card buys from Amazon.
Cash is what is used for 'crimes' like hookers and yayo. The 'illicit activities' dog won't hunt.
If the mathematical algorithm underlying virtual currency's is as Un-counterfiterable as I am led to believe, then this is going to be THE paradigm change the world needs. So far, there is only the ONE series "BitCoin". But think about it. Every country in the world could have "Virtual Currency Series 1, 2, 3, through infinity". If any particular series became too dominated, too manipulated by a particular country, or entity then you would just switch your transaction to the Virtual Coin Series for that country that provided the best, the most realistic, the series that REALLY reflected the true worth of that country's money. The Global Market, would determine the worth of any particular series, unable to be manipulated by Bankers, Sovereigns, or any other entities.
Think about it. If you saw that a particular series relative to the money in that country was obviously being manipulated, you would shun it. You would move to another series that more accurately reflected what the ACTUAL Currency was worth.
I wonder how long before we see BitCoin 2, BitCoin 3, etc.
Virtual Currency's have the real possibility of becoming the unmanipulable Carry Currency of the world.
Litecoin is another smaller crypto-currency out there.
As far as I know most of the US is still a common-law jurisdiction - so what makes my investments any of their fucking business? Other than they aren't getting a cut - which is the real issue.
It is nice to see them squirm from something that we could only have dreamed of 10 years ago. It's not like gold, or silver that have been used as a store of value, and money for millenia.
As far as I know most of the US is still a common-law jurisdiction
Sad to say, but common law was demoted a long time ago.
Legislation is now God, and the crooks of DC get to write it as they wish.
Interesting that the WSJ is the first to trumpet this news.
Although I believe that TPTB will eventually crush Bitcoin, I don't think that these steps will be enough to do it. It sounds as if large Bitcoin<=>Cash exchanges will be reported. Well, most other large cash transactions are already reported and it hasn't stopped people from using cash. This reporting wouldn't prevent me from buying groceries with Bitcoins (if I could find a grocery store that would accept them).
I think that in order to stop Bitcoin, the government would need wide powers to monitor and block internet traffic. I don't think they have the legal authority to do this yet (but I could be wrong). Also, I don't think Bitcoins have a legal definition yet. So there would need to be some legislation defining what constitutes a digital currency and giving some agency or agencies of the government the power to regulate it. All this could be slipped into the middle of a long appropriations bill. ("You won't know what's in the bill until you vote for it.")
The government already routinely monitors bittorrents. No warrants necessary and you get plenty of 20 year prison sentences. It truly is like shooting fish in a barrel so why would they want to get rid of it?
When the nukes fly, and they will because there is no way we are not heading into WW3, and should you desire to hold on to your miserable existence, your bitcoins will be less than useless...they will be gone with the stream of electrons we once called the grid.
Nope... our dear leaders will get fragged by their subordinates before any fingers touch any buttons...
I love the smell of bankster fear in the cool spring evening.
Enjoy the internet while it's up - they will stop at nothing to maintain control.
The Second American Revolution - unfolding now in a neighborhood near you. Get local FiSHeS!
WTF is up with all of these bitcoin ads and comments on ZH the past few weeks? Are you going to start a Herbalife ponzi next?
It's long past time for what is left of the real Silicon Valley to go to war with the USG.
It's long past time for what is left of the real Silicon Valley to go to war with the USG.
They won't, sorry to say. They sold their souls for paychecks and can't bring themselves to admit it.
Full on bubble mode, "BitCoin is our savior! There's no way we can lose!" Bullish semiconductors, Bullish Pets.com, Bullish Cotton, Let the Good Times roll!
I've noticed a couple of comments that the value of bitcoins has gone up too fast and that soon there will be a retracement to some lower value. That may be true of other currencies, stocks and PMs but bitcoins don't work that way. If people continue buying bitcoins, the relative price will keep going up. If people sell their stash, the price will go down. There's no way yet to short bitcoins with a paper contract. That is probably the biggest frustration of the Fed. They can't yet force the price down.
I'll bite,
It uses their infrastructure thus plays by their rules, so wouldn't any legislative change to bitcoin's usefulness result in a necessary change in the aggregate demand for it and thus price? Bear raiding by the Fed is an unlikely and illogical government solution, they prefer the subtleties of law and regulation.
Personally I love the idea of free market currency valuation, but this iteration seems rather ... delicate.
The GroupThink going on these days on this website has gotten mindboggling.
Yup, bitcoin values are in a volatile position. But that's the nature of it. The Fed can't manipulate the value by shorting. They would have to buy up all available coins and then dump them. Not an unrealistic prospect. But until they work out the proper mechanism, they will have to rely on regulations. This is what makes bitcoins so much damn fun.
It uses their infrastructure thus plays by their rules
Huh? The only infrastructure it uses is the Internet, and it does NOT "play by their rules."
You can buy and sell anywhere, with smart phones and laptops, with no middle man and no registered money changer. It's like handing cash from person to person.
HUH?!
Did you build the Internet? Even the pieces you use the most? no? you don't say.
How about the power grid, do you control that? Did you build it?
Wake up son, you're on THEIR Matrix in THEIR system pretending you control it.
It's like a little girl playing "tea time" at age 4 as if she's running her own bar, her own FUCKING GANG TOWN with her own warlord government.
You're still in someone else's house, You're NOT IN CHARGE.
That power grid WILL go off. That internet WILL be shut down. You'll have to pay for those things with FIAT BUX not bitbux, to even have a hope of getting them turned back on, depending on who else around you is also a target.
It's NOT like handing cash person to person. MY OLD LADY NEIGHBOR with her cabbages, tomatoes, pears & all, who isn't using bitcoin, gladly took a silver maple for some nice selection of what's in the yard.
THAT is like handing cash person to person. Because it IS handing cash person to person.
That power grid WILL go off. That internet WILL be shut down.
Angry, are we?
If those go down...
1. They wake the masses from their hypnosis, which hurts the state worse than anyone else.
2. Generators , PV cells and mesh networks. We know how to adapt.
Also... Bitcoiners DO own silver and gold. They aren't stupid.
mesh networks + bitcoin = fragmented trust network with massive time lags. It loses the entire consistency of the trade. Bitcoin trades can't all lag at different speeds and can't lag much at all or they are invalidated. Sorry, you Fail.
When the grids go down people have NOT been adapting: they've been looting, drowning, shooting or getting shot.
"That may be true of other currencies, stocks and PMs but bitcoins don't work that way"
Really? Funny, that's what happened last time Bitcoin slammed down from 30 to 5.
Yes, that's precisely what happened as confidence was lost & markets perceived too little reward for too much risk & wanted tangibles in the end which had to be bought with fiat bennybux, euro-scambux and so on.
And the obvious Preciouses.
running something like Bitcoin seems hopelessly complicated. their electronic currency is transferrable across different currencies? what if someone chooses to hold bitcoins against a devaluation in his native currency? are the bitcoin people hedging these currencies?
If tomorrow a russian mob lord decides to remove his money from a cyprus bank and stash it all into bitcoins it will be the equivalent of the Hunt brothers buyng up all silver options. The difference being that the mob lord will buy physical/virtual bitcoins and not an option. The price will explode. When and if they sell, the price will tank.
Unlikely that he would be able to acquire more than 5 percent of all the currently existing bitcoins.
this is what ,Societe Generale Sees Gold Under $1,400 Gold By Year-End, - Kitco News, Mar 21 2013 9:52AM.
Some people are stupidier than others.
Bloomberg done a hit piece on gold today that kitco put a link to called echoes,about gold confiscation,
and Now Bitcoin is "my Bad"......
If they can't rip you off (bankers) ,you are not allowed to use it.
Casey Research evidence explains why people feel trapped by the money policies of their government. Here’s an excerpt from Enough Money to Not Worry by Dennis Miller today on The Burning Platform:
Since the first TARP bill passed in 2008, we’re hard pressed to find a CD paying more than about 1.2%, which is 0.5% below the government-reported inflation rate. It’s also 6.8% below the Money Forever Reader Poll Inflation Rate.
Declining interest rates have hit retirees’ investment income hard; for many folks it’s dropped 50-80% from just a few years ago…
Here is the bottom line: Before the 2008 crash, retirees could earn a decent yield on relatively safe investments. For many, this investment income was three to five times more than their Social Security checks, which allowed for a comfortable retirement low on financial stress. Now those same secure investments might bring in income equal to about half of your Social Security check…
The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) does an annual survey on retirement confidence. Its 2012 survey reports that in 2005, 40% of retirees felt “very comfortable” that they had enough money to live on throughout their retirement years. Forty percent reported they were “somewhat comfortable.” In 2012 those numbers changed to 21% and 42% respectively. Also, in 2005, 7% reported they were “not at all” comfortable; that figure jumped to 19% in 2012…
Americans’ retirement confidence has plateaued at the lowest levels seen over the last two decades.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/
THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME!!!
Maybe I can finally get some Bitcoins at a discount as steep as gold's!
God bless Ben Bernanke. And the cuntry for witch he stands!
[And praise be to Allah I don't even have $10,000.]
ProTip - The NSA can't read it if it's encrypted with brackets.
[Can you? [[Douchbags]] ]
Fuck the banksters. I'm converting fiat as we speak. You can keep your toilet paper.
Here's to Cypruss here at home. Maybe people will wake the fuck up.
I've been saying it was only a matter of time before the gov't steps in. It's just been a matter of the currency not being as widespread and popular enough (beyond the techheads) to warrant a clamp down - until now as noted in the post.
Anyways, unfortunate, but I wonder how they will enforce any of it. One way I suspect would be to go after the money changers, because BCs are either purchased from another currency or mined (but slower process)... but beyond that say peer to peer exchanges and purchases for say... pizza not too sure.
ie.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2013/03/02/bitcoin-exchange-deal-...
Another thought came to mind.
The law abiding BitCoin designers could release a fancy new edition of block chains for miners to follow with unannounced (or footnoted) enhanced tracking or other innocuous features. (remember the last BitCoin crash? - http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/03/major-glitch-in-bitcoin-network-...)
"The core of the Bitcoin network is a shared transaction register known as the blockchain. Approximately every 10 minutes, a new block is created containing a record of all Bitcoin transactions that occurred since the previous block. Nodes in the network, known as miners, race to "discover" this next block by solving a cryptographic puzzle. The winner of this race announces the new block to the other nodes. The other nodes verify that it complies with all the rules of the Bitcoin protocol and then accepts it as the next official entry in the block chain, starting the race anew.
It's essential for all miners to enforce exactly the same rules about what counts as a valid block. If a client announces a block that half the network accepts and the other half rejects, the result could be a fork in the network. Different nodes could disagree about which transactions have occurred, potentially producing chaos."
That's why this minor hole (BTC has just about doubled since the spike low on March 12th) has already been plugged. You'll have to upgrade to the newest client by May 15th, or else you'll be cut off from the network. It only takes an hour or two to sync up with the entire blockchain after the upgrade. Very, very easy and not a bother at all.
Personally, I'm hoping that there's another glich like this over the next few months, so I can buy more Bitcoins at a nice discount. The protocol and network have been tested again and again. And they've passed every, single time with flying colors. That's why they keep going up in price, since the market continually expects the currency to fail, transactions to be cancelled, or new, additional coins to be printed in order to nullify fraud or theft on the network. No-go every time.
Sorry, Bitcoin haters! :)
When will the GS squid start selling derivatives on Bitcoin? Is that possible? I would think so ("We have a stack of Bitcoins in our vault/wallet and now we rehypothecate them to infinity. Bonuses for everyone!") but this isn't my area. How would this affect the claimed advantages of Bitcoin?
Edit: typo.
They're running it through Black-Scholes-Merton as we speak, they'll be offloading it onto the French by Monday.
i knew it was too good to be true;
money unfettered by the bankster's death grip..........
Precisely why I wouldn't touch it. I knew they'd do this. I like to hold my cash. I live the premise of it, but I knew the Ponzi Police would jump in.
but but but ......its double hash.........
Nothing like the smell of fear from those who have the most to lose. Now me, I got very little to lose in comparison. More and more I like where I am, (as opposed to them), as the paranoia grows in the clusterfuck governmental and financial capitals of the world.
Be seeing ya come Armageddon, (you grasping piss ants), but if you get it wrong, all you will see from me is a flash of light with no sound.
The fear in the use of an alternative currency is purely tax related. Terrorists or money launderers already have other means of moving funds around. Bitcoin is, to a large extent, merely a cyber-style Hawala, albeit with no FX component.
(For those unfamiliar with it, the Hawala System is used primarily in the Middle East and South Asia to transfer money across borders. One party in country X receives money, in cash, directly from the sender, and then informs a party in country Y of the receipt. That second party then takes some cash from his own pile and gives it to the intended recipient in country Y. No actual money---whether physical or electronic---ever moves across borders. All the system requires is the existence of piles of cash in separate places, a fairly decent two-way flow, and a means of communication. Brokers take a fee plus an FX spread.)
Eastern Union.
See Premium Rush (2012) with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which showcases the Hawala system. Also see another JGL movie, Looper (2012), which showcases the use of physical gold and silver ;)
Watch as government now gives bitcoin constipation.
The Fed is a metastasizing cancer, invading every system it can reach, reaching every system it can invade.
21. Tom Waits - Get Behind The Mule (Live, Atlanta 2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbxgK_l3Apg&list=PLA5A19E9DD14F0E05
.
'..plow.." t.w.
Guess what the cartel can't regulate. My investment grade phyz sitting in a safe in an undisclosed, hidden location. Keep stacking bitchez...
How is bitcoin any different to all the trillions of dollars in virtual money that banks create out of nothing with keyboard strokes? Only 2% of all money is physical cash, the rest is online. Bitcoin is convertible to US dollars and other currencies in the same way that the 98% in virtual money in today's monetary system is convertible to cash! These stoopid people should get educated, they're just scared that an alternative currency is in the works to challenege their monopoly.
Because this virtual money is not created, controlled, and profited off of by a corrupt, centuries old cartel hell bent on depriving you and your children’s children of real wealth.
The purveyors of alternative currencies are chomping at the bit to preserve some semblance of expectations, neglecting the forces that stole them in the first place.
Short-term excitement and perceived success will not usurp the fundamental brokenness, no matter how good your intentions.
<Short Rant>
Kids, THIS is just a sign of desperation. If you can't see where this is leading....
If you don't have it in your hand, You DON'T Own it.
They are cutting every avenue for you to get out of the system. YOU WILL use fiat currency.
NO MORE CASH. No Virtual Currency UNLESS it is an "Authorized" bank credit card.
You did see this little gem for your phone advertised on tv right?
Square Card Reader 2-Pack - AccessoryListen to the details on this Nifty little unit.
They will make it a law that you have to have one of these to buy/sell ANYTHING person to person.
Sell something to your next door neighbor, You must do it electronically. Have you noticed how it is frowned upon to use a personal check or cash?
Another year and the above item will be ubiquitous and EVERY body will be using them for everything..
Prediction (couple years out.):
Flea Markets, and other venues, etc will have an "official" at the entrance. They will check you like they do at Sam's Club or BJ's kind of store where they check your items against receipts at the exit door.
(Sorta like a cross between the Sheriff of Nottingham and the TSA.)
You will have to have ALL transactions at the farmers market, flea markets, swap sheets, etc all done with one of the devices above. You will have no money, You will just have an account.
YOU will be just an account to somebody. The Gov will just debit and credit you, err, your account instead of food stamps, unemployment checks, etc )
I bet Someone out there right now is dreaming up a futures market where your account will be for sale(like a stock) at your birth. You will be "Priced" based on your future potential ..... Hmm... Just think of you being a junk bond. Like an auction. Like a, hmm, slave auction.
We've come a long way since the slaves were free in 1865.
</Short Rant>
good stuffs, upvoted.
really, it's all about incre-mental training of the mind, eeeeasing in the idea of "cashless" towards "virtual" - particularly with the handheld device thing, which took no time at all to infect the global people's (lack of) imagination and fascination with pixelated toys.
"But it's so easy!!" - yes peeps, it's soooo easy to create a one world. . mind-set.
Just think of me being like a junk bond?
In the World According to ZIRP, us junk bonds are in high demand.
Yea, baby, I got me some pretty sizeable yield and I'm long duration, if you know what I mean. I bet I'd make a heck of a nice fit into your portfolio, and I'll just add to your liquidity profile. Want to clip my coupon? Any of your friends care to re-hypothecate? I never fail to deliver. (There are more obvious plays on this, but in the interest of maintaining proper decorum I'll stop here.)
I think the point is that, even if your totalitarian state scenario somehow comes to pass, Bitcoin will be the free market choice to evade such controls, just as it already is in countries like Venezuela, Iran and Argentina. And if your scenario doesn't come to pass, Bitcoin still wins. The more the Establishment tries to stop it, the more it will thrive. That's the genius of the BTC mechanism and its protocol.
But do you seriously think that this kind of forced electronic payment scheme will come to pass?? Most baby boomers- who continue to comprise the largest chunk of Western populations- don't even know how to upgrade their analog cable boxes to digital. And this, despite the simplest instructions and constant hand-holding by cable operators. Using chip-enabled credit cards is another nightmare. It's so bad that many retailers know how to use another system to avoid the use of a card PIN, which gives most people over a certain age an instant headache.
Getting these same people, aged 65+, to use a wireless card reader attached to a cell phone or computer?? Good fucking luck!!! lol
Well, this makes official... All those Bitcoin naysayers fall into one of the following categories:
Ignoramuses, 'Late Adopters (Stubborn Jackasses), and Gov/Banking trolls.
I won't bother naming names (counter-productive distraction), but I plan to re-calibrate my esteem level for these smart-asses. Laws of the free market: Eat Humble Pie!
What you need to do then, is to enlighten the "ignoramuses, jackasses and trolls" as to how your alternative currency will succeed in the context of ignoramuses, jackasses and trolls.
And you should mention, as a footnote maybe, how introducing a new currency into the midst of a corrupt market could possibly work.
Then think about how those-who-control have no interest nor wherewithal to be concerned about humble-anything.
If you pretend to have a solution to broken "laws of the free market" -- you should be prepared to get real.
Alternative currencies ain't it.
Get off your high horse.
Right, so when the power goes out you figured out a way to ensure BTC can still be used, and for sure, when there's no network between me, the rest of the BTC "economy" and the guy down the block, we can still use our BTC, right? Because every transaction has to be replicated across the peer network to be valid & any lag say.. hours to days to weeks ... would invalidate the peer networking, wouldn't it?
And the power grid, you got that covered, right?
See how I have these shiny gold & silver coins?
No of course you don't fucking see it, it's not on a network and I just got back from a boating accident.
Children never learn.
HSBC guilty of drug money laundering? Wrist slap?
Un (fill in the blank) believable.
In case people don't realize most major businesses that were defined by FinCEN as exchangers and will be required to have a MTB license and perform AML/KYC procedures already do so and yet people still buy and use Bitcoin.
But you can still your bitcoins anonymously from your buddy down the block and you can easily obfuscate and conceal where your bitcoins go and what you purchase with them once you buy them so this changes very little.
But boy does everyone go for the hyperboles and spin these days. It's like you can't get any quality factual investigative reporting anywhere anymore.
“The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.”
-Lord Acton, 1834-1902
Well someone should tell BitCoin that the FED and other vermin banksters are after them.
Last price:$73.74878
Demand has remained unchanged thus far.
Would love to know the numbers regarding if the price is moving up because of millions of new entries buying into bitcoins based on a belief they are genuine investment opportunities OR because the same few people are buying them after drinking their own cool-aid driving the price up.
Seems like a silent auction where 2 people are bidding up the same thing but the other 100 people in the room don't give a crap.
Does that make it worth the price?
fool.
On one side you've got "exchanges" which have dubious ownership, no accountability and passing fiat bux of every sort for BTC intangible "currency" from every locale on that exchange.
On the other side your sworn enemies can print endless electronic bux of every sort, euro bux, RMBux and bennybux, and get all the BTC they want with it since it's FREE. Printing money = free for the printer.
If you can't solve for this equation you're fucked. Here's a hint:
X0 = YOU'RE ___KRUPT2
Be careful for what you wish for. Every interwebz reaction is being reviewed by multinational think tanks. Any new virtual currency peripheral system stands discredited, then the current universal currency paper to digital transition cartel will shower you with advertisements of confidence. This is not joke. It’s quite the game as of now. I was sincere last night by stating, ‘The window too control has accelerated beyond belief.’
Nash Equilibrium begins a soft ramp up of digitized monetary currency. New mobile phones are the key ingredient to gain conformance/confidence. I look forward to the blowback. Once banking convenience turns into meddling with personal banking account assets, the Government banking theft will be seen plain as day.
The Future of Retail Banking
FYI
But can u eat them?
This is why 9/11 was funny...
I'm sticking with gold, silver, seashells, cans of beef stew, and bullets (cartridges actually).
Saddest thing is I was looking at buying some when it was at 14 a few months back.. what a mistake not pulling the trigger... when I heard how slow its created, knew it would sky rocket if it caught on, but thought it would take a lot longer to catch on and would pull back.... WRONG...
Yeah, I loaded up at that fx rate, despite comments from people around me that it was a dumb idea.
The 21m total issuance is the key. If Bitcoin captures 1% of existing fiat market-share then each coin will be worth $10k. The market knows it has this potential so some of that is being priced in right now.
Every revolutionary technology is slammed by the majority until they see how brilliant it is, and then they grab it with open arms.
Think:
red flags carried ahead of the first cars,
digital music instead of vinyl was for tune-deaf nerds,
first people to waltz around with a mobile phone were social scum
...it goes on
+1000
I loaded up on some BTC at around $13 in December. Just wish I would've bought more, but I was really short on cash at the time.
It was very tough to check on Bitcoin sentiment at the time, but I know I would've been even more emboldened had that sentiment been prevailingly negative. Now, the sentiment is EXTREMELY negative! I really can't believe it!! Even if people are huge believers in physical money, such as guns, gold and silver, I don't understand what's bringing out all the hate for BTC. Well... except for the fear that people are missing out on one of the largest commodity booms ever recorded. That would suck, I think. :)
In any case, the current negative sentiment speaks volumes about Bitcoin and where it's going.
The value of Bitcoins priced in Euros, Dolars, etc shot up too far too fast. Bitcoin backers want you to believe that Bitcoin is a tool for transfering cash over borders without having to declare it, not an investment opportunity for speculators to make a quick buck.
If the pruchasing power of the dollar declined 75% in one month, and one Bitcoin was then worth 75% more, you have parity as a medium of exchange. That is not what happened. If you bought a single Bitcoin, it exponentally increased in value in a very short time.
That is not a sign of a stable medium of exchange, but a speculative investment with the hope of a massive payoff.
Bitcoin is used by drug dealers, organized crime, etc. For all intensive purposes it might be a CIA operation, we don't know. You can also be sure your IP can be tracked when you download the Bitcoin block for the first time.
ISPs are flagging people who seem to be running P2P programs using the torrent network. My internet was shut down because I uploaded a couple gigs of art files. I was flagged for P2P violations and needed to prove I wasn't uploading illegal content. Bitcoin runs like bit-torrent, the cryptography might not be able to be broken, but your internet connection can be shut down if it looks like you are running a Bitcoin node.
The Feds will also seize your computer if they feel any laws have been broken. When I was in college there was a massive crackdown because of file sharing in 1999. Hundreds of students had their computers confiscated.
Bitcoin just scares the hell out of me because it has every hallmark of a ponzi. Facebook is also a very good tool, but it doesn't deserve its lofty valutation. Bitcoin doesn't deserve an increase from 5 Euro to 55 Euro in a couple months, just seems insane.
It's not even that ISP's are flagging people. Law enforcement now has the tools to monitor bittorrents as well. The following is from an appellate order of which there are many that read similarly:
According to the presentence investigation report, DuFran was arrested following an investigation of peer-to-peer file sharing networks conducted by the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. In November 2009, a task force agent used specialized software to locate a computer offering to distribute child pornography. The same IP address had been recorded offering child pornography files for distribution between September 7, 2009, and February 3, 2010. The agent viewed one video and confirmed that it depicted child pornography.
http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/unpub/ops/201015682.pdf
By the way his sentenced was doubled because bittorrents upload at the same time it's downloading, which means that he was distributing.
Suggestions:
Just start there. The tools are out there to defend yourself. They're not as easy and obvious as using a loaded gun of your choice; you have to be smarter than that. In the virtual world, YOU truly have the power to defend yourself. The internet can be a government-made noose. Or a noose around the Establishment governments and banksters. Your choice.
Theres always forum cash , start a forum, issue currency (credit) and wala you have "a bank".
How about they start OOOOO I DONT KNOW REGULATING BIG BANKS LAUNDERING MONEY LIKE HSBC?
I like 9999, both for fine and as a "stop" for $digitz transaction amounts. Any hard asset guy knows that. Blow me .gov.
Power goes out, your bitcoins, even if kept on some secure NAND memory device, are simply useless for all practical purposes. Anything that is premised upon ubiquitous digital computing technology and thus on ubiquitous electricity too, is fatally flawed. Commodities have no such prerequisites or conditions.
Obviously, if you imagine that the power will never go out, you're good to go. But it's pure imagination. It's rather like Simon Black telling you to keep assets abroad. What happens when you need them, but can't get to where they are? They might as well not exist.
OK, I will bite Totent.... I know some geeky computer guys who are graphics designers who were into the miner hardware a while ago. I was not blown away so much by the stabilty aspect of BTC as much as the concept of BTC. The concept is good. It's a statement more than anything.
IN CAPS:
FUCKING BULLSHIT
Idk why but I really thought tyler might wanna chime in on these comments. As ive said before, if you cant hold it you cant own it. They will make it harder and harder to transact in bitcoin, criminlize it, demonize it, make the companies that sell them to you illegal the way they did gambling sites, they will trace IP addresses and napster people teenagers to scare the masses, they will show it buying kiddie porn and also make sure that their own hackers are working to break the market. OR conversely they will just own most of the market and dump it. Or create synthetic markets to control it.
You cant win.
Unless you own metals.
Hmmmm......Bitcoin or gold / silver coin, which should I choose?
I choose gold / silver coin bitches.
Suck it Bernanke and Barry.
Yeah, because being in only one market is really fucking smart.
If you think gold or silver is "only one market" you have learned nothing.
Gold & silver are money in EVERY market.
Water, saws, hammers, guns, bullets, anti-biotics, opiates, silver, gold, copper piping & wires, solder, canned food, you name it. You need ALL OF IT. EVERY LAST ONE.
You forgot the new commodity on the block: Bitcoin. It fits in well and plays nicely with the others.
it is garbage and belongs nowhere on the list - that's why I didn't list it.
I call them shit-coinz. They are NOT a commodity. They are not composed of any rare element, any element at all - they are merely information patterns with no intrinsic value & to me no value for trade. None. I would not trade the smallest meal for the largest sum of bitcoins. Ever.
you forgot the guns, ammo, food, and real estate markets....
Goverment regulation of Bitcoin?
Bitcoin user unaffected.
The government doesn't need to shut down the internet to take down bit coin. They have other... methods.
If they had other methods, they would have already used them.
In three years, if he's not in jail, Jamie Dimon will be just another common Bitcoin scammer trolling boards looking for a quick loan of 1 bitcoin to finance his new internet-based used mattress company.
I think you underestimate just how much control they can have if they want it. Queue admiral akbar. Hope you make it buddy.
You overestimate their powers. They can't do shit when their money buggy breaks down, as it's about to do.
Anyone not in paper will do fine. The government and banking structure is 98% paper that's about to blow away. PMs and Bitcoin will mop up the leftovers.
I didint junk you but I do disagree with you on the dollar time horizon. What army defends bitcoin? Do they have biden 12 gauges ?
Math through cryptography and the laws of physics protect Bitcoin. 256-bit crypto is unbreakable by brute force. Do you understand how big the 256-bit namespace is? If you don't know how big it is, don't feel badly. Jamie Dimon doesn't know either.
The man that literally wrote the book on Applied Crytpography has this to say about what protects Bitcoin before Bitcoin even existed:
"A typical supernova releases something like 1051 ergs. (About a hundred times as much energy would be released in the form of neutrinos, but let them go for now.) If all of this energy could be channeled into a single orgy of computation, a 219-bit counter could be cycled through all of its states.
These numbers have nothing to do with the technology of the devices; they are the maximums that thermodynamics will allow. And they strongly imply that brute-force attacks against 256-bit keys will be infeasible until computers are built from something other than matter and occupy something other than space."
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/09/the_doghouse_cr.html
All very clever, and useless.
Kinda wish you were my lil baby boy. You're so cute, and helpless.
The amount of PMs people are moving with bitcoins isn't useless.
https://www.goldsilverbitcoin.com
http://coinabul.com
https://www.amagimetals.com
edit: Thanks for your kind offer but I already have a crazy mom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_cryptography
Oops, grid down, sorry for your luck. Must be that "storm" which caused a chain reaction through some less-kempt part of your electricity grid. We'll be "right on it"
You are now off-grid and can't use Bitcoin. For as long as is desired.
If the grid is down all over the world, we have bigger problems than losing the internet and Bitcoin. Luckily, PMs will do nicely if the grid is down. That's what they're ultimately for, last time I checked.
Right then, after three weeks and a half of just one city of people like New York without power that cannot flush their toilets nor pour water, or keep foods cool without the refrigerator is anyone going to worry about bitcoins, or PM's? What one can find to eat and drink becomes the new god of the stomach for most.
actually silver would easily buy me a boat to use to get through flooded areas whereas the money itself may get washed away. It's easier to lose those silly paper / cotton bills.
no, if the grid is down & you threw away money on bitcoins instead of gold, silver, land, water, you are fucked.
That's the point I'm getting at. Bitcoins require a ludicrous trust in networking latency, central exchanges for currency trade & trade validation, and for power grids. All absurd trust.
Dear Bubble Gum Boy...
you gambled and lost.
Accept it... embrace it.
Fincen tells me my bitcoins are not regulated by them unless they are sold for dollars or other "legal tender". Works for me. Why would I want to do that anyway? That's like selling your silver for dollars. Hello Mcfly, the whole reason you buy phyzz in the first place is to escape from Benny's ponzi scheme. So your phyzz doubles in Benny bucks and you go right back? Smart move. I hereby pledge to NEVER trade any of my bitcoins for any real currency as fincen defines it and thereby comply completely with their regulations. I'm all-in on bitcoins and Fincen has convinced me to never go back. Thanks guys.
The Bitcoin Channel
The idea is to get enough vendors to accept bitcoins for the things that people want so that they don't have to be exchanged for legal tender.
There are already limits in place. If you wire over $5,000 to a bank account the bank has to report it regardless of where or what it comes from. I don't see what the big deal is here. TPTB are still clueless or powerless.
Saudis: We have put the petrodollars into anything real we could find, including gold. OK, let's buy more gold.
BIS Governors: fuck.. ehhh...I wouldn't do that. Listen, here's a plan. We'll give you lots of gold in small amounts frequenly but it has to be kept off market.
Saudis: fine.. Do It!
1982.. to 2013
Thought the whole appeal of BC was that transactions could be encrypted and therefore hidden from "prying eyes".... No?
To me, BitCoin is like a derivative Difficult to understand, no substance and totally electronic. What happens if your hard drive or storage device fails with your bitcoin on it?
Gold, silver, nickel and copper coinage is where it is at. If devaluation occurs in fiat, a dollar will mean something again and something can be purchased for it.
Think about it. If an enemy wants to control America or any other country, they don't need guns or nukes. Obliterate the power grid is all that is needed. BitCoin, bank accounts, gas pumps, refrigeration, water and sewage pumps, A/C, furnace fans and rechargeable products will all be rendered useless.
If BitCoin is a derivative, then it is a derivative of the Ron Paul movement. Yeah, I know that Suzuki Kawasaki wrote the code for BTC but the effort has been taken up by a lot of people who still want to make a point. Buy BTC now?(I'm out) Go to Vegas on that. Credit is due for the effort though. The point is this: FUCK YOU CENTRAL BANKERS. Regarding BTC, it has never been about getting rich to the best of my knowledge. Ain't hard to figure out folks.
I apologize for the outburst.
Ron Paul had nothing to do with BitCoin, though I suppose Ron Paul disciples might end up saying that he walked on water, which he sorta did, by getting paid by tax payers to be a harmless Dorothy Dix for decades of his career in politics.
I would have been impressed if Ron Paul had pushed for a real 9/11 investigation and if he had really confronted AIPAC; but he never did anything of any substance ever.
Ron Paul was all hot air and of as little substance as BitCoin ... perhaps that's how you make the connection that BitCoin is a derivative of the Ron Paul movement, which also went nowhere during the last POTUS elections, because he went to water.
Actually it was Honda Yamaha not Suzuki Kawazaki
"To me, BitCoin is like a derivative Difficult to understand, no substance and totally electronic."
That's the crux of it ... really odd that such as Max Keiser favours this ethereal entity, whilst also pushing physicals like silver.
Seems to me that BitCoin is the ultimate fiat 'money' based in nothing other electronic bytes on computers, which can go down at any time.
At least the US petro-dollar still has some credence - by being backed by colonial conquest of ME oil producers - but what backs BitCoin? The reliability of an electricity supply to computers. That is all.
> what backs BitCoin? The reliability of an electricity supply to computers.
I'm not sure if you've noticed this or not, but our entire economic well-being is tied to reliability of an electricity supply to computers.