Messages

'If you want to try to figure out where we're headed, you need to get out of your own head and into the minds of younger generations. While it's fun to mock millennials and avocado toast, this is one of the most systemically screwed over generations in a long time. Thrown into the job market in the midst of an economic collapse, they watched their parents lose their homes while Wall Street got bailed out. These are lessons and experiences that stick around for life and fundamentally shape how one sees the world. The younger generations aren't going to be interested in tinkering around the edges of the current paradigm, they're going to want to replace it entirely. They have no loyalty to a system they've witnessed do so much damage.'         

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-06/crypto-hearing-post-mortem-bitcoin-gains-regulators-balanced-not-dismissive

This is being hailed all over Planet Krypto for what it is: a remarkably honest and insightful statement by a regulator.

But m e a n w h i l e . . . Carstens of the BIS is talking the usual twaddle -- but don't take it lightly: the BIS are heavy hitters:

https://www.reuters.com/article/cryptocurrency-markets-bis/central-banks-must-act-against-ponzi-scheme-cryptocurrencies-bis-head-idUSL8N1PV5KS

Wheeee!

It's Tuesday here in Australia. Yesterday's wobblie on Wall Street is now . . . yesterday. The Oz stock market is down. And we're watching for China to open.

We're still only hours away from a Bitcoin-low of $6,756.  Will it keep going down? Don't know. Gonna trade very very carefully.

This is big news: https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/7vhs9u/the_dip_is_over_senate_testimony_posted_online/

Biggie big big question, timmy.

IMHO

One: do due diligence. This got forgotten in 2017.

Two: maybe only tackle the analysis of ICOs that are some months away -- I'm really restating 'One.'

Three: if you are at all uncertain, don't buy in.

'The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), a pension fund created by statue that handles net investment assets of $50 billion serving almost 500,000 members, is to directly buy eth by backing a newly formed company called Ethereum Capital through its investments arm.'           https://www.trustnodes.com/2018/01/30/canadas-biggest-pension-fund-buy-eth

I've been waiting to take a swing at this: how is it that NO entity, such as these guys or the stock exchanges offering Bitcoin Futures, has been called out over the evil terrorism-financing aspect of cryptos? (apart from it being largely untrue . . . ) Why is it bad for individuals to own cryptos? but okay for institutions?

'in a way, all these red days should be good, I expect good coins will rise from ashes and shit coins will [not].' Georgio Carasco De La Cruz (on our Telegram channel)

This is an astute insight. Let's dare to say some obvious stuff right out loud:

it was big flimsy cryptos/2.0-crypto-ICO scams that sparked the government push-back; and now solid (innocent) cryptos are suffering from the bad reports.

But here's where it gets interesting: if we can persevere – it'll be months and months and months – the world's understanding of cryptos will improve, and people will begin to identify and choose those cryptos with sound foundations and long-term agendas . . . like GRS.

Meantime? Trade hard.

'Sberbank does not plan to provide cryptocurrency exchange to retail investors, but is looking to operate on the institutional level.'           

https://cointelegraph.com/news/russias-largest-state-bank-to-open-cryptocurrency-exchange-in-europe

This is a very important shift in the terrain, campers. The less important thing is that this bank has decided to set up outside Russia.

The more important thing is that they will only serve institutional customers. The response of committed crypto geeks should be to set up groups of p2p traders, who can provide non-mainstream bulk cryptos. I already know of the existence of one of these.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/facebook-bans-cryptocurrency-ico-ads-because-of-deceptive-promotional-practices

Today is a good day to be an experienced crypto geek. There are always 'internal' events (like tech updates) and 'external' events' (like the one above). Either can cause craziness.

Keep track of the buy-in prices of your GRS purchases. Keep some fiat to buy in when prices are low. Keep a little bit of your 'pole coin' (which would be Bitcoin if you're trading BTC-GRS) in reserve -- not much. Just a pinch. If a slump looks like continuing, sell any coin that you can break even on -- which gives you pole coin to carry on with.

Keep your mind on the big picture. Keep trading.

[Woo hoo!!]

Woo hoo!!

'All pairs are now tradable against BTC, ETH & USD.'    https://twitter.com/bitfinex/status/956195856847433728


'The adoption of Bitcoin Cash is seemingly continuing to increase as its supporters promote its use for ordinary commerce, like cash.'

https://www.trustnodes.com/2017/10/27/bitcoin-cash-now-accepted-1200-restaurants-denmark


Bitcoin 'dominance' was once as high as 98%. Today it's down to 33%. So . . . how does this concern GRS?

It means that Bitcoin's stranglehold on trading and 'brand recognition' is broken. Many many more cryptos will achieve significant adoption -- on exchanges and by merchants -- in coming years.

'A growing movement of senior business figures, economists, and powerful investors from across the globe is calling for capitalism to be reimagined so that companies everywhere serve a social purpose.

The charge is being led by Larry Fink, the founder and chief executive of the world's biggest asset manager, Blackrock. The investment house has $6.3 trillion (£4.5 trillion) under management, making Fink arguably the single most influential investor on the planet.

Fink detonated a bomb in boardrooms everywhere earlier this month with a letter to the bosses of all the companies it owns shares in, saying they could no longer afford to focus simply on profit.'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/01/28/larrys-letter-drives-charge-reimagining-global-capitalism/


My stance on this is clear: it will be a disaster for the human race:

even though revolutionary communism – like the U.S.S.R. – failed, its lesser form ('Eurosocialism' will do for a term) has been becoming steadily more authoritarian – cultural Marxism!

Globalism and technologism (and 'climate-change-ism') have given bureaucrats excuses to move into bigger offices. No one will now deny that government and capitalism are working more closely together – like Google and the German government.

But until now, there has at least been the pretense that the capitalists need to be controlled because they are an anti-social force.

But now the capitalists will convince the bureaucrats that The New Capitalism is good (but the capitalists will keep all the bad old power and money, just the way the tobacco companies did when they divested . . . )

And the bureaucrats will be happy to be convinced because they'll get even bigger offices.

And the result will be that that the massive and bankrupt and authoritarian bureaucracy, and the loony policies of cultural Marxism, and The Noo Caring Capitalism, will become a single entity.

And what does this have to do with cryptos? Cryptos are one of the few things left with the potential to weaken governments and banks.

'the rapid growth of ICO fundraising in many countries is the main reason behind Thailand's decision to address the matter at policy level.'

https://news.bitcoin.com/thailand-taking-steps-to-regulate-icos/


Reports on the legality of Bitcoin are fabulously confused. Many headlines say 'Banned!' but the articles outline restrictions.*

A couple of countries are hard cases -- Bangladesh.

[And this is good data on the 'state of play': https://blogs.thomsonreuters.com/answerson/world-cryptocurrencies-country/]


So, Thailand has seen the light. Belarus has announced some sort of ICO-friendly stance. South Koreans reacted angrily to government threats to constrain cryptos/ICOs. And other nations will continue to do this.

So how can I argue that 2018 may be a 'sideways year'?

Well, I think there is a 'third category.' It's not 'Bitcoin is illegal in Country X!' -- which is the sort of headline we see. And it's not 'Country Y announces it will be a crypto paradise!' -- which is the other headline we see.

It's the headline we don't see: 'Country Z announces it is crypto friendly, desires to be a leader in the fin-tech space; but banks in Country Z refuse to transfer funds to tax-paying crypto exchanges, and the tax regulations are unbelievably difficult to understand, so you almost begin to feel that Country Z would really rather that cryptos -- real cryptos -- just disappeared, and they could keep blockchain and maybe launch an e-fiat.'

Let's see how it goes!


*This 2014 article is a good example of this sort of confused reporting: https://www.coindesk.com/bank-thailand-says-bitcoin-illegal-warns-use/

' "Caveat emptor," said Yvonne Zhang, who had spoken on a panel on the future of cryptocurrencies at an Association of Futures Markets conference in Bangkok on Friday. "The 'investors' that did not do due diligence and take time to understand what they're trading in, both venue and subject matter, face unhedgable risks. If they continue to 'trade' the same way knowing the murky nature of this market, they're gambling." '       

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-26/cryptocurrencies-drop-after-japanese-exchange-halts-withdrawals


The OPSEC of the average citizen of Planet Krypto has worsened with the influx of newcomers in the last year. Now we get to wonder if this sloppiness extends to exchanges. The fantastic thing about the Coincheck Exchange hack is not that they had a half a billion bucks' worth of funds in a hot wallet; but that in a formal interview, they didn't really quite seem to understand that it was their fault. Wow!

[Having some fun today/why we love GRS]

Having some fun today/why we love GRS

'Defendants illegally purchased a home, antiques, fine art, jewelry, luxury goods, furniture, interior decorating and other home improvement services, travel and entertainment.'       

'without providing any service to the clients.'         

https://www.techspot.com/news/72941-two-charged-big-coin-cryptocurrency-scam.html

'Brisbane Airport (BNE) will soon become the first cryptocurrency airport terminal, according to reports from local media. The airport is working with local and international companies to make the entire terminal cryptocurrency friendly, with stores, coffee shops and restaurants accepting Bitcoin, Ether and Dash.' 

https://cointelegraph.com/news/worlds-first-cryptocurrency-airport-in-brisbane

These guys have scale on their side. Suppose they set up their system so they can 'real-time convert' back to fiat. Suppose that their analysis is that this is a good time to buy in to cryptos -- 100% appreciation within two years? 200%

The scale thing is that these guys already have lawyers on staff, so such a venture isn't a great trial (as it is for individuals like us hobbyists . . . )

Then they watch the markets like hawks. If things seem to be getting steadily better, they keep some or all of that incoming crypto -- they don't real-time convert it. But if things look like going 'sideways,' then they sell that incoming crypto.

The global crypto-noooz reality has been a little 'mushy' in the last fortnight.' You could spend an hour going over this:

https://cryptocoinmastery.com/south-korean-card-companies-block-transactions-overseas-cryptocurrency-exchanges/

We have overlapping reports, reports supporting one agenda or another, badly-translated reports, false reports intended to move the markets -- all sorts of reports!!

And in the interest of simply being honest and objective: IMHO it will go on for a while yet. Entities like the U.S. SEC and the South Korean Government can take months -- years!! -- to get policies in place.

Now is a great time to involve yourself in developing GRS's community. There is too much 'When Moon?' stuff still going on.

Now is a great time to improve your OPSEC, and perhaps read up on LN and atomic swaps.

What's clear is that anyone who is here now, and who sticks around, will have an income for life trading cryptos.

'Some experts think it will be the trigger for the next financial collapse. Others call it a "national crisis" of unprecedented proportions.

But what all of them agree on is that there's no way US pension funds can keep their promises to the next wave of retirees.'

https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliviergarret/2017/06/09/the-disturbing-trend-that-will-end-in-a-full-fledged-pension-crisis/#7147303a6620


'The looming pension crisis has been signalled in the collapse of Carillion.'

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-22/global-pension-ponzi-carillion-collapse-one-many-come


The 'original' GFC -- 2009 -- was caused by large amounts of low-quality debt. What followed was the creation of lots more low-quality debt.

But the recovery hasn't come, and it isn't coming. (That's just newspaper headlines -- and who believes those?) One of two things will happen. The first is that governments will continue to print money, which will make cryptos attractive as a safe haven. The second is that the economy will just start spiralling out of control, which will increase distrust of government, which will make cryptos attractive as a safe haven.