If the ownership of bitcoin is as concentrated as some estimate, then the liquidity issue distills down to the actions of the top tier of owners. Whenever I raise the topic of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, I feel like an agnostic in the 30 Years War between Catholics and Protestants. There is precious little neutral ground in the crypto-is-a-bubble battle; one side is absolutely confident that bitcoin and the other...
Read More »Let’s Clear Up One Confusion About Bitcoin
If bitcoin can be converted into fiat currencies at a lower transaction cost than the fiat-to-fiat conversions made by banks and credit card companies, it’s a superior means of exchange. One of the most common comments I hear from bitcoin skeptics goes something like this: Bitcoin isn’t real money until I can buy a cup of coffee with it. In other words, bitcoin fails the first of the two core tests of “money”: that it...
Read More »World’s Largest Gold Producer China Sees Production Fall 10 percent
Gold mining production in China fell by 9.8% in H1 2017 Decreasing mine supply in world’s largest gold producer and across the globe GFMS World Gold Survey predicts mine production to contract year-on-year Peak gold production being seen in Australia, world’s no 2 producer Peak gold production globally while global gold demand remains robust China Gold Mine Production 1H 2016 vs 1H 2017 - Click to enlarge Gold...
Read More »Each Bitcoin Transaction Uses As Much Energy As Your House In A Week
While Bitcoin bulls will probably never have it so good as they have in 2017, we wonder whether many of them have stopped to think about the environmental downside of this roaring bull market. After all, back in the dot.com boom, people had ideas about potential internet businesses, issued pieces of paper representing ownership and watched their prices go parabolic parabolic. All it took was a Powerpoint presentation,...
Read More »Each Bitcoin Transaction Uses As Much Energy As Your House In A Week
While Bitcoin bulls will probably never have it so good as they have in 2017, we wonder whether many of them have stopped to think about the environmental downside of this roaring bull market. After all, back in the dot.com boom, people had ideas about potential internet businesses, issued pieces of paper representing ownership and watched their prices go parabolic parabolic. All it took was a Powerpoint presentation, some computer programming expertise and a “research” report,...
Read More »Global Asset Allocation Update
The risk budget this month shifts slightly as we add cash to the portfolio. For the moderate risk investor the allocation to bonds is unchanged at 50%, risk assets are reduced to 45% and cash is raised to 5%. The changes this month are modest and may prove temporary but I felt a move to reduce risk was prudent given signs of exuberance – rational, irrational or otherwise. Moderate Allocation - Click to enlarge No...
Read More »Wozniak and Thiel Fuel Bitcoin-Gold Debate: Gold Comes Out On Top
– Gold versus bitcoin debate makes further headlines as tech experts weigh in – Peter Thiel tells Saudi conference he believes bitcoin is underestimated and compares to gold – Steve Wozniak tells Money 20/20 that bitcoin is a better standard of value than gold and U.S. dollar -Both men recognise that the US dollar has little value and there are worthy competitors to its crown as reserve currency – Gold continues to hold...
Read More »Gold Is Better Store of Value Than Bitcoin – Goldman Sachs
– Gold is better store of value than bitcoin – Goldman Sachs report– Gold will continue to perform well thanks to uncertainty and wealth demand– Bitcoin’s volatility continues to impact its role as money– Gold up 12% in 2017, bitcoin over 600% – BTC is six times more volatile than gold – see chart– Gold’s history and physical property shows it meets requirements as a medium of exchange and store of value Bitcoin Price...
Read More »The World’s Largest ICO Is Imploding After Just 3 Months
Earlier this summer, Tezos smashed existing sales records in the white-hot IPO market after the company’s pitch to build a better blockchain for cryptocurrencies made it one of the buzziest ICOs in the world. As we noted at the time, the company capitalized on that buzz by courting VC firms and other institutional investors with a $50 million token pre-sale. After the company opened up selling to the broader public,...
Read More »A Look Inside The Secret Swiss Bunker Where The Ultra Rich Hide Their Bitcoins
Somewhere in the mountains near Switzerland’s Lake Lucerne lies a hidden underground vault containing a vast fortune. It’s no ordinary vault, according to Quartz. Built inside a decommissioned Swiss military bunker dug into a granite mountain, it’s precise location is a closely guarded secret, and access is limited by myriad security precautions. But instead of gold bars, the bunker contains hard drives on which...
Read More »