Tag Archives: Gold and Bitcoin

One of the world’s largest bitcoin miners is setting up a hub for European operations in Switzerland, a person familiar with company has confirmed to swissinfo.ch. The Chinese firm Bitmain Technologies is setting up in Zug just as the Chinese authorities move to shut down cryptocurrency miners. Bitmain Technologies builds and supplies machines for bitcoin mining and runs its super-scale mine in China. The company set...

Our earlier articles on bitcoin discuss the crypto asset as a currency and a commodity. Both papers focused on the consequences of bitcoin’s defining feature: the asymptotic supply limit of 21 million coins. This gives it an unusual juxtaposition of demand uncertainty and supply certainty (as well as inelasticity). As a currency, it gives rise to a tension between its use as a store of value and as medium of exchange....

Cycles and Sentiment Another recurring pattern consists of the seasonally strong period in gold around the turn of the year, which is bisected by a mid to late December interim low in the gold price. An additional boost can be expected in January and Feburary from the strong seasonal uptrend in silver and platinum group metals as well (to see the seasonal PGM charts, scroll down to our addendum to this recent article...

Repeating Patterns and Positioning A noteworthy confluence of patterns in gold and gold stocks is in evidence this year. At the close of trading on December 26, the HUI Index has given a (tentative) buy signal by completing a unique chart pattern, which is why we decided to briefly discuss the situation. As usual, things are not as straightforward and simple as they would ideally be, but there is always an element of...

Ski lifts in and around St Moritz in the Engadine Valley have started accepting Bitcoins as payment for passes. According to Swiss public television, SRF, and the newspaper Südostschweiz, Engadin St Moritz is the first Swiss lift company to recognise payments with cryptocurrencies. Company director Markus Meili told Südostschweiz he wasn’t worried about the Bitcoin bubble bursting – despite its value surging from...

C’est la monnaie préférée des pirates informatiques. Celle qu’exigent les hackers lorsqu’ils formulent  une demande de rançon. Mais pas seulement ! Depuis que le bitcoin flambe (il a dépassé le 15 décembre les 17 000 dollars), de plus en plus de fonds d’investissement, alléchés par les perspectives haussières de son cours, s’y intéressent. Et de nombreux sites de commerce en ligne se mettent à facturer produits et...

Nations that attempt to limit cryptocurrencies’ ability to solve these problems will find that protecting high costs and systemic friction will grind their economies into dust. There’s a great deal of confusion right now about the regulation of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. Many observers seem to confuse “regulation” and “banning bitcoin,” as if regulation amounts to outlawing bitcoin. Further confusing things is...

Bitcoin was on my radar far back as 2011, but for years, I didn’t think much of it. It was a curiosity. Nothing more. Sort of like the virtual money you use in World of Warcraft or something. In 2015, looking deeper, I slowly (not the sharpest tool in the shed) arrived at that “aha” inflection point that most advocates of honest money arrive at. I realized that a distributed public ledger has the power to change, well,...

December 13, 2017 (Eagle, Idaho) — A national precious metals dealer has selected four outstanding students to receive tuition assistance from America’s first gold-backed scholarship fund. Beginning last year, Money Metals Exchange, a national precious metals dealer recently ranked “Best in the USA,” teamed up with the Sound Money Defense League and well known members of academia and freedom-minded non-profits to offer...

Buy Gold, Silver Time After Speculators Reduce Longs and Banks Reduce Shorts – Gold and silver COT suggests bottoming and price rally coming– Speculators cut way back on long positions and added to short bets– Commercials/banks significantly reduced short positions– Commercial net short position saw biggest one-week decline in COMEX history– ‘Big 4’ commercial traders decreased their short positions by 28,800...