Gold

When it Comes to Gold Miners it’s About: “Management, Management, Management”

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There’s a reason people listen to Marin Katusa, Chief Energy Strategist for Casey Research.  That reason is a breath taking track record identifying huge opportunities in the junior resources sector.  In this excellent interview, Marin explains how it’s all about management when it comes to small precious metals miners.  He also points out how many … Read more

The Bitcoin Economy Evolves: Bitpay Slashes Fees and is Adding 1,000 Merchants a Month

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Jon Matonis knows more about Bitcoin than pretty much anyone on earth.  He wrote a fantastic article today highlighting the hyper-growth of Bitcoin processing company, Bitpay Inc.  Some of the statistics mentioned absolutely blew my mind, to the point that it’s almost hard to believe the level of growth happening here.  While the news that they are slashing fees for merchants is a big deal in itself for the evolution of the “Bitcoin Economy,” the fact they are adding 1,000 merchants a month on a base of 4,000 is absolutely incredible.  Oh, and the company has also recently integrated its payment platform with Amazon’s fulfillment services.  Great work Jon.  Excerpts below:

Bitcoin payment processor BitPay Inc. today announced its global processing volume for the month of March will exceed $2 million, a milestone for the company.

BitPay is also reducing its fees. The company will now process Bitcoin transactions and support settlement into 11 local currencies at a rate of 0.99% for all merchants. Previously, there were separate conversion fees on top of the 0.99% processing fee, so the company has essentially waived the currency conversion charges.

Accepting the digital Bitcoin currency as a payment method allows merchants to reach customers in over 60 countries not supported by PayPal.  It also allows merchants to reach various countries that are restricted by Visa and MasterCard for high fraud or lack of infrastructure. A consumer transacting in bitcoins needs only a mobile phone application or an Internet connection.

“We chose to celebrate this milestone by rewarding all merchants, large and small, with an across-the-board fee reduction, instead of offering tiered pricing which rewards only the largest merchants,” says BitPay CEO Tony Gallippi, in a press release. “We want our merchants to use this fee reduction to offer discounts and incentives to their customers for paying with Bitcoin.”

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Bitcoin Goes Parabolic: My Updated Thoughts

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Bitcoin is the beginning of something great: a currency without a government, something necessary and imperative.

– Nassim Taleb on Reddit yesterday

So Bitcoin has finally dipped its electronic toe into the fringes of mainstream consciousness. The results have been, to put it mildly, explosive, divisive and highly emotional.  I can see why.

While I had been aware of it prior, I never truly became curious about Bitcoin until I read an excellent six page article about it in the New Yorker on October 10, 2011.  I had no clue how the technology worked, but it intrigued me to such a degree that I sent it to my email list of close contacts.  What really struck me was the rationale for creating Bitcoin by its creator, the anonymous “Satoshi Nakamoto.”  This cryptographer was well aware of the cancerous nature of the world’s monetary system and the key role of Central Banking in that system.  This wasn’t just some technology geek playing games with virtual currency, this was a well thought out monetary revolution.

He had thought this entire thing out like a chess grandmaster.  He knew he had to be anonymous and that Bitcoin had to be decentralized, because he knew the Central Bank overlords would fight to the death to protect their money monopoly.  He created a currency that central planners could not naked short to infinity and manipulate with derivatives as they do with the precious metals markets.  It was this foresight that has led to its tremendous success today.

It wasn’t until I started accepting Bitcoin donations in September of last year (donate here) that I truly started gaining a small understanding of the technology and who the major players in the “Bitcoin Economy” are.  It was at 10 back then, it is 73 as I write this today.

BTC

A chart like the one above is nothing short of parabolic, and parabolic charts beget parabolic emotions.  From my end, I have received some complaints from “gold bugs” who seems annoyed that I am highlighting Bitcoin seemingly in preference to precious metals.  To them I have a few things to say.

First, I spent four years writing about gold and silver non-stop.  Sorry, it just gets repetitive and boring.  Never once have I wavered in my conviction on the need to buy and hold these metals; however, the world is dynamic and when new things enter the picture I will formulate new thoughts.  Some of the complaints against Bitcoin are valid, others are not.  The one I hear the most, which is completely untrue, is that Bitcoin is another “fiat currency.”  I’m often shocked that people make this error, as the definition of fiat is: 1. A formal authorization or proposition; a decree and 2. An arbitrary order.  Synonyms include: decree, diktat, directive, edict, rescript, ruling.  Bitcoin is 100% voluntary.  No one is declaring it the “money of the land,” forcing you to pay taxes in it, or invading the Middle East to protect the pricing of oil in it.  So let’s move on.

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Incredible Video: Beppe Grillo Dissects the Financial System…in 1998

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“Whom does the money belong to?  Who does its ownership belong to?  To the State fine…then to us, we are the State. You know that the State doesn’t exist, it is only a legal entity.  WE are the state, then the money is ours…fine.  Then let me know one thing.  If the money belongs to … Read more

Interview #4 with Financial Survival Network: Money Fraud, Food Fraud and More…

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Yesterday, I recorded my latest interview with Kerry Lutz of Financial Survival Network.  In it, we focus on how dangerous it can be to your health and family’s well being if you aren’t acutely aware of all the food fraud out there.  It has become obvious to us both that the American economy is basically … Read more

Interview with Dr. Dave Janda – February 2013: Solutions

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This interview couldn’t have been timed more perfectly.  We sat down to talk literally fifteen minutes after I published my Mission Statement for 2013, which focuses on solutions to the plight we find ourselves in.  Enjoy!   Like this post? Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G Follow me on Twitter.

Interview Two with Wall Street for Main Street: Look for Capitulation

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Everyone is talking about the bloodbath in the miners, but if you’ve stayed in the space this long, or are just waiting on the sidelines, this seems to be the time for a clear head and to be on the lookout for capitulation.  While I don’t spend as much time on the markets these days, … Read more

The Number One Reason to Buy Gold: An Interview with Marin Katusa

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In a world where many gold investors are suffering from confusion and frustration, and where mining investors are almost at the breaking point, my friend Dan Ameduri has brought to us an interview with Casey Research’s Marin Katusa.  For those interested in separating the winners from the losers in junior mining, Marin also offers one … Read more

Latest Interview with SGT Report: Are There Really Silver Shortages?

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This interview really has something for everyone.  We start off discussing whether or not I think there are actual silver shortages at the moment, and then progress to the Queen of England, the Vatican as well as the oligarchic bankers!  Ultimately, we end it on a positive note as we look forward to a cultural … Read more

Fed Statement is Laughable: The Precious Metals Consolidation is Over

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I haven’t written anything about the markets in a very long time due to the experience in extreme boredom that they have become as of late.  The election came and went and now that we are just ahead of the Holiday Season the apathy has hit monumental proportions.  More significantly, what was the point of doing anything ahead of today’s Fed meeting?  There wasn’t any and so nobody did.

Now that the announcement is out, I think in retrospect today will turn out to be a meaningful turning point.  Not so much because of what they said, but because of where certain markets are and because of what they didn’t say.  Let’s start with the latter point.

From the statement, we found out that the Fed is set to launch an unsterilized buying program of $85 billion per month ($40 billion in mortgage backed securities and $45 billion in treasuries).  This part was widely flagged already.  The more interesting part is the language in the text discussing how the Fed will essentially link their low rates to unemployment, with 6.5% being the threshold.

This is all within a text that attempts to portray a very benign and healthy economy, one described as having an improving labor market, a housing recovery and anchored inflation expectations.  Sounds pretty good to me; so then why accelerate the aggressiveness of their radical money printing policy?

The answer is that the Fed realizes its policies haven’t worked and are convinced they need to do more and more to prove an academic point that man is indeed more powerful than nature.  At first, they said a stock market rally would set a fire under the economy.  That hasn’t worked.  Then they said a new housing recovery would do it.  Once again, nein.  So now their answer is just print money like crazy and eventually it will work.  Yes, they are insane, but we already knew that didn’t we.

Actions always speak louder than words and their actions demonstrate a deep concern for the real economy and an unspoken understanding that things are not going well underneath the layers of propaganda.

Now onto the second point.  I think today will mark an important turning point in the markets not just because of what I wrote above, but because of where things stand.

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