ThatGuy Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 FBI to form new digital currency unit as Justice Dept taps new crypto czar | Business WWW.DEVDISCOURSE.COM The U.S. Justice Department has tapped a seasoned computer crimes prosecutor to lead its new national cryptocurrency enforcement team... FBI to form new digital currency unit as Justice Dept taps new crypto czar "The U.S. Justice Department has tapped a seasoned computer crimes prosecutor to lead its new national cryptocurrency enforcement team and announced on Thursday that the FBI is launching a unit for blockchain analysis and virtual asset seizure. The creation of the "virtual asset exploitation" unit at the FBI comes on the heels of the Justice Department's largest-ever financial seizure." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuy Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 Just now, ThatGuy said: FBI to form new digital currency unit as Justice Dept taps new crypto czar | Business WWW.DEVDISCOURSE.COM The U.S. Justice Department has tapped a seasoned computer crimes prosecutor to lead its new national cryptocurrency enforcement team... FBI to form new digital currency unit as Justice Dept taps new crypto czar "The U.S. Justice Department has tapped a seasoned computer crimes prosecutor to lead its new national cryptocurrency enforcement team and announced on Thursday that the FBI is launching a unit for blockchain analysis and virtual asset seizure. The creation of the "virtual asset exploitation" unit at the FBI comes on the heels of the Justice Department's largest-ever financial seizure." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted February 17, 2022 Author Share Posted February 17, 2022 Man, is the chattering class chattering. Watch them chatter. El Salvador President, Nayib Bukele had this to say when some US Senators tried to muck around in his adoption of bitcoin as legal tender for El Salvador. And that's what I've got to say about all this government control of bitcoin crap: "Don’t try to control something you can’t control." But they will try. So watch what happens. If you think the Biden admin's Afghanistan retreat was something, watch what happens about bitcoin, especially as the economy catches a meltdown fire with high inflation... Michael 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuy Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 Cernovich: "Coinbase should sue Canada immediately on behalf of consumers who have wallets with them. Otherwise why use Coinbase if government can seize your wallets? This is pivotal moment for crypto and exchanges need to fight back now." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuy Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 "And now, for something completely different..." Larry David and the lighter side of crypto-currency denial... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuy Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 But for something less than funny... Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger Says Government Should Ban Bitcoin — Calls Crypto 'Venereal Disease' Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger Says Government Should Ban Bitcoin — Calls Crypto 'Venereal Disease' – Featured Bitcoin News NEWS.BITCOIN.COM Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's right-hand man, wishes crypto would be banned immediately. "Predator class." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strictlylogical Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 I'm starting to rethink this ... no, I have NOT given up on the idea that money must have some sort of inherent value... other than providing a bare means of exchange... but I am revisiting the idea that Bitcoin, because of its particular attributes, provides a certain KIND of exchange, protections, or guarantees over and above bare exchange, against a volatile world full of oligarchs, authoritarians, and technocrats. Using this little thing, if it deflects the modern path to hell.. while facilitating exchanges...how can that extra-transactional benefit not be a sort of intrinsic value? Gold is beautiful because of its sheen to the eye of its owner... perhaps Bitcoin has something of a similar sheen to the mind and spirit of a freedom lover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted February 24, 2022 Author Share Posted February 24, 2022 S, The strength and weakness of bitcoin is that it is dependent on other people using it and never an oligarch or CEO or owner of the process or anyone like that. I like to think of it in the same terms as what was used for founding the USA. Before the USA, the only government man knew was authoritarian. The question in founding the USA was: "Can man rule himself?" Thus a system of checks and balances was designed around a formal structure and oriented by individual rights. The concept behind bitcoin is similar. In the simplest terms possible, if people use bitcoin, it has value. If they don't, it has none. No authoritarian can attribute or remove value from bitcoin and no government on earth can seize it. The authoritarians are trying to manipulate it right now by being users with a lot of bitcoin to fiddle with, but they can only control their own bitcoin. They are so big that what they do affects the price, but they can take it only so far simply because there are the other users. When the big guys keep it up, other people simply buy them out because they get bitcoin for cheap. The best recommendation for bitcoin is not that it will make you rich as an investment over time (although there is that). It is that bitcoin cannot by confiscated without physical torture of the owner (and there are some stubborn-ass owners who will never give up their keys) or owners being careless about where they have their keys written down and the confiscator gets to them. Without the keys (the hashes), no one can use a bitcoin. Michael 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuy Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Hillary Clinton doesn't like crypto, because of Libertarianism philosophy, or whatever... Hillary Clinton: Disappointed "So-Called Crypto Exchanges" Won't Block Transactions In Russia For Some "Libertarian Philosophy Or Whatever" "Hillary Clinton called on cryptocurrency exchanges that have not already done so to to block people from sending money in or out of Russia during an interview Monday evening with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. HILLARY CLINTON: "We have to keep tightening the screws. You've seen in the last few days, some of the so-called oligarchs beginning to speak out. Actually criticizing the move into Ukraine. " "Everybody should ratchet up the pressure. I was disappointed to see that some of the so-called crypto exchanges, not all of them but some of them, are refusing to end transactions with Russia. You know, from some I don't know, philosophy of libertarianism or whatever. Everybody -- and there has to be legal or regulatory pressure. Everybody needs to do as much as possible to isolate Russian economic activity right now. That pressure will absolutely impact Putin. " Full article here:https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/02/28/hillary_clinton_disappointed_to_see_so-called_crypto_exchanges_wont_block_transcations_in_russia_because_of_libertarian_philosophy_or_whatever.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuy Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 Hmmmm......"Biden reportedly expected to sign executive order on crypto" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted March 10, 2022 Author Share Posted March 10, 2022 If you are worried about the bitcoin average essentially staying the same for so many months, don't forget that bitcoin is not made for short term investments. It's a form of money and one of the strongest ever invented. Governments cannot confiscate it. And, investment-wise, it always rewards HODLERS (bears) way over the market. So if you have conditions, play the long game and look at relevant, but not much commented, indications for your information. For example, look at this one and think about the future. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted March 12, 2022 Author Share Posted March 12, 2022 It looks like both France and Mexico are going to declare bitcoin as legal tender in the near future. Michael 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted April 8, 2022 Author Share Posted April 8, 2022 Peter Thiel on Bitcoin at the Bitcoin 2022 conference. Paypal Co-Founder Peter Thiel - Bitcoin Keynote - Bitcoin 2022 Conference RUMBLE.COM Paypal Co-Founder Peter Thiel - Bitcoin Keynote - Bitcoin 2022 Conference Powered by Marathon Digital Holdings #bitcoin #bitcoinmagazine #bitcoin2022 #peterthiel #paypal Comments coming. Peter did not hold back. He's very pro-bitcoin. Here's just one slide from his presentation as a teaser. (For those who don't know, these gentlemen are on his bitcoin enemies list: Warren Buffett--Berkshire Hathaway CEO, Larry Fink--BlockRock CEO, and Jamie Dimon--JPMorgan Chase CEO.) And my favorite quote from the speech: "When you think ESG, think CCP." Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted May 30, 2022 Author Share Posted May 30, 2022 I am trying to focus more on signal than noise these days. I believe this bring the best value for you, my dear OL readers. So what's the signal for bitcoin? The following article gives a huge hint. Mastercard CEO: SWIFT Payment System May Be Replaced By CBDCs In Five Years Mastercard CEO: SWIFT Payment System May Be Replaced By CBDCs In Five Years WWW.ZEROHEDGE.COM ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero This guy Michael Miebach (the Mastercard CEO) let slip that central banks are looking at a digital currency--CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency)--to replace SWIFT. This was said during something called the Global Blockchain Business Council at the World Economic Forum at DAVOS recently. I have a few thoughts on this. The dollarization of international trade is--at root--based on Saudi Arabia not accepting any other currency for oil than the dollar. That means other countries have to buy and sell dollars whether they like it or not. And that means the USA can print a hell of a lot more dollars than Americans use. This artifice has allowed the Fed and Central Banks all over the world to go on an orgy of printing money that gradually loses its value as they hope nobody notices. At some point, though, a tipping point is reached and this system will crash into chaos. I believe this tipping point has been reached and we are starting to move in the downward direction. What's more, I believe the heads of the international money institutions know it, which is why they are looking for other forms of international payments like digital currency. They even sabotaged the SWIFT system by throwing Russia out of it, thereby allowing Putin to institute a different international currency for his own gas and oil (payment in rubles). He even pegged the ruble to a gold standard. This also throws Russia out of the CHIPS (Clearing House Interbank Payment System) settlement system. No problem for Russia. It is making its own with China, Iran and so on. The monetary geniuses at the World Economic Forum are making sure this happens as they look in horror at the result. So they look to bitcoin and think they can make it work with them in charge. But bitcoin will never work with them in charge, or anyone in charge for that matter. It's just not made that way. But other digital currencies are made that way and the bad guys are working on it. Just look at what Miebach said above. SWIFT will be replaced by a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The bad guys are panicked, though. Since they operate massive amounts of money, they are currently "gaming" the buying and selling of bitcoin to keep the value low in relation to the dollar. But, as will inevitably happen since these idiots will not change their course of action, once the international dollar system goes down the drain, they will no longer be able to do that and panicked people the world over will migrate to the one stable system that works worldwide and they can access: bitcoin. (Incidentally, at that time a lot of cryptocurrency charlatans will make a killing, too. But it will be a temporary thing for them since the money of suckers will eventually run out.) Thus whoever has bitcoin and is able to hold onto it until that worldwide disaster happens will get a massive windfall in profits. Bitcoin increases in value the more people buy into it. The problem is how long the monetary bad guys will last before their gradual suicide kills off the international dollar standard. Five years? Heh. Since Miebach is saying five years in the context of a WEF convention at DAVOS, it's probably a lot sooner. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 From The Wall Street Journal: The price of bitcoin lurched below $20,000, and below a level widely monitored by cryptocurrency enthusiasts, as a brutal selloff in crypto showed no signs of abating. end quote I hope no readers of OL or companies that accepted bitcoin are getting burned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted June 18, 2022 Author Share Posted June 18, 2022 Peter, It's called whale games right now. Whales (central banks, some billionaires, etc.) are losing money on purpose in order to drive the price of bitcoin down. One of the reasons is that the Fed is thinking about issuing its own form of digital currency to replace the dollar. You can read about it on the Fed site from January here: /faqs/images/Social_Default_Image.jpg The Fed - What is a Central Bank Digital Currency? WWW.FEDERALRESERVE.GOV The Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington DC. More recently this Fed digital currency thing came in the news because Powell is scrambling to see what he can do about inflation and is in a panic. Flirting with zero percent interest rate all those years is now coming home to roost. So where is he looking? You got it: digital currency. From yesterday: Fed's Powell: a U.S. digital dollar could help maintain international primacy NEWS.YAHOO.COM "A U.S. CBDC (central bank digital currency) could... potentially help maintain the dollar's international standing," Powell said in introductory remarks to a research conference held by the central bank on the... The big problem for central banks is bitcoin. They want a digital currency controlled from the top. And bitcoin is not only NOT controlled from the top, it is the largest digital currency by far in the world. So they have to try to take it out in order to take over the digital currency market. Since they can't do it by intimidating the owner (as there is no owner), and since they can't make laws that "take" (that people obey) to keep people from buying bitcoin (especially since entire countries are adopting it for legal tender), they are playing whale games--actually losing money on purpose--to see if they can drive the price down and get people disinterested. It's not going to work, though. As I said, entire countries are adopting bitcoin as legal tender. Outside of that, here's just one example of an individual: billionaire Michael Saylor is not only entrenched in his advocacy of bitcoin, he is buying more. Why? Bitcoin is going to go back up when the whales get tired of losing money on purpose. And they will. They always do when their whale games fizzle. If anyone was investing in bitcoin for short-term gains, I agree with you that they got burned. But those who are holding will be very happy when it skyrockets again--as it always does. Bitcoin is one of the most perfect moneys ever to be invented. It's not good currency for corrupt crony capitalists, though. It's good currency for pure capitalists. As investment, it's not good for short term investing (unless one is lucky to catch a spike phase). But for medium-to-long term investing, it has proven to be one of the most lucrative investments on the planet. And it looks like this will continue for a long, long time, especially when seeing central banks spiral out of control as they are now starting to do. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted June 19, 2022 Author Share Posted June 19, 2022 On 6/18/2022 at 3:41 PM, Michael Stuart Kelly said: ... billionaire Michael Saylor is not only entrenched in his advocacy of bitcoin, he is buying more. The following may seem like a tautology, but when people keep talking smack about bitcoin's price, there is much deeper wisdom there than meets the eye. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuy Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 9 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said: The following may seem like a tautology, but when people keep talking smack about bitcoin's proce, there is much deeper wisdom there than meets the eye. Michael “Sell me that package, will you?” “I don’t think you’ll be able to afford it, Miss Taggart, but—all right, if you wish.” “How much is it?” “Five cents.” “Five cents?” she repeated, bewildered. “Five cents—” he said, and added, “in gold.” Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged: (Centennial Edition) (p. 629). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 22 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said: Bitcoin is one of the most perfect moneys ever to be invented. Thanks for the heads-up Michael. On Fox they were saying a FED hike will compel savings account interests to rise, which is good if you are getting a measly amount prior to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted June 19, 2022 Author Share Posted June 19, 2022 4 hours ago, ThatGuy said: “Sell me that package, will you?” “I don’t think you’ll be able to afford it, Miss Taggart, but—all right, if you wish.” “How much is it?” “Five cents.” “Five cents?” she repeated, bewildered. “Five cents—” he said, and added, “in gold.” TG, Things can change when scarcity changes. Here's a recent tweet by Michael Saylor to illustrate. Almost $13 trillion in gold being added to the mix. And all that goes to Uganda. Still, I believe gold is good. But I also believe it will reflect inflation and degraded value. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted June 19, 2022 Author Share Posted June 19, 2022 1 hour ago, Peter said: Thanks for the heads-up Michael. Peter, A couple more recent tweets from Michael Saylor. He even has Ron Paul (2008) in the mix. Michael Saylor puts his own money where his mouth is. Apropos, there is a famous story about Saylor. I don't remember the country, but I think it was Argentina. They started monkeying around with the money and Michael had a lot of money in the country. They made it impossible for him to get it out. So he looked around for an alternative. He ended up buying yachts there in the local currency. Then he sailed them to a country that traded in dollars and sold them. While the world was playing central bank games with that country, and that country was confiscating what it could from everyone, he got his money out. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatGuy Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 59 minutes ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said: TG, Things can change when scarcity changes. Here's a recent tweet by Michael Saylor to illustrate. Almost $13 trillion in gold being added to the mix. And all that goes to Uganda. Still, I believe gold is good. But I also believe it will reflect inflation and degraded value. Michael I may not have made my point clearly (which was vague, admittedly). I posted that quote to show the similarity between gold and bitcoin vs. the fiat dollar. "One bitcoin=one bitcoin" and "5 cents... in gold" having an objective value vs. the fiat dollar becoming non-objective garbage, thanks to inflation, etc. (Or, something to that effect, anyway...I know some will say that Bitcoin has no objective value, and is as "fiat" as the dollar. But then, I know some will say that gold has no intrinsic value, either...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted June 20, 2022 Author Share Posted June 20, 2022 14 hours ago, ThatGuy said: I may not have made my point clearly (which was vague, admittedly). I posted that quote to show the similarity between gold and bitcoin vs. the fiat dollar. TG, I figured as much, but it was a good point for a riff, so I riffed. Here is the unspoken issue with bitcoin--and gold for that matter despite the tons coming from Uganda. I'm speaking within the context of the current money crisis starting to happen. This issue is what keeps legitimacy as money for most people during bank runs. And you know where it is starting hard? China. BREAKING: Run on the Banks in China – Long Lines in Henan, Shanghai, and Dandong BREAKING: Run on the Banks in China - Long Lines in Henan, Shanghai, and Dandong WWW.THEGATEWAYPUNDIT.COM People are reportedly lining up for hours in China to obtain money from their bank accounts in China. The large cities of Henan, Shanghai, and Dandong are three cities where the lines are long. After years of... An interesting part of that article was a warning from Steven Bannon during the Trump presidency (in July of 2018--he was being interviewed by CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera). Here is the passage from the article, then the video, Quote Steve Bannon warned about China and shared that the people of China would take their money elsewhere in a second if the currency was allowed to leave China. We are seeing this today. The people of China don’t trust their banks. Does anyone have any doubt why China cracked down on bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency exchanges within mainland China? But the dam is bursting anyway. Just look at the long lines at banks with strong promises of more to come. Once gobs of Chinese people have easy black-market access to buying bitcoin (which CANNOT NOT happen), that is exactly what they are going to do. We can expect to see a similar result across the world once the shit hits the fan for real. People may not have access to gold in authoritarian countries. But so long as the Internet exists, they will always have access to bitcoin--even if only in a black market way--except for small sporadic periods when governments and whales do their bullying monkey-shines. But they can't keep it going. It's like trying to catch fish in a river with one's bare hands. When I was in Brazil, there was no bitcoin or Internet during that huge financial crisis where they took everyone's money. Back then, the equivalent of bitcoin was physical dollars. Not dollars in a bank account. Physical paper dollars. And anyone could get them if you knew a "doleiro" (a black market dollar dealer). As time went along, it became easier and easier to know a "doleiro." Finally it got to the point where the black market rate was published in newspaper financial sections alongside official rates and indexes for the day. God knows I used doleiros plenty of times. I believe something like that will happen with bitcoin once things get crazy with the central banks. It's funny, but bitcoin is reputed to be a Ponzi scheme, or at best, a great example of the biggest fool in the room principle (which means price is set for something by the biggest fool in the room willing to buy it). But in reality, what the central banks did is all that and so much more. This time they can't print or legislate their way out. And they can't steal their way out. Not even war is working. The account is overdrawn through years and years of the Fed's zero interest policy for institutional loans--and using that form to create new money. (Guess what institutions all over the world did with those loans? Especially at 3, 4 and more times removed from the original loan? Monkey-shines does not even begin to describe it. ) It's actually refreshing in a "lo and behold, reality is real" manner to see China being the first to suffer with this. China has been one of the biggest thieves on the market and has gamed the shit out of everything financial. Michael 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted June 20, 2022 Author Share Posted June 20, 2022 Ancient Egyptian monetary wisdom for the ages. The video is only 14 seconds long, but the lesson reverberates on a cosmic level and it is timeless. Michael 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Stuart Kelly Posted July 5, 2022 Author Share Posted July 5, 2022 I'm not happy about the following, but I want to register it to show people that the big guys behind the scenes are doing what they can to take over bitcoin. Goldman Sachs trading bitcoin futures. Ain't that something? Bitcoin is supposed to be done, over, finished, dried up and so on according to the establishment and establishment press. After all, the price is now below $20k. Yet here Goldman Sachs is packaging bitcoin into investment instruments and trading them, not here in the USA where the monkey-business is unfolding, but in Asia to test the waters. Ya' think Goldman Sachs has a plan cooked up in the backrooms to make a killing with this? I am sure of it. At least Goldman Sachs shows it knows it can't control bitcoin itself, so it is going after packaged things with bitcoin it can manipulate. The point is, the big guys are telling everyone to not take bitcoin seriously. Yet they are talking bitcoin seriously. Later, they want all the money for themselves with everyone wondering what happened. This time around, they will have some success, but they won't get it all. I expect to see more and more bitcoin millionaires as time goes on. It just takes patience and knowing what to look for. Hodl right now if you can. Let go of FUD and hodl. (See? I'm getting my jargon down. ) When the spike shoots up like a rocket, you won't be sorry you did. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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