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Some claim delta airlines stock was shorted by insiders prior to the 9/11 WTC hijackings. World War I could have ended sooner had war profiteers on one side not sold raw materials to war profiteers on the other side needed to manufacture munitions and other necessary equipment for war to continue. "Merchant of death" war profiteers throughout history who sold munitions openly bragged about profiting from war and bloodshed around the world. Banks have been caught routinely laundering money for drug cartels, human traffickers, terrorist groups and other illicit demographics that thrive off the misery, suffering and pain of humanity, with no real penalty.
All of that is dirty business. Sadly, there wouldn't necessarily be anything particularly new or unusual about it.
Anyone could buy stock in publicly traded companies that manufacture anti AIDs/HIV medication utilized to treat corona virus and potentially profit over the long term. There are already many different ways to do it. Even if its not explicitly advertised as such.
Commercialization of everything is propelled forwards by desperation of average people under conditions where taxation, wealth & wage disparities are high. If we object to these precedents on moral grounds, pursuit of equality could be a decent course of action. Aside from that I'm not certain what our options are. Glamorizing and romantizing serial killers and similar types has been mainstream for so long. That would seem to be the direction ruling elites want to shift public opinion. And so that can be tough to resist or overturn.
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The amendment to the Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Information passed this afternoon in a full session of National Assembly. The passing of the amendment signifies the official entry of cryptocurrency trading and holding into the legal system for the South Korean government. A restructuring of the domestic blockchain industry is expected to take place as a result of this event. One of the main caveats to the enactment of the amendment is that cryptocurrency exchanges will need to comply with reporting requirements. Although the larger exchanges mostly comply with the new rules already, small and medium-sized exchanges may have trouble obtaining the contracts to reach full compliance. President Jaein Moon must sign the amendment into law to start the enactment process which will be one year from the date of signing followed by a 6-month grace period. This means that all entities affected by the law will need to be in full compliance by September 2021. The passing of the amendment comes after a lengthy 2-year process of deliberations and trial and error of recommended guidelines but few official laws. Exchanges and companies handling cryptocurrency up to this point have been mostly self-governing in regard to their cryptocurrency, but have run into trouble with how the cryptos are turned into fiat currency. Exchanges, trusts, wallet companies, and ICO are now required by law to have a real-name verification partnership with an approved Korean bank. Real-name accounts prevent money laundering by assigning a verified individual to a single bank account with which they may withdraw and deposit fiat currency from and to an exchange. Also, companies must obtain an information security management system (ISMS) certification. Some exchanges already have the real-name verification system on their platform as it was imposed via guidelines set by the FSC in early 2018. The ISMS certification system is granted by the Korea Internet Security Agency (KISA) which certifies that a company can secure key information assets for itself and its users. This certification can be very costly, but all exchanges must comply within 6 months of its enactment or risk being shut down. The measures imposed by the law will ensure stricter AML and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) compliance by exchanges mainly. Up until now, anyone could launch an cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea. By September 2019, there were over 70 exchanges in the country. The saturation of the market has led to a bevy of problems for consumers in the industry. Many have suffered fraud ranging from exit scams and false trading volumes to insider trading and blatant manipulation of the value of some coins. Local Korean cryptocurrency investors have mixed feelings about the introduction of the new law into the system. Some have applauded the measures proclaiming that a ‘New Coin Age‘ has begun in Korea. Others further noted that “[[cryptocurrency] is nationally recognized as gambling no more.]” On the other hand, cynical investors have pointed out the futility of such measures. While the security of investors’ assets is objectively increased by these measures, one points out that despite the added security, investors will still lose their money because they will have to pay taxes on their trades. Furthermore, another investor on Coinpan begs the community to see how poorly the stock market is performing with all of its regulations these days – “[with all the new regulations to the cryptocurrency industry, a massive cooldown of the values of cryptos will ensue.]” There is a concern that investors will suffer further damages as perhaps their preferred exchange closes, charges higher fees, or requires more documentation to continue trading on the platform. By the end of the 6-month grace period, crypto traders in Korea may actually only have 4 to 6 exchanges to choose from since only Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit have the real-name banking system and the previous 4 plus 2 others, GoPax and Hanbitco are utilizing ISMS. Investors have suffered greatly by the ‘wild west’ regulatory landscape of the cryptocurrency trading industry in Korea in the past few years. Numerous accusations and some guilty verdicts of fraud have been doled out. Upbit has been in the middle of fraud accusations for years, as has Bithumb, BOSCoin, Komid, and Newbit, among others. In response to the attempt to rectify the wrongs of the past, Hanbitco CEO Sunga Kim commented, “A foundation has been created to wash away the stigma of cryptocurrency exchanges, fraud, and debauchery and establish itself as a transparent and reliable industry. It will lead the development of the industry with the inflow of new capital.” https://thenews.asia/amendment-to-special-reporting-act-passes-cryptocurrency-trading-now-legal-in-south-korea/.... South korea's legalization of crypto isn't as good as the philippines with their relaxation on crypto taxes. It appears every nation on earth recognizes the value of legalized crypto creating jobs, boosting tax revenues while providing consumers with greater options to protect savings from dangers associated with hyperinflation and default on deficits. EXCEPT the united states which insists on being closed minded to new innovations and developments like crypto which carry the potential to improve quality of life and standard of living for everyone. That said this appears to be a mixed bag with some viewing it as a major stepping stone towards mass adoption. Detractors on the opposite side seem to think taxes and regulation will diminish the growth potential of crypto sectors. What do people think about this? |
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The latest World Health Organization (WHO) report claims china is effectively quarantining those infected with both their fatality statistic as well as the number of patients treated in hospitals being on the decline. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reportsI'm not certain whether that report will later be corrected in favor of new emerging data. There is certainly a lot of stake. China is known for its state controlled propaganda arm being the closest thing it has to a news media. If the report turns out to be accurate, it would appear china has its corona virus situation under control. ... The first line of OP says: "The Impact of Corona Virus Disrupts the Crypto Industry in China." But if you read everything below that, it doesn't appear crypto is being affected at all.  |
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If governments of the world, are ever to dig themselves out from under the massive budget deficits they've created. They will need to utilize every option at their disposal. This includes legalizing and supporting crypto currencies which create jobs, generate tax revenue and give consumers greater options in terms of safe havens available to protect savings and wealth from fiat hyperinflation.
Legalizing and supporting crypto indicates governments and regulators are serious about ending deficits and protecting citizens from fiscal mismanagement. Lagging banking industries also may need the high potential growth of the crypto sector for their own survival. With corona virus and economic slowdown being major global concerns.
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NEW YORK, (March 2, 2020) — SFB Technologies announced today that the blockchain for the world's first national digital currency, the Marshallese sovereign (SOV), will be built using Algorand technology. The SOV will circulate alongside the US dollar and help the Marshall Islands efficiently operate in the global economy. Algorand is the inventor of an open-source, pure proof-of-stake blockchain protocol that enables the development of scalable blockchain-native solutions for real-world use cases. SFB Technologies, the appointed organizer for the Marshallese sovereign initiative, chose the Algorand protocol for its speed, scalability, security and its ability to effectively implement required compliance controls and the transaction finality needed for a national currency. “Algorand was selected after extensive market research among the leading protocol options,” said Jim Wagner, co-founder and CTO of SFB Technologies. “The company has already powered several mainstream use cases and thanks to its unique features the platform has the functionality required to issue, manage and distribute the SOV on a global level. This partnership ensures that the SOV will be built on a scalable and secure platform.” “The Marshall Island’s vision for global participation and inclusion in an open financial system by harnessing the benefits of blockchain technology is aligned with a truly global and decentralized society that we believe is made possible with our technology,” said Silvio Micali, founder of Algorand. “We are proud to support the country on its groundbreaking journey towards mainstream digital currency adoption.” The government of the Marshall Islands will oversee the SOV and leverage the combination of Algorand’s blockchain functionality and SFB Technologies’ identity management and compliance platform. Kenneth Kedi, Speaker of the Marshallese Parliament, expressed, “I am excited about the technological partnership with Algorand. With it, a strong alliance is forming to develop the SOV project. This is another milestone towards developing the Marshall Islands financial services industry.” The SOV supply will be algorithmically fixed to grow at 4% each year to prevent runaway inflation. The SOV will be introduced through a token pre-sale: rights to future SOV will be sold in a series of auctions as part of a time-release monetary issuance (TRMI), which is expected to begin this year, visit https://sov.foundation. About SFB Technologies SFB Technologies is a technology provider focused on developing the blockchain infrastructure that is necessary to bring together digital currencies and mainstream regulatory compliance. SFB Technologies is a forerunner in the field of sovereign cryptocurrencies and has deep expertise in combining the best features of corporate, government and digital currencies to create a new type of sovereign money. For more information, visit https://sfb-tech.comAbout Algorand Inc. Algorand Inc. built the world's first open source, permissionless, pure proof-of-stake blockchain protocol for the next generation of financial products. This blockchain, the Algorand protocol, is the brainchild of Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali. A technology company dedicated to removing friction in financial exchange, Algorand Inc. is powering a financial evolution by enabling the creation and exchange of value, building new financial tools and services, while providing responsible privacy features. https://www.algorand.com/resources/news/marshall-islands-to-power-worlds-first-national-digital.... They say their supply is algorithmically limited at 4% per year to prevent runaway inflation. Their basic setup is an open source blockchain utilizing proof of stake. I'm hoping for many updates and more information on this. This type of innovation and embracing of emerging technologies like crypto currencies is exactly what the world needs to curb its self destructive deficit tendencies. Through this type of competition we can create incentive for more manageable and sustainable budgets. As well as more responsible fiscal policy from governments. Which would in turn produce more stable economies, job markets with potential for higher standard of living. |
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The 2008 economic collapse was fueled by banks leveraged exposure to declining subprime real estate and other assorted markets.
If the corona virus negatively impacts markets bankers have leveraged positions in, it could be bad for them. History could repeat.
Derivatives markets today are not safer or better regulated than they were in 2008. Its entirely possible we could see a sequel.
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Warren Buffett appears to have a good working relationship with banks. Endorsing bitcoin or crypto currencies could jeopardize that relationship. There's a simpler explanation. Look at what Buffett says about gold: “(Gold) gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.” Then compare that to what he says about cryptocurrencies: "Cryptocurrencies basically have no value," he said. "You can't do anything with it except sell it to somebody else." There's no need for a conspiracy theory involving banks. He doesn't see value in speculative store-of-value assets like Bitcoin and gold. He's primarily a stock investor looking for predictable returns on investment. He's an old man, stuck in his ways. Let him be.  Warren Buffett's business and livelihood is tied up in US stocks. Asking him to comment on gold, is like asking the largest shareholder of Pepsi their opinion on Coca Cola. Gold and precious metals are something like a competitor to US equity markets. Buffett doesn't want investors to put their money in gold. It translates to less cash being invested in equity markets. That works against his own self interest. He wants investors to buy stocks instead, which increases his own holdings. Bitcoin is similar to gold being something like a natural competitor to stock markets and banks. For a billionaire like Warren Buffett, it is important for him to have good connections and a working relationship with the banking industry. He relies on banks to help him move and store money. The better relationship he has with banks, the better rates and terms he gets. If Buffett came out in support of bitcoin, it could upset the relationship Buffett has with bankers. They could give him worse rates and terms. Or retaliate in some other fashion. There's no need for conspiracy theories when its simple necessity we're discussing. |
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Warren Buffett appears to have a good working relationship with banks. Endorsing bitcoin or crypto currencies could jeopardize that relationship. Its seldom purely about investment or money. There are political contexts which factor into events when large sums of money and the mainstream influence of being a billionaire celebrity are involved.
Imagine if you were an 80 year old billionaire with friends and peers in the banking industry. And you knew your friends in the banking industry were losing business and money to new innovations like bitcoin. Would you be enthusiastic about burning people in the banking industry you've known for decades, in favor of a new invention you personally felt no loyalty or connection to? Then what happens if bankers decide to retaliate against you for promoting their crypto currency competition. That puts you in a bad position.
Justin Sun tried to get an endorsement from Warren Buffett. He may have had more success getting an endorsement from someone who didn't feel personal loyalty to the banking establishment. Who didn't care if banks decided to retaliate for promoting their competition.
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Interesting. One of the biggest obstacles imo to designing and implementing a successful money exchange paradigm is: creating value. Especially with a topic like climate change where adopters aren't likely to see tangible benefits due to the issue of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere being completely invisible to human eyes. We don't see the issue, we only feel the side effects. There are plenty of projects focusing upon planting trees and minimizing deforestation. Perhaps it might bode well to focus more on the human element. Its less saturated and the potential for gains more tangible. In practice the way this might work is. Early adopters and end users of the coin would be entered in a lottery. Periodically, a number of them would become eligible to win solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles, organic plant growing equipment. Items which could enhance their capacity to reduce carbon footprint, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help combat climate change. With information and experiences being shared, documented and updated. All to empower others to do the same. That could be a more effective way of producing tangible value, that people would see firsthand moreso than they would with seed planting runs and such. Of which I've never seen much documentation on at all. |
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The short term solution for recession and the mass homelessness that has become all too common is for governments to donate state owned land towards the cultivation of food crops and housing for the homeless. While hiring volunteers to oversee and manage the operation.
On a fundamental level, negative trends associated with recession / depression are enabled due to society relying heavily upon public and private sectors providing jobs, income and other necessities.
A paradigm shift defined by more independent and self sufficient living. A lifestyle where people become less dependant on corporations for jobs or governments could be one solution to automation driven job loss. A high tech sustainable society that grows its own food, produces its own energy, fuels and maintains its own transportation and so on. Could go a long ways towards reducing reliance on public/private sectors to maintain a good standard of living. The humble origins of which could be found in off grid permaculture movements with organic crops and renewable energy generated by solar panels/wind. One step towards ending recession could represent passing laws and incentivizing a movement away from big cities towards more rural off grid living utilizing sustainable, self sufficient, frameworks.
And of course, crypto being extremely flexible and progressive. Altcoins could be designed to help fuel innovative humanitarian movements such as these.
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The sad state of affairs is stable coins like tether requiring greater reserves and safeguards in contrast to regulated and established banks. And many unregulated 3rd party payment apps being more honest and trustworthy than regulated options like paypal. In theory, we often see the media label new innovations and regions of the financial landscape not currently under control as being guilty of numerous allegations. In practice, the more regulated industries and finance become, the more they appear to become corrupt, untrustworthy and unreliable. It is an interesting precedent to behold. This is relevant to Wall Street players like Bakkt, who under CFTC regulations can legally pledge a single BTC to multiple people. Very interesting. I hadn't known that. Its more a derivative market of some type. |
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Bitcoin provides competition to the US dollar.
This in turn provides incentive for central banks and legislators to do a better job managing budgets, debt and money.
Bitcoin is a WIN/WIN scenario for everyone!
What the US dollar does not need is protectionism and isolationism from new ideas and progress that cryptocurrencies to some degree, represent.
Also it should be mentioned that both china and russia have adopted powerful de-dollarization monetary strategies over the last few years which greatly threaten the "dominance" of the US dollar, with virtually zero concern over those developments from either politicians or the media. So why should they be concerned now. It makes no sense.
Their job as creators of monetary policy is to normalize the capital welfare and stability of the people they serve. Said public benefits from having greater financial and economic options, like bitcoin. Thus favortism towards those things is what they should support and pursue.
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Its much harder to be profitable gambling over the last few years with investment bankers buying up and consolidating many sportsbooks. And their influence being reflected in many sporting events trending towards becoming more shady and inconsistent. Many previously profitable gamblers are abandoning the industry as a result, making it less likely you'll find anyone who is profitable or rich through the practice.
Vegas Dave is probably the loudest personality claiming to have struck it rich via gambling. You can find him on twitter, instagram, youtube, etc. He posts pictures of himself driving expensive cars, at big parties with multiple women. He is a controversial figure. Sportsbooks have recently claimed that screenshots he's posted of his winning bets were forged. There are many who claim he made his money through selling his sports picks, rather than gambling on his own.
If there are people who got rich gambling, they're more likely the type to keep a low profile and not publicly discuss how much they made.
That said, there are many who have been documented profiting millions through fantasy sports, which is a little different from gambling but similar.
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Banks around the world are supposed to benefit the most from central banks inflating assets, and hyperinflating stock markets, but over the past few years, central banks have instead caused some of the biggest bank job cuts in half a decade. HSBC, Europe's largest bank and troubled lender, although not nearly as troubled as Deutsche Bank, said it would cut upwards of 35,000 jobs, shed $100 billion in assets, and take a massive $7.3 billion hit to goodwill as part of a major overhaul under Chairman Mark Tucker, the company said in a press release on Tuesday morning. This comes months after HSBC's interim CEO Noel Quinn unveiled plans to "remodel" large parts of the bank. The restructuring of the London-based bank is being led by Quinn, who replaced John Flint in August on an interim basis. Quinn is vying for the permanent role of CEO, which the bank said will be decided this year. Europe's biggest bank by assets is expected to focus more on Asia and the Middle East, while it winds down operations in Europe and the US; HSBC derives at least 50% of its revenue in Asia. The bank said net profit plunged 53% to $5.97 billion last year, due to the $7.3BN goodwill hit and also thanks to the record low interest rates and NIRP unleashed by central banks. Tucker said the bank faces substantial challenges in the UK, Hong Kong, and mainland China. He also issued a warning over the Covid-19 outbreak in China and quickly spreading across Asia to Europe, indicating that the virus could impact the bank's performance this year. Quinn confirmed the bank would cut 15% of its workforce over the next two-three years. This is on top of the 10,000 jobs it axed in Oct. "The totality of this program is that our headcount is likely to go from 235,000 to closer to 200,000 over the next three years," Quinn told Reuters. adding that "HSBC will be “exiting businesses where necessary." “Around 30% of our capital is currently allocated to businesses that are delivering returns below their cost of equity, largely in global banking and markets in Europe and the U.S.,” he noted. In its long-struggling U.S. arm, Quinn said HSBC will cut assets in investment banking and markets by almost half, and shut around 70 of its 229 branches. As of September, HSBC was the U.S.’s 14th largest commercial bank according to Federal Reserve data, with around $181 billion assets. Mr. Quinn said he had considered putting the unit up for sale but decided against it because the U.S. is a crucial part of the bank’s global network. HSBC shares slid 6% on the restructuring news on Tuesday morning. The benefits of the restructuring will be evident largely from 2023 onward, said Citigroup analyst Ronit Ghose, who recommended investors sell HSBC shares. And to think it was only last year when 50 banks laid off 77,780 jobs, the most since 91,448 in 2015. With the global economy quickly decelerating, and a virus shock that could tilt the world into recession, if we had to guess, tens of thousands of more banking jobs will be slashed this year. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/hsbc-cut-35000-jobs-profits-plunge.... Does the significant decline of our traditional banking industry represent a similar paradigm to how competitors to amazon and walmart declined in the face of superior business models. Perhaps 3rd party payment apps and alt currencies are slowly but surely whittling away at banks traditional market share, which is fueling this decline. Even though market analysts and experts might be too conservative to voice this opinion. One of bitcoin's famous slogans is: "be your own bank". Perhaps now is a great time for that slogan to become a reality. |
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As an american citizen.
I would RATHER have legal access to crypto exchanges that allow trading with leverage. Europe has bitcoin ETFs I would rather have legal access to than a partnership between coinbase and visa.
This does nothing for me. I can't speak for others but I would guess this does nothing for the average crypto HODLer.
Its an attempt to further centralize US markets under coinbase. Under a consolidated monopoly which is likely to grow more exploitive, unfair and predatory over time.
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There are many illegal aspects to finance, job markets and economies that are not currently enforced.
Paying workers in cash, off the books, is technically illegal. And yet exceedingly common due to laws against the practice not being enforced. Not necessarily on a lack of will but rather due to them lacking the resources and manpower to crackdown on it. Not to mention the negative backlash, loss of jobs and confidence in the system should they make a legitimate effort.
The DoJ can label mixers or anything else illegal, without it representing an actual intent to enforce those laws.
Technically streaming and warez websites are illegal. The Department of Justice will tell you so. Tell me how much success the DoJ has had ending warez, streaming, spam emails and other explicitly illegal practices.
The sad thing is, their crackdowns don't improve quality of life or standard of living. Instead, they tend to be oppressive and destroy opportunities for everyone.
Their policies often wind up representing the opposite of "justice".
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Electronic voting is a real world application utilized in elections for decades now. Its not a theoretical vaporware pipedream scenario, in the way that many seem to mistakenly believe current day voting systems are still exclusively paper trail based. Its a common and ubiquitous aspect of elections and politics throughout the world. Blockchain based systems can carry advantages in insuring the integrity of data, if they are implemented correctly. And if they are complimented by solid end user authentication systems such as voters being required to provide ID to vote.
India itself may be too polarized a setting to implement a secure electronic based voting system.
There are too many conflicting political interests for something as important as a national voting system to be developed independently without some bias being built into it. I think for something like this to work, it would need to be developed and implemented independently by someone who can objectively look at things and ensure the design fits the theory of how such a thing should be built.
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Bitcoin is going to reach 40,000 before the Dow Jones does, according to the analyst eyeing a 200% price jump by August 2020. Speaking to CNBC in an interview on Feb. 10, Fundstrat Global Advisors co-founder, Tom Lee, said that although the Dow would hit 30,000 points before Bitcoin hits $30,000, 40,000 was a different story. Lee: ‘I would not pick the Dow’ The Dow currently trades at 29,280, an all-time high, while BTC/USD is at $9,870 after hitting five-month highs of $10,150 over the weekend. Lee summarized: “My guess would be Dow, but if I had to say what is first to 40,000, I would... I would not pick the Dow.” “Yes, @fundstrat just said he thought bitcoin could almost triple this year & beat the Dow to 40k,” host Kelly Evans confirmed. $4K or $27K for BTC? Earlier, the infamous Bitcoin bull said that due to the cryptocurrency breaking resistance provided by its 200-day moving average price, it was due to treble in just six months. That forecast sparked contention from other traders, who told Cointelegraph that such optimism was still misplaced. Nonetheless, after rising 40% year-to-date, Bitcoin has seen a new wave of price predictions from well-known figures hit the airwaves. Most recently, Trading Bitcoin podcast host, Tone Vays, warned the short term could produce as low a price as $4,000. Contrasting him are the likes of fellow veteran Peter Brandt, who believes those waiting for even $6,000 have “missed the bottom.”  As Cointelegraph reported, PlanB, creator of the highly accurate stock-to-flow Bitcoin price model, shares the view that BTC/USD will remain higher — at least $8,200 before hitting a giant $100,000 by the end of 2021. https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/bitcoin-will-beat-dow-jones-40000-tom-lee-doubles-down .... I need to read up on stock-to-flow pricing models. There's an old thing known as thermoeconomics that I wish received greater support and coverage over keynesian or hayekian schools of thought. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThermoeconomicsIt attempts to compare flows of cash and pricing in terms of the laws of thermodynamics. Which on the surface appears to be a more consistent and reliable frame of reference. That said $40,000 btc would be a somewhat mind blowing thing. $10k btc is still mind blowing to me. I remember it being at $3,000 and not believing my eyes. Who knows what the future holds. |
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You know what would be cool. If a game established a presence in africa or another country with a high demand for digital currency. While having a presence in countries with lax financial regulatory standards. It could naturally open up cross platform ARB (arbitrage) trading once again. The most lucrative and best altcoin/shitcoin trading strategy of all time. If I was a game developer and my goal was to reward players and promote my game. Leveraging existing differences in regional demand wouldn't necessarily be a bad way to go about it. |
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