Very good point. Maduro is a loudmouth surrounded by controversy and he's bound to fumble it somehow. But still begs the question how fast will the dollar fall. And let's not overlook the money to be made. With all those countries who have formed a polarized central bank to the westetn status quo making the shift to gold/oil/crypto currencies at the same time, (which could then entice Saudi arabia) That will be a market capitalization jump like never in my lifetime. Which could also seriously enhance the downward spiral of the dollar

But Russia has one of the world's strongest growing economies. If they tie the alternative coin to the rubble it will make it a solid crypto coin that moment. Add on to that the ability to trade rubble for oil and gold backed yuan in the very near future and that all spells great news.news .  The regulations are already in place, and theyre already sanctioned to death, so there shouldn't be many surprises in store for it. Which makes it likely to be pretty stable. Add on the use of the central banks and your adding "XRP like" gains on top of gains.

Well said. But I ponder if we have 5 yrs?

Venezuela just announced its backing it's national crypto currency with crude barrels. While also rolling out regulations for the petro coin as Russia did the same for their national crrypto currency as well. It is clear that crypto is here to stay but what about the dollar? In past cases we have gone to war almost instantaneously with any nation state that has attempted to tade oil.in anything other than the USD. But as China, Russia, Iran, and others are will begin trading oil in gold backed yuan, and at least the rubble as well, it seems that Maduro is simply jumping the gun on the new status quo. So What Will Happen Next? Will we see an immediate decline in the dollar? Does this explain the crypto markets current bounceback at this moment after days in slumps? Many changes on the horizon. And the most important question of all for Americans right now is which crypto currency will burst through the ceilings to "save the day" (and make us rich). We have seen some regulation but largely the control seems to be centralizing itself in all the same familiar institutional places. Which definitely accounts for XRP''s %500 gains this month.  And by that i mean control in a "Fannie May" kind of way.  Will we remain the wild west of crypto currencies as other parts of the world rollout protections? Will the dollar crash and turn it all to chao's in the process? Only time will tell, but the clock started today!

I would say it's your top 3 alt coins by market cap. The future of the original bitcoin itself is uncertain at the moment. Ton of transaction back logs and other tech issues. A crazy number of forks and cash grabs. And some forks are quite better than Bitcoin itself technology wise. The ATM's being rolled out have already added several coins. And you will see the market start to find its place in 2018. That being said ETH, LTC, & XRP are much more stable than BTC and are poised to have a really good year. Also heard some good talk about "stable coin" but haven't checked it out. The are a few coins who have had a better year than bitcoin. We just don't hear about them because they are not in the thousands of dollars. There are coins that are directly correlated to thensure price of BTC as well. XRP for example gains value as BTC loses value. As for my personal opinion I believe that ETH or IOTA are poised to be the backbone of the technological future. I believe that ETH might actually "become" what we know as the Internet sometime after the rollout of 5G. However the Tangle network that IOTA runs on is a different creature with the ability to expand its throughput as the user activity increases. (Still not sure how they do that) But it could be extremely useful for a multitude of applications. However it runs poorly until it has reached a certain amount of activity and is very widely misunderstood. Maybe it's before it's time. We just have to wait and see if it catches on or not. And if you decide to venture away from the top 3 then you definitely want to stay in the top 20 by market cap/volume as a beginner.  All that being said it is no substitute for doing your research and investing in th right ICO. With the vast number of companies/markets entering the block chain space it is easier now then possibly ever to pick the next "rising star" at the same time there are plenty of scams out there, so as always, proceed with caution. Disclaimer: I am holding XRP & IOTA.