Jim Rickards endorses Bitcoin

[cypherdoc]

Who is Jim Rickards?  From Wikipedia:

James G. Rickards is an American lawyer, economist, and investment banker with 35 years of experience working in capital markets on Wall Street. He is a writer and is a regular commentator on finance. Rickards advised clients of an impending financial collapse, of a decline in the dollar and a sharp rise in the price of gold, all years in advance. Rickards is the author of The New York Times bestseller Currency Wars, published in 2011.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/investing/2013/03/22/bitcoin-interest-explodes-as-cyprus-nearly-implodes/

From the article:

"Rickards said the recent popularity of Bitcoins is part of a broader trend around the world in favor of alternative currencies."

“Gold is a great way to preserve wealth, but it is hard to move around,” said Rickards. “You do need some kind of alternative and Bitcoin fits the bill. I’m not surprised to see that happening.”

“It’s almost a badge of respect when the Treasury starts regulating you,” said Rickards. “You must be doing something right.”

“It’s not a knock on Bitcoin,” said Rickards. “I’m sure there are criminals using the Bitcoin world, but there are criminals and bad actors in the dollar world as well. The sight of a drug smuggler opening a suitcase full of $100 bills is not unusual.”

It's a big deal that Rickards has noticed and essentially endorsed Bitcoin.  And he is one of the quintessential goldbugs.

[Severian]

This is the best news all week. Rickards has always said that flight from the dollar is a done deal. Now that he's endorsed Bitcoin, many folks that heed his advice will see Bitcoin as a legitimate path away from the dollar equal to PMs.

[robamichael]

This is indeed good news.

Maybe the bull run has just begun.

[gnar1ta$]

Currency Wars is one of the best books I've read. It's good to see the author positive on BTC instead of the usual blah blah blah gold.

[BTC Books]

This is great.  Rickards is a legend.

[Steve]

Very cool...I always like listening to his interviews.

[smoothie]

Sounds like the bugs are starting to like bitcoin.

Bitcoin Bugs 

[amincd]

Awesome, but if I had to guess, problems in fiat currency land have no relation to bitcoin's success, any more than problems with a popular typewriter model pushed up word processing software sales.

People who buy bitcoin are expecting the market to choose it over fiat as it currently exists, not over fiat as it might exist in some worst case scenario.

Safe havens are large cap currencies in other countries, and gold, not bitcoin. Bitcoin is a speculative investment into an emerging technology.

[Eri]

Is it just me or is news regarding bitcoin getting allot more positive recently?

[melvster]

This is the best news all week. Rickards has always said that flight from the dollar is a done deal. Now that he's endorsed Bitcoin, many folks that heed his advice will see Bitcoin as a legitimate path away from the dollar equal to PMs.

Yes, it's a big deal.

At one time, Rick Perry was the the front runner for the republican candidacy (before the "oops" moment).

He said the most important thing he learnt during his campaign was reading Jim Rickard's book, "currency wars"

[aquarius]

yeah this is really a big deal!

now the big money might be getting in, as they trust Jim´s discernment in economics

[cypherdoc]

[Wc=156737.msg1661974#msg1661974 date=1364022909]
Sounds like the bugs are starting to like bitcoin.

Bitcoin Bugs  

Starting?

What am I, chopped liver?

[Wekkel]

I endorse his book: currency wars.

[labestiol]

It's a big deal that Rickards has noticed and essentially endorsed Bitcoin.  And he is one of the quintessential goldbugs.

Indeed. And I might add, he's not a crazy conspiracy nut goldbug. Which means BIG money is listening to him.

[cypherdoc]

This is great.  Rickards is a legend.

yep, he is.

it always amazes me how fast he can talk with nary an "uh" or "uhm" moving from concept to concept seamlessly while repeatedly injecting new insight after insight.

smart guy.

[Melbustus]

It only takes about 1% of the current private-investment demand for gold moving to bitcoin to get the exchange rate over $1000/btc.

[Mosper]

It only takes about 1% of the current private-investment demand for gold moving to bitcoin to get the exchange rate over $1000/btc.

I would think that more important than getting money into BTC would be getting the infrastructure to properly handle that money. It BTC gets real investors and the market really goes big then A) it could be completely manipulated by one big player and B) if Mt.Gox or another exchange or online wallets get hacked or some large fund ends up a scam then people are going to abandon it instantly and never look back. When that magic moment happens that bitcoin really does make the jump from novelty to known the world round you're only going to get one shot at proving your reliability as a store of value and poorly managed websites and an exchange that slows to a crawl are not going to convince people.

No real investor is going to want their money in something that has 14 minute lag on the primary exchange and swings 10+% up and down during that time.

[franky1]

great media story and all legit bitcoin businesses should take note of fox news, bloomberg, BBC, most recent positive press of bitcoin without much highlighting of the 'red light district' places (SR) to use bitcoin

this is where i think mtgox is starting to get it right, with all the DDos and issues where it cant handle the strain of the community when activity starts. they are improving their infrastructure. as said in the interview "nascent infrastructure" meaning starting up, not yet fully developed. i would like to soon see many or all legit bitcoin businesses have "established infrastructure" which can cope with main stream demand.

and by this i dont just mean a well known brand name thats been around a few years, i mean robust systems and servers, as it made me laugh where thousands of people in 2012 were relying on blockchain.info which was being run on a mac mini.. great for starting up, but now its time to up the game and get things more robust.

and with that ill leave you with this to think about.

[Severian]

Indeed. And I might add, he's not a crazy conspiracy nut goldbug. Which means BIG money is listening to him.

In defense of CCNGs everywhere, all metal bugs have a little bit of the conspiracy nut in them or else they'd trust the bankers' TP without question like any good herd animal does.

[flix]

Rickards is a smart guy, and doesn't speak lightly. He's been aware of Bitcoin for a while, but it's meaningful that he has choosen to speak out now...


I highly recommend "Currency Wars" btw.