Just a few short years ago MicroStrategy (MSTR) was a run-of-the-mill software company. At that point, founder and CEO Michael Saylor realized that unless something changed, the company would remain a slowly dying cash cow. They had lots of companies paying them licensing fees for their software but eventually through attrition that would come to […]
What Makes MicroStrategy Special Read More »
This past week a few slightly “under-the-radar” events caused a major shift in the crypto arena that most people are totally unaware of. Just a couple of weeks ago, Joe Biden was threatening to Veto pro-Crypto legislation, Sen. Elizabeth Warren was railing about the evils of crypto and how it is only good for hiding assets and mafia transactions. And the Democrat-controlled Security Exchange Commission (SEC) is actively targeting several major crypto sponsors despite having approved Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in January.
Then along comes Trump, who holds a Crypto “Love Fest” at Mar-a-Lago, which catapults crypto into the political spectrum… Ethereum ETFs are approved… the House approves the FIT21 Act, and the tide against Crypto has turned.
The Tectonic Shift in Crypto Read More »
Our ROC system is very good at spotting major turning points in the market. So this month we adapted it to look at Bitcoin and Ethereum. While doing this we changed the look of how we do ROC, so we will be adapting the regular ROC charts to the new style as well. The advantage of this new look is that you can see the underlying index at the same time, so you can see exactly where the various signals kicked in and how it evolved from there. Also, I think the new look is much cleaner and less cluttered.
Applying the ROC to Crypto Read More »
We’ve all heard that the Crypto landscape is much like the “Wild West” with very little regulation. But along with risk comes opportunity. One of the reasons the “Wild West” was so wild was because “Boom towns” would spring up in the middle of nowhere due to the discovery of gold nearby. The gold would attract not only hard-working prospectors and pioneers, but also promoters, grifters, and outright crooks. Sometimes a “Lawman” such as Wyatt Earp would show up and try to enact some sort of system of Law and Order.
The Modern Day Wild West: Crypto Scams And Opportunities Read More »
It turns out that Crypto is much more than just Bitcoin. In October 2008, when a person (or anonymous group) named Satoshi Nakamoto created the code for Bitcoin it opened the door to more than just a currency. It introduced the concept of a “Blockchain” to the world. Since then there have been literally thousands of Cryptos created, most of which ended up totally worthless. Some were simply jumping on the Blockchain bandwagon, just as companies added “.com” to their name back in the Dot com mania of the 1990s, people began creating mostly worthless cryptos in the 2010s. But not all the cryptos were worthless. Some were new currencies but others were new and innovative ways to use blockchain.
Crypto 2.0, A Whole New Ballgame Read More »
Gold has shown some resiliency in 2024. Recently, John Authers at Bloomberg published the following comparison of gold vs. the S&P 500. With all the hype around the magnificent gains in the stock market you might think that it has massively outperformed gold. But currently, one ounce of gold buy the same number of shares of the S&P 500 as in 1971 when Nixon severed the link between gold and the dollar.
The Barbarous Relic Rides Again Read More »
Over the years, we’ve discussed various iterations of the “blockchain” and some of the possibilities it has for finance, industry, and even gaming. We looked at What are NFTs and Why are They Going Crazy?, How Blockchain’s Unique Innovations Can Prevent Money Remittance Scams, How Is Technology Affecting Global Trading Markets, and Metaverse vs. Multiverse- What are They? And Where are They Leading? Over at InflationData, we covered Cryptocurrencies and Inflation, and Can Crypto Solve Venezuela’s Hyperinflation Problem?, which we followed up with How has Venezuela’s Bitcoin experiment Fared? So we’ve looked at Crypto quite a bit. Today we are going to take another look at NFTs, which looked a lot like a crazy bubble right from the start.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs): Another Financial “Fumble” Read More »
Why Governments Villainize Assets That Protect Against Inflation
For years, in an effort to drive down prices, gold was attacked as a “barbarous relic” that paid no interest. But it was the only financial asset that wasn’t simultaneously another person’s liability. When an asset is also a liability it’s always possible that the liable party will be unable (or unwilling) to make good on that liability. In that case, the asset becomes worthless. But if you hold physical gold it will always be worth something. The price may fluctuate wildly, but it will never be worth zero. Being a commodity with many real-world uses (in addition to just jewelry), gold also tends to maintain its value during both times of inflation and deflation, plus gold tends to appreciate faster than inflation in times of crisis.
For years it seemed that governments around the world wanted to discourage their citizens from owning gold (while simultaneously hoarding it for their own treasuries). One reason for this seemingly duplicitous behavior is that without an alternative, citizens are forced to spend (and save) using the government-sanctioned currency. If you have the alternative of opting out of depreciating currencies most logical people will do so, once the benefits outweigh the costs.
Another reason governments dislike alternatives to the official currency is that alternatives reveal the true value of the government currency. Governments with perpetually high inflation rates like Argentina often will publish dubious “official” inflation rates in an effort to convince their populace that inflation isn’t as bad as their pocketbook tells them that it is. But with a non-shifting yardstick like gold, their lies become apparent. So they discourage gold ownership and thus leave people foolish enough to listen to their lies, defenseless to the ravages of inflation.
Now with the advent of cryptocurrencies governments have a new villain to demonize. It almost seems that gold has fallen out of favor and crypto has become the new gold. Millennials seem more likely to turn to modern alternatives like bitcoin rather than the antiquated (and time-tested) gold. And it is easy to see why. In recent years gold has remained relatively stable while crypto has skyrocketed.
Can Ruthless Governments Make Crypto Worthless? Read More »
These days, whether or not you’ve actually bought any, you’ve at least heard of bitcoin. The first “ cryptocurrency”, bitcoin was introduced in 2009 and enjoys far more notoriety than its counterparts Etherum, Litecoin, and Cardano et.al.
For the uninitiated, however, bitcoin is created, distributed, traded, and stored with the use of a decentralized ledger system, known as a blockchain. The currency has no physical manifestation; it simply exists as balances in a public ledger. If you’re considering investing in it, you’re probably wondering if bitcoin is headed for a fall. Well, let’s take a look.
Is Bitcoin Headed For a Fall? Read More »
You know that the oil markets have truly gone to the dogs when they are suddenly riskier than one of the world’s most volatile commodities: bitcoin. Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies are synonymous with extreme bouts of volatility. However, it’s crude oil that is now earning that dubious distinction after exhibiting price swings wilder than even the leading cryptocurrency.
Oil Is Now More Volatile Than Bitcoin Read More »
