The Freedom Watch

The Chart of the Century

"In the late 1970s, when did we see the critical tipping point that marked the beginning of the surge? It was after three things happened: First, we witnessed two periods of real interest rates below zero (same as recent years) … Second, we experienced an initial collapse in bond markets that began to drive yields higher (same as now) … Third, we saw a cross-over into the black, as interest rates rose above the inflation rate (same as just happened earlier this year). And THAT’s when interest rates went through the roof, carrying the U.S. Treasury-bond yield to 13% and the Treasury-bill rate to 17%." Continue reading →

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Alydian targets big ticket miners with Terahash hosting

"In a little under a week, serious miners will be able to host Terahashes of ASIC mining power from Alydian – but only in large quantities. The Californian company is preparing to host ASIC mining equipment for its customers, using yearly contracts. Its launch day pricing was $65,000 per Terahash, and mining hosting contracts are only available in 5 and 10 Th/sec blocks. So, if you’re thinking of running a miner in your basement, you are not its target market. Alydian will be going after institutional-level investors that want to move large amounts of money into bitcoins. The question is, how is it getting the capacity so early, and what will it mean for everyone else?" Continue reading →

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BitShares P2P trading platform to offer dividends on bitcoins

"BitShares is the brainchild of Invictus Innovations. It will consist of a protocol and a piece of software called Hydra, which will offer three separate services: a decentralized identity management system called BitNames, a secure chat and messaging system codenamed BitCom, and a peer to peer trading exchange. Both the protocol and the software will be open source, said Charles Hoskinson, who is co-founder of the project. His co-founder Daniel Larimer is a software engineer with a background in networked C++ applications. They secured 'mid-six figure' funding from Chinese private equity firm BitFund.PE." Continue reading →

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An Idiot’s Guide to Bitcoin: the man behind the book

"He explains, 'Because I’m from Africa, I pay a lot of attention to what’s happening there. The developing world is absolutely poised to pioneer this revolution, if you want to call it that, because their national fiats are inflation-ridden, over-taxed and over-controlled; the places with the highest buy into bitcoin is the developing world. Then you have the western world, who are complacent, who are comfortable, who are kept that way and who don’t have an immediate, on the ground need for bitcoin, where the developing world do. If it can go viral in India then a sixth of the world’s population will accept bitcoin. That would be wonderful.'" Continue reading →

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Fox Affiliate Explores Bitcoin, A New Trending Form Of Currency

"Bitcoins are all the rage in the techie community and gaining popularity fast. But what is Bitcoin? Professor James Angel explains: 'Bitcoins are a string of numbers…these numbers can be used to make payment.' It's digital currency, existing only online. You get them by 'mining,' or solving complicated math questions and algorithms. Anthony Mongeluzo, president of Pro Computer Services, explains further: 'Anyone could use Bitcoins. Primarily it's used as an online payment system, but it's a universal currency which means it's accepted in most countries.' The currency can be transferred person to person via the Internet, without a bank." Continue reading →

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Investors Nervous: Erdogan’s Witch Hunt Endangers Economy

"'Umut Keles,' a Turkish analyst with an American investment bank, removes the battery from his mobile phone, afraid of being wiretapped by the Turkish government. The investment banker believes that the government would take action against him if it knew his identity. 'There's a witch hunt underway here at the moment,' he says. Levent is Turkey's financial center, home to the offices of banks like HSBC and Deutsche Bank. They helped finance the Turkish economic boom in recent years, but now the government suspects them of supporting putschists and terrorists. 'We're all afraid,' says Keles. Some of his colleagues are thinking about leaving the country for good." Continue reading →

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Scientists release test to combat counterfeiting of legendary ‘cat poop’ coffee

"The Asian palm civet eats coffee cherries, the fruit of the coffee plant. They digest the soft fruit and excrete the seeds in their feces, which, according to connoisseurs, gives the coffee a flavor unlike any other in the world. The fact that people will pay exorbitant amounts for real Kopi Luwak has led to a thriving black market in fake Kopi Luwak. Some people sell regular coffee beans and claim they are the famous civet coffee. Others adulterate Kopi Luwak beans with regular coffee beans, hoping drinkers won’t notice the inferior quality. Scientists have developed a test that checks for the unique chemical fingerprint on Kopi Luwak." Continue reading →

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Singapore firm launches in-flight Muslim prayer app

"A Singapore-based company has launched an iPhone app alerting Muslims when to pray and in which direction they should face even when they’re 35,000 feet in the air. Travellers input the flight details and are provided with prayer times during their journey, as well as the direction of the Muslim holy city of Mecca. Crescentrating, a firm that gives 'halal' or Islam-compliant ratings to hotels and other travel-related establishments, plans to make the free app, called Crescent Trips, available to Android smartphones within months. Spending by Muslim tourists is growing faster than the global rate and is forecast to reach $192 billion a year by 2020, up from $126 billion in 2011." Continue reading →

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Why are sales of non-alcoholic beer booming?

"For one thing, people are more aware than before of the damaging effects of alcohol. And better technology means that it is tastier than before, Mr Durkan claims. One chunk of the market is taking off for other reasons. The Middle East now accounts for almost a third of the worldwide sales by volume of non-alcoholic beer. In 2012 Iranians drank nearly four times as much of it as they did in 2007. It is popular in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where alcohol is either wholly or partially banned. Partly this is for religious reasons. But it also taps into growing consumer aspirations. As a statement of a globalised lifestyle beer, even if non-alcoholic, may be more potent than Coca-Cola." Continue reading →

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