Alt/Indie News

Head of Dutch Libertarian Party Arrested Just Weeks Before Election

"The former chairman of the Dutch Libertarian Party, Toine Manders has been kidnapped in Cyprus by the FIOD (the Dutch IRS) and is currently locked away in the Netherlands in complete isolation (aside from his lawyer), in an undisclosed location. He is being held for an extended 90-day period, the charges for which are unknown. Toine Manders began his career by giving legal advice to young Dutch men who wanted to avoid military conscription. Toine Manders had attracted special attention from the government by running controversial ads that stated 'Taxation is theft', and that it was people’s moral duty to pay as little in taxes as possible, as the government is a criminal enterprise." Continue reading →

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Central Bank of Jordan Blocks Financial Companies from Bitcoin

"It was the Central Bank of Jordan’s (CBJ) turn to issue a digital currency warning this week, advising the public of the risks associated with the use of the financial tools, and blocking financial companies from engaging in bitcoin business. The Bank’s executive director of its payment services department, Maha Bahu, told The Jordan Times that the Kingdom’s banks, financial companies, payment processors and currency exchangers had also received a circular 'prohibiting them from dealing with virtual currencies, particularly in bitcoins'. She said the CBJ had been 'following the issue of bitcoin very closely over the past two months'." Continue reading →

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Janet Yellen: Fed Has No Authority To Regulate Bitcoin

"'Bitcoin is a payment innovation that's taking place outside the banking industry. To the best of my knowledge there's no intersection at all, in any way, between Bitcoin and banks that the Federal Reserve has the ability to supervise and regulate. So the fed doesn't have authority to supervise or regulate Bitcoin in anyway. [..] One concern with Bitcoin is the potential for money laundering. [FinCen] has indicated their money laundering statutes are adequate to meet enforcement needs. [..] It's not so easy to regulate Bitcoin because there's no central issuer or network operator. This is a decentralized, global [entity]. [..] We're looking at this,' she concluded." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJanet Yellen: Fed Has No Authority To Regulate Bitcoin

Ukraine Protestors Turn to Bitcoin to Ease Cash Crisis

"Field surgeries and hospitals treat the wounded, kitchens feed the crowds, blankets and clothing are distributed to those who need them, and people with vehicles shuttle everything around. Not only is this a major logistical and people-management feat to co-ordinate, but it must all be paid for somehow. So, expatriate Ukrainians around the world have joined the fight to campaign and raise funds to assist the struggle back home. PayPal only allows money to be sent out of Ukraine, while international bank transfers can take days to complete. Much of the time, transfers happen through friends and trust networks. This week sees a new campaign to raise funds directly via bitcoin." Continue reading →

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The Bearish/Bullish Conundrum

"At some point there will be a breakdown. Real market forces will reassert themselves. But 'when' is not easy to discern. I personally know people who are continually trying to sell this market short and are surrendering over and over because the timing is not right. The IPO market is revving up; top central banking doves are in place; the JOBS Act is ready to pour its promotions on receptive investors around the world; central banks are coordinating money printing in ways never seen before; gold remains down. It is sensible to predict the demise of this empyrean equity fairy tale. But those elite bankers controlling the central banking money printing have different ideas." Continue reading →

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Austrian Economics, Central Bank Disasters and the Housing Bottom

"Business cycles are in a sense predictable because the entire economic environment is structured via central bank money printing. It is this artificiality that makes Austrian economic forecasting viable. What one can never predict, of course, is the timing of the 'turning.' Exactly where we are in the business cycle is uncertain, though again, one can certainly point out that we are in a precious metals bull market, even despite the recent difficulties of gold. This particular pro-metals market started early in the 2000s and may well continue until we reach a precious metals 'mania' of sorts as we saw in the 1970s. The only way to puncture something like that in the short term is to raise interest rates." Continue reading →

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India Gets The (Bitcoin) Green Light

"Following a press conference organised by Bitcoins Alliance India, Unocoin, one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges in India has been given the green light allowing users to continue accessing their accounts as of today (6th of January 2014) with regular trading commencing on the 8th January. The conference was headed by India’s top taxation and legal expert Mr Nishith Desai, Founder & Managing Partner of Nishith Desai Associates. Mr Desai has meticulously analysed the techno-legal perspective of Bitcoin inline with current payment and currency laws and concluded that Bitcoins are in fact a legitimate currency and could provide many benefits to India’s economy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia Gets The (Bitcoin) Green Light

India Gets The (Bitcoin) Green Light

"Following a press conference organised by Bitcoins Alliance India, Unocoin, one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges in India has been given the green light allowing users to continue accessing their accounts as of today (6th of January 2014) with regular trading commencing on the 8th January. The conference was headed by India’s top taxation and legal expert Mr Nishith Desai, Founder & Managing Partner of Nishith Desai Associates. Mr Desai has meticulously analysed the techno-legal perspective of Bitcoin inline with current payment and currency laws and concluded that Bitcoins are in fact a legitimate currency and could provide many benefits to India’s economy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia Gets The (Bitcoin) Green Light

Taiwan’s Government Says No To Bitcoin ATMs

"Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) will not allow the installation of Bitcoin ATMs in the country because it believes Bitcoins are not a currency and should therefore not be accepted by individuals or banks as payment, said FSC chairman Tseng Ming-chung. U.S.-based company Robocoin planned to bring its Bitcoin ATMs to Taiwan and Hong Kong as part of its global expansion plans. Government attitudes toward Bitcoin differ widely throughout Asia, but the FSC’s decision is yet another sign that the cryptocurrency’s increasing mainstream acceptance also means it will come under scrutiny by more financial regulators." Continue reading →

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All-Time High Unemployment: Depression In Europe Getting Deeper

"This week we learned that eurozone unemployment came in at an all-time high of 12.2 percent for September. Back in January 2012, it was sitting at just 10.4 percent. The funny thing is that the mainstream media will barely call what is going on in Europe a 'recession' even though the unemployment rates in both Spain and Greece are now much higher than anything that the United States ever experienced during the 'Great Depression' of the 1930s. A 25-year-old Spanish man with three college degrees that moved to London in a desperate search for a job is now cleaning up poop for a living. The economic collapse of Europe continues to march on, and there is no end in sight." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAll-Time High Unemployment: Depression In Europe Getting Deeper