regime uncertainty

Median CPI Up 0.1% in October

"My advice: ignore all price inflation statistics that are not accompanied by publicly available methodologies. The Median CPI is accompanied by public explanations. It is published monthly by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. The trend of the Median CPI is toward lower price inflation. It is not yet price deflation. But prices are barely rising. This leaves the Federal Open Market Committee lots of room to continue its quantitative easing policy of buying half a trillion dollars a year of long-term Treasury bonds and half a trillion worth of Freddie/Fannie bonds. The FOMC can continue to subsidize the housing market without fear of political repercussions." Continue reading →

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Taiwan central bank ‘keeping close tabs’ on Bitcoin

"The head of Taiwan's central bank said Wednesday that the bank is keeping close tabs on the development of Bitcoin, a decentralized virtual currency that approximates cash on the internet. 'We have taken note of the development of Bitcoin and have adopted measures to prevent money laundering through its trading,' said Perng Fai-nan, the governor of the Central Bank. Ruling Kuomintang Legislator Lu Shiow-yen asked Perng about his view of the bitcoins, which she said are being traded at an exchange rate of 1 to US$590, the highest valued currency in the world. In response, Perng said Bitcoin is a new kind of money circulating among a specific group of people." Continue reading →

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Who Will Head the Fed? It Doesn’t Matter

"As leaders in the developed Western world become more authoritarian and move to confiscate wealth, most markets will actually respond very positively. Seems illogical, I know. But the facts of the matter are this: In times of war and potential confiscation of assets, stocks can become safe havens as money is pulled out of sovereign bond markets to be invested elsewhere. Commodities can take flight as investors begin to hoard tangible assets and portable wealth, and the real bull markets in precious metals truly unfold. My top recommendation right now: You can largely ignore the central bankers. Instead, keep both eyes on the leaders in Washington and Europe." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Foundation Plays Down Silk Road Connection at Senate Hearing

"Even the title of Monday’s Senate Committee hearing on bitcoin reflects the overriding concern. 'Beyond Silk Road – Potential Threats, Risks, and Promises of Virtual Currency' brings together several speakers from the government, industry, and non-profit sectors to give their opinions to the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs about the potential security risks of the cryptocurrency. Here is a roundup of what to expect from testimony given at the event." Continue reading →

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Read more about the article Federal Agency Responses Reveal US Government Attitudes to Bitcoin

Federal Agency Responses Reveal US Government Attitudes to Bitcoin

"The US Senate committee due to begin hearings into ‘virtual currencies’ on 18 November has released the responses it received to its August 2013 requests for information on the topic from a number of federal agencies. Until the actual hearings begin, the letters provide one of the most detailed insights so far into how various US government authorities view bitcoin and its contemporaries. The crime-heavy spotlight of the responses might be an indication of the US government’s overall approach to digital currencies such as bitcoin, with only the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department commenting that such payment systems could provide benefit and increase efficiency."

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US has Already Ceded Dominance in Bitcoin Trading

"Currently, the top four bitcoin exchanges by volume are located outside of the US, with the world’s leading exchange based in China. Less than 2% of worldwide bitcoin trading and real-time market making occurs within the US jurisdiction. All four of the world’s leading exchanges have demonstrated a capacity for serious, engaged banking relationships that would have been unobtainable in the United States. We have arrived at the point where the US jurisdiction must strategically evaluate a path going forward. Either they enable a climate that appeals to bitcoin exchanges and businesses or they maintain barriers that silently drive innovation in the space overseas." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Companies and Entrepreneurs Can’t Get Bank Accounts

"The Bitcoin banking casualty list is a long one: popular Bitcoin – USD exchanges Bitfloor and BitInstant, in New York; Tradehill, in California; and Bitbox, in Michigan, have been out of commission for months. All had registered as money exchangers with the Department of Treasury’s FinCen. Mobile Bitcoin payment company Coinapult moved from Colorado to Panama to avoid the 'murky, unpredictable, and onerous' regulatory environment in the U.S.. Capital One even shut down the merchant account for Mulligan Mint, a commemorative coin maker, when it started making physical Bitcoin silver coins; the business was not in fact dealing with Bitcoins, just making fake models of them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoin Companies and Entrepreneurs Can’t Get Bank Accounts

Bitcoin Companies and Entrepreneurs Can’t Get Bank Accounts

"The Bitcoin banking casualty list is a long one: popular Bitcoin – USD exchanges Bitfloor and BitInstant, in New York; Tradehill, in California; and Bitbox, in Michigan, have been out of commission for months. All had registered as money exchangers with the Department of Treasury’s FinCen. Mobile Bitcoin payment company Coinapult moved from Colorado to Panama to avoid the 'murky, unpredictable, and onerous' regulatory environment in the U.S.. Capital One even shut down the merchant account for Mulligan Mint, a commemorative coin maker, when it started making physical Bitcoin silver coins; the business was not in fact dealing with Bitcoins, just making fake models of them." Continue reading →

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Savers boosting bitcoin demand in China, exchange says

"A co-founder of China’s biggest bitcoin exchange on Friday said there were 'boundless opportunities' for the digital currency in the country because of the Chinese saving ethic. 'The main reason why bitcoin has become big in China is because Chinese people are savers, and more people are seeing bitcoin as a way to store and invest their money,' Linke Yang, vice-president of BTC China, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Singapore. 'There are boundless opportunities for BTC China and bitcoin in the next five years, you never know with the way the internet develops,' Yang said through an interpreter." Continue reading →

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Investment Manager Explains Why 99.5% Of Americans Can Never Win

"The bottom line is this: A highly complex set of laws and exemptions from laws and taxes has been put in place by those in the uppermost reaches of the U.S. financial system. It allows them to protect and increase their wealth and significantly affect the U.S. political and legislative processes. They have real power and real wealth. Ordinary citizens in the bottom 99.9% are largely not aware of these systems, do not understand how they work, are unlikely to participate in them, and have little likelihood of entering the top 0.5%, much less the top 0.1%. Moreover, those at the very top have no incentive whatsoever for revealing or changing the rules. I am not optimistic." Continue reading →

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