As I was checking emails this morning, I came across two things that really caught my attention.
The first was an email from StockTwits.
StockTwits is a twitter like website where traders talk about different trading ideas as well as what is going on in the markets. In most cases it focuses on US and global stock markets.
However, today when I opened the email, look what was second on their most talked about list:
Ripple was one of the most talked about investments on the platform...
Then as I scrolled down a bit more, I came across this:
A blurb about cryptocurrencies in general.
A few months ago I never saw headlines like this. There was the occasional headline about Bitcoin but never about other coins or really even about the cryptocurrency space in general.
Is this the beginning of a changing of the guard?
Those two things were nice, but what really got me excited was what I stumbled upon a few minutes later.
It was an article about Mike Maloney, the founder of precious metals broker GoldSilver.com, talking up his usual doomsday scenario:
“Back in the year 2000, it was stocks. In the year 2008, it was stock and real estate. This time, it is stocks, real estates and bonds and they are all in some of the biggest bubbles of all time. When these burst, it’s going to be devastating for most people but it doesn’t have to be devastating for you.”
Only there was a little twist this time.
He said to buy physical gold and silver of course, but he also had this to say:
“You want to have an alternative monetary system that is already ready to go and those actually exist today. They are called cryptocurrencies. It started with Bitcoin. There have been several others that have been introduced. I own a few of them. I don’t own a lot of cryptocurrencies but I think it is something that is necessary to be prepared because if the monetary system fails, you’ll be able to do transactions right away with other people and you can do them over long distances. You can do them over the Internet just like you pay with your credit card today.”
Wow.
So, one of the most staunch gold and silver guys is now including Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies into his basket of possible safe havens if the global economy collapses or if there is fiat monetary collapse.
Many investors in the gold and silver camp view bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as too risky of an investment for several reasons. A main one being that if the internet were to collapse, they would essentially be worthless.
However, Maloney notes that cryptocurrencies make a lot of sense from a person to person transactional perspective. They are fast and can be done over vast distances. He didn't advocate loading the boat up at these levels, but he did disclose that they make up a small part of his investing portfolio.
By the way, check out what Bitcoin has done versus gold (as well as many other assets) since 2010:
Talk about out-performance!
So, we got stock-trading news letters now talking about cryptocurrencies and we have gold and silver bugs mentioning them as possible hedges against the impending financial doom.
It seems we are on the right track. Hopefully this is just the beginning!
Stay steeming my friends.
Sources (including images):
http://mailchi.mp/8d9ab9578c8d/cryptocurrencies-and-video-games?e=d48cf0b97e
https://cointelegraph.com/news/keep-bitcoin-for-impending-market-crash-prominent-gold-investor
Follow me: @jrcornel
Yep! Been thinking the same thing.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@decentralizd/a-steem-powered-world-why-steem-powered-projects-are-the-future-of-social-media-the-attention-economy-is-real-and-you-deserve-a
https://steemit.com/zappl/@decentralizd/a-steem-powered-twitter-competitor-is-coming-soon-and-if-you-haven-t-got-some-zappl-from-openledger-you-re-doing-this-wrong
https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@decentralizd/how-i-turned-usd500-into-usd25-000-and-will-most-likely-turn-that-into-millions-and-you-can-too-aka-crypto101
Great minds think alike?! ;)
We are gaining ground in the attention economy - I like it.
Mike is a level headed guy compared to a lot of Gold bugs. I have been following his work for quite some time and enjoy his educational Youtube channel.
He actually accepts bitcoin as payment on his precious metals exchange - with the right connections I'm sure we could influence them to add Steem now that we have passed bitcoin for the daily volume of transactions.
Hmm... I think that is a great idea. Will he see your comment if you mention it to him on his youtube channel?
probably a mass adoption
funny the last time I checked about who the speaker is and what the guy is going to talk about
in my cashflow game group - it's crypto and the guy is said to be an expert am so damn curious
To the moon!
There you go! People are taking notice!
He does videos specifically addressing comments - so either he or his staff would see it.
Who would he need to connect with in order to add Steem as a payment option?
Get in touch with @andrarchy. He will be able to lead you in the right direction. Sounds like a great little use-case for steem though. Nice idea my friend! :)
Nice - it just takes a few connections. Thanks! :)
Agreed, one of the main guys i listen to, yes that's a great idea about him adding steem
Thank you. We'll start working on the idea.
Great piece. Shared on twitter. Stephen
Tweet Tweet ;) Thank you!
A change of guard... I love this choice of words. It seems rather appropriate for the matter at hand.
Thanks a bunch for another excellent article and all this precious information as well. Coupling this one with another that came over yesterday about the dumping of the American Dollar, I suspect we are in deed entering the era of cryptocurrencies!
All for one and one for all!!! Namaste :)
It's Crypto Time! (I hope) :)
There will no doubt be a wave off mass adoption at some stage in the next 2 - 5 years however it will come down to platforms/wallets that people find easy to use and have viable functionality. At the moment it is all too hard for most to understand let alone work their head around.
Yep I agree. It is far too complicated converting an altcoin to a local currency. Perhaps there will come a time when certain coins won't have to be converted at all... maybe that is when mass adoption truly begins. :)
I feel that is the future plan. Get everyone away from failing fiat and move towards a series of worldwide 'accepted' blockchain currencies (Asia, Europe and America). The elite will love that so they can maintain their stranglehold on Gold and Silver unless they are considering a gold backed crypto. Maybe they will just move the US and Euro to the Blockchain?
Out with the old. In with the new!
Yes! That is hilarious btw, I can't stop watching! :)
The person that thought this up is a genius! SO hilarious!!!
I think this has been brewing for quite some time now. If one notices the massive market cap entering, it is easy to understand where we are heading.
Oh boy, if only we were in China right now. That's where the real adaptation takes place.
Congratulations @jrcornel!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following category:
AHHH ... Wednesdays!
That's a bad Pooh...
Sure sure Bitcoin has been very well preforming. These mainstream outlets are not understanding of the whole picture however.
The very fact they mention Ripple as a crypto shows the disconnect.
Time will teach people - nice post
Definitely agree it is tarting to creep in)to) the masses. Think steemit is creeping into the hands and minds of more people as well.
I think so as well. Lot of new users showing up here and there has been a lot of volume in steem as of late. Lot of new money and new users.
Agreed.
I love to read headlines about cryptocurrencies ( in places where you would not expect to see it) it makes me excited that the world is starting to wake up...
BMW is going to start accecpting Bitcoin as payment for buying a car( not sure exactly when, but just one more co going in the right direction to steer the herd:)
if id only have taken bitcoin seriously when it was just a few cents per coin....id bee rich....crying
KEEP BUYING
Comparing one bitcoin to one ounce of gold is pretty arbitrary. It's not like bitcoins are measured in ounces. That said, I can't claim that I understand the table that you included. Where it says current value, what does that mean?
If you invested $10k into any one of those investments in 2010. It gives the dollar amount of what that investment would be worth today.
Thanks. That makes sense. I thought that 2010 was a little arbitrary as the year to compare to, but I looked up when bitcoin was started and it was just a little before then.
Yep. It was at a low point for Bitcoin. Which of course the chart uses to really drive it's point home. But either way, it has been a major outperformer.
if softness and weight were the important values about gold you'd use it for bullets not money. Money is not about intrinsic value but exchange (secondary) value.
excelente post
Thank you. Hopefully it is just the beginning.
I'll be watching.
As will I :)
It;s only the beginning.
truthfully we are at least 3 years from mass adoption. I am making that number up based on the marketcap and the relatively slow news outside the bitcoin/crytpcurrency sphere.
There are too many people that are only vaguely aware of what bitcoin is or that haven't heard of it at all. That said, adoption could easily double or even quadruple. If you focus on long term trends, bitcoins are inherently deflationary (assuming that people don't lose confidence in them or someone figures out how to hack the system). This makes them great to hold if you expect hyperinflation of the dollar.
I hope you are right because I want some more time to load up on these things first. ;) However, I thought it would take a lot longer than a couple months for most of these cryptos to go up 10X in value... It could happen pretty fast with the right circumstances.
True , but those "right " circumstances may not be the "best" for the rest of the world , this is a careful with what you wish for moment indeed
Something that Mike Maloney also says is that he sees (and I also do) a big problem with crypto currencies which is that they have a single point of failure, Internet. Under certain critical events Internet could go down in which case all the cryptocoins will be unavailble. True, it is an extreme case and we will have many other issues like getting food and may be even weapons, but it could take even years to be back and have access again to our crypto currencies. If that happens we need to have other aways to purchase food, water, etc like gold, silver and FIAT currency if it still has any value.
You know the saying: don't put all your eggs in the same basket
Yep, great advice. Yes the internet thing is a big issue. Although if the internet goes out we probably won't be wanting gold or silver either. We will be wanting water, food, shelter, and guns. I don't want to be around if/when that happens...
What gets me is that 99 out of 100 Americans have no idea what cyrptocurrencies are or how they can be used. The current attacks on computers are probably the first time they ever heard of Bitcoins.
Yep. Still a ways yet to go before we reach even a semi mass adoption stage. It seems like it is starting though.
It`s but also the beginning of a new buble. Anyway overall bitcoin is the bull market of the milenium and longterm will go up in dolars until one day dolarcolapse and bitcoin value is stable
There are getting to be so many, my head is starting to spin!
Yea and most of them probably won't amount to much, but a few of them will. Steem has as good of a chance as any of them in my opinion.
I'm really optimistic about the future of Steem... I've seen nothing but positive reviews. The only thing I have to invest is my time and I've made over $3500 in 5 months starting with nothing.
That's fantastic! Although one might argue our time is our most valuable asset ;)
At my age, I don't have much else to do!
Good article man. I really think the exposure is popping into the mainstream more often. Definitely crossing the bridge to stock traders etc.
Yep, and there are a lot of them... ;)
Yeah! That little chart is awesome.
Pretty amazing isn't it?! :)
as the technology changes.....the new tech era of Block chain will evolve quickly
Amazing. No wonder why so much new capital is flocking into cryptos.
Yea, if you look at the trading volume in fiat terms, most of it is being done in Yen. Which means most of the trading/investing is coming from Asia right now.
I noticed that, and Koreans.But why do they pump XRP ?
Well most recently it is because of this:
http://www.coindesk.com/ripple-pledges-lock-14-billion-xrp-cryptocurrency/
nice post :) really looking forward to mass adoption ;)
You and me both!
Interesting. I am wondering how many folks from stocks trading community have heard about Bitcoin investments trust (GBTC) which is publicly traded on stock exchange? Is it popular among them?
I think many people have been waiting for an ETF. So far the SEC has said it's a no-go. However, I think that it's only a matter of time until they find a way to get one out. As cryptocurrency ETFs eventually pop up, that would only create more demand for the coins...
That's quite incredible. Given the wild rises in price of many of the coins it sure seems like we are at a tipping point!
A tipping point or a launching pad? It's a fine line ;)
Aaah, you got me. On that line I will go for launch pad any day!!
Haha same here. Hopefully that's where we are! :)
Hello my friend
Thanks for this post and the wonderful post
I really liked what I wrote in this post
The selection of the post is so lovely
Happy day to you and always
Glad you enjoyed it :)
Japan is said to be in the process of national cryptocurrency my dear friend @jrcornel so who knows? One thing going is so far unless I do not know yet, it is the lack of taxes. If taxes start, well who knows?
Japan is just one country... imagine when others jump on board...
Yes Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies are becoming more acceptable as investments and as a hedge. I learned how to buy Bitcoin from The Bill Bonner Letter and I took the plunge. Very grateful I did. Thanks for posting this article.
That is very interesting. I am not familiar with who that is.
https://agorafinancial.com/help/bill-bonner/
Ah yes. My dad reads that news letter now that you mention it. Thanks.
sure thing.
It is interesting how many of the silver and gold people have embraced bitcoin in the past year or so. Hard to ignore any investment with a 100% plus annual return since 2015.
Haha great point!
I actually just posted about something similar to this today, as more attention is brought to cryptocurrencies, people will pay more for them. FOMO also grows as people hear more and more about crypto's success which then contributes to the overall growth.
https://steemit.com/money/@nschairer/how-fomo-drives-many-cryptocurrencies-value
Nice read! Thanks for sharing :)
When even Mike Maloney owns Crypto...then I consider that a big deal. In the beginning I was hesitant about the crypto movement...but since even Japan legalized bitcoin...I have finally realized that the blockchain is here to stay...so why not embrace this technology...so I did. No regrets so far!
People is starting to wake up to the reality of the biggest economic crisis in human history and thinking that cryptocurrencies are the answer not only to speculate with it but also to avoid loosing their live time savings.
But is that premise true or would cryptocurrencies be vulnerable also in a financial crisis?
Here is my opinion if you are interested: https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@freedomvigilante/can-cryptocurrencies-really-save-us-in-the-next-finantial-crisis
When my wife starts to ask me questions about cryptocurrency, I'll know we have made it.
nice post
I had a big problem the past few days with poloniex
it kept time outing and lost a lot of money
please follow we if you can I have wrote a post on smiling you might enjoy
https://steemit.com/life/@writemore/smile-you-on-steemit
Thanks for providing your perspective and its good to see cryptocurrencies getting legit and getting adoption. What's heartening is also the doomsday scenario you are talking about and equating it with gold.
you might like this
Please re-steem if you do.
Can I un-steem if I don't?
...just kidding :P
Hah. I got the same email! It's an exciting time, cheers to a big and bold 2017.
I think that attraction of crypto currencies it's worldwide spreading and predictable inflation. As concerns usual currencies it mostly concentrated geographically and that's make it vulnerable to geopolitical risks and also such currencies are vulnerable due to non predictable central banks policies...
meep
Down with the fiats!
I just hope the gap between have and have nots (no crypto coins) doesn't get too great....
Always good to have a plan b and c
Perhaps we'll see a soft landing instead of a crash
Perhaps a change over to crypto will occur.