Role of Crypto/Cybercurrencies in the PTB's loss of control?

Okay this is some serious warning. Very straight forward waening, from a exchange I highly regard.

With the government able to freeze bank accounts, what would be the best way to store fiat? Maybe changing $ to stable coins and putting them on a hardware wallet?
Kraken CEO Jesse Powell has slammed the Canadian government’s decision to seize funds from its citizens’ bank accounts without due process. He revealed that Kraken would be forced to comply with asset seizure requests and warned users to get their coins and cash off centralized exchanges.
 
With the government able to freeze bank accounts, what would be the best way to store fiat? Maybe changing $ to stable coins and putting them on a hardware wallet?
Some actual cash for fiat isn't a bad idea. In terms of stable coins, they are an option on a hardware wallet, but any of the major stable coins may have issues if banks have issues or the regulatory environment changes with respect to them. And I wouldn't even consider using USDT (Tether) as a stable coin for any length of time. There are many options for stable coins coming out though in terms of decentralized, DAO related coins. So I would diversify for your fiat options outside the official banking system, if you are looking to options outside the banking system. Fwiw.
 
The question was asked in the last C's session.

Q: (L) Okay. We have a lot of questions here, so I guess we might as well get to the first one. Mike has some questions about Bitcoin.

(Mike) In general, who is the person (or people) that created Bitcoin?

A: CIA.

Q: (L) Well, alright.

(Mike) For what purpose did they initially create Bitcoin?

A: Bridge to nowhere.

Q: (L) What do you mean, "Bridge to nowhere"?

A: Digitize, and then deprive common man of resource.


So short term, make some money and run. Long term you will loose. If the internet infrastructure goes down (i.e.. natural disaster event) you have nothing.
Ding Ding Ding! :perfect:
 
Cryptocurrency is a trawlers fishnet.

The fish are not going to like it when they get hauled up on the deck (the digital currency evaporates, because blockchain security will not protect it).

It is possibly the most mercurial form of currency on the planet right now, which makes it ripe for exploitation and seizures.

We already are largely operating with digital currencies now days in the world anyway. That ship sailed when credit cards became the norm and people largely stopped carrying actual coil and paper currency. Digital wallets are now becoming mainstream in smart phone use by consumers. Bank accounts, investment accounts, stock portfolios all are digital now days.

In conversations with teens and those in their 20s, I find that most of them carry no cash or coin at all, and simply rely on their smart phone for digital purchases. So they are already essentially digital and cashless.

Now... what happens if the economy implodes and power grids fail? Answer, nobody can get access to their digital currency, including crypto (which requires net access as part of transaction validation).

Of course paper money won't be worth anything either, and gold will probably collapse since the primary driver of spot prices on gold and other precious metals is industrial demands world wide which under a collapsed economy will largely zero out demand.
 
Cryptocurrency is a trawlers fishnet.

The fish are not going to like it when they get hauled up on the deck (the digital currency evaporates, because blockchain security will not protect it).

It is possibly the most mercurial form of currency on the planet right now, which makes it ripe for exploitation and seizures.

We already are largely operating with digital currencies now days in the world anyway. That ship sailed when credit cards became the norm and people largely stopped carrying actual coil and paper currency. Digital wallets are now becoming mainstream in smart phone use by consumers. Bank accounts, investment accounts, stock portfolios all are digital now days.

In conversations with teens and those in their 20s, I find that most of them carry no cash or coin at all, and simply rely on their smart phone for digital purchases. So they are already essentially digital and cashless.

Now... what happens if the economy implodes and power grids fail? Answer, nobody can get access to their digital currency, including crypto (which requires net access as part of transaction validation).

Of course paper money won't be worth anything either, and gold will probably collapse since the primary driver of spot prices on gold and other precious metals is industrial demands world wide which under a collapsed economy will largely zero out demand.
Former Assistant HUD Secretary and former Wall Street Partner, Catherine Austin Fitts, does not endorse any digital currency. She promotes a spend 'Cash on Fridays' to keep money circulating. Fitts adjusted payment for her business away from digital payment to cash and bank checks.

edited misspelling
 
According to RT news telegram channel:

Coinbase Blocks 25k Wallets Associated with Russians
The American crypto exchange has announced more than 25,000 Wallets linked to Russian individuals and organizations it thinks "may be engaged in illegal activities" have been frozen.
Coinbase added that it has transferred more details about the relevent accounts to the US government.
So much for being independent from the PTB control
 
A post at by Martin Armstrong about the end of cryptocurrency?

I warned ion the private blog that cryptocurrencies may end up being suspended. The excuse will be Russia and the news is out now that Biden will sign an Executive Order to regulate cryptos because Russia can use it to circumvent sanctions. Not only is Biden authorizing the regulation of digital currencies, but he is also instructing to move forward with a central bank cryptocurrency. Once that is done, all other cryptocurrencies will be seized and folded into the government’s crypto. There will be no competition. Money historically has also been the Divine Privilege of Kings and Tyrants.
 
Again: should be crypto in PTB GAIN of control, not loss. Or, just crypto. At some point it should become obvious.
 
So much for being independent from the PTB control

To be fair, nobody has claimed that centralized exchanges like Coinbase are independent from the PTB control. There are fully decentralized exchanges too that are very difficult or almost impossible to control since they are not based in any one location.

Whether crypto can indeed become an alternative once the traditional currencies unravel even more is still a big question. There are indications that crypto could be easily crushed with heavy regulation, but on the other hand crypto as a system cannot be really fully controlled either due to its decentralized and worldwide nature.

So one (quite likely) possibility is that crypto will become a sort of black market currency system, at least in the countries that decide to crush them. At the same time, it is likely that some countries will do the opposite and embrace them, similar to what El Salvador has already done.
 
Here is a blog post by Mark Crispin Miller:


In brief:

While we're all over-focused on "Ukraine," our overlords are moving quietly, and swiftly, to take ALL cash away, in favor of a global social credit system. We can't let them get away with it.​

Select Report Findings:​

  • The COVID-19 pandemic has facilitated substantial interest in citizen monitoring solutions
  • Infrastructure to support social credit systems represents a $16.1B global opportunity by 2026
  • Cameras and other optical equipment for social credit systems will reach $723M globally by 2026
  • Advanced computing will be used in conjunction with AI to provide nearly flawless identification and tracking
  • Various forms of biometrics will be used for identity verification as well as verifying the presence/location of people
  • Starting as tangential to public safety and homeland security, the social credit market becomes mainstream by2026
  • Social credit systems represent the ability to identify (mostly people but also some “things”) and track activities for purposes of grading behaviors and applying “social credit” scoring. A given grading/scoring methodology depends largely on social credit system objectives and metrics.

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I found the following article on Cointelegraph quite interesting:


Cointelegraph said:
The Bank for International Settlements, or BIS, released a paper Tuesday on central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, and how they can be used to meet policy goals for financial inclusion. The paper drew on interviews conducted in the second half of last year at nine central banks that are currently exploring retail CBDCs. It looked at common goals across a range of economic development levels and challenges to inclusion.

The paper identified two distinct approaches to CBDC. Some central banks saw digital currency as a catalyst for innovation and development while others expected it to serve as a complement to existing initiatives. All of the central banks emphasized the need for stakeholder education and acceptance, both among consumers and service providers.
For those who need a translation, "financial inclusion" is a feel-good paramoralism shaped by central bankers that means the assimilation of every man, woman and child into a system of economic management that gives the bankers ultimate control over what happens, or doesn't happen, to every unit of currency within that system.

"Existing initiatives" are the monetary policy tools such as fractional reserve banking and quantitative easing that the bankers have been using to pillage value from the real economy - the productive output of human beings - for centuries.

Cointelegraph said:
Data privacy, and the related issues of money laundering and the financing of terrorism, were seen as top challenges. Servicing the vulnerable — children, the elderly and users with disabilities — was also named a priority.
Here, reading between the lines, we see the points of primary concern for them that CBDCs are meant to address.

1. Data privacy - the ability to hide a transaction from the eyes of the central bankers is their main concern. Thus we can assume CBDCs to have total financial surveillance capability as a design goal.

2. Money laundering and the financing of terrorism - since vast quantities of money laundering and terrorist financing take place within the legacy financial system as numerous reported scandals by HSBC, various European banks et al over the last decade or so demonstrate, we can be reasonably certain that stopping these activities is not intended, merely providing the capability to do so for arbitrary political reasons. Canada's Trudeau gave us an unintended preview of what kinds of situations would be rationalized as 'appropriate' with the freezing of accounts related to the financing of the Canadian Trucker's protest earlier this year. Thus, blocking of transaction capability and suspension and rerouting of funds without the owner's consent are also likely "must have" design goals for CBDCs.

3. Servicing the vulnerable - these groups are typically seen as those that most "require" government assistance, justifying taxation of the non-"vulnerable" in order to pay for said assistance. Thus, we can assume that social welfare features will be design goals of CBDCs as well - the ability to distribute government payments such as UBIs, restrict funds to certain types of transactions (eg. virtual food stamps), provide for automatic taxation of certain types of payments (salaries, luxury purchases) and garnishing of others (eg. child support payments).

Cointelegraph said:
Some challenges, such as geographical isolation and levels of digitization, varied in degree among the central banks, but several CBDC design features were highlighted as key to financial inclusion across the spectrum. Promotion of a two-tiered payment system with private-sector participants, interoperability across a multiple functions and borders, and adequate regulation were elements mentioned in this context.
Here, "two-tiered payment system" refers to a Central or Reserve Bank that is nominally controlled by a national government on one tier, and another for private banks that would have a privileged position compared to typical retail participants. In the current US system, these banks are those that borrow currency from the Federal Reserve at zero or near-zero interest and lend it out at much higher rates, making profit at virtually no cost.

"Interoperability across multiple functions and borders" means the system will work the same way regardless of whether it is operated by private institutions or government, regardless of what the system is being requested to do (tax funds, suspend funds, transfer funds etc.) and regardless of what country the system operates in.

"Adequate regulation" means adequate deployment of government force to ensure that people use the system and aren't able to opt out.

Note that many of these design goals are already present and functional in the existing financial system - there's no real need for CBDCs, as it were.
Cointelegraph said:
The central banks discussed in the paper were those of The Bahamas, Canada, China, the Eastern Caribbean, Ghana, Malaysia, the Philippines, Ukraine and Uruguay. The World Bank also took part in the research.

The BIS has taken a strong stance on the place of the central bank in the emerging digital economy and the need for cryptocurrency regulation. It recently completed a successful pilot project, called Project Dunbar, with the central banks of Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa to create an international settlements platform.
So, we can expect more crypto regulation in the very near future. And this seems to be the main point. Governments, especially western governments, do not want a situation where people have the ability to create their own sovereign currencies at will and avoid political control via the economy. In a certain sense, this is reasonable, because a nation with different currencies constantly being created by the populace tends toward an increased level of economic chaos. On the other hand, if there's no specific economic advantage to creating a competing currency because the most popular currency is sound money, the problem tends to take care of itself. So it's only because of national governments defrauding their own populations with economic trickery that this is even a problem in the first place.

What does this mean for the biggest cryptocurrencies? It means that any effective level of decentralisation can only exist between national governments which have the military capabilities to assert their own sovereignty. Thus, unless we have multiple countries willing to use a cryptocurrency in international trade or allow it as legal tender for their own citizens, it's likely that regulation will increasingly lead to either a) capital flight from crypto or b) capital migration into only those projects allowed to exist as a speculative asset class, making the crypto market not much more than another derivatives market. In either case, we're likely looking at a massive revaluation of the crypto market as regulation increases in stages. Some coins may survive; the vast majority are likely to go to zero.

However, Russia is the wildcard. China has already declared its position by banning crypto. But if Russia were to allow energy trading in Bitcoin, and actively work towards a federation of countries that endorse Bitcoin as an accepted international trade currency, it could change everything. Bitcoin is not perfect. There are likely all kinds of technical issues with the protocol that still need to be worked out. But with enough sovereign credibility, Russia could turn the tables on Bitcoin as a psyop and cause a MASSIVE capital flight from USD into Bitcoin as USD hyperinflation kicks in and Bitcoin is seen as a safe haven, preserving trillions of rubles of wealth for people all around the globe.

Something to think about, yes?
 
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How can anyone call crypto an inflation hedge when it tanks because of high inflation reports?

Crypto can only flourish in a healthy economy. Get out while you can.
 
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