“An entirely new digital currency will hit the net on August 28
“It will rapidly replace ALL current “crypto-currencies”… and then ring the funeral bell for the mighty U.S. dollar
“Profits on this new currency are completely uncapped (unlike Bitcoin)… and based on past modeling, I predict they’ll be 1,000 times higher than we’ve ever seen before
“Making this your ONE LAST chance to get in on the ground floor of the hottest market trend in more than 2,300 years… RIGHT NOW”
That’s the attention-getting promise from Martin Hutchinson’s pitch for his new Crypto Alert service with Louis Basenese, which is a fairly pricey ($3,000 one time fee, $199/yr maintenance fee) newsletter published by Agora Financial.
And I’ll warn you up front, I don’t know for sure which coin it is that Hutchinson is hinting at — though I’ll share a low-conviction guess with you after we roll through the clues.
The time is ripe for these kinds of pitches, of course, because we’ve seen cryptocurrencies skyrocket over the past year, even big ones like bitcoin and ethereum, and we’ve also gone from fewer than 100 cryptocurrencies a year ago to more than 1,000 now, with dozens more being launched each month as new developers try to get in on the frenzy or add something to the blockchain/altcurrency/cryptocurrency marketplace.
Hutchinson also claims credit as an expert on cryptocurrencies, partly as a result of the article he coauthored for the Cato Journal a couple years ago. He says that he “won’t bore you with all the technical details” of that article, perhaps partly because the article was entitled “Bitcoin Will Bite the Dust,” but I thought it was worth reading (and he has backtracked some from that assertion of late).
That article did wisely point out one of the problems of Bitcoin, the reliance on that network of miners to validate Bitcoin transactions, and the extent to which economies of scale (and an arms race in computing power) would pressure the system:
“Despite its success, the Bitcoin system is unsustainable due to a design flaw at the very heart of the system. The problem is that Bitcoin requires competition on the part of “bitcoin miners” who validate transactions blocks, but this competition is unsustainable in the long run because of economies of scale in the mining industry. Indeed, these economies of scale are so large that the bitcoin mining industry is a natural monopoly. Furthermore, there are signs that competition in this industry is already breaking down. Once that happens, the system will no longer be able to function as it hitherto has. Its key attractions (decentralization, absence of a single point of failure, and anonymity) will disappear; there will no longer be any reason for users to stay with it; and the system will collapse.”
And there’s some interesting info in the conclusions as well, here’s part of the sum-up about bitcoin:
“Even in the unlikely event that it survives into the medium run, we would still rate its longer-term chance of survival as zero. First, we should remember that a recurring theme in the history of innovation is that the pioneers rarely, if ever, survive. This is because early models are always flawed and later entrants are able to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors. There is no reason why Bitcoin should be an exception to this historical rule. The second reason is that in the very long run bitcoin would be uncompetitive against efficient closed-wall systems such as PayPal or COEPTIS, the successor to e-gold. Once the production of bitcoins becomes insignificant, then the Bitcoin system will entirely depend on transaction fees to cover its operational costs, and its fee levels would be higher than those of more traditional payment systems because of the need to maintain excess hashing and excess capacity to deter new entrants into the transaction validation business. Put differently, Bitcoin can never achieve the technical economic efficiency of competitors that can operate with a very small number of servers, or even just one. In the very long term, when there are no new bitcoins being produced to subsidize the validation process, the Bitcoin system will no longer be able to compete.20 Last but not least, there is still the problem that Bitcoin is not backed by anything.”
That doesn’t mean anything about the near-term value of an asset that is traded based almost entirely on sentiment and momentum, of course, and it doesn’t really give great insight into the immediate prognosis for any of the other cryptocurrencies — bitcoin was trading between $200-$250 at the time that article was published, during the doldrums following the first real run in bitcoin prices in the years previous (and many of the first wave of “me too” cryptocurrencies had already lost 99% of their value), and it recovered sharply over the following year and, as we now know, went almost parabolic in 2017 as the bitcoin price surged from $1,000 to $4,000.
Let’s get back to the ad…
“When you see teenage hackers with backward baseball caps start getting clued into the same exact tipping point as gray-beard economists with silk ties… and Silicon Valley venture capitalists… and Wall Street investment bankers…
“Even ordinary Americans like Jared Kenna (a beer brewer who made more than $30 million trading Bitcoin). Or Charlie Noble (who revealed to CNBC that a fellow Ethereum trader made a 300,000% gain in less than a minute).
“That’s when know that something must be about to happen.”
That scares the heck out of me, mostly because it’s the same thing that drove sentiment during the internet bubble in 1999 — and, frankly, that drives most bubbles: “We’re all making money because we’re all making money!” When a cab driver gives you stock tips about the next internet sensation in 1999, that’s scary… when the waitress talks up the twelve houses she bought with no money down in 2005, that’s frightening… and when the high school kid who mows your lawn tries to convince you to buy the latest initial coin offering for a new cryptocurrency in 2017, I can’t help but feel that same twinge of fear.
Sometimes, as we know, the “something” that “must be about to happen” is a big old slap in the face as reality hits all at once.
Reality might not hit, of course, or it it might not hit anytime soon, I don’t know — many of the pundits persist in predicting that the next debt ceiling showdown will drive the prices of cryptocurrencies higher, as arguably happened during the first bitcoin surge a few years back, but that’s clutching at a rational reason for things that have already increased by thousands of percent, in some cases, for no real reason. Maybe it will happen — the cryptocurrencies do tend to react to crises like gold does, at least recently (as in, they rose during North Korea fear last week, and fell during the return of North Korea complacency this week), so you can place your bets where you like regarding the next possible dollar crisis this Fall (or whatever the next crisis du jour might be).
What Hutchinson seems excited about here is the potential for this alt-currency market to become a “winner take all” arena… where, naturally, he’ll have chosen the winner:
“You’re talking about a toll-booth for every single transaction that happens, every single second, all around the world. And it’s all no sweat, because there are NO physical barriers whatsoever to one currency dominating ALL of it. And FAST….
Are you getting our free Daily Update
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just click here...“… the whole point of a currency is that it becomes the standard that all other transactions are measured by.
“Again, winner takes all.
“That’s why your grandchildren won’t use ‘dollars’ to describe a big score.
“No, they’ll use the name of the coin being issued in this historic ICO…
“How do you make the best investment opportunity of the 21st century 1,000 times better? Just add a few more zeroes…”
The big pitch is that bitcoin and ethereum have been huge winners, but that this next coin offering will supplant both of those and the US dollar and become a ridiculous profit-maker… more from Hutchinson:
“… what’s even more amazing here…
“Is that there are still so many more zeroes on the table, by getting in on this next big ICO.
“Remember, if I’m correct that this ultimate digital currency will replace not only Bitcoin and Ethereum, but also the U.S. dollar itself.”
He even includes a chart that indicates the total potential for this initial coin offering is the “total value of all physical currencies” … so we can’t fault him for a lack of ambition.
And, yes, he does include the stipulation that this probably won’t happen:
“So let’s be real – turning a few hundred bucks today into the sum of all the money in the world is not going to happen for you. You are not going to literally make a trillion dollars from this ICO trade.
“Obviously you’ll need to set your sights lower than that.
“All I’m trying to demonstrate is how BIG this revolution in the world’s currency use could become… because this theoretically could all happen over the long run.”
The big sum-up:
“Because in the long run, only ONE NEW CURRENCY will become the STANDARD. (Just like the dollar did in the 20th century.)
“My research convinces me it will be THIS one. And the thing is, when I say ‘long run’ here, I don’t mean a century.
“I’m talking months, or even weeks.
“I know, that’s extremely unlikely.
“But we’re talking about history here. And the one lesson we’ve learned from history, across thousands of years, is that things do not stay the same. And when they do change – it always happens much, much faster than conventional wisdom says it should.”
So what is the actual ICO that Hutchinson is talking about here? I can’t claim to be much of an expert on the intricacies of all the different cryptocurrencies (though I do own small chunks of bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin), but let’s see if he drops enough clues for us to throw some guesses on the table for you:
“In an uncapped ICO, the early investors buy as much as they want. And then in the weeks, months, and years after the ICO, further production of the coin is sensibly limited to avoid inflation.
“Which means if the coin is in high demand, its price will then go through the roof!
“That’s why I’ve been searching carefully over these past few years for an ICO with totally uncapped profits….”
OK, I guess that makes some sense. You want the ICO price to be low enough and the future coin generation to be low enough that you stand a better chance of making money. That’s just logic, though, and there isn’t any one rule about how you price an ICO (since, for most cryptocurrencies, there’s no “there” there — there’s nothing on which to base a valuation).
“Since Bitcoin hit the scene in 2009, digital currencies have been something like a Catch-22 for investors:
“The MORE reliable coins tended to have capped profits
“And the LESS reliable coins tended to have uncapped profits
“There just wasn’t a great choice for traders.
“Until now.
“… that all ends on August 28, when this new uncapped ICO takes off.
“Why I’m staking my entire career on this ONE digital coin… predicting that it will RAPIDLY replace both Bitcoin and the U.S. Dollar… and digging into my own wallet to make this effectively FREE for the first 199 readers who take me up on it today….
“I’m putting all of my chips down on ONE new coin, and declaring it the swift & final WINNER of the digital currency wars.”
OK, so that’s certainly a bold statement. Which is what you have to make if you’re trying to get someone to pony up $3,000 when they don’t know you from Adam. Any other clues?
“I don’t want to bore you with the specifics, but the way this entirely new kind of currency works is that it puts a tiny fragment of code on millions of computers all around the world.
“And each of those computers has a different fragment of the code.
“Put them all together, and the amount of computer muscle devoted to securing this system equates to more electric power than the entire states of Nebraska, Delaware, and New Hampshire use.
“More than 19.23 terawatt-hours in total.”
OK, as a non-expert that pretty much sounds like most of the other clues in the ad — like it could apply to almost any cryptocurrency, all of which (as far as I’ve seen) rely to some degree on a distributed network of computers verifying transactions and monitoring the security of the blockchain. That is, after all, the point of the blockchain, that you have a distributed system where security rests on so many people’s shoulders that it’s almost guaranteed.
More from Hutchinson:
“The strongest mathematical models in the world imply that it would be impossible for this new type of security algorithm to be broken.
“This makes the new digital currency in this Aug. 28 ICO more stable than the dollars in your pocket – where we’re one Janet Yellen ‘taper’ or Donald Trump ‘tweet’ away from total mayhem.”
And one more clue:
“… the technology behind this new ICO even allows for the creation of ‘smart contracts,’ so that free people can make business deals without any lawyers, or brokers, or bankers, or regulators involved whatsoever.”
That was a big part of the selling point of ethereum, that it was effectively more of a programming language than just a transactional blockchain-controlled currency and could incorporate smart contracts and all kinds of other useful tools… and lots of other coins or tokens or cryptocurrencies or whatever you want to call them offer this kind of function as well.
So does that get us any closer to our answer? Not really. The clues are all generic and could apply to pretty much any cryptocurrency, particularly since so many of the new ICOs are based on ethereum and have that blockchain’s access to smart contracts… and the limitation of time could be pointing to one of the dozen or so ICOs that have been announced or are underway as of the end of August, or to the need to inspire immediate action for possible newsletter subscribers in an artificial deadline, or a coin offering that is underway and might end as early as August 28 if there’s a lot of demand.
There are dozens of possible ICOs that could match these clues that are now open or will be open soon, you can browse them at places like ICO Alert or TokenMarket or CoinSchedule, though there are plenty of others that have slightly different data.
And I don’t see any sign of one that stands out in those lists, frankly. So… I’ll throw out a guess based on what I’ve read of Martin Hutchinson’s work over the years… my guess is that he’s pitching what he has often talked about wanting: a secure, possibly anonymous cryptocurrency that’s backed by gold, and there is one such service that’s currently in the “ICO” phase and has a fixed token price so won’t inflate away the gains with ICO overbidding, (though they don’t use the term ICO): OneGram.
OneGram could easily not be the one he’s actually recommending, of course, this is very much a guess — and this one is a bit atypical in the cryptocurrency world, partly because it has its own blockchain instead of being built on bitcoin or ethereum’s blockchain (most new coins are based on ethereum), but they do say that their blockchain is based on successful parts of bitcoin and other systems.
OneGram is essentially a way to buy expensive gold and get an uncertain cryptocurrency for your trouble — they indicate that each coin is backed by a gram of gold, and that you buy the coin with gold (using their own brokerage only, GoldGuard, and after adding a premium/fee of something like 10%). They say that they will finish the token sales when they hit their limit or in about 38 days, but at this point they’ve sold about 2/3 of the available tokens so they may well hit the limit around August 28, I have no idea.
I also don’t know anything about GoldGuard, or what other fees they might charge. The appeal here, as I understand it, is that they will try to turn this into a real cryptocurrency that is used for transactions, and that the transaction fee they charge (2% or so, presumably) will be rolled back into the asset base, adding marginally more gold to the value of each OneGram token over time. Assuming, of course, that there are a meaningful number of transactions.
And the promise, which is appealing, is that the downside is limited because of that gold backing — since they actually have the gold in a vault somewhere, the coins are not likely to trade for a lot less than the value of the gold they represent… so perhaps if gold goes up in value and a gram is worth twice as much in a year as it is today, your token will rise in value as well.
I can see the appeal of that, but I have no idea how the market will take it. The only real point in trading in these wild west cryptocurrencies, unless you want to make it your life’s work to really become an expert on all the underlying technology and pick winners and losers (I’m not qualified for that, perhaps you are), is that they might surge by 1,000% and reward you amply for the risk you’re taking… so will this seemingly lower-risk gold-backed currency end up rising less because the price of gold acts more as an anchor than a foundation… or will crazy cryptocoin traders bid it up regardless of the underlying gold value? You’d need a couple PhD’s in psychology to predict how it will play out, I expect, and even then you’re guessing.
OneGram is also, by the way, a project based in the Middle East and backed by some big investors there, with the focus of their launch as a transactional currency likely to be the various Gulf emirates… and the currency is designed to be Sharia compliant as a gold-backed investment, though I don’t really know whether all Muslim cryptocurrency investors are likely to draw the line at the same place OneGram has. I don’t know if that will make a difference or not in their effort to launch and gain some traction. OneGram’s website is here, should you wish to research it further, and it includes a typical (though quite short and detail-light) “whitepaper” descriptive commentary as well as a link to token sales, which go through Gold Guard.
So… that’s all the guesses I have for you on that front, I don’t see an obvious candidate for an ICO that’s currently being offered that has the potential to unseat bitcoin or ethereum, which are the established brands, (and the currencies by which many of those new currencies are valued), but I’m also pretty skeptical about the whole idea… I love the idea of the blockchain, it has the potential to be as powerful as the world wide web or email in terms of transformative technologies for the Internet, but I don’t see a way in which any current cryptocurrency holders really “own” that technology in a meaningful way, and it’s really a wild west R&D project — the only real world business that’s important in the world of cryptocurrencies right now is the business of creating and selling new cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrencies matter, and maybe they’ll be part of the solution of our constantly depreciating national currencies or the inflation explosions that destroy economies from time to time, but that doesn’t mean I can come up with a reasonable logical answer to the question “what should bitcoin (or ethereum, or any of the others) be worth today?”
And if I can’t at least guess at an answer to that question using a sharpie and a bar napkin, I’ve got no business putting much money at risk in it. Perhaps if you trust the OneGram folks and wade through the fees and think it will be worthwhile there’s some “value” underlying that token thanks the gold backing, but, well, on that front I’m just as happy owning an actual gold coin. I’ve held some cryptocurrencies for a few years, in relatively small amounts even after they’ve surged by 1,000% or so (they would make up about 3% of my equity portfolio if they were stocks), so I don’t think they’re pointless and I do think they’re worth following… I just can’t get past the fact that I can’t put a reasonable price on them, so that keeps me from getting my feet any wetter than they already are. I won’t be buying any OneGram, but perhaps I’ll pick up another gold coin.
Curmudgeonly? Dimwitted? Missing the boat? I’ve had much worse yelled at me across the cyberseas… what do you think about the cryptocurrencies? have a favorite new one that you think other folks should get excited about, or that you think Martin Hutchinson is peddling? Think they’re all junk? Love or hate your bitcoin or ethereum or ripple or steem or whatever? Let us know with a comment below.
P.S. Things have gotten crazy enough with the deluge of ICO’s that the SEC stepped in with a warning letter… and also clarified that these coins are generally classified as securities and shouldn’t be sold willy-nilly without regulation or oversight or licensing (OK, they used different words than that) — you might want to check out their letter here, beyond putting some worthwhile fright into the mind of potential speculators, which is healthy, it also gives a decent overview of the ICO world and explains some of the terms pretty well.
The most important rule for a Crypto is that if it depends on the trust in one single entity it will never work.
The fundamental value of the blockchain is trust through distributed validation of transactions of ownership.
Having a central point where gold is stored and having to trust some company and the legislative environment of the location is not sufficient .
BTW the ico he is talking about is imho Andrew Maguire’s BullionCoin who has a smart way of monetizing your stored gold. Basically earing you interest on your gold.
This can work but there is still a central point of failure. As the stockpile can be stolen or confiscated
I’ve yet to figure out the concept of cryptocurrency and how it works. I attempted to purchase some on line yet the low limits they set prevent you from getting in to deep, which in a way is good. My son seems to have a bit more knowledge and he claims it gives those who can’t access a regular bank account a way to save and purchase. My concern is there is no one regulating this business, no way to track it, and it will be a matter of time before the government steps in. Right now there are an enormous coins out there that will fold, and I’ve seen pitches where you can begin with $20.oo and turn it into an told fortune. My only regret is not buying $30.00 in bitcoins when it first came out.
Once you get the account open and approved request an increase. Some require more detailed financial information, SSN and address verification….this is both good and bad but at least the exchanges are making an effort to confirm who they are selling to. Too much nefarious stuff going on with money laundering etc. It took Coinbase about 2 weeks to up my daily trading limit to 25,000 but i read they are overwhelmed with thousands of new customers every week.
These agora folks are irritants. They are late-comers to the crypto space but by the number of teasers they release you would be fooled to think they are at the root of its wisdom. They are just peddling what they learned from an affiliate of their’s the other week. I can’t stand them!
Yes, my 2 1/2 years of Agora subscription eexperience has been a painful lesson of extreme marketing manipulation, I mean blatant unethical scamming methods. From 3 separate conversations with some of their agents, they all answer my complaints regarding their abusive methods with the same general reply: “We do what we have to do in order to make money…. how else can we survive!”
I am now convinced that their “profit at all cost”culture rewards those who can scam the best with no moral compass or concern for the fools who fall for the manipulative bait (me being a former fool). I have only lost $ subscribing to their “advise” ?….
I also noticed recently that Agoria is coming out with their own crytocoin ….wait……. sometime in late August.
To sum….. I do not trust them one bit as they are expert predators of the ignorant, desperate and gullible- me being one of them…. I woke up about 2 years into it.
This thread however has been very valuable and informative.
I thank you all for you insightful input.
Could it be Ahoolee? http://ahoolee.io They are announcing an ICO seed round opening on Aug. 28, 2017 with 25 milion tokens available. They have an ambitious goalthat could generate broad interest: “Ahoolee Mission: To give an opportunity to any person to find any product in the Internet, find ALL shops where it can be purchased, and compare them by price, and also buy any products for crypto currency.” Urban Crypto has a write up at https://urbancrypto.com/ahoolee-ico-a-true-blockchain-product-marketplace/ Interestingly bassed in Russia…maybe they have had some government support in getting this going?
The prime attraction of a cryptocurrency for many holders is the limit on supply and the biggest concern is the unknown security involved. All that is needed to collapse the market is for the US or China to issue their own limited supply crypto backed by a government guarantee of security. Many owners of existing cryptocurrency would dump their holding to get the more secure one and the resulting slump in the market for the unbacked ones would drive even more to the one backed by a security guarantee and a rising price while the others were going down. Only a major power could do this and they would undoubtedly be aware of such. The ability to snatch the rug from under the crypto market any time they might wish would also explain the tolerance for it to this point. The prospect of a cryptocurrency becoming a serious competitor to the dollar looks like a pipe dream.
How would any government take over or confiscate crypto? It is “virtual”. You can’t outlaw it (China has tired 3 times) you can’t repossess it. All one needs to do is take it offline via a hard copy wallet and print the QR code, fold it and put in your back pocket or safe. All governments issue their own currency, guarantee it, back it etc. Then print everything needed, in unlimited supply which is why crypto is in such high demand.
I wouldn’t bet against China blocking online cryptocurrencies IF they decide that’s a real priority — and if you block them online, they become more or less worthless to most people (yes, some more dedicated users will take them offline or transact with USB drives or printed codes, but that’s too inconvenient to create a major financial disruption).
Travis, china is making some hugh moves in the crypto space. Just take a look at NEO, it has moved up to the 9th largest (in market cap) i got a little in May for under $1 and now it is close to $50 (wow) another BIG deal getting tons of bad press is called ACCHAIN….it is planned to use with SDR’s and maybe the IMF. I am hearing so much disinformation it is hard to believe anything. But i can only point out, there are 1.5 billion people in China with money now…it is getting kinda scary.
The quality cryptos are out of my league but I am actually more interested in companies expanding on the blockchain technology. IBM, Microsoft and Intel are the gorillas here. It’s the little guys I’m looking for. Any fintech insight, Travis?
I believe it is ChronoLogic. Check out the website and whitepaper: https://chronologic.network/ and https://blog.chronologic.network/announcing-chronologics-day-contribution-period-b4c1ea526977
ICO starts at 28th August. A former Goldman Sachs exec is involved in the project.
You would be correct sir
Agreed. Bitcoin was Proof-of-Work, Etherium – Proof of Stake – so one to beat them all has to be similarly groundbreaking…….Proof-of-Time it is……..there’s loads of applications…….
Yes, it is ChronoLogic.
I’m curious, if it IS Chronologic, then isn’t Agora falsely advertising, if it isn’t eligible for US citizens to ICO? Granted, not all Agora’s newsletter holders are American, but likely a lot of them are. Thoughts?
It’s obvious that we don’t need a cryptocurrency backed by gold. Bitcoin is working fine without it. Bitcoin is digital gold. Gold needs time, energy and a big investment to mine and bitcoin the same. In both cases it a matter of do you believe. The difference is that gold is trusted for 5000 years and bitcoin not even for 10 years. But it all boils down to trust. And I don’t trust the banks and governments so I just put my fiat currency in bitcoin and physical gold. Keep some cash for the daily groceries. As for the other cryptocurrencies, if they have a real world use it could be a great choice. There are great ideas, like a Youtube platform on the blockchain where you get paid for your likes in tokens, but I think almost impossible to get people to switch even if you get paid more.
But in Venezuela it turns out to be a life saver, so I would recommend everybody to just have an account and put a few bucks worth of bitcoin in your wallet.
Moderation is important — and the distinction between savings and speculation or investment is important. You should be prepared for major losses in your speculations, and losses in your investments, but you shouldn’t think of something as ‘savings’ if there’s a real risk of losing value over the short term (all low-risk savings vehicles tend to lose value over the long term if you base your assumptions on the rates of the past decade, thanks to inflation, but so far that’s quite a moderate influence).
Ya know i am usually a little amazed (but i shouldn’t be) at the level headed response Travis always gives when expressing opinions. Travis rarely gets overly enthusiastic or goes out very far on a limb. And in this case is 100% CORRECT in not getting everyone leaning toward putting all there eggs in one basket….especially crypto. Is it a fad or mania, maybe. is it the future of money, maybe. is it the cure for the ill’s of modern society, maybe……i like the use of the word “moderation” and much care and due diligence is needed especially with the flood of new ICO’s hitting the market. Having reviewed 60-70 to find 3 or 4 with potential has been hard work. Cyber criminals run rampant and can and will steal your money. One of my favorite crypto channels on youtube did a video 2 weeks ago and and said he does not recommend you participate in any of these ICO’s…..way too much money being thrown around by some whales and you just never know who is truly behind the scenes that can then dump millions of dollars and crash the price post ICO….good advise, remember the june flash crash in etherium. It briefly touched 10 cents! Buyer beware things are not always what they appear and it is very much like the WILD WEST…..but thanks Travis for some common sense.
Jim, not sure how to message you directly but would love to hear more of your thought on some of the coins that passed your reviews.
I am hesitant to name names, i get abused when i do…i have mentioned Salt Lending, i bought the pre sale for $1.50 per token. It isn’t really your typical ICO crowdfunding. The presale at $5 sold out in less than an hour. The founder/chairman of the board is Eric Voorhees a giant in crypto. I love SALT, it is US based which is rare and you can use your crypto as collateral for loans so lenders/banks are lining up BIGTIME to shop you for loans and rates etc…a third party wallet holds your crypto as collateral but no such thing as sub prime loans. Altho i am not a bitcoin millionaire (not yet anyway lol) you use your crypto as collateral and don’t get hit with tax obligations when you sale for capital gains etc. I see it with a bright future for sure. They are still selling $10 tokens for $7.50 so the upside potential may be limited but glad i got in for $1.50….at $10 i will be up 40K
Wow! So far from Travis and subscribers/guests we’ve had OneGram, EOS, Xcoin, HelloGold, uTrust, Placeholder Capital, Dimcoin, AnthemGold and SafeCoin. I’ll let this one slide and stick with investing in Bitcoin as the main followed by Ethereum for business and Ripple for the banks. Cryptocurrencies are a source of annoyance, over 900 of them and counting…
lets see……these crpto currencies are backed by nothing?….I will pass. I believe in solar energy futures and Elon Musk and going to Mars ( using The Mars Direct plan designed by Dr Zubrin of The Mars Society….follow the symposium this September on YouTube). I would rather buy a stock on a venture to capture an asteroid, to sell the “rare earth” metals ( estimated to be worth BILLIONS of $ per asteroid) than buy a share of crypto anything. Also, the fact that these IPOS are coming out of the mid east chills me. Europeans are bad, Arabs are worse businessmen….( based upon my 15 years experience in Int’l business…..my worst experience was with the UK and Japan……I would rather deal with the Germans or Italians….forget the rest of Asia, unless you are ready to bribe all day)..
And the dollar is backed by what? How about the EURO or the Yen….backed by what? The faith and credit of the issuer only. The ECB involved in more and more QE, now buying corp debt (as much as they can find) and offering savers negative interest to keep their money safe…right. Sounds like a much better system to me for sure. I like Elon Musk too, he will become one of the richest men in the world someday but he is a dreamer…has never meet a deadline or a stated goal. Mars? Not in my lifetime.
What about Solomon Exchange -SMNX. It fits most of the teased suggestions
I believe a poster named Theyo posted 8/15 at 8:47 he paid Agora the hefty fee and is buying this ICO named Utrust.io and posted the web address. I downloaded a 37 page PDF white paper but have many concerns about it.
Hi jimb016…. how you doing? Could you mention what concerns u found based on what you read regarding Utrust. Trying to dip my feet in crypto. Your analysis would be much appreciated.
Ok Mathew, but i must insist that i do not give advise, but will state my opinions based on my experience. Utrust appears to have a solid management team, a rather detailed white paper (which is rare as many are too vague) my real concerns are more to the fact the whole crypto credit card space is getting very crowded. I have looked at and seen several in just the last 2 months. Each has a bit of a unique twist. But still just more of the same. My limited experience says avoid these areas, if too many jump in to any area usually one strives and the others fall by the wayside. Besides the banks and VISA/MCard own the market, you really think some upstart raising capital via the ICO funding mania is going to have a serious impact? Instead Mathew, you say you are looking to get your feet in crypto….my opinion says look at some of the established coins and stay away from the ICO hit or miss offerings as much caution is necessary.
Makes sense, thanks much Jim!
How about Bitqy? check it out : http://www.bitqyck.me/337235
OK-i took a review (number 71 on the list) red flags galore here Deb….there is no white paper, it says coming soon. A white paper is sort of like a prospectus that should clearly define what it is and what they plan to offer and do etc. It refers to another website bitqy dot org for current trading and price at something like .000576? Apparently it uses the ERC20 token which means it runs on the etherium blockchain. First impression is just another copy cat token being thrown in the mass with little direction or intention other than will apply to travel and retail industries. If i scored these deals on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best) i would score it 2 at best, it is completely lacking in displaying officers and developers that would let us know if they have any experience in any of these industries….just an opinion.
It’s Chronologic. A token based on time. Sounds interesting but it doesn’t ICO for americans so I am getting refund on grounds of false advertising. This isn’t the World Coin though. A closer candidate for the One World Currency would be the ACCHAIN out of china. They hope to digitize all assets then through the Internet of Things and 5G have one giant Matrix grid over the world. “Asset Coin even says in it’s video advertising it that “the devil uses it to destroy the world” followed by “the god uses it to the benefit of mankind” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VezOnloLV9U they monetized tea leaves first and now have moved to a real estate project in Dallas Ft. Worth, TX. If you plow through the white papers using google translate the whole basis for it is SDRs and somehow one bitcoin plus one ethereum will create a super node coin or something like that. the IMF bank is behind the ACChain. Basically they launched the blockchain in the form of bitcoin on the dark web so all the hackers and techies would wrap their mind around it first thus leading to Ethereum. My guess is the token on the neck of the phoenix rising from the ashes of fiat currency on the cover of The Economist magazine in 1984 has always been digital. This could be the final Great Transfer of wealth that will happen right under our noses in the form of digital assets. The Blockchain could also lead to a hive mind scenario if you game it out far enough. No servers, just chips connecting all brains to the chain. All knowledge revealed at all times to everyone which is the nature of the main thing they advertise about the blockchain.
“Get Real!!”, ever heard that saying?
We are in this Fed induced bubble.
100s of cryptocurrencies popping up and they are not something you can hold.
Will our grandchildren be reading about how just before the wheels came off there was a mania for crypto? Will they just shake their heads in disbelief when they read that Bitcoin went from 6 cents to $4000 in less than 10 years?
One thing I can guarantee is that cryptocurrencies will not rein in government spending. They will not stop governments from reaching into our pockets by whatever means necessary to extract money from us.
Get real! I’m with Travis on this one…I’ll buy a gold coin.
I don’t care if Bitcoin goes to 100,000…If something with no intrinsic value goes from 6 cents to 4000, what makes you think it can’t go from 4000 to 6 cents?
Your dollar has “intrinsic” value? Charts i have seen show the dollar has dropped 98% since 1913. How is the intrinsic value determined? Your gold since 2011 worth less and less every year….how is that intrinsic value holding up….sort of seems intrinsic is in the eye of the beholder. As far as government spending, you just aren’t comparing apples to apples. The blockchain brings in a distributed ledger, for all to see. Gov’t has many uses, imagine foodstamp recipients using it….no more beer and cigarettes, big brother could track every penny and virtually eliminate fraud and abuse. Imagine the COMEX or LBMA using blockchain for trading. No more fraud and manipulation in markets, what a world, maybe then your gold would soar with open and honest markets.
Study the Blockchain Technology. All major companies and banks are backing this. No investment advisor will be able to morally tell you to invest in this because it is a brand new idea in the history of man. Conventional investing will go away. All exchanges will switch to the Blockchain just look at NasDaq and it’s plans. It’s similar to dotcom bubble but the glaring differences are the number of people participating and the fact that you can research these ICOs on the internet. In the nineties people just threw money at anything that said it would be on the internet. These are not currencies. These are businesses. Brand new businesses never before conceived by man. As an entrepreneur it’s quite fascinating to read the white papers and think about the possibilities. The Blockchain will destroy Fiat Currency and could possibly destroy many big Tech Companies. The Blockchain removes the middle man thus making transactions instant and public and uneditable. Goldman Sachs is working on a patent for refunds on the blockchain. Goldman Sachs has people in several of the ICOs. Bank of America is working on patents as well. This will be the easiest couple of years to make millions in the history of man but very few will participate at first. There are not enough people to consider it a bubble yet. Wait till bitcoin hits 10k this year. They will have to start explaining this. Just think about it, how many years have you read about the Internet of Things? Have you ever heard the blockchain mentioned with it? NOPE. Every major player is investing in the blockchain yet advisors are just now mentioning at and talking about it like it’s Tulips LMAO. The Blockchain was envisioned years ago. My guess is going of the Gold standard in ’71 would be closer to the time the blockchain was envisioned than 2017. They always knew with computers that one day everyone would have one and they wouldn’t need servers if they all linked together. You have been warned. Buy Ethereum. Take 1000$ and break it into 10 ICOs or cryptos per year. 100$ in bitcoin 10 years ago is over 75 million dollars now. If anything, do it as protection.
I agree with most of this except for investing in the many ICO’s. 9 out of 10 of these are fly by night penny stock wanna bees, no employees, no product, no value just a hope and dream…the world is desperately seeking truth and honesty, and not finding much in governments. Ever wonder how or why we ended up with such disastrous choices for President? I don’t want to even open that can of worms, i will rather hit the flush knob instead…the WORLD is gravitating to blockchain, it is technology at it’s finest….too many think it is money or currency and it is not….google shapeshift, watch a bitcoin transaction and see the computer code it uses…truly amazing. It only works like money but it is technology and it will continue to grow and expand. I just went to my local Publix grocery store….saw a Brinks truck and a couple guys wearing pistols loading bags to take to the local bank…..was wondering what that costs? Stores no longer want your cash, it is too costly. This is the digital age, technology rules and crypto is the answer and the future of money you need to get on board.
As a speculator investor I have yet to see one ICO crowd-sale that has a good success story? And yes, if you want to own gold backed cryptocurrency why not just own the real thing and eliminate ANY risks or fee’s. Cyptocurrencies are still a long way off from the real cryptocurrency, maybe in the future they’ll get it right!
There are no ICO success stories? You haven’t done much homework albert. Look at VERI it debuted couple months ago, ICO was for $8 now at $129 but got as high as $200 i know couple guys that made 100K. Look at PPT debuted for $1 now at $6 and there are a few others too. I just know some guys who participated in both (I did not, i didn’t like VERI but i am picky) There are many success stories, but probably more scams and failures than winners so you must do your homework.
To echo not looking very hard at successful ICO’s:
Check out Civic. Up 5x in only 4 weeks. Still early days and with solid block chain technology used for identity verification headed by Vinnie Lingham, the sky is the limit. Not a fly by night coin.
To blow your mind, have a look at these ICO profits: ICOstats.com
(Filter for ROI since ICO).
Did any one say TULIPS, WATS the matter with all you people , crypto’s ARE NOT ANYTHING.. the US Constitution says ONLY Gold/Silver is real money even the us dollar is illegal. if you want to buy something real buy GOLDMONER.COM and yes you can buy it on the EXCHANGE..
You read far too much doom and gloom articles tim. Tulip mania lasted a year (in like 1643-1644) and no true currency used as a standard then. Also poor climate and refrigeration so most of those plants rotted. The constitution has been trampled on for 100 years now. Otherwise we would have sound money and no need for crypto to begin with. As far as your online gold? You gotta be kiddin me, if you don’t hold it in your own possession you don’t own it….you own paper. If and when the music stops someone else has a claim on your paper assets.
The us goverment already has FED COIN, and if you think the FED is going to allow anything else your nuts
They would abuse trust and faith just the same as currency now. As far as allowing anything else? How can they take something that is virtual? I can take crypto offline or print with a QE code that can be simply folded in my pocket or stored in a safe or file. Someone knocks on the door, prove I even have it in my possession….they would have to take away the internet, permanently.
There is no FEDCOIN yet. Jeez reading too many stanberry stories
I thought it was AICoin. ICO ends Aug 28
That’s what I bought ! we’ll see ..
I bought it too.
Could this possibly be ZONTO TOKENS? Thedo have an ICO on 28 AUG 17!!
GoMac
I have this pervasive itch about 3 inches to the right of my left ear that keeps repeating……..fffffscam scam.
Is there any currency in the world right now backed by gold?
If so how much does it exchange to?
Thank you all