This is not the kind of ad I love to cover, mostly because it takes me out of my comfort zone into an area where my knowledge is very limited, but we’re getting tons of questions about the Crypto Capital pitch from Stansberry and the huge 1,000% gains promoted because of this September 12 event… so I thought I should at least try to ID the cryptocurrency for you.
We’ll start at the ending… this is the P.S. from Eric Wade’s ad letter for Crypto Capital ($2,250/yr., no refunds):
“This is an exceptionally rare opportunity. We have a genuine ‘no name’ cryptoβ¦ trading for next to nothingβ¦ on the verge of a breakthrough that addresses a major liquidity issue. Thatβs a combination weβve never seen before, in the entire history of cryptocurrencies. Which is why my modelβfully grounded in historical dataβforecasts you could get the chance to make 1,237% in just 24 hoursβ¦ and up to 5,224% in the first three months.”
Yes, it seems laughable to say that a model is “fully grounded in historical data-forecasts” when you’re dealing with cryptocurrencies… most of which didn’t exist five years ago. But I’m trying to be open-minded here, so we’ll let that go.
Wade is enthusiastic about a bunch of cryptos, and he says he has developed a network of “insider contacts” to help him identify new cryptos before they become well-known and rise in price. He claims credit for a bunch of massive gains, and I have no way to check that or reason to doubt it (though no one, of course, posts their losses in their marketing materials), and I really have no idea what his history is — his LinkedIn page says he’s been working on Crypto Capital since May of 2018, when it was technically part of Stansberry Pacific Research, and has been leading the letter since June of this year (I think Stansberry Pacific was absorbed into the parent company, not sure of the details). Before that he spent a couple years as an “explorer” of cryptocurrencies after a long career in investment management and sales, which sounds like it included doing some crypto mining. I’ve not written about him before, but he probably knows much more about cryptocurrencies than I do.
And here’s what he’s talking up today….
“Investors with the foresight to buy βunknownβ cryptos in the days before a big announcement takes place have the potential to create a legacy of wealth for themselves and their families.
“But itβs important to realize that the money will be made before this major event takes place and before most investors even make the connection between this influx of money and this hidden crypto. In other words, you have to get in when itβs still not a popular trade.”
Pretty much every newsletter ad includes language very much like that — yes, cryptocurrencies often move quickly, but the primary reason to include this kind of language is that it gets people to subscribe… buyers need a deadline that lights a little fire under their greed receptors, particularly if they’re thinking of doing something crazy like subscribing to a newsletter they’ve never heard of before for $2,250 with no chance of a refund (whenever you’re thinking of buying a newsletter, try to think of the subscription price as an “investing fee” — are you investing enough in this sector to make a fee that large reasonable?).
“Fear of missing out” (FOMO) is one of the strongest motivators for purchases, and that’s what newsletter copywriters hit on over and over… this time it’s worded thusly…
"reveal" emails? If not,
just click here...
“A major event is about to shake the crypto world.
“In fact, September 12 could be the biggest date in crypto historyβever.
“Bigger than when Laszlo Hanyecz made the first real-world transaction with Bitcoin by buying two pizzas in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2010. Bitcoin has since risen 113,539,900%…
“Bigger than when Bitcoin took parity with the U.S. dollar for the first timeβ¦ where it went from $1 in February 2011 to $11,354 today. Bitcoin has since shot up 1,135,300%…
“Even bigger than when the popular crypto exchange, Mt. Gox, was shut down and Bitcoinβs price recovered to the $700 rangeβ¦ making Bitcoin even more rareβthus spiking 1,522%…”
So what is this big event? Essentially it’s that Binance, a major cryptocurrency exchange, is kicking US users off of their platform. Here’s how the ad words it:
“… on September 12 at midnight, Binance.com (think of it as the Nasdaq of the crypto world) will force tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of its customers into Bitcoin.
“Iβll tell you more about this event laterβ¦ but it has to do with an updated Terms of Service from the worldβs largest crypto exchange….
“Weβre talking about an estimate of nearly $1 billion that will be moved into Bitcoin.
“This move alone could cause Bitcoin to double or maybe even triple, virtually overnight.
“But it could also cause nearly just as many people to flood into one other tiny crypto… a move that could send this one soaring 5x… 10x… even as much as 50xβover the long run.”
And, of course, he promises that you can make buckets of money with just 10 minutes, an internet connection, and $200. So what’s this secret coin that people will flood into when they’re kicked off of Binance?
Let’s see what other clues he drops…
“This tiny crypto is trading under $0.18 today and could easily spike 1,000% or more in a matter of days.”
And apparently Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin is involved with this little crypto…
“Vitalik sits on the board of advisors of the tiny crypto that I believe will skyrocket on September 12.”
So that’s it… some kind of cryptocurrency that is designed to improve liquidity in the marketplace, with Buterin as an advisor, that has some connection to Binance and might become more heavily used once US customers are pushed off of Binance. Who is it?
Thinkolator sez Wade is likely hinting at… Kyber Network Crystal (KNC). No, I’m not 100% sure on this one, but no other token I’ve looked at comes close to matching those few clues, so I’m pretty sure.
And you may well know more about Kyber than I do, but here’s how they describe themselves:
“Kyber is an on-chain liquidity protocol that aggregates liquidity from a wide range of reserves, powering instant and secure token exchange in any decentralized application.”
So the Kyber Network itself is sort of like an exchange — Wade’s allusion to NASDAQ is a good metaphor, since NASDAQ was an early innovator in order matching and computer-controlled liquidity (as opposed to the floor traders who used to dominate NYSE stock trading), though Kyber seems to be far more decentralized. The actual cryptocurrency token (Kyber Network Crystal, KNC) is not the network, but it apparently somehow facilitates the operation of the network — you can see their explanation of how it works, in fairly clear language, here on their website.
And yes, the KNC “token” is trading at about 18 cents right now. It’s pretty small, with a “market cap” of about $30 million and trading volume of about $2 million (it’s not quite in the list of the 100 largest cryptos, but it’s close — I usually use coinmarketcap.com for basic crypto info and prices, their KNC page is here). It also does boast Vitalik Buterin as one of its Advisors, and he owns some of the tokens as a result of that relationship (disclosed to some fanfare on Reddit back in February).
What should it be worth? I have no idea. The network sounds interesting and like it could further democratize cryptocurrency trading by taking it out of the hands of the major exchanges and going direct, presumably at lower cost, but, as I said, I am nowhere near knowledgeable enough about this to tell you whether this network will become huge and popular… or even whether it’s unique or has a competitive advantage. You’ll have to think that through yourself.
The value of a token like this should, one would think, be based on the utility it provides… since you can earn KNC for facilitating the swap network (providing liquidity, referring users to Kyber), and a portion of those fees in KNC are then funneled back to the network and taken out of circulation, I guess they build some sort of value based on the utility that users get from the network and the scarcity created by “burning” a portion of the tokens with each trade fee.
That’s not what will happen in the short term, however — like all cryptocurrencies I’ve ever looked at, in the short term the value will be determined by how popular it is with cryptocurrency traders… and how much money rushes into the trade, which can sometimes snowball since rising token prices attract more attention. And, frankly, the fact that I’m talking to a few thousand of my closest friends about it here probably doesn’t help.
And yes, the Kyber Network protocol is one way that users can get their money out of Binance when it closes to US customers, which might, if that movement is enough to generate a lot of transactions on the network, increase demand for the token, at least temporarily. There are lots of other ways that people can withdraw or move their money, of course, but Binance and its Trust Wallet business apparently support decentralized exchanges (DEX’s) like Kyber, and Kyber Network itself tweeted about how valuable decentralized exchanges are back when Binance announced a loss following a security breach in May, so I don’t know if there will be a huge surge of volume on the decentralized Kyber Network on Thursday or not.
And that’s pretty much where I should leave it — just for background on me, I do hold some cryptocurrencies, but just a “token” amount (get it?), and I am probably the most boring vanilla crypto speculator around — I use Coinbase, like a noob, and pretty much just hold a little Ethereum and Bitcoin because, well, I speculated on them years ago because I was curious, and made some money, and they seem to be gaining global popularity still as a currency alternative… and popularity and acceptance are all that support a currency, so I do think there’s a chance that they will continue to become more widely used, even though physical gold makes me feel a lot more secure than my little bitcoin wallet (I can never take a “store of value” asset all that seriously when it rises several hundred percent or falls 50% in a few months). If you want to try out this training wheels version of cryptocurrencies, you can use my Coinbase referral link and get a little free bitcoin ($10, I think, if you deposit $100) to play with (I get the same bonus, whatever it is — yippee!)
If you want to transfer your bitcoin out of Coinbase (or whatever you use) to a private wallet, or to another exchange that offers more of the little fellas (like KNC), there are plenty of places (here’s one) where you can research which exchanges support which networks… or you can move your bitcoin (or ethereum, or one of the other biggies) to a private wallet and use Kyber Network itself to exchange it for KNC or any of the other tokens that decentralized exchange supports. Kyber also offers the KyberSwap app that can apparently help you create a secure wallet and buy or sell tokens, I haven’t tried that yet but I’ll probably tinker around a little bit with it and see how it works (it is easy to send ethereum or bitcoin from Coinbase to a secure wallet on that app, at least, not sure how it works beyond that). And no, I don’t own any KNC tokens and won’t buy them in the next three days (we’ve got trading rules here at Stock Gumshoe, designed to make sure I don’t profit from driving attention, good or bad, to little investments).
I don’t think of my little crypto holdings as an investment, frankly — an investment implies some kind of ownership (a building, a piece of a company) or guarantee (a bond or loan), and most cryptocurrencies obviously offer no guarantee, but, more troubling for me, offer no ownership of the technology or the network. They’re really just bets that people will grow to trust the machines more than the central bankers… maybe that’s right, maybe it’s wrong, I don’t know and that’s why I don’t dig deeply or bet bigger.
And I don’t really want to commit the time to become an expert at little cryptocurrencies, because the odds of success even with expertise are so very limited — there is so much fraud and focus on technical trading of these volatile coins, and so little focus on what economic utility a token provides and how that will generate value for token holders, that I think I’m just philosophically ill-suited for the sector, probably because of my focus on what token-holders actually own (there are some real companies that have sold ownership stakes using security tokens that actually constitute legal ownership of something, including Frank Curzio who sold a bit of his Curzio Research business that way, but that’s different and it’s still a tiny part of the cryptocurrency world). That may change, and your mindset may well be different, of course, and I wouldn’t object to folks speculating on a few little tokens that seem particularly interesting — but I don’t have a problem with casino gambling, either, as long as you’re not gambling the rent money or your retirement savings. Kyber Network looks like an interesting project, but I need to remind myself that pretty much all of the top 200 cryptocurrencies look, at least for those first few moments of research, like interesting projects.
And that’s all I’ve got for you, friends… feeling inclined to jump on some little cryptocurrencies? See something to like in Kyber’s token, or a better match that you’ve identified for Wade’s tease? Let us know with a comment below. Thanks for reading!
------------------
Have you signed up to join the Irregulars and support Stock Gumshoe yet? If not, now is the best time to do so -- we're in the middle of our annual charitable membership drive, with half of your subscription going to a great cause... with your help, we can set a new record -- just click here for the details, and thank you!
I believe that Ripple/XRP could also be one to be considered….
Could be, and it has been teased before by other letters… though it hasn’t been as low as 18 cents in the past month or so.
Travis, have you ever thought of writing a book? I’ve been enjoying your writing for a few years now, and this idea finally occurred to me.
I think you offer something unique and very worthwhile, both educational and entertaining.
Thanks Paul! All writers think of writing a book someday…
Travis. 1st of all thanks to you and the Thinkolator. Your work is much appreciated. I am unable to find any information about Binance ending support for US customers. Do you have more information about that announcement? I can’t find a contact number for Binance to get more information either. Thanks
It was covered in a bunch of places, including this article, though the announcement was sort of a sotto voce announcement from Binance about its terms of service. They’re also starting up a new US-compliant exchange, but Binance US reportedly won’t be ready at September 12 so there will be some disruption. Binance customer support contact info is here.
Hi there, I like your cautious approach Travis. Indeed , it takes months and years for a βnormalβ mind to have few clues about what blockchains and tokens are about! For investors who can stomach volatility and who donβt expect immediate returns, cryptos could add a bit of a hedge to a portfolio as they seem uncorrelated with the stock markets. Personally, I put MUCH, MUCH less in a crypto than in a stock. A tiny amount in fact. I am not an expert, but I know that some will go to zero, but not others. Some projects seem to… Read more Β»
While crypto is hyped as “being counter cyclic to stocks, and thus capable of reducing portfolio volatility”, …. We’ve NO TRACK RECORD to base this assertion on. Our last real Market crash was in 2009. Crypto wasn’t around then. I would view this assertion more as a brokers’ sales pitch to garner a commission, and crypto bulls booster-ism.
KNC doesn’t exist on the Yahoo platform, but where does Stansburry get off saying you need $200.
to begin??? If the stock trades anywhere, you s/b able to buy even one share, right Travis? Only .18 now, how about 2 bucks worth for the heck of it?
Itβs not a stock, itβs a cryptocurrency β think coinmarketcap.com, not Yahoo Finance… but sure, I suppose you could buy as much as you wished… though even if heβs right about a quick 1,000% return then $20 would turn into only $220, with some of that eaten up by fees. Not bad, but not life changing.
As noted (verbosely) elsewhere, the overwhelming majority of these coins will come to nothing. And US traders are now, or eventually will be, cut off from trading in most coins because their promoters, or the exchanges they trade on, can’t or won’t comply w US Securities laws. 2,000 to 20,000 different coins now out there. So, a small speculator might put $200 to $400 in each of these “best of the best hot tips”. While a big speculator might risk no more than $500 to $800 in each. Most all will languish in price or go into “un traded” status.… Read more Β»
a global currency needs to have a flexible supply of (say Gold right?) Cryptocurrencies are swaying the public to a finite supply for a global currency (right).
Paul (wrote above) “I think you offer something unique and very worthwhile, both educational and entertaining.
I’m looking for you to educate me and entertain us about why cryptocurrency exists.
KNC (still @ US 18 cents [equivalent] as of 16:30 UTC 9/11/2019) Trades on KuCoin, (KuCoin.com) A legitimate but Hong Kong based crypto exchange. For now, KuCoin still allows trading by US Based clients. (Unlike mainland China based Binance which cut us off.) IF KuCoin is “regulatory compliance” hassled by the US too much, they may also barr US traders from their platform. In which case, you could find yourself with a pile of KNC and no way of selling it, … other than through a surrogate in some other country. And doing so would likely put you in violation… Read more Β»
I love hearing your guesses. Even for crypto. Sounds good. But even more than that. Let’s see. If I was charging people $25oo for a subscription, and obviously was just in it for the money, and wanted to make some quick money, I would give out a tip like Eric Wade’s just to pump the cheapest crypto out there and tie it to something like Binance, which other than people sayig its dumping US holders, kinda might not matter (but no way to really verify). And the subscribers just read and do we’ll assume, so any reason is good enouogh… Read more Β»
For anyone that jumped on KNC and watched it fall back to $0.156, and are now seeing it rise again.
FYI…Eric Wade’s boss, Porter Stansberry, is promoting it now through a video pitch and offering their 3 reports for $49 USD. Of course those that are buying the reports most likely are the current buyers and pushing it back up. Can this round of new buyers buy enough to break the resistance level this time or will they quit when it gets there?
There is another “Crypto Briefing” hosted by Stansberry Research, Eric Wade, and “special guest”, Ron Paul.
Eric says he’s going to offer up his pitch for the “less than a penny, MASTER TOKEN”. All it is, is a pitch to buy a yearly subscription of Eric’s Newsletter with his “top three small cryptos” …all this for $2500…satisfaction guaranteed. This time he offers a refund…for credit for one of other Stansberry’s Research publications.
Same FOMO/FUD marketing pitches found in most other “insiders” trying to sell you their product.
Taking investment advice from Ron Paul hasn’t necessarily been a great strategy in the past, but I haven’t looked into that particular new crypto. I will tell you, without knowing what little crypto it might be, that I’d go in very skeptical.
At the big screening, he gave out one, that being ENG (enigma), but to find out the “Master Token”, you gotta throw out $2500.00.
That, I’m not doing. Surely someone knows what it is!!
Thank you for the information and lessons. I was looking to see if he was a scam like so many others in the investing research field as $2250 or $5000 is a hefty price. Next is learn how to buy / sell using debit card as it looks more difficult to learn than stocks or commodity exchanges. If you have a source of an article that cuts to the chase, I would appreciate it. Thank you!
Beware of the service fees, adverse price slippage and wider B-A spreads if you’re trading with a VISA or Debit card on any exchange that allows such. Plus of course the interest on you CC balance, if you’re carrying one, on your end of the transaction. Stick with CASH I’d suggest. Wire transfers if you’re in a hurry. If you want a good deal on buying Bitcoin, and maybe some of the other major coins, become a “Market Maker on the GDAX exchange side of CoinBase. Your acquisition price will be the exact Market Price! NO commissions! No B-A spread… Read more Β»
Unfortunately, I never even understood what bitcoin is si I definitely would not go here!
By the way, has anyone heard about the schpeel on Trump and insiders in D.C. planning on making the use of cash illegal?? Even with jail time? Has anyone else seen this ? I DID NOT WAIT TO HEAR HOW MUCH “CASH” it would take for me to learn the inside info on this.
Most countries would love to do away with cash… choke the black market and get rid of tax cheating (and, yes, do away with privacy in a big way). Donβt imagine it will happen in one fell swoop, people even get angry when you talk about getting rid of pennies or nickels… but cash will probably continue to get gradually squeezed out of daily life.
China several years ago moved almost everyone into using Alipay (Alibaba) to buy, sell, and pay for goods or services. The ONLY people that still use cash (RMB) there are “old people” . The Alipay is linked to their bank accounts. It is very rare to see a merchant take cash there, and may not even know how.
Some things to consider: The “sweet spot” for these specialty newsletters is $2,500, usually hyped as a “limited time offer”, which invariably is, subsequently, re-offered again, and again. So, no need to succumb to FOMO and subscribe immediately. IF you must subscribe there’s also Palm Beach Confidential. This is another one of these crypto tip sheets, a longer running and more in-depth one than Eric Wadeβs, IMO. But, if that $2,500 constitutes 20% or more of your “gaming capital”, you’d be better served to skip the subscription and just buy more Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Dash, Litecoin, Stellar Lumens, or a… Read more Β»
I thought it might be BAT – also trading at $0.18. It is the only coin listed on the initial 30 that will be listed on Binance US trading around that price. Thank you for the clue about Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin being on the board of this mystery coin. I don’t think he is on the BAT board, so you are probably correct. I bought a little of both BAT and KNC in case Eric is right. If not, back to bitcoin…
Crypto is definitely NOT a “set it and forget it” investment! Particularly for these newer coins coming on the market! This makes your OBLIGATE crypto portfolio management a never ending, convoluted, “pain in the ***”, that you’re pretty much ON YOUR OWN to sort out. There’s no “customer support” number to call for help in getting walked through a fix for YOUR specific problem. And that customer service # for that $2,500 newsletter you bought will offer NO HELP either ! And, if you’re not fairly computer literate, and don’t have a lot of time on your hands to obsess… Read more Β»
vegasjonah, A simple thank you does not seem adequate for the life lessons you have shared here, but it will have to suffice. THANK YOU! I gained a lot of insight from the first read of your posts, and will re read them. The point of Bitcoin being like the USD is a reserve currency helps to sort out some things.
Another issue to consider with Bitcoin supposedly being a “Global Reserve Currency” like the USD$, or “inviolate store of wealth” like gold-silver is that, …. ….. 80% of Bitcoin’s blockchain hash power (those “mining” computers running/supporting the Bitcoin ledger) are owned and controlled, in majority, by just a few large entities. With each of those entities running huge server farms, consisting of 100’s or maybe 1,000’s of computers, that are each dedicated to just running a copy of the Bitcoin software. The matter is worse than this however. As that 80% of the world’s total Bitcoin hash power is situated… Read more Β»
Thanks for the info. I don’t think that you are too far off base on this possibility. I remember a few years ago, China, Russia, S. Africa, and some other countries started a competing bank to the IMF or BIS. Haven’t heard how that is going. Just recently on Bloomberg, it was disclosed that China backed listed companies owed $16 Trillion USD. Plus China has been a very large buyer of US debt, but has been backing off some for a while. And another recent announcement is China since Dec 2018 has purchased an additional 100 tons of Gold. For… Read more Β»
Travis, if one wanted to buy a few KNC for a long spec, how and where would you buy them.
I have read a lot in the past that is it is difficult to purchase crypto currencies because it’s not like phoning your broker and ordering 100/1000 of whatever company, that is why i have stayed out of it.
I buy through Pershing but as i understand it brokers don’t deal in crypto’s, which is a shame because i have some cash sitting in my account at the moment waiting to use.
I can’t tell you the best way, I haven’t tried many exchanges or wallets and I’m not interested in picking up a new hobby to spend the time required to become an expert, several folks have shared here with (very helpful) comments what their experience has been and the tools they use… but I can tell you what I would do if I were betting a few hundred bucks on one of these little guys: I’d buy bitcoin or ethereum on Coinbase, set up a new wallet through the KyberSwap app, send money from my Coinbase wallet to that new… Read more Β»
It’s not KNC.
I will save you from what it is because it’s not for U.S. citizens anyway and it’s super speculative and comes with the notion don’t invest what you can’t lose and that seems to be a very hard thing to do for people.
Thanks for the mysterious feedback π
Most cryptos are not “designed” for US citizens, and many of them see most of their trading take place in Asian exchanges, though there aren’t substantial ones I’m aware of that US citizens can’t buy. Would be odd if a US newsletter was heavily promoting things that the vast majority of its subscribers can’t invest in.
My sentiments exactly!
By the way, if anyone wants to dig into other possibilities the current advisor relationships for Vitalik Buterin are listed on Crunchbase here. That may not be complete, but it’s the best list I’ve found.
Other tokens that have traded around 18 cents in the recent past and have a market cap above $5 million or so include Function X, Bibox, iExec RLC, Arcbloc, IoT Chain, Storj, WaykiChain, BitBook Gambling, SpectreCoin, Tael, DEX, MaidSafeCoin, Aeternity, ICON, Basic Attention, Steem, Incent, Silverway and Ox
0x and knc would be the same kind of coin…I own some ox…a while ago you could earn ox by learning about it on coinbase.
Let me just say the best way to earn crypto without a real investment is by mining coins through decentralized applications and then converting them to other currencies as the coins increase. This has helped me learn the space and increase crypto as a buy and hold strategy.
I agree with Travis most often…I am a conservative speculator but I do like to speculate and mining has helped me do this without loosing sleep.
Thanks Travis for the how and where to buy crypto’s. After reading that i am definitely staying out of it as it looks too involved for me. I will stick to shares.
Later on Skippy you might just regret your decision. I have very recently changed my earlier decision and have bought a few cryptos, The timing is said to be perfect.
Have a look at Coinbase as the vehicle through which to buy and store any purchases. They will provide all the help you need.
Buy Bitcoin/Ethereum/and Chainlink. Invest $250 in each – I’m sure that you will not regret it.
Well, it’s VID coin and trades on KuCoin and is above the buy-in price so good luck to all
What made you decide to give us the name of the coin?
Because nobody can/should buy it as I saw the price is over the buy-in price
So what does VID have to do with Binance stopping US traders at midnight on 9/12?
As I understand it, the restrictions are keeping the price low until they don’t. Makes sense? It’s just a way to use 12 september for whatever purpose you need.
Thanks for clarifying. That’s an interesting one, partly because they rely on people providing an actual service so it has to pay actual money to miners — they’re trying to build a decentralized video distribution network on blockchain, and companies who provide video encoding and storage space, and bandwidth, apparently get rewards in actual currency (not sure which one, presumably dollars or euros). Hard row to hoe as they try to compete with ad-supported behemoths, but might be interesting to watch… … in terms of the relationship to the teaser ad, it’s odd — VID doesn