— Covering digital currencies, precious metals and online payments
The recently formed Exante Ltd. out of Malta is the world’s first Bitcoin hedge fund. The fund was designed to offer institutions and high-net worth individuals a regulated investment vehicle for Bitcoin. Unfortunately, US citizens and institutions “may not subscribe.”
A brief history of gold confiscation that “might make gold investors sweat” in one infographic…
Read More about Mining.com: A History of Gold Confiscation the Infographic
In an excellent interview with FutureMoneyTrends.com, GATA’s Chris Powell and Bill Murphy answer common skeptic’s questions. Why don’t more gold miners support GATA? How do you explain similar trading patterns in other commodities? Why aren’t there more whistle blowers? etc.
“Owning physical gold is like having a put option on your government and the financial system. And when you don’t have confidence in these things, the paper price of a gold contract that trades in a government-regulated commodities exchange is… irrelevant.” An important reminder from the SovereignMan.
The price of gold has taken a hit in the last few weeks dipping down to the $1,500’s. If you own gold and silver as ‘a put option on the financial system’ this temporary dip is of little concern, what you own is real money. And this week Patrick Barron explained why it is the dollar and not gold that is overvalued.
The Bitcoin vs. gold debate frustrates me; these are incredibly valuable monetary tools, why should I limit myself to just one?
Both these currencies share many characteristics that make them great …limited supply, internationally accepted, non-political, etc. but they are however, very, very different creatures. As such, this argument isn’t entirely without merit, but what we’re arguing about are the pros and cons of ‘real’ vs. decentralized exchange mechanisms.
But this ATM doesn’t give you dollars; it takes them and gives you Bitcoins.
To use the machine you feed it dollar bills like you would a vending machine. Built into the front of the machine is a camera which reads QR codes generated by various Bitcoin smart phone apps. Your Bitcoins are then sent to the Bitcoin address associated with the QR code minus a 1% fee. Transaction completed, anonymously.
The ATM’s creators are hoping to sell the machine to retail businesses, particularly those who are already accepting the currency in their shops. “If we made these machines somewhere around $1,000 to $1,500 each, depending on the commission, they could be able to buy this and make it back within a reasonable period of time.”
You can find more details here.
This would be a more appropriate description of the recent reports on the Treasury’s “gold audit”.
The ‘audit’ appears to have been mostly an accounting review. It largely covers reliability of financial reporting, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations and is titled “Audit of the Department of the Treasury’s Schedule of United States Gold Reserves Held by Federal Reserve Banks as of September 30, 2012”
Read More about The Treasury writes a report on its accounting practices
And Bitcoin is of course the go to currency for those that find themselves on the wrong side of politically hot topics. For Kim Dotcom, that hot topic is file sharing and piracy.
Kim’s successful file hosting site, Megaupload.com was dramatically shut down in January 2012 with the seizure of his domain name and a raid on his New Zealand home. Kim has since launched a re-vamped version of his service at Mega.co.nz .
Read More about It was only a matter of time; Kim Dotcom’s ‘Mega’ is now accepting Bitcoin
