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Virgin Galactic’s Chamath Palihapitiya: Bitcoin Could Go to $1 Million, Everybody Should Own Some

08/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

Virgin Galactic Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya has shared his bitcoin investment strategy, predicting that bitcoin’s price could reach a million dollars. He further suggested that everybody should have 1% of their assets in bitcoin since it is “a fantastic hedge.”

Also read: IMF Declares Global Recession, 80 Countries Request Help, Trillions of Dollars Needed

Bitcoin’s Price Could Reach $1 Million

Chamath Palihapitiya, the chairman of Virgin Galactic and founder of investment firm Social Capital, recently discussed bitcoin and how to invest during the current financial crisis. In a podcast interview published last week with Morgan Creek Digital co-founder Anthony Pompliano, Palihapitiya was asked about his bitcoin investment strategy. Responding to questions about whether he had bought, sold or changed the bitcoin allocation in his portfolio in any way, the venture capitalist revealed:

In 2013, I bought a lot and at one point I think I had almost 5% of all the bitcoins. My basis is about 80 bucks a coin. I’ve never bought more.

“Most of my bitcoin now sits with a company and they use it for trading purposes. They use it to run a bunch of other strategies,” he added. “I did that mostly for safety and security and peace of mind. I didn’t want to deal with it. I wanted to own equity in the business. That equity can be hedged. That equity can be tax structured advantageously, and then it allows them to run a big business which generates cash, and I can get a cash and dividend stream.” He proceeded to confirm, “so I have not bought since I initially basically wrote that article for Bloomberg in 2013.”

Virgin Galactic Chair Chamath Palihapitiya Bullish on Bitcoin, Project $1 Million — Chamath Palihapitiya, Chairman of Virgin Galactic and founder of investment firm Social Capital, believes that bitcoin could be worth $1 million a coin. He bought a bunch when they were about $80 a coin.

Bitcoin is “still a speculative instrument and it’s too speculative for it to be reliable,” Palihapitiya opined. “So if you are going to make the case that it should replace fiat currency, well one thing you have to look at is the volatility of the U.S. dollar and you can’t replace it with something that’s nine sigmas more volatile. It doesn’t work.”

He then shared his prediction of how high he thinks the price of bitcoin could be over the next 10 years. “It is a 10-year trajectory,” he began. “I’ve always thought of bitcoin as a very binary investment, whether it goes from 80 to 8,000 to 6,000 to 3,000 to 13,000, it doesn’t matter.” Noting that bitcoin’s price will be “either zero or it’s millions,” Palihapitiya asserted:

What it will do is it will create a quasi gold standard. It’ll create an index, except instead of having to own gold where gold is owned by central banks, it is an instrument that has value that’s determined in between its participants, and it’s owned by everybody.

Palihapitiya has founded six companies and currently serves on the board of nine others, including Syapse Inc. and Remind101. He also previously worked at Facebook, Mayfield Fund, AOL, and Winmap.

Everyone Should Have Bitcoin

Palihapitiya also discussed bitcoin investing in an interview with CNBC last month. The Virgin Galactic chairman reiterated that his view on bitcoin remained unchanged since he authored the Bloomberg article on the subject in 2013, elaborating:

Everybody should probably have 1% of their assets in bitcoin specifically. I still believe that today and I think it [bitcoin] is just a fantastic hedge.

When asked about his thoughts on what Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett said about bitcoin, Palihapitiya emphasized that the billionaire “is completely wrong and outdated on this point of view.” Buffett insists that he does not own any bitcoin and never will. Repeatedly saying that it has zero value, he once called the cryptocurrency “rat poison squared.”

Palihapitiya clarified to CNBC that investing in bitcoin should not be event-driven. “When you wake up and you see a coronavirus scare and the Dow down 2,000, you should not be going in and buying bitcoin — that is an idiotic strategy,” he opined. “I think a reasonable strategy is to say 1% of my net worth should be in something that is completely uncorrelated to the world and how the world works.” The Virgin Galactic chairman suggested going into bitcoin “quietly” and letting the investment accumulate. He concluded, “Then you just never look at it again and hope that that insurance under the mattress never has to come due,” adding:

But if it does, it will protect you because that thing will be hundreds of thousands or a million dollars a coin.

What do you think about Chamath Palihapitiya’s view on bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Virgin Galactic’s Chamath Palihapitiya: Bitcoin Could Go to $1 Million, Everybody Should Own Some appeared first on Bitcoin News.

5% Over Spot: Gold-Backed Tokens Tether Gold and Digix Sell for Higher Premiums

07/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

Digital asset markets have been gathering some gains during the last few days and tokens like stablecoins have seen massive demand since the start of the market carnage. Alongside stablecoins, gold-backed digital assets like Tether Gold, Pax Gold, and Digix Gold have seen tremendous trade volumes as well. In fact, cryptocurrencies that claim to be backed by gold are selling for 1-5% above gold’s .999 per Troy ounce spot price.

Also read: Hyperbitcoinization: Visions of Bitcoin Fueling the Post Covid-19 Shadow Economy

Gold-Backed Crypto Assets Shine

Crypto assets are doing well on Tuesday following the rebound equity markets saw the day prior. In addition to digital currency markets, precious metals have been rising on April 7 as well. At the time of publication, the price of gold per Troy ounce is hovering around $1,654. Gold has been considered a safe-haven asset during these uncertain economic times that were sparked by the covid-19 outbreak. Similarly to crypto assets, gold prices took a hit on March 12 but gold values have regained those losses since then. There’s been a lot of demand for gold and reports have noted during the last two weeks that gold dealers have seen “big shortages of small bars and gold coins.”

“People want to buy, not to sell gold,” Mark O’Byrne, the founder of the firm Goldcore told the press on April 2. “We have a buyers’ waiting list and we emailed our clients seeing who wished to sell their gold. At this time there are roughly only one or two sellers for every 99 buyers,” O’Byrne added.

The demand for gold assets has found its way into the cryptocurrency industry as well. The number of projects that claim their tokens are backed by physical gold has seen increased buying and premiums in the last few weeks. Coins like Tether Gold (XAUT) and Digix Gold (DGX) are swapping for 1-5% above gold’s .999 per Troy ounce spot price. For instance, the XAUT token is selling for 1.5% more than spot prices on Tuesday. According to the firm Tether Limited, a full XAUT “represents one troy fine ounce of gold on a London Good Delivery bar.” With the current gold spot price trading for $1,654, a single XAUT is trading for $1,679 to $1,688 per token depending on the exchange used.

Digix Tokens Close to 5% Above Spot Gold

Then there’s the Ethereum-based gold project Digix with its DGX coin, a token that’s allegedly redeemable for 1 gram of gold per DGX. If one was to obtain a hair over 31 DGX on Tuesday, April 7, they would spend 4.47% more than gold’s spot price at $1,728 for the lot of 31.1 tokens. Pax Gold today is trading for a touch less than the spot price of gold as each PAXG is swapping for $1,651 per token. The company Pax Global claims that “every PAX Gold token is backed by an ounce of allocated gold.” Users who hold PAXG can utilize a tool that looks up the serial number and information about the physical gold’s source.

A number of other digital assets that allege to have physical gold backing are doing far better than the spot price of physical gold bars. Of course, obtaining real bars and coins made of gold are also carrying similar premiums. Local gold dealers are desperately contacting wholesalers to get their hands on smaller bars and coinage. While retail buyers are allegedly spending 10-15% more to get their hands on physical gold, it seems crypto tokens backed by gold are seeing similar premiums.

What do you think about the demand for tokens that claim to be backed by physical gold? Let us know in the comments below.

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Sweden’s ‘Lagom’ Response to Coronavirus: No Masks, Keep the Economy Going With a ‘No Limit’ Printing Press

07/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

Pundits globally are flabbergasted that Swedes still go to cafés, eat at restaurants and hang out in parks without face masks on. The coronavirus in Sweden has so far claimed 611 deaths, with 7,849 confirmed cases. Swedish people still send their kids to school and are not hoarding much of anything compared to countries like the U.S. However, just like in most of the world, many businesses are hit hard and the country’s central bank has fired up the printing presses.

Also read: Major Swedish Bank Fined $386 Million for Hiding Money-Laundering Evidence

The Swedish Central Bank Has Fired Up the Printing Presses

The Swedish central bank, Riksbanken, the world’s oldest-running operation of its kind, has predictably responded to the crisis by starting the printing presses. They’ve promised banks a 500 billion SEK ($55 billion) credit line to “grease” the wheels, making sure there is enough liquidity in the system. Riksbanken chief Stefan Ingves has also stated that there are no limits to how much these presses can print, carefully avoiding the term QE (quantitative easing). Ingves also stated at a press conference last month:

The Riksbank stands ready to do more if and when necessary to help the Swedish economy get through this crisis as well.

Citing liquidity problems on the financial markets, the Swedish central bank is now planning to buy government, corporate and mortgage bonds. It is also auctioning USD-denominated loans for around $70 billion. Riksbanken has already increased its government bond-buying target by $30 billion, after leaving its most important interest rate — the overnight repurchase rate — at zero percent.

Sweden's 'Lagom' Response to Coronavirus: No Masks, Keep the Economy Going With a 'No Limit' Printing Press — Few people wear face masks in Sweden.

Swedes Don’t Let the Recently Elected Leader Call All the Shots

One of the explanations for the Swedish approach to lockdowns is its rather unique governance system. Swedes don’t let the recently elected political leader call all the shots. Here, the local authorities are actually in charge, or at least that is the design of the Swedish system, and the country’s unique response to the coronavirus pandemic may be viewed in this light. It’s a form of democracy comparable to the systems in Finland and Switzerland, where the state apparatus has also aimed for the decentralization of power for centuries. In contrast to the never-ending stream of decrees from “strong leaders,” like Trump or Erdogan, and their citizens’ (apparent) quick obedience, in Sweden the centuries-old authorities often have a larger say in how things should progress than the prime minister, and its people actually listen.

Consequently, the Swedish public has followed closely along with the Swedish health authorities’ daily TV-broadcasted explanations on which measures might be effective. For example, washing hands and physical distancing are, but wearing masks may not be so much. Protecting the high-risk groups is a priority, but schools, workplaces, and restaurants stay open for all else — albeit not crowded and with new safety routines to avoid spreading the virus. This approach may be summed up by the unique Swedish word “lagom,” which roughly means “just right,” “not too much,” or “not too little.” Lately though, reports of spreading covid-19 infections have been seeping out from many elderly homes in Sweden. A daily updated map on the number of cases and deaths in the country can be found here.

The Swedish ‘Lagom’ Measures Will Be Analyzed in Great Detail

In the aftermath and analysis phase of the coronavirus pandemic, the Swedish responses to the virus and subsequent “lagom” actions taken will be analyzed in great detail. Still, many cafés, restaurants, and shops stay open today, April 7, even in the most afflicted areas of the capital city of Stockholm.

The nordic confidence in the established authorities culls Swedish elected politicians’ urge to decree “tough” measures like a “lock-down.” They are not afraid their popularity ratings will fall if they do not act “tough,” as few Swedes find the “tough” authoritarian leader attractive. The prime minister is temporary, but the central bank and the Swedish health authority are persistent organizations, the former in operation since the 15th century.

The country is also one of the world’s most secularized societies, with the least religious folks in the world, turning to science rather than faith when combating covid-19. The Swedish health authority, Folkhälsomyndigheten (FHM), reigns supreme. Swedish politicians can avoid some of the responsibilities of “knowing best,” and can defer decisions on rules for social distancing and public transport, among other things.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven often refers to letting “the experts” steer, instead of having himself prognosticating the future and deciding on actions to counteract a never-before-seen virus.

Swedish Central Bank Testing Its Own Digital E-Coin

In the meantime, while the coronavirus has infected at least one employee at the bank, the Swedish central bank is testing its own digital dollar, the “e-krona.” When asked about the project, its chief Stefan Ingves repeatedly told journalists that “Bitcoin is not money,” but that a digital dollar is needed to keep up with the times.

By introducing its own electronic currency and moving away from paper cash, the central bank could actually continue lowering the interest rate into negative territories. Sweden is already hailed as the world’s most cashless society. When few have access to actual cash, few can benefit from those negative interest rates by hoarding cash under the mattress. The beneficiaries of some loans will reverse; the lender will have to pay, while the beneficiary of the loan will receive extra interest from taking out a loan. In Germany, people are already paying to lock up cash in 30-year government bonds, and in Denmark negative interest rate mortgages have been introduced. Where these strange actions will take the economy is hard to say. Is this whole process, in the end, giving the central bank a new tool to “reverse-inflate” away loans?

The reactions to the covid-19 pandemic by politicians and central bankers may lead to disastrous, long-term effects on the economy, as politicians print way too much currency trying to fix the current slowdown. They inadvertently inflate away people’s savings and paychecks over the longer term. Printing paper cash or the equivalence in electronic cash (creating debt) is not the same as “creating money,” as currency isn’t money. Gold is money, however, as is bitcoin. Keynesian central bankers are now hoarding gold, while Austrian libertarians and anarchists are hoarding bitcoin. The future will tell who was right.

What do you think about the Swedish “lagom” approach to the pandemic? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Sweden’s ‘Lagom’ Response to Coronavirus: No Masks, Keep the Economy Going With a ‘No Limit’ Printing Press appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Market Update: Traders ‘Buck the Trend’ Pushing Crypto Market Cap Above $200 Billion

07/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

Digital currency markets have been rising again as the entire market capitalization of all 5,000+ coins has jumped above the $200 billion mark. The increase in crypto trade volume and coin values has followed alongside the recovery traditional equity markets saw on Monday. On Tuesday, most of the digital assets in the top ten are up between 4-14% and crypto trade volumes have doubled in the last 24 hours.

Also read: Hyperbitcoinization: Visions of Bitcoin Fueling the Post Covid-19 Shadow Economy

Top Ten Crypto Assets Gain 4-14% in the Last 24 Hours

During the last few weeks, digital currency proponents and crypto traders have been wondering what will happen to bitcoin and the slew of other coins in the crypto industry. For instance, the entire cryptocurrency market capitalization lost a whopping $44 billion on March 12, 2020, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday.’ BTC prices dropped to a low of $3,870 on March 12. The following day, BTC regained some of the losses when it was hovering between $5,300-5,600 per coin on March 13.

Since then, BTC has gained 30% since the low and on April 7, prices are currently meandering between $7,300-$7,425 during Tuesday morning’s trading sessions. BTC has gained about 4% in the last 24 hours and the coin is up 15% for the week. Ethereum is priced around $174 per ETH and has gained 13.3% today. Behind ETH is XRP, which is swapping for $0.20 per coin as XRP markets are up by 6.8%.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH/USD) Market Action

Bitcoin cash (BCH) is trading for $259 per coin today and has gained 7.2% in the last 24 hours. BCH is up 18% for the week and has also gained 8.5% during the last 90 days. The top trading pair with BCH on Tuesday is tether (USDT), which is capturing around 63% of all BCH trades. This is followed by BTC (20.71%), USD (9.42%), KRW (2.19%), ETH (1.65%), EUR (0.91%), and JPY (0.82%).

Bitcoin cash has a liquid market cap that’s hovering around $4.8 billion on Tuesday, and BCH is the fifth most trade crypto below EOS and above LTC. BCH reported trade volume is around $4.8 billion, but messari.io’s “real volume” statistics note it’s around $35 million. In 22 hours, BCH will be the first major SHA256 branch to experience a halving. After April 8, BCH miners will go from receiving 12.5 coins per block to 6.25 BCH, plus transaction fees.

Digital Currency Market Prices ‘Buck the Trend’

Market analyst from Etoro, Simon Peters, noted in a recent investors’ report that last week’s financial data was far more worrisome than this week’s changes. “Economic data released last week was worrying, to say the least,” Peters wrote. “Midweek figures revealing a drop in exports from big Asian economies, such as Japan and South Korea, hit equity markets globally, resulting in the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 both dropping considerably.” Peters remarked that cryptocurrency markets, however, have managed to “buck the trend.”

“From a crypto asset point of view, however, both bitcoin and altcoins have performed well during this difficult period,” the Etoro analyst added. “Bitcoin has been in a consolidation phase, remaining steady in between $6,000 and $7,000. There has been the odd spike, both to the upside and the downside, but overall, I am happy with the solidity of the price at the moment. With the Fed carrying out its policy of unlimited quantitative easing, buying assets left right and center, I think bitcoin is going to be pushing towards $7,500 in the short term.

Crypto Investors ‘Shrug Off Pessimism’

While BTC prices remain above the $7K region and a slew of other digital assets follow suit, many market strategists believe crypto investors are less worried. In just a week’s time, sentiment among crypto traders and investors has changed from bearish to bullish. “[Bitcoin and cryptocurrency] purchases follow the signs of improving sentiment in the stock markets,” noted Alex Kuptsikevich, Fxpro’s senior market analyst. “As soon as risk assets start to attract demand actively, institutional investors may also increase their positions in the cryptocurrency,” Kuptsikevich added on Monday.

Additionally, Naeem Aslam the chief market strategist from Avatrade remarked that crypto investors are far more optimistic now. “Investors are shrugging off the pessimism,” Aslam wrote. However, Aslam said that covid-19 might not be over so quickly and the virus could make it so “we could be in for a longer period of recession.”

The Verdict: Post Covid-19 Uncertainty Remains

Overall digital assets have outshined U.S. stock markets and precious metals as well. The price of BTC has surpassed the S&P 500’s gains and the rest of the top U.S. indexes. Since equity markets started showing signs of recovery, gold has moved very little and has only gained 2% since the start of the year. Despite social media and forums showing a lot more optimism among crypto investors, the multifactorial Crypto Fear & Greed Index (CFGI) shows “extreme fear” is still in the air.

Traders understand that digital currencies are doing very well but economic uncertainty, in general, is clouding most people’s predictions. As far as BTC prices are concerned and a few other digital asset values, key resistance has started to form. If crypto assets can’t break these regions, then another pullback could be in the cards. Despite the looming doubt, researchers believe that the response to covid-19 from governments and central banks will be a positive influence on crypto assets.

“We believe that the downstream impact of the government’s fiscal and monetary response to the crisis will be strongly positive for crypto,” Bitwise’s Global Head of Research Matt Hougan remarked in the firm’s April 2020 Investor Letter.

Where do you see the crypto markets heading from here? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Market Update: Traders ‘Buck the Trend’ Pushing Crypto Market Cap Above $200 Billion appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Hyperbitcoinization: Visions of Bitcoin Fueling the Post Covid-19 Shadow Economy

07/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

With the recent coronavirus spread and its overall effect on the global economy, some people believe the powers that be are preparing a financial reset. During these times, a number of bitcoiners think a bitcoin-induced form of fiat currency demonetization will take place, otherwise known as ‘hyperbitcoinization.’ However, a few speculators believe digital assets in the crypto economy are actually meant to further the underground shadow economy. In a world filled with overbearing politicians and malicious data-collecting corporations, the surveillance state could easily make cryptocurrencies far more valuable by fueling the world’s shadow markets.

Also read: Evidence Shows Politicians and Wall Street CEOs Expected the Market Crash Well Before Covid-19

A Different Kind of Hyperbitcoinization

A number of bitcoiners think that someday, bitcoin could grow so popular that it becomes the most used money in the world. These speculators believe that the protocol will be uncontrollable and eventually be adopted by everyone leading to hyperbitcoinization. But what if bitcoin covers only a fraction of the global economy, and more specifically the black and gray markets that operate beneath the legal system. Adoption of a crypto that fuels the shadow economy would still be a threat to the manipulated fiat system and it could remain uncontrollable. In fact, estimates show that the shadow economy is the second-largest economy in the world. When bitcoin was born in 2009, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicted that by this year in 2020: “more than two-thirds of the world’s workers will work in the shadow economy.”

The shadow economy or ‘System D’ isn’t just black market trades like drugs, weapons, and items the government has banned. System D participants include any paid workers who don’t report their financial transactions to the government and the funds remain untaxed. Traditionally, the general public has always assumed that the shadow economy exists in regions with fewer laws and in underdeveloped parts of the world. But that’s not the case at all, as underground financial systems exist in countries with a lot of wealth, high taxes, and significant amounts of regulation. The top countries in the world with the biggest shadow economies include places like the United States, Brazil, Italy, Russia, Germany, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Spain.

With the coronavirus plaguing the world and industry shutdowns squeezing the economy, some individuals think that governments and central bankers are planning a financial reset. Speculators assume that it’s the perfect time to usher in a “New Deal” similar to the way Wall Street and Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) restructured the American monetary system. Governments and central bankers are already pushing a few versions of digital cash and a cashless society, but the systems are centralized and meant to monitor people’s everyday transactions. Under the veil of crisis, nation states could easily reset the financial system right now by creating a cashless system that’s maintained by central bankers and bureaucrats.

Bitcoin and decentralized cryptocurrencies could still experience a smaller form of hyperbitcoinization by people who want to escape the “Green New Deal.” Cryptocurrencies could grow immensely valuable, even though they would only be used within the underground financial system. Digital money like bitcoin could easily be valued for far more than six-figures if entire the shadow economy adopted the decentralized asset.

Cypherpunks Write Code – E-Money & Daemon

The cypherpunks in the ‘90s discussed the rise of a private digital cash system that bolsters market anarchy and a new monetary system. In the 1994 Wired article “E-Money – That’s What I Want,” the editorial describes how the cypherpunks envisioned a brave new world that leverages a digital cash system. “The killer application for electronic networks isn’t video-on-demand,” explained Wired columnist Steven Levy. “It’s going to hit you where it really matters – in your wallet. It’s not only going to revolutionize the net, but it will also change the global economy,” Levy stressed. Back then, no one had heard of Satoshi Nakamoto and people’s concepts of digital cash stemmed from individuals like the renowned cryptographer David Chaum, the founder of Digicash. Other cypherpunks like Tim May and Wei Dai, however, envisioned a world with untraceable digital cash and the concepts of crypto anarchy.

These visionaries, who came well before Nakamoto, predicted systems that not only increased economic efficiency, but also the ability to transact across any border without censorship. Of course, individuals like Tim May forecasted that an underground electronic cash system could make big problems for the nation states. With an untraceable digital asset, it could destroy the benchmark rates of legal tender, increase tax evasion and money laundering, and disrupt the world’s money supply. If digital cash is just as convenient as today’s credit cards but also facilitates private financial transactions, it will likely continue to grow stronger. But unfortunately, it also will be attacked a lot more as well, as a true untraceable electronic cash system that’s not controlled by a single entity would be the nation states’ archnemesis.

The techno-thriller “Daemon” written by novelist Daniel Suarez describes a system that is similar to decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. In the novel, an individual publishes a new type of software that creates a cyber-space fueled shadow economy. Essentially, system users are rewarded for developing “decentralized hubs” and peer-to-peer networks by leveraging the Daemon. The very same thing could happen to bitcoin and the crypto economy to where the poor, middle class and even the rich can participate in hiding money from big brother’s watchful eyes. In the novel Daemon, Suarez tells the readers about online web markets that are hidden from the general public and operatives leveraging the financial system to exchange important data. 12 years before Daemon was published, the cypherpunk Eric Hughes also envisioned “anonymous systems.”

“We the Cypherpunks are dedicated to building anonymous systems,” Hughes wrote in 1993. “We are defending our privacy with cryptography, with anonymous mail forwarding systems, with digital signatures, and with electronic money,” he added. Hughe’s continued:

Cypherpunks write code. We know that someone has to write software to defend privacy, and since we can’t get privacy unless we all do, we’re going to write it. We publish our code so that our fellow Cypherpunks may practice and play with it. Our code is free for all to use, worldwide. We don’t much care if you don’t approve of the software we write. We know that software can’t be destroyed and that a widely dispersed system can’t be shut down.

Shadow Market Money Could Be the ‘Ultimate Expression of Intentionality’

Of course, a number of people begging governments to approve cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and who hope the status quo adopts a strong digital currency, really don’t want the shadow market associated with the technology. Despite what they think, crypto transactions are still being used to skip taxes today and pay for things on the darknet. For instance, a report published in 2018 finds that illegal activity stemming from BTC transactions accounted for 44% of all transactions. It’s quite possible that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies won’t serve the white markets and traditional bankers and a slew of bitcoiners will be fine with that type of result. In 2015, the founder of Defense Distributed (DD), Cody Wilson told me in an interview how he would probably celebrate bitcoin being driven underground.

“Without a big expression of intentionality to what is considered not the polite things to do with bitcoin — specifically money laundering, specifically private access to your coin, holding your own keys,” Cody stressed during our interview. “Without projects that express these principles, you have nothing of what you want with a revolution. This leaves me to proclaim that most people involved with bitcoin were not serious about that in the first place.”

What do you think about a shadow economy hyperbitcoinization event? Let us know in the comments section below.

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