Once confidence in a currency is lost, it's hard to get it back. Turkish central bankers are trying hard to hold the public's confidence in the lira by hiking interest rates to 24%. At The Wall Street Journal, David Gauthier-Villars explains the central bankers' efforts to maintain control. He writes: The monetary-policy decision could help ease investor concerns over the central bank’s independence from Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose call for lower rates earlier Thursday had weighed heavily on the lira. “This was much bigger than expected. It sends a signal to the market … [Read more...]
Gold, Silver, and Currencies
Young Research & Publishing has been providing research and insights on precious metals and currency markets to institutional investors, corporate financial officers, business owners, and individual investors for over four decades. Richard C. Young started Young Research & Publishing in the 70s to publish the authoritative Young's World Money Forecast, a 50-page monthly investment report on the precious metals and currency markets. Today, our research on gold, silver, and currencies is geared toward investors in or nearing retirement who are looking to preserve and protect wealth.
Beyond Bitcoin, Has Crypto-Boredom Set in?
It has been a hard year for crypto-currencies, especially once you look beyond bitcoin. Since June 30, bitcoin is down 1.7%, but as Paul Vigna writes in The Wall Street Journal, "Ether, the second most-valuable cryptocurrency behind bitcoin, is down 53% since June 30, while XRP, also called ripple, is down 43%. Bitcoin Cash is down 37%, and EOS is down 38%." Over the years I've spent time talking to you on this site about the dangers and drawbacks of crypto-currencies. Here's a brief sample of what I have written in the past: Can Crypto-Currencies Ever be Safe? Steve Forbes: Here’s … [Read more...]
Swexit? Sweden’s Euro-Skeptics Win Big
In Sweden this weekend, the anti-immigrant, euro-skeptic Sweden Democrats made major gains. Neither of the larger center-left or center-right coalitions were able to break the 50% threshold in parliament, and the Sweden Democrats could have influence in the days ahead. Bloomberg reports: Europe’s political outsiders chalked up another milestone in the Swedish election as a rise in support for nationalists showed the battle lines being drawn right across the continent. While the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats fell short of some pollsters’ projection, they still posted the biggest gains … [Read more...]
Don’t Assume it Can’t Happen Here
Emerging market currencies are in the tank. The Turkish lira is plummeting, as is the Argentine peso. Stronger emerging markets are even feeling the pain. Many U.S. investors assume a currency debacle couldn’t happen in the U.S. But make no mistake, just because something hasn’t happened, doesn’t mean it can’t. Investors who continue to eschew gold may want to brush up on their monetary history. … [Read more...]
Can Bitcoin Ever Really Be a Currency?
The Leaders at The Economist explore what it means to be a currency, and whether or not bitcoin and other crypto-currencies meet that definition. The question is, if bitcoin doesn't meet the definition of a currency, can it ever truly be useful as one? The Leaders write: AN OLD saying holds that markets are ruled by either greed or fear. Greed once governed cryptocurrencies. The price of Bitcoin, the best-known, rose from about $900 in December 2016 to $19,000 a year later. Recently, fear has been in charge. Bitcoin’s price has fallen back to around $7,000; the prices of other … [Read more...]
Can Crypto-Currencies Ever be Safe?
After hackers stole digital currency assets from South Korean currency exchange Coinrail recently, the question must be asked, can bitcoin and other crypto-currencies be safe? The problems don't seem to lie in the blockchain technology, but instead in the exchanges that provide servicing to crypto-currency users. This isn't the first time an exchange has been hacked, or even the second or third time. So users must take into account the idea that the place housing their crypto-currencies may not be altogether safe. Can you imagine a rash of bank robberies in your town, but without any FDIC … [Read more...]
Can Cyrpto-currency Revolutionize the News Business?
Can an initial coin offering selling "tokens" that will fund media ventures be used to revolutionize, and even save the news business? The Civil Media company is testing that model. Benjamin Mullin reports for The Wall Street Journal: The company is trying to sell a maximum of $34 million in “tokens,” digital currency that its owners can use in a new online marketplace for media ventures being created by the company. The tokens — which will be valued between $0.94 and $0.27 each — will eventually give their bearers the ability to pay freelancers, support news organizations and help resolve … [Read more...]
Will Switzerland be “Crypto-Nation?”
Long known for its commitment to banking privacy, Switzerland makes sense as a place where anonymous crypto-currencies would thrive. Ralph Atkins and Philip Stafford report in the FT on plans in Switzerland for a new market infrastructure which will enhance traders' ability to swap crypto-currencies. They write: Switzerland’s stock exchange is seeking a global lead in the trading of digital assets, announcing plans for new market infrastructure which will boost the country’s credentials as a “crypto nation”. The platform being built by the Six exchange is designed to be used for … [Read more...]
Sweden Puts the Brakes on its Cashless Society Plans
How quickly things can change. Back in April I wrote to you of Sweden's all out dash toward creating the world's first cashless society. Digital currency was the wave of the future, and the Swedes were happy to lead. Now, though, the movement toward a cashless society in Sweden is being challenged. Swedish politicians are attempting to rein in the policies of the Riksbank, Sweden's central bank, that encourage cashlessness. Bloomberg reports: A key committee of Swedish lawmakers wants to force the country’s biggest banks to handle cash in an effort to halt the nation’s march toward … [Read more...]
Steve Forbes: Here’s Why Cryptocurrencies Aren’t Money
Writing in his eponymous magazine, Steve Forbes explains to readers why cryptocurrencies cannot be "real" money, at least not the way they're set up today. Forbes writes: THE ASTONISHING FACT about the explosion in cryptocurrencies is that their creators have overlooked a fundamental fact: Money isn't viable if it fluctuates in value, particularly with the wild swings characteristic of this sector. Most buyers are looking to make a quick buck, treating Bitcoin et al. like penny stocks of yore. They forget that the very instability of government-produced money is one of the two critical … [Read more...]
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