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...]

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...]

The populist backlash across the euro-area is gathering momentum. Italy is headed for elections that may give populist parties more power and there is a no-confidence vote planned in Spain. The FT reports that the Bank of Italy has warned the Italian government that it may be losing the trust of markets. The governor of the Bank of Italy has warned that the country was “a few short steps away” from losing the “asset of trust”, a rare intervention by the central bank into a political crisis that underlined the risk Rome faces as it stumbles to new elections. Ignazio Visco said any new … [Read more...]

In an editorial appearing in his eponymous magazine, Steve Forbes writes that the Federal Reserve's new chairman, Jerome Powell will continue the same bad policies that have done so much harm to the American economy. Forbes lists a number of these misguided approaches, but the first is the belief in what he calls "funny money." He writes: THE FEDERAL RESERVE'S new chairman, Jerome Powell, recently presided over his first meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets central bank policy, most particularly the level of interest rates. Powell looks to continue the same destructive … [Read more...]

The FT reports that last week emerging market currencies had their worst week since 2016 and they are down again this morning. The Turkish lira faced the heaviest fall on Monday, sliding 0.85 per cent on the buck, with a dollar buying 4.2624 lira. South Africa’s rand was the second biggest faller, down 0.44 per cent on the greenback, while the Philippine peso, Russian rouble and Indian rupee were each off roughly 0.4 per cent. Trading in the Argentine peso, which tumbled 6.2 per cent last week and sparked a series of three rate rises from the central bank, opens at roughly 2pm London … [Read more...]

“Mr. Shlyapnikov has launched a cryptocurrency, the kolion, named after his hamlet some 80 miles southeast of Moscow, buoyed by an initial investment of a half-million dollars from investors in Russia and abroad,” writes Thomas Grove in the WSJ. It is an example of a crypto doing what it’s supposed to do: offer a trading network where money and trust are scarce. Grove continues: “Banks don’t want to lend to small farmers,” said Mr. Shlyapnikov. “So we created our own currency.” He said he wasn’t personally profiting, and appeared to live frugally. The tactic is popular in a part of … [Read more...]

"After bitcoin’s frenzied rally last year, prices have lost about two-thirds of their value from a December high. The cryptocurrency had been trading around $7,000 in recent days, although a sharp jump Thursday morning briefly lifted the price above $7,900, according to CoinDesk,” writes Steven Russolillo in the WSJ. “Nonetheless,” he continues, “in the past few months, bitcoin has faded off the front pages of newspapers and it no longer dominates people’s social-media feeds. Global internet searches for the word “bitcoin” have fallen by over 80% from December, according to Google … [Read more...]

Originally posted on December 1, 2017. Bitcoin is being considered by some as their emergency stash. For me, when the power goes out, I prefer having dollars on hand. ATMs will be out of commission, and depending on road conditions, even if my bank is open, I’m not sure I’ll be hitting the streets to make a withdrawal. One of the many hurdles bitcoin faces is frictionless exchange. It doesn’t have the general acceptance by society yet like the dollar, and to achieve that acceptance will be a monumental task. In an emergency situation, I want to be able to have cold hard cash on hand … [Read more...]

When you consider good governance vs bad governance, Sweden typically falls into the good camp. Life is pretty good if you’re a Swede. But a recent push by central banks to adopt a cash-free-society has put many on edge. Riksbank governor, Stefan Ingves, says going cash-less is for the “collective good” of society. “Most citizens would feel uncomfortable to surrender these social functions to private companies,” he said. “It should be obvious that Sweden’s preparedness would be weakened if, in a serious crisis or war, we had not decided in advance how households and companies would pay for … [Read more...]

After raking in some profits on bitcoin (if they were lucky enough to find a greater fool) investors are now being targeted by the IRS. Apparently few bitcoin investors seem to be paying taxes on their gains. Most of them probably thought the anonymous currency wouldn't be on the radar of the IRS. Turns out however, that the IRS has forced Coinbase, one of the largest "digital-currency wallets" to give the government its customers' information. Laura Saunders reports in The Wall Street Journal: By March 16, the IRS will have data on about 13,000 Coinbase account holders who bought, … [Read more...]