Cyprus – a wake-up call: Rethinking money

In a new podcast GoldMoney’s Andy Duncan discusses Bitcoin with the Bitcoin Foundation’s Jon Matonis. They discuss Bitcoin’s volatility, it’s dependence on the internet, 1 yr and 10 yr predictions for the currency and the ongoing Bitcoin vs Gold debate.

Listen to the podcast here.

Storage fees for silver stored with VIA MAT Switzerland will be reduces by half to 0.49% per annum or 0.39% per annum for more than 50,000 ounces of silver.

Minimum storage fee will be reduced to only 0.001 grams per month for gold, platinum and palladium, and 0.001 ounces per month for silver.

The changes, beginning in April, also include a reduction in metal-to-metal exchange fees and new bar registration & storage options.

Check out all the details here.

GoldMoney Mulls Bitcoin Integration.

Bitfloor boosts security and reopens with the promise to restore stolen funds as soon as possible. http://bitcoinmagazine.net/bitfloor-back-in-business/

Bitcoin Magazine reviews the Mega-Corporate and Government Attention on Bitcoin over the last year here,  http://bitcoinmagazine.net/a-recap-of-mega-corporate-and-government-attention-on-bitcoin-this-past-year/ And they offer a summary of the London Bitcoin conference here, http://bitcoinmagazine.net/annual-bitcoin-conference-takes-place-in-london/

It would seem that the Bitcoin conference brought about this interview on RT’s The Keiser Report with privacy extremist Frank Braun about “sneaker net and privacy, the libertarian case for bitcoin and a flourishing over the counter bitcoin exchange.”

Video Link

Check out Frank’s website http://shadowlife.cc/

And view the slides from his talk at the Bitcoin conference “Bitcoin in the Counter-Economy” here, http://shadowlife.cc/files/btcotc.pdf

Use Bitcoin anonymously with mixing services. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mixing_service

And Bitcoin is big in Finland http://www.bitcoinmoney.com/post/31414125252/bitcoin-finland-newscast

View charts showing the historical price of all sorts of things, in gold grams. http://pricedingold.com/ I wish I had known about this website years ago! It might have helped me win a debate or two on gold and prices.

Visualizing the world’s gold stock. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-09-26/presenting-warren-buffetts-gold-cube

Scarcity!

James Turk conducts a 36min interview with Professor Pedro Schwartz. It’s an excellent lesson on the state of the European banking system.  http://www.goldmoney.com/video/pedro-schwartz-on-the-creation-of-money-out-of-thin-air.html

Facebook asking users to tell them their friends real names?

http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/digital-policy/2012/09/now-facebook-want-you-to-grass-up-friends-not-using-their-real-name/index.htm

As always, Mr Turk has some interesting comments. But I think what he is really saying here is: Hey guys, Bitcoin is cool, I get it. …but I still prefer gold. Fair enough.

Link to YouTube Video

Excerpts from the video:

 “What I really like about Bitcoin is it’s pushing the edge the of envelope. Its causing people to think, it’s causing people to understand that hey there is more out there than just something that comes from a government central bank.”

“The market can create alternatives …unleashes the forces of the free market, unleashes entrepreneurial spirit and thinking to create different alternatives to come up with a currency that reduces the impediments to interacting with one another so in that regard I think Bitcoin has been in the forefront of creating something new and creative and therefore I take my hat off to it.”

“It’s a very valid experiment.”

“But for the time being I still have this stumbling block, it’s a computer program as opposed to a tangible asset that has a 5000yr history that I can put in my hand and know how to value. I’ll probably be looking at it more and more and watch its growth and see how it grows and how it deals with the issues of become a new currency and competing in this world where government regulation is becoming more and more of an impediment to the free flow of money and capital across borders.”

“I distinguish between money on the one hand and currency on the other. [Money] enables us to communicate value with one another. When we interact with one another in society. So that’s what money does, it’s a mental tool as Mises described it.”

“[Currency] evolves and changes and up until 1694 with the creation of the bank of England currency was always a tangible asset but after that currency became a financial asset which has counter party risk and payment risk and all these other issues. So you know currency continues to evolve and I think Bitcoin is an important step … in bring modern technology to bear in a form of a payment mechanism that the world has never seen before.  I think that is a very, very positive step.”

“The question I have in my own mind is going back to what we had prior to 1694 when currency is once again a tangible asset and ultimately that is the vision that I have for GoldMoney.”

WebMoney, FBI surveillance, encryption and Thomas Jefferson, GoldMoney, and more.

WebMoney exchanger convicted of ‘conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service’ because he failed to file Currency Transaction Reports. He was also charged but then acquitted of one count of money laundering conspiracy. http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/September12/boruchsentencing.html

Deutschmarks still being used in Germany http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&hl=en&v=M8O_b0Xr5NE&gl=US

FBI begins installation of $1 billion face recognition system across America

“the FBI said that the technology could be used for ‘Identifying subjects in public datasets,’ as well as ‘conducting automated surveillance at lookout locations’ and ‘tracking subject movements,’ meaning NGI is more than just a database of mug shots mixed up with fingerprints — the FBI has admitted that this their intent with the technology surpasses just searching for criminals but includes spectacular surveillance capabilities. Together, it’s a system unheard of outside of science fiction. … ‘the convergence of face recognition, online social networks and data mining has made it possible to use publicly available data and inexpensive technologies to produce sensitive inferences merely starting from an anonymous face.’”

“As of July 18, 2012, the FBI reports, ‘The NGI program … is on scope, on schedule, on cost, and 60 percent deployed.’” http://rt.com/usa/news/fbi-recognition-system-ngi-640/

Anonymous offers some suggestions on fooling facial recognition software here.

The video can also be found at this link. http://rt.com/usa/news/video-surveillance-face-trapwire-237/

While on the topic of surveillance…Thomas Jefferson Used Encryption.

“The state wants to be a universal key holder. … The state argues that encryption offers new and unique protection for terrorists, tax evaders, drug dealers, pedophiles and other miscreants. And, so, new and unique measures must be taken to pull back the dangerous veil of cyber privacy.” “The need for Founding Fathers to encrypt their correspondence is high irony.” http://lfb.org/today/thomas-jefferson-used-encryption/

More good stuff from GoldMoney’s Alasair Macleod. “zero interest rates, have strangled progress. … Governments and central banks cannot face up to this reality, because over-valued assets are collateral for record levels of debt that have accumulated over the last 50 years.” http://www.goldmoney.com/gold-research/alasdair-macleod/central-bankers-and-politicians-running-out-of-ideas.html

‘New Film on the Digital Currency Bitcoin to Celebrate its Premiere in Berlin’ http://bitcoinmagazine.net/new-film-on-the-digital-currency-bitcoin-to-celebrate-its-premiere-in-berlin/#.UEhHMDoGbmc.reddit

A history of exchange rate regimes in one, large, photo. http://www.goldmoney.com/gold-research/alasdair-macleod/a-history-of-exchange-rate-systems.html

Q & A with James Turk. Why he’s not in favor of a gold standard and why GoldMoney will ‘Probably never’ integrate with Bitcoin. “BitCoins are the ultimate currency backed by nothing.” http://www.goldmoney.com/gold-research/newsdesk/q-and-a-with-james-turk.html

Alasdair Macleod on The purpose of market intervention. ” interventions only result in less efficient use of economic resources.” http://www.goldmoney.com/gold-research/alasdair-macleod/the-purpose-of-market-intervention.html?gmrefcode=41004

New Bitcoin margin trading website fills the gap that Bitcoinica left. “because margin trading allows users to hold a negative quantity of bitcoins, Bitcoinica allowed users to profit when the price dropped – a possibility which many believe had a valuable dampening effect on potential Bitcoin bubbles by providing an economic outlet for traders to express their caution.” http://bitcoinmagazine.net/icbit-se-bitcoin-margin-trading-reloaded/

Bitcoin Tribe, a new Bitcoin social network. http://bitcointribe.com/

Spain has a new community currency, the Eco. With a youth unemployment rate at 53%, people are taking matters into their own hands. “We can’t wait for public administrations to solve our problems.” http://live.wsj.com/video/fed-up-with-the-euro-start-your-own-currency/1F687E3E-3C98-4AD1-892C-D001FFF6BE4D.html#!19FD1192-AAAE-44AC-947D-61CA7734721B

The new Zurich location also gives clients the option to inspect their gold.

These new storage vaults are available at GoldMoney’s lowest storage fees and as always you can select your preferred storage location when you place your order and take delivery of your gold, silver, platinum or palladium bars from any of GoldMoney’s vaults.