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Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are the digital form of a government-issued currency that isn’t pegged to a physical commodity (in other words, CBDCs are digital FIAT currency). They are similar to cryptocurrencies, except that their value is fixed by the central bank and equivalent to the country’s fiat currency, which is the US Dollar. The US Federal Reserve has not created a CBDC … yet. Our woefully corrupt El Presidente Jose Biden (more of a Latin American, tinhorn Banana Republic dictator than as US President) has ordered the study of a CBDC. Since everything Biden touches reeks of “boodle”...

Yes, the ECB’s own Fabio … Panetta wants to ban any competition to Central Bank printing presses. Of course, like Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and SEC’s Gary “The Ghoul” Genslar, he wants to protect The Deep State’s monopoly on money printing by banning competition. According to Fabio Panetta, crypto volatility and aspects of blockchain technology made digital assets only suitable for gambling… Fabio Panetta, an executive board member of the European Central Bank (ECB), has suggested a dark future for cryptocurrencies, in which digital assets may be used for little more than gambling among investors. In written remarks for a panel...

Simply irresponsible. Biden’s budget that is! Biden signed the debt ceiling bill craftted by McCarthy (RINO-CA) and Schumer (Communist-NY). Its allows for uncontrolled spending and borrowing for at least 2 years. And as Milton Friedman once said “There is nothing more permanent than a temorary Federal program … or debt limitiations. With Biden signaling that government has gone wild with no controls on fiscal responsibility (and Elizabeth Warren flailing her arms and screaming for regulations on cryptocurrencies), cryptos today are getting demolished. China, Japan and the BRICs realize that there are no controls on ANYTHING coming out of Washington DC....

Well, Kevin McCarthy (RINO-CA) and Patrick McHenry (RINO-NC) along with Jim Jordan (RINO-OH) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (RINO-GA) sold out America to Green Joe Biden (the Jolly Green Giant?) and pretty much guaranteed a Biden reelection as President and Democrats winning the House majority at the next election. Way to go McCarthy, McHenry, Jordan an Greene! You sold out America to the Progressive, destructive Left. With a debt ceiling deal freshly inked, the US Treasury is about to unleash a tsunami of new bonds to quickly refill its coffers. This will be yet another drain on dwindling liquidity as bank...

Is the thrill gone from Dogecoin? In the crazy world of Cryptocurrencies, two “coins” stand out: the venerable Bitcoin and Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer’s Dogecoin (aka Dog Coin based on a Shiba Inu dog. After a jolt of popularity, likely related to Elon Musk’s tweets, dogecoin has dropped -46.5% since November 1, 2022 while Bitcoin has gained 34% over the same period. In the highly volatile world of cryptos, XRP is today’s leader at +4.81%. Today’s biggest loser is Polygon at -2.31%. Dogecoin is down almost -1% while Bitcoin is up slightly. With Washington DC completely out of control...

One of the great ironies of the Sam Bankman-Fried debacle is that while SBF was a generous donor to Democrats (and a few RINOs) and President Biden, it was Biden’s green energy policies that were part of the nail in SBF’s crypto empire. As inflation exploded upon Biden taking office (and massive overspending by Congress), The Federal Reserve jumped in to cool inflation leading to the downfall of cryptos in terms of price. M2 Money YoY (green line) shows the massive growth money with the Covid economic shutdowns in 2020. Cryptos skyrocketed after that much money was printed by The...

First, Sam Bankman-Fried agreed to testify in the House Financial Services Committee meeting on December 13, 2021. Then Bankman-Fried said he would testify remotely. Then ,,, he was arrested by the Bahama’s police. How convenient! Does this mean that SBF will testify from behind closed doors? According to Reuters, FTX’s Bankman-Fried says he will testify remotely at congressional hearing. WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, on Monday said he would testify remotely at Tuesday’s U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing to examine the collapse of the company. FTX filed...

Now that it is official that the US is a failed state (for failing to do anything about election fraud in either the 2020 election or 2022 midterms much like Venezuela), we need to look at asset classes out of the reach of The Federal Reserve and Federal regulation … for the moment. Major cryptocurrencies erased losses and turned higher after Binance Holdings Ltd.’s Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao said the world’s largest digital-asset exchange plans to set up an industry recovery fund. Zhao said Monday the goal was to “reduce further cascading negative effects” of the bankruptcy of rival...

Call this “Nobody’s Everything.” Crytpocurrencies are getting clobbered. But then again, the S&P 500 is not doing so well. But crypto stalwarts Bitcoin and Ethereum have down even worse. At the dollar strengthens, Bitcoin has gotten pummeled. But at least Bitcoin rose this morning along with Bitcoin Cash. And XRP. But the others are getting clobbered. Microstrategy bonds are getting crushed.

Some countries declare Bitcoin to be official legal tender while others announce outright bans on cryptocurrency. The world map below, created by Statista's Katharina Buchholz - based on data collected by the Law Library of the U.S. Congress - shows where countries have been trying to stop the cryptocurrency hype and where crypto has been given more or less free reign.You will find more infographics at StatistaOne example of a country embracing cryptocurrency is El Salvador, where Bitcoin was declared an official currency in September of 2021 by populist president Nayib Bukele. The country also taxes and otherwise regulates cryptocurrency....

It has been a tough 7 days for Bitcoin, Ethereum and the NASDAQ composite index as The Fed is anticipated to raise their target rate AND engage in quantitative tightening. While the NASDAQ composite index has been deflating over past 7 days, Bitcoin and Ethereum plunged in recent days. What is going on?? The Russell 2000 value (white) and growth (green) indices are both deflating. With regards to anticipated Fed rate increases, Fed Funds Futures are signaling almost 4 rate hikes in 2022 and 4 by the February 2023 meeting. Then we have the massive increase in The Fed’s balance...

The global economy has certainly been turned on its head by the COVID outbreak in early 2020. Not so much by the virus itself, but by Central Bank hysteria in terms of rate lowering and balance sheet expansion. Which The Fed has not yet unwound. Let’s look at what has happened since the mini-recession caused by COVID in early 2020. The shortest recession in US history, a measly 2 months. The Fed expanded its balance sheet from $4.17 million in February 2020 to $8.79 million today. That is, The Fed over doubled the size of their balance sheet in reaction...

2021 has been a very weird year. Inflation has boomed (highest in 40 years) after the election of Joe Biden as President of the USA (called it Bidenflation). Then we have The Federal Reserve barely acting on the booming inflation (keeping rates at 25 basis points while withdrawing the COVID-related monetary stimulus). Then we have the rise of cryptocurrency Ethereum and the surge meme stocks such game store GameStop, a favorite of the internet site Reddit. Given the volatility of GameStop (Reddit-inspired), you can see the strange shape of GameStop’s volatility surface. By contrast, gold is now where it was...

I love how The Federal Reserve talking heads, the media, economists like Paul Krugman, all refer to inflation as “transitory” and excessive liquidity as “temporary.” Let’s look at a variety of alternative investments to the S&P 500, GameStop, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Gold after The Federal Reserve’s and Federal government massive (over)reaction to COVID in early 2020. Gold is the first asset to surge after M2 Money surged, but has declined since. Game Stop had a big surge (likely due to positive vibes on Reddit), but has been volatile and generally falling since “The Surge.” Bitcoin had a delayed surge as...

At a cursory glance, the only relationship you may notice between BAT, the Basic Attention Token, and the Brave browser is that both are related to advertising. When you take a closer look, however, the two are very much connected. You can use the BAT token with the Brave browser to support websites, and the two were created to seamlessly integrate. Because of this, an understanding of one requires a comprehension of the other, as well.