Posted on 06/15/2018 8:22:19 AM PDT by oblomov
WASHINGTON Stephen K. Bannon, 10 months removed from the job of chief strategist to President Trump and five months after his ouster from the arch-conservative news site Breitbart News, is betting that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can disrupt banking the way Mr. Trump disrupted American politics.
Mr. Bannon wont reveal very much about his cryptocurrency plans he worries that the controversy that comes with his name could have a bad impact on projects just getting off the ground.
But he has had private meetings with cryptocurrency investors and hedge funds where he has discussed working on so-called initial coin offerings through his investment business, Bannon & Company. And in his first interview on the topic, he said he had a good stake in Bitcoin.
In a small gathering of academics at Harvard University this spring, he even floated the possibility of creating a new virtual currency, the deplorables coin. The name is a nod to Hillary Clintons description of Mr. Trumps supporters as a basket of deplorables.
The work that Mr. Bannon is doing in the virtual currency realm is still in its early stages. But he has expressed an interest in helping entrepreneurs and even countries looking to create their own cryptocurrencies generally outside the United States.
The offbeat world of cryptocurrencies has drawn interest from all sorts over the last few years, from drug dealers and scam artists to the biggest companies in Silicon Valley and the most staid institutions of Wall Street.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
In before the tulip references....
I’m not sure what kind of investor Bannon is, but regarding politics I recall him saying that the firing of James Comey was the worst mistake in modern political history.
Must be a slow news day at the timed
Stick to politics Steve. Bitcoin is a JOKE that will end badly. Just had a major theft earlier this week of $28 million I believe.
The problem with crypto is the real threat of taxation, until a high court rules it cannot be taxed by the US Federal Government or others.
>>Bitcoin is a JOKE that will end badly.
How many years after all of your mutual funds hold a position will this occur ?
I manage $40 million for clients. I don’t deal in fantasy with no underlying value.
Exchanges are prone to theft. But people who hold their own private keys and transact are pretty much immune to fraud or theft. The current price chart show it bouncing along a $6k support level since the peak. With no more ridiculous rises in sight, it is boringly stable on the downside as well.
In before the tulip references....
So you don’t hold US dollar cash? What currency are you transacting in?
No offense intended, but at $40M AUM, you are following & capitalizing on trends, not making them.
Just had a major theft earlier this week of $28 million I believe.
And the whole point of bitcoin is that it is secure.
Was. Was secure.
If that's all you manage then you are correct to avoid speculation of any sort. Bitcoin was speculative and rising, now it is speculative and falling. Alternatives to bitcoin are more interesting, and even more speculative. That bubble is just starting.
“In before the tulip references....”
It looks like Bannon here is arguing about the social/economic/political virtues of crypto-currencies, not shouting “up up hurry hurry buy buy buy”. Tulip references would be inappropriate.
Bitcoin is secure. Exchanges are not secure, just like any other website. People can easily hold and transact bitcoin relatively securely, or hold them completely securely in cold storage. But if people are trying to cash in, or speculate by trading in and out of CC at an exchange, then they are taking a risk, mainly because they legally own nothing in that case.
Yeah, kinda like my precious metals. :)
As long as I don’t try to buy or sell them, they are safe. :)
Yep, exactly like those. I can shop my PM’s at the flea market and get the best price for them. But that would entail some risk.
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