Like anything new and revolutionary, cryptocurrency has its believers and its skeptics.

Both are making a ruckus.

The mainstream press isn’t helping matters. As far as I can tell, it’s gamified the subject. The side – whether it’s pro or con – with the most quotes published wins.

What a load of rubbish! We all know that multiple opinions expressing the same point of view do not represent “proof,” no matter how passionately they’re expressed.

And it sure does make for a noisy room.

Is the technology real? Does it have legs? Is it disruptive, if not revolutionary?

Here’s the thing. I’m not interested in your opinion.

Don’t tell me. Show me.

It’s pretty simple. Are you blowing the technology off? Or are you actively exploring or developing it?

Sorry, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, you can’t say it’s a fraud and also have your bank adopt it.

That’s just utter nonsense.

A more valid exercise is to note what potential users of blockchain technology are doing.

And what better sector to hone in on than our antiquated global financial system where billions of people move trillions of dollars every day.

Remarkably, cost, speed and security are about the same now as they were 50 years ago. The major innovations have been in convenience, thanks to the ATM and advances in online banking.

But ATM use can come with fees. And online banking still has some surprising bugs. I recently found this out firsthand after learning that the online account balance I see is different from the online account balance my bank (PNC) sees. Totally confusing.

Global trade and cross-border payments are also surprisingly clunky. For example, letters of credit involve several banks, hefty fees and long waits. When I ran my global trade and finance business about a decade ago, I avoided the wait by doing something called “import factoring.” It cost me a precious 2% to 3% to get the cash quickly, but it was worth it.

The beauty of blockchain? With it, all but a small fraction of that 2% to 3% would go away. Trade finance, security clearance and settlements, cross-border payments, and insurance are all areas where blockchain technology can make a big difference.

Just another opinion? Well, let’s focus not on what the banks are saying, but what they’re doing.

Here’s a look at their blockchain-related activity so far, courtesy of Outlier Ventures…

Who’s missing? PNC is one (surprise, surprise). Chase is another. That’s about it.

All the other large commercial banks are eyebrow-deep in blockchain initiatives.

And as you can see, they already have “proof of concept.” That means the technology does what it’s supposed to do in controlled settings or on a small scale.

Rigorous live-use testing awaits. That’s going to be key.

All the major banks – except Goldman Sachs, Banco Santander and Morgan Stanley – recently completed an academically tested prototype to automate and digitize money transactions around trade on R3’s Corda ledger.

Again, the actual field testing of Corda’s settlement algorithms is just beginning. We’ll know more soon.

JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and asset management firm Northern Trust are using Hyperledger Fabric for private equity deal record-keeping.

These big banks believe the reduced costs, greater speeds and more user-friendly interfaces are all within reach. Now, that doesn’t mean it will happen… or, if it does happen, that things will go smoothly.

From 2013 to 2016, financial institutions filed 2,700 patents in areas like blockchain technology. It’s hard to imagine that all this activity will yield nothing.

Innovation is coming to the banking industry, and blockchain technology is leading the charge. Let’s zoom in on three companies for a closer look…

• Mastercard: Daily transactions are mounting, as are the challenges to capture, store and protect all the transactional data that credit card companies collect.

Mastercard is turning to the blockchain for a possible solution. It recently filed a patent for the creation of a blockchain-based “uniform settlement system.” Basically, Mastercard wants to create a ledger to store a verifiable and immutablerecord of data, such as purchase orders, invoices and transaction data.

Among other things, doing so would vastly enhance the security of the data it collects. This is no small thing in light of the massive Equifax breach.

• Bank of America: It leads all other banks in number of blockchain patents filed so far with at least 39. The patents include internal security tools, cryptocurrency aggregation, risk detection systems and storage, and direct person-to-person payments. Bank of America is working closely with Microsoft Azure to explore blockchain solutions for supply chain finance.

Microsoft itself just announced that its own enterprise blockchain framework will be online by 2018. It’s not clear how soon Bank of America’s patented technology might be ready for the marketplace. What is clear is that it wants to be a leader in blockchain utilization.

• JPMorgan: Imagine two banks doing business with each other. Each has its own “private” blockchain. Each has large corporate customers. The banks need to protect data about their clients. But they also need to reveal the amount and type of currency, the rate of exchange, and the institution initiating the transfer.

This is where Quorum comes in.

JPMorgan designed Quorum for its institutional clients. Built on top of Ethereum, it features private smart contracts. One of its first uses is as a settlement layer for cases ranging from simple equity trades to complex derivatives.

In its early iterations, Quorum can run transaction settlements on a blockchain with the ability to both protect proprietary data and interact with a public blockchain.

Authorities would be able to audit the internal blockchain for compliance while companies do business on the public one. A nice start.

By the way, JPMorgan is a member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, the largest open-source blockchain alliance in the world. It has more than 150 members, including Microsoft, Mastercard, Intel, Scotiabank, ING, BP, Cisco and the Indian government.

My gosh, it’s early. But, given all this activity (as opposed to just words), I don’t see bitcoin or Ethereum going away. The rewards of building, accessing or investing in the best blockchains will be enormous.

It’s early, but not too early.

Blockchain technology is on the cusp of overhauling the global financial system as we know it. Perhaps the Bank of America said it best…

“[It’s] very important… to reserve our spot [early] even before we know the commercial applications…”

Good investing,

Andy Gordon
Co-Founder, Early Investing

Can a $10 Bill Really Fund Your Retirement? The digital currency markets are delivering profits unlike anything we’ve ever seen. ​23 recently doubled in a single week. And some like DubaiCoin have jumped as much as 8,200X in value in 18 months. It’ unprecedented... but you won’t receive any of the rewards unless you put a little money in the game. Find out how $10 could make you rich HERE. ​

Source: Early Investing 

Dear Early Investor,

People think you should buy bitcoin because the price might go up.

But the real reason you should own bitcoin – especially in your retirement portfolio – is that it’s a bet on a monetary revolution.

Crypto assets are all about cutting out the banks, middlemen, financiers and academics who control our current monetary system.

The monetary policy of today’s world is a mess rife with conflicts of interest and bad incentives. Every country does it similarly. And government is always tempted to print money. It punishes savers and rewards borrowers.

A well-constructed cryptocurrency, on the other hand, has a hard cap on the number of “coins” in existence.

There will only ever be 21 million bitcoins. You can’t change that number. There are a little more than 15 million available today.

So if we’re looking at bitcoin as a competitor to the dollar, there’s no contest. The U.S. government, for example, borrows more than $1 million each minute… printing money like crazy all the while.

That’s why bitcoin has risen from around $0.005 in 2010 to more than $5,000 today.

Bitcoin is a call option on a future where it is mainstream money. You don’t sell for double or triple what you put in; you hold on and hope it keeps going up. Less than 1% of people own bitcoin today, and if it becomes mainstream money, today’s bitcoin owners may be tomorrow’s new 1% of earners.

But it’s not just bitcoin anymore. There are hundreds of interesting cryptocurrencies out there – all competing against each other, sharing code and breaking new ground.

Here’s what’s really revolutionary about it…

All these “coins” or “tokens” (digital assets) have their own funding mechanism – the initial coin offering, or ICO – in which well-run projects raise tens of millions of dollars each week… hundreds of millions in many weeks, actually.

So they don’t need the stock market or venture capitalists. Crypto is its own funding source.

These crypto projects are trying to do big things like overthrow large incumbent financial institutions, software companies and (in some ways) governments – or at least loosen their monopoly on money.

After all, there’s no good reason a government should have a monopoly on legal tender. Libertarians like Ron Paul have long been calling for “currency competition.” We shouldn’t be forced to use dollars that erode in value.

The stakes are high.

Crypto has the potential to be a better form of money, compared to the current (barbaric) methods employed by most governments.

So that’s why you would want to own at least a little bitcoin in your retirement account. Capital gains taxes can be major there. Because if the crazy revolution happens, you’ll do very, very well, as long as you buy before half of the country gets in.

If it becomes popular as a way to store value for even 10% of the population, that’s more than enough to take it to at least $100,000 per coin by my rough estimates. It’s hard to say exactly, but demand is high and rising fast.

Each bitcoin is divisible into 100 million pieces. Each piece is one “satoshi.”

If bitcoin continues to rise in value, we may start thinking about prices in satoshis, not bitcoins. Bitcoins will be for very large purchases, and satoshis will be for everything else.

This is already happening in the crypto community. When we buy other cryptocurrencies, we usually buy them with bitcoin. It’s easier to think about thousands of satoshis than it is to think about tiny fractions of a bitcoin.

You don’t need to buy a whole bitcoin. Start small, and it could still turn into a great deal of money one day.

If you’re looking to do it in a retirement account, the most well-known player in the space is fittingly called Bitcoin IRA. The company takes a 15% upfront fee, but the tax savings down the road could be tremendous if bitcoin goes mainstream.

If you’re intrigued by bitcoin and the idea of investing in smaller (new) cryptocurrencies, watch my new presentation and join First Stage Investor. It includes my top four coins, all of which are brimming with potential.

Good investing,

Adam Sharp
Co-Founder, Early Investing

Can a $10 Bill Really Fund Your Retirement? The digital currency markets are delivering profits unlike anything we’ve ever seen. ​23 recently doubled in a single week. And some like DubaiCoin have jumped as much as 8,200X in value in 18 months. It’ unprecedented... but you won’t receive any of the rewards unless you put a little money in the game. Find out how $10 could make you rich HERE. ​

Source: Early Investing

The bitcoin mining company’s owner looked back one last time…

Behind him were row upon row of modified PCs, thousands of them, still neatly mounted in their racks. How many times had he walked in, greeted by a wave of heat and the blast of noise from thousands of fan motors inside those machines, straining to keep their microprocessors cool?

It was the sound of digital money being created as each machine’s chip strained to solve another piece of an elaborate cryptographic puzzle — the very basis for the cryptocurrency — and unlock just a little more bitcoin.

It was all gone now. The room had a funereal silence.

The great cryptocurrency boom had gone bust.

No one could explain why, at first. Bitcoin mysteriously plummeted in value for weeks, then months. But news leaks had finally identified the root of the problem…

“Damned quantum computers,” muttered the man as he shut off the lights and walked out for the last time.

Quantum Computing: The Next Step in Cyber-Insecurity

All of that’s made up, of course. But could quantum computing really launch us into a new era of cybersecurity — and spell the end of the cryptocurrency boom to boot?

First, a little explanation: Quantum computing technology is based on the mind-bending aspects of quantum theory.

In “classical” digital computing, information is processed in a binary fashion as a series of ones and zeroes.

With quantum computers, we get bits of information that can coexist in multiple states at any one moment in time. So everything is processed much, much faster.

Big Data problems that take a half-hour to solve with today’s supercomputers can be finished in a mere second — yes, one second — by a quantum computer.

Back in 2014, one of the least-noticed, most earth-shaking aspects of the Edward Snowden affair was the disclosure of documents proving that the National Security Agency was racing to build “a cryptologically useful quantum computer.”

Today, the advances come at a monthly pace…

• On October 10, Intel became the first to successfully fabricate a 17-qubit quantum processing chip. A qubit is a quantum bit of information. Just as in classical chip fabrication, the more bits on the chip, the more power it has.
• Google recently said it wants to build its own 49-qubit quantum processing chip, slated for next year.
• Microsoft said last month it’s developing a full-blown quantum computer “from chips all the way through to the operating system,” according to PCWorld.

Perhaps most stunning of all, the world’s first commercially sold quantum computer — the 2000Q, manufactured by Canada’s privately held D-Wave Systems — went on the market in January. (The price tag is $15 million.)

What’s the point? Cybersecurity investors need to pay attention because quantum computing holds great investment potential. It’s no longer the realm of theory and primitive computer-lab mockups. It’s in the real world, today, right now.

Can you imagine what a quantum computer might do to a cryptocurrency — unlocking its blockchain-based cryptographic puzzle a lot faster than its creators thought possible and dumping thousands of units of it on the market?

And then there’s the challenge — and promise — of using quantum computing for cybersecurity.

How do you keep secrets in a world where even the longest, most random password can be figured out in a few seconds?

Fortunately, if quantum computing were a ballgame, we’re still at the part where some muckety-muck gets up and throws the ceremonial first pitch (that promptly bounces into the dirt just before home plate). But the technology is both a threat and a safeguarding tool at the same time.

Kind regards,

Jeff L. Yastine
Editor, Total Wealth Insider

In this exciting NEW VIDEO, Wall Street legend and former multibillion hedge fund manager Paul Mampilly pulls back the curtain on the biggest investment opportunity in the market today. What insiders are calling “The Greatest Innovation in History,” this revolution will mint more millionaires and billions than any technology that came before it. Right now, the current market for this technology is just $235 billion, but given how fast this technology is moving experts predict it will soar to $19 trillion by 2020. But 8,000% growth is just the beginning—and now’s your chance to get in on the action. [CONTINUE TO VIDEO]

Source: Banyan Hill

This week is the 30-year anniversary of the 1987 crash. Can you believe it?

Appropriately or ominously (depending on your view), the market continues its eight-year march up the charts.

Nowadays, it’s setting records with each new high it hits.

Are investors nervous? Should they be?

This bull market is old by historical standards. At 102 months, only the 115-month bull market of the 1990s lasted longer post-WWII.

If that doesn’t make one a tad nervous, the stock market has been undergoing a shocking under-the-radar reduction: from 7,500 publicly listed companies in the 1990s all the way down to fewer than 4,100 today.

I could go on. It’s almost too easy to poke holes in the current bull… not enough job growth, a large (and growing) amount of public debt, flat wages, etc.

But the ultimate arbiter of how the economy is doing is the market itself. And the only trend that counts is the current trend.

In the short term, the trend is your friend.

So I’m not going to worry about tomorrow or next week. The market has made utter fools of those who do.

But that won’t stop me from asking an increasingly critical question for investors…

What is the long-term upside of the public stock market? Or put another way…

When the bull degrades into a bear (and at some point it will), what are the pros and cons of staying in the stock market?

Red-Letter Day

Japanese stock investors recently welcomed a long-awaited milestone.

It took 21 years. But last week, the Nikkei stock market hit a new high. It blew past its previous peak reached on December 5, 1996.

The Japanese have learned the hard way what “slow and steady” means.

The opportunity costs of riding the Japanese market down and then up were significant.

What stock markets could they have invested in during those years? Let’s take a look at some numbers I dug up…

We know that the U.S. markets did well, even taking into account the 2000 to 2002 crash. But that pales in comparison to Indonesia’s and India’s market performance. They rose tenfold in the last 20 years. Even China’s up and down market went up by more than 3.5 times.

Investors Always Have Choices

Right now, there’s an incredibly dynamic market in its early days. I’m talking about cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin and Ethereum are the best-known digital coins you may have heard of, but there are thousands more.

Any infant market (or infant company) draws skepticism. Is it real? Long-lasting? Overhyped?

It’s easy to write these opportunities off, because you’ll never have all the answers. You do a lot of digging and a lot of thinking to fill in the blanks. But you can never fill them in completely.

So most people don’t invest. This early is too early. It’s just too uncomfortable for them. Early investing isn’t for everybody.

But I’ve found that it’s by far the most profitable way to invest.

Early to late almost always means very small to very big (in terms of size) and very low to very high (in terms of price).

It’s as simple as that.

And it’s how you should view bitcoin.

It’s not easy because bitcoin’s price has risen a lot already. The market capitalization of bitcoin plus other cryptocurrencies has ballooned to about $150 billion.

That’s an eightfold increase just this year, according to CoinTelegraph.com.

It doesn’t feel early. Nor does it feel small.

But believe me, it is.

Cryptocurrencies today are about where cellphones were in 1992, growing fast and furiously… but with mass adoption still a decade away.

Bitcoin’s growing incredibly fast. Two billion dollars’ worth of bitcoin changes hands every day. And it’s increasingly used for remittances, payments and stored value (digital gold). Cryptocurrencies are making significant inroads in fintech, medtech and the Internet of Things.

Yet bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies haven’t truly scaled yet.

A few million people now use them. In the greater scheme of things, that’s paltry.

What happens when a few hundred million people use them?

What happens when institutional investors start putting money in them?

It’s too early to say. But we’re going to find out over the next two decades.

I look at the big picture. So where other people see high cryptocurrency prices, I see low prices.

The combined capitalization of all cryptocurrencies is still smaller than any of the world’s 100 largest stocks.

Bitcoin may be the largest cryptocurrency, but it’s only the 65th largest currency in the world overall. Some of the larger fiat currencies are highly problematic, which should provide a fertile area for future cryptocurrency adoption.

Early Means Low Prices, and Bitcoin Is No Exception

I remember when oil was climbing from double-digit prices to triple-digit ones. It was a crazy time.

I had the privilege of explaining what was happening every Wednesday morning on Fox Business News.

My dilemma?

Every week there were geopolitical events that justified yet another price increase. There were also other events that could have driven prices down.

But since they didn’t fit the narrative, they were largely ignored. I mentioned some of these events at first. But because they were having no impact on prices, I stopped. I was talking into a black hole. Nobody gave a fig about them.

Today’s narrative on bitcoin?

It’s in a bubble. Prices are extremely elevated. And buying at this juncture is buying high and buying foolish.

That’s NOT looking at the big picture. To be frank, it’s small thinking from small minds.

I remember when oil was going for $15 to $20 a barrel. Now it’s going for $50 to $60.

Compared to $15, it’s expensive. Compared to $147, it’s cheap.

Seeing the big picture – and knowing how high oil can go – I’d never consider current oil prices expensive.

My favorite three words are “IT’S VERY EARLY.” There’s a long way to go.

I see bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a huge irresistible investing opportunity. Think about it this way: People who invest early in so-called bubbles usually come out WAY AHEAD.

The long-term upside of the stock market? It pales in comparison.

I strongly suggest you diversify at least a small part of your investible savings out of public stocks and into cryptocurrencies.

The opportunity costs of NOT doing so are just too significant to ignore.

Good investing,

Andy Gordon
Co-Founder, Early Investing

Can a $10 Bill Really Fund Your Retirement? The digital currency markets are delivering profits unlike anything we’ve ever seen. ​23 recently doubled in a single week. And some like DubaiCoin have jumped as much as 8,200X in value in 18 months. It’ unprecedented... but you won’t receive any of the rewards unless you put a little money in the game. Find out how $10 could make you rich HERE. ​

Source: Early Investing 

Our dithering government may not know what to make of cryptocurrencies.

But hedge funds do. They’ve already made up their minds.

After all, they’re in the business of making money for their clients, something they haven’t done very well in recent years.

What they are good at is sniffing out new and exciting investment opportunities.

Of course, it doesn’t take a keen nose to discern the enticing aroma of “am I dreaming” gains emanating from the cryptocurrency (or crypto for short) space.

Consider these recent returns…

• 75,063% from Cryptonite
• 59,577% from Influxcoin
• 60,450% from MaxCoin
• And a massive 823,750% from DubaiCoin.

These are some of the smaller coins that have skyrocketed in the past few months. But the larger ones have also surged.

In less than a year, for example, Ethereum has shot up more than 3,000%.

So it’s not surprising that there are more than 15 newly minted cryptocurrency hedge funds. And, according to Hedge Fund Alert, 25 more are on the way.

One of the more interesting ones?

MetaStable Capital. For one thing, it represents a “who’s who” of Silicon Valley professional investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Union Square Ventures, Founders Fund and Bessemer Venture Partners.

This isn’t just the smart money. This is the smartest of the smart money.

Then again, it’s not that hard to put your faith and money in one of MetaStable’s founders, Naval Ravikant.

As the founder and CEO of AngelList, he’s well-known to us. Ravikant was instrumental in making AngelList the go-to startup portal for angel investors.

And, impressively, he did it in the very early years of online startup investing, before it became a thing.

Early is what Ravikant excels at. He…

• Recognizes burgeoning tech trends early
• Makes an investment
• Establishes a beachhead for others to invest
• Becomes a leader and influential insider in the space.

MetaStable currently owns about a dozen different cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, Ethereum and Monero.

Fortune estimates that MetaStable’s returns since its inception now exceed 1,000%.

That’s pretty good.

To get into this fund, all you need to do is write a check for $1 million and be willing to pay the typical “2 and 20” fees hedge funds foist on their limited partners. So for every $10,000 profit you make, you give back $2,000 plus $200 to the fund.

Alternatively, you could choose to invest on your own.

You’d have plenty of company.

Some people are very familiar with this corner of the investing world. Perhaps they’re blockchain developers or entrepreneurs in blockchain-related companies. Others are serious investors with the background necessary to understand and follow blockchain technology developments.

But many are newcomers to crypto investing.

This is the group Adam and I worry about. They can be overly swayed by the hype ICOs try to generate when they launch. And they’re more liable to overreact to bad news.

MetaStable and this group share an interesting (some would say symbiotic) connection.

Josh Seims, who co-founded MetaStable along with Ravikant and Lucas Ryan, says the fund takes a sort of Warren Buffett approach of investing when others are fearful.

Its pitch deck points out an incident when Bitfinex, a major cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked. The price of bitcoin dropped more than 20%. MetaStable doubled its bitcoin position. Since then, bitcoin has more than quadrupled.

If MetaStable is the “smart money,” then this impressionable group of relatively inexperienced investors is the so-called “dumb money.”

More than most people, I appreciate MetaStable’s value investing approach. Heck, I began my investing career many years ago as a value investor.

And if everybody could join MetaStable’s fund, I’d tell them, “more power to you.”

But that’s not the case. Hedge funds, as you well know, are for the very wealthy.

Crypto investing is open to anybody who knows how to open an account on Coinbase.com or Bittrex.com. That can be and should be a good thing… as long as investors are smart about it and avoid knee-jerk reactions.

There are two ways you can go about crypto investing…

Educate yourself. Understand how the various crosscurrents push and pull the crypto markets. Understand use cases and the concept of scaling. Is the market or need being addressed big enough? And will the technology accommodate it?

Or join the “smart money.” The good news? That doesn’t have to mean writing out million-dollar checks to gain entry to a hedge fund.

Instead, you can join a new crypto investing service my Co-Founder Adam is taking the lead on.

Adam understands more about this sector than anybody else I know. He’s an independent thinker and outstanding investor. He jumped into cryptocurrencies extremely early. He bought bitcoin at $83.40, making a 2,400% gain to date.

He bought Ethereum at $9.70, before it rocketed up to nearly $300. He’s up 3,000% so far.

And now he’s creating a financial service dedicated to helping interested investors make smart investments in digital coins, blockchain technologies and ICOs. The service is affordable and promises to give people the inside track for the best opportunities in the crypto investing space.

Sound familiar?

Adam is following the Ravikant script: recognize the trend early, invest early and then pave the way for others to invest.

And I’m not going out on a limb when I say that Adam is an early adopter and thought leader in the growing crypto investing community.

(Full disclosure: I would never get on board with any kind of crypto investing service if it weren’t being spearheaded by someone of Adam’s caliber.)

We like MetaStable. We like Ravikant and its other founders. But it’s not for everybody.

Our crypto investing service is. It doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. And it’s coming your way soon.

Good investing,

Andy Gordon
Co-Founder, Early Investing

Can a $10 Bill Really Fund Your Retirement? The digital currency markets are delivering profits unlike anything we’ve ever seen. ​23 recently doubled in a single week. And some like DubaiCoin have jumped as much as 8,200X in value in 18 months. It’ unprecedented... but you won’t receive any of the rewards unless you put a little money in the game. Find out how $10 could make you rich HERE. ​

Source: Early Investing 

At a recent investment conference, someone asked me my opinion on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies…

I said they were worth paying attention to — not for speculating, but for solving one of the biggest problems of our time: keeping computer networks and data safe from hackers.

I mean, if you want to speculate in bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin — you name it — go right ahead. But the bigger profits will be in the underlying technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible. It’s called a blockchain.

Not Just About Bitcoin

Like anything that’s new, it all sounds a bit scary with a lot of “what ifs” attached. But blockchain is going mainstream faster than most people realize.

• Lockheed Martin wants to use blockchain technology to keep its defense secrets safe.
• The Walt Disney Co. built a platform called Dragonchain that’s now open-source.
• Credit Suisse and other banks are running experiments with logging and tracking their financial deals using blockchain.

We happen to have two companies in the Total Wealth Insider portfolio that are pioneering the use of blockchain technology by major banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. One is already up more than 25% in six months, and the other I see rising 60% over the next 18 months.

Shared Secrets

So what is blockchain, exactly? Basically, it’s a bit of data — it could be a transfer of money, a contract to buy or sell something or just some information that needs to be kept track of.

But instead of keeping it a secret and hidden away in one place (where it could be stolen or altered without your knowledge), the material is recorded as a “hash” — a random series of numbers and letters — and broadcast to a series of other computers on a network.

The information is attached with other transactions on the network and embedded into a cryptographically sealed “block.” With each series of transactions, the system creates more and more blocks.

Suddenly, it becomes next to impossible to steal or tamper with your data. It would be like hanging a basket (it could be full of cash, or something else) over the crowds in Times Square — everyone can see who makes a grab for it.

Incidentally, what is buried deep inside the new $700 billion spending request from the Defense Department, recently approved by the U.S. Senate?

A request for a new government report that would outline the possibilities of “offensive and defensive cyber applications of blockchain technology.”

Kind regards,

Jeff L. Yastine
Editor, Total Wealth Insider

Can a $10 Bill Really Fund Your Retirement? The digital currency markets are delivering profits unlike anything we’ve ever seen. ​23 recently doubled in a single week. And some like DubaiCoin have jumped as much as 8,200X in value in 18 months. It’ unprecedented... but you won’t receive any of the rewards unless you put a little money in the game. Find out how $10 could make you rich HERE. ​

Source: Banyan Hill

Most cryptocurrencies are decentralized, meaning they don’t have a corporate entity that one could invest in.

A typical cryptocurrency (what I like to call “crypto”) is, like bitcoin, governed by its users, miners and usually a nonprofit foundation.

So there’s no way to invest in bitcoin as a company. You can buy coins, but there is no stock or equity.

However, there is a dynamic and fast-growing community of private businesses being built around crypto today.

If crypto continues to take off, these companies could be the financial giants of the future.

I’ll tell you about a few of the crypto startups I’m watching, and why I’m excited about the increasing number of these companies using equity crowdfunding.

Bitwise

Bitwise aims to be the “Vanguard of cryptocurrency.” The fintech startup just revealed its first investment product, the HOLD 10 Private Index Fund. It’s a basket of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

Co-founder Hunter Horsley told Coindesk…

We want to create a meaningful and secure way to own a portfolio of cryptocurrency. We feel that, today, it’s too hard and it’s too expensive.

The company plans to charge 2% per year, with no additional fees. That’s a bargain compared to most crypto hedge funds, which take at least 20% of profits, plus 2% annually.

Bitwise has attracted notable Silicon Valley investors, including AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant.

For now, the HOLD 10 fund is only available for accredited investors. This is likely due to the fact that the SEC hasn’t approved any bitcoin ETFs yet, but I fully expect Bitwise to go after the broader market eventually.

Coinbase

Founded by Brian Armstrong in 2012, Coinbase has grown exponentially to become the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

With 10.8 million users and 36 million wallets, Coinbase is a force in the crypto community.

Coinbase has processed more than $25 billion in transactions in 2017, according to a Fortune article published in August. It also offers crypto payment processing tools for roughly 40,000 merchant accounts.

The company just announced a $100 million round of funding at a $1.6 billion valuation. Investors in its latest round include top venture capital firms IVP, Greylock and Spark Capital.

This August fundraise made Coinbase the first crypto “unicorn” startup (one that has grown to a $1 billion-plus valuation). Its earliest investors include members of FundersClub, an online investment platform for accredited investors.

The company’s explosive growth has caused some growing pains, however, and Coinbase is struggling to keep up with customer service inquiries. U.S. laws dictate that it follow certain rules designed to prevent money laundering, and partly as a result, the company’s pipeline is clogged.

The good news is it appears to be putting the new round of capital to good use, having recently launched phone support for users. If it can overcome these issues, Coinbase is well-positioned to become a dominant financial institution in this new market.

Bittrex

Bittrex is a fast-growing and disruptive cryptocurrency exchange.

The biggest difference between Bittrex and Coinbase is the number of digital currencies they offer.

Coinbase offers three: bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.

Bittrex allows users to trade 200 different cryptocurrencies, including all the top ones offered by Coinbase. The other 197 “altcoins” are what really set Bittrex apart.

Altcoins have exploded in popularity over the last year, as the price of Ethereum rose from less than a dollar in 2016 to $294 today, giving it a $27 billion market cap.

On Bittrex, users can search for the next big opportunity. Many of the coins on this exchange are tiny, with market caps in the low millions.

Bittrex also offers a flat trading fee of 0.25%, while the fees on Coinbase vary and tend to be higher.

The one drawback to using Bittrex is that you can’t buy coins directly with dollars or other fiat currency, as you can on Coinbase.

Still, it’s a great example of a disruptive startup shaking up the incumbents of a new industry. By offering users a much wider selection of alternative cryptocurrencies, Bittrex is gaining ground on crypto powerhouse Coinbase.

Bittrex’s founding team has deep experience in web security, having worked at Amazon, Blackberry and Microsoft.

With a talented team, great tech and impressive growth, Bittrex is definitely a crypto startup to watch.

Crowded Startup Pipeline

We’re just beginning to see how transformative and disruptive the crypto market can be.

An entire ecosystem of new financial technology is being created. This sort of thing doesn’t happen very often, to say the least.

Many crypto startups will launch over the next few years, and some are likely to become the fintech titans of tomorrow.

We’ve already started to see a few high-quality crypto deals utilize equity crowdfunding.

Just last month we recommended one to members of our research service, First Stage Investor. It’s called Balance, and it’s building a user-friendly financial dashboard app that tracks not only your traditional financial transactions, but your crypto ones too. Soon users will be able to buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly through its app, and many more features are in the works.

The deal was quite popular, and it filled up after the company raised the maximum allowable $1.17 million. With a focus on simplicity and ease of use, Balance is well-positioned to help bring crypto to the mainstream.

Balance is among the first crypto- and blockchain-related startups to utilize equity crowdfunding, and it certainly won’t be the last.

I can’t reveal any details yet, but developments are coming that will merge the equity crowdfunding and crypto worlds in ways I couldn’t have even imagined a year ago.

It’s going to be a very exciting time.

Good investing,

Adam Sharp
Co-Founder, Early Investing

Can a $10 Bill Really Fund Your Retirement? The digital currency markets are delivering profits unlike anything we’ve ever seen. ​23 recently doubled in a single week. And some like DubaiCoin have jumped as much as 8,200X in value in 18 months. It’ unprecedented... but you won’t receive any of the rewards unless you put a little money in the game. Find out how $10 could make you rich HERE. ​

Source: Early Investing

During the first few years of bitcoin’s existence, its users were largely libertarians and cryptography enthusiasts. People who believed in the idea of an independent currency secured by a unique cryptographic solution.

Of course, there has always been a portion of its base consisting of speculators and investors. And I bet most of its early true believers would admit they also like the price appreciation that comes as adoption grows.

Over the last year, however, things have changed. Bitcoin is suddenly a $68 billion entity. That number represents the market cap (the total value of all coins in circulation today). You get that $68 billion by multiplying the current number of coins (16.5 million) by today’s price ($4,144 as I write).

The New York and Silicon Valley money crowds have officially taken notice. Many of them started out simply drooling over the returns. But a portion of them have fallen in love with the underlying idea and tech.

The result is an ongoing explosion in the number of funds dedicated to investing in cryptocurrencies and tokens.

CNBC’s Brian Kelly recently said that about 70 cryptocurrency hedge funds have recently launched at a “frantic pace.”

One of those funds is Kelly’s own Digital Asset Fund. I happened to meet one of his investors at a conference, and he seemed very pleased with the fund’s performance thus far.

AngelList founder Naval Ravikant co-founded one of the first crypto hedge funds in 2014, called MetaStable.

Naval is one of the best angel investors on the planet. He invested in Uber in its first round when its valuation was about $5 million. That’s just one of his many great early-stage investments.

MetaStable raised $60 million in a year when the price of bitcoin ranged from $770 to $300. So I’d imagine it’s doing quite well…

And now billionaire Mike Novogratz has announced a $500 million fund dedicated to investing in cryptocurrency.

As reported by Bloomberg…

With a $500 million hedge fund, Novogratz will be able to capture trading opportunities that require more scale, as well as wield influence with developers, entrepreneurs and regulators. Of course, he’ll also make money on other people’s money: The person familiar with his fund, who has seen early versions of marketing documents, said it will charge investors a 2% management fee and 20% of profits, with a two-year lockup.

Novogratz made a killing in cryptocurrency when he first bought $500,000 worth of Ethereum at less than $1. As I write this, it trades around $298. The trader told Bloomberg that he’s taken $250 million in profits so far.

Three of the premier venture capital firms in the world – Sequoia, Union Square Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz – are also investing heavily in the space. To say this is the smart money would be a bit of an understatement.

All of this interest from sophisticated investors has caused the price of bitcoin to rise from around $1,000 at the start of this year to a recent peak of $5,000.

And while all the new hedge funds have brought more institutional interest in cryptocurrencies, we’re still talking small time here.

Let’s compare the size of bitcoin ($68 billion) to some other common investments:

• Ethereum: $28 billion
• Alphabet (Google) market cap: $660 billion
• S&P 500 companies combined market cap: $20 trillion
• Total estimated U.S. household wealth: $118 trillion.

With the total cryptocurrency market valued at around $144 billion today, we’re talking about a small drop in a very large bucket.

The vast majority of financial institutions can’t even buy cryptocurrency, because it’s not a recognized security. It would go against their charters, which put restrictions on the types of assets they can purchase.

Bitcoin ETFs would give the entire financial world a simple way to buy in. These have been in the works for more than three years, but the SEC has thus far rejected them.

Most recently, it denied the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF in March of this year. It should be noted that Dalia Blass has been tapped to head the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, which regulates – and approves or disapproves – ETFs. She also happens to work for the law firm that represents the Winklevoss twins… so there’s hope.

I’m not sure how much longer regulators can stall on the issue. With bitcoin volume surging to more than $2 billion per day this year, the demand is clearly there.

Tyler Winklevoss said his team is committed to bringing the fund to market…

We remain optimistic and committed to bringing the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF to market, and look forward to continuing to work with the SEC staff. We began this journey almost four years ago, and are determined to see it through.

If they succeed, the implications for bitcoin would be substantial. This would provide a way for every investor and money manager to buy bitcoin from their retirement or brokerage account. Demand would skyrocket overnight.

There is already one publicly traded option: the Bitcoin Investment Trust. But I don’t recommend it. It trades at a huge premium to the price of bitcoin (which once again shows that the demand is there), so it’s much better to purchase crypto directly from an exchange.

If you do, you’ll be getting in before the big institutional and retail flood that many of us fully expect.

It’s one of the biggest reasons I’m so bullish on cryptocurrencies. If you go long now, you’re taking more risk in exchange for much larger potential returns.

It’s simply the best risk-reward scenario I’ve ever come across.

For guidance on navigating this thrilling young market, take our research service for a spin. You can learn more about it here.

Good investing,

Adam Sharp
Co-Founder, Early Investing

Can a $10 Bill Really Fund Your Retirement? The digital currency markets are delivering profits unlike anything we’ve ever seen. ​23 recently doubled in a single week. And some like DubaiCoin have jumped as much as 8,200X in value in 18 months. It’ unprecedented... but you won’t receive any of the rewards unless you put a little money in the game. Find out how $10 could make you rich HERE. ​

Source: Early Investing 

The U.S. government will pay $474 billion in interest on its debt this year. And that’s with rates around 1%.

Total debt is now $19.845 trillion, and it just exceeded annual GDP.

Our unfunded liabilities top $100 trillion.

I believe that eventually we’re headed for a financial reset. I don’t know exactly when or how. That will depend on the whims of bankers and politicians.

But I can’t picture any long-term (20-year) scenario where the dollar does well. There appears to be zero chance of cutting federal spending anytime soon. It should have happened long ago, yet the spending seems destined to keep rising until the whole thing implodes.

Eventually the interest on the debt will become unsustainable, and we’ll have to start monetizing our debt on a massive scale. I’m not saying we’ll default on our bonds. I’m simply questioning whether the dollars they’re paid back with will have much value.

When this happens, we’ll have an opportunity to choose a new system. I would vote for a cattle-based monetary system over the current one, personally.

But luckily we have bitcoin. The rise of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin may prove to be a catalyst that speeds the transition.

Reboot

Cryptocurrencies offer a path forward to a new and better monetary system.

A system where the money supply can be hard-coded. One that doesn’t require middlemen… and that vastly increases efficiency.

It’s no coincidence that bitcoin is rising now.

Bitcoin was launched amid bank bailouts in 2009 by a guy who thought the financial system was broken. Fortunately, Satoshi Nakamoto was a genius, and he created a brilliant piece of software.

It’s growing exponentially now because people are looking at the current system, shaking their heads and then looking for something else.

And bitcoin is transforming the financial world with blockchain because the technology is superior.

People want this. They want a way to store value and trusted transactions that doesn’t suck.

If this crazy monetary revolution does happen, don’t you want to own at least a piece of it?

Cryptocurrency ownership rates are still well under 1%. If you do buy, you’ll still be doing so extremely early.

Good investing,

Adam Sharp
Co-Founder, Early Investing

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Source:  Early Investing