My Opinion on Bitcoin

Miles Franklin Now Accepts Bitcoin!

Question:  Why would Miles Franklin, a conservative and prudent gold and silver business, accept Bitcoin?

1. Because Miles Franklin wants to serve their EXISTING CLIENTS who wish to “cash out” of Bitcoin into something real, such as gold and silver, which have a reassuring 5,000 year history.
2. Call Andy or John at Miles Franklin (1-800-822-8080), sell your Bitcoin, and buy tangible gold or silver. Miles Franklin clients know that gold and silver will preserve wealth. Both gold and silver are deeply undervalued in late 2017.
3. Miles Franklin knows Bitcoin prices are volatile, but protects its business from that volatility.

Question:  What is my opinion about Bitcoin?

• I wish I had purchased it at $10. The same is true regarding Apple, Netflix, and Amazon stocks.
• I believe Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies are in a price bubble in late 2017. Prices could streak higher or collapse, or both. I have no firm opinion except that I know bubbles crash.
• Just before Christmas 2017 Bitcoin rose to about $20,000 and fell to under $11,000 in the same week. That is bubble-like volatility. It could be a correction followed by another rally to $50,000, or the beginning of a crash to much lower prices.
• The Elliott Wave folks consider this correction a 4^th wave down which should be followed by a 5^th wave up. We’ll see.

Parallels from the past:

The Bitcoin phenomenon looks like the tulip mania from centuries ago in Holland. Tulips are beautiful and there were a limited number available. People desired tulips and speculated to “get rich quick”, which created a bubble that crashed. It did not end well for most tulip investors and speculators.

Bitcoin is different—maybe. There is a maximum number of Bitcoins, unlike fiat currencies that are often “printed” into worthlessness.  They are alternatives to debt based fiat currencies.  Bitcoins are digital. But none of the above prevents a bubble and crash.  Be careful, and convert some Bitcoin profits to gold!

Every bubble looks different, unique and special.  Tulips, John Law and the Mississippi Scheme, South Sea Bubble, Railroads, Silver in 1980, Japanese land in 1990, Internet stocks in 2000, “No doc liar loans” for homes in 2006, belief in central bank credibility, Netflix stock in 2017 … and Bitcoin. This time might be different, but don’t plan on it.

WHAT OTHERS THINK ABOUT CRYPTOCURRENCIES

Jared Dillian: 

“No shortage of stupid these days: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Pizzacoin, Canadian real estate, Swedish real estate, Australian real estate, FANG, Venture capital. But European bonds are potentially the stupidest.”

Bloomberg Gadfly: 

“If you’re Bitcoin-rich and sitting on enormous, life-changing gains, here’s a tip from the pros: Sell loudly, publicly and theatrically.”

Egon von Greyerz: 

“… 2018 in fact looks like a year when a major currency upheaval could take place.”

“The demise of the dollar as the reserve currency of the world is a certainty.”

“But from 2018 the Petrodollar will gradually be replaced by the Petroyuan and also the Petroruble.”

“Except for further military intervention in the Middle East, the US now has little chance of stopping this major strike against the dollar.”

“Bitcoin and other cryptos are just an electronic form of tulip bulbs.”

“I would not be surprised to see the US government introducing a Cryptodollar in 2018 or later to replace the current dollar which they know will soon collapse.”

“This would drive up the price of gold and silver into a mania that the world has not seen before.”

“Gold will continue to be the only currency to survive …”

Doug Casey: 

“Government and central banks don’t want to give up that monopoly on money. Least of all the US, since our major export isn’t wheat or airplanes – it’s dollars. So, they’re going to do what they can to quash bitcoin and the others.”

“Bitcoin is evidence of a worldwide distrust in government fiat currencies.”

“They [governments] want to herd everyone into the digital money system. That way they can know absolutely everything about your entire financial life.”

Daniel Ameduri: 

“2017 was an inflection point, and we see 2018 as being the year they [cryptocurrencies] truly go mainstream.  Yes, there is a crypto mania going on at the moment, but the future is revolutionary. And we want to take strategic positions now to maximize our profits.  Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin are the big three we’ve been suggesting.”

Don Quijones: 

“As a general rule, most bankers disparage cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, as anything but purely speculative instruments.  But they don’t disparage blockchain, the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies.  On the contrary. They’re pouring money into developing their own ‘digital currencies.’”

Warren Buffet:

“It [Bitcoin] will come to a bad ending.”

Aaron Brown: 

“Bitcoin Billionaires” are the approximately 1,000 people who hold an estimated 40% of all Bitcoin, or an overage of around $350 million each.

Mike Pento: 

“I believe governments are currently in the process of vetting the cryptocurrency space and using bitcoin as its primary test case.  Their goal is to allow the public to gain trust and familiarity with electronic currencies before crushing private cryptocurrencies altogether, then replacing them with one government-sanctioned ‘bitcoin’ – call it Fed-coin.”

“… the Fed knows that the next economic crisis is approaching quickly and that it has very limited capability to fight cascading asset prices and plunging GDP growth.”

“Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP), Universal Basic Income and Helicopter money may be needed as well.  And NIRP will not work if there are bank runs across the country.  Therefore, cash must go away first.”

Mike Adams:

“… Bitcoin may be a creation of the NSA and was rolled out as a ‘normalization’ experiment to get the public familiar with digital currency.”

Jason Hamlin: 

“… silver has the potential to vastly outperform gold.”

“…there need not be a schism between the precious metals and cryptocurrencies pitting gold vs. crypto. Both serve as a means by which to escape the debt-laden financial labyrinth dominated by central banks and their tyrannical actions that continue to slowly cannibalize the world.”

CONCLUSIONS:

• Miles Franklin will accept Bitcoin from existing clients in payment for gold and silver. This creates a simple exit from speculative Bitcoin profits into a 5,000-year-old currency that will remain valuable long after dollars are forgotten.
• The blockchain is a revolutionary technology that governments, central banks, commercial banks and others will use for their own purposes.
• Bitcoins bought at $10 or $100 or $1,000 are priced over $10,000. They could sell for $500 or $50,000 in a few months.
• There is always more to the story, and the Bitcoin story is just emerging. Perhaps it will be another tulip mania before governments and banks crush it, or maybe Bitcoins will create an escape from the bondage of government created fiat currencies.
• Gold, and especially silver, are inexpensive now. The Chinese and Russian central banks, and three billion Asians are accumulating gold and silver.  What do they know that Americans and Europeans have difficulty seeing?

Call Miles Franklin at 1-800-822-8080 and ask for Andy or John.

Gary Christenson