Total Financial Collapse Incoming? Be Your Own Bank (Part 2)

So this will be part 2 of this ongoing topic. I wanted to get this out there about six months or so before we really start seeing things snowball here.

In the first part of this series we talked about how the FDIC is a house of cards, the commercial mortgage system is going to implode, and how FTX was nothing more than a money laundering scheme that benefitted US politicians on both sides extremely well in the form of “donations.” Let’s talk about what you should be doing right now to avoid getting side-swiped by the coming financial tsunami that will affect the entire world.

1. GET OUT OF DEBT, NOW!

This should be obvious but this isn’t just some feel good Dave Ramsey tutelage (He’s telling people to go buy houses right now at 7% while massive layoffs are still happening so he can make some money with his mortgage company). No, you have to truly understand what debt is. Debt is slavery. It’s shackles are invisible and it’s servitude looks like freedom, but it isn’t. Debt is what keeps you going to a job you hate every day to make sure you can keep your house, your car, your kid in private school, and have all those fun and fancy vacations. You’re a slave.

As soon as you stop making those payments you’ll see that all those things you’re renting until paid off in full, go out the window. You’ll be reeling from your home being taken, your cars being repossessed, and claiming bankruptcy on all your unsecured debt you can’t pay back. Your credit score will tank and nobody will lend to you for quite some time, and when they do it’ll be at high APR percentages because you’re considered a risk now. I don’t want that for you. I know people can’t typically pay off things like their home in one payment, but you can move the timeline to ownership up significantly if you focus solely on getting that paid off early. Pay off that car note asap. Get rid of any bs credit card debt you have looming. Get out from under the heavy burden of debt. It will end up owning you if you let it.

“They have us working jobs we hate so we can buy shit that we don’t need. Our Great Depression...is our lives. ”

— Tyler Durden

Enjoy the fruits of your labor, and there’s nothing wrong with rewarding yourself once in a while. But don’t get into massive debt and make yourself a financial slave the rest of your life. The only time debt is actually good is if someone else is paying it off for you because you’re providing them a service with that debt. I.E. Housing, office space, cleaning services, etc.

2. BECOME YOUR OWN BANK!!

I have absolutely zero trust in the legacy banking system. None. It’s run solely on greed and aggressive, foolhardy investments meant to make them rich and us holding the bag when it all comes crashing down. That being said, I’m also not a fan of custodianship. I don’t like other people in charge of keeping my money or individual wealth safe from catastrophe. I believe only I can do that for the most part. If I’m in full control of my own assets, then only I can buy more or sell them when I deem fit. I don’t have to worry about that financial institution collapsing or the government freezing all my assets because I decided to exercise my first amendment rights by being an outlier on a particular narrative. Because that’s EXACTLY what they do. All of these systems from banking, social media, academia, Hollywood, big tech, to pharmaceuticals, are all intricately connected to a system. I and many others call that system “The Matrix” because that’s exactly what it is. A system of control. If you haven’t seen the movie of the same name yet, what are you doing with your life?

Buy Precious Metals

So how do you separate yourself from these systems? How do you escape their grasp? Well, you probably can’t do that entirely unless you fake your own death or something. Standard commerce is all tied to them, but you can minimize the blowback and loss of assets. Do you know what all the global centralized banks are doing right now? Do you know what countries like Russia and China are doing right now? They’re buying gold. Literally tons of it. Now if all the big banks are stockpiling gold while also telling you there’s nothing to worry about, then why aren’t you? Everyone should have at least a 10% allocation in gold and precious metals to retain their personal net worth. I prefer to have more than that, but think of 10% as the bare minimum. Buy it from a reputable coin shop in your area or online bullion dealers. If you don’t have the room to actually store it safely anywhere, make a deposit on the Kinesis platform. If you choose the kinesis option, I recommend buying $USDC on a crypto exchange and sending that to your kinesis wallet to buy and sell gold which you can later exchange for the physical versions if you like from their numerous international vaults. If you store digital gold here, you’ll also earn interest on it.

Another really cool invention within the past few years is goldbacks. I’ve written about them here as well but I’m going to insert another image of them simply because of how cool they are and worth you taking a second glance at. The long and short of it is these are spendable amounts of 24 karat gold that you can spend just like fiat except for the fact that they’re actually made of gold and can’t be inflated to zero. They will always retain value and keep with the price of gold in the markets. Definitely worth owning a few hundred or thousand dollars worth. As of this writing, one Goldback is worth $4.06.

Buy Bitcoin and Ethereum

Although these two digital assets have gone parabolic and then crashed just as hard, the technology hasn’t changed. It’s only gotten better. Why don’t you own any? Although I love the idea of owning physical metals like gold and silver to retain wealth, I also realize that things like Bitcoin and Ethereum actually create wealth. More young people today prefer to own bitcoin instead of those garbage 401K’s we’ve been being sold for decades as good retirement vehicles. And for good reason! There will only ever be 21 million bitcoins that will ever exist and it will take another 140 years give or take to mine them all. You’re technically still early if you look at it from that particular timeline. Still not sure that it’s a good store of value for your portfolio? Go read The Bitcoin Standard and stop being such a normie.

Ethereum is next on the list. It doesn’t function the same way as Bitcoin does, it functions as a smart contract platform. Our future overlords will be running Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC’s) on top of the ethereum blockchain in some regards, might as well own some. Furthermore smart contracts will also power things like trustless mortgage loans that will automatically execute after you pay off your property and give you a digital and/or physical deed to your home. There are many supply chain management dApps (decentralized applications) that function on top of this blockchain and much of the defi (decentralized finance) space runs on the ethereum blockchain. It’s just ridiculous not owning any of it at this point as it’s the second most popular digital asset in the world.

Cold Storage

After your entry into Bitcoin and Ethereum, don’t be like all those FTX people and store that stuff on the same exchange you bought it from. Buy yourself a Cypherock (my personal preference) and move your assets to cold storage ASAP. When becoming your own bank you want zero custodianship from someone else as humanly possible. Throughout history, things like custodians over assets has always failed and the assets stolen by someone at some point. Don’t fall into that same trap. We’ve already seen that the FDIC is nothing but fake promises built on a house of cards. The slightest breeze and it all comes crashing down. Be your own bank! Store your own assets!

Cypherock Hardware Wallet- No Seed Phrase Storage Necessary

A major advantage here is what if you try to leave the country and you got a bunch of gold and silver with you. Airports only allow a max of $10k in precious metals to be taken aboard airplanes, per person. Good luck trying to get out with all that silver and gold you’ve stored. But what if you have hundreds of thousands of dollars stored in an equivalent amount of bitcoin or ethereum? Now you’re only going through the TSA at the airport with what looks like a small thumb drive as seen above. OR, you can simply write down your 12 or 24 word seed and restore it on another compatible BIP wallet. With the above Cypherock wallet, you don’t even have to worry about seed phrases. It’s much easier to move wealth in cold storage all over the world on such small physical devices than keeping them in some legacy bank that has to go through numerous intermediaries to even transfer it elsewhere internationally. Even the stone age banks are finally realizing this.

Real Estate

Hard assets are the key takeaway on this one. Something that will at least retain it’s value in the short-term and go up in value in the long-term. Real estate tends to be something you buy AFTER a major financial event, not before. So I am including it here for that type of scenario. When the financial tsunami washes over the world, decimating much of the population, there will be many assets up for grabs. As I’ve said prior, I certainly don’t want this to happen to whomever is reading this right now, far from it. BUT, every time these events occur, there will always be people who never saw it coming. They refused to pay attention to what was going on behind the scenes and instead just took the media’s word that “Everything is going to be fine. Don’t worry!” Well, we see how trustworthy they’ve been in the past, so Real Estate is certainly something you should look into later on when it’s at rock bottom prices. This is another asset class that makes people extremely rich during a collapse or serious economic downturn, providing they were waiting on the sidelines, flush with cash. Even if it’s just naked parcels of land, owning some of it at a low price is rarely a bad idea if you know what to look for. As always, do your own research, but recognize this is a hard asset worth owning at the right price.

Summation

These are some of the best ways of being your own bank. I find it interesting that diehards of both camps hate the people in the other. Metal advocates hate crypto and crypto advocates tend to hate the gold and silver bugs out there. I think it’s ridiculous. Both of these things serve a purpose and serve it well. Gold and silver doesn’t make you rich, it just allows you to keep your wealth when the banks collapse with your money in them (which they’re legally allowed to seize from you), so that you still have value tied to your name when it all goes up in smoke. Bitcoin and ethereum is for creating wealth over the long-term (providing you sell the tops in ethereum and alts when they appear and don’t diamond hand into infinity). And they’re portable. You can take them anywhere you are because they live on the blockchain, not a legacy bank account run by a bunch of greedy old men.

Which method do you prefer? Being your own bank? Or having irresponsible liars in charge of the money you earn that they print out of thin air? I know which one I’ve chosen.

Lastly, here is all of the world’s money in one visualization, click here. Now imagine most of that on fire. At the end of the day, we don’t know what’s going to happen in the next 6 months. I believe the CMBS market is going to take a massive hit with lending, remote work, etc but then again, nothing may happen. But this financial system we’re all a part of is a ticking time bomb and has been for years. Nothing negative is going to happen to you by taking the steps listed here and holding those assets. Getting out of debt short circuits your indentured servitude to a system programmed to fail with no survivors.

Regardless of what your plans are, I wish you the best in the coming turbulence. Be safe out there and be ready for any impending doom that’s once again coming to ravage the world. The international banking cartels.

Total Financial Collapse Incoming? Time to Be Your Own Bank (Part 1)

Well, it is. Perhaps you’ve seen the video going around of the most recent banker meeting of the FDIC where they’re literally laughing and sneering how the insurance itself isn’t going to be there for most average retail depositors. The banker on the left below, was urging others within earshot that it’s not a great idea to broadcast just how fragile this system is to the general public, as to not incite a run on the banks. So, if these guys are laughing at the fragility of their own legacy banking system, why do you trust it?

FDIC discussing the fragility of their own insurance and they think it’s funny

Here’s a link to the video I’m referring to if you haven’t seen it yet:

FDIC Leaked Video

As I write this, gold is currently sitting at over $2,000 an ounce and I imagine that will get higher as the months progress. Silver sits at $23.40, and platinum which I think is a real bargain as it is more rare than even gold, sits at $985 per ounce. More than 50% off the price of gold for something more rare and that has industrial use, albeit less so these days. If we see this stuff make it’s way back into catalytic converters, I think that price will go parabolic. Either way, just a quick rundown.

Ever since the Silcone Valley Bank, leaving it’s mark on the year being the second largest banking collapse in US history, people are starting to wonder just how safe our international banking system really is. Well, I have bad news. The banking system is only as good as the people’s faith in that very institution. Even I was unaware until some time last year that we don’t even have fractional reserve banking anymore, it’s now absolutely ZERO reserve! That’s right. During the Covid pandemic, banks took it upon themselves to move completely away from fractional reserve banking and move into a system that has completely removed minimum requirements they have to have on their balance sheets to operate.

If you’d like more specifics on the above you can read about it by clicking here.

The other thing I’m not seeing mentioned often is the Commercial Mortgage Backed Security or CMBS market. This is the same market that Ben Bernanke exclaimed in 2006 was safe and all measures were being taken to safeguard, that collapsed not long after. The FED is NOTORIOUS for lying to the American public to keep the system from turning into a four alarm blaze. I honestly don’t know why anyone even listens to them about future forecasts anymore, but if the masses are one thing, they’re ignorant.

That was a $700 billion dollar crisis. We’ll be past that level at the end of this month, March 2023. We’re already seeing bank collapses, but we haven’t seen the CMBS market implode yet. How many empty office buildings are you seeing in your own city? Do you think these corporations that have mortgages on them are going to care when the financial armageddon hits later this year? No, they’re going to default and that will be another loss for the commercial banking side. I think this is where a lot of the real estate turmoil will stem from this time around. Unfortunately regular folks will lose their homes as well as a result of the economy being on life support, but commercial is going to be a serious precursor to this in my opinion.

And lets not forget what happened to FTX, the crypto exchange earlier this year. The amount of politicians that were given “donations” from that little money laundering operation is heavy on both sides. That was a perfect example of someone taking money or digital assets from their depositors and giving it to the government, probably as bribes. We still don’t know what’s going to happen to ol’ Sam regarding that whole debacle, but I’m betting with all those “donations” he gave to those in Congress, he’s probably going to get off pretty easy. Meanwhile, the people that kept their money and other digital assets on that exchange lost everything. I’m calling that degenerate thief “Bernie Madoff 2.0.” This was a financial hitman job and everyone that invested there was affected by it, as is usually the case.

There’s little to no transparency with banks in general. When you make a deposit, that’s not your money. You’re lending it to them to do with as they please. (But if you need to borrow money, you have to pay their fees for the privilege of doing so) Sometimes we can see what those investments may be sitting in, but dark pools exist for a reason so as to be invisible in the market when large trades by financial firms are being made under the public’s nose. Don’t believe me? See if your current broker offers dark pool prints as a service and view them when they’re published. They won’t tell you if the order is a buy or a sell, but it’ll tell you how many shares of a particular company were just involved on either side of that transaction, and you can watch the price action of the stock shortly thereafter. If it goes up, they bought. Down, they sold.

Insider trading is illegal, but these huge financial institutions know things the rest of us don’t and they get rich by acting on that information. They pay millions of dollars each year to the government for financial law violations, but hey, that’s just the cost of doing business. Right?

In the next blog entry we’ll discuss what you should be doing right now to somewhat soften the financial blows that are coming your way. Millions of people will be wiped out again, you don’t have to be one of them.

Digital Gold and Silver: Enter Kinesis

I’ve recently started taking a closer look at Kinesis as another option for precious metals. Holding physical is of course the way to go but what if you run out of room in your safe or hiding places in your home? You’ll need a backup plan. What if that backup plan let you take custody of that digital gold and silver as well? What if you’re never charged a storage fee for it and can earn a 6,99% yield on it too? (The APY is for holding KAU only and based on the master fee pool) Do NOT confuse this with the PAX gold crypto token which is garbage.

Let’s talk about what Kinesis is, and isn’t.

If you’re joining Kinesis you might already be into precious metals or you might want to add them to your already digital portfolio of other things. Both are smart decisions, but buying gold and silver mining stocks is not. As far as myself I’m always thinking about what should I own if the worst happens like I don’t know, a financial collapse. A societal collapse. Food shortages, water shortages, etc. All of these things can happen at any time as they do around the world, books have been written about it warning those of us who haven’t dealt with such things yet.

If something like that were to occur, would I want ALL my metal and valuables stored in my home? No, probably not. I’m going to have enough problems at that point along with the rest of you reading. So storing something elsewhere in the world might be of some benefit. If I end up in Singapore for example, I can pull my gold and silver out of the vault there or 12 other places around the planet. Digital gold and silver isn’t the ultimate arrow to have in your quiver, but its a few additional arrows nonetheless. Kinesis can accomplish this as they sell gold, silver, bitcoin, ethereum, and other digital assets if you so desire safely and remotely elsewhere with no monthly storage fees.

One of many widgets you’ll find in your dashboard

So what is a KAU and a KAG? (Kinesis + metal designation via periodic table of elements, pretty clever) These are the digital equivalents to both gold and silver on the blockchain in contract form. When you buy them, you essentially own that physical gold and silver with no counterparty risk according to Kinesis, as you’re holding the contract of ownership. The amount you’re getting per token is as follows:

1 KAU = 1 fine gram of gold | 1 KAG= 1 oz of silver

So how does it work? You open an account, which actually gets approved pretty quickly. Your photo ID or driver license, a picture of your face, done. It’s more than a bank requires but regulators want more personal data these days on anyone whose not them, go figure. Either way, it’s the cost of entry and my account was actually approved in a few hours. Very simple and I was off and running.

What you don’t want to do is use wire transfers to throw money in here. Again, DON’T DO THIS! Instead, just buy a stable coin on a crypto exchange of your choice like $USDC and deposit that instead to your account address for that particular asset. It is suggested that you don’t move it directly from the exchange to Kinesis as it slows down the process. Instead send it to a software or hardware wallet and then send it over to the Kinesis platform. I’m told it should only take an hour or two to become available at that point. If you use wire transfers you’ll be waiting 3-5 business days.

After purchasing your gold or KAU in this instance, you will begin accumulating a yield on your holdings, (again this is based on the master fee pool the 6.99% is an estimation) and you’ll never be charged for storage. At that point you can keep it in your hot wallet in your account, or you can move it to cold storage if you like. Most will probably just keep it in their hot wallet under 2FA standards of security, but for some folks who have high 5, 6, or 7 figure amounts of assets here, you’ll probably want to do a little better. Unfortunately, there’s only one cold wallet that will work here and I’m not fond of it, the “Cool Wallet.”

Cold storage on what is exactly the size of a credit card

It looks cool for what it is, but it’s a pain to set up. You don’t get mnemonic words like you do on most other cold storage solutions, you get numbers. 12, 18, or 24 segments of 5 numbers each and that is your seed. After the device generates these, you then have to add up each digit in the seed to verify everything is correct. It also comes with 2 recovery cards in case you ever have to restore a new device and a charging station.

The mobile app is easy enough to use but this thing is just a pain in the ass to get up and running. It is not user friendly and I haven’t the slightest idea why Kinesis would want to partner with CoolBit, the makers of this wallet for their asset exchange when Ledger and Trezor exist. I’m sure the devs over there are great people, don’t get me wrong. It’s simply the execution of the product that I find irritating. The digital silver and gold (KAU & KAG) uses SLIP instead of the BIP44 standard, so perhaps that’s why. But, unfortunately this is literally your only choice, so if you want the best security, you’ll be buying one of these things.

You can purchase it here,

It is a full exchange in every sense of the word

Here you can simply exchange one asset for another or sell into cash or a stablecoin like USDC or Tether and withdraw your funds. You can even use dollars if you prefer. (I recommend $USDC if you’re unsure for speed in and out). But what about premiums? There aren’t any, but there’s fees. Many different types of fees, but they’re all low compared to what you’d pay for physical, they’re a steal.

A fraction of a percent if we’re speaking plainly.

And there is a transfer fee for moving this between the exchange, your wallet, etc.

But even these are relatively nothing. Ever since people started buying physical precious metals and got excited about doing it again the last few years, premiums have shot through the roof. Yes, you get a little break the more metal you buy, but they haven’t been this high in years. The winners in the metal markets right now are the bullion dealers, not the buyers. But Kinesis is now beginning to sell bullion as well, and I have to say it’s very classy looking if you’re in the market. Gold and silver coins and bullion.

You can have a closer look here

1 oz Kinesis Bar

Lady Justice sits at the helm as their first bullion series to be released

There’s more we can talk about here like converting gold and silver that you already have into digital kinesis stuff and earn money on it. Or minting your own and using their debit card, etc but I don’t want to get too far into the weeds of Kinesis. This is simply just an introduction to it so you know it’s out there. There’s far more benefits here than disadvantages. The platform will require some exploring on your part to figure out and they have an instructional series on youtube for new users. You can find that here. But fear not, after signing up you’ll get your own account manager who will be emailing you within 24-48 hours to answer any questions and point you in the right directions for what you’re interested in doing.

Aside from that, if you’ve read this far, you’re probably a serious investor or someone who just wants better options than the legacy ones we’re still using today. If you’d like to open an account on Kinesis, you can do so with my referral link by clicking here. After you join, you can send email referrals to your friends and family and you’ll both receive one free half ounce of silver.

Stay safe out there friends.

Why You Buy in Despair and Disbelief...

Markets are incredibly psychological and the human mind isn’t built for trading them. We are far too emotional of creatures to do this effectively all the time without a massive amount of personal training and reflection while also having systems in place to trade with, instead of feelings.

Image: Giulio Marrone Dittli

Aside from liquidity, crypto markets are no different than every other market on the planet. If you consider yourself an investor versus a trader, your job as such is to invest in despair and disbelief. You take that even further as the cycle progresses into markets beginning to pump and then the overall feeling of hope when wallets begin opening again. Human behavior doesn’t change.

Bear markets are my favorite thing in the world because I’m an investor. Whenever I see things tanking that I’d like to own, I get excited - not depressed. I know I’m going to be able to get a really nice accumulation going the longer it lasts. I know the more people freaking out and looking at their ‘bags’ (the crypto just sitting in their wallets doing nothing) the more they’re going to hit that sell button. The more those prices are going to drop further and guys like me that don’t get overly emotional at market swings are going to profit in the future.

So brainwash yourself! Start programming your mind to look forward to these current market conditions. How are YOU behaving in the “pre-bull” phase because that’s where you need to be allocating your capital.

““BUT WHAT DO I BUY?”

— Every investor ever

Stick to the basics right now. Bitcoin and Ethereum. The technology hasn’t changed, it’s actually just gotten better. If you’re looking at altcoins, look at the tokens that have REAL technology behind them that actually work! Look at coins that have survived numerous crashes leading to bear markets. And lastly, you can even buy trash shitcoins too, because those pump as well. Look what SHIB did before the bear hit. So allocate accordingly, Bitcoin moves the entire market which means you’re essentially always buying it. Don’t fool yourself into thinking out of the thousands of cryptos you’re going to grab the one that’s going to outperform everything else. That’s just hopium and cope. Trash will always pump, but when it does you should be EXITING.

Aside from that rejoice! What an opportunity we’re in at the moment! This is when wealth is made. When everyone is scared to open their wallets, we’re buying the fire sale! Buy it, move it to your ledger, and go enjoy the holidays.

Merry Christmas and I hope your New Year is a very healthy and prosperous one!

Best Regards,

Dominic

Inevitable Inflation and the Goldback

(This was originally posted on April 11th on my business blog but it’s more fitting for the Gilded Library so here it is.)

So I pay pretty close attention to all things financial. It’s saved me in the past from some pretty hard hits to my investments and I’m always looking for the next hedge when I need it. As of right now, the FED has wholeheartedly admitted to keeping the money printing press running nonstop despite the level of inflation that will ultimately occur. Many are already saying that because of this the dollar is in free fall (or getting close). If you’ve read my book “Crypto Four Eleven” 95% of everything I wrote about within it’s pages has come true. Here’s a nice graph showing just how profound quantitative easing has become starting in 2020.

Image courtesy of Nevadagoldback.com

This is absolutely ludicrous. This image indicates to me how the middle class could very well be wiped out with such irresponsible behavior. The outcome of this can lead to a few things but massive unemployment would certainly be one of the intended or unintended (depends how you view the world) consequences. What might then happen can be the introduction of universal basic income in the form of a digital Fedcoin (think crypto but sinister). The Fedcoin itself hasn’t been announced yet but it’s very possible. This can then force people into accepting negative interest rates, i.e. free money that may have an expiration date forcing you to spend it. This then allows the bankers to stimulate the ponzi-scheme economy for a lot longer. The consumer price inflation will further damage the real economy and wipe out larger and larger swaths of the middle class. That in turn will cause even more people into going on U.B.I. damaging the economy infinitely. It becomes a vicious circle that will ultimately enslave people to a digital fiat currency while also having to pay down the debts they incur with the same financial vehicle. This Fedcoin will allow the government to see exactly what you’re buying while also telling you exactly how to spend it. And if the bankers control this currency digitally they can dictate what you’re allowed to buy and what you aren’t.

Sounds crazy, I know. But I also know that total control is what the financial system is all about, always has been. Most Americans don’t even have $5,000 in any form of savings or emergency money. And even if they did, this level of inflation will consistently devalue what they have with the insane printing of money we’re seeing at the moment. I would also speculate that allowing you to buy gold, silver, or other tangible assets will be strictly forbidden. It also means that dissenters can be cut off from the system entirely. This is already happening in China with their digital currency testing.

Enter the Goldback. I’m a big advocate of being your own bank and these are essentially thin, flexible rectangular gold coins. Whether that means you’re out there buying and storing crypto or stacking gold and silver in a vault or locked up in your home somewhere. The tangible asset will always retain it’s value. That value might fluctuate, but it can never be inflated into nothing.

Remember during the Weimar Republic when we saw just how worthless paper money could end up being?

There’s recent pictures from Venezuela that look identical after a bank was looted and the bolivars set ablaze in the street to prove they’re worthless

Image courtesy of Nevadagoldback.com

We may very well be at the same tipping point now. So what is a Goldback? Well, quite simply it’s fractional gold in the form of a tangible currency that follows the spot gold price that you can literally use to buy things. Larger companies aren’t too hip on this yet but your local small businesses are starting to love it. They’re taking gold payment that they can keep and spend themselves in exchange for their own products and services or just hold onto. This is an extremely high-tech form of value. A machine literally imprints gold onto the plastic sheet at the atomic level which makes them incredibly difficult to even attempt to counterfeit, and it’s beautiful looking currency!

Have a look:

They’re a lot shinier and vivid in person

At the moment these fractional shares of gold are at $3.71 per 1 unit as of this writing. So the 1 denomination is $3.71. For the 5 you would multiply that price by 5 equaling $18.55. For the 10, multiply by 10 for $37.10 and so on. So these aren’t gold certificates (a promise to pay gold when surrendered to a bank), these are made of actual gold, and if you melted them down you would be able to turn them into ingots if you so desired. They’re very real and I love them. Currently the states that have them as “voluntary currency” meaning it’s up to the person receiving it whether they choose to take it, have been Utah, Nevada, New Hampshire, and next up is Wyoming. You now have a very affordable way to not only buy gold to protect against dollar collapse, but you can also use it in manageable increments to buy things you need in your day to day life! It’s quite literally Armageddon money for what may be an impending collapse of global fiat.

As I’ve ventured around town to patronize my local small businesses (being a small business owner myself I like to help out my business community) the reception for these have been very well received! Not only are they astounding to look at but once people understand their purpose they start to garner the same excitement I have. And although these are considered voluntary currency in the states they’re made for, it’s gold folks, you can spend them anywhere a merchant allows you to. I read a story recently about a gentleman up in Washington whose been spending Nevada Goldbacks in his local city and the people love them. He’s even been getting top notch service at restaurants because the waiting staff know they’ll be tipped with these.

So with everything going on in the financial world right now, this is a great addition for regular people to protect some of their wealth with a great looking tangible asset that will always hold value akin to it’s fractional gold price. The premium is a bit higher due to the labor involved in creating them, but due to the technical advances that have been accomplished in the last few years (2019 to be exact) these went from only being able to be produced at a 400% premium down to a nice 70% premium making them far more available to everyone. It’s incredibly dangerous to ignore what’s going on in the country right now and the fiscal policies that can very well lead millions of people to financial ruin. There’s no reason I can think of why buying and holding onto some of these isn’t a nice hedge for you and your family’s future. And of course explore other avenues as well! Buy gold coins and gold bars. Buy the same in silver. Dedicate 30% of your portfolio to bitcoin. Grab some ethereum or litecoin as well.

At the end of the day preparation is paramount with what I’m seeing. The above images speak for themselves. As of this writing, Gilded Pendulum is now also accepting Goldbacks for our consultation fees.

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay solvent.

Learn more about Goldbacks here

Want some Goldbacks like right now? Go here: NEVADA GOLDBACKS

Ok, So Let's Dive into the Metaverse

Yup, it’s the official buzzword now. Facebook changed their name to include “Meta” now and silicone valley along with numerous developers are all currently building out the architecture and code to make it a reality. In the next ten years, we will see 1 trillion dollars dumped into this new investment space every year. The CEO of Nvidia has recently said that the metaverse will be so huge it will create it’s own economy in the coming years. IT’S OWN ECONOMY!

So what is it? The simplest explanation is probably just saying that instead of interfacing with the touchscreen devices you use to go online, you will now be inserted into the internet virtually. Entire worlds are currently being built where this is already a possibility. You’ll be able to walk around virtual marketplaces and buy Nike shoes from the actual company for your avatar to wear. What is an avatar? It’s a digital representation of yourself created virtually in whatever world you choose to traverse. Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been invested into virtual real estate in these places that will generate passive income for it’s owners. This can be in the form of casino table games sitting on land you own that you probably bought with ethereum. This can be any point of commerce that you’re providing in these places that give you a percentage of income from the other human inhabitants of that space. What? Yeah, I know. I’m only scratching the surface.

image courtesy of bigscreenvr.com

The venues will most likely be anything you can imagine. From buying a new Gucci bag (that are more expensive here than in the real world) to going to a random nightclub (see artist rendition above) inhabited by other people. Music will be playing and you’ll be able to interact with other avatars much like yourself and go anywhere or do anything with one another. Well, almost anything anyway. Who will be making a killing in this space? The person who owns the nightclub you’re in. The artists doing virtual concerts that you can attend in arenas owned by other players (research NFT’s).

This isn’t really sci-fi anymore, it’s just sci.

THE DAO’s

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations is what the above means. These worlds have to be governed by something right? Decisions need to be made on what to include and what to omit. Anything from the sales tax you might pay to buy property to the types of attractions that exist, there will absolutely be governance. So how does that work? Well all of these worlds will most likely have their own form of currency, in this case the type of coins used will most likely be coins or tokens that run on either Ethereum or Solana. The particulars of that don’t really matter. What does matter is that if you purchase a certain amount of these tokens, whatever they may be called, you can deposit them into that particular system’s DAO and not only be able to make decisions about that current world you invested in with said tokens but also make a monthly recurring revenue based on the profits that game or virtual world makes every month. In some instances this can be up to 30% from my most current research.

BUSINESS

Business and commerce will absolutely be done here. Don’t be surprised when you hear about the first board meetings from Fortune 500 companies taking place here. It’s already in the works and I’m sure beta testing has already happened. Imagine multi billion dollar deals done with your virtual avatar, signing a smart contract, and a blockchain transaction taking place with digital assets or stable coins being deposited into your crypto wallet. These transactions have been taking place for over a decade now and these networks are currently being beefed up and made faster for this next step in their evolution. Even Visa and Mastercard have moved very aggressively into the crypto space to facilitate these future needs and of course to profit by being early adopters. I recently mentioned on LinkedIn that I don’t even use cashback credit cards anymore. I consider them legacy garbage from an era that will soon be a distant memory. All of my cards these days pay me in crypto rewards from bitcoin to alt coin rewards only. I don’t care about anything else. Especially when the dollar is tanking and holding less value every day. Got a savings account? Congratulations, you’re essentially holding ice cubes.

SUMMATION

I personally don’t really care about entering into the metaverse myself and from the comments I read on youtube and other places, neither are a lot of other people. I don’t blame them. This is the ultimate in “social distancing” and interacting with people even less in real life. We’re currently at a time where we don’t even need to leave our houses to get the things we need to live anymore. I’m not super fond of it, I prefer to interact with others on a far more in personal level, but with the pandemic and the media scaring people have to death over it, it’s probably wishful thinking that I’ll get to experience that world I once knew and loved without other people having massive amounts of anxiety and fear from shaking hands with me or anyone else. So despite my own personal beliefs in where I think the world is going, one thing is absolutely true: The Metaverse is coming. This is something I know and realize beyond a shadow of a doubt. I’ve already invested heavily in what’s coming and if you’re on the sidelines still wondering what the next big thing will be, you should start researching things as well. Finance is going to look very different in a few years than what you’re seeing now with these legacy systems and banks that pay you 0.04% on your money if you’re lucky. Decentralized Finance (DEFI) removes every roadblock people have when it comes to investing, like having to be an accredited investor or having to have a certain amount of capital to get into a hedge fund. None of those things exist where we’re going and defi may even prove to be bigger than the metaverse.

As an acquaintance of mine told me in an email not long ago, the internet needs a new renaissance. You can read about him on my business website here. Just the same though, there were people back in the day when motor vehicles were invented saying “Nothing will ever take the place of the horse and buggy.” So my question to you is, do you want to be one of those people that continually sit on the sidelines and say “If I had only invested in this back then” or “If I only had the foresight to see what was coming back in the early 2020’s”…..etc. Or do you finally want to move in the flow of big capital and big opportunity?

As I said in my book, only 4% of the global population even touch these assets, but in the next decade that 4% will be hailed as genius. Those that sat on the sidelines will of course simply live with the regret of not being there when the influx of capital arrives elsewhere. Opportunity doesn’t hang around forever and neither do ‘almost’ free lunches that are rewarded with patience. The clock is ticking.

Get A College Education For Free...

Yes you absolutely read the title correctly. Our focus this week is how YOU can get a college education for free very much thanks to the crypto verse and one of it’s most prolific people. I have many close friends within my own social circles who went to college and paid obscene amounts of money to become doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, etc. And for those types of careers, college is still very much required for the most part (I’m sorry). But there are many other high paying positions out there where you can get the majority of your curriculum completed free of charge and simply transfer those credits to a handful of accredited universities to get your degree. Or you can pay a ludicrous amount of money and be in debt until you’re in your 50’s paying off that loan that you legally can’t get rid of no matter what. Want some other options? Thought so.

So Michael Saylor, outspoken Bitcoin supporter is a graduate of MIT and has the mind to prove it. If you’re still on the fence about Bitcoin or crypto in general, he’s had debates with it’s best detractors and mopped the floor with them. His organization started as a software company and through some hail Mary deals during its first few years, it now has the capital to do just about anything Michael is interested in doing. What’s one of the things he’s interested in doing? Well, investing heavily in bitcoin. But he’s also interested in helping the whole of humanity achieve more regardless of what your background is. Ergo he’s partnered with numerous universities all over the world to help you get where you want to be academically. Let’s have a look!

Click the above image to see all participating universities

Now scholarships are things that are certainly attainable, and if you can get a full ride through academia congratulations! I’m sure you’ll be the envy of all your friends and family as soon as they find out. However to most other people this isn’t a typical occurrence and finances are a very real barrier into higher education, even if you have the grades. But where there’s a will, there’s a way! Even Harvard offers free classes online for all the normies out there, but what I’m discussing here today is a far more consistent path to achieving an actual degree at a far lesser cost than what the majority of students end up paying, often for the rest of their lives. So what classes does Saylor.org even offer? Good question, lets have a look at the coursework!

Click above to see everything from Art to Computer Science, Economics, History, Physics, and more!

So you have an entire swath of coursework to dive into above. Ultimately this isn’t going to include EVERYTHING you need to get your bachelor’s degree in the study of your choosing, but it’s going to seriously lessen the blow to your wallet and your finances when you do actually complete everything. Maybe you’re not even after a degree. Maybe you’re just interested in individual coursework and receiving a certificate of completion for yourself to share with a future employer or to bolster your own business accolades. It doesn’t matter, it’s free! You can do with this type of information as you please. And as you can see above, there are plenty of universities out there willing to accept these credits to help you on your way to achieving anything you want out there. And although I find college to be an overpriced consortium of people who will sell kids degrees in things they know nobody cares about, there are others out there that know what is valuable and what will increase your personal value in the marketplace of experts.

It is my hope that if you ever felt like you couldn’t do something because of the price tag that something like the above will give you the confidence to continue onward. College isn’t for everyone and I know plenty of people who are doing extremely well never having received a degree in their entire lives (this also includes myself) but there are still SOME things college excels at. At the very least I hope this will give you even more options to find your passion and create generational wealth for you and your future family. I believe digital assets will bring about the greatest transfer of wealth the world has ever seen and this program is just the beginning of what may end up being called “Decentralized Education” as you study on your own to complete your own centralized education later. We’re getting to the point where education will be out of reach for no one, and it won’t be dependent on other people paying higher taxes to achieve it. That’s all myopic politicians are capable of coming up with. Real entrepreneurs and innovators can accomplish the same without the tax burden.

I wish all of you the best and thanks for stopping by the blog yet again for what I hope is valuable content for you.

Over 95% of Crypto Coins & Tokens are Scams

So to date there is now over 11,000 crypto coins in existence. Yes, 11,000! But why do people only know a handful if they know any? Because the others have all come and gone for the most part with initial pump and dumps and then completely abandoned with plenty of victims left holding the bag. I talk about this in my book on the homepage here at Gilded Library (check it out). In fact that’s a sizeable majority of what the book is about, NOT GETTING RIPPED OFF!

It doesn’t cost much to create your own crypto alt-coins/tokens using WAVE. You can pay a few bucks, decide how many tokens you want for your network, name them, and you’re off and running. Create a snazzy website and lure in your prey. During 2017, there was what is now referred to as the “ICO Craze” (Initial Coin Offering, crypto version of an IPO) where lots of scammers would create a bunch of coins for sale and sell them at a discount (supposedly) before the actual coin launched on an exchange somewhere, and people would buy tons of them thinking they would become rich. Think of it like the California Gold Rush in 1849 where people would go claim land, buy mines, pan for gold, etc but the people that really made the money were the ones selling them the shovels. The ones making the money during these ICO’s were the so called developers who created the coin. They’d hype it, get people who didn’t understand the digital asset space really excited, and then make off with millions or even hundreds of millions in what is essentially free money after the ICO was over.

Click the above image to read about the Africrypt scam where two brothers made off with billions

So how do you NOT get scammed when you hear about some new project you like? Well, you can do tons and tons of research on the people involved, the white paper (which is usually fantasy techno jargon that reads the same), look at the timeline for when things should be completed and then make what you hope is an informed purchase. (I go into way more detail in Crypto Four Eleven on Amazon) OR, you can do nothing. Any crypto project that eventually holds it’s own on coin market cap and makes it’s way to the top 20 does so by being a legitimate project with milestones already completed. From securing the network to being listed on exchanges, creating wallets, direct communication with devs, streams and AMA’s (Ask Me Anything on Reddit), to massive adoption by major players in the business world who become partners. None of these things are going to be evident during an ICO, that’s just luck and gambling mostly.

These things still happen all the time and you can see for yourself over at Crypto Totem which ones are dropping when and what they’re about. There’s been many occasions where a bunch of guys got together, decided to create an ICO for a shit coin they created so they could all retire early and then rug pull their investors while they sip Singapore Slings on a beach in Fiji somewhere.

Beware the Rug Pull!!!

Rug pull- the act of a crypto developer abandoning their own project and running off with investor’s funds, usually in the form of sold crypto coins on decentralized exchanges.

Sometimes it’s not even a rug pull you have to worry about. Sometimes due to changes in the financial or political world, the coin just becomes worthless. I bought a coin years ago during an ICO that would allow marijuana dispensaries to actually have bank accounts and not have to store tons of cash in safes on site to run their business. It basically provided a mobile app for customers to buy marijuana from home with a credit or debit card. Those dollars would then instantly be turned into crypto for the transaction, and then the merchant would immediately turn it back into dollars and deposited into the merchant bank account the project provided for them. It was a great idea because having dispensaries was a very dangerous business holding all that cash all the time, but then something started happening all over the country that completely tanked the project. What was it that happened? Marijuana becoming legal in multiple states all over the country and banks not having to risk their charter, could now offer these business owners actual banking accounts. This torpedoed the project, but that’s just an example of what can happen even if you’re not rug pulled.

So be careful out there. Understand that most of what you’re seeing is a scam. And if the coin is ONLY going to be listed on a defi exchange like UniSwap, Pancake Swap, or Sushi Swap it’s even more likely that what you’re buying is a shit coin. There’s tons of hype in crypto and tons of communities that sprout up all over reddit and telegram for those particular coins. Be mindful and don’t get sucked in. Wait for launch and the coin to be able to stand on it’s own merit. Let it get listed on more centralized exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken that actually screen the project for you and add some legitimacy to your investment.

For the complete breakdown of how I grade projects and whether or not I even pay attention to them, pick up Crypto Four Eleven on Amazon for $6. Some financial firms charge hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollars for a few pages of financial information promising to make you millions. I give you just shy of 100 pages that explain the entire crypto-sphere, the types of coins and networks they reside on, how to buy and sell assets on an exchange, a deep dive on volatility, and maybe most importantly how not to get scammed. Stay safe out there and don’t lose your wealth investing in garbage. We’ve all made poor choices but there’s no reason to make them when there’s people out there warning you about them and what to look for in advance.

Hope you all had a great 4th and 3 day weekend! Stay safe out there.

When Do We Run Out of Bitcoin? Then What?

The above is what actually mines bitcoin and solves transaction hash ;)

Greetings friends. It’s been a busy last two weeks or so, but I wanted to get this out when I was able. One question people often ask other people who are at least somewhat knowledgeable about the crypto verse is “When do we run out of Bitcoin?” Quite the question. Once people realize that there’s only 21 million total bitcoins to go around (even though you can buy it within 8 decimal places of a whole coin) they start to wonder when the magic internet money will be depleted. It’s a very common question so I thought I’d answer it, but first we need to quickly discuss the process of halving.

So for every 210.000 blocks that have been minted and verified by other miners, a “halving” takes place. It is precisely as it sounds, the mining rewards are cut in half. So if a miner was previously receiving 6 whole bitcoins for solving a transaction, now they get only 3. Simple right? Well one of the interesting things in regards to that is that over 80% of the total bitcoin supply has already been mined. Certainly it won’t be too much longer before it’s all gone, right? Wrong.

Unless you cryogenically plan on freezing yourself in the semi-near future, the last bitcoin won’t be mined in either of our lifetimes. The math experts put the approximate timeline the last bitcoin comes into existence being in the year 2140. Yes, about 120 years into the future! But if we’ve already mined 80% of the total supply of bitcoin, why is going to take over a century to pull out that last 20%? Simply put, halving. Yes, that little thing we discussed in the previous paragraph continues to happen throughout the lifespan of bitcoin itself. Every few years less and less bitcoin comes into existence with every successfully mined transaction. As time goes on, miners will only receive fractions of bitcoin instead of entire bitcoins. This is of course by design and continues to create scarcity for the grand daddy of them all, the first crypto coin ever created, Bitcoin.

So what happens after that? Do the mining machines just turn off and that’s it? Whoever has bitcoin is rich and whoever doesn’t, isn’t? Not quite, and you should still be able to buy it in most places….for a while. The miners will still be vital for the network to function. And for every transaction they complete, they’ll actually still be rewarded bitcoin. The difference will be that those broadcasting transactions to the network as the bitcoin rewards become smaller for miners, the sender will then have to pay a higher fee to make up for the smaller reward. These will simply be seen as ever increasing network fees which people pay now anyway.

And there you have it! Not to crazy right? Pretty simple to understand. There are other alt coins out there however that are increasingly more complex and do a whole slew of different things on their perspective networks/mainnets. A discussion for another time!

Live well, stay healthy.

Why I'll Probably Never Sell My Bitcoin. Ever.

“But what if the amount of bitcoin someone has goes up to 7 or even 8 figures at some point in their lifetime? You mean to tell me they still shouldn’t sell Dom?”

Ben would approve…

Unless the tax laws in the US change by that point, my answer is still a resounding “NO!” Remember a few blogs ago we said crypto was considered an asset and not a currency? Well that’s because that’s how the IRS, the people who tax us on literally everything, see crypto. So lets say you wake up one day and boom, your crypto assets are worth $1 million!!! You’re going to shoot that coinage over to your exchange and sell it for dollars right!? It’s so much money!!!

Well, hold on a second there chief. If you decide to go ahead and do that, you’re not pocketing $1 million dollars by doing so. You’re pocketing far less after taxes and that’s just at the federal level. This federal government of ours is going to take 40% of your capital gains right off the top. Then, depending on the state you live in, they’re most likely going to take a piece of that as well. If you’re living somewhere like California, New York, or New Jersey…..my condolences. As long as the IRS sees crypto as an asset, you will be taxed by way of capital gains on whatever your holdings are IF you decide to turn those holdings into dollars or swap them for another crypto asset (coin or token).

So what are some work arounds for this? Well, like I said I’ll probably never sell my bitcoin for all of the above reasons. What I would do is stake it or lend it out, where they will loan me 50% of the bitcoin I give them to hold in a dollar amount and only charge me a 4.5% interest rate on it. A lot of people say, “Why would you let someone charge you 4.5% interest on your own money? That makes no sense!” It makes perfect sense if your other option is losing 40% of your holdings right off the top. The US government would like to thank you for your generous donation that they did nothing to earn. So of course I would never just outright sell bitcoin. They have this asset class rigged so that if you do try to do something foolish like sell your holdings, they’re going to take close to half of it. The FED doesn’t like bitcoin so therefor neither does the IRS or the government in general.

The other thing you can do is trade your crypto assets in a 401K, IRA, or Roth IRA type account with zero penalty. The financial firm ITrust Capital offers this type of account for investors with no minimum deposit last time I checked. In this environment you can buy and sell whatever is offered until your heart’s content and not have to worry about claiming it or paying taxes on it at anytime until you retire. Of course there are certain stipulations on how this can be done along with certain legal guidelines you’ll have to adhere to. Be that as it may, you’re far more free to do what you like here if you enjoy actively trading digital assets in this fashion rather than you would through a random exchange or API platform like Coinigy.

Coinigy really is a beautiful interface though

So that’s really it. I see zero reason to ever sell your bitcoin or ethereum currently when you can just lend it and pay a 4.5% interest rate on it for whatever you want to buy at the time. After you’re done paying off that loan which you pretty much dictate the terms for, YOU GET ALL OF YOUR CRYPTO BACK!!! Yes, everything you lent to Blockfi or whatever other platform available out there, you get it all back at the end. The crypto you give them is essentially just collateral for them to use and lend out to others as you pay down the amount of money they lent you which has zero capital gains or taxes involved! I would urge you if in the coming years you find yourself doing very well in the crypto space, think long and hard before selling your gains back into fiat. I don’t foresee the US government getting more lenient on digital assets in the future. Quite the opposite actually. Your only other option may be to literally renounce your US citizenship and move somewhere else like the Cayman Islands/Bahamas. Sean Connery did it, how bad can it be? ;)

Here’s to your future wealth!

P.S.- Again I am not a tax professional so never take what I post here as gospel on tax laws or what you might face in your own taxable events when trading digital assets or anything else. Always consult with your own tax professional before making any radical decisions with your digital assets. Your trades and your gains/losses are solely your own responsibility. This blog only reflects my own opinions about the subject matter. Thanks for reading. 

-Dominic

Your Catalytic Converter Now In Criminal Crosshairs

Yeah, that contraption down there that’s underneath your car is now a pretty big deal to criminals. Why? Who would want to waste their time cutting this thing off the bottom of your vehicle while you’re at home sleeping or shopping at the store? Well, criminals, obviously. But these criminals are very well versed in the cost of precious metals and the ones that happen to be in the above device are worth more than what gold is going for in a lot of instances. Depending on how new or old your car or truck is, there may be just under $7,000 of certain materials in that thing making it very much worth stealing. Lets have a look.

Hey there

I’m worth thousands of dollars on the black market!!

Above are the current spot prices for just two of the materials found therein, platinum and palladium. Within these catalytic converters one may find anywhere from 3-7 grams of the above precious metals. 1 gram of platinum is currently going for about $68 as of this writing. If you cut off a few of these a day, know some guys at a recycling center who are willing to turn a blind eye to how many converters you’re giving them per day, this can end up being semi lucrative. But that’s just platinum.

If we take a quick look at palladium, we can surmise that about $107 would be the sum we get for 1 gram of the rare substance. Still not super crazy on the recycling side of things but again, it comes down to how many of these are being pulled out of these converters daily by adept criminals and we must also consider that this is 100% profit. The only overhead here is owning the tools necessary to remove the material and the vehicle you’re using to get away in.

Ok, ok, ok but Dom you said that in some instances the materials found in these things is just under $7,000 right? Yes, I did. That is another precious metal in the same family of the ones already mentioned but even more rare and more valuable. It’s called Rhodium, see below:

Yes, so the above rhodium bar is currently going for over $26,000!!! So if we do some quick math we can extract $944 per gram of rhodium found in a converter or “cat” for short. That’s more than some people pay in rent every month! Let’s also keep in mind that the minimum our cats usually have in them is again, 3 grams. So depending on the type of vehicle the absolute minimum these people are stealing from you is about $2,800 per stolen converter. That’s the minimum, of course they’re probably getting less as the guy they’re giving it to that actually harnesses the metal has to make a profit too. We should assume that they know exactly which vehicles are carrying rhodium converters along with which ones might be holding the full 7 grams. From what I’ve read it would seem that hybrids are a pretty big target because their cats don’t have to work as hard seeing they’re partly electrical. This preserves the metals in the cat far better making them worth far more dollars.

As of right now I’m not sure how wide spread this is or what the numbers for 2021 look like on actual thefts, I just know it’s being talked about. What I do know is as the economy gets worse, as unemployment benefits dry up, as desperation becomes more pronounced, we can always expect crime to go up. That’s never not been the case. I think the worst is still to come and we’ve only skimmed the surface thus far. I do believe some semblance of a fiat collapse is still very possible as well as hyper inflation (already slowly happening). Mix those two together and we’re going to be in for a very bumpy ride on the economic side as well as the civil unrest side of things. It’s interesting how politics stop mattering as soon as food stops showing up on shelves or when a loaf of bread ends up costing a month’s salary.

Stay safe out there friends.

Above Ground Silver More Rare Than Gold...

You read that right. I remember the first time I heard that I was in disbelief. I simply thought that silver was less money per ounce than gold because it was simply less rare. And although that is true, it’s only accurate when comparing it to naturally occurring silver in the Earth versus that of gold. When digging through the Earth for this precious metal, it is about 17 times more common than gold. BUT when we actually look at how much is pulled out of the ground, you’re looking at about 1 gram of silver for around every 27,000 pounds of Earth. Yeah, 1 gram. Another thing worth mentioning is that the precious metal platinum is 40 times more rare than gold, yet about $800 cheaper per ounce as I write this. So perhaps then maybe it isn’t as much about scarcity as it is about manipulation in the comex markets.

Another little factoid worth mentioning is that silver is far more useful than gold from an industrial perspective. In today’s world, gold is primarily used as a store of value with a very small percentage used in anything industrial. Yes, it’s a conductor of electricity but silver surpasses it. Silver is used far more rapidly today than just about every other metal out there, and we’re starting to run very low. With all of the green energy bills coming through and the government kickbacks people are getting for using renewable energy, nobody is taking into account how much silver those things require. Looking to have new solar panels installed on your home? Those require silver. Have you been eyeballing that new Tesla? There’s a lot of silver involved in making that vehicle and it’s batteries. There’s also military applications, tons of it to be found on tech hardware and mainboards, water purification modules, medical utensils, and photography. Silver is quite the amazing metal, it also doesn’t corrode or have bacteria able to stick to it.

However because the price of silver is sitting at about $27 an ounce (along with crazy premiums for purchase) miners in general don’t go after the stuff. It costs more money to mine silver than to sell it into the markets. Ergo the majority of mining companies end up retaining silver when they’re actually looking for something else more valuable in fiat currency. So silver is essentially mined as a by product of something else, usually gold or the like. The Comex also does it’s part to keep the price of silver down by manipulating futures contracts (JP Morgan Chase is the primary bank behind that) so that the industry can continue to attain silver cheaply, even though it is in very finite supply right now. Again, there is more gold than silver topside at the moment.

I believe whether the market manipulators want to or not, eventually the price of silver will be reflective of it’s actual rarity and usage in it’s many industries. The rare metals markets really don’t make sense at the moment. It is my belief that due to it’s price, silver is the best deal in locking in and storing your own wealth from the dollar cost ratio of ownership. You can either do this at home or have a custodian of your choice keep it in their highly secure vaults for a monthly fee. Myself being a crypto guy along with precious metals, I’m not big on the whole custodial side of things if it’s someone else holding my coins & bars. We let the federal reserve hold our gold and that had devastating consequences. We lost 97% of the value of our money.

The silverbacks (apes) as they call themselves on reddit are quite serious about informing others of silver’s value during inflation…

So if you’re looking at the current metal markets today wondering what the heck is going on, well the people have had enough. If you venture over to Wall Street Silver on reddit there are over 70,000+ people over there right now buying up a whole lot of metal every single month. They even post pictures of their buys along with researching some due diligence for the group letting them know where the comex stands on silver delivery and where the shortages are popping up. They’re also running a massive campaign right now with actual billboards all over the world (yes THE WORLD, not just the US) telling people to invest in silver to protect themselves from inflation. They’ve pooled thousands and thousands of their own dollars to tell you about it.

And that’s really it, I can talk for hours about this subject but we don’t want to make things too long winded around here. I figure I only have about 2-3 minutes of anyone’s attention at any given time. I already wrote a book you can download and read at your leisure, linked right on this site, but rest assured we will always be discussing more and more things here about crypto and precious metals. These are by far my favorite investments right now.

See you back here on the next one!

Resources for this article: GSI Exchange did great research on this subject

Well, Actually They're Crypto Assets...

This one is going to be for the readers in the US (there’s a lot of us). And the reason I say we need to get accustomed to calling our crypto holdings, “crypto assets” is for tax reasons. So simply calling them assets will always be a mental on switch in your mind to how these things work.

Let’s get into it!

So one of the things as investors we always have to be watching out for here in these United States, is of course the IRS. You see, the US government really only takes in about 3 trillion dollars a year in taxes. That sounds like a lot but you know how this government can spend that in a single bill or policy. The federal and state governments exist solely based on debt and make believe money that it’s not even in possession or control of. So the long and short of it is we pay taxes to the government so the government can pay the FED for a ponzi scheme that is mathematically impossible to ever pay back in full. Everything is DEBT!!! Well, at least for those jokers.

So how does all this relate to us? (And please remember I’m not a CPA or a financial advisor, however much of this information actually comes from those groups so I’m just repeating it here. You will of course have to do your own research and consult your own tax professionals when doing anything crypto based).

So the IRS views crypto as property and expects to tax you on any capital gains you have once you turn that crypto back into dollars. Why you would want to turn crypto into dollars, at least for the long term I honestly can’t begin to know, but that is considered a taxable event. And an expensive one. You’re more or less going to be paying 40% on those capital gains you just made at just the federal level, if you decide to sell and take dollars in return. Not a great idea, and a pretty bad deal for you. However if all you’re doing is buying crypto assets and storing it on your hardware wallet, you’re fine. That’s typically what I do under most circumstances. You’re just buying into another asset and storing it. Bitcoin can go to a million dollars a coin and nothing happens until you sell it or swap it into another crypto asset.

The other reason these aren’t currencies (at least in the US) is because it’s not legal tender. Let’s say you head over to your favorite merchant who might happen to be a precious metals dealer or a comic book shop or a pizza place and you choose to buy whatever it is you want in bitcoin, guess what. TAXABLE EVENT! And we’re not talking sales tax here, we’re talking simply being taxed for using the crypto asset to begin with! Most governments around the world do not like the digital asset class because they can’t control it. Ergo, many will penalize you for using it and being you’re own bank. The US government is all about that. (Now if you’re using a privacy coin and so is the merchant, well that will be harder to trace if not impossible)

So really, there are tons of ways to make income with crypto. TONS OF WAYS! But depending on what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, you’ll need to see how bad the damage will be and if the cost of that passive income is worth it for you. A good CPA will understand how best to shield your capital from taxable events like we’ve talked about above, so make sure you get a good one. These are really only two circumstances I mentioned, but there’s a lot more. In the next blog we’ll talk about staking and/or lending certain crypto assets (what I’ll be calling them from now on so you remember) on various platforms and how to make these big banks look like chumps with their 0.01% savings accounts while you’re earning 7.4%. Yup, 7.4%! Doesn’t that make you mad? These criminal institutions (banks literally pay millions in fines every year because they break the law) are able to lend money out to others with high interest, usually in the form of credit cards or expensive mortgages, with dollars they don’t even have while giving you peanuts for keeping your money in their ponzi scheme monetary system. No wonder more and more people are moving to digital assets every single day!

So we’ll talk about how you can get a real annual percentage rate with your own crypto assets in the next entry here at The Gilded Library and we’ll be diving into precious metals soon as well. Thanks for being a part of this blogs maiden voyage! I appreciate you stopping by!

Stay tuned!!!

Not Your Keys; Not Your Coins

Well here we are again. It wasn’t that long ago we saw one of the first major bullruns a few years back when Bitcoin shot up from about $4,000 to $20,000. Now we’ve watched it go from about $13k or so a few months ago, all the way up to $64,000! Pretty interesting and pretty parabolic new high for the godfather of crypto, bitcoin itself. And just like last time I’m seeing people throw very personal hefty sums at the crypto market but unfortunately they failed to learn how things actually work. They usually make their way over to coinbase, pay some ludicrously high fee to grab some Bitcoin or Ethereum, and then just keep it there.

Much to learn padewans! I talked about this in my book, so if you’ve already read that (thank you by the way!) then you already know what I’m about to say. If you don’t hold the private keys to your wallet, you don’t actually own your crypto. The exchange you’re keeping them on does, and anything can happen with that. Breaches are common in the crypto space, the most notorious of which “The Mt Gox Digital Heist.” That happened back in 2014 and many other exchanges have also fallen victim to breaches, usually over a period of months without anyone noticing until it’s too late.

People thought this was the end of Bitcoin…

But here we are, seven years later and Bitcoin and crypto mania continue. But you know what? Mt Gox customers didn’t have hardware wallets back then. They were more or less FORCED to keep their bitcoin at that exchange unless they opted for what’s called a “paper wallet.” To this day, most have never had any of their stolen Bitcoin returned to them. Back then it was like the California gold rush of 1849, people were just rushing to own some internet coins. Luckily for you dear reader, times have in fact changed and you can actually protect your funds far more securely than ever before using your own hardware wallet (although I know some people who still prefer paper wallets, which is also fine). As I’ve said before, the idea behind crypto is each coin holder is essentially their own bank. YOU hold your own funds. YOU participate in your own blockchain transactions. YOU lock it up secretly and securely, away from prying eyes and would be attackers. YOU hold your private keys!

If the extra effort to do the above just isn’t something you’re willing to do, please realize a few things can happen. If your local government decides to ban crypto assets entirely, anything you have sitting on an exchange will get seized and frozen. (Yes, this totally includes Robinhood, WeBull and every other brokerage firm that allows crypto trading) You can lose all of your holdings overnight. That alone should make you NOT sleep like a baby. Another thing that can happen is again, the entire exchange can get breached either from an outside attacker or an internal employee (it’s happened before, Capital One). In another instance, the sole owner of an exchange and the only facilitator of the private keys there, died one evening and nobody has been able to move any customer assets since. So all this and more basically puts you at the mercy of other humans. Why would you even bother? How much do you trust perfect strangers? How much do you trust financial guys? People are buying crypto in droves right now because many no longer trust their own country’s fiat currency, especially here in the US where I write this. I mean, I certainly don’t. I know where the dollar is heading and I’m not super stoked about it. Precious metals and Bitcoin are my go to.

So do yourself a favor, if you want to get into crypto:

1. Read my book “Crypto Four Eleven”

2. Secure whatever you buy on a hardware wallet!

3. Sleep easy knowing your assets are safe and can’t be confiscated because only you hold the private keys

Just a quick refresher. Like I said, there’s a lot of new people coming back into crypto right now because of the insane bullrun and this second digital gold rush. I welcome all of you! I just wanted to warn you that there’s still things you need to be wary of and securing what you buy is paramount to you thriving in this fast moving asset class. For tons of other information, background, and avoiding scams go read what I’ve already put out there!

Have a great rest of the week and never trade more than you’re willing to lose, ever. Best of luck!

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

And so here we are, two years after I wrote “Crypto Four Eleven” and I’ve finally started our financial blog. Kept you waiting, but a lot has happened since. Bitcoin skyrocketed to $64,000 a few weeks ago and as of this writing is sitting at $54k. If you read my book I said it would skyrocket past $10k years ago, and it did. (Along with many other predictions that have since come true) But with all the good news certainly comes the bad, lets take a look.

What is a Central Bank Digital Currency?

“A central bank digital currency (CBDC) uses an electronic record or digital token to represent the virtual form of a fiat currency of a particular nation (or region). A CBDC is centralized; it is issued and regulated by the competent monetary authority of the country.”

It is very much speculated at this point that the FED will be releasing their digital crypto coin people are currently calling ‘FEDcoin’ to replace the paper dollar. China has already done this with the digital yuan, and we’re certainly next I’m sure. For the most part, dollars are already digital and as of the latest measurements about 70% of our fiat is this way. Only about 30% of our economy is in paper at this time and people are more than use to it. Even when you go through the drive through these days, what happens? Someone slides a credit card machine out the window so you can swipe or tap the machine to pay for your order. So the reality is already here, but with a crypto coin (that has none of the positives of a typical crypto infrastructure) comes more convenience, sure. But also a lot more control the FED will have over your transactions. As of right now the FED is purposely destroying the dollar having already printed over 10 trillion dollars this year, lets look at the graph below.

FED printers going BRRRRRRRRRR (as the cool kids say these days)

So just looking at this, since the year of the pandemic the FED printers went absolutely crazy printing money. As we can see by the graph (sorry for the poor image quality, it is what it is) we’ve printed more money in the last year and a half then in the entire history of the United States. This is far and away some of the most irresponsible monetary policy I have ever seen in my four decades on this planet. So why would the people who are responsible for the financial well being and monetary policy of this country do such a thing? Simple, they WANT to destroy the value of the current dollar, artificially inflate the stock market, and usher in a currency collapse globally, the likes of which we’ve never seen. Coincidentally they don’t even publish these graphs anymore, they’ve stopped completely. I guess they know that even your average Joe would see that there was extreme lunacy going on here.

It is my belief that all of this is to precipitate a crisis in the global financial system and introduce to the world their brand new digital crypto coin to be used just like dollars which is far more convenient. The caveat there is that now they would have total control of how you spend your money. Need some groceries? Sure have at it. Need to buy a new car? Great use our new FED coin. Need to buy ammunition for the range? No, we don’t approve of such transactions. Want to go on vacation again? Sorry Mr. Smith, we’ve decided you’ve had too much leisure time this year. DENIED! And anyone who verbally dissents to the new system can be cut off from it entirely. Now your money is useless and you can’t even buy food to feed yourself. Sound crazy? So have lots of other things I’ve predicted that have since come true, at least in the crypto world.

So what can people do to prepare for the upcoming financial crisis that’s essentially a ticking time bomb at the moment? Move into hedges that have been trusted for thousands of years. You may not have noticed but silver is pretty much sold out or in extremely short supply at all the online retailers. The subreddit “r/wallstreetsilver” has a lot to do with this. So is gold. So is platinum. Even palladium that is just shy of $3,000 an ounce has become scarce. You know what else people are buying that they trust more than the dollar due to it’s anti-inflationary properties? Bitcoin. If you’ve read my book you already know how I feel about bitcoin, I trust it and I believe in it. And at the end of the day, it’s just another avenue to replace your own fiat currency with something that will consistently outperform the dollar without even trying. This is of course is also true with precious metals. For over 2000 years gold has been the primary store of value but I think we’re also going to see silver (the most manipulated metal on the planet through the COMEX) see brand new highs as more and more people take delivery of it on futures contracts. Not to mention the general public is currently draining the shelves of local and online retailers. It also has a ridiculous amount of industrial uses from solar panels to electric vehicles/lithium batteries, photography, and even medicine. An extremely undervalued commodity held down primarily by JP Morgan bank.

Not impressed

So needless to say there’s a lot to unpack here but this gives you a very small primer on what’s likely to come and what those in the know are talking about consistently at the moment. It might be a good time for you to dive into the world of precious metals, goldback voluntary currency (it’s actual gold in spendable amounts and small business owners love them) along with Bitcoin to hedge what’s coming. Holding fiat in your checking and savings account is akin to holding an ice cube. Eventually the value will completely deteriorate. Every time the FED prints more money, they’re robbing you of your wealth because it will take more and more dollars to buy things in the future. All this while you may be working a job that rarely if ever gives you raises or cost of living adjustments. Yes, you’re literally working for a currency that is consistently going down in value (currently by 97%). Also called death by a thousand cuts.

So be smart, take in everything that’s going on and react accordingly. We’ve all been through pretty awful financial situations, 2008 being the most recent. I hope we’ve learned some lessons since then but I also hope you understand that this time it’s going to be directly related to our currency and hyper inflation may also be a likely outcome. If Michael Burry from “The Big Short” is predicting it, I’m very likely to pay attention.

Take care and be safe out there. The world gets crazier every day.