Cryptocurrency may be one of the biggest threats to governments, security and the entire financial system that we've ever seen. It can help fund terrorism and its anonymity makes it almost impossible to track. Most importantly, it is poised to revolutionize global finance and banking.
But our new Enemy No. 1 can't be fought; it can perhaps be controlled. Banks have figured that out and are bringing crypto currency into the fold.
The superpowers—U.S., China and Russia–will have to face the new reality. They love to hate it and hate to love it. Regardless, if they don't embrace it, they won't be able to control it. An enemy you don't control is a much bigger threat.
So, welcome to the new balance of power, funded by cryptocurrency.
“This will ‘uberize' banking to the extent that the major banks are spending billions to get into this Blockchain, says Frank Holmes, legendary gold investor, CEO of US Global Investors and Chairman of HIVE Blockchain Technologies (TSX:HIVE.V), the first public company where investors can participate in the build-up and infrastructure of crypto-mining.
“Bitcoin is the catalyst for crypto-mining the way emails were for the Internet. When we first heard about the Internet it was for the ‘dark world', but with email, it exploded and became mainstream. Ethereum takes crypto-mining further with smart contracts,” Holmes told Oilprice.com
The Period of Uncertainty is Over
Russia is embracing it, with an eye to dominating it. China has banned it. The U.S. is struggling to figure out how to regulate it. But nothing can hold it back.
And now, many believe the uncertainty is over.
China tried to ban it in September, making it illegal for residents to trade in cryptocurrencies or start-ups to raise funds through ICOs, completely shutting down local cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bitcoin's price plunged 40 percent. Then it recovered almost immediately.
This was a reminder that cryptocurrency is an autonomous system that can't be knocked out.
“The ethos behind blockchain has been tested,” Ken Sangha, COO of Open Money and the Open Project in San Francisco, ban it in September. “A central, organized and powerful authority — China — said ‘no' and we all have been tested worldwide because of it. But the system flexed its muscles. It's doing what it was supposed to do.”
And its muscles are the envy of tangible currencies everywhere. Bitcoin hit a record $6,000 per coin on 21 October. Naysayers came out of the woodwork to say it couldn't possibly last, and definitely couldn't go any higher. Wrong again. By the last week of November it was approaching $10,000 a coin.
Threats and Opportunities
