Is Ripple The Next Hot Cryptocurrency? Some Are Calling It ‘The Bitcoin That Banks Like’ - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

Is Ripple The Next Hot Cryptocurrency? Some Are Calling It ‘The Bitcoin That Banks Like’ Posted: 03 Jan 2018  Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG After Bitcoin, can you name the second largest cryptocurrency?  Until recently it was Ethereum, but now it is Ripple.  At the start of last year, Ripple was trading for less than a penny, and even just a few months ago you could still get Ripple for about 20 cents.  But now the price of Ripple has absolutely exploded, and as I write this article it is sitting at $3.15.  At this point Ripple has a market cap of more than 120 billion dollars, and those that got in when Ripple was under a penny have seen their investments go up by more than 40,000 percent. If you can believe it, the price of Ripple is up more than 1,000 percent in the last 30 days alone.  So why is Ripple doing so well right now? Well, many analysts are pointing to the very strong relationships that Ripple has been building with financial institutions… XRP’s price has benefited significantly from Ripple’s new partnerships with banks, noted Chris Keshian, co-founder of the Apex Token Fund, a tokenized crypto fund-of-funds. He added that as XRP “surpassed ETH as the second largest cryptocurrency, market hype continued to drive the price.” There are some that believe that Ripple will eventually surpass Bitcoin simply because it is a better way to send and receive money. And without a doubt, functionality is the key for the long-term survival of any cryptocurrency.  Speculative investment can take a cryptocurrency a long way, but at the end of the day it needs to function well in the real world, and that is one key advantage that Ripple appears to have.  According to the Express, Ripple is being called “the Bitcoin that banks like”… Bitcoin is feeling the pressure from another cryptocurrency hot on it’s heels. Ripple has attracted tens of millions of dollars worth of investment leading to it being dubbed the Bitcoin that banks like. The company uses block chain technology, powered by its own cryptocurrency, to send money across the world in real time settlements, according to the company’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse. It does not hold the level of anonymity that bitcoin does, which makes the currency more favourable to banks. One thing that has been holding back the price of Ripple is the fact that it is not listed on some of the key exchanges.  But there are persistent rumors that Ripple will be listed on Coinbase very soon, and that could potentially drive the price of Ripple much higher. Before you get too excited, let me share a word of caution.  Investing in cryptocurrencies is extremely risky, because they are purely digital creations that do not actually possess any intrinsic value at all.  Right now there are more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies in existence, and most of them are eventually going to zero. But for the moment, those that were able to capitalize on the cryptocurrency trend in a major way have become incredibly wealthy.  Ripple’s co-founder Chris Larsen is now worth an astounding 37 billion dollars, and that makes him the 15th richest person in America. Of course he doesn’t actually have 37 billion dollars.  If he does not sell his coins and Ripple eventually goes back to zero, all of that “paper wealth” will be gone. The big danger is that global governments will start cracking down on cryptocurrencies in a major way, and in late December we did see South Korea impose restrictions on the trading of cryptocurrencies in order to “limit speculation”.  If more governments start piling on, that could absolutely crush the cryptocurrency bubble. For now, Bitcoin has been rebounding from that announcement, and Ripple just continues to roar higher.  But let us not forget that a single big announcement could change all of that in a single moment… The South Korean Government’s threats of shutting down exchanges seemed to have little influence on Ripple at the end of the year, but with news hitting the wires of just how much of an impact South Korean exchanges had on Ripple’s December rally and it’s not surprising that Ripple has been defending its gains at the start of the year. Bitcoin may have been the fallout guy when it came to the regulatory chatter at the end of the year, but if the exchanges are closed, it’s not just Bitcoin that will suffer and, if the reports are correct of the South Koreans driving up Ripple trading volumes, things could get messy very quickly. Whatever happens in the short-term, it appears that Ripple has a real chance to be a long-term solution for global payments.  In a recent statement, the Ripple team noted that using Ripple is faster, cheaper and more efficient than using Bitcoin… In a year punctuated by the dramatic rise of digital assets, XRP has out performed the entire sector and looks likely to end the year up more than 45,000%. XRP’s performance is driven by a keen focus on solving a real global payments problem for real customers – and at fractions of a penny and about 3 seconds per transaction – it is cheaper, faster and more efficient than BTC or ETH. As others have pointed out, Bitcoin isn’t going to solve a payments problem when a transaction costs $40 and takes hours to complete. The market seems to increasingly understand that there’s real utility for XRP in solving a massive cross-border payments and liquidity problem that is measured in the trillions of dollars. It is that sort of utility that could make Ripple a long-term success. But of course new competitors are coming online with each passing day.  The “Facebook of cryptocurrencies” may not have even been invented yet, and this industry is evolving at an absolutely breathtaking pace. So Ripple may be the hottest cryptocurrency for the moment, but that could change completely by next week. Nobody knows exactly what is going to happen next, and that is what makes the cryptocurrency market so exciting.  Fortunes will be won and lost in the blink of an eye, and there will be some very big winners and some very big losers. Michael Snyder is a pro-Trump candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

The Washington Post Ominously Warns That Bitcoin Is Being Used By ‘Extremist Groups’ - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

The Washington Post Ominously Warns That Bitcoin Is Being Used By ‘Extremist Groups’ Posted: 27 Dec 2017 Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG Demonization is the first step toward making something illegal.  Over the past couple of months, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have experienced a tremendous surge in popularity.  Personally, I was completely floored the other day when my nephew wanted to ask me questions about investing in Bitcoin.  It seems like the whole world is getting caught up in the cryptocurrency revolution, and needless to say, the powers that be cannot be thrilled about this.   Independently-controlled cryptocurrencies represent an existential threat to the global debt-based central banking system that we have today, and so the elite have a very strong incentive to bring about the demise of Bitcoin and other emerging cryptocurrencies. So it is no surprise that one of the key mouthpieces for the elite, the Washington Post, has begun to demonize Bitcoin.  And if you are going to demonize something, one of the fastest ways to do that is to link it with racists.  The following is an excerpt from an article that the Post just published entitled “Bitcoin’s Boom Is A Boon For Extremist Groups”… Even before Charlottesville, Richard Spencer, a prominent member of the alt-right, a group that espouses racist, anti-Semitic and sexist views and seeks a whites-only state, had gone as far as declaring bitcoin “the currency of the alt right.” But far-right political leaders and experts on extremist movements alike say the adoption of bitcoin gained new urgency after Charlottesville as extremists looked for ways to operate beyond the reach of government control and the shifting policies of U.S. tech companies. For those of us that are accustomed to thinking critically, we see right through what the Washington Post is trying to do.  The Bitcoin phenomenon has absolutely nothing to do with Richard Spencer and his ilk, but every time the liberal elite want to demonize someone or something they trot out their favorite boogeyman once again. Just like every other currency, Bitcoin can be used for good purposes or for bad purposes.  But the Washington Post article would have us believe that Bitcoin is at the core of some great “racist conspiracy” that is about to take America by storm… Extremist figures who invested in bitcoin as a bulwark against efforts to block their political activity now find themselves holding what amount to winning lottery tickets. The proceeds could be used to communicate political messages, organize events and keep websites online even as most mainstream hosting services shun them, experts say. The truth, of course, is that these sorts of racists are a very, very small fraction of one percent of the U.S. population.  They are so small in numbers that they are not even worth mentioning, but the Washington Post and other liberal outlets love to give them attention because they make the perfect enemies for the narratives that they are trying to promote. Later on in the article, there was an effort to link Bitcoin to drug traffickers, money launderers and those who use the Internet for other dark purposes… Extremists are hardly alone in benefiting from surging bitcoin values. Early buyers include cryptography enthusiasts, libertarians and professional investors – as well as drug traffickers, money launderers and others who regularly conduct transactions on the “dark Web,” a part of the Internet only accessible using specialized software that helps shield online activity. The “logical conclusion” that many on the left are going to come to after reading such an article is that Bitcoin must be banned. In the months and years ahead, I would expect to see a major push to crack down on cryptocurrencies.  And once independent cryptocurrencies have been dealt with, the elite will promote their own versions as the long-term solution. According to the Post article, the Southern Poverty Law Center is currently tracking 200 Bitcoin wallets that they believe are owned by extremists.  Apparently, every single transaction that involves these accounts is being monitored… Public blockchain records make such monitoring possible. Researchers can study the times, dates and amounts of any transaction, along with what accounts are involved. That does not include the actual names of account holders, but such records can illuminate identities. The SPLC, for example, looks on the donation pages of extremist websites for bitcoin accounts that are seeking contributions. If the elite are ultimately able to convince the general public that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are for racists, criminals, tax evaders and drug dealers, that will make it much easier to crack down on them. But of course blockchain technology is here to stay.  Once the elite are able to move the public away from “unregulated cryptocurrencies”, they will simply introduce “Fedcoin”, “Utility Settlement Coin” or whichever other digital currency that they want to promote at the time. For the moment, however, the cryptocurrency revolution is still raging.  Even as I write this article, the price of Bitcoin is flying all over the place.  At the moment it is sitting at $14,730, but that will change in a few moments. I would anticipate even more volatility as we head into 2018, and other experts seem to be of the same opinion.  For example, just consider what Nick Colas is saying… Nick Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, has been following the bitcoin phenomenon for at least four years. Looking ahead to 2018, he sees more volatility for an asset that has soared nearly 1,600 percent over the past year. In fact, he figures bitcoin could slosh in a range between $6,500 and $22,000; it was around $15,750 in Wednesday morning trade. “Bottom line: bitcoin can rally to $22,000 and still be reasonably priced, or plummet to $6,500 and also be correctly valued,” Colas said in his daily note. “We expect to see bitcoin trade for both prices in 2018.” But as I have said before, the key to this phenomenon is not how high the price of Bitcoin can climb. Rather, the key is if Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies can truly become methods of exchange that are widely used outside of the control of national governments and global central banks. If we can create a truly autonomous financial system that is independent of the current debt-based system, that would be a wonderful thing for humanity. Unfortunately, the elite are going to fight very hard to keep that from happening, because control over currencies is one of the main factors that allows them to have so much control over the entire planet. Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

This Might Be the Single Greatest Threat to the Devil—And It's Often Overlooked - DAVID HOFFMAN CHARISMA NEWS

Want to receive The Flaming Herald by email? Sign up here

This Might Be the Single Greatest Threat to the Devil—And It's Often Overlooked

11/30/2017 DAVID HOFFMAN  Charisma news

A customer registers his handprint before proceeding on the world's first-ever permanent bitcoin ATM. (REUTERS/Andy Clark )

Note: This is a guest column by my friend David Hoffman.

If you had bought $100 in bitcoin in 2010 and didn't sell, it would now be worth almost $73 million. That is an incredible return.

Last year on November 29, 2016, the price of one Bitcoin closed out at $732.62. That means in the past year, it really grew.

We are living in a time where there is great opportunity to invest in a lot of different things. With great opportunity, there is great risk involved as well.

Bitcoin was arguably one of the best financial investments of the past 5 years, just as Apple was a great financial investment over the past decade.

Though these were good financial investments for many, there is a much better investment that a person can make. That is investment in the kingdom of God. God wants us to invest our time and energy in serving Him and promoting His kingdom. It has infinitely more benefit and returns than the best investments on this earth.

One of the biggest blessings when investing into the kingdom of God is that there is no risk of loss. Even if you invest the slightest amount of your life in God, it is never for a loss. If you invest in a person by sharing the Gospel with them and taking the time to disciple them, you will never be at a loss.

In the world we live in, there are many things vying for our resources, time and energy. The believer faces a unique financial temptation. There are many things promising that if we invest in them. we will have what we need to be free to better serve the Lord. It doesn't work that way. It is a big temptation.

The Bible is clear. It says in Matt. 6:33 "but seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be given to you." The devil and the world system want it to be the other way around for the believer. "Seek first your financial stability and future security and the kingdom of God and His righteousness will be added to you."

In light of all of the buzz around bitcoin, and even the recent soaring stock prices, many Christians have become very interested and pulled towards a mentality that posits "I have to have financial security to serve the Lord." Increasingly, I have seen Christians putting greater emphasis on investing in some of these new investment opportunities as a good way to make money, and with money, financial freedom to better serve the Lord. The idea is "You need money if you are going to do anything great for God."

I recently saw a video with one of the wealthiest ministers in the world sharing about this. He said:

"In Satan's eyes, there is nothing more dangerous than a preacher who has got enough money in his bank account to do what God has called him to do."

Related Articles

• Thanksgiving Is Not a Holiday Tradition, But a Heart That Sees God in Everything
• Hatred and Anger: A Sign of the Times and Things to Come

That is not true. It is just plain false. Elijah did not have money in the bank, and yet he called down fire on the Baal prophets and led Israel to repent. Jeremiah, had no money in the bank, and yet he served the Lord faithfully as the only true prophetic voice in Judah during a season of great wickedness and deception. John the Baptist really had no money, and yet he prepared the way for the Lord and is considered the greatest prophet of all time before Christ. The disciples were not rich, and yet they were able to heal the sick, cast out demons, and advance the Kingdom of God. The Bible is full of countless examples.

We must not forget what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Cor. 1:26-29

 For observe your calling, brothers. Among you, not many wise men according to the flesh, not many mighty men, and not many noble men were called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And God has chosen the base things of the world and things which are despised. Yes, and He chose things which did not exist to bring to nothing things that do, so that no flesh should boast in His presence.

The greatest threat to the devil is not a Christian with money, it's a Christian with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. That is what will change the world. That is what will open the door for greater ministry. The reason the apostles could be "the men who have turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6) was because they had an encounter with the living God on the Day of Pentecost that so transformed them, and so filled them, that regardless of their lack of finances, they were able to operate in the power of God. God doesn't rely on physical resources to accomplish His purposes.

This observation is not coming from someone who is detached from dealing with finances and ministry. I do full-time ministry, and I often feel like I wish a had a lot more money to do what I feel God is calling me to do. So, I understand the temptation of feeling like more finances are necessary to better serve the Lord; nevertheless, it is a temptation. I understand the feeling that comes from seeing a lot of money used inappropriately on ministry initiatives, agendas and items that don't help to transform communities and the culture with the gospel.

There have been times where I wished my ministry had the amount of money that I saw being used inappropriately elsewhere. I have thoughts things like "If only I had that much then...." However, I am growing to see that what Paul said in Philippians 4:11-13 about contentment in all things is a necessary attitude that God wants me to embrace in my life. It is wrong to think "If only I had that much money then....." Jesus' ministry was nothing like that. I am learning that the key to success is to be "full of the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit changes things. Many ministries have millions of dollars, and yet they are not changing the world for Christ.

Phil 4:13 says "I can do all things because of Christ who strengthens me." Christ, not finances, is the believer's strength. It is the power of God that brings the change, not money. We need the power of God. We don't need physical riches. We need spiritual riches. We need to be rich in faith, rich in truth, and rich in love.

Invest in God, invest in His kingdom.

Empires have risen, and empires have fallen. Stocks have soared and stocks have dived. People have gained wealth only to go on to lose it.

Bitcoin will one day bottom out and leave everyone who invested lacking and regretful. The dollar will one day bottom out. Everything in this world that seems to offer security, offers no true security. Invest in Jesus. Invest in His kingdom. Invest in love and truth. When this world fades away, when everything else fails, Jesus Christ and His Kingdom will not fail. His kingdom is an eternal kingdom that cannot be shaken. Investing in the kingdom of God is the only investment with a sure return, and it is the only investment with eternal benefits. 

David Hoffman is an evangelist and the director of Kingdom Enterprises, an outreach and evangelism ministry in Tucson, Arizona. His passions are to reach the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ, ignite a passion for evangelism within the lives of believers and to help equip them to live Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered lives. For more information or to contact him, please go to HisKingdomEnterprises.com or IgniteAmerica.org.

Bert M. Farias, revivalist and founder of Holy Fire Ministries, has authored several books with an emphasis on helping to restore the true spirit of Christianity in the Church today, including the newly released, Passing on The Move of God to The Next Generation and the highly sacred book, The Journal Of A Journey To His Holiness. An anointing of fire marks his ministry with frequent demonstrations of the Spirit and power of God. He ministers interdenominationally and cross-culturally in nations, churches, conferences, on the streets and in homes. He and his wife Carolyn also host The Holy Ghost Forum – a school of the Spirit. Follow him at Bert Farias and Holy Fire Ministries on Facebook and @Bertfarias1 on Twitter.

Charisma Readers save 50% OFF these select Bibles plus FREE SHIPPING plus a Special Bonus for a limited time! Show me the Bibles on sale!

Christmas is coming soon. Get a jump start with these great Spirit-filled bundles. Save up to 70% plus FREE Shipping! Life in the Spirit Gift Boxes, Special Book Bundles, and Christmas Gift Bundles.

How High Can It Go? Bitcoin Shocks The World By Crossing The $7000 Mark Less Than 1 Month After It Sold For $5000 - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

How High Can It Go? Bitcoin Shocks The World By Crossing The $7000 Mark Less Than 1 Month After It Sold For $5000

Posted: 02 Nov 2017  Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

Less than a month ago, Bitcoin was selling for less than $5000, but now it has smashed through the $7000 mark with seemingly no end in sight.  At this point Bitcoin has a total market cap of more than 100 billion dollars, and some analysts are suggesting that it could eventually go as high as a trillion dollars.

Cryptocurrencies overall are up an astounding 640 percent so far in 2017, and personally I regret not investing when Bitcoin was still in the very early stages.  I always thought that governments would eventually crack down and regulate cryptocurrencies out of existence, and that still may happen someday, but it hasn’t happened yet.

One of the great things about Bitcoin is that it represents a medium of exchange that is not controlled by the central bankers.  So when you use Bitcoin you are choosing to become less dependent on a system that is designed to financially dominate the entire planet.  Any way that we can become more independent is a good thing, and so I greatly applaud the use of cryptocurrencies.

But there are those that are warning that a major bubble is forming and that extreme downward price action will be coming at some point.  Needless to say, the upward momentum that we are witnessing at the moment is certainly not sustainable indefinitely.  The following comes from Breitbart…

The price of Bitcoin smashed another record early Thursday morning — $7,000 for each unit of the digital currency.
As of 7 AM Eastern time, BTC is selling for $7,191.16, according to data from Coinbase. Bitcoin — which is minted by a decentralized network of miners, not a governing body — hit this latest benchmark with a single-day increase of nearly $640, only 13 days after it first became valued at $6,000. If an individual bought 1 BTC exactly one month ago, it has grown $2,902.33 or +67.67% in value.

Anything that goes up that fast is eventually going to come down, and those that invest at $7,000 could end up seeing the price fall back several thousand dollars.  Or, the euphoria surrounding Bitcoin cold propel it through the $10,000 mark and make all of the skeptics look like idiots.

We just don’t know, and that is part of the charm of Bitcoin.

And according to Bloomberg, soon investors will be able to trade Bitcoin futures…

The digital currency got new impetus this week after CME Group Inc., the world’s largest exchange owner, said it plans to introduce bitcoin futures by the end of the year, citing pent-up demand from clients. Skeptics including Themis Trading say the rally is evidence that the software-created asset is a bubble that should not be given regulatory cover.

Of course Bitcoin is not the only major cryptocurrency that is out there.  In fact, there are rumblings that Amazon is about to start promoting Bitcoin’s chief competitor…

Ethereum, the top digital currency behind Bitcoin, has plunged in price as Bitcoin enjoys its massive surge, falling from a 24-hour high of $301.41 to $277.82 Thursday morning.
However, this Tuesday, Amazon bought the domain names amazonethereum.com, amazoncryptocurrency.com, and amazoncryptocurrencies.com, fueling speculation that it may get into the action on decentralized digital currencies. Ethereum is not just a currency like Bitcoin but an app development platform — the Windows or OSX of blockchain. The domain purchase could be a sign that Amazon may join the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance — a group of large companies, including JP Morgan and Microsoft, putting their weight behind blockchain tech.

If Ethereum ultimately becomes the dominant cryptocurrency in the marketplace, what would that do to Bitcoin?

Or could it be possible that there is room enough for both of them?

The truth is that we don’t know what the future will hold.  Cryptocurrencies have never existed before, and there are so many variables at play.  The biggest variable is how national governments will respond to these alternate currencies, and I still believe that they will eventually make a move to heavily regulate them.

And unlike gold and silver, these cryptocurrencies do not have any intrinsic value.  The only reason that they have any value at all is because people believe they have value.  But for the moment the number of believers continues to rise, and this may be a factor in why the price of gold is relatively low right now.  This is something that Ron Paul commented on recently…

“Does it represent real money to you?” Cambone further asked the former presidential candidate.
“Not to me, no, it doesn’t,” Paul answered. “But if it serves the voluntary exchanges of people, and serves the purpose of exchanging wealth, … it could act as if it were money ….” he stated.
“Some say Bitcoin is stealing the thunder away from gold,” Cambone continued, “and that’s one of the reasons the yellow metal is not rallying further. Do you agree with this?”
“I think that’s a very strong possibility,” he considered. “I am amazed,” he laughed, “at all the capitalization on these cryptocurrencies. It’s a huge amount of money,” Paul emphasized.

Once again, I greatly applaud the use of cryptocurrencies as a way to become more independent from the system.  I love the fact that mediums of exchange are being developed outside of the control of the central banks, and we should greatly resist any efforts by national governments to take control of these emerging new currencies.

However, as an investment these cryptocurrencies are exceedingly risky.

There are some that have already become quite wealthy by investing in Bitcoin at the very beginning, but there are others that will invest at the peak of the market and will get very badly burned.

As with all forms of investing, there will be winners and there will be losers, and timing is everything.

But we should all love the principles underlying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.  To me, they are all about liberty and freedom, and the more liberty and freedom we have the better.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.