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Why are crypto fans obsessed with micronations and seasteading?

From repurposed cruise ships like MS Satosh, to the blockchain governed Liberland and Satoshi Island, crypto fans are trying to create utopian new communities…

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From repurposed cruise ships like MS Satosh, to the blockchain governed Liberland and Satoshi Island, crypto fans are trying to create utopian new communities built around new rules.

We cant blame Elon Musk for dreaming of moving to Mars the human race has always been curious about finding a better life somewhere else. 

But not everyone in crypto is looking up to the stars to find new worlds; others stay on earth and attempt to build a new micronation, or a crypto community, here. There are dozens of projects in development and a few actually operational including Liberland, Satoshi Island and Puertopia/Sol attracting interest from the blockchain world.

Liberland

While many head out to sea to build their new communities, another option is to find land left over after conflicts. This is not as crazy as it sounds, and in the shifting territorial landscape after the breakup of the Yugoslavian empire, small pockets of land have turned up. Vt Jedlika, a Czech economist and Libertarian, founded Liberland on April 13, 2015 on Thomas Jeffersons birthday on a small track of terra nullius (unclaimed land) on the banks of the Danube between Croatia and Serbia. At seven square kilometers, it is larger than Vatican City and Monaco and similar in size to Gibraltar.

The tiny nation is not yet habited despite boasting 785,000 citizens, all of whom currently reside abroad.

Jedlika wanted to form a new nation with low taxes and greater freedoms, and he found the land literally by Googling the term terra nullius.

Liberland
President Vt Jedlika at the 2019 Floating Man Festival in Liberland. Source: Supplied

We had a need to start a new country in order to defend the personal and economic freedoms of certain groups of people that really enjoy freedom and want to live in a free society, says Jedlika.

Liberland is a pristine piece of land; its a beautiful place with sandy beaches, and I think its actually one of the most beautiful places on the Danube. People can actually come there for recreation, and people are coming camping there as we speak even though its winter right now.

Of course, there are some major challenges, including geopolitical challenges that we have to overcome.

Liberland is in phase one and preparing the groundwork for future recognition and urban development. So, nothing has yet been built, although you can sign up for residency online. The would-be country has signed memorandums of understanding with Ghana, Malawi and Haiti, and while official recognition has not been achieved, Jedlika is convinced it is only a matter of time.

The crypto angle

The government has selected the Polkadot ecosystem to develop the countrys governance and will rely on DAOs to run everything transparently.

We will be running everything at the speed of light. Everything, including Congress, the land registry, the courts system and budgeting, will be registered on the blockchain. This will allow for all decisions to be transparent and to happen at speed. We are also planning for citizens to run the nodes on their IT infrastructure on their computers at home and to make money while supporting Liberland.

Liberland flag
The flag of Liberland. Source: Liberland

There will be two houses of parliament in Liberland. The first is more meritocratic where citizens who hold the official Merit token, pay voluntary taxes and contribute to Liberland can vote on decisions in the country. The other house is the Senate and will be populated with people who helped build Liberland and will have more of an oversight role, including Jedlika moving into a steward position if he is voted out of his current position.

Voting will be frequent, every three months, to ensure that the citizens can actually influence decision-making rather than in traditional four-year election cycles. The code is in place and is scheduled to be launched on the eighth anniversary of the foundation of the state, April 13, 2023. In time, there will be a maximum of 14,000 active voters at any given time.

Liberland is being put together in the Arctic Village next door in Serbia, which is largely neutral to Liberland, while it seeks to improve its still uncomfortable relationship with Croatia.

Verdis next door

A neighboring strip of land was also claimed by a passionate founder this time, by 14-year-old Daniel Jackson in 2019, who wishes to establish Verdis. Jackson was born and raised in Australia to English parents, and the now 18-year-old does not see his age as an impediment. 

A group of people and I decided to create Verdis in order to help make a difference in the world, especially around reconciliation of ethnic groups, neutrality zone, a new government structure, and a way to hopefully help boost tourism and economy in Slavonia and Vojvodina as an extra benefit for neighboring Croatia and Serbia, says Jackson.

Verdis
Daniel Jackson, president of Verdis, with the new national flag. Source: Supplied

Verdis is roughly 0.451 square kilometers, making it slightly larger than Vatican City. 

In some ways, I did see inspiration from Liberland, but we still have different goals and aspirations. I think that with enough effort and hard work, Verdis is feasible, especially with our right to the land under international law.

Around 27 people are currently involved in Verdis government. The nation is in the process of having its passports recognized by the Chief Immigration Officer of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).

According to Jackon, most of Verdis citizens plan to move to Verdis in the future, starting with houseboats along the Danube.

We believe Verdis will survive, as long as it is actively worked on, and works to keep its voice loud in its search for international recognition, says the young acting president.

Satoshi Island

Satoshi Island was founded in 2021 by acquiring an entire island in the South Pacific Ocean. Aimed at digital professionals and based 100% on cryptocurrencies, the island looks to attract tech professionals looking to work alongside like-minded people.

The vision behind Satoshi Island was born out of a feeling of wishing that industry-based events and conferences would last longer. Online is fine but even better is to have a year-round venue where crypto enthusiasts and professionals could live, work and visit.

Unlike some of the other projects, Satoshi Island is simply about celebrating crypto, and the island venue was simply to give it a sense of freedom and community.

Satoshi Island c
Satoshi Island concept art. Source: Satoshi Island

The Satoshi Island project has no political agenda, separatist or ideological ideas, a spokesperson tells Magazine. Whereas some people might think that the vision stems from wanting to escape due to being disenfranchised with the rest of the world, this couldnt be further from the truth. The only goal is to create a place for people in the industry to congregate and have the ability to utilize blockchain technology to the fullest. The island could be most likely compared to a private retreat or golf course where only members can visit.

Starting with a blank slate allowed them to look at the master planning of the island with fresh ideas. All the systems (where possible) will be blockchain-based and sustainable, with everything 100% powered by renewable energy generated on the island. Modular development is also an important aspect of the island. This type of architecture allows them to build in ways that significantly reduce the time, disturbance and impact on the nature and landscape.

The rep tells us that families with children seem to be attracted to the idea, often with the female being the main proponent. 

 

We are expecting the population to be a mix of people living and working on the island all year round, as well as people who live there half the year as they escape colder or hotter climates.

You can also take a holiday there. Take a look at the interesting Satoshi Island video here.

Puertopia, I mean, Sol


Puerto Rico was another hot spot for crypto bros. People such as Brock Pierce of EOS and Tether fame and Joel Comm of the Bad Crypto Podcast relocated to the U.S. territory where taxes are favorable and the crypto rich were welcomed, at least initially by locals enjoying income growth, especially in hospitality. There were grand plans to build a blockchain-powered city called Puertopia in the derelict remains of the Roosevelt Roads Naval Base in Ceiba, which would include a crypto-exclusive bank and showcase what a crypto future could look like. The New York Times reported that someone told it Puertopia translates to eternal boy playground (which sounds suspiciously like a joke directed at Pierce), so they changed the name to Sol. A backlash against crypto and the effects of crypto winter in 2022 has seen updates on the project dry up of late.

Crypto Utopia

Kyle Chase of Master Ventures fame and crypto influencer attempted to set up a Libertarian crypto community and business incubator in his beloved Thailand. Magazine paid a visit in February last year and heard wild tales of unchecked merrymaking, crypto-influencers, police grillings, a reported $20,000-a-month burn rate and a collision between idealism and reality. After shifting locations a number of times, the concept has yet to be fully realized.

MS Satoshi

The project that was the Satoshi Cruise ship suffered an ignominious ending through red tape rather than political inference. Launched by three cryptocurrency advocates in 2020 when cruise ships were relatively cheap as a result of the pandemic, the ill-fated Satoshi Cruise Ship failed to ignite real interest in Libertarians interested in making it their home.

MS Satoshi
Artists impression of the MS Satoshi. Source: MS Satoshi

Attempts were made to sell off rooms, but limits on cooking and general living on a cruise ship did little to attract citizens, and then the enormous running costs and regulations around running and maintaining a ship (even down to permits and sewage) proved too much for the founders. It has now been converted back into a luxury cruising vessel.

Seasteading

Arktide pod
Arktide is working on a 250-foot diameter dome, which will be a total of five floors with a height of 50 feet from base to dome top. Source: Arktide

Seasteading refers to the idea of building permanent homes on the sea, known as seasteads, in areas that are not under the jurisdiction of any government.

At present no one has actually created a seastead that has been officially recognized as a sovereign state. Different designs for seasteads have been proposed, such as modified cruise ships, repurposed oil rigs and specially constructed floating islands. It is fraught with legal difficulties, however, as a Bitcoiner couple who set up a floating home off the coast of Thailand discovered when the navy hauled them and charged them with violating Thai sovereignty.

The concept itself has been around for decades. The 2020 Netflix film Rose Island highlighted the attempt by Italian engineer Giorgio Rosa to build a sovereign island in the Adriatic Sea back in the 1960s, complete with a restaurant, bar, souvenir shop and post office. The short-lived experiment ended when Italian warships accosted the platform, removed the last inhabitants and then completely removed all evidence from the sea. 

California-based nonprofit the Seasteading Institute was founded in 2008 by activist, software engineer and political economic theorist Patri Friedman, grandson of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman.

Development director Carly Jackson tells Magazine she is currently aware of 12 seasteading projects in various stages of development (see the full list here), of which the leading ones are Arktide, Atlas Island, Atlantis Sea Colony and Freedom Haven.

The genesis of some of the projects is based on politics, including Atlas Island and Freedom Haven. Other projects, such as Arktide, a project that bought property in Puerto Rico as a base to build from, have incorporated blockchain from the very beginning.

I expect one or more of the active projects to launch platforms in the next year or so. It will probably take a few more years to have enough of a community to move out to international waters. Im not sure if that will make seasteading mainstream, but I hope it will be normalized for people to consider living on a floating city in a decade or so.

The Maldives Floating City


The Floating City is scheduled to begin construction this year and has 5,000 housing units linked by waterways and laid out in hexagonal segments. The city boasts that it is a climate change solution, but with each house priced at $250,000, it appears to want to attract investors or nomadic professionals looking for somewhere to lay their hats.

Oceanix Busan


Oceanix Busan is planned to be located just one mile from the southeastern coast of South Korea. Initially, the project will consist of three triangular platforms, each capable of accommodating 12,000 people. The goal is for the project to expand into a hexagonal city of more than 20 platforms. The project (officially named Oceanix City) was presented by Bjarke Ingels Group and Samsung Group at the United Nations Roundtable of Sustainable Floating Cities in 2019, and it was agreed by the U.N. that it will be a prototype for sustainable floating cities. In addition to being a floating city, it will also serve as a testing ground for various sustainable living technologies.

The prototype of the floating city is due for completion this year and will comprise interconnected platforms that have a total surface area of 15.5 acres. Each modular piece of the city, which floats on water, is specifically designed for a particular purpose such as residential space, research facilities or accommodation.

Oceanix Buscan
An artists impression of Oceanix Buscan. Source: Unhabitat.org

For details on other micronations click here.

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Bitcoin on Wheels: The Story of Bitcoinetas

Meet the Bitcoinetas, a fleet of transformative vehicles on a mission to spread the bitcoin message everywhere they go. From Argentina to South Africa,…

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You may have seen that picture of Michael Saylor in a bitcoin-branded van, with a cheerful guy right next to the car door. This one:

Ariel Aguilar and La Bitcoineta European Edition at BTC Prague.

That car is the Bitcoineta European Edition, and the cheerful guy is Ariel Aguilar. Ariel is part of the European Bitcoineta team, and has previously driven another similar car in Argentina. In fact, there are currently five cars around the world that carry the name Bitcoineta (in some cases preceded with the Spanish definite article “La”).

Argentina: the original La Bitcoineta

The story of Bitcoinetas begins with the birth of 'La Bitcoineta' in Argentina, back in 2017. Inspired by the vibrancy of the South American Bitcoin community, the original Bitcoineta was conceived after an annual Latin American Conference (Labitconf), where the visionaries behind it recognized a unique opportunity to promote Bitcoin education in remote areas. Armed with a bright orange Bitcoin-themed exterior and a mission to bridge the gap in financial literacy, La Bitcoineta embarked on a journey to bring awareness of Bitcoin's potential benefits to villages and towns that often remained untouched by mainstream financial education initiatives. Operated by a team of dedicated volunteers, it was more than just a car; it was a symbol of hope and empowerment for those living on the fringes of financial inclusion.

The concept drawing for La Bitcoineta from December 2017.

Ariel was part of that initial Argentinian Bitcoineta team, and spent weeks on the road when the car became a reality. The original dream to bring bitcoin education even to remote areas within Argentina and other South American countries came true, and the La Bitcoineta team took part in dozens of local bitcoin meetups in the subsequent years.

The original La Bitcoineta from Argentina.

One major hiccup came in late 2018, when the car was crashed into while parked in Puerto Madryn. The car was pretty much destroyed, but since the team was possessed by a honey badger spirit, nothing could stop them from keeping true to their mission. It is a testament to the determination and resilience of the Argentinian team that the car was quickly restored and returned on its orange-pilling quest soon after.

Argentinian Bitcoineta after a major accident (no-one got hurt); the car was restored shortly after.

Over the more than 5 years that the Argentinian Bitcoineta has been running, it has traveled more than 80,000 kilometers - and as we’ll see further, it inspired multiple similar initiatives around the world.

Follow La Bitcoineta’s journey:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/labitcoineta

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoineta/

El Salvador: Bitcoin Beach

In early 2021, the president of El Salvador passed the Bitcoin Law, making bitcoin legal tender in the country. The Labitconf team decided to celebrate this major step forward in bitcoin adoption by hosting the annual conference in San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador. And correspondingly, the Argentinian Bitcoineta team made plans for a bold 7000-kilometer road trip to visit the Bitcoin country with the iconic Bitcoin car.

However, it proved to be impossible to cross so many borders separating Argentina and Salvador, since many governments were still imposing travel restrictions due to a Covid pandemic. So two weeks before the November event, the Labitconf team decided to fund a second Bitcoineta directly in El Salvador, as part of the Bitcoin Beach circular economy. Thus the second Bitcoineta was born.

Salvadoran’s Bitcoineta operates in the El Zonte region, where the Bitcoin Beach circular economy is located.

The eye-catching Volkswagen minibus has been donated to the Bitcoin Beach team, which uses the car for the needs of its circular economy based in El Zonte.

Follow Bitcoin Beach:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bitcoinbeach

South Africa: Bitcoin Ekasi

Late 2021 saw one other major development in terms of grassroots bitcoin adoption. On the other side of the planet, in South Africa, Hermann Vivier initiated the Bitcoin Ekasi project. “Ekasi” is a colloquial term for a township, and a township in the South African context is an underdeveloped urban area with a predominantly black population, a remnant of the segregationist apartheid regime. Bitcoin Ekasi emerged as an attempt to introduce bitcoin into the economy of the JCC Camp township located in Mossel Bay, and has gained a lot of success on that front.

Bitcoin Ekasi was in large part inspired by the success of the Bitcoin Beach circular economy back in El Salvador, and the respect was mutual. The Bitcoin Beach team thus decided to pass on the favor they received from the Argentinian Bitcoineta team, and provided funds to Bitcoin Ekasi for them to build a Bitcoineta of their own.

Bitcoin Ekasi’s Bitcoineta as seen at the Adopting Bitcoin Cape Town conference.
Bitcoin Ekasi’s Bitcoineta as seen at the Adopting Bitcoin Cape Town conference. Hermann Vivier is seen in the background.
South African Bitcoineta serves the needs of Bitcoin Ekasi, a local bitcoin circular economy in the JCC Camp township.

Bitcoin Ekasi emerged as a sister organization of Surfer Kids, a non-profit organization with a mission to empower marginalized youths through surfing. The Ekasi Bitcoineta thus partially serves as a means to get the kids to visit various surfer competitions in South Africa. A major highlight in this regard was when the kids got to meet Jordy Smith, one of the most successful South African surfers worldwide.

Coincidentally, South African surfers present an intriguing demographic for understanding Bitcoin due to their unique circumstances and needs. To make it as a professional surfer, the athletes need to attend competitions abroad; but since South Africa has tight currency controls in place, it is often a headache to send money abroad for travel and competition expenses. The borderless nature of Bitcoin offers a solution to these constraints, providing surfers with an alternative means of moving funds across borders without any obstacles.

Photo taken at the South African Junior Surfing Championships 2023. Back row, left to right:

Mbasa, Chuma, Jordy Smith, Sandiso. Front, left to right: Owethu, Sibulele.

To find out more about Bitcoineta South Africa and the non-profit endeavors it serves, watch Lekker Feeling, a documentary by Aubrey Strobel:

Follow Bitcoin Ekasi:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitcoinEkasi

Fundraiser: https://support.bitcoinekasi.com/

Europe: Bitcoineta Europa

The European Bitcoineta started its journey in early 2023, with Ariel Aguilar being one of the main catalysts behind the idea. Unlike its predecessors in El Salvador and South Africa, the European Bitcoineta was not funded by a previous team but instead secured support from individual donors, reflecting a grassroots approach to spreading financial literacy.

European Bitcoineta sports a hard-to-overlook bitcoin logo along with the message “Bitcoin is Work. Bitcoin is Time. Bitcoin is Hope.”

The European Bitcoineta is a Mercedes box van adorned with a prominent Bitcoin logo and inspiring messages, and serves as a mobile hub for education and discussion at numerous European Bitcoin conferences and local meetups. Inside its spacious interior, both notable bitcoiners and bitcoin plebs share their insights on the walls, fostering a sense of camaraderie and collaboration.

Inside the European Bitcoineta, one can find the wall of fame, where visitors can read messages from prominent bitcoiners such as Michael Saylor, Uncle Rockstar, Javier Bastardo, Hodlonaut, and many others.
On the “pleb wall”, any bitcoiner can share their message (as long as space permits).

Follow Bitcoineta Europa’s journey:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitcoinetaEU

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinetaeu/

Ghana: Bitcoineta West Africa

Embed: https://youtu.be/8oWgIU17aIY?si=hrsKmMIA7lI6jX4k

Introduced in December 2023 at the Africa Bitcoin Conference in Ghana, the fifth Bitcoineta was donated to the Ghanaian Bitcoin Cowries educational initiative as part of the Trezor Academy program.

Bitcoineta West Africa was launched in December 2023 at the Africa Bitcoin Conference. Among its elements, it bears the motto of the Trezor Academy initiative: Bitcoin. Education. Freedom.

Bitcoineta West Africa was funded by the proceeds from the bitcoin-only limited edition Trezor device, which was sold out within one day of its launch at the Bitcoin Amsterdam conference.

With plans for an extensive tour spanning Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and potentially other countries within the ECOWAS political and economic union, Bitcoineta West Africa embodies the spirit of collaboration and solidarity in driving Bitcoin adoption and financial inclusion throughout the Global South.

Bitcoineta West Africa surrounded by a group of enthusiastic bitcoiners at the Black Star Square, Accra, Ghana.

Follow Bitcoineta West Africa’s journey:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitcoinetaWA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinetawa/

All the Bitcoineta cars around the world share one overarching mission: to empower their local communities through bitcoin education, and thus improve the lives of common people that might have a strong need for bitcoin without being currently aware of such need. As they continue to traverse borders and break down barriers, Bitcoinetas serve as a reminder of the power of grassroots initiatives and the importance of financial education in shaping a more inclusive future. The tradition of Bitcoinetas will continue to flourish, and in the years to come we will hopefully encounter a brazenly decorated bitcoin car everywhere we go.

If the inspiring stories of Bitcoinetas have ignited a passion within you to make a difference in your community, we encourage you to take action! Reach out to one of the existing Bitcoineta teams for guidance, support, and inspiration on how to start your own initiative. Whether you're interested in spreading Bitcoin education, promoting financial literacy, or fostering empowerment in underserved areas, the Bitcoineta community is here to help you every step of the way. Together, we will orange pill the world!

This is a guest post by Josef Tetek. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

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Digital Currency And Gold As Speculative Warnings

Over the last few years, digital currencies and gold have become decent barometers of speculative investor appetite. Such isn’t surprising given the evolution…

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Over the last few years, digital currencies and gold have become decent barometers of speculative investor appetite. Such isn’t surprising given the evolution of the market into a “casino” following the pandemic, where retail traders have increased their speculative appetites.

“Such is unsurprising, given that retail investors often fall victim to the psychological behavior of the “fear of missing out.” The chart below shows the “dumb money index” versus the S&P 500. Once again, retail investors are very long equities relative to the institutional players ascribed to being the “smart money.””

“The difference between “smart” and “dumb money” investors shows that, more often than not, the “dumb money” invests near market tops and sells near market bottoms.”

Net Smart Dumb Money vs Market

That enthusiasm has increased sharply since last November as stocks surged in hopes that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates. As noted by Sentiment Trader:

“Over the past 18 weeks, the straight-up rally has moved us to an interesting juncture in the Sentiment Cycle. For the past few weeks, the S&P 500 has demonstrated a high positive correlation to the ‘Enthusiasm’ part of the cycle and a highly negative correlation to the ‘Panic’ phase.”

Investor Enthusiasm

That frenzy to chase the markets, driven by the psychological bias of the “fear of missing out,” has permeated the entirety of the market. As noted in This Is Nuts:”

“Since then, the entire market has surged higher following last week’s earnings report from Nvidia (NVDA). The reason I say “this is nuts” is the assumption that all companies were going to grow earnings and revenue at Nvidia’s rate. There is little doubt about Nvidia’s earnings and revenue growth rates. However, to maintain that growth pace indefinitely, particularly at 32x price-to-sales, means others like AMD and Intel must lose market share.”

Nvidia Price To Sales

Of course, it is not just a speculative frenzy in the markets for stocks, specifically anything related to “artificial intelligence,” but that exuberance has spilled over into gold and cryptocurrencies.

Birds Of A Feather

There are a couple of ways to measure exuberance in the assets. While sentiment measures examine the broad market, technical indicators can reflect exuberance on individual asset levels. However, before we get to our charts, we need a brief explanation of statistics, specifically, standard deviation.

As I discussed in “Revisiting Bob Farrell’s 10 Investing Rules”:

“Like a rubber band that has been stretched too far – it must be relaxed in order to be stretched again. This is exactly the same for stock prices that are anchored to their moving averages. Trends that get overextended in one direction, or another, always return to their long-term average. Even during a strong uptrend or strong downtrend, prices often move back (revert) to a long-term moving average.”

The idea of “stretching the rubber band” can be measured in several ways, but I will limit our discussion this week to Standard Deviation and measuring deviation with “Bollinger Bands.”

“Standard Deviation” is defined as:

“A measure of the dispersion of a set of data from its mean. The more spread apart the data, the higher the deviation. Standard deviation is calculated as the square root of the variance.”

In plain English, this means that the further away from the average that an event occurs, the more unlikely it becomes. As shown below, out of 1000 occurrences, only three will fall outside the area of 3 standard deviations. 95.4% of the time, events will occur within two standard deviations.

Standard Deviation Chart

A second measure of “exuberance” is “relative strength.”

“In technical analysis, the relative strength index (RSI) is a momentum indicator that measures the magnitude of recent price changes to evaluate overbought or oversold conditions in the price of a stock or other asset. The RSI is displayed as an oscillator (a line graph that moves between two extremes) and can read from 0 to 100.

Traditional interpretation and usage of the RSI are that values of 70 or above indicate that a security is becoming overbought or overvalued and may be primed for a trend reversal or corrective pullback in price. An RSI reading of 30 or below indicates an oversold or undervalued condition.” – Investopedia

With those two measures, let’s look at Nvidia (NVDA), the poster child of speculative momentum trading in the markets. Nvidia trades more than 3 standard deviations above its moving average, and its RSI is 81. The last time this occurred was in July of 2023 when Nvidia consolidated and corrected prices through November.

NVDA chart vs Bollinger Bands

Interestingly, gold also trades well into 3 standard deviation territory with an RSI reading of 75. Given that gold is supposed to be a “safe haven” or “risk off” asset, it is instead getting swept up in the current market exuberance.

Gold vs Bollinger Bands

The same is seen with digital currencies. Given the recent approval of spot, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the panic bid to buy Bitcoin has pushed the price well into 3 standard deviation territory with an RSI of 73.

Bitcoin vs Bollinger Bands

In other words, the stock market frenzy to “buy anything that is going up” has spread from just a handful of stocks related to artificial intelligence to gold and digital currencies.

It’s All Relative

We can see the correlation between stock market exuberance and gold and digital currency, which has risen since 2015 but accelerated following the post-pandemic, stimulus-fueled market frenzy. Since the market, gold and cryptocurrencies, or Bitcoin for our purposes, have disparate prices, we have rebased the performance to 100 in 2015.

Gold was supposed to be an inflation hedge. Yet, in 2022, gold prices fell as the market declined and inflation surged to 9%. However, as inflation has fallen and the stock market surged, so has gold. Notably, since 2015, gold and the market have moved in a more correlated pattern, which has reduced the hedging effect of gold in portfolios. In other words, during the subsequent market decline, gold will likely track stocks lower, failing to provide its “wealth preservation” status for investors.

SP500 vs Gold

The same goes for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is substantially more volatile than gold and tends to ebb and flow with the overall market. As sentiment surges in the S&P 500, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies follow suit as speculative appetites increase. Unfortunately, for individuals once again piling into Bitcoin to chase rising prices, if, or when, the market corrects, the decline in cryptocurrencies will likely substantially outpace the decline in market-based equities. This is particularly the case as Wall Street can now short the spot-Bitcoin ETFs, creating additional selling pressure on Bitcoin.

SP500 vs Bitcoin

Just for added measure, here is Bitcoin versus gold.

Gold vs Bitcoin

Not A Recommendation

There are many narratives surrounding the markets, digital currency, and gold. However, in today’s market, more than in previous years, all assets are getting swept up into the investor-feeding frenzy.

Sure, this time could be different. I am only making an observation and not an investment recommendation.

However, from a portfolio management perspective, it will likely pay to remain attentive to the correlated risk between asset classes. If some event causes a reversal in bullish exuberance, cash and bonds may be the only place to hide.

The post Digital Currency And Gold As Speculative Warnings appeared first on RIA.

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Aging at AACR Annual Meeting 2024

BUFFALO, NY- March 11, 2024 – Impact Journals publishes scholarly journals in the biomedical sciences with a focus on all areas of cancer and aging…

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BUFFALO, NY- March 11, 2024 – Impact Journals publishes scholarly journals in the biomedical sciences with a focus on all areas of cancer and aging research. Aging is one of the most prominent journals published by Impact Journals

Credit: Impact Journals

BUFFALO, NY- March 11, 2024 – Impact Journals publishes scholarly journals in the biomedical sciences with a focus on all areas of cancer and aging research. Aging is one of the most prominent journals published by Impact Journals

Impact Journals will be participating as an exhibitor at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024 from April 5-10 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. This year, the AACR meeting theme is “Inspiring Science • Fueling Progress • Revolutionizing Care.”

Visit booth #4159 at the AACR Annual Meeting 2024 to connect with members of the Aging team.

About Aging-US:

Aging publishes research papers in all fields of aging research including but not limited, aging from yeast to mammals, cellular senescence, age-related diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s diseases and their prevention and treatment, anti-aging strategies and drug development and especially the role of signal transduction pathways such as mTOR in aging and potential approaches to modulate these signaling pathways to extend lifespan. The journal aims to promote treatment of age-related diseases by slowing down aging, validation of anti-aging drugs by treating age-related diseases, prevention of cancer by inhibiting aging. Cancer and COVID-19 are age-related diseases.

Aging is indexed and archived by PubMed/Medline (abbreviated as “Aging (Albany NY)”), PubMed CentralWeb of Science: Science Citation Index Expanded (abbreviated as “Aging‐US” and listed in the Cell Biology and Geriatrics & Gerontology categories), Scopus (abbreviated as “Aging” and listed in the Cell Biology and Aging categories), Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews, EMBASE, META (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative) (2018-2022), and Dimensions (Digital Science).

Please visit our website at www.Aging-US.com​​ and connect with us:

  • Aging X
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Click here to subscribe to Aging publication updates.

For media inquiries, please contact media@impactjournals.com.


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