Our strategy is to deliver great returns for our subscribers. And we do that by investing in the companies focused on disruptive innovation.  And by disruptive innovation we mean the introduction of a technologically enabled product or service that potentially changes the way the world does business. Trend Disruptors gives subscribers broad exposure to innovations. such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and 5G. Also, we delve into robotics, autonomous vehicles, cloud computing, tokenization (blockchain) and much more.

Trend Disruptors aims to capture the substantial benefits of new products and services related to research in autonomous technology, the next generation internet services, and technologies that make financial services more efficient.

Innovative, cutting edge technology is rapidly disrupting the way we conduct our lives and how we connect with the world around us.  As a result, we see a new and exciting reality where suddenly, almost every machine has a degree of intelligence, and communicates with every other machine with similar capabilities.

No sector will be left out!  These investments can offer high potential rewards, but they also come with a higher degree of risk. Therefore, only invest small amounts of your budget to this more speculative sector..

But, if you are willing to be bold, and separate yourself from the herd, opportunities to make significant gains are waiting.

Crypto Update – January 19/18

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A question that many readers ask is “why do we need or want crypto currency – isn’t there already enough currencies in the world?“

Understanding some of the benefits of crypto currency (CC) in a world of fiat currency helps us to see why developers came up with it in the first place, and keep coming up with more and better CC’s.  Let’s start with some of the problems with fiat currencies:

A. Governments can print as much fiat currency as they want, and throughout history there are many examples of currencies that have been inflated to death.  There are two reasons this cannot be done with crypto currencies …

   1. there is an upper limit on the amount of each coin that can ever be made.  With Bitcoin this upper limit is set at 21 million – no inflation possible here.

   2. governments do not control the issue of crypto currencies.

B. Fiat currency transactions are all centralized, and we all have to trust that our bank teller, our cheque clearing house, our currency broker etc, will do their job honestly and fairly, and at a reasonable cost.  There are several examples where this trust has been violated, and thus, the desire for something better was created.

Here is an illustrative example of a clear violation of consumer trust.  Wells Fargo, a banking giant in the USA, created about 3.5 million ghost accounts so that they could charge customers for services they did not ask for or need.  The unwary customers who did not notice the unwanted extra accounts would continue to pay the fees, trusting that their bank was taking good care of them.  It was later discovered that Wells Fargo was also signing up customers for unwanted insurance policies and again charging customers for services they did not ask for.  This is fraud on a large scale, and here is what was learned … We Cannot Trust the “Trusted” Intermediaries.

We also see that financial institutions have been making record profits for a long time, levying transaction fees that generate large profits.  It’s not hard to see the need for a new technology to enable secure, reliable, cheap, and transparent transactions without the potential for manipulation and rip-offs by governments and large financial institutions.  All of this is what blockchain technology can bring to the realm of financial transactions.

The key difference is that current systems are “centralized”, whereas blockchain is “distributed”.  What really matters is that “trust” is 100% transparent in the distributed model.  Blockchain technology is based on a distributed ledger (a distributed database). It is distributed in the sense that there are complete copies of the whole database scattered all around the world.

In today’s world, almost all financial institutions, companies, governments, and individuals keep their records in a centralized database, usually with a centralized back-up of that one database.  You only get to see the parts of that data that concern you, and you must trust that “privacy policies” are strong and that data integrity standards are high. These centralized databases can be manipulated, records can be altered, hard drives can fail, data can be lost, and the records represent only one party’s view of any given transaction.

In the world of blockchain (distributed ledger technology), the opposite is true. The transactions recorded on the ledger represent a transaction that takes place between the parties involved, and is confirmed by the blockchain network via a consensus. This is “trust” on a LARGE scale.  Once a transaction is written to the ledger, it is immutable – it cannot be changed.  The details of each transaction are visible to everyone, but the identification of the individual parties is protected by the use of private keys.  Private Key owners can identify their own transactions in the ledger, but cannot determine the identity of the parties in any other transaction. The conceptual diagram below shows the difference between a centralized, a decentralized, and a distributed network.

Vive le difference !!

Centralized vs Distributed

It wasn’t long ago that the LIBOR scandal uncovered that many of the most “trusted” financial institutions in the world were manipulating interest rates for their own benefit.  Banks like Barclays, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, UBS, Citigroup, Bank of America, and the Royal Bank of Scotland were found to be right in the middle of these manipulations.  The corruption and violations of trust are seemingly endless. Blockchain to the rescue !!

Crypto crash!

We have called the crypto sector the “wild west” and this past week was another great example of the volatility in this space. We saw how governments are paranoid about crypto currencies, as both China and South Korea expressed plans to clamp down, or even ban crypto currency trading.

The South Korean government officials warned that crypto currencies  encourage illicit behavior, such as money laundering, tax evasion, and gambling. It also stated that it needed to protect these investors from losing their money.

South Korea is one of the largest crypto currency traders alongside the US and Japan, and the news of a ban set off panic in the South Korean crypto markets. As we can see, the bitcoin price dropped from $14,444 to $9,477 before recovering some of the losses and trading at $11,275 at the time of this writing.

Bitcoin 0119

But it turns out South Korea is still evaluating the situation and has not made a decision. It is expected to deliver a decision sometime next week.

The threat of a ban has caused quite an uproar from the masses. As of today, an online petition on the website of the presidential Blue House had drawn more than 221,000 signatures opposing the move. Heavy internet traffic briefly crashed the site.

While we welcome a proper regulated oversight, we are not of the belief that politicians and bureaucrats are better qualified to tell the people what they can or cannot do with their hard earned money.

This “wild west” show is going to remain volatile for quite a while. For those who do wish to invest in crypto currencies, this volatility just gave them another opportunity to get in at much lower prices.

If you are ready to make a speculative investment into this disruptive technology, and want to receive all current and future recommendations from Crypto TREND Premium, we are keeping our Early Bird Special offer open for a little longer, to give our readers the opportunity to get started at a $175 discount. To take advantage of this special offer, click here.

Stay tuned!

Everything you need to know about the coming disruptive technologies such as AI, VR, 5G, Blockchain, Crypto Currencies & More - Free!!
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The Wild West Crypto show continues – and our 5 picks have an average monthly gain of 109%

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Here is a question that comes up often:  How do I choose which crypto currency to invest in – aren’t they all the same ?

There is no doubt that Bitcoin has captured the lion’s share of the crypto currency (CC) market, and that is largely due to its FAME.  This phenomenon is much like what is happening in national politics around the world, where a candidate captures the majority of votes based on FAME, rather than any proven abilities or qualifications to govern a nation.  At Crypto Trend we acknowledge Bitcoin’s FAME, which in many ways is well earned.  Bitcoin is the pioneer in this market space and continues to garner almost all of the market headlines.  This FAME does not mean that it is perfect for the job, and it is fairly well known that Bitcoin has limitations and problems that need to be resolved, however, there is disagreement in the Bitcoin world on how best to resolve the problems.  As the problems fester, there is ongoing opportunity for developers to initiate new coins that address particular situations, and thus distinguish themselves from the approximately 1300 other coins in this market space. Let’s look at two Bitcoin rivals and explore how they differ from Bitcoin, and from each other:

Ethereum (ETH) – The Ethereum coin is known as ETHER.  The main difference from Bitcoin is that Ethereum uses “smart contracts” which are account holding objects on the Ethereum blockchain.  Smart Contracts are defined by their creators and they can interact with other contracts, make decisions, store data, and send ETHER to others.  The execution and services they offer are provided by the Ethereum network, all of which is beyond what the Bitcoin or any other blockchain network can do.  Smart Contracts can act as your autonomous agent, obeying your instructions and rules for spending currency and initiating other transactions on the Ethereum network.

Ripple (XRP) – This coin and the Ripple network also have unique features that make it much more than just a digital currency like Bitcoin.  Ripple has developed the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP), a powerful financial tool that allows exchanges on the Ripple network to transfer funds quickly and efficiently. The basic idea is to place money in “gateways” where only those who know the password can unlock the funds.  For financial institutions this opens up huge possibilities, as it simplifies cross-border payments, reduces costs, and provides transparency and security.  This is all done with creative and intelligent use of blockchain technology.

At Crypto Trend we strive to provide you with up to date and useful information in the quest to understand this new world of crypto currencies.  The mainstream media is covering this market with breaking news stories almost every day, however, there is little depth to their stories … they are mostly just dramatic headlines.

The Wild West Crypto show continues…

The 5 stocks crypto/blockchain picks are up an average of 109% since December 11/17. The wild swings continue with daily gyrations. Yesterday we had South Korea and China the latest to try to shoot down the boom in cryptocurrencies.

On Thursday, South Korea’s justice minister, Park Sang-ki, sent global bitcoin prices temporarily plummeting and virtual coin markets into turmoil when he reportedly said regulators were preparing legislation to ban cryptocurrency trading. Later that same day, the South Korea Ministry of Strategy and Finance, one of the main member agencies of the South Korean government’s cryptocurrency regulation task force, came out and said that their department  does not agree with the premature statement of the Ministry of Justice about a potential cryptocurrency trading ban.

While the South Korean government says cryptocurrency trading is nothing more than gambling, and they are worried that the industry will leave many citizens in the poor house, their real concern is a loss of tax revenue. This is the same concern every government has.

China has grown into one of the world’s biggest sources of cryptocurrency mining, but now the government is rumoured to be looking into regulating the electric power used by the mining computers. Over 80% of the electrical power to mine Bitcoin today comes from China. By shutting down miners, the government would make it harder for Bitcoin users to verify transactions. Mining operations will move to other places, but China is particularly attractive due to very low electricity and land costs. If China follows through with this threat, there will be a temporary loss of mining capacity, which would result in Bitcoin users seeing longer timers and higher costs for transaction verification.

This wild ride will continue, and much like the internet boom, we will see some big winners, and eventually, some big losers. Also, similar to the internet boom, or the uranium boom, it is those who get in early who will prosper, while the mass investors always show up at the end, buying in at the top.

If you would like to step into this wild, but potentially very profitable sector, our Early Bird Special Offer is still available. We offer you Crypto TREND Premium at $175 off the regular rate of $699.95, so you pay only $525.00.

Click here to take advantage of this offer.

Stay Tuned!

Stay Tuned!

Getting started with crypto

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Investing in the Crypto Currency market space can be a little daunting for the traditional investor, as investing directly in Crypto Currency (CC) requires the use of new tools and adopting some new concepts.  At Crypto Trend we will continue to provide information and guidance, so if you do decide to dip your toes in this market, you will have a very good idea of what to do and what to expect.

Buying and selling CC’s requires you to choose an Exchange that deals in the products you want to buy and sell, be they Bitcoin, Litecoin, or any of the over 1300 other tokens in play. In previous editions we have briefly described the products and services available at a few exchanges, to give you an idea of the different offerings.  There are many Exchanges to choose from and they all do things in their own way.  Look for the things that matter to you, for example:

– Deposit policies, methods, and costs of each method
– Withdrawal policies and costs
– Which fiat currencies they deal in for deposits and withdrawals
– Products they deal in, such as crypto coins, gold, silver etc
– Costs for transactions
– where is this Exchange based ?? ( USA / UK / South Korea / Japan … )

Be prepared for the Exchange setup procedure to be detailed and lengthy, as the Exchanges generally want to know a lot about you.  It is akin to setting up a new bank account, as the Exchanges are brokers of valuables, and they want to be sure that you are who you say you are, and that you are a trustworthy person to deal with. It seems that “trust’ is earned over time, as the Exchanges typically allow only small investment amounts to begin with.

Your Exchange will keep your CC’s in storage for you.  Many offer “cold storage” which simply means that your coins are kept “offline” until you indicate that you want to do something with them.  There are quite a few news stories of Exchanges being hacked, and many coins stolen.  Think about your coins being in something like a bank account at the Exchange, but remember that your coins are digital only, and that all blockchain transactions are irreversible.  Unlike your bank, these Exchanges do not have deposit insurance, so be aware that hackers are always out there trying everything they can to get at your Crypto Coins and steal them.  Exchanges generally offer Password protected accounts, and many offer 2-factor authorization schemes – something to seriously consider in order to protect your account from hackers.

Given that hackers love to prey on Exchanges and your account, we always recommend that you use a digital wallet for your coins.  It is relatively easy to move coins between your Exchange account and your wallet.  Be sure to choose a wallet that handles all the coins you want to be buying and selling.  Your wallet is also the device you use to “spend” your coins with the merchants who accept CC’s for payment.  The two types of wallets are “hot” and “cold”.  Hot wallets are very easy to use but they leave your coins exposed to the internet, but only on your computer, not the Exchange server.  Cold wallets use offline storage mediums, such as specialized hardware memory sticks and simple hard copy printouts.  Using a cold wallet makes transactions more complicated, but they are the safest.

Your wallet contains the “private” key that authorizes all the transactions you want to initiate.  You also have a “public” key that is shared on the network so that all users can identify your account when involved in a transaction with you.  When hackers get your private key, they can move your coins anywhere they want, and it is irreversible.

Despite all the challenges and wild volatility,  we are confident that the underlying blockchain technology is a game changer, and will revolutionize how transactions are conducted going forward.

If you are ready to make a speculative investment into this disruptive technology, and want to receive all current and future recommendations from Crypto TREND Premium, we are keeping our Early Bird Special offer open for a little longer, to give our readers the opportunity to get started at a $175 discount. To take advantage of this special offer, click here.
Stay tuned!

Crypto Update – January 2/18

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Yesterday we issued our 6th crypto/blockchain recommendation to subscribers of Crypto TREND Premium. There are currently 1,387 crypto currencies, so it is indeed challenging selecting which ones to purchase. At the time of this writing, the five recommendations we have made to date are up an average of 92% in less than a month. With so many cryptos now available, Crypto TREND and Crypto TREND Premium are your guides to explore this crypto jungle and to recognize which are the ones with the biggest upside potential.

By selecting each of the six recommendations we have made to date, subscribers can begin creating a nice small crypto portfolio. This sector reminds us of the DOT COM bull run where hundreds of companies included DOT COM in their name. Same story with the uranium bull market, where we saw tons of companies that owned nothing but “moose pastures” renaming themselves by adding “uranium” to their name. We are seeing similar actions today where companies are adding “Crypto” or “Blockchain” to the their name. Recently, Long Island Ice Tea changed their name to Long Blockchain Corp, believe it or not.

When researching the crypto and blockchain world, understand that many of the people writing about cryptos are often very biased and have their own agendas. Many are holding certain tokens and are doing their best to promote that currency and talk down others. Sifting through all this material and finding the diamonds in the rough is what the Crypto TREND team does.

As with the uranium bull market, there will be many players trying to make a quick hit with a new crypto currency or blockchain application, but in the end, only the ones that are true disruptors, ones that will change the way we do business, will survive. We are looking for companies that have a clear plan to make a difference, such as companies that are using blockchain to solve global challenges, to make transactions cheaper, faster, and more secure for businesses and the general public.

The Crypto TREND team will continue to provide in-depth research and our Crypto TREND Premium will turn that research and analysis into recommendations that we feel will come out on top as this “wild west” sector becomes more mainstream. For investors there is always at least one big barrier to entering a new bull market, and these barriers give the early investors the opportunity to make potential massive gains. While we believe that crypto currencies and blockchain technology are real game changers, possibly on a par with how the internet changed our world, there are numerous obstacles that will likely keep this sector incredibly volatile in these early days.

First, for the average investor, trying to understand blockchain technology tends to cause a painful brain cramp. While almost all investors use debit and credit cards daily, virtually none of these users have any real understanding of the technology of how these transactions work. The key is that they “trust” it to work perfectly. With blockchain technology, even though virtually every bank and government is looking to use this technology, most investors do not yet “trust” it.

Another barrier for crypto is that it is a convoluted process to get started as an investor. Most exchanges that accept credit or debit deposits only allow very small limits until you have completed a number of successful transactions, making the initial accumulation of tokens quite slow and cumbersome. Also, the concept of setting up a digital wallet is a whole new mindset that many find quite challenging.

And then there is the risk that governments will try to outlaw crypto currencies. While we initially felt that the threat of crypto currencies was far too great for governments to allow to succeed, the more they become mainstream the more difficult it becomes for governments to shut them down. With government so heavily indebted, and hungry to tax every transaction they can get their hands on, this threat is still valid. It is quite interesting to note that ever since China and South Korea threatened to clamp down on bitcoin, it rallied to new highs.

As noted earlier, Crypto TREND Premium has just made its 6th recommendation. If you are ready to make a speculative investment into this disruptive technology, and want to receive all current and future recommendations from Crypto TREND Premium, we are keeping our Early Bird Special offer open for a little longer, to give our readers the opportunity to get started at a $175 discount. To take advantage of this special offer, CLICK HERE.

Update – December 23/17

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There is ample evidence that crypto coins are on a wild ride, so what is the prudent investor to do? At Crypto Trend we are market contrarians, meaning that when the mob moves left, we think it’s time to move right, but we also suggest having an exit strategy to limit risks and losses.

Lately, almost all Crypto Coin (CC) prices have taken a hit …

Bitcoin – down over 22%   Ethereum – down 32%   Litecoin – down 30%

This level of volatility is not uncommon, as digital currencies have seen multiple violent corrections.  Although painful in the short term, downturns are expected in this market, but it does not keep CC’s down for long.  Remember that Bitcoin broke the $19,000 USD mark in December.

This latest sell-off has a few causes, including …

–          the abrupt introduction of Bitcoin Cash to the Coinbase Exchange

–          allegations of insider trading at the Coinbase Exchange

–          the hack of Youbit, the South Korean Exchange

–          the inventor of Litecoin, Charlie Lee, divesting all his Litecoin

At Crypto Trend we are confident that the digital currency market is here to stay.  Crypto Trend is here because this is a maturing market, not a dying one. As with all investments it is important to take gains when they are available, putting some money back in your pocket when profits are at hand, while keeping some invested for future profits.  To track CC prices, we find this to be a useful website:   http://cryptotrend.io/#/

Just remember that CC prices change quickly and frequently – we’re talking about every few minutes, so this is an extremely “dynamic” market space.

Following the lead by the CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange), the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) started selling Bitcoin Futures early this week, expanding the ability of large institutional and professional investors to get in on the Bitcoin frenzy within the walls of a regulated exchange.  Trading was mixed to start, however, these activities, plus the myriad of crypto currency news stories, pushed the price of Bitcoin to almost $20,000 USD, which has corrected over the last few days by about 25%.  Now the CBOE has applied to the SEC to launch 6 Bitcoin based ETF’s.  For the smaller retail investor, E*Trade has just announced that it will list CBOE futures.  Other exchanges, such as TD Ameritrade and ALLY Financial both list Bitcoin futures.  This all contributes to the evidence that crypto currencies are moving rapidly toward the mainstream, and provides strong indications that CC’s will be with us for a long time.

You no doubt have noticed the mainstream media has suddenly become obsessed with all things “crypto.” But unfortunately, like most things the mainstream media covers, they really have no understanding of what they’re talking about.  Not even a week ago these folks were trumpeting the record highs in Bitcoin, forecasting prices were heading to the moon, but today, their headlines are proclaiming the “end of the crypto bubble.”

The problem with the mainstream media is they fail to grasp that these wild swings are normal in this “wild west” sector. We saw last week how Long Island Ice Tea changed its name to Long Island Blockchain.  This is a new mania, similar to what we saw in the DOT COM bull market, where everyone changed their name to give the appearance of a tech company. Today, we are seeing companies include “Crypto” or “Blockchain” in their name.

We will continue to keep you updated!

Crypto TREND Premium

 In less than two weeks, our Crypto TREND Premium service if off to a great start. The five recommendations are up an average of 54.8%, with the best performer up 121%, and the worst down 9.7%. The other three had gains of 57%, 55%, and 51%. And that is in just 12 days!!

While it’s possible this crypto bubble is about to pop and the boom could end any time, as noted above, we believe that this is a maturing market, and that Blockchain is a disruptive technology, one that will change the way business is conducted, simiilar to how the internet changed our lives.

The wild moves in the past month, and last week’s decline, are well within normal range in this frenzied sector.  If you believe like we do, that crypto and especially the blockchain technology have the potential to be global game changers, and you are interested in speculating on cryptocurrencies, then this recent correction is giving you a great opportunity to buy in at lower prices.

We have a number of cryptos and stocks in our cross-hairs, and will be pulling the trigger on them soon.

If you are ready to dip your toe into this sector, you really want to subscribe to our Crypto TREND – Premium service to be your guide in this new and exciting market.  We are currently offering a 25% Early Bird discount off the regular price of $699.95, meaning you pay only $525.00.

If you do decide to get on board in this sector, understand that more than any other sector, investing here will be only for your most speculative capital, money that you can afford to lose.

It is going to be a wild ride, and if you want to climb on board, Click Here.

 Stay Tuned!!

More crypto questions answered

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Below we answer two of the more frequent questions we are receiving:

1. Can you suggest some crypto exchanges to use?

There is a plethora of exchange sites available and each has its pros and cons. The services and fees seem to be changing quite frequently, so be sure to verify the fees and exchange rates each time you make a transaction.

When assessing various exchanges it really depends on how often you plan to make purchases or trades.  Here are the key criteria that we focus on:

Fees

Check each exchange that you are thinking of using. Most of the ones we checked do have fee-related information on their sites. Prior to depositing any funding, be sure you understand the deposit, transaction, and withdrawal fees. Fees can differ substantially depending on the exchange you use.

Exchange rates

This is an area you need to watch closely. As highlighted in The Trend Letter every week, currency exchange rates fluctuate all the time. Not all exchanges offer good exchange rates, so you need to check with each transaction. We have seen variances of up to 10%, so shop around.

Methods of Payment

Especially when getting started, you want an exchange that allows you to fund in a fiat currency ($US, $CAN, Euro etc), not all exchanges do. Then you want to know what payment methods are available on the exchange. Do they allow credit card,  debit card, wire transfer, etc.? For each payment method, most exchanges charge different fees, so confirm each time you fund from fiat, and when exchanging between different cryptocurrencies, or when you transfer to someone else (eg: purchase a product via Bitcoin).

Verification

Most of the cryptocurrency trading exchanges require some sort of ID verification in order to make deposits and withdrawals. In some cases this verification can take a day or more, and can be a bit tedious, but remember it is done to protect from scams and money laundering.

Location

Depending where you are accessing from, there are some restrictions on user functionality based on geographic location. Check with the exchange you want to join to ensure you will have full access to all tools and functions,

Here is a list of some of the more popular exchanges:

Coinbase
One of the major exchanges, based in the USA, with many subsidiaries around the world.  Coinbase is relatively easy for new investors to use, however transaction fees are higher than many other exchanges.  As with most CC Exchanges, they permit only a low initial funding which will increase over time as trust is earned.  Currently, Coinbase only has three cryptocurrencies available. Transferring your CC’s to your digital wallet is easy and free.
Web Site: https://www.coinbase.com

Kraken
Based in San Francisco, and very popular with Bitcoin and Ethereum investors in Europe, Kraken has a solid reputation and a good selection of CC’s, and intends to add more in future.  Fees are in line with other exchange averages, and they have good charting tools using TradingView.
Web Site: https www.kraken.com

Coinsquare
A Canadian exchange based in Toronto, which bodes well, as Canada has a sound financial and regulatory environment.  Coinsquare has a unique bundle of offerings, such as gold bars, silver bars, silver coins, as well as a good variety of CC’s and global currencies.  They also feature a “Quick Trade” window for very fast quotes and transactions.  Fees are in line with most other CC Exchanges.
Web Site: https://coinsquare.io

Cex.io
Cex.io provides a wide range of services for using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The platform lets users easily trade fiat money with cryptocurrencies and conversely, cryptocurrencies for fiat money. For those looking to trade bitcoins professionally, the platform offers personalized and user-friendly trading dashboards and margin trading. Alternatively, CEX also offers a brokerage service which provides novice traders an extremely simple way to buy Bitcoin at prices that are more or less in line with the market rate. The Cex.io website is secure and intuitive and cryptocurrencies can be stored in safe cold storage.
Web Site: https://cex.io/

QuadrigaCX
Another Canadian exchange, this one based in Vancouver, with a current selection of seven CC’s.  The web site is well designed and easy to navigate.  Funding options are varied and fees are a little higher than average.  The exchange does not have charting or analytical tools, but is a solid contender in the small scale exchange space, with good security and performance.
Web Site:  https://www.quadrigacx.com/

2. With many countries looking to regulate Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) what does that mean for cryptocurrencies?

ICOs are a form of crowdfunding that allows companies to raise funds by offering a digital token.  The ICO craze has gotten out of hand. In the first half of the year, ICOs raised more than $1 billion for blockchain-based projects—many of which consist of little more than a white paper and some marketing spiel about disrupting various industries with a new kind of Internet money.

It doesn’t take a financial genius to understand that many ICOs operate like classic pump and dump scams or pyramid schemes. Get people to throw money behind an asset or opportunity they don’t understand all that well; hope the price of the mostly worthless junk inflates; cash out. There are too many hucksters out there simply looking to make a quick buck.

This past June, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it would be increasing ICO regulation. In September, China stepped in and outlawed ICOs, and later in September South Korea followed China’s lead.  There are now over 30 countries looking to regulate ICOs.

We see this as a positive step to legitimize the ICO process. Regulation would help the crack down on fraud, which helps bolster public confidence over the long haul. It is another step along with regulation through the Bitcoin futures trading that recently opened on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) on Sunday, and the coming futures trading on the CME exchange later in December.

_______________

The Crypto TREND Premium service is for those who are ready to dip their toes into this “wild West” sector, one that is very volatile, but with that risk  comes the potential for some spectacular gains. Understand, this sector is not for the weak of heart.

Crypto TREND Premium’s first three recommendations are doing very well, after only a few days. There will be two more recommendations going out late today or early tomorrow, so if you are ready to take the plunge, don’t miss these new recommendations.

For the next week we are offering a 25% discount off the regular price of $699.95, meaning you pay only $525.00.

It is going to be a wild ride, and if you want to climb on board, click here.

Don’t miss the next recommendation from Crypto TREND Premium

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We launched Crypto TREND – Premium on Monday, making three recommendations. In this incredibly volatile sector, each of those recommendations are up significantly, after only two days, and one of them is up over 100%. 

As reported in yesterday’s issue of Crypto TREND, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) began selling Bitcoin futures contracts on Sunday, and the initial response has been positive, driving Bitcoin prices higher. The debut was relatively orderly, in contrast with expectations oi high volatility and heavy short selling.

If you are ready to dip your toe into this sector, you really want to subscribe to our Crypto TREND – Premium service to be your guide in this “wild west” market.  For the next week we are offering a 25% discount off the regular price of $699.95, meaning you pay only $525.00.

If you do decide to get on board in this sector, be sure to only invest capital that you can afford to lose. While we believe there are still big gains to be made in this space, this is an incredibly speculative market, so invest accordingly.

It is going to be a wild ride, and if you want to climb on board, click the button below.

 Stay Tuned!!

Crypto TREND – Fifth edition

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As we expected, since publishing Crypto TREND  we have received many questions from readers. In this edition we will answer the most common one.

What kind of changes are coming that could be game changers in the cryptocurrency sector?

One of the biggest changes that will impact the cryptocurrency world is an alternative method of block validation called Proof of Stake (PoS). We will try to keep this explanation fairly high level, but it is important to have a conceptual understanding of what the difference is and why it is a significant factor.

Remember that the underlying technology with digital currencies is called blockchain and most of the current digital currencies use a validation protocol called Proof of Work (PoW).

With traditional methods of payment, you need to trust a third party, such as Visa, Interact, a bank, or a cheque clearing house to settle your transaction. These trusted entities are “centralized”, meaning they keep their own private ledger which stores the transaction’s history and balance of each account. They will show the transactions to you, and you must agree that it is correct, or launch a dispute. Only the parties to the transaction ever see it.

With Bitcoin and most other digital currencies, the ledgers are “decentralized”, meaning everyone on the network gets a copy, so no one has to trust a third party, such as a bank, because anyone can directly verify the information. This verification process is called “distributed consensus.”

PoW requires that “work” be done in order to validate a new transaction for entry on the blockchain.  With cryptocurrencies, that validation is done by “miners”, who must solve complex algorithmic problems. As the algorithmic problems become more complex, these “miners” need more expensive and more powerful computers to solve the problems ahead of everyone else. “Mining” computers are often specialized, typically using ASIC chips (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), which are more adept and faster at solving these difficult puzzles.

Here is the process:

  • Transactions are bundled together in a ‘block’.
  • The miners verify that the transactions within each block are legitimate by solving the hashing algorithm puzzle, known as the “proof of work problem”.
  • The first miner to solve the block’s “proof of work problem” is rewarded with a small amount of cryptocurrency.
  • Once verified, the transactions are stored in the public blockchain  across the entire network.
  • As the number of transactions and miners increase, the difficulty of solving the hashing problems also increases.

Although PoW helped get blockchain and decentralized, trustless digital currencies off the ground, it has some real shortcomings, especially with the amount of electricity these miners are consuming trying to solve the “proof of work problems” as fast as possible.  According to Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, Bitcoin miners are using more energy than 159 countries, including Ireland. As the price of each Bitcoin rises, more and more miners try to solve the problems, consuming even more energy.

All of that power consumption just to validate the transactions has motivated many in the digital currency space to seek out an alternative method of validating the blocks, and the leading candidate is a method called “Proof of Stake” (PoS).

PoS is still an algorithm, and the purpose is the same as in the proof of work, but the process to reach the goal is quite different. With PoS, there are no miners, but instead we have “validators.” PoS relies on trust and the knowledge that all the people who are validating transactions have skin in the game.

This way, instead of utilizing energy to answer PoW puzzles, a PoS validator is limited to validating a percentage of transactions that is reflective of his or her ownership stake. For instance, a validator who owns 3% of the Ether available can theoretically validate only 3% of the blocks.

In PoW, the chances of you solving the proof of work problem depends on how much computing power you have. With PoS, it depends on how much cryptocurrency you have at “stake”. The higher the stake you have, the higher the chances that you solve the block. Instead of winning crypto coins, the winning validator receives transaction fees.

Validators enter their stake by ‘locking up’ a portion of their fund tokens. Should they try to do something malicious against the network, like creating an ‘invalid block’, their stake or security deposit will be forfeited. If they do their job and do not violate the network, but do not win the right to validate the block, they will get their stake or deposit back.

If you understand the basic difference between PoW and PoS, that is all you need to know. Only those who plan to be miners or validators need to understand all the ins and outs of these two validation methods. Most of the general public who wish to possess cryptocurrencies will simply buy them through an exchange, and not participate in the actual mining or validating of block transactions.

Most in the crypto sector believe that in order for digital currencies to survive long-term, digital tokens must switch over to a PoS model. At the time of writing this post, Ethereum is the second largest digital currency behind Bitcoin and their development team has been working on their PoS algorithm called “Casper” over the last few years. It is expected that we will see Casper implemented in 2018, putting Ethereum ahead of all the other large cryptocurrencies.

As we have seen previously in this sector, major events such as a successful  implementation of Casper could send Ethereum’s prices much higher.  We’ll be keeping you updated in future issues of Crypto TREND.

Crypto TREND Premium

We have received many questions asking if we will be making specific recommendations, similar to what we do in The Trend Letter & Trend Technical Trader. The answer is yes, we will be making recommendations on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology companies. These recommendations will be in our Crypto TREND Premium service. This service is a subscriber only service which costs $699.95 per year. For those who are already subscribers to The Trend Letter and/or Trend Technical Trader, we are offering Crypto TREND – Premium at a $300 discount for only $399.95.

We will be sending out links to subscribe to Crypto TREND – Premium in the very near future.

Note that we will continue to publish this free Crypto TREND newsletter to help readers who are not yet ready to take the plunge and invest in this space to better understand this very volatile digital currency sector and the amazing potential of the blockchain technology.

Tomorrow is the first day that Bitcoin futures can be traded on the CBOE Global Exchange, and in a week they can be traded on the CME Exchange. These are two key events that will open the door to greater inflows of institutional money, while also making it easier to bet on bitcoin’s decline.

We will be watching.

Stay tuned!

Crypto TREND – Fourth edition

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At the time of this writing, the price of Bitcoin is $17, 049, up over $9, 971 or 140% in the last month. In the first issue of Crypto TREND we warned that the cryptocurrency space was the “wild west”, and recent action certainly confirms that status.

Bitcoin1207

Here is a chart that compares the rise of Bitcoin to the rise of the S&P 500 over the past seven years.

BitcoinvsS&P

While Bitcoin has been red-hot, the other cryptocurrencies have been a little less volatile, with Ethereum up only 48%, and Litecoin up 57%.  The reason for the latest surge in Bitcoin’s price is that the CBOE Global Markets is due to launch Bitcoin futures on Sunday, December 10th, and the following week, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is slated to open its own Bitcoin futures contract.

These futures contracts on mainstream exchanges will bring a new type of investor into the Bitcoin space, and we will get a reading of how large institutional investors view Bitcoin.  After the initial frenzy, a clear picture will emerge of how many are ‘shorting’ Bitcoin, and how many are going ‘long’.  This is the first opportunity for Hedge Funds and large institutional investors to pile in.  The results will be telling, and we will be watching closely.  As mentioned in our third edition, Nasdaq is planning to launch Bitcoin futures in the first half of 2018 – another way for retail and institutional investors to put significant amounts into this market.  The first ten years have been phenomenal – this next year could be even more so.  If you were an early investor and bought Bitcoin in February 2011 and held on till today, you would be sitting on gains of over 1,000,000%!

There is no shortage of opinions and predictions about cryptocurrencies (CC’s), but it is still too soon for many investors to take the big leap of faith required.  There is hyperbole on both the positive and the negative side of the cryptocurrency debate.

Detractors include:

Warren Buffet…

“The idea that bitcoin has some huge intrinsic value is just a joke, in my view.”

Credit Suisse Group AG CEO Tidjane Thiam…

“The only reason today to buy or sell bitcoin is to make money, and such speculations has rarely led to a happy end,”

Themis Trading LLC…

“A bitcoin future would be placing a seal of approval around a very risky, unregulated instrument that has a history of fraud and manipulation.”

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Diamond…

“If you’re stupid enough to buy it, you’ll pay the price for it one day.”

“The other thing I’ve always said about bitcoin, governments are going to crush it one day. Governments like to know where the money is, who has it and what you’re doing with it, in case you haven’t noticed.”

One of the most dramatic of the negative outlooks is this from Pan Gongsheng, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China…

“So there’s only one thing we can do – watch it from the bank of a river.  One day you’ll see Bitcoin’s dead body float away in front of you”.

On the other side of the debate, there are many prominent proponents:

Bill Gates…

“Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient.”

Dr. Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google…

“Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement and the ability to create something that is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value”

Kay Van-Petersen, Saxo Bank analyst…

“This is not a fad, cryptocurrencies are here to stay.  There will emerge two to three main ones. Bitcoin will be one of those. And the reason is the first-mover advantage, the scale and the pioneering.”

Mark Cuban, Tech billionaire…

“While it’s hard to establish any intrinsic value for bitcoin or any of the cryptocurrencies, none of this has anything to do with the applications that can be built with blockchain. The question is whether great companies can be financed and built, and I think the answer is yes.”

The Chinese government has shut down Bitcoin Exchanges and banned Initial Coin Offerings (ICO’s).  Measures to curb the use of CC’s are gaining momentum in Asia as India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia have issued warnings.  Some governments have banned the use of Bitcoin as a payment tool. The European Central Bank, the Bank of France, the German Central Bank, and Vladimir Putin have warned against investing in Bitcoin at these high prices.  Governments are starting to realize that a currency they don’t control is a currency they cannot inflate, or tax.

While the cryptocurrency space will continue to act like the “wild west”, as Cuban stated, it is the underlying Blockchain technology where we believe great gains can be made over the next 10 years.

In the last edition we talked about exploring ways to invest in this market space indirectly, by investing in publicly held companies that utilize Blockchain technology, or are involved in Blockchain related projects.  We are watching about fifteen of these companies, to see if they become worthy investments.  Also, we are aware that efforts are being made to launch Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) that track Crypto Currencies.  ETF’s will make it easy for the retail investor to use their current Broker or Stock Exchange to make a “long” or “short” bet on crypto coins.

Also, we are aware that efforts are being made to launch Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) that track Crypto Currencies.  ETF’s will make it easy for the retail investor to use their current Broker or Stock Exchange to make a “long” or “short” bet on crypto coins.     

If you are looking to buy some cryptocurrencies, understand that more than any other sector, investing here will be only for your most speculative capital, money that you can afford to lose.

CRYPTO TREND will be your guide if and when you are ready.

Stay Tuned!

Third Edition

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Every day in the investment world there is a deluge of news and chatter about BITCOIN, the other 1000 digital tokens, and the underlying technology of them all –  Blockchain.  At Crypto TREND we sort out what matters and provide you with solid information that you can use to make informed, rational, and profitable investment decisions. Some early investors in this space have seen returns of 10,000%, 100,000%, and even over 1,000,000%.  As we said in issue #1, we are in the “wild west” phase of the Crypto Coin (CC) market right now, however, there are several indications that the CC market is moving towards becoming mainstream.  Many investors want more credibility and stability in the CC market space, and that may be coming.

  • The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has received regulatory approval and is preparing to launch Crypto Coin (CC) futures contracts as of December 18.
  • Nasdaq is planning to launch Bitcoin Futures in the first half of 2018
  • The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the largest US options exchange, is planning to launch its own Bitcoin derivatives trading products by early 2018.
  • The Bank of Canada is considering the merits of establishing a digital currency.  Of course, this is somewhat troubling, as governments that are heavily in debt want to find ways to see and tax every transaction they can find.  Many investors see anonymity and low fees as two of the great benefits of CC’s.  Bank involvement in the CC market place could conceivably compromise or erase those benefits.
  • Many governments around the world are actively considering if and how to regulate and tax the CC markets.  This is an indication of how significant these markets are becoming.

To gauge for yourself how close the CC market is to becoming mainstream, try this little test.  When you are with a group of friends or relatives, ask how many have heard of the BITCOIN phenomenon, and if so, how many have made a purchase.  At this stage, there will likely be many who have heard of BITCOIN, but very few or none who have actually invested.  We believe the number of CC investors will increase dramatically.

At Crypto TREND we see opportunities to invest in this market space, but only on a speculative basis. We see two different investment strategies to explore and consider:

One – to invest directly in the various tokens and other offerings available at the CC Exchanges.

There are many CC Exchanges, and below we provide a brief list of exchanges that offer a variety of products and services.  To become a client, most of the Exchanges will require you to be “verified” and it will take some time to go through the verification process and the initial “funding” process.  Funding will typically involve a fee, as you need to move fiat currency into your CC Exchange account in order to purchase CC’s.  Compared to dealing with your current Broker or Exchange, these Exchanges may seem quite awkward, but they are all in a relatively new market space and will need more time to develop into mature entities.  Each exchange offers a different selection of products for sale or exchange, but they all include BITCOIN – the original Crypto Coin.

Brief list of CC Exchanges:

COINBASE – One of the major exchanges, based in the USA, with many subsidiaries around the world.  Coinbase is relatively easy for new investors to use, however transaction fees are higher than many other exchanges.  As with most CC Exchanges, they permit only a low initial funding which will increase over time as trust is earned.  They have a limited selection of Alt-Coins available.  Transferring your CC’s to your digital wallet is easy and free.

Web Site: https://www.coinbase.com/

COINSQUARE –  A Canadian exchange based in Toronto, which bodes well, as Canada has a sound financial and regulatory environment.  COINSQUARE has a unique bundle of offerings, such as gold bars, silver bars, silver coins, as well as a good variety of CC’s and global currencies.  They also feature a “Quick Trade” window for very fast quotes and transactions.  Fees are in line with most other CC Exchanges.

Web Site: https://coinsquare.io

KRAKEN – Based in San Francisco, and very popular with Bitcoin and Ethereum investors in Europe, Kraken has a solid reputation and a good selection of CC’s, and intends to add more in future.  Fees are in line with other exchange averages, and they have good charting tools using TradingView.

Web Site: https www.kraken.com

QUADRIGA CX – Another Canadian exchange, this one based in Vancouver, with a current selection of seven CC’s.  The web site is well designed and easy to navigate.  Funding options are varied and fees are a little higher than average.  The exchange does not have charting or analytical tools, but is a solid contender in the small scale exchange space, with good security and performance.

Web Site:  https://www.quadrigacx.com/

Two – to invest in this market space indirectly.  This is a strategy that we think has great promise, as we note that there are increasingly more ways to invest in publicly held companies that utilize Blockchain technology, or are involved in funding Blockchain projects.  Also, there are efforts being made to launch ETF’s that track Crypto Currencies, which will make it easy for retail investors to use their current Broker or Stock Exchange to invest in crypto coins.

We are actively following about fifteen companies to determine if and when they will fit our model investment parameters.  With change happening so quickly, we expect to see many of these companies  come and go from the evolving list of rational investment choices. 

More than any other sector, investing here will be only for your most speculative capital, money that you can afford to lose.

CRYPTO TREND will be your guide if and when you are ready.

Stay Tuned!!