Are we being herded like sheep to the slaughter?
Many people understand that fiat (paper currency) money is based on confidence in that paper money and that it will be backed up by the government that issues that paper money.
With the rise of the war on cash as occurred in India in early November 2016, it is possible these actions will undermine the confidence people have in these governments integrity regarding their hard earned money. We believe this could be a test case, which if successful will be followed by other countries in short order. A few weeks later the Spanish government announces that it will reduce permissible cash transactions at banks from EUR 2,500 to EUR 1,000, that is over a 60% reduction. Could they have effectively limited a bank run?
The world's oldest bank is all but insolvent along with many others in Italy and possibly around the world, yet it continues to operate and lull people into thinking their deposits are safe. As it stands deposits up to EUR 100,000 are guaranteed by the EU, but anything over that limit would be subject to a bank bail in. A bank run on Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena would soon reveal the true state of it's financial position, yet this isn't happening. Whether the same measures imposed by Spain on cash transactions will be imposed by Italy or indeed across the entire EU remains to be seen, we wouldn't be surprised if they were.
Up to this point cash is a no no, and if it's in your account it is very difficult to withdraw in cash.
The Italian referendum on Sunday 4 December 2016 was a big no confidence vote in the current Italian government which could result in a remain or leave the EU referendum a few months down the line. Brexit was a major blow to the EU and we are almost certain they won't want contagion to spread to other EU members.
Should Italy vote to leave the EU, contagion will spread like a wildfire and the whole EU experiment would be in jeopardy. Would the EU elite's allow that to happen - absolutely not.
Here is a scenario.
We have many failing EU banks, with millions of peoples' money at risk of being bailed in aka stolen (due to draconian laws limiting cash withdrawals) and essentially bankrupting many many individuals and businesses etc as well as the entire EU establishment at risk of failure because of member countries populations wanting to leave.
Could the ECB step up and guarantee all deposits above EUR 100,000? This wouldn't initially be publicised of course as it would be aimed at restoring confidence in the banking system to prevent capital flight. However, when individual countries decide to vote on leaving or staying in the EU the ECB could publicise the fact that all bank deposits were guaranteed by them and there would be severe consequences if leaving the EU?
Possible or right out of a conspiracy theorists playbook?
Wow. What a mess they made of things. Everything paper no longer impacts me (except positively) due to the fact that I went cashless 2 years ago. No more banks! They can all slide slowly to the bottom of the ocean for all I care.
Here is what IS relevant. When Cypress fell, bitcoin quintupled. There is no room in bitcoin for all who will suddenly want out of paper when country after country realizes the house of cards is falling. The bitcoin network is slowing significantly. I notice it a lot as I am constantly trading - repeat. I don't hold paper cash!
Recently I dumped 20% of my btc, changing it over to steem, SBD, dash, gold, silver and supplies. I desperately want to hold my btc for the great inflow of buyers (at any price) that is coming. But when the network forces wait times of 2 and 3 hours, or just fails to confirm transactions, I don't want to have bitcoins alone.
Well done @sponge-bob. If more people followed your example things would turn very bad very quickly. Bitcoin certainly raised awareness and led the crypto-currency revolution. There are however a few unsavory crypto-currencies around and we suspect many people will be ripped off as they will panic and make an impulsive uninformed decision - always a bad combo. Gold, silver and a legit crypto-currency seem like the only viable options in a collapsing world.
I have seen so many lose lots of wealth. A friend lost 500 btc when it got locked up in MtGox. I saw that coming and told him to get out. He was kept in it by the "bandwagon" fallacy. "But... but, there are thousands of people all over the world in MtGox, and you know something they don't?" I was not the only one. I also got out of bitinstant, bitstamp, and bitfinex before things went sour. They are, after all, just web sites.
Just because everyone is doing something doesn't mean we should ignore common sense and the ability to observe the past and guess the near future. Duh.
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