tl;dr

There is no difference between the Torygraph and the Grauniad, at times. Czechoslovakia rings the death knell for excessive taxes across the EU.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

Several breaches of $100k to the upside starts to suggest that the window to buy BTC under six figures becomes smaller by the day.

Consensus appears to be growing that the 20th January, the start of the most crypto-friendly administration in the world, will likely be a buy the rumour, sell the news event. As you all know, I am always uncomfortable following consensus opinion in matters financial. The contrarian (and even today, supporting cryptos is contrarian to mainstream opinion, though those of us in the crypto bubble may not see it that way) wins more often than the consensus investor, in my experience.

In the not very distant future, the US is going to announce the start of its buying frenzy of 1mm BTC for its strategic reserve fund, accumulated over five years, none of which will be sold for a minimum of twenty years, and maybe never. That is not a sell the news event.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – The Torygraph is the Grauniad in disguise. Who knew?

And with a large dollop of the FT’s Alphaville (not known for its libertarian instincts) thrown in for good measure.

James Baxter-Derrington, Investment Editor of the Torygraph, has weighed in with some rather hilarious comments:

“Bitcoin is temporary at best …”

He follows up by asking why only one pension fund (that we know of) in the UK has invested in BTC, and that this fact demonstrates the worthlessness of crypto currencies. What? I mean, he is the Investment Editor of a leading newspaper. If he doesn’t understand the conservative approach rightly taken by pension funds (and cryptos are undoubtedly a risky investment), I gently suggest he has indisputably proved the truth of the Peter Principle.

Thrillingly, he even claims that “… you’ll probably make a swift 10-20pc return on Bitcoin (but) that doesn’t mean it has any value”. Can the man not count the dollars in his own wallet?

The best of all:

“Bitcoin bigots …”

As my Granny used to tell me, when your last (or indeed your first, in this instance) line of argument is nothing more than chucking insults around, look in the mirror, and you will see the loser staring right back at you.

…

The naysayers, caught in a trap of their own making, make ever more ridiculous claims to try to justify not being involved in the biggest and best revolution for humankind since Wheely MacWheel Face got to work. Not only that, they are also really, really annoyed at themselves for not recognising the financial opportunities that are still right in front of them, opportunities they cannot bring themselves to admit to.

Baxter-Derrington needs to look at this headline, and contemplate just how wrong it was always destined to be: 

At least the Mail had the sense to qualify their rather ill-informed headline.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – We are all Czech now

Or if not, we wish we were.

Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, has fired the starting gun on what will become an awesome fight to attract crypto business.

First up, any personal crypto transaction of less than $4,000 will not have to be reported.

But it gets better than that.

Any cryptos held for three years or more will be free of any capital gains tax.

In contrast, Italy will be increasing its rate of personal CGT applicable to crypto gains to a frighteningly high 42% instead of the current 26%.

If one was a mobile crypto entrepreneur, which out of Czechoslovakia or Italy would you base your business in? The winning country gains corporation tax, more workers, income tax from those workers, and more crypto dollars spent on goods and services within that country, all of which incur VAT.

Petr is working hard to give his country’s citizens a more comfortable life, by cutting taxes, not raising them, to everyone’s benefit.