Daily Archives: April 13, 2022

One spring day in a village just west of London, residents saw a man being muscled into a car in front of a nearby house. He reappeared with cuts and bruises 13 hours later, but the cops had already discovered the house was a cannabis-growing operation. A separate search of the mans home in a nearby town turned up something more intriguingsome of the first cryptocurrency that would ever be seized by U.K. police.

That era-defining 2017 case yielded a safety-deposit box containing jewelry, gold bars, 263,000 ($345,000) in cash, and an item that flummoxed the lead investigator, Matthew Durkin, a 19-year veteran of the Surrey police. It was a USB device found in the suspects study. The gadget was wrapped in a small notebook, which contained two strings of 12 random words. A young probationary officer recognized the device, a KeepKey, as a virtual currency holder and the words as seed phrases to access crypto wallets. Eventually, police discovered it held 295 Bitcoin.

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What Happens When Cops Seize Crypto and Bitcoin? - Bloomberg

Bitcoin( BTC 2.85% ) is one of the fastest-appreciating assets in the history of the world.

The original cryptocurrency was invented by the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, and reached a market value of $1 trillion by 2021, though it has since fallen below that mark.

The question of how much Bitcoin, as an asset class, should be worth has long been debated among its backers, and is front and center to Bitcoin's purpose, which most bulls tend to see as a form of digital gold.

Like gold, a precious metal whose volume is restricted by its rarity, the supply of Bitcoin is capped at 21 million units, though all Bitcoins won't have been mined until around 2140 because of the mathematical halving of Bitcoin rewards for miners.

Because of the argument that Bitcoin is a form of digital gold, many believe that Bitcoin's total value should approximate that of all the gold in the world, which is around $12 trillion today. With Bitcoin's market cap at $770 billion currently, reaching the total value of the world's gold would give Bitcoin holders a return of more than 1,600%, but one billionaire investor thinks Bitcoin should be worth way more than that.

Image source: Getty Images.

At the Bitcoin 2022 Conference in Miami earlier last week, Peter Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of Paypaland early investor in Facebook, argued in the conference's keynote address that the global equity market, not gold, is the best analog for Bitcoin's market cap potential.

Thiel said, "The real competitor for Bitcoin is not Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) -- that's a payment system. It's not even gold. It's something like the S&P 500. It's the stock market as a whole." He continued, "The benchmark for Bitcoin is not gold but equities, and the question is why can't there be parity between Bitcoin and equities. Why shouldn't we be talking about something more like 100 to 1?"The 100-to-1 was a reference in his slide to global equities being worth $115 trillion, while Bitcoin is worth a little less than $1 trillion.

Image source: Getty Images.

Thiel has been a key player in the way money functions in the global economy since 1999 when he co-founded Paypal, so it's worth listening to his thoughts on Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that some expect to be the next iteration of money. But it's important to understand that the argument that Thiel is making for Bitcoin reaching $115 trillion isn't based on its intrinsic value. It's an argument that Bitcoin should be an equally valid asset class for institutional investors, and therefore it should receive an equal level of investment. Thiel underscored this later in his address when he attacked business titans including Warren Buffett, JPMorgan ChaseCEO Jamie Dimon, andBlackrock CEO Larry Fink, saying, "If you have these large institutional investors, they need to be allocating some of their money to Bitcoin when they manage state pension funds in the U.S., or they get trillions of dollars in assets. When they choose not to allocate to Bitcoin, that is a deeply political choice. We need to push back on them."

As Thiel sees it, Bitcoin isn't yet worth $115 trillion because money managers aren't investing enough in it, and he calls that a political choice because the well-known libertarian sees Bitcoin as a crusade against fiat currencies, or government control.

But there's something backwards about the argument. Global equities, meaning all the publicly traded companies in the world combined, are worth $115 trillion because those equities represent businesses, like Apple orBuffett's Berkshire Hathaway, that generate trillions in annual profits. They're not worth $115 trillion because institutional investors have trillions of dollars they need to put somewhere, and they've arbitrarily chosen equities.

Thiel also ignores the fact that Bitcoin isn't a productive asset in the way that equities are. Its valuation, like gold or even an NFT, is an article of faith. A Bitcoin is only worth around $40,000 today because a group of people, many of whom are speculators, have decided that it is. There's little practical value to it.

Image source: Getty Images.

Bitcoin's founder is anonymous, and there's no CEO to pitch the cryptocurrency. In that void, Thiel's keynote address takes on added significance as he's one of the highest-profile backers of the cryptocurrency. But the speech was equally notable for what it lacked as for what Thiel discussed.

He never once addressed Bitcoin's utility as a medium of exchange. In fact, he ceded that quality to Ethereum, arguing that Bitcoin was the "gold" of crypto, representing a store of value, while Ethereum was the "Visa" of crypto, used to make financial transactions.

Most of Thiel's speech was spent trashing Bitcoin detractors and making the case for the $115 trillion valuation. Thiel played to the masses by pumping the currency and offering the astronomical $115 trillion price target. Like others before it, the speech revealed that Bitcoin may be better understood as a cult rather than an asset class. In other words, it's an article of faith -- and one that can make you rich if you persuade enough people to buy it -- rather than an object of real value. His primary argument for Bitcoin was more political than economic. A well-known libertarian, he sees Bitcoin as a way to escape government control and skirt the deflationary nature of fiat currency and taxes.

That political point is a well-worn argument for Bitcoin by now, and it's true that Bitcoin has been used in countries like Venezuela that have been embroiled in civil unrest and hyperinflation. But that's much different from Bitcoin substituting for stable currencies like the dollar.

It's also notable that Bitcoin tends to trade as a risky asset rather than a store of value, notably plunging when the war in Ukraine broke out. When investors "flee to safety," they flee from Bitcoin.

Where Bitcoin's price goes from here is anybody's guess, but the tailwinds that supported its rise in 2020-2021 like pandemic lockdowns and the increase in money supply are now fading.

Thiel seems to believe that the next significant rally in Bitcoin will require buy-in from institutional investors, but there are two major obstacles to that happening anytime soon. The crypto is too volatile for most money managers to invest in, and Bitcoin has yet to prove why it should be worth $1 trillion, let alone $115 trillion.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis even one of our own helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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Could Bitcoin 100x? This Billionaire Investor Thinks So - The Motley Fool

KuCoin, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, recently released a report titled Into The Cryptoverse where they discussed the penetration of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies into populations of varying countries. Most notable among them is Nigeria; 35%, or 33.4 million, of its adults aged 18-60 owned or traded bitcoin or some form of cryptocurrency in the last 6 months.

This staggering amount of 35% of adults becomes even more bewildering when one recognizes that as of January 2022, only 51% of the entire population of Nigeria has access to the internet, according to the report. Of that 51% of the population, 86% of Nigerian internet users are familiar with cryptocurrency as an investment vehicle. The report also states that according to Google Trends, Nigeria hosted the highest number of searches for Bitcoin in early 2021.

A survey conducted of the penetrated 35% shows that 70% of those users intend to increase their holdings within a short period of time. Another 6% of the population not currently invested were surveyed and said they are interested in investing within the next six months.

Over a course of six years, Nigerias currency, Naira, has depreciated 209%, according to the report. The adoption rate of Bitcoin is far more substantial in populations that have a need for Bitcoin, rather than just a want for it. The failing Naira led to earlier adoption that most, as 37% of those currently involved in bitcoin have been invested or trading in the asset for more than 3 years, with another 27% having just started within the past 6 months.

A need to opt out of the existing structure is being driven by the youthful population of Nigeria as its median age sits at 18.4 years old, according to Statista cited in the report. This drives the statistic in which 52% of Nigerians invested in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies under the age of 30.

One interesting statistic KuCoin uncovered in a survey of those currently vested in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies showed 50% gender parity. Nigeria seems to be proving that when economic need, youth of a population, and innovation collide, gender plays no role in the adoption of an emergent monetary system.

Low-time preference seems molded with entrepreneurial spirit in Nigeria with 62% of investors believing this emerging system is the future of finance and 50% of investors saying they are in it for the long run. 40% of investors look to use their gains to start a business, 36% are looking for another revenue stream, and 26% seek to rely on their investment as primary income.

The portfolio diversification, or the lack of diversification in some cases, is a fascinating statistic among Nigerian investors. On average, these investors allocate 60% to cryptocurrency, 20% to cash or bank deposits, and 7% to foreign currencies with additional financial instruments closing the gap, which means over 52% of investors are allocating over half of their portfolio to cryptocurrencies, according to the report.

A little over one-fifth of these investors (22%) store over 90% of their assets in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. This minority group tends to be slightly older and less familiar with other financial products with a focus on money transfers and transactions, rather than trading.

As of February 2022, 65% of these investors utilize peer-to-peer trading to deposit fiat for cryptocurrencies after the Central Bank of Nigeria barred banks from enabling crypto transactions in February 2021, according to another survey conducted by KuCoin cited in the report.

Further KuCoin data shows a 1,386.7% increase in monthly transactions across African countries from January 2021 - January 2022. During the same period, active users also increased by 2,467.2%.

Countries like Nigeria showcase the need of a new monetary system that allows cross-border payments with minimal fees and global access in its most reliable form. The central authorities of Nigeria have failed to properly care for its citizenry and its youthful population has taken it upon themselves to enforce needed change. While bitcoin certainly serves as a store-of-value for many in more developed places of the world, the humanitarian and altruistic use cases of Bitcoin are what truly make it inevitable.

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Report: Over A Third of Nigerians Are Invested in Bitcoin, Crypto - Bitcoin Magazine

As one of a number of Cointelegraph representatives attending the Paris Blockchain Week Summit (PBWS) at the historic Palais Brongniart a neoclassical building that had been the headquarters for the Parisian stock exchange from 1826 to 1987 European news reporter Joe Hall sat down for an in-depth interview with the chief technology officer of Bitfinex and Tether, Paolo Ardoino.

Previously ranked 88th in Cointelegraphs prestigious Top 100 2021 for his influential impact on the growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, Ardoino spoke on an array of topics, including the adoption of Bitcoin and Tether de facto legal tenders in the Swiss city of Lugano, the scalability concerns of popular blockchain networks and the potential for new countries to accept Bitcoin in the future.

In early March, the Swiss city ofLugano which is also a major financial hub in Switzerland formed a collaborative partnership with stablecoin operator Tether to launch a 3 million Swiss franc initiativedesigned to encourage the adoption of blockchain technologies and the use of digital assets.

Utilizing Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT) and the native citizen loyalty token, LVGA Points, the assets can be transacted by locals for activities such as taxation and purchasing of public goodsand services.

In addition, the project has also pledged to create educational scholarship programs within the three universities in Lugano, a blockchain summer camp and a maximum-valued 100 million Swiss franc ($107.2 million) pot to foster the growth of blockchain start-ups:

Ardoino noted that these companies relocated their operations from both within Switzerland as well as from countries such as India and Singapore. He stated that their intention is to "use these few startups as a template to pave the path for others in the future.

Related: Paris Blockchain Week, day 1: Latest updates from the Cointelegraph team on the ground

Referencing his tweeted picture of a Lugano newspaper article with the headline Citt affamata di bitcoin, which means city hungry for Bitcoin, Ardoino said that stablecoins are the perfect Trojan horse for Bitcoin in that they can serve as the initial mechanism for adoption before exploration into more complex, regulatory-stringent cryptocurrencies.

When questioned about the possibilities of new European countries adopting Bitcoin,Ardoino said that "we're looking at different other jurisdictions," and that some people within "the parliament are interested to talk to us as they would like to educate themselves to create a case for internal adoption."

In saying this, he was keen to stress the importance that the vision of wide-scale Bitcoin adoption throughout Europe would not be achieved overnight but through a bottom-up, community-first approach, such as that witnessed in Lugano.

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Stablecoins are the perfect Trojan horse for Bitcoin, says Tether CTO - Cointelegraph

Inflation is front-page news again after the Labor Department revealed this week that the United States consumer price index soared to 8.5% year-over-year in March the highest in over four decades. According to crypto industry veteran and Morgan Creek Capital founder Mark Yusko, price increases arent the real problem.

This isnt inflation. This is currency devaluation, Yusko told Cointelegraph business editor Sam Bourgi in an exclusive interview at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami. Currency devaluation directly impacts consumers purchasing power, which refers to how many goods and services a unit of money can buy.

Yusko was also asked about Bitcoins (BTC) lackluster performance over the past six months and whether he expects this phase of price discovery to continue indefinitely. In his view, $100,000 BTC is a strong likelihood eventually, but investors need to be patient as adoption continues to grow.

Yusko and Bourgi also threw shade at traditional portfolio management strategies that teach investors to allocate 60% of their holdings to stocks and 40% to bonds. Who in their right mind is holding bonds right now? Bourgi asked. Only central banks, Yusko replied. You wont want to miss his full explanation.

You can watch the full interview on Cointelegraphs YouTube page. Be sure to hit those like and subscribe buttons for all our future videos and updates. You can also watch our full lineup of interviews from the Bitcoin conference.

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Mark Yusko explains the real problem with Fed policy and why Bitcoin matters - Cointelegraph

Ubersmith, a leading service provider in subscription management for cloud-based platforms, announced an integration with BitPay, one of the world's leading providers of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency payment processing.

With the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, we want to provide our users with this option in addition to other currencies we support, said Kurt Daniel, CEO of Ubersmith, in the announcement. As leaders in delivering a recurring and usage-based billing system, we are pleased to support cryptocurrency for our current and future customers.

Ubersmith brings a hosted or self-hosted software suite to its customers and Bitpay now functions as an add-on to the software that processes customizable billing, taxes, account credits and discounts. More than 100 companies across six continents currently utilize Ubersmith for business transactions, infrastructure, and operations. This partnership with BitPay displays a deviation from its parent company's stance towards the Bitcoin sector in previous years.

On July 1, 2021, Ubersmith was acquired by Lumine Group, which is a division of Volaris Group, a subsidiary of Constellation Software Incorporated. On October 21, 2021, Constellation Network, Inc. acquired Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider Dor to scale blockchain-based products.

In the Dor acquisition announcement, Constellation Network said Bitcoin has scalability issues, which is why they were working with Dor to develop their own blockchain database that they believe is more scalable, which eventually led to them creating their own token.

Ubersmith seems to recognize that Bitcoin is scalable with its most recent innovation in partnering with BitPay, even though its parent company seems to feel differently.

New York-based Ubersmith allows their customers access to over 100 built-in software, hardware and service integrations while also providing an application programming interface (API) enabling a high level of customization for its clients.

Services included with the software contain billing, customer management, quoting, order management, device monitoring, help desk ticketing, and a customer portal. Specific to cloud-based infrastructure, Ubersmith also manages turnkey billing, bandwidth, virtualization, backup, power, support, and other services.

Ubersmith customers include Digital Realty, Namecheap, and Sitey.

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Ubersmith Partners With BitPay To Accept Bitcoin Payments - Bitcoin Magazine

Tesla Megapacks at Saticoy, a 100MW/400MWh BESS site in California. Image: Arevon Asset Management.

Teslas Megapack battery energy storage system (BESS) solution as well as the companys solar PV will power a Bitcoin mining facility in a proof of concept (POC) project in the US.

Bitcoin mining and services company Blockstream Mining began construction earlier this month on the open-source, solar-powered facility at an undisclosed location.

The project is being built in partnership with financial services and digital payments company Block, Inc, which has Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey as its CEO.

Blockstreams CEO and co-founder Adam Back meanwhile said that the facility will be a step to proving our thesis that Bitcoin mining can fund zero-emission power infrastructure and build economic growth for the future.

The site will pair a 3.8MW solar PV array with 12MWh of Megapacks, enabling a 30 Petahash hash rate a measure of the computational power used by the cryptocurrency minings proof-of-work. A dashboard will be made publicly available as the plant runs, showing real-time metrics of performance, such as power output and the amount of mined Bitcoin.

By collaborating on this full-stack, 100% solar-powered Bitcoin mining project with Blockstream, using solar and storage technology from Tesla, we aim to further accelerate Bitcoins synergy with renewables, Blocks global ESG lead Neil Jorgensen said.

The off-grid site aims to prove 100% renewable energy-powered Bitcoin mining is possible, hopefully providing an example to the industry.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk famously said in the past that his company would row back on its interest in Bitcoin due to the use of fossil fuels in mining, despite other attractive characteristics that crypto has. In May 2021 the company stopped accepting it as payment over those concerns.

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Green Bitcoin mining proof of concept using Tesla solar and battery storage - Energy Storage News

Bitcoin is all-set to rise and become the crypto king again, at least for now

In recent weeks, Bitcoin is marching forward towards redeeming its lost market recognition and value. For Bitcoin, the year 2021, was quite successful given the fact that single crypto drove the value of the entire crypto market to new highs. Since this feat, traders and business leaders have been quite optimistic about the prospects of BTC and its dominance in the economic and financial markets. So much so that El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender! However, BTCs prospects ran their full course, and then came the reality. The prices dropped exponentially. Investor speculation about Ethereum taking Bitcoin grew, making investors and business leaders quite worried about their investments. BTCs price continued to fall in early 2022. Investors turned to assets that performed well in a time of a slowing economy, higher inflation, and rising interest rates, further causing a dive in the Bitcoin price. In late February, BTC prices fell as low as US$36,000, from their November 2021 peak which was US$68,000. Concerns over sustainability and high electricity use associated with Bitcoin mining, and the banning of cryptocurrency transactions in China also caused the Bitcoin price to fall.

Over the past week, Bitcoin has been regaining its value. Analysts believe that the crypto will eventually reach the US$100,000 mark by the end of the year. But as of April 4, 2022, its price has recovered considerably. It finally crossed the US$47,000 mark, reaching as close as possible to US$48,000. The prices consecutively dropped after April 5, 2022, but it continues to soar above US$43,000. This comes off as a positive indication of a possible Bitcoin surge this year.

BTCs upward trend continued through the entire week, nevertheless, investors are hawkish about its market movements. The coin is trending in recent weeks, but the current surge might also be the result of the Biden governments executive order initiating methods to enhance crypto adoption. But as crypto analysts continue to expect a massive Bitcoin price hike in the near future, key indicators have spoken up. They predict that if Bitcoin fails to break the US$47,000, it might again dive back to a crypto slumber and would eventually, and finally, lose its market dominance.

As more companies continue to adopt BTC as a method of payment, its value is expected to stabilise. With this expanded room for Bitcoin trading, the market scope is increasing for investors and traders, and other governments, to explore the crypto domain for investments in the long run.

For now, Bitcoin is set for upcoming surges. But the market is still volatile. A price hike does not bring stability to the market. Hence, before investing in Bitcoin, investors should make sure that they are ready for the volatility and mentally prepared to face losses.

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Bitcoin Remains Intact as it Continues to Surge Above US$43,000 - Analytics Insight

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One of the first casualties of the Ukraine-Russia conflict was the ruble. Russia's currency plummeted after the conflict broke out, but has now rallied strongly following numerous moves by Russia to defend it.

Most recently, Russia has enacted a temporary fixed ruble/gold exchange, which has led many to claim that it is back on a gold standard.

In this article, I discuss the effects of this policy on Russia and the world and dive into how this affects Bitcoin (BTC-USD), which is often described as "digital gold"

Between March 28th and June 30th, Russia's Central Bank will be buying gold from banks at a fixed rate of 5000 rubles per gram.

Does this mean that the ruble now has a fixed exchange for gold? Not exactly.

For a gold standard to be in effect, this arrangement would have to work both ways, which it doesn't. The Russian Central bank is buying gold at that fixed rate, but it won't be offering to sell it at that price.

In a "gold standard", the value of the currency is supported because there are arbitrage opportunities when the price deviates from its peg. Let's say the Russian Central Bank offers to buy and sell Rubles for gold at a fixed exchange, and the ruble is trading below this exchange. (It is weak) Demand for Rubles would go up, since countries and banks have a chance to buy gold at cheaper prices, but only with Rubles.

Alternatively, if the ruble became too strong, going above the exchange price, people would sell gold to the Central Bank at the established price, get Rubles, and then use these Rubles to buy more gold on the international market. Rinse and repeat until there is no longer a price disparity. That's how arbitrage works.

As it stands now, 1 gram of gold is worth $63 in the international market, and 5000 rubles are worth close to $58. This means Russia is paying below-market prices for gold, which wouldn't support the ruble.

For there to be an arbitrage opportunity here, the value of gold would have to decrease, so that Russia is paying above-market prices for gold. In that scenario, one could sell gold to the Russians for say $65, and then use the Rubles to buy $70 worth. This would eventually weaken the ruble in terms of gold, taking it back to parity.

What Russia has created, therefore, is not a floor price for the ruble, but rather a ceiling price. Russia is happy to buy all the gold in the world at 5000 ruble/gram, but it won't be selling gold at this price or below it to "defend" the ruble.

With that said, the ruble has rallied in the last month, but this can be tied to other significant moves made by the Russians. All of these have to be put together to understand what's going on behind the scenes.

Firstly, the Russian Central Bank has doubled its interest rate from 10% to 20% on the 28th of February. Secondly, and most importantly, the Russian government is forcing foreign governments to use Rubles to pay for their products, i.e energy, which is propping up demand for the ruble.

We can visualize how these events have affected the ruble/USD exchange on the chart below.

Ruble Price (Author's work)

Russia has therefore created a link between energy, its currency and gold. Its exports are now priced in Rubles, which in turn are partially linked to gold. Ultimately, Russia is saying that it is happy to receive both Rubles and Gold for its exports.

Those that wish to trade with Russia can always obtain Rubles at a fixed price, for gold, but they can't obtain gold at a fixed price for Rubles, which is an important distinction. However, they can obtain energy at a fixed price for Rubles, which means that there is indirectly a link between Russian energy and gold.

If a barrel of oil is worth 5000 RUB, which in turn are worth 1 gram of gold, then the barrel is worth 1 gram of gold. This won't change, because the Russian Central Bank has agreed to buy 1 gram of gold for 5000 Rubles at all times, or at least until June 30th.

So Russia is now selling its energy for rubles/gold and based on how the market has reacted, it is getting away with it.

Russia, by itself, can hardly replace the USD denominated financial system. But with the help of strategic allies, very big steps can be taken to reduce the world's dependency on it, which is very bad news for the USA.

Russia holds 1,688 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, accounting for 24% of the world's reserves. China will soon become the largest economy in the world. Russia, China and India, collectively possess 16% of the Central Bank's gold reserves. India and China also have close to 2.8 billion people combined.

An allegiance between these three countries could replace the world's dollar-based financial system. Each of them has something to add, and a lot to gain from this, and gold would be the ideal vehicle to make this happen.

If something like this were to happen, it could cripple dollar-denominated economies. The west has built a very fragile system based upon increasing amounts of dollar-denominated debt. This has only been possible because this debt is accepted as a reserve. But what happens when it doesn't?

Gold has been the world's money of choice for millennia. The world was actually on a gold standard, of sorts, until as recently as 1971, when Richard Nixon closed the gold window. Since then, governments and central banks have done their best to eliminate gold from world trade, but even they know how useful gold is, which is why Central Banks hold it in their reserves.

The current move in Russia brings gold to the forefront of finance once more. Gold now has a very real utility for a lot of countries, enabling them to buy Russian gas.

Furthermore, a gold-backed currency is perhaps the only way to dethrone the US dollar. Foreign countries don't want to switch from a US-controlled fiat, to a Chinese controlled one. However, gold makes money neutral, and that is something everyone can get on board with.

What does this mean for investors? Owning gold is now more important than ever, and though the yellow metal has underperformed in recent years, now could be its time to shine.

Russia is opening the doors to a new monetary paradigm, which creates a unique opportunity for countries around the world. The US dollar is being challenged as the standard of value. What will replace it?

Gold is the first choice. It has been used as a store of value for millennia, and countries like Russia, China and India have been accumulating it for years. But in the current conflict, we have seen evidence of a new standard of value emerge, one that has even outshone gold, and that is Bitcoin.

Bitcoin was designed, by no accident, to possess very similar characteristics to gold. It is hard to mine, with mining becoming increasingly difficult over time. The supply is finite, and around 80% has already been mined, a similar proportion to gold. And, like gold, it withstands the passage.

However, Bitcoin also has key characteristics that make it superior to gold, and Russia knows this first-hand. The G7 has actively tried to stop Russia from using its gold reserves, banning people and institutions from transacting with the Russian central bank.

What's more, in a geopolitical conflict like this, it wouldn't be unheard of for gold held in foreign banks to be seized, or mining operations to be disrupted.

And this is where Bitcoin makes a difference. For starters, Bitcoin is much harder to track and "sanction". Speculation over how Russia could use Bitcoin to avoid financial repression has been common in the past few weeks.

To top things off, Russia also has a significant competitive advantage when it comes to mining Bitcoin. Russia is the third-largest contributor to Bitcoin's hash mining power. Also, 11.9% of Russia's total population already owns cryptocurrency.

But if Russia already has gold as the base of its monetary system, why would it want Bitcoin?

Beyond the reasons stated above, Bitcoin would provide a diversification element. It would also give Russia access to the flourishing DeFi market that is developing in crypto, of which Bitcoin is the store of value. And finally, the best defence is a good attack. Bitcoin would be a great way for other nations to compete with the gold-based system. So why not get ahead?

What does this mean for Bitcoin investors? The world's reserve currency, the USD, is being put into question, and Bitcoin was created with the purpose of acting as a store of value. This makes cryptocurrency a more attractive investment than ever. Bitcoin can step in to feel this void, as there will be a real necessity for a neutral store of value, free of political agendas and government. control.

In conclusion, as the world becomes less dependent on the US dollar, other standards of value will rise to take its place. Gold and Bitcoin are at the top of this list in my opinion. Together they bridge the gap between the past and the future. The physical and the digital. They complement each other.

While Russia is not operating a gold standard system, it is tying its exports to gold, which marks a very significant move. People should understand that the current conflict in Ukraine is only the tip of the iceberg. Another war is being fought between world superpowers. A world for control of money. And he who controls the money controls the world.

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Russia's 'Gold Standard': What This Means For Gold And Bitcoin - Seeking Alpha

Bitcoin is becoming one of the biggest buzzwords in the world. Data from a July 2021 survey conducted by analysis firm Exploding Topics found that roughly 1,700 American adults, or 89% of participants, had heard of Bitcoin. A recent survey from the cryptocurrency platform Paxful also found that 95% of women out of 1,555 females polled in the United States were familiar with Bitcoin.

While Bitcoins(BTC) presence is notable, there still seems to be a lack of understanding regarding BTC and cryptocurrency. For instance, Paxfuls survey discovered that 43% of women polled in the United States want to learn more about Bitcoin, even though 95% of these individuals know that BTC exists. In addition, underprivileged communities and minorities have expressed interest in learning about Bitcoinand cryptoas digital assets gain popularity.

In order to bring crypto education to those who need it the most, grassroots initiatives are launching throughout the U.S. that target disenfranchised communities.

For example, Najah Roberts, CEO of Crypto Blockchain Plug a Black-owned crypto education center based in Inglewood, California told Cointelegraph that she will soon be traveling to 41 cities across the U.S. to help disenfranchised communities understand Bitcoins importance:

Known as The Digital Financial Revolution Tour, Roberts explained that this will be the second year she will travel across the country with a team of crypto experts to promote Bitcoin education. We previously reached about 2,000 people last year, which was incredible given that the world was still coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Roberts said. Given the projects previous success, Roberts believes this years tour will produce phenomenal results.

Roberts elaborated that the second Digital Financial Revolution Tour will begin in California in cities including Los Angeles and Oakland, and will then head to Las Vegas, Arizona and New Mexico. We plan to go to the poorest places first, like Lake Charles in Baltimore. We picked the most disenfranchised, unbanked and underbanked areas to get folks educated. Rather than hosting corner classes outside neutral locations like a local church, for instance, Roberts explained that groups will congregate in front of beauty shops and neighborhood storefronts. I try to be objective about locations so everyone feels comfortable to come out and learn.

While the idea of traveling across 41 different cities in the U.S. within a 45-day timespan may sound difficult, Roberts shared that the biggest challenge this year is to help people in low-income communities understand why they actually need Bitcoin:

Roberts isnt the only one aiming to bring financial literacy to the masses. Bitcoin analyst Tony Tate told Cointelegraph that no one ever talked about money when he was growing up due to community values. No one ever talked about politics, religion or money where I came from, he said. Yet, Tate stated that education has always been a priority for him, which is why he believes educating disenfranchised communities will make it easier for individuals to understand the potential of cryptocurrency:

In order to accomplish this, Tate recently launched Litchain, a Bitcoin educational initiative expected to spur economic growth in the rural town of Gaffney, South Carolina. We opened the doors of the first Black-owned Bitcoin data center in Gaffney. The 20 modular data centers will house Bitcoin mining computers and create jobs that pay $60,000 or more, he explained. The Litchain Corporations new data center is one of Tates first three mining centers in the U.S. He said that the company aims to open 144 more across the country:

In addition to the Litchain data center, Tate said that he is launching a five-year crypto education initiative on crypto literacy:

According to Tate, this initiative will include a grassroots campaign, digital advertising and online courses provided by LitU, which is Tates online university that will also feature pop-up community classes in Philadelphia, New York, Washington D.C., Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland, Charlotte and Charleston. Tate hopes these initiatives will inspire others to look at Bitcoin as an improved financial inclusion system and a major step in closing the racial wealth gap in the United States. Everyone has to wrap their minds around crypto before the world wraps their arms around it, he remarked.

While both Roberts and Tate are launching large scale initiatives, crypto influencer and YouTuberWendy Otold Cointelegraph during NFT LA that she will soon be launching a local grassroots initiative in Los Angeles to teach youth between the ages of seven and seventeen about Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. Wendy O explained that she will partner with the Los Angeles based Self-Care Lab Boxing and Fitness Club to host monthly meetups to teach children about the blockchain and crypto ecosystem:

Related: NFT LA: Attract the mainstream, focus on Web3 and use cases

Like Roberts and Tate, Wendy O wants to use cryptocurrency education as a way to promote personal finance. Financial literacy isnt taught in schools, unfortunately. But, when individuals learn how money works, they are able to change their spending habits and even break away from generational curses, she said. Wendy O explained that when she initially learned about Bitcoin in 2011 and was able to better understand fiat money and inflation. I think these kids will be able to take this information and retrain their minds to do things differently than previous generations.

While its extremely notable that grassroots initiatives are being launched by members of the crypto community, its also important to recognize the challenges that may arise along the way.

For instance, Roberts pointed out that last years Digital Financial Revolution Tour was entirely self-funded, noting that she hopes to secure sponsors this year. We are in the process of speaking with the hardware wallet provider Ledger, as we aim to give everyone physical wallets and show them how to store their seed phrases. Wendy O also hopes to partner with a cryptocurrency wallet provider or an exchange to ensure that food and drinks for her monthly meetups can be covered. I would like to give $25 worth of BTC to everyone who attends, she said. Regardless of sponsorships, both Roberts and Wendy O are optimistic that their projects will teach those in need about financial literacy simply byexplaining how Bitcoin and cryptocurrency work.

Grassroots initiatives sponsored by crypto companies have proven to be very successful given the added help. For example, GoodDollar a nonprofit protocol for financial education and inclusion in Web3 launched an ambassador program early last year to allow its 350,000 community members to distribute free crypto universal basic income to anybody with access to a cell phone and an internet connection.

Jessica Salama, community lead at GoodDollar, told Cointelegraph that individual GoodDollar ambassadors are making headway in spreading the word about crypto by showing others how to use and access digital currency.

She said that GoodDollar ambassador Etugbo Obokparo Stephen in Nigeria has hosted local meetups at his university to help fellow students open their first digital wallets and begin learning Web3, crypto and blockchain fundamentals. His initial gathering was the first blockchain conference ever held in his locality, Salama said.

Stephen further told Cointelegraph, Ive always communicated with people on social media, but when I joined GoodDollars ambassador program, I was able to bring more people into crypto because they supported my initiative financially and with words of encouragement.

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Grassroots initiatives are bringing Bitcoin education to communities across America - Cointelegraph