THEBRAVENEWWORLDOFDIGITALCURRENCY

The choice is between Ma/ Damon, Daniel

CraigandTomCruise.

ButJasonBourneisprimarilyfocusedonhow

hewasbrainwashedinOpera@onTreadstone

and then exposing its successor program,

Blackbrair.

Besides, Bourne is a CIA trained assassin,

whereas007andEthanHuntoftheIMForce

aremorelikelytogoaJeraGlobalpredator.

h/p://www.radio90.pl/bond-bondow-

agent-007-agent-numer-1.html

h/ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethan_Hunt#/

media/File:Ethanhunt.jpg

A sexy screenplay could be wri/en around

the story of how a brilliant Japanese

programmer named Satoshi Nakamoto

developedaparadigm-shiJing,globalfinance

system that put the power of money and

commerceinthehandsofthepublic instead

of the centralbankersof theglobalfinancial

Mafia.

Asthesystembeginstotakeholdaroundthe

planet, jeopardizingcentralbanking’scontrol

of the global financial system, Satoshi is

abductedandtakentoasnow-boundcabinin

Northern China. He is drugged and then

tortured mercilessly in an a/empt to force

himtodestroythesystemandreturncontrol

THEBRAVENEWWORLDOFDIGITALCURRENCY

SatoshiNakamotodevelopedaparadigm-shifting,globalfinancesystemthatputthepowerofmoneyandcommerceinthe

handsofthepublicinsteadofthecentralbankers

to the interna@onal bankers who are

intendingaworldwidefinancialcrisisinorder

to future their economic chokehold on the

planet.

But this story carries only so much fic@on.

Because there is a brilliant programmer

named Satoshi Nakamoto – or at least

someoneusingthatname–whodevelopeda

remarkable global currency system that

operates outside of the established banking

channels–andwhohas,infact,disappeared.

Though there is no evidence of foul play. In

fact, there is no evidence of any “play” –

Satoshi simply vanished sending a par@ng

note toadeveloper friendonApril23,2011

thathehad“movedontootherthings.”

What he moved on f rom was the

development of Bitcoin.Whathemovedonto…nooneseemstoknow.

You have probably at least heard the word

Bitcoin, and some of you may be more

involved with it. This ar@cle is to provide

readerswiththebasicsofBitcoin,which isa

brilliantglobalcurrencysystemthatoperates

complete ly outs ide o f the ex i s@ng

interna@onalbankingsystem.

Itwasinventedbytheenigma@cSatoshi,who

published his now famous (in the Bitcoin

world) white paper on Bitcoin as a digital

currency on October 31, 2008. The Bitcoin

protocolbecameavailableon the Internet in

Januaryof2009(aprotocolisastandardused

todefineamethodofexchangingdataovera

computer network.... Each protocol has its

ownmethodofhowdata is forma/edwhen

sent and what to do with it once received,

howthatdataiscompressedorhowtocheck

forerrorsinthedata.)

h/p://www.computerhope.com/jargon/p/

protocol.htm).

For the next couple of years he further

developed the system and helped it grow

un@lApril,2011,whenhepassedthesource

code to a Bitcoin developer named Gavin

Andresen and ceasedhis involvement in the

system,which,bythen,hadbecomeafullon,

interna@onaldigitalcurrencymovement.

This is why we need 007 or Ethan Hunt,

because despite in depth research by

inves@gators planet wide, no one actually

knowswhoSatoshiNakamotois,orwherehe

is.In2012,therewasapos@ngonanInternet

site wherein Satoshi claimed that he was a

37-year old Japanese male. Some have

challenged even that entry and themystery

of SatoshiNatamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin

con@nues.

ButtheBitcoinuniversecon@nuestogrow.

So what is Bitcoin and what is the Bitcoin

protocol(meaning,howdoesitwork?)

THEBRAVENEWWORLDOFDIGITALCURRENCY

Bitcoinisabrilliantglobalcurrencysystemthatoperates

completelyoutsideoftheexistinginternationalbankingsystem.

WHATISBITCOIN?

Satoshi described it as a “peer to peer

electronic cash system,” in his originalwhite

paper on Bitcoin (When speaking of a

computer network, peer to peer, means

designed so that computers can send

informa@on directly to one another without

passingthroughacentralizedserver.]

h/p://www.dic@onary.com/browse/peer-to-

peer]

We are talking about direct communica@on

between sender and receiver anywhere in

theworld–metothee.

There are several other defini@ons that

describeBitcoin.

It is oJen referred to as “decentralized”

digitalmoney.Meaning there is no “central”

authority or other body involved. There are

nobanksinvolved.Nogovernmenten@@esor

regulators involved in theBitcoinuniverse. It

is a direct exchange of digital currency

betweenyouandthepersonwithwhomyou

aredoingbusiness.

This has banks, governments and taxing

agencies around the world “concerned”,

whichwewilldiscussinmoredetailbelow.

Bitcoin is also known as a cryptocurrency. A

cryptocurrencyisamediumofexchangethat

usescryptographytosecurethetransac@ons.

h/ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.

Cryptography is the use of techniques that

secure communica@on from the prying eyes

ofthethirdpar@esorthepublic.

Inotherwords, this is digital bank account -

theownershipofwhichisknownonlybyyou

- that is encrypted and sits in your online

Bitcoin“wallet,”andremainsencryptedwhen

itisusedinatransac@on.

WALLETS

Wallets,whichcontainyourBitcoins,are the

equivalentofanonlinebankaccount.

Bitcoin wallets allow you to store your

currencyaswellassendandreceiveit.There

aredifferenttypesofwallets.Typically,a

THEBRAVENEWWORLDOFDIGITALCURRENCY

Bitcoin wallet is an applica@on on your

computer that keeps track of your bitcoins.

You can also use a web wallet wherein a

third-party company holds and administers

youraccount.Therearealsomobilewallets.

Here isa link toanar@cleonBitcoinwallets

and links to different brands of wallets.

h/p://www.coindesk.com/informa@on/how-

to-store-your-bitcoins/. It’s not quite like

shoppingatSaksFiveAvenue,butitisalook

intothefutureofInternet“ahre.”

A BitcoinWallet has a public address (27 to

34alpha-numericcharacters)whichisknown

to the Bitcoin universe. This address, like an

emailaddress,isseenwhenyoubuyorsend

Bitcoins.Itisthepublicfaceofyourwallet.

HereisanexampleofaBitcoinaddressfrom

thebook,BitcoinforDummies,

1L5wSMgerhHg8GZGcsNmAx5EXMRXSKR3He

However, who owns the address is not

known. It is recommended, but not

mandatory, that you change your public

address with every transac@on (this is oJen

done for youby the soJware at online sites

thathelpBitcoinusersbuyandsellBitcoins.)

The wallet also has a private key that gives

youaccesstoyourBitcoinsandiden@fiesyou

in a way that enables you to spend them

without revealing your iden@ty. Finally, in

addi@on to the Wallet address and the

privatekey,thereisathird,publickeythatis

generated when you get a wallet. In short,

this key simply facilitates your Bitcoin

transac@ons. If youdecide toget involved in

Bitcoin,you’llgetthesethreestringsofalpha-

numeric: wallet address and a public and

privatekey.

YoucanreceivefundswiththeWalletaddress

andthepublickey,butyouneedtheprivate

keytospendyourBitcoins.

You should always backup your wallet and

encryptit. Ifyourprivatekeysarelostorthe

walletgetscorrupted,yourBitcoinsaregone

forgood.

TheBitcoinprotocol is such thateachof the

Bitcoins is a uniquepiece of digital property

that can be transferred from one person to

another making it impossible to “double

spend”abitcoin–youcan’tspendthesame

Bitcointwice.

THEBLOCKCHAIN

TheblockchainisthebackboneoftheBitcoin

system.

“Put simply, the blockchain is a public

distributed ledger offering unprecedented

t ransparency regard ing the b i tco in

ecosystem. It is a collec@on of all bitcoin

transac@onssinceitsincep@onin2009.Every

addi@onaltransac@onisloggedonthebitcoin

blockchainaswell.”

BitcoinforDummies,KindleEdi@on.

ThewallethasaprivatekeythatgivesyouaccesstoyourBitcoinsandidentifiesyouinawaythat

enablesyoutospendthemwithoutrevealingyouridentity

THEBRAVENEWWORLDOFDIGITALCURRENCY

Incasethatdefini@onisn’ttotallyclear,thisis

a virtual ledger that anyone can access and

viewall of theBitcoin transac@ons since the

beginningofBitcoin.

The transac@ons iden@fy the alpha-numeric

walletaddressbutnotwhoownsit.

There are volumes wri/en about the

technologyof theBitcoinblockchain,but for

ourpurposeswewill leave itat this:whena

Bitcoin transac@on occurs it is recorded in a

public,digitalledger.

MINERS

However, before it gets posted to thepublic

ledger, there is a group inside the Bitcoin

ecosystem called “Miners”who authen@cate

thetransac@onandapproveitsplacementin

theblockchain.

This authen@ca@on process is not done by

some bleary-eyed accountant with a green

eyeshade.BitcoinMiners thesedayshave to

u s e ma s s i v e c ompu@ng p owe r t o

authen@cate the transac@ons and properly

placethemintheblockchain.

Thisisnotyourgrandma’slaptop.Itisthesite

ofaBitcoinminerinIceland.

In exchange for the massive amount of

computa@onal effort and electrical power it

takes to validate a transac@on, a miner is

rewardedwithsomeBitcoins.

Bitcoins are no longer a digital parlor game

created by some mysterious Japanese

programmer–notthatiteverwasreally.But

the Bitcoin phenomenon is real. And it is

growing.

C h a r t c o u r t e s y o f h / p : / /

www.sachs ins i ght s . com/santanders -

innoventures-distributed-ledger-challenge-

decoding-blockchain

GROWTHOFBITCOIN

Hereisagraphfromblockchain.infoshowing

thatthenumberofuniquebitcoinaddresses

con@nuestouptrendtothecurrent458,000.

This is thenumberofaddresses; therecould

easily be more than one person behind a

Bitcoinaddress.

THEBRAVENEWWORLDOFDIGITALCURRENCY

You can buy everything from a Lamborghini

toOakleyeyewearwithBitcoins.

h/p://www.dailydot.com/business/4chan-

bitcoin-lamborghini/

h/p://www.oakley.com

Andmuchmore.Thissitesaysthatthereare

over100,000merchantsthatacceptBitcoin-

h/p://spendbitcoins.com.

Itlists9924ofthem.

Some of the vendors that accept Bitcoin

include:

Amazon

Subway

Victoria’sSecret

Fiverr

Zappos

TeslaMotors

HomeDepot

Sears

Kmart

Expedia

Because the iden@ty of the purchaser

remainsconfiden@al,therearethosethatuse

Bitcoin to operate on the Dark side of theforce:drugs,pros@tu@on,money laundering.

Bankers and regulators have come to realize

that since Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that

operates en@rely outside of the established

financial system they could lose control of a

na@on’s money. Fearing this loss of control,

they seek to posi@on Bitcoin with the

ac@vi@esofthemorallybankrupt.

Thesearethesamegovernmentbureaucrats

that try toposi@onthosewithoffshorebank

accountsastheprogenyAlCaponeorsoldiers

oftheMexicandruglord,ElChappoGuzman.

Offshore accounts are perfectly legal, as is

Bitcoin.Andwhilethecriminalelementmight

THEBRAVENEWWORLDOFDIGITALCURRENCY

YoucanbuyeverythingfromaLamborghinitoOakleyeyewear

withBitcoins.

use it, as they dowith any currency, Bitcoin

hasamuchmoreprofounduseandpurpose

–thatofpuhngthecontrolofglobalfinance

in the hands of individuals instead of the

lasciviousnetworkofcentralbankers.

PROSANDCONS

PROS

1.Youcansendandreceivemoneyanywhere

in theworldwithouthaving towait for your

bank to open, fill out the forms, and send

themwri/enpermissiontowirethefunds.

2.In this regard you are in control of your

moneyandnotsubjecttothedictatesofany

intermediaryorcentralauthority.

3.Sendingandreceivingpaymentareen@rely

confiden@alwithregardtoone’siden@ty.Asa

side benefit, this protects against iden@ty

theJasone’siden@tyisnotdisclosed.

4.Ifneeded,anytransac@oncanbeverifiedin

theblockchain.

5.Processing fees are very low to non-

existent.

6.Via Bitcoin brokers, you can buy Bitcoins,

sell Bitcoins, and convert Bitcoins into any

majorcurrency.Oryoucanconvertanymajor

currencyintoBitcoins.

CONS

1.While theawarenessofBitcoin it is clearly

growing,mostpeople,thoughtheymayhave

heard of it, do not understand it. There is

publiceduca@ontobedone.

2.And there are s@ll a limited number of

merchantsthatacceptBitcoinforpaymentof

goodsandservices.Though,asnotedabove,

thatlistisgrowing.

3.All currencies, from the US dollar to the

Chinese Yuan fluctuate in value on world

markets, but Bitcoin has had some wild

swings in value in the past. The value of

Bitcoins has been more stable in the last

couple of years, but it does have a vola@le

priortrackrecord.Ithastradedaslowas$.75

and as high as $1,200 inNovember of 2013

when its value exceeded the price of an

ounceofgold.

Ascanbeseenbelow,ithasbeenonasteady

isuptrendforthelastyearorso.

4.This is a new financial system – a mere 7

yearsold.

THEBRAVENEWWORLDOFDIGITALCURRENCY

Youareincontrolofyourmoneyandnotsubjecttothedictatesof

anyintermediaryorcentralauthority.

INVESTING

The buying and selling of currencies

(generally known as Forex – Foreign

Exchange) is a ginormous market of $5.3

trillionaday–yes,that’sa“T”.

This is done to facilitate foreign trade

between na@ons as well as by currency

speculators.

Sothisiswellentrenchedfinancialac@vity.

Fromthisperspec@ve,thebuyingandselling

of Bitcoin would be no different. But there

are differences in the structure of na@onal

currencies and that of Bitcoin: governments

can print endless amounts of money. The

number of Bitcoins is capped at a certain

level. This makes the price of Bitcoin much

more subject to the real market forces of

supplyanddemand.

As Bitcoin grows in popularity – as more

peopleacquirethem,orseektoacquirethem

– demand increases. This demand is made

intoalimitedsupply.Thisshouldcon@nueto

increasethepriceofBitcoinsona longterm

basis.

But other factors enter into the demand

factor.

ItisaPRworldandthisisasensi@vemarket.

When “nega@ve press” hits the Bitcoin

community, holders of Bitcoins sell their

holdings driving prices down. The hack of a

major Bitcoin exchange in Hong Kong in

Augustofthisyearsentpricestumbling20%

inadaytobelow$600butasofthiswri@ng

(October 30, 2016) the price had recovered,

soaringto$713.

IthinkBitcoinisagoodlongterminvestment.

Thatsaid,ifyoudecidetoplayinthismarket,

Iwouldjusts@ckyourtoeinandwatchhowit

does.Definitelyeducateyourself furtherand

neverinvestmorethanyoucanaffordtolose.

There are numerous books and ar@cles on

Bitcoin.Averyhelpful“BitcoinforDummies”

isavailableonAmazon–printorKindle.

Iwouldapproachitasalongertermstrategic

investment,nota“getrichquick”hit.Though

thatcanhappentoo.

YoushouldknowthatBitcoinsaredivisibleto

eight decimal places. By way of example,

there are 100pennies in a dollar –meaning

the dollar can be divisible to two decimal

places(dollar=$1.00;dime=$.10;penny=$.

01). But a Bitcoin is divisible 8 places - .

00000001.

So, if you had a Bitcoin, the price of which

was say, $700 when you wanted to buy

somethingfor$70,youwouldspend.10BTC

(allcurrencieshaveIni@alsthatiden@fythem

– for example, USD iden@fies the US dollar.

ThesymbolforBitcoinsisBTC).

THEBRAVENEWWORLDOFDIGITALCURRENCY

Itisasalongertermstrategicinvestment,nota“getrichquick”hit.Thoughthatcanhappentoo.

Ifyouaregoingtobuy,sellandperhapstrade

Bitcoins, you should do it through an

exchange.Doyourduediligence.TheInternet

is awash with Bitcoin Exchanges. However,

hereisashortar@cleonwhattolookforand

alis@ngofthetop40Bitcoinexchangeswith

rankings for each available here: h/ps://

www.bestbitcoinexchange.io

I thinkBitcoinanddigital currency ishere to

stay. That said, it is s@ll newmarket and as

vola@le as a young stallion, so I am not

recommending anybody jump in “with both

feet.”But it is something to checkout,and if

youare comfortablewith, give it a li/le test

run.

EndNote:AttheendoftherecentwebinarI

held,3ofthea/endeesaskedaboutBitcoins.

I was somewhat dismissive in my answer

because, frankly, I didn’t have a full

understanding of how Bitcoin operated or

howithadgrownsinceIhadfirstheardofit.

Itwasthoseques@onsthatlaunchedmeinto

aresearchprojectaboutBitcoin.

Having completed the research, I am

fascinated with this new currency and I will

be diversifying amodest bit of reserves into

t h i s n ew wo r l d o f d e c e n t r a l i z e d

cryptocurrency.

Havefunandkeepyourpowderdry.

JohnTrumanWolfe.EarlyNovember,2016

THEBRAVENEWWORLDOFDIGITALCURRENCY

Silver.........Gold...........Dow..........BitCoin......

$17.95perounce.$1,279.5018,142$722