Governments Will Kill Crypto, Warns Jim Rogers

Bitcoin has made its fair share of enemies since it was created a little over 10 years ago, writes Forbes journalist Billy Bambrough.

The bitcoin price, soaring to around $20,000 per bitcoin in late 2017, thrust cryptocurrencies into the global limelight, prompting governments to clamp down on their use and companies such as Facebook to create their own.

Now, legendary investor Jim Rogers has warned bitcoin and similar “virtual currencies beyond the influence of the government” will not be allowed to survive – and said the bitcoin price is headed to zero.

“If the cryptocurrency succeeds as real money, rather than the subject of gambling as it is today, the government will make the cryptocurrency illegal and eliminate it,” Rogers told Japan’s Aera dot in comments translated by Google.

Rogers is perhaps best-known for co-founding the Quantum Fund with fellow legend George Soros and has gone on to establish himself as a television and media personality.

Bitcoin, still mostly used as an instrument of speculation, has attracted attention in recent months as the coronavirus pandemic has spread and governments have taken extreme action to support their economies.

The US has allocated almost $3 trillion for coronavirus-related economic aid and the Federal Reserve has pumped trillions of dollars into the US economy.

Renowned investors including Paul Tudor Jones, Dan Tapiero and Raoul Pal have identified bitcoin as a potential hedge against the inflation unprecedented central bank stimulus measures could bring, though bitcoin is still far from being used as “real money.” Some 11 million bitcoin, roughly 60% of the current minted supply, has sat dormant for a whole year, according to a recent research report published by Digital Asset Data—suggesting investors are “buying to hold.”

However, governments around the world, spurred on by China’s efforts to digitalize its yuan and Facebook’s plans for a bitcoin-inspired digital currency, have accelerated their efforts to take money and spending online. “The government likes electronic money,” Rogers said. “Because with electronic money, you can track when, where, who spent what amount. Governments will have more control over people through electronic money.”

“The government wants to know everything. Controllable electronic money will survive, and virtual currencies beyond the influence of the government will be erased.”

Many in the bitcoin community see cryptocurrencies as a way of resisting government overreach and some fear a proposed digital US dollar could hand more power to the state. Rogers’ comments could throw fuel on those fears. “The government has something that those who work with virtual currencies don’t have,” Rogers said. “It’s a gun.”

The bitcoin price, still highly volatile and prone to wild swings, is increasingly being watched by Wall Street as they launch bitcoin and cryptocurrency services and take on clients in the space.

- Source, Asia Times

A Market Forecast From Legendary Investor Jim Rogers

It may have already started,” renowned investor Jim Rogers said, while contemplating an impending market downturn. “It starts when people aren’t looking and it snowballs and builds up, and then, after a year or two, it's on the evening news.”

Although it wasn’t known at the time these predictions, spoken from his home in Singapore in January, would prove to be prophetic. The markets had been enjoying a record-breaking bull run for eleven years, but by March there was a sea of red across the screens of investors and traders.

The coronavirus pandemic sent markets in the US, Europe and Asia spiralling at speeds not seen since 2008.

But a shock like this isn’t anything new to Rogers. The stock market crash of 1987 happened on his birthday, after all.

Luckily for him, he had predicted a collapse was imminent, taking out short positions at the time. However, there was no way for him to know it would be so severe. It was “the best birthday” he ever had.

Bearing down

For the past few years, Rogers has been saying that the next time such a bear market occurs, the levels of debt are going to make for a very, very bad situation.

“In 2008, we had problems in the economy and in the markets because of too much debt. Since then, debt has skyrocketed all over the world,” he says. “What surprises me is that people don’t understand that, but to me, it’s very, very simple.”

At the time Opto went to press, many were warning of a global recession. Indeed, in an effort to temper a global economic collapse, central banks and governments had been spending and printing copious amounts of money.

While the potential impact of this turn of events may be alarming to some, Rogers remains calm. He is, after all, an expert at navigating market conditions like these. The key, he says, is not to listen to other people.

“In the 1930s, which is the most famous [economic downturn] in the past 100 years or so, a lot of people came out of that rich and built huge fortunes. But they were people who knew what they were doing and didn’t do other things, they just stayed with what they knew and became very successful,” Rogers says.

“What you really need to do when this bear market comes, is stay with what you know.”

- Source, CMC Markets, read more here

Jim Rogers Discusses Bitcoin as Money and Why Governments Will Stop Crypto

Famous investor Jim Rogers shared his prediction about the future bitcoin and cryptocurrency in an interview with Asahi Shimbun Singapore branch manager Koji Nishimura, published on Friday. Rogers cofounded the Quantum Fund in 1973 with billionaire investor George Soros, which was considered one of the most successful hedge funds in its heyday. They earned a 4,200% return over 10 years through 1980 compared to 47% for the S&P 500.

Rogers believes that if cryptocurrency succeeds in being used as money, instead of primarily for speculation, governments will intervene, making it illegal in order to stop its use. For this reason, “I believe that the [value of] virtual currencies represented by bitcoin will decline and eventually become zero,” he told the publication. “It is hard for us to move money without the control of the government,” Rogers said, elaborating:

"The government wants to know everything. Controllable electronic money will survive, and virtual currencies beyond the influence of the government will be eliminated."

Rogers explained that cryptocurrency markets are volatile, particularly during the global economic crisis. “Even though cryptocurrencies did not even exist a few years ago, in the blink of an eye, they become 100 and 1,000 times more valuable … This is a clear bubble and I don’t know the right price,” he opined, emphasizing that cryptocurrency is not an investment but gambling.

He proceeded to talk about electronic money. “Governments like electronic money because with electronic money, you can keep track of when, where, who spent and how much. Governments will have more control over people through electronic money,” the investing guru described. “Electronic money has a low issuing cost. Cash must be printed, carried and counted. It is expensive for the government.”

However, cryptocurrencies beyond the control of governments will not be accepted as money, Rogers believes, adding that those who work on cryptocurrencies think they are “smarter than the government.” However, “the government has something that those who work with virtual currencies don’t have. It’s a gun.” For this reason, he said, “I believe that virtual currency will disappear eventually.”

He believes that governments will never let bitcoin be used as money. “Only 100 years ago, we could use whatever we liked as money. You could use coins, gold, silver, or shells. Banks could also print the bills themselves. That was legal,” he was quoted as saying. However, in the mid-1930s, the Bank of England declared that using any type of money other than the money it issued was illegal, Rogers pointed out. As a result, “no one used money other than that issued by the Bank of England,” he described, predicting that the same will happen to cryptocurrency.

While admitting that a society where governments “know too much about our actions” is “unfavorable,” he believes that cryptocurrency “beyond the control of the government will not be widely distributed as money.”

While Rogers is not bullish on cryptocurrency, many institutional investors are increasingly interested in investing in this asset class. Fidelity Digital Assets recently conducted a survey of about 800 institutional investors in Europe and the U.S. and found that 80% of them find cryptocurrency appealing, while 60% feel cryptocurrencies have a place in their portfolios. Grayscale Investments also sees increasing demand for crypto investments.

Well-known hedge fund managers such as Paul Tudor Jones have been growing their bitcoin holdings. Jones said he has about 2% of his assets in bitcoin. Other billionaire investors who are bullish on bitcoin include Virgin Galactic chairman Chamath Palihapitiya and Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz.

- Source, Bitcoin News

There Will Soon be a Blow Up in US and Possibly Japanese Markets

What is happening to the world? Everybody is simply trying to use the word liquidity. When I ask experts why are markets going up when the world is looking bad, the simple answer is it is liquidity, it is Fed, it is money.

The main thing that is going on in the world is that central banks all over the world are printing huge amounts of money and governments are borrowing and spending huge amounts of money.Every day the Bank of Japan goes in there and starts printing money as fast as it can and is buying stocks, buying ETFs, buying bonds. 

About somewhat the same is happening all over the world. In the US, they are not buying stocks. We do not think yet, but they are buying everything else. This is insane. But it is great for investors, it is great for stockbrokers, it is great for ETNow. Is it good for the world? No.

So if global central bankers are likely to print more money and if interest rates are likely to remain low, then what could be the end game for equities and for this so-called summer madness which we have seen in just about every asset class?

First you must remember that in America, there is an election in Nov. And in Washington, they are doing everything they can to get re-elected. 

That is what they do. They do not care about us. They do not care about our children. They care about getting elected. So until November anyway, this is all going to continue in the US. But other places will probably follow too. The end game?

- Source, ET, read the full article here