Many bitcoin aficionados are waiting with baited breath as the SEC is to announce by this Friday whether they will approve the first registered bitcoin ETF. This is not the make or break event that many think it is, though. As a matter of fact, if the ETF is denied and the bitcoin drops, I'll consider it an opportunity.

By just the 2nd full day of trading, math and reality hits SNAP stock. Last week, I posted "Goldman Sachs & Morgan Stanley Pull Off the Heist of the Decade, Bends Over Those Who Don't Read BoomBustBlog", and if that wasn't a textbook example of a guaranteed short, a clear sign of a bubble and the most demonstrable example of the Street taking advantage of clients, then I don't know what is.

The US stock markets, and the banking sector in particular, have been on a tear since Trump's election. Here's a factual look to determine if all of the capital appreciated hoopla is really worth it.

President Obama implemented the Fiduciary Rule, which was supposed to go in effect next month. In short, it says financial advisors and salesmen had to put the interests of their clients ahead of thier own interests. In other words, it outlawed blatantly ripping off your clients. Trump came in and halted this, basically ensuring that it will still be legal to put your bonus pool's interest ahead of you client's interest. Cue in Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. They have pulled off the heist of the decade, essentially selling 200 million digital tokens (they're calling them stocks) with no voting rights at a trailing P/S multiple of 60x and forward multiple of 20x for a startup losing half a billion per year, with said losses increasing over $200M Y-o-Y. This is almost the ultimate in reward free risk

After reading what is essentially Fake News about Bitcoin from Financial Times, London Business School and Credit Suisse, I have created an easy to understand metric that allows anyone to compare the risks and rewards of Bitcoin to basically any currency, commodity, stock or asset class.

Credit Suisse has been posting cryptocurrency advisories over the last few weeks. They are quite one-sided, although couched in the appearance of objectivity. To explain why it's couched in the appearance of objectivity, and not actually objective, let me give you some background. 

Our HSBC research report released September of 2016 has proven to be 110% correct. This is the first sentence of our report:

HSBC Common Equity Returns: Notwithstanding a possible boost from significant depreciation of the pound and their beating (already lowered) analysts’ expectations, it looks as if the market has not sufficiently discounted HSBC’s price given it’s extremely negative fundamental, credit and macro outlook. 

This morning the company reports an 82% drop in year over year earnings. Bloomberg reports HSBC Plunges After Missing Profit Estimates on Revenue Drop

This is a video on the topic of the qualities of Bitcoin blockchain's censorship-proof attributes and how they apply in the world we live in today. It is imperative that you look at this as an dispassionate investor and steward of your assets, and not as a partisan or political supporter of XYZ.

I will teach novices and experts alike how to fit Bitcoin into an investment portfolio safely and with the optimum risk-adjusted potential - along with step-by-step guides, instructions and tutorials.

This first part of the series starts with the basics, obtaining and managing your bitcoin.

I've been warning about Italy's troubled banks since 2010, and last year I pushed two very detailed reports about what was essentially Italy's Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. Italy is a mess and the IMF and EC have been too optimistic regarding its prospects for 7 years (not just lately), see Lies, Damn Lies, and Sovereign Truths: Why the Euro is Destined to Collapse! Fast foward to today and Bloomberg reports: Italy Approves $21 Billion Fund to Shore Up Its Troubled Banks

Italy’s parliament approved a law to plow as much as 20 billion euros ($21 billion) into Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA and other troubled lenders as part of the nation’s efforts to revamp its banking industry.