Last week, I asked you if you were feeling bullish or bearish on bitcoin. It’s not the first time I’ve asked the readership of Capital & Conflict such a question, but with the market evolving so fast it’s worth keeping our intel fresh.

The claim that cryptocurrencies are connected to fraud is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, says Sam: “The traditional system continues to have lost far, far more to scams and fraud than crypto ever has.” It reminds me of the stories about cash being used for illegal purposes. But more on the banking system’s culpabilities in a second…

In yesterday’s letter, reader J.B. reported on some difficulties he was having with buying more cryptocurrencies. His bank was making life difficult. Today, the tale turns epic.

But before we get to that, there’s a different question I’d like to ask you. This is the very question myself and Charlie Morris have been pondering for our latest issue of The Fleet Street Letter Monthly Alert, going out tomorrow, and I’d love to know what you think.

CHEDDAR, SOMERSET – Following our look at bitcoin last week, I thought I should show you this small roundtable recorded over at Fortune & Freedom on Friday – featuring Nigel Farage, Nickolai Hubble and our tech expert Sam Volkering.

As I said yesterday, from the amount of bearishness I’ve seen from market commentators in recent weeks, I’m feeling pretty bullish. But one must never fall prey to wishful thinking – and as I’m a BTC holder, I of course want the market to be strong.

CHEDDAR, SOMERSET – Over the past few weeks I’ve seen several veterans of the crypto space utter a similar refrain. Something to the tune of “We had a good run folks – I’ll see you in four years’ time.”

MARYFIELD, DUNDEE – A few months ago in The Ultimate Philanthrope a reader suggested that Satoshi Nakamoto, the mystery man behind the creation of bitcoin, might be a modern-day Thomas Guy. Guy, a bookseller in the 1700s, made a fortune…

NEW TOWN, EDINBURGH – “My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light!”  Edna St Vincent Millay Apparently that was Roald Dahl’s motto. I…

WINDERMERE, LAKE DISTRICT – A dear reader writes in to complain… we’re stuck in a rut he says, and we need out: All of you at Southbank are going on & on about just one thing … Bitcoin, yet not…

WINDERMERE, LAKE DISTRICT – “Is this a nightmare?” asks a dear reader… I’ve received some wild responses to my recent letters. Some read like a fever dream: Bitcoin is (in my opinion) an Illusion, caused by drinking too much alcohol…

WINDERMERE, LAKE DISTRICT – We have now entered the final phase of the most important market cycle there is, writes our colleague Akhil Patel. The land cycle has crossed its final hurdle, passed its last stopping post (the “mid-cycle slowdown”),…

WINDERMERE, LAKE DISTRICT – I’ve finally figured it out. After years of struggle… endless debates, fights, and bickering… from rootless speculation to ludicrous allegation, in a seemingly bottomless pit of conjecture… I know who Satoshi Nakamoto is. The pseudonymous creator…

WINDERMERE, LAKE DISTRICT – I gave this away as a gift recently. It’s a remarkable little piece of kit. No ordinary USB stick, this orange flash drive is a miniature treasure chest – with virtually no limit on capacity. You…

SOUTHWARK, LONDON – It’ll be a short note from me today. I’m adding the final touches to a project I’ve been working on behind the scenes for a while. I’ll be able to show you what’s been going on later…

SOUTHWARK, LONDON – Last Friday in Dou₿le Trou₿le I showed you a note from my colleague Charlie Morris, where he illustrated just how extraordinary the phenomenon of bitcoin continually doubling in value is. He’d written that note at the beginning…

SOUTHWARK, LONDON – The doors to a speculator’s paradise have been thrown wide open. Rolling golden fields stretch into the distance. And those that dare explore this land seeking riches, risk ruin in equal measure… Yes, dear reader: it’s alt-season….

SOUTHWARK, LONDON – There’s a chart I’d like to show you today. Just one. It’s the reason I don’t feel I can be bearish about bitcoin right now, despite all the hype… But first, some context. Remember The Big Suck…

God damn them all, I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold, We’d fire no guns, Shed no tears… Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier, The last of Barrett’s Privateers… –  Barrett’s Privateers (unofficial anthem…

SOUTHWARK, LONDON – How many times do you reckon the price of bitcoin has doubled over the years? Bear in mind, bitcoin only began being traded for currency (and not for favours like pizza deliveries) in 2010. And where exactly…

SOUTHWARK, LONDON – I told you you’d need to act fast… That entire batch of ₿lockhead amber ale sold out in 12 hours. My hopes that there might be some extra left for me to buy in a fortnight have…

SOUTHWARK, LONDON – This can’t be normal, surely. Surely. Is it really time to buy bitcoin when there are adverts telling you to buy it on the London Underground? Conventional investing wisdom would suggest the opposite. Ads for speculative investment…

Available now – while stocks last! SOUTHWARK, LONDON – Well, here I am, back in the capital, for a little while at least. How long I’ll stay, I’m not sure just yet. I’m in town to do some work on…

Available 6 April at Cheddar Ales ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – One of the primary perks of being editor of this letter is being able to engage with the readership. As you can probably tell if you read Capital & Conflict often,…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – I’m afraid it’ll be another short note from me today – I’ve been called away to conduct an interview with a certain globe-trotting market expert as part of a broader event we’re planning for you. This video…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – Let’s have a little rummage through the postbox as we end for the week… I received many responses to Red Collapso last week. As bitcoin rises in value, the question of how governments will respond to it…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – During the period running from Sunday to Tuesday, over a billion dollars were lost in an event which keeps recurring. It’s almost like clockwork. That’s the third time this year this has happened by my count, and…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – Last week, I asked you if you think the bitcoin price has peaked, or if the bull market still has more juice in the tank (Power Games – 4 March). Is it all downhill from here, or…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – I feel like I’ve opened a Pandora’s box. When I asked the readership for a suitable collective noun for gold sovereigns, I didn’t expect such a sustained response. Even after Tuesday’s note where I settled on “splendour”,…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – I’m keenly aware that I’ve been bumbling on about bitcoin very frequently in this letter, monopolising our conversation and without giving you a moment to speak on the subject. I want to know your views. Even if…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – Bitcoin finds itself at a critical juncture. To my eyes, it can only go one of two ways – we’re on the cusp of either a parabolic blow-off top, or a bear market back to the likes…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – It’s somewhat fitting that as we approach “The Ides of March”, a deadline in the Roman calendar for the repayment of debts, that debt is beginning to matter for markets. A little while ago in Rumblings of…

Have you ever been overwhelmed by the choices in a restaurant’s wine menu – and just decided on the house wine? Or, when you buy the latest mobile phone, do you just accept the factory default settings and not even…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – It’s going to be a long Lent this year. To make lockdown more interesting, I decided to give up food. I’ve long been enthralled by the story of Bavarian monks in the 1600s who stopped eating during…

In light of bitcoin passing the incredible milestone of $50k per BTC, it’s time to rally the troops and reassess our position. Where do we go from here? Is this the top of the latest crypto-boom, or are we only…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – Another old schoolmate contacted me out of the blue the other day to ask me if he should buy bitcoin. And now even Peter Schiff, notorious for his hatred of bitcoin, is talking about $100k BTC prices:…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – A month ago, I told you how a buddy of mine was getting into bitcoin, and how I feared this might be a classic sign of a market top (What should Nixon have done in 1971? –…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – Well I must say, the timing of my note on Monday (Party at the frontier) wasn’t the best. My prediction that we were about to experience an alt-season, where bitcoin will take a step back and other…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – I’ve something a bit different for you today. Following yesterday’s note where I speculated we’re on the cusp of another grand “alt-season” in the cryptocurrency space, I thought I’d share a snippet from our latest issue of…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – We’ve had a fair bit of snowfall over the last few days. It’s nothing extreme – it’s not piling up high on the pavement – but it is damn chilly, and enough to remind everybody that we…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – “If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” he said gravely, wine glass in hand. It was the summer of 2017. I was in the Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall, where Charlie Morris had just…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – Who is it that’s been pushing the price of silver around over the past week? They’re hooded for sure… but is it really Robin, the Prince of Thieves? Or does another, more mysterious individual stand under the…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – I’ve a chart I’d like to show you today. Just one this time – and it’s a corker. But before we get to it, I’d like to provide a little context. In today’s letter I’d like to…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – Is our interest in shiny bits of metal and magical internet money leaving our flank open to a major currency move? This reader thinks we might be blindsided: … everyone is predicting the Fed to carry on…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – One of my personal contrarian indicators has begun to flash a warning… but can it be trusted? If you’ve been reading my scribblings for a while, you may well know the story about an old schoolfriend of…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – “Here we go!! – insanity” read a message from a colleague out in the States yesterday. Attached was a screenshot of the bitcoin price, which had just hit the striking figure of $39,999.99. To think that less…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – Thirty-seven thousand dollars per bitcoin? Twenty-seven thousand pounds apiece? Why not. Why not? Watching bitcoin is like watching an art auction these days. The price just keeps going up, interrupted only by nervous pauses… and an ever-growing…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – So why is it that the bitcoin price only seems to go up at night? Why does it only rise between 10pm and 8am, like some kind of vampire? As we illustrated in yesterday’s note, the overwhelming…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – Is bitcoin becoming a household name once again? While the subject of bitcoin will be familiar to both initiates and veterans of Capital & Conflict, something I noted frequently in this letter, both in 2019 and 2020,…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – So here we are, at the dawn of 2021 AD. I hope you had a good Hogmanay – nothing too eventful for me this year due to lockdown restrictions, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. If you’re doing…

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND – “If you thought 2020 was bad, wait until it turns 21 and starts drinking” – some American Christmas ain’t far… Hogmanay ain’t far… as we reach the end of the week, it’s becoming suddenly very apparent that…

ABERDEED, SCOTLAND – Eighteen… Nineteen… Twenty… Twenty-one. Maybe even twenty-two? Hell, I’m hearing twenty-three from some places… But we’ll come back to that in a second. The Black Operation making a mint in lockdown “THE NUMBERS, MASON. WHAT DO THEY…

It’s starting to feel like an inflection point. Last week former Bank of England governor Mark Carney stood on stage with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink as the latter made a major cryptocurrency admission. Bitcoin, he said, had “caught the attention…

SODERMALM, STOCKHOLM – As I went for a walk yesterday evening, I heard warm notes of music drift through the chilly air. I wandered towards the cheery sound, and discovered a brass band had gathered to play outside the supermarket…

SODERMALM, STOCKHOLM – As 2020 winds to a close, it’s beginning to give me déjà vu. Everything has begun to feel 2017 all over again. Remember that year? Back when “Article 50” was plastered all over the press instead of…

SODERMALM, STOCKHOLM – Of all the gold coins I’ve got, this one’s my favourite: Source: BullionStar Of all the designs the Royal Mint has stamped on gold and silver Britannias, it’s yet to surpass this one from 2003 in my…

THE ARDBEG EMBASSY, STOCKHOLM – Turns out the Swedes aren’t half bad at distilling whisky. What they are bad at is charging an affordable price for it. Though perhaps I shouldn’t blame the Swedes. This establishment is after all owned…

ESPRESSO HOUSE, STOCKHOLM – A new week beckons: let’s start it off with the results… Looks like most of you think bitcoin does have at least some value – though there’s a significant minority who think it doesn’t. Fascinatingly, the…

SODERMALM, STOCKHOLM – Following on from yesterday’s rather alarming chart, I thought I’d continue today with another one, this time courtesy of Charlie Morris over at The Fleet Street Letter Wealth Builder. Source: Bloomberg What you’re looking at there is…

SODERMALM, STOCKHOLM – Let’s start the week off with an alarming chart to get the juices flowing, shall we? This one certainly makes me nervous: Source: Google Trends That’s global Google search popularity for a certain word (indexed, so most…

SODERMALM, STOCKHOLM – “Greatness from small beginnings” – or more literally – “Great things, from small things” was the motto of Sir Francis Drake. Emblazoned on the coat of arms he was granted by Elizabeth I, sic parvis magna was…

THE ROYAL OAK, STAFFORDSHIRE – “In the 1970s, it was gold. In the 2020s, it’s going to be bitcoin.” It’s not often that Charlie Morris pushes the boat out with a big claim. Indeed, it’s his ability to deftly hedge…

Gold, silver, or bitcoin… if you had to hold only one of these assets for the next decade, which one would you choose? That’s what I asked you last week. The results have since come back, and it turns out……

“What do ye do when ye see a whale, men?” “Sing out for him!” was the impulsive rejoinder from a score of clubbed voices. “Good!” cried Ahab, with a wild approval in his tones; observing the hearty animation into which…

I’ve a story for you today – a deceptive one. Some might call it an investing success. Others might think it a failure. I’ll let you be the judge. It starts with a precious metal called palladium. While that name…

Happy hump day. Now imagine… It’s 19 August 2030. You wake up and stretch, and then immediately summon a screen to check your investment portfolio. A decade previously, an obscure investment writer on the internet challenged you to buy one…

It’s been a long time since I began working here at Southbank Investment Research, dear reader. … Or at least, it feels like it. In reality it’s been three years and a couple of months. I’ve changed a lot during…

Why do so few people see what is happening? Bitcoin is quietly creeping back to the all-time high. The network is growing, the space is more vibrant than ever before, and volatility remains low. If this sort of performance comes…

Ever heard of the Vladimir Club, dear reader? It’s a real exclusive outfit. No riff-raff allowed. If you’re a member, you’ve probably got vaults in your name in Switzerland, a Learjet service on speed-dial, and a wine cellar big enough…

Ready for another market rodeo? We spent a fair bit of time on the action in gold silver last week – both exploded in price, with the former finally making it past its all-time high in dollars it hit in…

Your regular editor Boaz Shoshan remains on holiday. And Kit Winder is busy researching the stocks you’ll want to buy in coming months. So it falls to me, Nick Hubble, to carefully avoid talking about Brexit today. Was yesterday the…

Editor’s Note: The Bonner & Partners offices were closed last Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. In lieu of our regularly scheduled Diary, we share the below guest essay from Bill’s righthand man, Dan Denning. As Bill reported previously, central…

BALTIMORE – Last week, we attended a conference in Miami. Several crypto enthusiasts were there… including Teeka Tiwari and our own “in-house” expert, one of our sons. The price of bitcoin has fallen from a high of around $20,000 to…

Blockchain is the technology that makes bitcoin function. But bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are only one application for blockchain technology. In fact, they might not be the most important one. Right now, the Australian Securities Exchange is preparing to convert…

Cryptocurrencies are marketed as an anti-government and anti-establishment alternative. But can they survive a government and establishment onslaught? Because they’re getting one. Facebook, Google and potentially Twitter will ban cryptocurrency advertising on their platforms. That includes advertising of related products….

Ever found yourself with a Scottish banknote south of the border? Or a Northern Irish one on the wrong side of the water? Britain still has ten note-issuing banks. These are banks who issue their own pound banknotes. They look…

The next financial crisis is coming. Never mind what it is though. You don’t really need to know. What you do need to know is that they happen with a certain regularity. And we’re well overdue. We don’t look at…

Bitcoin continues its bear market. Or is it a correction? The cryptocurrency has lost about 60% of its value from the highs. And it’s heading down in a steady trend of lower lows and lower highs. That’s a bear market,…

What it is it you buy when you get a bitcoin? Is bitcoin more like gold, or is it just another fiat currency? Yes, my friends. We’re going well and truly down the rabbit hole. If you’d rather not question…

Charlie Morris of The Fleet Street Letter bought a glass of wine in Chamonix with bitcoin. It’s not a terribly remarkable event to you and me. But this one event might enlighten us about the future price performance of bitcoin…

Last night it hit me. With bitcoin well over the $12,000 mark thanks to his foreign policy, you have to wonder how much bitcoin President Donald Trump owns. There’s little question the awesome power of the US president includes the…

BALTIMORE – The big news last Friday was that the Dow hit a new record of over 25,000. We’ll get to that in a minute… we’re still looking over our shoulders at last year’s performance. Let’s see, the top-performing U.S….

half the fun of crypto is how incredibly autistic and irrational it is. I’ve only made a couple grand with an initial investment of a couple hundred bucks and I don’t even give a s*** about losing it because s***posting…

RANCHO SANTANA, NICARAGUA – Yesterday, we wrote about business as usual. Despite the sound and fury of the last 12 months, nothing much has changed. Headed for Bankruptcy The U.S. is a little further advanced toward the final stages of becoming…

Well, that worked. But has it really? I’m not so sure. The mainstream financial world has elbowed in on the bitcoin bonanza. Cboe Global Markets launched bitcoin futures on Sunday. After two days of trading, it seems to be a…

“The mind shudders to contemplate the havoc of our time” – St Jerome What a ride. A little over a month ago, I read about a Dutch family selling their house and all of their possessions to buy bitcoin. What…

BALTIMORE – Are you rich yet? We hope so. Everybody else seems to be. The U.S. stock market is up more than 20% so far this year. Our country-specific stock portfolio is up about 30%. As we explained back in…

Bitcoin’s price looks and smells like a bubble. But the media’s takedown attempt is turning ridiculous. Here are three headlines from the Financial Times’ homepage this morning: Bitcoin: a poxy currency Bitcoin: an investment mania for the fake news era…

BALTIMORE – On the front page of both The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times yesterday: bitcoin. It was just the other week that we reported that bitcoin was about to hit the $8,000 mark. Now, it has passed $11,000… “This is just…

I’m grumpy this morning, after reading this on Reuters: “Regulators know the rewards of cryptocurrency and blockchain could be huge but (they) have more than one eye on the catastrophic ramifications if good governance, stability and control are not preserved.”…

It’s above $9,700 now. The fact that you know what I’m talking about tells you a lot about the bitcoin mania. What other assets can you recognise by price alone? With every surge, the cries of “bubble” grow louder. And…

You’ve read about the War on Cash here in Capital & Conflict for years now. Not to mention in Tim Price’s book of the same name, which you should have a copy of by now. It explains “How to survive…

There hasn’t been much about bitcoin in Capital & Conflict of late. Our friends at Exponential Investor are the experts. You can sign up for free, just like Capital & Conflict. The cryptocurrency certainly is in the mainstream media nowadays….

RANCHO SANTANA, NICARAGUA – Over the weekend, bitcoin rose to more than $7,500 – a 200% gain from when we bought in June. “Is that all?” replies a colleague. “I got into a bitcoin miner at 2 cents a share….

Like all innovations, cryptocurrencies were dragged into the investment world. It has turned curious university students into multi-millionaires by surprise. It ruined investors caught up in the craze when the price crashed on many occasions. There’s no question bitcoin regularly goes…

LISBON, PORTUGAL – It is still warm here in Lisbon. Like summer. We’re staying at a hotel on the Avenida da Liberdade, with large plane trees shading the wide sidewalks and grand old buildings lining the streets. Bill explores the…

Today, a new edition of the £10 enters circulation. Another £10 note, you say? Didn’t the Jane Austen one just get released? You’re quite correct. But that was the Bank of England’s new tenner. In Scotland, the Royal Bank of…

POITOU, FRANCE – “Do you still have that physical bitcoin I gave you?” A couple of years ago, a friend gave us a physical bitcoin, suggesting we should take an interest in cryptocurrencies. “I hope you didn’t lose it. That…

“The new hedge against global uncertainties.” That’s how Forbes describes bitcoin. And it’s spot on. Over the last year or so we’ve seen extreme political instability push cryptos through the roof. Just look around… The most untrustworthy and volatile US…

We’ve received a lot of great emails recently on the subject of cryptocurrencies in Exponential Investor and Andrew Lockley’s “beef” with them. Some readers are tentative: While I have no idea how blockchain technology works, I am very prepared to…

POITOU, FRANCE – It was a slow Labor Day weekend. We spent the time visiting with neighbors and tying up loose ends on our renovation projects. Then, yesterday, a daughter arrived from California. She brought bad tidings from the film…

POITOU, FRANCE – The price of bitcoin has topped $4,800. What this means, we don’t know. “It’s like the tulip mania… just a bubble,” said a friend last night. “Well… yes and no,” we cautioned against a rush to judgment….

Today I would like to share with you some insight from Charlie Morris, the editor of The Fleet Street Letter. Charlie knows the City like the back of his hand, and has a unique perspective on the financial system that…

POITOU, FRANCE – First, let us begin with an echo from last week… “Hey, Dad, bitcoin went over $4,000 yesterday. An all-time high. I made another $20,000. Not bad.” Pride goeth before a fall, of course. Profits go before losses….

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. –  Arthur C Clarke Last week, a team of hackers demonstrated that it is possible to lace physical DNA with malicious software – when that DNA is tested, the results themselves take…

POITOU, FRANCE – Our in-house expert left us this morning; we have no update on his cryptocurrency speculations. He and his family boarded the 6:22 train to Paris, en route back to Florida. About a half hour after we had taken…

A cousin, visiting from Maryland, probably spoke for millions of people. The subject was bitcoin. And he was right. It’s not “real” in a traditional sense. You can’t touch it. You can’t see it. You can’t stack it up and…

Be careful in the bitcoin market. The price has recovered from the fork, and the implementation of SegWit is progressing well too. We’re well over US$3,000, the previous peak before a major correction. But three of bitcoin’s biggest markets are…