The Bitcoin Gambit

**Update: If the YouTube videos don’t load please search on Rumble.

Firstly, apologies for the delay in getting of out our newsletter and blogs this quarter. We were waiting for the 2022 Bitcoin Conference before publishing. We wanted to highlight the best and most significant keynotes given during the conference.

Our number 1, really explains the power of the bitcoin network and why it is significant, number 2 is all about the asset, how to protect yourself from the fiat fraud and finally number 3 - the ESG narrative and shaping the future.

Number 1 - Jack Maller’s Announcement and the King’s Gambit

Many people that get into crypto and bitcoin will always talk about price. What they are actually talking about is the asset (the incredible store of value proposition) . Bitcoin is more than that, it is a new financial network that enables customers and merchant without middlemen.

Jack’s “Kings Gambit” keynote is the best I have ever seen on this topic!

Rumble video if below doesn’t work here

Bitcoin 2022 Conference - Jack Mallers

---

Number 2 - Cult of the Central Bank: A Fiat Religion

If you don’t know what financial repression is then this is a great talk to understand how governments confiscate the wealth of their citizens in the form of inflation. He highlights how in 8 years he went from a $2000 salary to $20.

Our journey in the west is only starting, it’s time you understand hyperinflation and fast. It’s also worth noting his thoughts on CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) - they are the same flavour as fiat, so they will have the same properties… they will be debased and used against you.

Let’s just hope that some lesson can be taught and that people don’t have to learn the lessons of hyperinflation the hard way - only time will tell.

Rumble video if below doesn’t work here

Bitcoin 2022 Conference - Ricardo B. Salinas

---

Number 3 - bitcoin: Revolutionary Youth Movement

This is is one of the comments from YouTube that perfectly sums up the video “This might go down as one of the speeches that is recognized as vital to this revolution ! That man's voice was cracking because he was afraid he was being compelled to tell the truth ! Going public is handing your company to government indirectly !”

“ESG is the real enemy, it’s a hate factory and when you think ESG, think CCP”

For me, the key take away from this keynote, is that we have have momentum, we have an asset that can protect our wealth and labour, it’s transparent, fair and inclusive. We need to be careful, regulation it’s almost always used as a tool to corrupt a movement and finally, we need to be sceptical of the ESG narrative.

Rumble video if below doesn’t work here

Bitcoin 2022 Conference - Peter Thiel

One point I would make at around the 6:48 mark is that Peter’s slide should be changed. You can remove the ETH logo and replace it with the Bitcoin logo now that we have Lightning.

Updated Slide

Lightning Network has enabled this!

The final piece I will leave you with is a quote form Cathie Wood during the conference. As she says, every single word is important:

“Bitcoin is the first global private (i.e. non government) digital rules based monetary system in the history of the world”

DISCLAIMER

This publication is general in nature and is not intended to constitute any professional advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial or investment products. You should seek separate professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication. Please also note our disclosure here

Why are populations in dictatorships building crypto positions?

image by Ali Tawfiq

Would you be surprised if I told you that in the last 30 days we have seen significant growth in the visitor analytics to our site from the following 2 countries:

1. Australia

2. Canada

Now, I wonder why?

Could it be anything to do with: Locking away and preventing the movement of citizens, pushing policies to deliberately divide society, forcing people to take medication to work (or play sport), tracking their movements, threatening to kill their animals, using extraordinary measures against protestors and then freezing assets and bank accounts.

So big shout out to the fringe leaders in these great nations - who clearly missed their history lessons at school. Our "Black Face" Mr T was obviously even naughtier, he must have missed economics 101 (consequences and outcomes of communism) after he so eloquently spoke of his admiration of China’s Communist Party. I’d include you in on this one JA of New Zealand and all the companies like gofundme (your business model is dead).

Please keep up the great work, you are doing your citizens a wonderful service. You are opening up eyes like never before. They are spending the time:

• to read and understand the bill of human rights (google them yourself and have a read),

• to see how the current economy doesn’t actually work for them, how they work for currency that is a confidence game and inflation is actually a big deal.

• to question what freedom of speech really means (thanks Joe R for highlighting this one, and thanks too to MSM for showing us exactly who you play for)

• migrate away from social media platforms that don’t respect privacy and drive cancel culture

• to understand the importance of the right to protest (whether you agree with the protest or not, is not important - defending the right to protest is whats important)

• To understand Bitcoin and Crypto

“These nations do not have sleeping sheep, one by one the lions are being awoken”

Now for those of you are looking to build a position in crypto and don’t know where to start, here is a thread I wrote last week which will help. The story talks about “a guy”, but rest assured it does not matter if you are young or old, male or female, they, them, you are all included:

1/

There are 3 key ways to build a crypto position:

1. Take crypto as payment

2. Use defi yield tools

3. Follow the money

There are stories everywhere about #1 & #2 Nobody likes to hear about #3 To bad, today in this thread 👇, you will see how our guy made a start with #3

2/

Our guy was in his late 50s and had been looking for a way to get into crypto. He had a 5% portion of his speculative cash available to earn a little extra yield - ie the money he was prepared to allocate to highly speculative assets.

3/

The though of opening an exchange account, depositing money, deciding which crypto to buy and then moving all his crypto onto a hardware wallet or diversify risk by using multiple exchanges, was a step too far for him. But he didn't give up ...

4/

Being able to tell his grandchildren, even his son, that he owned some crypto sounded just awesome. What was more, he found a way to leverage the skills of seasoned crypto veterans, by copying their strategy. He could even add to his account monthly (or whenever he wanted).

5/

The product he went with in the end, didn't require him to have to pick an exchange - he didn't even know what that was, until someone explained, it was just a term for "where you buy crypto". - The exchange was registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in UK ✅

6/

So he followed the simple instructions from the PDF he received to open an account and then followed the process to verify his account. Initially he did not worry about depositing money: - He used a simple gift code to fund his account ✅

7/

Our guy had previously been very concerned that he knew nothing about crypto. There were so many of them, which one would he choose. Was there a way to copy the allocations of some industry veterans (like an index)? - There was, he could copy "Rational Active Allocation" ✅

8/

It was at this point, that our guy began smiling (I can see you smiling). There was one last question about diversifying risk that needed addressing. - The platform uses multiple exchanges (requiring multiple signatures from different people/orgs) to protect assets ✅

9/

So with all his concerns dealt with - he decided to purchase the Crypto Starter Kit (*) he had seen advertised. He did this straight from his phone (he could even use apple pay and his finger to checkout). After paying he received an email confirming his purchase with a PDF.

10/

The PDF included in the Crypto Starter Kit (*) had everything he needed to get started on his journey to owning his first crypto. The gift card (2 amounts available) was then generated and emailed to him to load onto his account to copy the "Rational Active Allocation" strategy.

11/

If you want to start a position just like our guy in the story, check out RAAINDEX here.

(*) We no longer offer this product, find out more here

Lastly, I dedicate this blog to all the dictators out there, the cover image of this blog has a bicycle - I suggest you get on it!

DISCLAIMER

This publication is general in nature and is not intended to constitute any professional advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial or investment products. You should seek separate professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication. Please also note our disclosure here

Happy 2nd Birthday - Rational Active Allocation

Just wanted to say a big thank you to our followers on our 2nd birthday!

Here are some 2 year KPI's:

• Out performed BTC (530% since inception)

• Greater than 10x Asset Under Management (AUM) growth

• Above average copier investment ($8.96k)

• ICONOMI "Verified" Public strategy

Chart above is from the platform where our strategy for the public is run, very proud of our 2 year track record outperforming bitcoin. Since inception we have returned 530%.

Big thanks to the team at ICONOMI for their wonderful platform and continued support. Lastly, to our fellow strategy managers, thanks for keeping us honest and we are happy to be your partners in this industry.

If you haven’t yet joined our public "platform verified” crypto strategy Rational Active Allocation, you can do so with as little as £10 per month, follow the button below to get started. (*)

* You will need to register on the ICONOMI platform before you are able to copy our strategy.

This blog is dedicated to my co-founder “lovebtcuk” , here’s to many more sir!

DISCLAIMER:

This publication is general in nature and is not intended to constitute any professional advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial or investment products. You should seek separate professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication. Please also note our disclosure here

Beware the Ides of March!

image by iam_os

I don’t often dedicate a blog, but this one is dedicated to Mr BB. Helping and educating others to see through the noise is the best gift a person can give. So here we go, what are “the ides” and why is it important?

The Ides of March is the 74th day in the Roman calendar, which corresponds to the 15th March. In 44 BC, it became notorious as the date Julius Caesar was assassinated.

Each day of a month from the first to the last day, was not numbered by the Romans, they counted back from three fixed points of the month:

• the Nones (the 5th or 7th, nine days inclusive before the Ides)

• the Ides (the 13th for most months, but the 15th in March, May, July, and October)

• the Kalends (1st of the following month).

The Ides were originally determined by the full moon which reflected the lunar origins of the Roman calendar and the Ides of March would have been the first full moon of the new year.

It was marked by several celebrations but most notable for the Romans as a deadline for settling debts.

So just like we set the last Friday of every month to get paid, the Romans set the first full moon of the new year (15 March) as the day that all debts should be settled.

You may now ask why this is important, well the answer might surprise you. Since these cycles have remained with us over the times, they are part of our DNA, and before every repayment of debt, people will generally have to either use saving or sell assets to repay. So it is not surprising then that over these times, “the ides”, that there is normally above average market volatility and can often be pivotal times for assets to reverse trend.

Paying off debt and market pivots aside, most put off dealing with their savings and investments after “the ides”. With the “decks cleared” it might just be the best time to look at our new offering:

Just as the Ides of March became a turning point in Roman history, marking the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire, make today a turning point in your financial future.

Feel free to send us an online enquiry if you want more information.

All circumstances are different, so individuals should always seek independent financial advice, please ensure you have read our disclosure.

An important part of investing - taking profits

Image by Ramiro Mendes

This is a follow on article from the one we published in June 2020: “So how much should you allocate to a crypto fund?”

Let’s be totally honest here, there are only a few industries that have and are having a truly fantastic year in 2020. If you had the foresight to participate in the crypto industry, you will now most likely be starting to feel rather uncomfortable. That is okay, its actually a nice problem to have!

So then, how do you solve the problem?

As called out in the title of this article, taking profits and having a plan on your exit is an important part of investing. The uncomfortable feelings experienced by investors during the selling process seem massively more amplified than when the original buying takes place. Fear and greed are powerful emotions, and those without a plan will often make the wrong decision.

1) Acknowledge that an exit strategy is needed

The key here is simply to acknowledge that when you put on a trade or make an investment you need to think about the exit too. Taking profit is a key element of investment success because it is the only moment when an investor actually realizes a profit. Any floating or paper profit from an open investment means nothing until it is closed and booked.

2) Identify your reward to risk (r:r) ratio

Your profit objective (exit price) is just as important as defining what you are risking (stop-loss placement). Both aspects are integral parts of the reward to risk (r:r) ratios. This ratio analyses and determines the balance between the potential profit and the potential loss of the trade. A conservative (r:r) ratio is 2:1 and an aggressive ratio is often north of 4:1

3) Set a target price (or multiple targets) and document what you are going to do when it’s hit

So now that you have decided on a (r:r) ratio and set your target or target prices, make sure that you document what you plan to do when these prices are hit. It is not unusual for investors to have multiple targets for one purchase. See our worked examples below

4) When your targets are hit, ACT as per your plan!

ACT, ACT ACT - Do not deviate from the plan, the plan was made when you were thinking clearly. Don’t let the extreme fear and greed emotions take over - follow the plan.

Please note the below is not investment advice

Example 1 - Simple (r:r) Ratio

From our earlier article, we worked on an allocation of 5% of our entire portfolio to crypto. We decided to invest 5k of our original 100k to crypto. We then decide that we will risk 50% of this (our risk is 2.5k) and we will take profit at 10k (5k profit) - our r:r is 2:1.

The major push back on the above strategy is that if the asset goes higher to say 20k, people will always feel they have missed out. The reality is that they havnt’t missed out at all. They took a investment, and it made 100%** (5k Profit/5k Initial Investment) x 100 . With bonds yielding less that 1%, its more than you will earn in bonds in 100 years

Example 2 - Stay in the game, multiple targets

One very effective method used in venture capital is to sell half the position on a double. The remaining position is then halved again and sold when the price doubles, this continues until it is not practical to halve the asset. The strategy ensures that you always have skin in the game. From our original example of 5k investment into crypto, lets say the basket price was $5, you would have 1000 allocated to your account. When the asset reaches a value of 10k or a basket price of $10 you would sell 500 (half of your 1000) at 10$ for a profit of 5k.

The important thing here is that you will have 5k cash and 5k of crypto left (500 remaining x $10)

At this point, after your first target is hit, you are in a free position. Your next target is at $20 where you will sell 250 of your remaining 500 (ie sell half of your position). Notice once again that you will raise another 5k cash at this target price and your allocation is still worth 5k ($20 x remaining 250). Your next targets are:

• $40 selling 125 for 5k cash, 125 remaining valued at 5k

• $80 selling 62.5 for 5k cash, 62.5 remaining valued at 5k

• $160 selling 31.25 for 5k cash, 31.25 remaining valued at 5k

• and so on

Example 3 - Rebalance

If you ask Investopedia for a definition of portfolio rebalancing, you'll be served up the following: "Rebalancing is the process of realigning the weightings of a portfolio of assets. Rebalancing involves periodically buying or selling assets in a portfolio to maintain an original desired level of asset allocation."

Regular portfolio rebalancing takes investment decisions out of the investor's hands; allowing a suitable asset allocation to be maintained over the long-term, an acceptable level of risk to be maintained and improving the potential for long-term investment returns.

From our earlier article, we worked on an allocation of 5% of our entire portfolio to crypto. We decided to invest 5k of our original 100k to crypto. Lets now assume that the remaining allocation was 5% gold and 90% cash (this is a hypothetical example) and we plan to rebalance every 6 months. After the original 6 months, crypto has massively outperformed and is worth 10k with gold flat - what do you do?

Answer, apply your original percentages to the total pot and buy or sell each asset accordingly.

Total pot = 105k (gold flat at 5k, cash same at 90k, crypto up 5k to 10k)

Apply original allocation:

• Crypto 5% of 105k = 5.25k

• Cash 90% of 105k = 94.5k

• Gold 5% of 105k = 5.25k

So in this example you would sell 4.75k of your crypto to cash and buy 0.25k of gold to rebalance your portfolio.

We run a well balanced allocation of projects for your crypto allocation, be sure to check out our offering - Rational Active Allocation

All circumstances are different, so individuals should always seek independent financial advice.

** this is not an annual percentage. If the investment was concluded within 1 year the % return would be even higher

The Cypherpunk Movement

Fantastic production by NLW (Nathaniel Whittemore) who is “an independent strategy and communications consultant for leading crypto companies as well as host of The Breakdown – the fastest-growing podcast in crypto…”

Here he interviews Jim Epstein (executive editor of ReasonTV podcasts, producer of the recent documentary “Cypherpunks Write Code.” and he give NLW a behind the scenes look on the interviews and conversations that went into the documentary.

Watch “Cypherpunks Write Code” for how the cypherpunks started, schisms in the movement, and how the movement lives on today.

Part 1 - Before the Web

Part 2 - Cryptography vs. Big Brother

Part 3 - When Encryption Was a Crime

Part 4 - Bitcoin and the End of History

See also: Bitcoin and the Rise of the Cypherpunks, one thing that may surprise you are notable achievements by these massively brave and intelligent people: here’s a list from the article above:

• Jacob Appelbaum: Tor developer

• Julian Assange: Founder of WikiLeaks

• Dr Adam Back: Inventor of Hashcash, co-founder of Blockstream

• Bram Cohen: Creator of BitTorrent

• Hal Finney: Main author of PGP 2.0, creator of Reusable Proof of Work

• Tim Hudson: Co-author of SSLeay, the precursor to OpenSSL

• Paul Kocher: Co-author of SSL 3.0

• Moxie Marlinspike: Founder of Open Whisper Systems (developer of Signal)

• Steven Schear: Creator of the concept of the “warrant canary”

• Bruce Schneier: Well-known security author

• Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn: DigiCash developer, Founder of Zcash

• Philip Zimmermann: Creator of PGP 1.0