CHAPTER VIII

ENCRYPED MONEY AND ZERO-TRUST TRANSACTIONS

You might think I’m suggesting that you kill your CPA after he does your accounting; well of course not, but the accounting function only needs certain information to return a useful balance sheet and income statement. In most cases, the accounting function of your business or what you are needing it for is a third party. That third party does not need your legal name. In fact, the accounting function does not need to be in your country thanks to the Internet. I do like local bookkeepers as well, and I get a new one every year.

You only need to submit your bank statements showing the transactions for which you want to generate a balance sheet and income statement. This will be sufficient to run your small business or investment portfolio. Of course if you are running a public company with investors, don’t follow any of this information.

Loose Diamonds

If you know what to buy, you can easily store a million dollars worth of diamonds in your cup of coffee, while you’re drinking it.

Write your diamond profile based on the criteria described in this chapter and then begin shopping for your diamond collection. There is a proper way of buying loose diamonds but I’m not going to publish it here, for the reasons I’ve already explained.

For centuries, prudent financial planning meant possessing your assets as tangible goods rather than paper money. Items of true worth are accepted and valued across cultural and language barriers, and those with the means to do so have been insuring their wealth with such goods as long as they have been treasured. There is perhaps no better example of such an item than diamonds.

Some think keeping wealth in physical goods is as an antiquated notion — but the importance of holding tangible goods as a store of wealth has perhaps never been higher. Since the removal of the gold standard backing American currency, the dollar has steadily declined in value, leaving investors uncertain and placing generations of resources at risk.

In fact, contemporary times have brought even more unpredictability to the value of a dollar as skyrocketing American debt makes the currencies of its creditors and competitors much more valuable. The green credit slips we carry in our pockets are a fiat-based currency in its purest form, good simply because the issuers claim its worth. History teaches us that a promise, no matter how ironclad and altruistic, is always subject to change. An excellent way to ensure your financial health separately from that of any other entity is to turn your paper and credit money into physical goods such as diamonds.

Most people make the mistake of assuming a diamond is a piece of unnecessary opulence worth only as much as the frivolous will pay for it. However, diamonds are indispensable in a wide range of industrial applications from drilling to machining parts to heavy polishing tasks. This combination of timeless value, prized beauty and widespread utility makes diamonds an investment with bulletproof value.

In these erratic times, loose diamonds are making a return as an effective vehicle of wealth retention. Diamonds are traditionally thought of as an extravagance or an ostentatious luxury, but like other precious materials such as gold and silver, diamonds have true universal worth. This means that regardless of fluctuations in markets or political vagaries, diamonds are virtually guaranteed to hold their value. Unlike most other items traditionally thought of as consumer goods, diamonds do not depreciate in value with time.

Traditional methods of investment such as banking and bonds carry the same flaws as maintaining resources in paper money. Many federal bank accounts are only insured up to $250,000, and interest rates are subject to frequent and often capricious fluctuation. Investment in land is a risky prospect because of external factors that could drastically affect value.

With diamonds, the perpetual demand for precious goods determines and safeguards the value of the investment, guaranteeing the worth of your diamonds lasts as long as they do. Diamonds are durable, portable and discreet, making them an ideal choice for those seeking a secure and subtle way to lock in wealth with tangible goods. Owning tangible goods as wealth and in this rapidly changing world of today, there may be few better opportunities than investing in the emerging diamond market. You may wish to consider investing in diamonds to shield your prosperity from undue influence.

All you need to know about Diamonds

The price of a diamond is defined by four criteria size colour, clarity and shape

Colour

Diamonds are graded using a colour scale that ranges from ‘D’ (completely colourless) to ‘Z'(tinted yellow). We do not use diamonds with tints below ‘M’ as they tend to look dull . The first three colours ‘D’ ‘E’ ‘F’ are colourless and are recommended for the purist . Colours ‘G’ ‘H’ ‘I’ are near colourless . They are usally the colours we recommend for most clients . The colours ‘J’ ‘K’ ‘L’ ‘M’ show faint colour we recomend them for the budget conscious.

It is really pretty simple. The closer to “D” you go, the more expensive the diamond. Can you see the difference between a D color and a K color? In fact the K color will look pretty yellow in comparison to a D. However, if you look at 2 diamond rings from a distance, it becomes a lot harder to tell the difference. Most people will not be able to tell the difference between a D and G color when mounted. If you’re the type of person who wants the absolute best, by all means purchase a D colour; but don’t be surprised if a lower color grade looks just as good.

Clarity

Most diamonds have imperfections also called inclusions . The clarity grade is based on how many and how pronounced these inclusions are . The drawings below give you an illustration of the qualities.

It is really pretty simple. The fewer blemishes , the more expensive the diamond. Can you see the difference between an ‘IF’ (flawless) clarity and a ‘VS1’ clarity? without the help of a magnifying glass NO!. However, if you look at a larger diamond from a very close distance clarity ‘SI2’ to ‘I1’ can be differentiated by a non professional , but from a normal distance it becomes a lot harder to tell the difference. Most people will not be able to tell the difference between a ‘IF’ and ‘VS1’ clarity when mounted. If you’re the type of person who wants the absolute best, by all means purchase a flawless diamond , but don’t be surprised if a lower clarity grade looks just as good.

Weight

The weight of a diamond is measured in carats . One carat (Crt.) equals 1/5th of a gram . A carat is divided in 100 points so that a diamond of 50 points equals 1/2 a carat . The larger diamonds are much rarer and their value increases with size . A diamond of 1/2 a carat has a aproximate diameter of 5.2mm , one of 1 carat 6.5mm and one of 2 carats 8.2mm.

Shape

Diamonds are cut in a variety of shapes the most popular are round and the pear shape(shape of a waterdrop).

WHAT IS A DIAMOND CERTIFICATE AND WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE?

A certified diamond is a diamond which comes with a documentation from an independent laboratory. The certificate records exact measurements of the specific diamond as well as the clarity, colour, and carat-weight. It gives a detailed diagram of the diamond. All these information enables the specific diamond being examined to be verified as the diamond in the certificate. The modern approach to ensure authenticity in a practical way is to have the diamond sealed together with the certificate (microfilm). This is done immediately after certification by the certification body.

Unless you are an expert on diamonds, you should not buy an uncertified diamond. Without the critical certificate, you will not know if you are getting what you pay for. Information concerning the specific diamond is essential and this can be found on a diamond certificate which is useful only if it is reliable.

Among the most renowned names in diamond certification in the world are: the Gemological Institute of America Gem Trade Laboratory (GIA), the European Gemological Laboratory (EGL), the Diamond High Council of Belgium (HRD), and the International Gemmological Institute (IGI, also popularly known as Belgium Lab). These account for the major proportion of the certification of most of the larger diamonds in the world. These laboratories maintain their independence because they are not connected with the trade, sales, or manufacturing organizations and do not buy or sell diamonds. The certification by these bodies are of the strictest standards and are therefore internationally recognized and used for the sale of fine quality diamonds. The relevant certification may well be dictated by the continent where the diamond is cut and traded at source. Generally, be especially cautious of retailers who offer certificates which they produce themselves, therefore removing the objectivity of the grading system and certification.

Precious Metals and Bullion

There are so many options and even more opinions about how to use precious metals. My recommendation is to keep it simple, don’t buy numismatics unless you have the time to learn all about the values of each and the money to subscribe to the relevant trade journals so you can discover the latest news in the industry. One more important consideration that people overlook is that if you are going to invest in numismatics, you really need to know people in that supply chain, buyers, sellers, auctions, who holds what hoards, etc. It’s a career unto itself and for me, not worth the time. I’d rather buy gold bullion that is marked in ounces and kilograms and certified by recognized third parties such as PCGS and NGC.

The Valcambi bar is a new and fantastic way to hold gold and other precious metals, but for the purpose of pending them conveniently.

One of the biggest complaints about gold – always a parallel currency to paper, and soon to be serial, once the world shifts to a post-paper currency reality in which faith in infinitely creatable electronic paper money is finally destroyed – is that it would be an impractical medium of exchange, as the traditional denominations are so large one would be unable to trade one ounce (and certainly one bar) for every day needs. This is also one of the main reasons various retail investors prefer silver over gold. All this may be changing courtesy of Swiss refiner Valcambi which has created a CombiBar, a credit-card sized, 50 gram block of 99.9 gold, which is pre-cut, and which can easily be broken into one gram pieces which can then be used as forms of payment in an emergency. And since one gram of gold has roughly the value of two ounces of silver, it is a far more practical lowest common denominator unit of exchange than the traditional one ounce minimums in broad circulation.

You can discover more of this product for yourself and then decide how you want to use it.

Bitcoin

Although there is a learning curve, BitCoin has huge advantages for privacy. Many times you will see an image of “Bitcoin” as a gold-looking coin that you can hold in your hand, but it’s not. It’s a digital currency. You can read the nine page thesis that created the software that now operates bitcoin. There have been plenty of system upgrades by its developers and the community it has created, but no one owns “bitcoin”. It’s just a system of exchange that is strictly regulated by its own mathematical algorithms and not any insane government agencies.

In the most interesting piece I’ve seen so far on Ezra Klein’s new site, Vox, Tim Lee explains quite clearly why Bitcoin could be a very big deal — but not quite for the reason you may have heard. It’s as simple as this:

Bitcoin’s detractors are making the same mistake as many Bitcoin fans: thinking about Bitcoin as a new kind of currency. That obscures what makes Bitcoin potentially revolutionary: it’s the world’s first completely open financial network.

History suggests that open platforms like Bitcoin often become fertile soil for innovation. Think about the internet. It didn’t seem like a very practical technology in the 1980s. But it was an open platform that anyone could build on, and in the long run it proved to be really useful.

The Bitcoin network serves the same purpose as mainstream payment networks such as Visa or Western Union. But there’s an important difference. The Visa and Western Union networks are owned and operated by for-profit companies. If you want to build a business based on one of those networks, you have to get permission from the owner.

And that’s not always easy. To use the Visa network, for example, you have to comply with hundreds of pages of regulations. The Visa network also has high fees, and there are some things Visa won’t let you do on its network at all.

Bitcoin is different. Because no one owns or controls the network, there are no limits on how people can use it. Some people have used that freedom to do illegal things like buying drugs or gambling online. But it also means there’s a low barrier to entry for building new Bitcoin-based financial services.

There’s an obvious parallel to the internet. Before the internet became mainstream, the leading online services were commercial networks like Compuserve and Prodigy. The companies that ran the network decided what services would be available on them.

In contrast, the internet was designed for anyone to create new services. Tim Berners-Lee didn’t need to ask anyone’s permission to create the world wide web. He simply wrote the first web browser and web server and posted them online for others to download. Soon thousands of people were using the software and the web was born.

I’m actually somewhat surprised to see the praise Lee’s piece has gotten — not because it isn’t good, but because it seemed relatively obvious. Bitcoin isn’t about to replace the U.S. dollar, but has already begun to be used in a variety of interesting and innovative ways, including, as he mentions, affordable international money transfers.

Why the confusion? In part, maybe, the media (or maybe just the media I, and Vox writers, follow) likes exciting political stories more than it does dense technology ones, and the political narrative about Bitcoin became overly ambitious. The idea of its becoming a functional private currency plays into the libertarian dream of free banking — replacing a government-issued currency with private currencies. The idea of an open financial network, which certain technological innovations of Bitcoin make much easier, is a good bit more feasible, but less thrilling politically. Yet one of the problems facing a product like Bitcoin is drawing in enough users to make it useful, and perhaps some of the political controversy and/or idealism surrounding the currency has helped create the network effects necessary to get it off the ground.

In terms of Bitcoin’s future, it’s more useful to think of it as an open-source and liberalized alternative to traditional financial providers and payment systems than an upending of our entire financial system. A deregulated payment system will create problems all its own, for sure, but it and imitators will be able to unlock tremendous opportunities, as investor Marc Andreesen argued in a useful though denser explication in the Times in January. (His firm isn’t exposed to Bitcoin’s value per se but has invested almost $50 million in Bitcoin-related start-ups.)

One last note: Lee’s piece is an interesting example of what Vox can be expected to do — the lucid explanation requires taking a side, and deciding what arguments about something are more or less worth dismissing in order to get the useful information across. It’s about more than “providing context” or “explaining the news,” but it’s going to be useful nonetheless.

No Third-Party or Counter Party Seizure

Since there are multiple redundant copies of the transactions database, no one can seize bitcoins. The most someone can do is force the user, by other means, to send the the bitcoins to someone else. This means that governments can’t freeze someone’s wealth, and thus users of Bitcoins will have complete freedom to do anything they want with their money.

No Taxes

There is no way for a third party to intercept transactions of Bitcoins, and therefore there is no viable way to implement a Bitcoin taxation system. The only way to pay a tax would be, if someone voluntarily sends a percentage of the amount being sent as tax.

No Tracking

Unless users publicize their wallet addresses publicly, no one can trace transactions back to them. No one, other than the wallet owners, will know how many Bitcoins they have. Even if the wallet address was publicized, a new wallet address can be easily generated. This greatly increases privacy when compared to traditional currency systems, where third parties potentially have access to personal financial data.

No Transaction Costs

Sending and receiving Bitcoins requires users to keep the Bitcoin client running and connected to other nodes. Essentially, by using bitcoins users will be contributing to the network, and thus sharing the burden of authorizing transactions. Sharing this work greatly reduces transaction costs, and thus makes transaction costs negligible.

No Risk of “Charge-backs”

Once Bitcoins are sent, the transaction cannot be reversed. Since the ownership address of Bitcoins will be changed to the new owner, once it is changed, it is impossible to revert. Since only the new owner has the associated private key, only he/she can change ownership of the coins. This ensures that there is no risk involved when receiving Bitcoins.

Bitcoins Cannot be Stolen

Bitcoins’ ownership address can only be changed by the owner. No one can steal Bitcoins unless they have physical access to a user’s computer, and they send the bitcoins to their account. Unlike convential currency systems, where only a few authentication details are required to gain access to finances, this system requires physical access, which makes it much harder to steal.

Visit www.bitcoin.org to learn more, and download your QT Client today and start learning to use BitCoin, the future of money.

The reason why at least I’m an advocate of Bitcoin is because it’s a gateway to privacy without trying to bargain with our legislators. The terms “laundering” and “smuggling” are misnomers and only used to promote drama in the subject. These activities are illegal but what’s interesting is that the “system” from which we can our privacy considers any privacy you want to be the result of laundering or smuggling money. We have rights to privacy, and these rights are absolute, they existed before any government, they exist because we are people and have a conscience, and we are beings of reason.

Taking back your privacy is a vote for privacy and liberty and freedom and it’s a vote against a government system that has lost its way and has become a monstrosity instead of a protector of our rights. We have to protect our own rights.

In July, we will witness a change in the way Bitcoin is priced because of a change in the mining rewards.

In the Bitcoin network, user transactions are grouped in blocks and recorded to a digital public ledger called a blockchain. Miners are in charge of this task, and receive a mining reward in the form of bitcoins for each block recorded.

The amount of bitcoins rewarded for each block decreases with time: it is halved every 4 years. This event, the moment when the mining reward is divided by 2, is commonly called “Bitcoin halving”. Other denominations are used: “reward drop”, “reward halving”, or simply “the halving” or “the Halvening” which is a popular meme among bitcoiners.

When Bitcoin was created in 2009, the initial reward was 50 bitcoins. In November 2012, it dropped to 25btc after the first halving. The second halving will take place in July 2016, decreasing the reward to 12.5btc

Visit this website for more information, http://www.thehalvening.com/

Vault Exchanges

This is a very simple technique for moving money to foreign jurisdictions. When you have precious metals in your possession and you want to move them out of the country, for example, you can exchange them for Bitcoins in the originating jurisdiction and then use those Bitcoins without minutes to buy an equivalent amount of precious metals in your foreign vault service.

Elemetal Vault services works with Provident Metals to provide a vault storage service for people who want to store precious metals in a third party vault service. I see no indication that you can exchange your precious metals for Bitcoin but I think it would be very easy to arrange, especially because Provident Metals accepts Bitcoin.

There are other services of course, but I have to explain the details about Bullion Star.

Bullion in Singapore

Singapore is simply the best country in the world to buy and store bullion.

Singapore is the free-trade capital of the world and has a solid reputation in terms of property rights protection and ease of doing business. These conditions together with below mentioned advantages makes Singapore the ideal location for storing precious metals.

Tax-Free – There is no tax for bullion whatsoever in Singapore. No GST/VAT/Sales tax and no capital gains tax.

No Reporting Requirements – There are no domestic or international reporting requirements for buying, selling or storing gold in Singapore. No permits are necessary to import or export investment precious metals.

Cash Allowed – Cash makes sense. There is no counter party risk involved for cash and carry. If you settle in cash, you don’t have to place any trust in anyone. You get the bullion, we get the cash.

Safety & Security – The crime rate in Singapore is among the lowest in the world. Violent crime is almost unheard of. There’s a strong rule of law in Singapore. You can take physical possession and walk out with your precious metals without any problem.

Property Ownership Rights – Singapore is politically stable with strong property ownership rights protection.

Business Climate – Singapore consistently ranks top three globally in business climate reports measuring how easy and straightforward it is to conduct business in different countries.

Laws and Regulations – While governments in the EU and the USA try to curb investments into precious metals by introducing legislation that makes it difficult to purchase precious metals, the government of Singapore is dedicated to transform Singapore into a trading hub for precious metals. The Singaporean government encourages bullion dealers and refineries to set up their business in Singapore with the objective of increasing Singapore’s share of the global gold market from the present 2 % of global gold trade to 10 % by 2020.

Independence from the EU & USA – Singapore has no jurisdictional ties to the US or any country in Europe. Singapore is proud of its independence. BullionStar.com is just one vault service that you will want to research for this country.

Cold Storage

Any Bitcoins stored online will be vulnerable to hackers and security compromises and any online wallet provider who claims that its wallets are 100% hackproof is simply lying. Hackers are smart, technologically advanced, proficient and fiercely determined. Inputs.io was recently hacked for over 6400 bitcoins, and BitFloor was put out of business by hackers. However, hackers cannot steal Bitcoins that are stored offline in ‘cold storage’ encrypted containers.

I’m not promoting bitkee.com specifically, but I really do like the product and my research indicates that it is a reliable tool that will get you the protection and security you want with your Bitcoins. There are competing services and you will discover them with your research.

A paper wallet is a mechanism for storing bitcoins offline as a physical document. It can have all the necessary information to send and receive bitcoins without relying on a computer for storage and use.

You can use www.bitaddress.org or www.bitcoinpaperwallet.com to generate your own private paper wallet address and use these wallets to store your bitcoin on a paper document in a safe or other secure location.

Paper wallets are typically created by printing a newly generated public key and private key onto paper. When good security practices are followed paper wallets are one of the safest ways to store bitcoins physically and offline.

A bitkee is durable, fireproof, waterproof, corrosion resistant and invulnerable to software and hardware crashes. Specific precautions are taken to eliminate security risks when printing a bitkee. These wallets are produced in a Faraday cage, with very strict hard-drive destruction and security protocols. An example of a Faraday cage is your microwave, it will nearly block all frequencies to electronic devices, it’s not perfect and you can make your own with a greater degree of security, but this is a good example. Other examples include copper mesh wallets for your credit cards.

One other way to store Bitcoin and any other data is on a device such as a USB Drive or an SD card that has its own operating system installed. You would be able to keep this device on your key chain for example and “boot to it” on any computer and operate from it as if it’s your own computer using someone else’s monitor, mother board and keyboard, You will want to look into installing the free version of the Tails operating system or Linux on your USB Drive or SD card for this purpose.

Mycellium – Private Wallet

I like the Mycellium wallet because it’s not subject to the United States’ Financial Crimes Network (FINCEN) or regulated as a “money transfer business” in any jurisdiction. The Mycelium Bitcoin Wallet enables you to send and receive Bitcoins using your mobile phone. It’s HD enabled so you can manage multiple accounts and never reuse addresses (Bip32/Bip44 compatible) Because it’s “Masterseed based”, you can make one backup and be safe for ever. You keep 100% control over your private keys, they never leave your device unless you export them. There is no block chain download, just install and run in seconds. It gives you an ultra fast connection to the Bitcoin network through its super nodes and with its enhanced privacy and availability, you can connect to its super nodes via a TOR-hidden service (.onion address). It includes “Watch-only” addresses (single or xPub) & private key (single or xPriv) import for secure cold-storage integration.

You can directly spend from paper wallets (single key, xPriv or master seed). It is also Trezor enabled so you can spend directly from trezor-secured accounts. Mycelium Entropy is compatible with Shamir-Secret-Shared 2-out-of-3 keys spending and you can secure your wallet with a PIN. It is also compatible with other bitcoin services through the bitcoin URI scheme.

BTC-e.com

I would like to suggest just one more Bitcoin exchange that is outside of the United States’ jurisdiction, https://btc-e.com/. Do your own research, my first concerns are always that it is not defined as a “money transmitting service” and not regulated under FINCEN or a similar agency from any country.

Dark Laundering

The ability to buy large volumes of Bitcoin at one time is limited with most of the exchanges; however, https://darklaunder.com/ is one of those services that allow you to buy an unlimited amount of Bitcoins each day. This is a Bitcoin “tumbler” or “mixer”.

Once you get your volumes of money into Bitcoin, you can then free to use more services to increase your privacy. Here are some examples.

One of the main benefits of Bitcoin is the safety of its transactions. It is not regulated or managed by any government or banking institution; it is impossible to do so thanks to the nature of its design. Bitcoin is a completely secure and easy means of transferring money throughout the world. It is also very cheap to perform international payments with Bitcoin as credit cards charge commissions for every transaction that takes place.

You will want to do further research using these key phrases: “Dark Wallet” and “Dark Launder” along with https://www.darkwallet.is/.

Darkwallet is a community of projects developing a wallet with privacy, scalability and integrity. We see Bitcoin fundamentally as a new tool of business and trade in the free economy, more than a mere payments innovation.

The Darkwallet is our first step into a series of products that will touch upon tools for markets, governance and organization. These are tools we need for our own communities, where we aim to create self-managed spaces.

You will also want to review http://samouraiwallet.com/

Using Bitcoin Casinos To Launder Bitcoin

Bitcoin casinos essentially “clean” coins and you don’t even need to put in much effort. You can deposit “dirty” coins, play for a bit, withdraw your coins from the casinos, and voila! You’ve received bitcoins that have been transferred several times.

Laundering bitcoin works and using bitcoin casinos to do that is only one of the many ways to launder. If you do it correctly, there isn’t much anyone do about it. It will always be a game of cat and mouse.

Here is a rating schedule of different Bitcoin casinos: https://bitcoincasinos.reviews/

The United States Dollar, or Federal Reserve Note, is the most popular currency to use for the most vices in human history, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, war, terrorism, institutional theft, etc. The USD has been a means for a small group of psychopaths, “elite”, e.g. Rothschild’s, Rockefeller’s, etc. to steal wealth from the producers of society, e.g. farmers, teachers, engineers, mechanics, laborers, etc. The USD needs to be abandoned and replaced with Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is different than any other form of money in history and why it has the same and better attributes than any other form of money in history.

● Using Bitcoin is the exercise of your freedom of expression.

● Eliminates counter party risk (trust), peer-to-peer

● Distributed, Open Source Ledger, cannot be fabricated, real time continuous audits.

● Near zero transaction fees, low income people cannot be exploited

● levels of privacy including anonymity

● more secure than any traditional banking in history

● market valuation as stable as gold, cannot be manipulated however

● no risk of identity theft or unauthorized transactions

● payments only initiated by owner, not be recipient, such as for credit cards

● deflationary, production is known 100+ years in advance

● not subject to levy from creditors

● invisibly pass wealth over borders without risk

● MAKE IT ILLEGAL AND IT WILL BECOME EXPONENTIALLY MORE POPULAR THAN EVER

The use of Bitcoin and other cryptographic technologies, including additional Blockchain applications, are becoming an economic necessity. Argentina may nearly adopt Bitcoin as its official currency as it has recently become the de facto currency of that country. Zimbabwe has been using Bitcoin since its inception, and in place of the abandoned Zimbabwe Dollar. This trend is continuing exponentially. Factor another 10% of China’s population and you have an enormous demand for Bitcoin looming on the horizon. There is a huge upside to the price of Bitcoin, especially when you compare how small its market cap is with gold.

The greatest utility I can see for using Bitcoin in terms of money is to store your money in precious metals using vault services, and exchange a small amount for Bitcoin that you can use on a daily basis. You can organize this yourself using services you select, or you can use complete turn-key services such as ANX or Uphold. Eventually, because of the deflationary nature of Bitcoin, we will be using it in terms of fractions of a bitcoin, and just like a “dime” or “nickel” is a normal part of our language, so to will the fractions of a Bitcoin:

0.01 BTC = 1 cBTC = 1 centibitcoin (or bitcent);

0.001 BTC = 1 mBTC = 1 millibitcoin (or mbit (pronounced em-bit) or millibit or even bitmill);

0.000 001 BTC = 1 μBTC = 1 microbitcoin (or ubit (pronounced yu-bit) or microbit);

A “Satoshi” being the smallest unit. It is also fairly common to use SI prefixes.

Silver is your best return in the near future, when the gold and silver ratio reaches 20:1, then you will want to consider getting back into gold and more into Bitcoin from your silver holdings. You can’t go wrong with any of these however.

Cash

What can I say about using cash that we don’t already know? Yes, it may be uncool these days, unsophisticated compared with credit cards, maybe even risky, but aren’t there many risks with using debit and credit card technology as well?

Protecting your personal privacy is a lifestyle design choice and can protect you from identity theft. Developing effective privacy hygiene habits and practices that are conducive to secrets will give you more control over which aspects of your life are made known to whom and when. One key way to do this is to use cash for as many transactions as possible.

PRIVACY BENEFITS OF USING CASH

One of the biggest returns on privacy for the effort invested is probably by using cash for as many transactions as possible; whether as payment or receipt of funds. Another is Bitcoin which is like digital cash; or cash you can use on the Internet. The paper trail which follows such transactions vanishes into anonymity when you use cash. It is almost impossible to link you to a transaction whether you are looking at your own financial records or the records of a merchant.

All reporting requirements for tax and other purposes should still be followed but even this only reveals some information about the aggregate amount of cash that has changed hands. Nevertheless, the benefits to the average person can be enormous.

In the unfortunate event that your bank records or statements are compromised then the cash transactions will appear only as withdrawals or deposits and there will be no way of telling where that money came from or went. The more cash transactions then the fewer bits of information that are available from reviewing your financial statements.

PRIVACY BREACHES BY CREDIT AND DEBIT CARDS

Using cash instead of credit or debit cards also keeps the damage from compromised statements to a minimum. Just look at the mess Stratfor caused their clients by not accepting Bitcoin. Then you are less likely to suffer from identity theft.

However, with credit or debit cards you need to be careful when using them to make purchases and carefully select which purchases to make which cards and when because financial privacy is not built in to the design by default like with Bitcoin or cash. This means means that your transaction information will be in the hands of credit or debit card companies, marketers and other “affiliates” of the credit card company or banks.

Talk about the potential for a wild goose chase!

SNEAKY NINJA TIP FOR USING CREDIT CARDS

If you are really sneaky then you could carefully craft which expenses you pay with credit cards and which ones you pay with cash so that marketers and anyone else who has access to a record of your credit and debit card purchases will only have the profile that you carefully painted. Or perhaps you have let someone use your credit card to make gas purchases in a location far away from where you actually are. Talk about the potential for a wild goose chase!

AN UNFORTUNATE EXAMPLE

A rather dramatic example of why someone should use cash to make a purchase is found in the experience of Sally Harpold. Although she was prosecuted under Indiana state drug laws for purchasing one box of Zyrtec for her husband and, a few days later, one box of Mucinex for her daughter.

Both medications are available over the counter and without a prescription but the Indiana law prohibits the purchase of more than a certain amount of medicine containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine within a seven day period.

Without her knowledge Sally purchased two medications which, combined, exceeded the statutory limit. Although she had (1) never had legal trouble before, (2) had no intent to commit a crime and (3) was not committing a victimless act that is wrong or immoral in and of itself nevertheless she was prosecuted. In order to have her record expunged, but not from the Internet, she was forced to pay for the cost of the criminal prosecution.

This extremely bad decision by county prosecutor Nina Alexander to enforce a poorly worded law in a manner which was never intended could have been avoided if Mrs. Harpold made one or both of those purchases with cash.

In this example, a cash transaction would have left the purchase of the over the counter medication in complete anonymity and it would have been impossible to connect to Mrs. Harpold. I suppose the sweet little grandmother Sally Harpold ‘had something to hide’. Or is she really a drug abuser in Indiana?

CAVEATS TO USING CASH

There are some caveats to using cash as often as possible. Cash is almost impossible to recover if stolen so having enough cash on hand to pay your expenses can raise security concerns. You should never use cash solely to with intent to commit fraud, evade taxes or engage in behavior which could be construed as money laundering. So avoid using cash with either a washer or dryer.

Also, banks and other institutions may be required to file Currency Transaction Reports for any transaction or series of transactions that are greater than $10,000. They also may be required to file Suspicious Activity Reports if they think that your cash transaction is somehow suspicious.

One of the most effective ways to protect privacy is to use cash or Bitcoin for as many transactions as possible. By taking control of the facts which are recorded, stored, archived, databased and searchable forever you greatly reduce the probability for identity theft.

This will go a long way to protecting both your personal privacy and financial privacy and may even keep you out of jail. So consider getting a copy of The Free Bitcoin Guide and using cash and bitcoin as often as possible to secure the financial privacy you want..

How to Store and Transport Debit and Credit Cards

If you insist on using credit and debit cards, you need to understand the risks, such as someone with an RFID scanner who can capture all your card data and drain your account with seconds from thirty meters away. You can simply have your bank issue a card without an RFID device embedded in it, but if someday this is not possible, there are alternatives.

The reasons I decided to build this wallet are because of my new credit card, an AMEX Clear (amazing), which has an RFID tag, my school ID, and some research I did on how easily these really can be hacked. It is nearly as simple as buying a credit card machine on eBay, pumping up the power, and plugging it into your computer, then collecting all the credit card RFID information that goes by. An absolutely ridiculous lack of security and disclosure is what the consumers get to look forward to today.

The copper I used was purchased on eBay for about $9. It was a 16×20″ sheet of 80 mesh. The only thing I would change in the copper would be how soft it is. I have in the past seen a copper mesh that is as soft as a cotton tee-shirt, but this is more like heavy paper (maybe that soft recycled construction paper). If I knew what specifications to look for to get a softer copper I would. Note: Others have suggested that a softer copper might not be as good due to shape retention. I still want to try it though.

These steps make a bi-fold wallet.

1. cut a piece of copper mesh approximately 23×18 cm (9×7 inches) (if you can make it slightly trapezoidal that would be optimum. The 23cm sides should be parallel, but the shorter side should be angled slightly to make the whole sheet trapezoidal. This allows for your wallet to have stuff in it without being too tight. )

2. fold the longer sides about 1.5 cm in

3. fold the shorter sides in about 1.5 cm

4. (optional) line the side with the folded edges with a nonabrasive, durable cloth (I am going to use silk, microfiber, or another extremely light material so that it does not increase the weight of the wallet at all, but you could use anything) and sew that over the folded down edges.

5. fold the sheet in half lengthwise, such that it looks like an open wallet.

6. Line up the edges (if you made it trapezoidal, it will not lie flat at this point, that is okay, just line up the edges.) and sew the two sides together, about halfway up leaving the top open. (not sewing it all the way up prevents you from having to open the wallet completely in order to remove items)

While I believe copper mesh wallets are the best form of protecting your wallet and credit card data, I wanted to add this information about metal mesh wallets in general.

Why you need a steel wallet.

RFID readers mean pickpockets can steal your data without even touching your wallet. The steel wallet is real! Pickpockets and thieves around the world are very good at separating you from your money, credit cards and other valuables while you’re traveling. They can use diversionary tactics or even razor blades to get at the contents of your wallet.

Unfortunately, the growing use of contact-less, “touch and go” payment and other systems — which can include credit cards, smart-cards, key fobs and others — make their job that much easier. A malicious identity thief could create a mobile RFID reader that “harvests” personal data from the wallets of passers-by, or, say, passengers on a bus.

An online catalog called Herrington offers a product that just might be a glimpse into the future: A steel wallet for about eighty dollars:

The Identity Theft Preventing Privacy Wallet is “woven from over 20,000 super-fine strands of stainless steel into a flexible fabric that feels like silk,” according to the catalog web site. It’s “stronger than leather.”

The purpose of the steel mesh is to block RFID readers, and prevent them from nabbing the data from your contact-less cards. In the future, when everything is contact-less and we all carry RFID-enabled everything, will we all need steel wallets?

How to Transport and Store Your Money Across Borders

In most forms, we can simply use the traditional wire transfer to move money across jurisdictions, but the more you send, or the more unusual amounts you send, the greater chance there is that your money will be held by the police state. One way to avoid this is to use Bitcoin. You won’t want to physically take the money with you, this is not the seventies, the border security will take your money and you’ll probably never see it again and you might be suspected of a crime just because you have more money than these people are used to seeing.

There are very creative ways of transferring money across borders, buying and selling assets, losing money via an Internet gambling house, etc. I’m not going to explain these simply because there are a few very effective methods that are low risk and easy to practice.

There are foreign jurisdictions, literally based on islands in the Atlantic for example, that will hold your money in gold bullion, or whatever precious metal or item of insurable value you want. If you have regular business with clients in foreign jurisdictions, you can complete your business transactions all within that jurisdiction and outside of the jurisdiction where your businesses operate. This gives each party the freedom and privacy to manage his money however he wants.

If this is not practical, it is easy enough to hire a transport service such as VIA MAT and MALCA-AMIT. Okay, this is very useful information, I’ve just given you two huge trade secrets. There are more that are connected to this and you will eventually learn once you join this community. You will discover jurisdictions that allow you to trade and make transactions in complete privacy and legally, without any taxes. There might be some fees, but they would be negligible of course.

Before we talk about these services, you need to know one thing, do not use them as a U.S Citizen. Do not open accounts identifying yourself as a U.S. Citizen, and I would include the same warning for Canadians and U.K. Citizens. You will need your second passport and preferably a legal name change on that passport, before using any of these services in your own name. This includes signing for a corporation as a citizen of any of these jurisdictions.

World’s biggest gold storage company dumps US citizens

by Simon Black on February 22, 2013

Gold, Reporting From: Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile

ViaMat, a Swiss logistics company that has been safeguarding precious metals since 1945, is literally the gold standard in secure storage.

They have vaults from Switzerland to Hong Kong to Dubai, and they count among their clients some of the largest mining companies in the world. They know what they’re doing, and now they’re dumping US citizens.

ViaMat does a great deal of business within the United States. As such, the company is heavily exposed to the insane US regulatory environment.

As an example, the 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act turned into more than 500 pages of regulation! The costs and risks associated with compliance simply became too much for ViaMat to bear.

This matter-of-fact letter from ViaMat management explains their decision:

“We are currently experiencing rapid and substantial changes in the general regulations within this business. The changes mainly relate to the tax structures and taxation systems of various countries. As a consequence of these changes VIA MAT INTERNATIONAL has taken the decision to stop offering this service at its vault [sic] outside of the US to private customers with potential US-tax liability.”

Via Mat, the worlds biggest gold storage company, dumps US citizens. This is huge. I can’t possibly overstate the potential ramifications.

For one, the big gold depositories like Gold Money and Bullion Vault ALL use ViaMat as a primary secure storage provider. So it’s only a matter of time before ViaMat’s decision cascades across these other firms.

I have written extensively about this to subscribers of our premium service, Sovereign Man: Confidential; most gold storage firms are all essentially different varieties of the exact same product. They are retail marketing channels that ultimately use ViaMat to store their gold bars. If ViaMat has US exposure, THEY have US exposure. It’s the same risk.

Now, if you’re in the United States in particular, one of the most important (and cost effective) steps you can take in international diversification is to store precious metals overseas.

Gold remains the most effective ‘anti-currency’ out there, a bet against a corrupt financial system and debt-laden sovereign governments. But remember– governments have an unblemished track record of plundering their citizens’ wealth. So if you store your gold in the US, you might as well ask Barack Obama to keep it under his mattress.

If history is any guide, storing gold abroad is critical. And it’s one of those things that you won’t be worse off for doing. It’s important to work with a service provider that has no US exposure.

There are very few options out there. Again, most of the big boys use ViaMat, which has heavy US exposure. Or Brinks, which is a US company.

For nearly a year, I’ve been encouraging our premium subscribers to store their gold with a Singapore-based company that has the most advanced, transparent operation on the planet.

They are 100% Singaporean, and their US regulatory exposure is effectively zero.

They’re also one of the only firms on the planet that actually tests the gold it sells (and stores) through three different methods, including X-ray and ultrasound. This way you know that your gold is, in fact, gold… and not tungsten.

Best of all, they’re launching a new service to receive your existing gold at their facilities in Singapore. So if you’ve just been shut out of ViaMat, or you want to transfer your gold from another facility that has heavy US exposure, these guys will be able to do it. They are, without a doubt, the best solution out there.

Malca-Amit North America, Inc. provides logistical services. It offers services in the areas of secure door-to-door delivery, secure storage facilities, ground transportation, hand carry, integrated customs brokerage, trade shows, inspection facilities, Malca-Amit Express, third party logistics, gem lab services, special guarding, fine art, high end customized service, and central control unit. The company also provides services in the areas of temporary importation for valuables, window pick up and delivery, courier service for hand-carry shipments, private show exhibition and security events management, at-show insurance, and overnight storage and vaulting facilities. It offers customer service and solutions for those dealing in diamonds and jewelry, precious metals, fine arts, special event operations, and more. The company serves its customers in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America, the Oceania, and internationally. It offers its services through a network of partners and affiliates. The company was founded in 1963 and is based in New York, New York with additional offices in China, India, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. It has a service centre in Taiwan.

Malca-Amit (www.malca-amit.com) operates high value security services in 23 countries with 53 offices. Initially, Malca-Amit will be accepting diamond and colored gemstone submissions for authentication and grading in 18 of the Malca-Amit offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The fees in this delivery system are based on a “per use” basis and are generally paid by the submitter.

The Malca-Amit Group of Companies is proud to announce the official launch of Malca-Amit Precious Metals (MAPM). MAPM provides comprehensive and competitive solutions for corporations and individuals looking to purchase and store precious metals, including gold, silver, platinum and palladium

“MAPM provides and facilitates comprehensive solutions for customers looking to invest in the precious metals market, such as the procurement of bullion bars and coins; arranging for the refining of gold scrap and old bullion bars; facilitating secure transportation; and arranging storage and inspections at Malca-Amit’s state-of-the-art vaulting facilities,” states Joshua Rotbart, MAPM’s General Manager. The company also offers a buyback option.

MAPM capitalizes on Malca-Amit’s insights acquired over decades of servicing the valuables sector, and offers an extensive array of services, complemented by the company’s commitment and dedication to customer satisfaction.

Bullion procured through MAPM can be stored in any of Malca-Amit’s vaults located in strategic hubs around the world, including New York, London, Zurich, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. “MAPM is not a trader or dealer.The company sells precious metals only to clients that are interested in storing their commodities in a Malca-Amit vault,” emphasizes Rotbart.

Since 1963 the Malca-Amit Group has been providing secure logistical services to the valuables and luxury goods sectors. The Malca-Amit Group includes companies that are members of the LBMA, are LBMA-approved weighers.

MAPMs liability is wholly underwritten by Lloyd’s of London, ensuring all-risk liability coverage on assets from the moment they are entrusted to the company’s expert care.

“MAPM revitalizes the approach to purchasing and vaulting precious metals, and provides a unique advantage to investors in the market, thanks to its customized solutions and refreshing approach to customer service,” notes Malca-Amit Group CEO, Nigel Paxman.

Trading Precious Metals for Bitcoin and Buying Offshore Vault Storage

Singapore and www.bullionstar.com