Soros goes crypto (currency)

[yankeedoodle]

Nest egg' for Soros? Billionaire to invest in crypto after unexpected climbdown
https://www.rt.com/business/423416-soros-invest-cryptocurrency-bitcoin/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Having once dismissed cryptocurrencies as a bubble, billionaire financier George Soros has completed a dramatic about-turn and is now preparing in invest in virtual assets.
As recently as January Soros described cryptocurrencies as a "nest egg for dictators" and said the digital coins cannot function as actual currencies because of their wild volatility.

"Bitcoin is not a currency because a currency is supposed to be a stable store of value and the currency that can fluctuate 25 percent in a day can't be used for instance to pay wages because wages drop by 25 percent in a day. It's a speculation. Based on a misunderstanding," he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"[It's] a typical bubble, which is always based on a misunderstanding like the tulip mania."

Despite this grim analysis, the Hungarian-American's $26 billion family office is now preparing to invest in crypto, according to Bloomberg.

Adam Fisher, who oversees macro investing at Soros Fund Management, has secured internal approval to trade the currencies in recent months. However, the fund has yet to secure any digital assets.

The value of bitcoin, the number one virtual currency, has fallen more that 40 percent since Soros spoke in January. It fell below $7,000 on March 30 before dropping to its lowest point since last November in the past week. However, the coin remains nearly 400 percent higher than this time last year.

[yankeedoodle]

Rockefellers join Rothschilds & Soros in cryptocurrency investing
https://www.rt.com/business/423559-rockefellers-soros-rothschilds-cryptocurrency-investment/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Despite the dramatic collapse of the crypto market this year, well-known investors have opted to buy into digital currencies, triggering a brief surge in the prices of top tokens.

Reports have emerged that George Soros is preparing to invest in digital assets, despite his earlier criticism of them. Adam Fisher, who controls macro investing at Soros Fund Management, has reportedly secured internal approval to trade the currencies.

The Rockefellers have also reportedly joined the crypto party. Venrock, the official venture-capital arm of the family, reportedly signed a partnership with Coinfund, a cryptocurrency investment fund, to back virtual tokens and blockchain business innovations.

Coinfund has recently launched token-based financial services platform Coinlist. The company had previously initiated a number of projects, including chat messenger app Kik, which raised almost $100 million in the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) last year.

"We wanted to partner with this team that has been making investments and actually helping to architect a number of different crypto economies and crypto token-based projects," said David Pakman, partner at Venrock, as quoted by Fortune.

The Rothschilds, also known for their close ties to banks and other financial institutions, have stepped towards cryptocurrency trading as well. In December, the family reportedly purchased bitcoin exposure via the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust for the first time.

Crypto investors hope that the interest from big-time names will help to take the heat off the market from global financial watchdogs. Up until now, financial regulators across the world have taken a tough stance toward cryptocurrencies.

News of the involvement of big investors has triggered a jump in crypto prices, sending bitcoin back above $7,000. The price of the number one virtual currency has dropped more than 40 percent since January. It plunged below $7,000 on March 30 before dropping to its lowest point since last November in the past week. However, bitcoin remains nearly 400 percent higher than this time last year.

[yankeedoodle]

Do Rothschilds control cryptocurrencies? – Etherium founder asks
https://www.rt.com/business/428096-rothschild-cryptocurrency-control-buterin/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

The founder of the world's second biggest cryptocurrency Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, has questioned whether the Rothschild conspiracy theory extends to digital money.

"Are 'the Rothschilds' even well-coordinated enough to be worth caring about as a group these days?" Buterin asked on Reddit. Buterin raised the issue as cryptocurrency enthusiasts are discussing the opaque IMMO blockchain project the banking dynasty is reportedly investing in.

Little is known about IMMO, but the crypto-society has said it can be a digital token backed by natural resources like gold or somehow related to real estate. The project is reported to be watched personally by Alexandre de Rothschild, the newly-appointed head of the family's banking dynasty.

After a discussion on Reddit, Buterin said he came to a conclusion that the Rothschilds' possible influence on cryptocurrencies is overrated. "My updated view after seeing the replies is that they are just people born into various old-money-type high society positions, and the theories that they are anything beyond that are fairly baseless," he wrote.

In December, the Rothschild family reportedly purchased bitcoin exposure, via the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, for the first time. The conspiracy theories around Rothschilds' cryptocurrency control are being heated up by a 1988 publication in The Economist, a magazine controlled by the family.

"Thirty years from now, Americans, Japanese, Europeans, and people in many other rich countries, and some relatively poor ones will probably be paying for their shopping with the same currency. Prices will be quoted not in dollars, yen or D-marks but in, let's say, the phoenix. The phoenix will be favored by companies and shoppers because it will be more convenient than today's national currencies, which by then will seem a quaint cause of much disruption to economic life in the last twentieth century," the magazine wrote thirty years ago.