Cryptocurrencies: Fad or Long-Term Trend?

Bitcoin. Blockchain. Ethereum. Veritaseum. Litecoin. Ripple. ICOs.

It seems like nowadays you can’t listen to or read the news without hearing something about cryptocurrencies. And it looks like investors are going crazy over it.

Ripple has gained 3,000% this year.

More than $1 billion has been raised in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) so far in 2017.

Unsurprisingly, here at Dent Research, we get dozens of questions from subscribers wanting to know if this is another tulip bubble or the real deal.

Unfortunately, I’m not well versed on any of the cryptocurrency stuff, so I was thrilled when I met Michael Terpin in Puerto Rico. He moved down here for the Act 20 and 22 tax programs that are luring investment managers and publication firms from the U.S. (I’ll write more about that in a future Leading Edge.)

Michael is about as heavily involved in this space as you can get. He co-founded BitAngels, a digital angel platform for startups, and bCommerce Labs as a tech incubator.

And he’s agreed to answer that question – are cryptocurrencies real hype or the real deal? – at our fifth annual Irrational Economic Summit this October.

Thus far we’ve seen incredible volatility in currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The former soared above $3,000 recently and then fell back to $2,245 before surging back to $2,758. Such volatility excludes it from becoming a true currency just yet.

However, this industry appears to still be in its infancy and is likely a part of the next tech revolution that will peak around 2055 on my 45-year Innovation Cycle. As we move into that peak, digital currencies could join the ranks of technologies like biotech and nanotech that will sweep into the mainstream… changing the way we work and live.

I don’t know a hell of a lot about bitcoin and blockchain, but I do know that we need a more efficient way of creating currency to meet the need for transactions instead of central banks recklessly issuing currency to cheat and artificially stimulate their economies.

I think central banks will fail miserably in their endless stimulus games and create a worse crisis than 2008, because you don’t get something for nothing and that’s the game they’re playing.

I see central banks losing the faith of the public, and that will ultimately open a gap for larger cryptocurrencies to fill. Money would simply be created bottoms-up from the actual need for transactions. No more manipulation and taking over the free market systems.

But I am going to leave it to Michael Terpin to share his expertise, experiences, and insights with you at our Irrational Economic Summit this October 12-14.

Join us in Nashville, Tennessee, to hear what he says about this cryptocurrency craze. Is it real hype or the real deal? Michael will tell you.