Bitcoinist spoke with the one and only Max Keiser, Wall Street veteran and host of the Keiser Report, who explained why he’s bullish on BTC, expecting it to go well over $100,000.
My view of the world-shaking tech that Bitcoin is has not changed. – Max Keiser
Bitcoinist: The Keiser Report was probably the first show to cover Bitcoin as early as 2011. At what price did you first buy Bitcoin? Has your view of it as a black swan technology changed in any way since?
Max Keiser: Yes. 2011, at $3, we recommended it on the show. It got to under $1 that year, so a lot of our viewers got sub-$1 prices.
My view of the world-shaking tech that Bitcoin is, has not changed. Auditing all transactions every 10 minutes means – we as a society – can advance along a vector of consensus and truth toward harmony and peace – with a lot more alacrity and cooperation. Bitcoin/blockchain cuts out the contentiousness and gives our souls wings.
Bitcoinist: Is Bitcoin Gold 2.0? Also, Bitcoin appears to go against the Keynesian notion of spending to grow the economy. Is “hodling” the new “saving” and is it a worthwhile economic activity?
Max Keiser: Bitcoin fulfills Aristotle’s 4 conditions of money nicely, as does Gold (that he called the perfect form of money). In terms of how economies are grown, I would repeat what I’ve said on Keiser Report many times:
You can’t have Capitalism without capital. And you can’t have capital without savers, and you can’t have savers without an incentive to save.
Around the world today, with interest rates hovering around zero, the incentive to save is also zero, and so economic demand has to be manipulated by turning central banks into toxic, debt-waste dumps. Malinvestment and horrendous capital allocation trends – due to the absence of genuine capitalism – has created the currently unsustainable bubble-economy of artificially inflated stocks, bonds, property, and Art.
Not Bitcoin, by the way, or Gold – these are NOT in a bubble vs. the USD-tied panoply of investment crap overburdening the world’s economy; creating wealth and income imbalances, environmental holocaust, and now war.
Bitcoinist: Where do you stand on the whole Bitcoin vs. Bitcoin Cash debate? Is the latter an “attack” on Bitcoin as many claim?
Max Keiser: Bitcoin Cash is an altcoin that is deceptively using the Bitcoin name and a dodgy website.
MaxCoin will have a bigger market cap than Bitcoin Cash I predict. One of the reasons I got back into MaxCoin, aside from the new development team that is excellent, is to give users an alternative to some of the altcoins and ICOs out there that are complete, utter, wastes-of-time.
MaxCoin has Sha3, Schnorr, with fast txs, and a great team. I joked recently to Charlie Lee, a friend of mine, that we’re coming after Litecoin. He didn’t seem too concerned. I think his response was a laughing emoticon or something.
Anyway, while I’m dropping names. Check out the Magical Crypto Friends show on YT – it’s great. Even better if you drop acid (or so I’m told, I myself never do stuff like that – even though Steve Jobs recommended it).
Bitcoinist: Do you agree with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey who said Bitcoin will be “the single currency for the internet”?
Max Keiser: I think he’s right. His Cash app allowing users to buy/sell/transfer Bitcoin is superb.
Bitcoinist: The price of Bitcoin has been in a slump this year. The timing coincides with the launch of Bitcoin Futures in December 2017. Do you think there are a cause and effect here? Can Bitcoin price be manipulated like gold by traditional finance?
Max Keiser: In the case of the Bitcoin futures contract, I don’t see direct evidence of manipulation, like we see quite clearly in the Gold and Silver markets. Instead, I think it was just coincidental timing with an unsustainable run to $20,000 when the contract was launched.
On the flip side, I think the futures contract will be a factor with the next leg of the rally to new all-time highs. Investors like George Soros and the Rockefellers will use these instruments to hedge positions and so can build much bigger positions.
In fact, I would not be surprised to see George Soros attempt to ‘corner’ the Bitcoin market. He can easily borrow the necessary funds at near 0% and accumulate a huge position.
And as mining supply gets halved again soon – he’ll have some price support provided to him. Plus, he can do a lot with mining, etc.
Where the price goes in this scenario is a lot higher, obviously. My long-term target of $100,000 – that I first forecasted in 2011 (after listening to Rick Falkvinge at the 2011 Prague conference), would be realized on a Soros pump, for sure.
Bitcoinist: Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin a “fraud.” Meanwhile, JP Morgan has been considering offering CME’s bitcoin futures to its clients. What do you make of this?
Max Keiser: Jamie’s a dick. The end.
Bitcoinist: There’s been a noticeable uptick in Bitcoin FUD in the mainstream press as of late. Bubble, tulip mania 2.0, ISIS is using it, blockchain contains child porn, etc. Is this a coordinated attack to lower the price? By whom? Will it work?
Max Keiser: Mainstream economists like Roubini, Paul Krugman, etc. cannot possibly have any opinion other than being negative on Bitcoin because it challenges every page of every textbook of every economics school they’ve ever attended, read about, or taught. This is to be expected. Just ignore them.
Bitcoinist: Former Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said Bitcoin is “not a stable store of value, doesn’t constitute legal tender, and it is a highly speculative asset” while playing “a very small role in the payments system.” Thoughts? Will Jerome Powell be any different?
Max Keiser: The Fed needs to figure out what to do with the $5 trillion or so of junk debt on their balance sheet that nobody wants to buy.
The Fed is technically insolvent and their only option is to print, so that can only push Bitcoin and Gold prices higher.
They are using their media position to try and buy some time before the inevitable torching of their balance sheet and the public comes looking for these charlatans with torches and billy clubs.
Bitcoinist: Do you believe central banks could be quietly buying Bitcoin as a hedge for the future? If so, can Bitcoin become a tool of geopolitics?
Max Keiser: Yes. I know they are, but not enough to save them. If you know someone who works for a Central Bank, kiss them goodbye. It’s over.
Bitcoinist: Your show, The Keiser Report, airs on Russia Today. What do you see as the better country to set up shop for the nascent cryptocurrency industry: US or Russia, neither?
Max Keiser: It’s a horse race right now. My friends at Exante in Malta were early and now much of the industry is moving there. I think Malta or maybe Puerto Rico could win the prize as the best place to do crypto biz.
Bitcoinist: Your BTC price prediction by the end of 2018?
Max Keiser: My only Bitcoin prediction is that the price will top $100,000. As far as timing, extrapolate from current trends and you get a sense of when.
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