The Old Hedge & The New Hedge Come Together
Central Bank currencies have, time and time again, gone through major crashes and inflation, causing us to turn elsewhere for stability and wealth protection.
Gold and Silver – Traditional Hedges Against Inflation and Volatility
Traditionally, gold and silver were privately held by individuals and institutions as a hedge against both inflation and stock market volatility.
As that traditional form of wealth protection, gold has been the haven where more people turn for rock-solid investment, especially in turbulent times (aka NOW) including:
- economic uncertainty
- recessions
- political instability
- when expected (or actual) returns on bonds, equities, real estate fall or fail
- when currency devaluation or inflation (think money printing) reduces the buying-power of paper money (fiat currencies)
It’s during these times that interest in gold traditionally peaks and investors rush into gold, driving up its price and confirming it as an enduring hedge against loss of wealth.
“People have got a huge affinity for gold. It’s certainly got a long track record.”
~ Max Keiser, host of Keiser Report
Precious metals, especially gold, have been the tried-and-true way of holding trust and value for a long time.
Gold and Silver Have Become Central to the Technology Sector
In addition, gold and silver have become central to the technology sector – coveted for their conductivity, malleability, and in the case of gold, resistance to oxidation.
“[Gold] has gained even more importance from a functional point of view, being incorporated into industrial use in the manufacture of electronics. This is due to its high efficiency and reliability as a conductor. It carries tiny currents, and doesn’t corrode or tarnish at contact points.”
This industrial demand for gold and silver has meant a massive increase in mining, creating significant and potentially disastrous environmental consequences.
How Has Increased Demand for Gold Affected Its Value?
Although private investors right through to nation states have long been enamoured by gold, there are other factors that affect its price and keep it upheld as one of the solid hedge favourites.
Over the past 100 years, the price of gold has continued to grow, despite market fluctuations.
Supply and demand continues to be one of the most important factors in understanding how gold price is determined, but there are other market factors ensuring gold retains additional value.
Gold Reserved
Governments and central banks holding both paper currencies and gold reserves in their vaults create a significant ongoing source of demand which drives up gold prices.
“…central banks hold over 34,000 tonnes (1.09 billion ounces) of gold in official Reserves. And on a net basis, they continue buying every year. These ongoing purchases contribute to the overall demand for the metal.”
ETFs Affect Gold Price
Investment demand from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) represents one of the largest non-government markets holding gold globally, can affect price in a volatile market by buying and selling accounting for over 29% of total demand for gold (according to U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries).
What Goes Up and What Comes Down
In general gold price moves inversely to the U.S. dollar. When the dollar becomes weaker, the price of gold tends to be driven up since there are more investors attempting to purchase it. SImilarly, when the dollar is strong, the price of gold tends to flag. When inflation increases, affecting the purchasing power of the dollar by reducing its intrinsic value, then the price of gold generally increases.
Demand: Phones Versus Thrones
Jewellery and industrial demands including electronic and medical equipment manufacturing, affect gold price. The ever-increasing demand for consumer goods like gold bling and computer devices is a sad indication of where our true priorities lay: six billion people out of seven billion globally in total, own a mobile phone but only 4.5 billion have a toilet, according to the U.N..
“More people now have mobile telephones around the world than have access to a flush toilet.”
Gold and Silver Are Still Considered Secure Stores of Value, But…
While gold and silver are still considered therefore secure and stable stores of value, most economists don’t see them enjoying the same market increases as cryptocurrencies.
Investors are left scratching their heads, looking for alternative options in the eternal hedge against inflation, especially in light of the buzzing of federal money printing machines (that just keep pumping).
If Gold Is the Tried and True Way to Protect Our Wealth, Then What’s the Big Deal With Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrencies?
You may as well be asking yourself if investment in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether is really worth all the hype.
It can feel overwhelming trying to understand how to simply enter the market place with every transaction being backed up by apparent digital bank vaults including 24 word ‘seed phrases’, ‘cold storage wallets’ and other apparently cryptic geek-speak.
It feels like eavesdropping on a couple on a hot date speaking in a foreign language, when you first hear crypto-lingo. (There’s a lot of buzz in the conversation, if only you knew what the hell they were saying!)
It’s enough to turn even the most seasoned online-credit-card-wielding investor off… (and headed decidedly in the opposite direction.)
No Snoozing And No Financial Advice
This surge of emerging currencies, a plethora of digital investment choice, backed up largely by blockchain technology, is not something to snooze on.
Chances are, ‘coming back later’ will cost you and your wealth dearly (specifically in the form of inflation-depleting dollars). No financial advice of course. You must thoroughly research and evaluate the pitfalls of this world for yourself so any studied investments suit your own personal and professional risk appetite.
You’ll need to hold onto your hat though, ‘cause the cryptosphere (world of crypto) is certainly a volatile and unpredictable market.
Imagine though, missing out on the birth of the internet back in the 90s. Ouch.
Blockchain technology is to transacting what the world wide web (now the internet) was to communication.
Can you imagine not jumping in and getting some secure assets during the birth of the web? Sure the dotcom boom singed some bank accounts, badly. But thoughtful, researched and informed investments acquired back then are still paying account holders (and their children/grandchildren) happy dividends today.
Ignore at Your Peril!
While the onboarding process for the crypto world might seem mind-boggling and a little confusing at first, it only takes a couple of quick 15-minute video interviews with the likes of Michael Saylor (CEO of the world’s largest publicly-traded business intelligence firm, MicroStrategy), for example, for you to realise you’d be a fool to ignore this emerging fertile crypto-investment field.
It’s Literally Mind-Blowing
Packed with opportunities for growth and wealth protection, it’s literally mind-blowing how fortunes are currently being forged and maintained.
Many not yet fully immersed in the products of the crypto market still wonder though what cryptocurrencies’ genuine value and risks really are, and how this ‘internet money’ could protect existing wealth.
What Value Do Cryptocurrencies Really Have?
With the relatively recent (and rapid) rise of cryptocurrencies and digital assets, you can now easily diversify your money by acquiring many different tokens.
But what value do these cryptocurrencies really have?
While some economists have been holding Bitcoin up as the new digital hedge against inflation, its historical volatility has some more conservative investors sitting on the sidelines, waiting, while global banking and tax regulations settle on its ultimate fate.
Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash
Questions regarding the volatility of crypto markets are some of the major roadblocks that prevent many from holding significant cryptocurrency assets.
Increasing Market Volatility
Bitcoin and the basket of other cryptocurrencies hitting the streets globally provide investors with varied options beyond traditional central bank-issued currencies and vulnerable public markets.
Bitcoin and altcoin markets are extremely volatile though, leaving many to wonder if investing their hard-earned savings into digital ones and zeroes is a smart way to go.
This Is Where MINER Token Enters the Picture…
MINER is an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain. Each MINER token represents one averaged minute of productivity from our approved, managed, in-network gold mines. These mines have been successfully producing gold for years, enabling accurate and consistent productivity metrics and creating a solid baseline for value.
MINER tokens can be:
- acquired through The Miner Network,
- retained, as a safe and dependable store of value,
- exchanged for other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), and
- redeemed for the service of gold mining and delivery of 24 karat gold bars.
MINER Token holders have the unique flexibility of holding a digital asset (redeemable for gold mining minutes) which results ultimately in tangible personal property aka home delivery of 24 karat gold.
This stabilises the value of the token, while promoting ecologically responsible gold mining operations.
Ecologically Responsible Mining Operations? Say What?
Miner deals with only the greenest gold.
We’re talking about gold that’s produced while defining the mining new normal standards of excellence – facilitating financial, environmental and social accountability.
The Miner Network Pledge
By way of this pledge, as a Miner Network member, you can be assured of the cleanest gold: the greenest gold.
Miner reduces potential gold digging in different ways:
- By offering savvy impact investors a modern crypto-asset hedge, gold lovers can park their wealth in the form of a portable, blockchain-enabled MINER token – redeemable for minutes of the service of mining gold – rather than stockpiling physical gold in a vault.
- Gold production on-demand, in sufficient amounts to fulfil requests for redemptions of MINER tokens. When industry (including manufacturing and jewellery) or individual members require physical 24 karat gold delivery, they redeem their MINER tokens through The Miner Network (a simple process), and responsible mining takes place in our approved, managed, in-network gold mines.
- The Miner Network (Miner) uses advanced exploration technology to pinpoint the gold before digging and then only digs once (instead of digging around until gold is found, which is unfortunately an all-too-common practice at great expense to our ecosystem).
- Miner prefers to mine pre-existing mine sites rather than opening new ones.
- And Miner mines the waste piles from old mines, thereby extracting gold and cleaning up the toxicity of previous mining operations.
A Mining New Normal
This unprecedented ecologically-sound mining new normal being created by the cool kids at The Miner Network, equates to the creation of social and environmental stability, coupled with the economic stability this blog speaks to.
Miner is helping to create overall stability in an extremely unstable world…
Stockpiling Precious Metals
The traditional stockpiling of precious metals like gold results in storage and portability issues like:
- Where to safely store gold secure from forced or stealthy removal by third parties (including banks)
- Secure storage holding costs (including insurance premiums)
- Difficulty moving large monetary values of gold across nation states
- Physical volume and weight of large holdings of gold make it hard to safely move across distances and borders
Hoarding gold is an old, outdated practice that serves no one and comes at great cost to humans and our biosphere.
Digital Storehouse of Value
MINER Token is the digital storehouse of value that overcomes these portability challenges.
It accomplishes this by combining gold (the historically proven hedge in times of economic instability) with crypto (the modern digital hedge). MINER token can be carried electronically on your mobile crypto wallet and secured by hardware wallets for extra protection.
Two Asset Classes Wrapped Together
Now you don’t have to choose between holding gold or crypto. You can have the best of both!
Bringing the old and the new financial hedges together, MINER token provides ultimate stability:
- real value in the form of a secure clean green crypto asset
- a port in the storm of uncertain global financial markets
- greater environmental and social support with both a committed ethos and responsible mining values underpinning the very operation of The Miner Network
A stable, environmentally healthy planet plus financially stable communities, equates to more harmonious and stable lives.
“Gold, silver, Bitcoin, Ethereum and MINER – the best of both crypto and the tried-and-tested safe haven, that’s gold.”
~ Christian Goodell, Founder & CEO of The Miner Network
MINER Launch Phase 1 (soft launch) is completely sold out.
Main launch is happening soon.
JOIN our mailing list to stay informed of the upcoming launch of MINER token.
~ Webster Pierce & Abheeti Kathryn Pass
