Small Cap Value Report (Thu 21 Dec 2017) - Bitcoin, Ground rents, SOS, STY, TFW, BOTB
Good morning, it's Paul here.
It's another quiet day today, with the market winding down for Christmas. There are still some interesting things going on though.
Bitcoin mania
My view on this remains unchanged - that blockchain technology sounds fascinating, and could have multiple, game-changing uses. However, that doesn't mean that Bitcoin, and other crypto-currencies, are actually worth anything. Just because there is a limited quantity of something worthless, doesn't mean that it becomes worth anything. In the long run, once this bubble has burst, I see Bitcoin being worth zero, and is likely to be banned by Governments wanting to stamp out something that is mainly of use to criminals. People say that it can't be banned. Of course it can - Governments just pass laws making it illegal to hold, or transact in crypto-currencies. That seems the likely end game to me, eventually.
Here's an amazing statistic (source: CNBC) - the total market cap of the 1,300 (and rising) crypto-currencies has risen 30-fold in 2017 to $600bn. So this is now one of the largest financial manias that the world has ever seen. Bear in mind that these things have zero intrinsic value. What could possibly go wrong?!
I see that...