Two States May Ban mRNA Technology — Bitcoin Falling Again — Carstens and IMF Versus Crypto — Stablecoin Suspended — Swiss Banks will Not Confiscate Russian Assets - [03-05-2023]

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THIS WEEK’S EDITORIAL

TWO STATES MAY BAN mRNA TECHNOLOGY:  A move is on in two States in the USA to ban mRNA injections. Idaho is first with two Republican members introducing a bill aimed at the criminalization of any administration of any mRNA vaccines. Idaho State Senator Tammy Nichols and Representative Judy Boyle launched House Bill 154 on February 15th in the House Health & Welfare Committee. If Bill 154 is passed, the Idaho state code would be amended so that those administering mRNA vaccines to any person or mammal would face charges of a misdemeanour.

In Florida, Republicans are attempting the same with a 'Ban the Jab' resolution. The Lee County Republican Party Executive Committee passed a “Ban the Jab” resolution on Feb. 21, asking the Florida Legislature to ban the Covid vaccines and to confiscate all doses within the state.

The resolution will now be sent as the formal position of Lee County to Governor Ron DeSantis and the State Legislature. The resolution reportedly states that “government agencies, media and tech companies, and other corporations, have committed enormous fraud by claiming Covid injections are safe and effective.”  The resolution, as approved, also reportedly states:

• “Ban the Jab Resolution:

• “Whereas strong and credible evidence exists that Covid 19 and Covid 19 injections are biological and technological weapons,

• “Whereas Pfizer’s clinical data revealed 1,223 deaths, 42,000 adverse cases, 158,000 adverse incidents, and approximately 1,000 side effects,

• “Whereas an enormous number of humans have died and or have been permanently disabled,

• “Whereas strong and credible evidence exists that Covid mRNA shots alter human DNA,

• “Whereas a state-wide grand jury is investigating Covid vaccine crimes,

• “Whereas continued experimentation on humans and denial of informed consent are violations of the Nuremberg Code and therefore constitute crimes against humanity,

• “Be it Further Resolved:

• “On behalf of the preservation of the human race, the Lee County Republican Party calls upon Governor DeSantis and the state legislature to prohibit the sale and distribution of Covid injections and all mRNA injections in the state of Florida, and for the state Attorney General to immediately seize all Covid injections and mRNA injections in the state of Florida and have a forensic analysis conducted.”

The share prices for Pfizer and Moderna have been falling since mid-December. If more Republican states follow Idaho and Florida and successfully reject mRNA technology, that could throw a dark shadow over the future for those companies. Their mRNA products are already effectively banned in many nations for people under the age of 50 years and Japan rejected Moderna’s mRNA vaccine in August 2021 due to the discovery of various metallic contaminations. There have also been other reports recently of foreign DNA contaminations in some vials. In addition, the phenomenon of excess death in highly vaccinated nations is also causing concern worldwide with mRNA technology being an often quoted possible cause.

Politicians are trying to ignore the issue, hoping that it will go away. But the body count is continuing to rise month by month and with no clear resolution as to cause.

Inevitably, large autopsy studies will have to be performed on rising unexpected deaths and if Covid viral Nucleocapsid evidence is absent while Spike Protein is present in many bodies, then the only conclusion will be that the Covid vaccines may be a probable likely cause. The pharmaceutical industry will be put under strict surveillance if this is the case, especially the manufacturers of mRNA products.

The key here is the excess death number reports. The most easily accessible official stats from 27 participating nations can be found in Europe at EuroMOMO. https://www.euromomo.eu/

In 2021, EuroMOMO stats reveal that there were 375,421 Excess Deaths in total in those nations. In 2022, there were 406,172.  So far in 2023, there have been 51,221 excess deaths.

US statistics for cumulative Excess Deaths, privately tallied, can be found at US Mortality.com  https://www.usmortality.com/deaths/excess-yearly-cumulative

In 2021, the US stats reveal that there were 520,089 Excess Deaths in total in the United States. In 2022, there were 285,671. Cumulative totals for 2023 are not yet available in the US.

With well over a million deaths accumulated in excess of expectations in just the US and Europe in the last 2 years, it is becoming imperative for nations to wake up and launch inquiries into what exactly is happening. BOOM strongly suggests that those inquiries and large autopsy studies, which look for the presence (or absence) of Spike Protein and Covid Viral Nucleocapsid, need to begin immediately.

BITCOIN UNDER PRESSURE - FALLING AGAIN:  Over the last week, the entire Crypto market has again been hit by negative sentiment resulting in selling pressure. Regular readers of BOOM will not be surprised by this weakness. The Total Market Capitalisation has fallen back towards US$1 Trillion yet again and, at time of writing, is holding just above that number. In November 2021, it was almost $3 Trillion. On Friday, the US Dollar price for Bitcoin fell sharply by over 5% and over the last 7 days trading, it is down by 3.2%.

AUGUSTIN CARSTENS ON CRYPTO:  The general manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, Augustin Carstens, said last week that the “battle has been won” between fiat and crypto. BOOM regards this as a very odd statement because, as far as BOOM can see, there has never been any such battle. Fiat is currency and crypto is not – it’s a digital commodity – thus, there can be no “battle” between them.

He also said: “technology doesn’t make for trusted money”.  Again, a very odd statement.  Crypto is not a technology. It is a product of a rather old technology called Blockchain ledger technology which, by the way, has been around for over 25 years. It began life as the “Chain of Blocks” in the 1980’s.

BOOM has previously pointed out many confusing statements from various central bankers concerning both Crypto and so-called CBDC’s (Central Bank Digital Currencies). To clarify, BOOM will re-iterate some important principles about money and currencies.

Currencies are based upon just two things in a community — general acceptance as settlement of trade and trust in stability of value. So anything can be a currency as long as these two principles apply. For example, seashells, salt, coins, cocoa beans, cotton, dollars, pounds, francs can all be currencies if the community accepts them to be so. Believe it or not, Germany has had 6 currencies in the last 100 years. Why? Because the German community suffered severe disruptions in political stability and trust prior to, during and after World War Two. Trust is the glue.

Cryptos have been around since 2008; 14 years. They are not generally accepted for settlements in any community and they are not trusted to maintain a stable purchasing value. Therefore, by definition, they cannot be currencies. They are digital commodities. A commodity is not a currency in complex economies.

IMF ADVISES AGAINST CRYPTO:  The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a statement last week concerning Crypto assets. According to the statement, the fund’s major recommendation is to: “safeguard monetary sovereignty and stability by strengthening monetary policy frameworks and not granting crypto assets official currency or legal tender status.”   The board noted that the widespread adoption of crypto assets “could undermine the effectiveness of monetary policy, circumvent capital flow management measures, and exacerbate fiscal risks.”  The IMF therefore urges countries to focus on adopting tax rules and laws regulating crypto assets, noting that failing to do so is now “untenable” given the recent implosions of several crypto exchanges.

Again, BOOM thinks that this statement is odd. It seeks to “recommend” that Crypto assets are not currency and do not have legal tender status when those facts are obvious. As stated previously, Crypto assets are not generally accepted as a means of settling transactions for goods and services anywhere and there is little trust in their ability to maintain a stable value. Thus, they are self-evidently not currency and cannot be legal tender.

STABLECOIN SUSPENDED:  Some Cryptos are called stablecoins because they mimic generally accepted fiat currencies. Thus, they become proxies for accepted national currencies. Theoretically, they could become currencies if they were to become generally accepted in exchange for goods and services in the wider community and if they achieved stability in their purchasing value. However, that degree of trust has not yet evolved and is unlikely in present circumstances in BOOM’s opinion.

Stablecoins are the bridge that link the Crypto world to the real world of fiat, national currencies. They are like a number of rope bridges across the last chasm in an adventure movie. If the rope bridges were all to fall, then adventurers would be left stranded on the Crypto side of a very deep canyon.

Coinbase is a San Francisco based Crypto exchange. Last week, Coinbase announced the suspension of the Binance US Dollar Stablecoin (BUSD) from March 13th. A spokesman for Coinbase reportedly said: “Our determination to suspend trading for BUSD is based on our own internal monitoring and review processes. When reviewing BUSD, we determined that it no longer met our listing standards and will be suspended.”

Binance USD is a US dollar-backed stablecoin issued by blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos Trust Company. It is the third largest stablecoin by trading volume after Tether (USDT) and Circle Internet Financial LLC’s stablecoin (USDC). Tether is the most dominant stablecoin with more than 75% market share of trading volume.

USDT/Tether is issued by a Hong Kong-based company called Tether.

USDC/Circle is issued by Circle Internet Financial LLC – a private company registered in 2013 in Dublin Ireland.

BUSD is issued by Paxos Trust — a New York State chartered limited purpose trust company.

So, the Stablecoin market is dominated by two companies – one registered in Hong Kong and the other in Ireland. US Dollar denominated stablecoins dominate the cryptocurrency market. USD stablecoins currently have a 98.9% share across all stablecoins in the stablecoin sector. Think about that. This is all about the US Dollar. The Crypto world, despite many myths, is actually an offshore US Dollar Proxy which fuels demand for US Dollars.

On Thursday March 2nd, Coinbase Global Inc. announced that it would no longer use Silvergate Bank to facilitate dollar payments for its institutional partners after it was revealed that the bank may be in financial trouble. Paxos Trust also announced that it would break ties with Silvergate. The company said this would not affect customers because the company uses a “diverse network of banking partners.”

BOOM has previously discussed concerns for the Stablecoin markets and the Crypto market as a whole. These recent events are add to that concern. The rope bridges need to be watched closely.

SWISS WILL NOT CONFISCATE RUSSIAN ASSETS:  A spokesperson for Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Fabian Maienfisch, said last week that Swiss banks have no legal right to use Russian money frozen inside the country under sanctions for their own purposes.

Last month, the Swiss government ruled out the seizure of funds frozen in the country, saying that the confiscation of private Russian assets would undermine the Swiss constitution and the prevailing legal order. The Swiss Bankers Association agreed by stating “There is no legal basis for confiscation”.

Switzerland currently holds 7.5 billion Swiss francs (US$8 billion) worth of frozen financial assets belonging to Russian citizens, according to a SECO report.

BOOM sees this as fundamental to the ethos of banking but also to the very existence of nationhood. Any nation that confiscates funds held in its banking system is gambling with its very sovereignty. The US is attempting to do this and has been exerting pressure on other nations to confiscate Russian owned assets and to then spend the proceeds of that crime on the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Thankfully, this plan has hit many brick walls in other nations and has besmirched the international reputation of the United States. After all, if they can do that to Russia today, what will stop them from doing the same to any other nation in future?

On February 27th last week, the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that there were “significant legal obstacles” to confiscating major frozen Russian assets. It is some comfort to know that at least one adult who seems to understand money is active in the present US government.

It has been reported that the United States and some allies have seized more than $300 billion in Russian central bank foreign currency assets frozen by sanctions. The assets are apparently mostly held offshore, with a significant portion at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but they remain under Russian ownership.

When the war ends through a negotiated Peace agreement, this money will have to be returned to Russia. There is no basis in monetary theory or practice for such confiscation. It is an international crime as plain as day. If this were to become commonplace, then global trade and capital movements would cease to exist and the global economy would collapse. This foolishness from the current US government must be reversed immediately or as soon as politically possible. 

In economics, things work until they don’t.  Until next week.  Make your own conclusions, do your own research.  BOOM does not offer investment advice.

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BANKS DON’T TAKE DEPOSITS, THEY BORROW YOUR MONEY: LOANS CREATE DEPOSITS — that is how almost all new money is created in the economy (by commercial banks making loans). https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2014/q1/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy Watch this short 15 minutes video and learn as Professor Richard Werner brilliantly explains how global banking systems really work.

AND Watch for 4 minutes, this Bank of England explanation: Money is essential to the workings of a modern economy, but its nature has varied substantially over time. This video describes what money is today.

Most economists are unaware of this and even ignore the banking & finance sectors in their econometric models.  EMAIL: gerry{at}boomfinanceandeconomics.com

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