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Cryptocurrencies: The Kolion

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“Mr. Shlyapnikov has launched a cryptocurrency, the kolion, named after his hamlet some 80 miles southeast of Moscow, buoyed by an initial investment of a half-million dollars from investors in Russia and abroad,” writes Thomas Grove in the WSJ. It is an example of a crypto doing what it’s supposed to do: offer a trading network where money and trust are scarce.

Grove continues:

“Banks don’t want to lend to small farmers,” said Mr. Shlyapnikov. “So we created our own currency.” He said he wasn’t personally profiting, and appeared to live frugally.

The tactic is popular in a part of rural Russia where residents don’t have access to affordable credit. Russian banks have tried to raise penetration in small towns and villages, and Russia’s postal service opened a bank in 2016, hoping to fill the gap. But interest rates at most retail banks are often high at more than 10%.

Financial instability after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union fueled flirtations with a variety of alternatives to traditional financial instruments that ended badly, including the vouchers Soviet factories issued to their workers and the giant MMM Ponzi scheme of the 1990s.

Cryptocurrencies have sparked new interest in the possibilities of working outside the Russian financial system and the volatile ruble, which lost half of its value in 2014 due to a drop in oil prices.

Read more here.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com