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SEC Tightens Crackdowns on Crypto Exchanges as Federal Reserve Forces Banks to Adopt FedNow CBDC

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The Securities and Exchange Commission launched another attack on crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance this week, a move that had been expected. Given the overlap with the timeline of the Federal Reserve forcing banks across the country to implement FedNow as part of the backbone of an ongoing effort to implement a central bank digital currency.

The charges against Binance allege that the exchange “misled” its users about how their deposited funds for staking would be used, including by allegedly funneling customer assets into separate entities owned and controlled by its founder, Changpeng Zhao.

The charges against Coinbase allege that the company is acting as an unregistered broker and exchange. The government alleges that the Coinbase’s flagship prime brokerage, exchange and staking programs violate securities laws, adding that the company “has for years defied the regulatory structures and evaded the disclosure requirements” of U.S. securities law.

The SEC is demanding that the company be “permanently restrained and enjoined” from continuing to do so.

Gary Gensler, a long-time advisor to Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX Exchange prior to becoming the Chair of the SEC, has made statements in the past that he believes that there should be less cryptocurrency options in the marketplace.

The cases are likely to extend for years and will likely have long-term implications for the future of crypto investing that extend far beyond only these two companies. The agency is targeting the marketplaces where trades are brokered and cleared, which is at the heart of the cryptocurrency industry’s critical infrastructure., an unwelcome development for pro-crypto groups like the Blockchain Association.

However, advocates for crypto claim that Congress is responsible for establishing the laws regarding digital assets, with two proposals currently circulating in Committees to create a federal framework for regulation for crypto assets.

“Contrary to what [SEC Chairman Gary Gensler] says, there is no regulatory clarity for digital assets,” said Kristin Smith in a statement Tuesday. She is the CEO of Blockchain Association, a pro-crypto lobbying group who also pointed to two regulatory proposals the House currently under debate.

The Federal Reserve continues to drive CBDC efforts, while gaslighting the public with denials about their ongoing efforts to implement a central bank digital currency as the use of the dollar continues to dwindle around the world.

While the FedNow service is being pitched as a solution to the high fees charged by private banking networks, the platform will also enable the Federal Reserve to launch an assortment of consumer-to-business, business-to-business or consumer-to-consumer.

Topics around CBDC implementations have organically risen as issues in the current presidential race.

Democrat presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr believes that the FedNow service is part of a long-term strategy to outlaw bitcoin and any cryptocurrency that competes with the Federal Reserve.

While the FedNow service is initially restricted to interbank transactions, Kennedy points out that this is “the first step in banning and seizing bitcoin as the Treasury did with gold 90 years ago today in 1933.”

He goes on to explain that digital currency could give the US government power to freeze and seize citizens’ assets or even limit your spending when you fail to “to comply with arbitrary diktats.”

Binance has announced that it will be halting all withdrawals of US dollars as soon as June 13 and transitioning to an all crypto model.

The exchange saw the withdrawal of more than $700 million dollars in customer assets this week, with huge sell-offs occurring for certain tokens that were outlined in the government’s lawsuit.

The government’s war against bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is reminiscent of the efforts to restrict gold ownership and gold bank withdrawals leading up to the government seizure of all privately owned gold in 1933.

Many of the tactics being used by the government are to sow Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) and to keep consumers and everyday Americans confused about cryptocurrencies and scared of risking their financial security to private digital tokens. While at the same time, failing to warn or be transparent with the public about the inherent dangers of a central bank controlled digital form of money.

The government does not like competition. The Federal Reserve sees the use of any non-central bank controlled digital currency as a competitor to the dollar. Compared to crypto, gold and silver are the most trusted and proven long term store of value.

Private ownership of precious metals like silver, gold and platinum has been legal since 1974. There are currently an assortment of States, such as Texas, that are pushing to return to the gold-standard with the introduction of precious metals backed digital tokens that can be exchanged for gold.

The Goldback is an existing physical gold-based private legal currency in several states, with the gold-foil notes being issued for New Hampshire, Utah, Wyoming and Nevada is also among the option available to investors.

If you’re an investor looking to use crypto to buy silver bars, you can find a variety of trusted and reputable online bullion dealers who accept various forms of crypto for payment and have the generic 10 oz silver bars shipped directly to your door.

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Zimbabwe Sells $14 Million in Gold-Backed Digital Tokens

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Zimbabwe 1 oz gold coin

The Zimbabwean economy is no stranger to hyper-inflation. In 2009, the country adopted the USD as an official alternative to their local currency which helped to stabilize prices for a while.

The economy in the landlocked nation in the southern zone of Africa is based on natural resources and the country’s largest export is gold. In a sense, the economy of Zimbabwe is like a canary in a coal mine and can give investors of a sense of the direction things are heading at home.

Inflation set in again in recent years and the country’s leaders are looking to step away from the USD in favor of gold. The initial launch of the country’s gold-backed digital currency The token’s initial offering is backed by 140 kilogram gold bars that have been allocated from central bank reserves.

The offering Zimbabwe caused a ruckus with some international lenders, with the IMF issuing a statement reminiscent of the outrage posited against El Salvador when it established bitcoin as a legal currency began issuing bitcoin bonds.

A major announcement about a gold-backed basket currency is expected from the BRICS conference in South Africa in August. The BRICS gold-backed currency will offer emerging nations greater opportunities to flourish without being dependent on the dollar currency for settling cross-border transactions.

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Preparing for the Impending CBDC Crisis

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Throughout the pandemic, the federal government’s ongoing dictation of seemingly bad policies was an intentional effort to upend the normal everyday lives of millions of people.

As has been pointed out, it is not a conspiracy theory to believe that the central bank intends to control the spending behavior of people using central bank programmable software tokens instead of currency.

The general manager of the banking cartel explicitly announced it to an audience of other central bank leaders during their annual meeting in 2020.

The Bank of International Settlements is an organization owned by its members, the Central Banks of 63 member countries, and acts as a self regulator.

The BIS is creator and establisher of the rules for banks to operate in the global ecosystem of international trade. They also have control over the SWIFT banking network, foreign currency exchange and other major parts of the global economy.

During the group’s annual meeting in 2020, the General Manager of the organization explained to the audience how CBDC will give the central bank absolute control over the rules, regulations and policies that will dictate how money is used down to the transaction level.

During the recorded videoconference he discusses how CDBC technology will be used to force changes in spending behavior amongst consumers and enforce consumer spending policies on behalf of the government.

Last year, Biden signed Executive Order 14067 in order to advance development of CBDCs to skirt push forward without Congressional approval. As usually, there has been a total lack of accountability or transparency.

So far, Federal Reserve and US Treasury have been working in relative secrecy, publishing only a small amount of vague and high-level papers and studies with several quietly announced project trials in conjunction with notable large global banks. Most of the press releases have come during times when other stories were the major focus of the mainstream media, such as the collapse of FTX.

At least one bill has been drafted by Congress in an attempt to prevent the Federal Reserve from weaponizing CBDC against US citizens. However, the rollout of central bank digital currencies is likely to happen soon if and when the Biden administration can attach it to a banking crisis like the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

More recent announcements show that the Fed and Biden Admin intend to roll out a CBDC even without the authority of Congress.

In a speech to the Atlantic Council, Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance told the attendees that a CBDC Working Group consisting of policy makers from a variety of agencies is developing an initial set of findings and recommendations to support the Biden administrations agenda.

Make no mistake, the central banks have made it crystal clear that they are coming for your money and will tell you how you can spend it. The move into CBDC in lieu of traditional currency is a political power grab with the goal of having further control of your life.

Nigeria’s Failed Experiment

Initially, the Nigerian government tried several soft approaches to encourage the adoption of CBDC. These included financial incentives such as offering discounts to taxi drivers and passengers to encourage use and adoption. All of which failed.

The government quickly turned to coercive measures once it became clear that the people weren’t interested.

The largest measures include the introduction of a new currency and devaluing the old currency along with adding restriction on cash withdrawals throughout the country. The plan included the issuance of new currency notes, but only enough to cover 85% of the current naira while promoting cashless transactions by limiting the use of cash for businesses.

Beyond banknote swap, the banking regulators placed policy restrictions limiting cash withdrawals from banks and ATMs to reduce the amount of cash in circulation. With limits of $225 on individuals and $1,110 on businesses to force CBDC adoption.

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele said, “The destination, as far as I am concerned, is to achieve a 100% cashless economy in Nigeria.”

The central bank began devaluing in the months before the switch while removing old notes from circulation leaving millions of Nigerians with no money or food.

Nigerians have violently rejected the new digital currency and cash restrictions as protests and riots have broken out outside of banks and spread throughout the country.

The war on cash and some form of crisis will bring on the introduction of CBDCs.

Precious Metals Stacking for CBDC Insurance

Gold and silver are the oldest and most trusted form of money. With all of the uncertainty in the economy, gold is safe haven from fiat and digital currency tokens.

Investing some of your cash in buying physical gold and silver bullion can help keep you in control of your financial future.

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Bitcoin Investors Buy Silver Bars as Fed Develops CBDC Blockchain Competitor

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10 oz silver bullion bars

The Federal Reserve is developing its own digital currency token, or CBDC. Bitcoin investors are worried that the government intends to track all digital transactions and are using their profits to buy 10 oz silver bars with bitcoin.

There are growing concerns that blockchain and new digital currency technology are not mature enough to handle issues around privacy, tracking and reliability. The technology is advancing at such as a rapid pace as the world shifts to a multi-polar gold-backed trading system.

Many experts, both critics and supporters are quick to point out that there are many huge risks that will be coming as widespread integration of the blockchain and related technologies continues this year in the economy.

It seems apparent that many are starting to believe that the current government intends to support the Fed in their push to usher in the FedNow platform. There are many risks to implementing a digital token to compliment the dollar.

In addition to being a globally accepted reserve currency, eleven countries have adopted the US dollar as legal currency either solely, or in conjunction with local currency.

Blockchain implementations also place heavy demands on an electricity grid that has shown in recent years to vulnerable to the weather, cyberattacks and other external threats.

According to a report from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), the digital currency being developed in secret by the Fed will change the way Americans use money. Even big banks have concerns that the government’s blockchain implementation will strip away rights of millions of Americans.

Americans continue to be anxious, frustrated and angry from the complacency placed on the failing economy.

While it is currently difficult for the government to associate specific bitcoin transactions to individuals, the IRS and other federal agencies have been seizing cryptocurrencies and digital tokens at alarming rates.

Although it’s been suggested that crypto offers anonymity, there are growing reports that the IRS and other federal agencies have been employing special forensic researchers and hackers to find new ways track each purchase you make.

During the 12-month period from October 2020 to September 2021, IRS agents seized from than $3.5 billion worth of bitcoin from Americans in cases unrelated to taxes!

The pending blockchain implementations by the Federal Reserve is likely to bring about significant new regulations will have a major impact across the economy this year.

While the IRS claims that all of these funds were from criminal enterprises. Many legal experts have raised concerns that civil forfeiture laws could be used as a regulatory enforcement tool to continue the unlawfully seizure of crypto in similar ways gold was seized by the government in 1933.

Criminal charges are pending for some that have been accused of money laundering, the IRS is reportedly hiring at its fastest pace in history to allow politicians continue to fleece the American people.

Pending regulations in Congress continue to put many normal people at risk of being investigated by the IRS and other federal agencies.

New data shows that in January 2022 inflation may have been as high as 7.3%. Well above the previously reported number.

Wall Street analyst are mixed on their predictions for the upcoming interest rate hikes.

Based on what we’ve seen in recent months, including the highest rates of inflation in recent history, rising interest rates and uncertainty in the mid-term elections, our economic future is fraught with risks that investors need to act on before it’s too late.

Stock & crypto investors are transferring profits at alarming rates from their into other assets like precious metals. Precious metals is one of the most effective ways of balancing risk in your portfolio.

Crypto token are not proven as stable and reliable investments, nor are they a proven store of wealth.

Major Wall Street Banks share many of the concerns that giving the Federal Reserve real-time access to your purchase data is just part of a slippery slope that will strip away the right to privacy and the individual security of all Americans.

There is a growing amount of evidence that suggests much of the hype pushed by the mainstream media over the last few years has been largely propaganda.

A growing number of Americans believe many of the intention behind many of the misinformation campaigns in recent years has been to line the pockets of the political elite. This is an ongoing concern for millions of people as we approach the mid-term elections.

Many investors are taking their profits as crypto prices continue to drop.

Any pending digital currency implementation is likely to have a major impact on our money and invade privacy at the same time.

One of the most effective and simple ways to store crypto profits is to buy silver bars as a store of value.

Silver, historically is one of the most trusted and reliable stores of value for thousands of years.

Even today’s central and private banks use precious metals as a mechanism for storing wealth.

Many trusted and reputable online bullion dealers have made it easy to buy 10 oz bars with bitcoin as a payment method. Several dealers integrate Bitpay wallet and other wallet to payment gateways and exchanges to provide some assurance that transactions will occur with discretion and privacy.

FindBullionPrices.com compares the prices of silver bars to make it easy and simple for crypto and digital token investors to buy ten ounce silver bars with bitcoin.

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Why do online bullion dealers have different prices for cash or credit cards?

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It can be confusing for first time investors looking to buy silver rounds online. Whether looking for silver bars, silver rounds, or government minted products like American Silver Eagles on Canadian Silver Maple Leafs, the pricing that online bullion dealers show is confusing.

Silver and gold bullion prices are based on “spot price”. Spot price is the price per ounce that the precious metals are trading at on the COMEX commodities exchange.

Online bullion dealers and many local coin stores will base their pricing on spot price. Spot price is the per ounce value of the silver or gold bullion.

Dealers then add a premium on top of the spot price. One way to think of the premium is that it includes the cost of selling, marketing and other operating costs for the dealer plus their profit margin.

Why do online bullion dealers charge different prices for different payment methods?

The cost of accepting different payment methods have differing costs. Generally speaking, payment methods like PayPal and Credit Cards cost merchants and online bullion dealers as much as 4% of the total cost of each transaction.

Cryptocurrency payment methods, which include services like Bitpay, allow dealers to accept Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and other cryto payment methods also charge merchants on a per transaction basis.

This can be confusing to first time precious metal buyers. Online bullion dealers pass the fees along to the buyer. This is standard practice throughout the industry and you will see these different prices reflected when you browse online bullion dealer websites.

The Cheapest way to Buy Silver Rounds Online

Many beginning precious metals investors look to buy silver rounds online. Silver rounds are popular because of their size, simple denomination, shape and the value they represent.

Generic Silver rounds also can be found with some of the lowest dealer premiums over spot price which makes them attractive to many investors, preppers and silver stackers.

The cheapest way to buy silver rounds from most online bullion dealers is to pay via check or money order. This may seem a bit backwards because most people have become accustom to paying for online purchases with credit cards.

When you buy silver rounds online with a check or money order you must mail the payment to the dealer. This can take up to a week for the dealer to receive the payment. Another week for the payment to clear. Then another week for the dealer to finalize the processing of the order and send out your purchase. It can take upwards of three weeks to month from the time you order until you receive your bullion purchase.

Many dealers have begun offering an e-check payment method which speeds up the process some. Paying for silver rounds with an e-check is basically an ACH transfer between your bank and the bullion dealer’s bank.

Paying with e-check eliminates the mailing time and some of the processing time associated with buying silver rounds with a check.

The Fastest way to Buy Silver Rounds Online

Most people who buy silver rounds online want to receive their purchase as quickly as possible. In order to receive your online bullion purchases quickly it means that you’ll need to pay with a payment method that incurs some additional cost. That means paying for your silver rounds with PayPal or Credit Card.

Paying for silver rounds online with PayPal or Credit Cards clears your payment the fastest. Payments are usually processed by the dealers within 24 hours. That means that your silver rounds are usually shipped by the dealer within a day of receiving your order and payment. Often your order will ship out the same or the next day after you place your order.

Benefits of Using a Credit Card to Buy Silver Rounds Online

While paying with PayPal or credit cards does incur an additional fee it does have several benefits.

Credit card and PayPal payments allow your bullion purchase to ship quickly so you will receive it faster than if you pay by check or money order.

Both credit card and PayPal payments also provide you, the buyer, with some security when you buy silver rounds online. PayPal and most credit cards provide a buyer protection guarantee that gives assurance that even if something happens your purchase is protected. Though, buying from a trusted and reputable dealer will also provide assurance. Reputable online bullion dealers aren’t going to risk their reputation on ripping off customers or bad customer service.

Reducing the Premiums You Pay When You Buy Silver Rounds Online

Another reason to use a credit card to buy silver rounds online is that you can earn cash back rewards, airline miles or other loyalty program points. Many credit card companies offer a card that can provide up to 2% cash back on purchases. This cash back reward helps to offset the credit card premium that you pay when you buy silver rounds online.

It is also possible to offset the premium cost when you buy silver rounds online by leveraging other cash back rewards programs. Programs such as eBay Bucks allow you to earn cash back rewards on eBay purchases that can then be used to buy silver rounds.

The normal cash back reward for eBay Bucks is 1% on the purchase price of items bought from listings in eligible categories. The Bullion category is excluded from earning the cash back reward from eBay Bucks, however, many reputable dealers will create alternate listings in other categories which allow you to earn the rewards when you buy silver rounds.

Several times per year eBay runs promotions where they increase the cash back earning of the eBay Bucks program. The promotional bonuses have historically been as high as 15%. Though it is far more common to see promotions of 8% to 10%. That cash back reward from eBay Bucks can offset your investment or be used in the future for additional silver bullion purchases.

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Buy Silver with Bitcoin

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Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have had a wild ride over the past year. Down more than 70% from it’s highs, the future of bitcoin as a viable security and cryptocurrency is still a risky investment. Now is a great time to buy silver with bitcoin profits.

Many online silver and gold bullion dealers have begun accepting bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a payment method. Many are using bitpay as the gateway.

The list of dealers that are accepting bitcoin or cryptos as payment continues to grow. We keep an updated list of online bullion dealer payment methods.

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Bitcoin accepted as payment at APMEX

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Bitcoin now accepted at APMEX
Bitcoin now accepted at APMEX

APMEX announced that they now accept bitcoin as a payment method. Te announcement comes just in time for Black Friday and the 2017 Holiday shopping period. Bitcoin can be used for buying silver and gold bullion.

APMEX offers a 4% discount for Bitcoin payments. The discount is the same as check, eCheck or bank wire payments. Bitcoin payments can be made on orders up to $25,000. Orders more than $25,000 will require a different payment method.

How to pay with bitcoin at APMEX

During the checkout process you can now choose to complete your transaction with Bitcoin. You will be shown a Bitcoin invoice from their payment partner BitPay which will include a scannable QR code and a transaction id number.

To complete the payment you can scan the QR code with your mobile Bitcoin wallet or submit payment to the transaction id from a desktop Bitcoin wallet.

Additional information can be found in the APMEX Bitcoin FAQ.

Check out our list to see which other dealers accept Bitcoin as payment for silver and gold bullion.