“Bitcoin[’s] days are numbered. It seems like just a matter of time before it suffers the same fate as online gambling.”

That’s what one tech CEO tweeted in 2013.

Bitcoin had peaked at just over $1,100 and was about to go into a bear market.

He was right… at first. Bitcoin slid to $350 by early 2015.

But by 2017, it was back to the $1,000 range. And it would rise to just over $17,000 by the end of the year.

So much for its days being numbered.

The CEO didn’t consider that bitcoin’s fundamentals allow it to stand the test of time.

  • Bitcoin is decentralized. The network requires majority consensus to make any changes. That means no person or organization can change bitcoin for their own ends.

  • Bitcoin is permissionless. That means you don’t need anyone’s permission to use it.

  • Bitcoin is pseudonymous. That means you don’t need to provide personal information to use it. (However, bitcoin isn’t anonymous. While the bitcoin network doesn’t link your address to your personal data, someone can still track your transactions and potentially uncover personal details.)

Bitcoin was the genesis of a new asset class. Today, there are thousands of cryptocurrencies. But bitcoin is by far the largest player.

And that tech CEO who saw bitcoin’s days as numbered − Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy − started buying it in 2020 because of its decentralized, permissionless, and pseudonymous nature.

He didn’t just buy a little bit of bitcoin… He restructured his company’s treasury policy to put all excess free cash into bitcoin.

Today, MicroStrategy owns 152,800 bitcoins. At current prices, that’s worth about $4 billion.

Saylor even stepped aside as CEO to become a full-time bitcoin evangelist.

Thanks to bitcoin’s success, many investors now seek “the next bitcoin.”

But unlike bitcoin, many crypto projects don’t have the same fundamentals. Buying them could be the worst decision you ever make.

Today, I’ll go over three red flags that signal these dangerous crypto projects.

Red Flag No. 1: Cryptos Seeking Intrusive Data

Last week, I wrote about a project called Worldcoin.

It’s the crypto project that uses a secure form of identification: retinal data. In other words, an eyeball scan.

As an incentive to use the network, it offered new users $60 worth of the crypto for their retinal data. That allowed the project to make headway in Kenya.

However, once word got out about the collection of biometric data, the Kenyan government shut it down.

Worldcoin is just one example of projects that use intrusive data collection.

According to IBM, data breaches are at an all-time high in 2023 – costing business and consumers an estimated $500 million, or over $4.4 million per occurrence.

Unfortunately, it’s a problem that’s here to stay.

With data breaches on the rise, it’s best to avoid crypto projects that want your sensitive personal data on top of your investment dollars.

Red Flag No. 2: Concentrated Ownership

Another danger crypto investors face is the concentration of token ownership.

Many crypto projects allocate a significant amount of token ownership to their founders. However, too much concentration can make it easy for the token’s price to tumble when a big holder decides to sell.

Take Ripple Labs, for example. It’s the developer of the Ripple token (XRP), one of the biggest tokens with a concentration problem.

When the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Ripple Labs in December 2020, the company owned over 60% of XRP tokens.

Late last year, that number finally dropped under 50%.

But with such a heavy concentration and big legal bills to pay, Ripple could underperform in a bull market.

If so, the company may have to sell off tokens to pay the bills. Just like a company that must keep selling shares to raise money… It’s more likely to hurt existing owners.

According to our in-house crypto analysts Greg Wilson and Houston Molnar, a good rule of thumb is to focus on projects that have less than 30% of concentrated ownership by the development team.

Red Flag No. 3: Overhyped With Few Fundamentals

Like any other bull market, in a crypto bull market we’ll see projects arise that are little more than cash grabs.

These cash grabs are often overhyped, with little information on actual fundamentals and problem-solving abilities.

Unfortunately, it’s often difficult to spot this red flag in the rose-colored glasses of a bull market.

One key sign that a project is overhyped is when it pays for celebrity endorsements.

One example is EthereumMax – a crypto project that’s not affiliated with Ethereum. It used flashy ads to promote its vague goal to “reshape the future of finance.”

In 2022, EthereumMax paid reality TV star Kim Kardashian $250,000 for a social media post to her then 225 million Instagram fans… However, she didn’t disclose that she was paid to make the post to her followers.

As a result, the SEC sued Kardashian. She eventually settled for a $1.3 million fine. Since then, EthereumMax has been down over 99%.

It’s also common for these untrustworthy cryptos to generate buzz using fake accounts and bots. These false advertisements can create what stock investors call a “pump and dump” scheme.

If you see a celebrity promoting a coin or a lot of marketing buzz, make sure you look into the project’s fundamentals before jumping the gun and purchasing some.

The celebrity’s financial interest likely doesn’t come from owning the coin – but from a paid endorsement.

The Green Flags to Look For

Many bitcoin enthusiasts such as Daily editor Teeka Tiwari, Michael Saylor, and myself see bitcoin as the big winner.

It’s a green flag when a project focuses on remaining decentralized, permissionless, and pseudonymous.

These are projects that use majority consensus to make any changes… don’t require anyone’s permission to use it or celebrity hype to promote it… and never ask you for intrusive personal data.

Bitcoin and Ethereum are two obvious – but great – examples of crypto projects with green flags because they focus on those three factors.

That’s why these are the biggest two cryptos by market cap today. And it’s why they’ll continue to thrive.

Fortunately, many smaller crypto projects – like some we own in Palm Beach Confidential – also have these green flags.

These three criteria are how Teeka has found 27 cryptos with gains over 1,000%… including 14,927% on Binance (BNB), 37,573% on Neo (NEO), and 18,442% on Ethereum (ETH).

And it’s how he became the most trusted man in crypto, as voted by 130,000 independent analysts. Looking for green flags is a tried-and-true method.

And recently, Teeka has found a coin that ticks all the right boxes…

You see, the Federal Reserve recently launched a program that could lead to a mandatory recall on the U.S. dollar.

Teeka believes this program could replace the dollar with a new digital version that will be radically different from what you have in your bank account right now.

And he’s put together a briefing to explain what this new digital dollar regime means for you and your money… and share details about a crypto project laying the groundwork for its potential rollout.

He’ll also show you the one move you must make when your bank tells you they’re moving all your cash into this new digital dollar. You can watch it for free right here.

Regards,

Andrew Packer
Analyst, Palm Beach Daily

“Bitcoin[’s] days are numbered. It seems like just a matter of time before it suffers the same fate as online gambling.”

That’s what one tech CEO tweeted in 2013.

Bitcoin had peaked at just over $1,100 and was about to go into a bear market.

He was right… at first. Bitcoin slid to $350 by early 2015.

But by 2017, it was back to the $1,000 range. And it would rise to just over $17,000 by the end of the year.

So much for its days being numbered.

The CEO didn’t consider that bitcoin’s fundamentals allow it to stand the test of time.

  • Bitcoin is decentralized. The network requires majority consensus to make any changes. That means no person or organization can change bitcoin for their own ends.

  • Bitcoin is permissionless. That means you don’t need anyone’s permission to use it.

  • Bitcoin is pseudonymous. That means you don’t need to provide personal information to use it. (However, bitcoin isn’t anonymous. While the bitcoin network doesn’t link your address to your personal data, someone can still track your transactions and potentially uncover personal details.)

Bitcoin was the genesis of a new asset class. Today, there are thousands of cryptocurrencies. But bitcoin is by far the largest player.

And that tech CEO who saw bitcoin’s days as numbered − Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy − started buying it in 2020 because of its decentralized, permissionless, and pseudonymous nature.

He didn’t just buy a little bit of bitcoin… He restructured his company’s treasury policy to put all excess free cash into bitcoin.

Today, MicroStrategy owns 152,800 bitcoins. At current prices, that’s worth about $4 billion.

Saylor even stepped aside as CEO to become a full-time bitcoin evangelist.

Thanks to bitcoin’s success, many investors now seek “the next bitcoin.”

But unlike bitcoin, many crypto projects don’t have the same fundamentals. Buying them could be the worst decision you ever make.

Today, I’ll go over three red flags that signal these dangerous crypto projects.

Red Flag No. 1: Cryptos Seeking Intrusive Data

Last week, I wrote about a project called Worldcoin.

It’s the crypto project that uses a secure form of identification: retinal data. In other words, an eyeball scan.

As an incentive to use the network, it offered new users $60 worth of the crypto for their retinal data. That allowed the project to make headway in Kenya.

However, once word got out about the collection of biometric data, the Kenyan government shut it down.

Worldcoin is just one example of projects that use intrusive data collection.

According to IBM, data breaches are at an all-time high in 2023 – costing business and consumers an estimated $500 million, or over $4.4 million per occurrence.

Unfortunately, it’s a problem that’s here to stay.

With data breaches on the rise, it’s best to avoid crypto projects that want your sensitive personal data on top of your investment dollars.

Red Flag No. 2: Concentrated Ownership

Another danger crypto investors face is the concentration of token ownership.

Many crypto projects allocate a significant amount of token ownership to their founders. However, too much concentration can make it easy for the token’s price to tumble when a big holder decides to sell.

Take Ripple Labs, for example. It’s the developer of the Ripple token (XRP), one of the biggest tokens with a concentration problem.

When the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Ripple Labs in December 2020, the company owned over 60% of XRP tokens.

Late last year, that number finally dropped under 50%.

But with such a heavy concentration and big legal bills to pay, Ripple could underperform in a bull market.

If so, the company may have to sell off tokens to pay the bills. Just like a company that must keep selling shares to raise money… It’s more likely to hurt existing owners.

According to our in-house crypto analysts Greg Wilson and Houston Molnar, a good rule of thumb is to focus on projects that have less than 30% of concentrated ownership by the development team.

Red Flag No. 3: Overhyped With Few Fundamentals

Like any other bull market, in a crypto bull market we’ll see projects arise that are little more than cash grabs.

These cash grabs are often overhyped, with little information on actual fundamentals and problem-solving abilities.

Unfortunately, it’s often difficult to spot this red flag in the rose-colored glasses of a bull market.

One key sign that a project is overhyped is when it pays for celebrity endorsements.

One example is EthereumMax – a crypto project that’s not affiliated with Ethereum. It used flashy ads to promote its vague goal to “reshape the future of finance.”

In 2022, EthereumMax paid reality TV star Kim Kardashian $250,000 for a social media post to her then 225 million Instagram fans… However, she didn’t disclose that she was paid to make the post to her followers.

As a result, the SEC sued Kardashian. She eventually settled for a $1.3 million fine. Since then, EthereumMax has been down over 99%.

It’s also common for these untrustworthy cryptos to generate buzz using fake accounts and bots. These false advertisements can create what stock investors call a “pump and dump” scheme.

If you see a celebrity promoting a coin or a lot of marketing buzz, make sure you look into the project’s fundamentals before jumping the gun and purchasing some.

The celebrity’s financial interest likely doesn’t come from owning the coin – but from a paid endorsement.

The Green Flags to Look For

Many bitcoin enthusiasts such as Daily editor Teeka Tiwari, Michael Saylor, and myself see bitcoin as the big winner.

It’s a green flag when a project focuses on remaining decentralized, permissionless, and pseudonymous.

These are projects that use majority consensus to make any changes… don’t require anyone’s permission to use it or celebrity hype to promote it… and never ask you for intrusive personal data.

Bitcoin and Ethereum are two obvious – but great – examples of crypto projects with green flags because they focus on those three factors.

That’s why these are the biggest two cryptos by market cap today. And it’s why they’ll continue to thrive.

Fortunately, many smaller crypto projects – like some we own in Palm Beach Confidential – also have these green flags.

These three criteria are how Teeka has found 27 cryptos with gains over 1,000%… including 14,927% on Binance (BNB), 37,573% on Neo (NEO), and 18,442% on Ethereum (ETH).

And it’s how he became the most trusted man in crypto, as voted by 130,000 independent analysts. Looking for green flags is a tried-and-true method.

And recently, Teeka has found a coin that ticks all the right boxes…

You see, the Federal Reserve recently launched a program that could lead to a mandatory recall on the U.S. dollar.

Teeka believes this program could replace the dollar with a new digital version that will be radically different from what you have in your bank account right now.

And he’s put together a briefing to explain what this new digital dollar regime means for you and your money… and share details about a crypto project laying the groundwork for its potential rollout.

He’ll also show you the one move you must make when your bank tells you they’re moving all your cash into this new digital dollar. You can watch it for free right here.

Regards,

Andrew Packer
Analyst, Palm Beach Daily