Let's Bitcoin - Part 1: Why is it Valuable? Is it legal? An introduction

Recently, bitcoin has been the talk of the town again due to a group of people trying to promote bitcoin farming or scheme.

Let's start with the very basic. And what is it exactly?

As of this writing, the conversion rate of 1 Bitcoin is at 431.63 US Dollar. The highest price it have ever reached was USD 1216.73. Why is it so valuable?
The price is set by the market. The demand and supply effect. What's so special about it that there's a demand in the market?

First of all, lets understand the very basic of human nature. Why human nature?
Anything human perceive any object as valuable will have values. Gold would not be valuable if we don't perceive it as valuable. If no one perceived gold as valuable, gold will have no value at all.
There are many reason on why we perceive something as valuable. The main basic reason the need to live. Food and air are basic needs.Without them, we would die.

Next, is psychological needs. We are attracted to things which we feel as beautiful, gold and diamonds gained their value because of that. Then, as demand starts to increase and the value start to increase, it becomes more of needs for our pride. Psychologically also, we love rare items as we feel we are among the few chosen people who have obtained them.

Paintings is perceived valuable with first the artistic beauty in it, then it becomes part some one's collections which also could become a rare item. Each of this stages increases the values.

The next level of adding value is attaching a believe to it. The believe can be supernatural, believe that the value will go up in term of price, the believe that it's good for your health and so on. I'm sure you would have heard of people being cheated of money because they believed certain stone will give them good fortune only to realize that it's fake.

The last reason why we perceive it as valuable is because the society or the system make us to think of it as valuable. Our paper money is perceived valuable due to the system made it valuable. It was made as a legal tender. If you want to buy something, you need the money. Prior to that we were using gold and silver as currencies. We were also using barter system with values attached to it by general public or the government. We can still do barter system based trading, but it's very rare.

This values attached to an object can go up and down depending on how the individual and public perceive them. Collectible items such as toys and comics would only be valuable for a small community who appreciate them, while majority would declare them non-sense. This is how we humans have been living by giving values based on our perceived value. Then, of course speculation could push the price higher that what it supposed to be.

Now, lets look at bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a digital currency (better known as cryptocurrency) which is created by solving certain mathematical algorithm which was created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi Nakamoto is a very mysterious figure as no one really knows who he really is, his true identity has been a question.


So, what you basically own is a piece of encrypted solved mathematical code which have been perceived as valuable. How the heck this was perceived as valuable?  It makes sense if some math geek values it.

It was because a system was enforced by certain group of powerful traders, the underground traders. Instead of transferring physical money, they used bitcoins to do the trading. They created the value and somehow spread to the world we known well. There's 3 other factor on why the bitcoin price is so high. It's getting tougher to mine bitcoin, some merchants recognize it as legal tender and of course, speculation.

Wait. Mine?!? As in mining? Bitcoin is not even physical object, how to mine them? Well, that's the term used to solve the mathematical equation to generate the bitcoin codes.

So, is it legal? Bitcoin is not recognized as legal tender by world's governments. So, there is no government back up to it. The paper money or currencies are actually backed by governments. But not bitcoin. Now, you know the reason underground businesses and tradings is done by using bitcoin. No government tracks them. There is no central bank to monitor any transactions.

Anyway, bitcoin have values and there's no sign of it dying off yet. There are many new similar cryptocurrency came up these recent years. They are only valuable if somebody is using them and they are perceived valuable.

In PART 2, I will explain on how you can invest in Bitcoin, or better how to do your own bitcoin mining. Till then, ciao.

SCAM ALERT 2: FX United Capital Guaranteed Auto Trading - CONTINUATION

This is continuation of  my previous blog on FX United scam: http://moneyburp.blogspot.com/2015/02/scam-alert-fx-united-capital-guaranteed.html

There have been many new evidence that FX United's Capital Guaranteed Auto Trading or CGAT is indeed a scam. Thanks to one of the reader, Anthony who commented in the blog. He made more research on it and it truly points out that FX United is a very dubious entity.

Here is his comment:

"Someone approached me with FX United and I did some research online. Here's my consolidated finding, included some points from this blog: 

1. Guarantee 12% monthly return is too good to be true. Why don't someone just take up a bank loan to do this? 

2. They claimed to be a NZ company, but seems like there's no NZ traffic to their website: http://www.statscrop.com/www/fxunited.com 

3. Check the website for contact details, company headquarter address at: 228, Queens Street, Central Business District, Auckland, New Zealand. If you do a google map search and look at the street view, it doesn't seems like an big office. Refer to: https://www.google.com.my/maps/@-36.8493196,174.7651942,3a,42.7y,136.4h,87.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sduQCzUDGAzS778khL1TVrQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en 

4. If you the number of company registered under the said address, you'll be suprised: http://www.coys.co.nz/search/?a=228+QUEEN+STREET+AUCKLAND 

5. Apparently the address made into the news few years ago: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/6613134/RBNZ-issues-warning-over-Auckland-firm

6. And it's available for rental: https://www.bayleys.co.nz/Listing/Auckland/Auckland-City/Auckland-Central/1680909 "

So, let's dissect his points. The first point is pretty obvious. I have already mention about it so mnay times in my blog, yet many still believes in it. So, let's start from second point.

" 2. They claimed to be a NZ company, but seems like there's no NZ traffic to their website: http://www.statscrop.com/www/fxunited.com " 

I was surprised to see that vistors from Malaysia is the highest. We are 85.7% of total daily visitors to fxunited.com. Does that mean the scam is targeted to Malaysia? Could it be the scam initiator is a Malaysian or resides in Malaysia? FX United is being promoted like crazy in Malaysia and many have joined it. And as Anthony mentioned, why there are no traffics from New Zealand itself.
The most important thing is, when I wrote the first blog on FX United, if my memory is right, the address wasn't New Zealand. It was Australia. Can anyone verify this with me?

 "3. Check the website for contact details, company headquarter address at: 228, Queens Street, Central Business District, Auckland, New Zealand. If you do a google map search and look at the street view, it doesn't seems like an big office. Refer to: https://www.google.com.my/maps/@-36.8493196,174.7651942,3a,42.7y,136.4h,87.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sduQCzUDGAzS778khL1TVrQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en "

 That's the street view of FX United for you. Errr..Where is the front entrance? Oh, it's a staircase at the side. Isn't this supposed to be their headquarter? Well, it does look pretty small for a company which can give return of 12% a month. Maybe they prefer to be on low profile. Does it make sense. Here's a closer view.

Compare this with the image they are trying to potray on their website.

 That's totally different look, and do you know what building is that?

That looks familiar. It's the same building shown on FX United website. Here's another image.

The building is called the Bastion Tower, which is located at Brussel, Belgium. Yes, it's thousands of miles away from New Zealand. They were just using this image to show a false image about themself. No shame at all.

"4. If you the number of company registered under the said address, you'll be suprised: http://www.coys.co.nz/search/?a=228+QUEEN+STREET+AUCKLAND "

There have been or had been a total of 83 companies registered at that location. Out of this 83, 35 are registered and still active.
Why there have been so many company and still 35 companies resides at that location? Is FX United only occupying a cubicle to run their business. The next evidence by Anthony tells us the WHY.

"5. Apparently the address made into the news few years ago: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/6613134/RBNZ-issues-warning-over-Auckland-firm"

 There are many shell companies registered there. There already been cases on such companies operating at the same location as FX United. Isn't it obvious that FX United is operating dubiously? It is a scam.

And wait.. it's available for rental. Any takers?
"6. And it's available for rental: https://www.bayleys.co.nz/Listing/Auckland/Auckland-City/Auckland-Central/1680909"

An entire floor is available. Hope it wasn't FX United moved out of this floor.

Okay, so out of 6 floors, half floor is confirmed vacant, one is occupied by Burger King and Skechers. That mean 4 and a half floor occupied by 33 companies (35 if include Burger King and Skechers. Not sure if they are in the list)

So, don't you all think, you all should be wary of FX United? If you still believe it's not a scam and real. Only God can save you.

I do have family and friends who have invested in FX United. I am worried for them. Some of them opened multiple accounts and invested up to the max. I hope they would be able to take out their without any loses before FX United shut down. Yet, thousands others still would lose their money.

Thanks a lot to Anthony for making this research and providing the evidence.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND HOW SCAM WORKS

Read some of this links. Ignorance is what makes people easy to get cheated. Knowledge is what will help you to identify them.

Please check this: SCAM 101: The Big Devil, Little Devils: Scammers at all scale to understand how people end up recruiting others even thou they knew it's a scam.

And this as well: 7 Things You Don't Know About Scam. 

I have a better investment opportunity. It can give guaranteed return of 20% per month and up to 1000% per year. Check this out to understand how scam works: POTENTIAL RETURN OF UP TO 1,000% - LOOKING FOR INVESTORS

Maximize Your EPF (KWSP): TO REDUCE YOUR TAX

Majority of us are employed and part of our salary is deducted for EPF contribution.
On top of that, our employer must contribute at least 12% for those who are earning above RM 5,000 and 13% for those who are earning RM 5,000 and below.

With the recent Budget 2016, certain tax brackets have increased. The rest remains the same.

Do you know that there is a way you can reduce your tax by using EPF?

NOTE: This method is only suitable for people who like to save and invest their money. If you are struggling to meet your end every month, this is not for you. It's not for you as well, if you have no confidence in EPF.

THE ANSWER TO REDUCING YOUR TAX USING EPF IS.... (Roll the drum)

"Increase Employer's Contribution to 19%"

How does that saves me money? Is it legal? These were some of the questions I always receive whenever I talk to people. Yes, it is. Some companies already contributing higher EPF. Some contribute 15%. Some 17%.

But, that's not the point. It's by adjusting your salary by reducing it slightly and increasing the Employer's contribution.

Here is how it work?

For simplicity, I'll assume the person have no insurance, never buy books, no kids and so on. He only have a job which pays him, RM 5,000 with normal EPF contribution, which 11%. (His employer will be contributing 13% since he's salary is RM 5,000 and below).

Total Annual Earning	:	RM	60,000
Total Employer Contribution (13%)	:	RM	7,800
Total Taxable Income	:	RM	45,000
Total Tax Payable	:	RM	2,500

Let's see how much he need to pay tax if his employer contributes 19%.
But first, his salary need to be adjusted.

His total monthly salary is RM 5,650 (Inclusive of employer's EPF contribution)

So, by making adjustment his salary would become RM 4,747.90 with his employer contributing
RM 902.10, which will still gives you total salary of RM 5,650.

Total Annual Earning	:	RM	56,974
Total Employer Contribution (19%)	:	RM	10,825
Total Taxable Income	:	RM	41,974
Total Tax Payable	:	RM	2,016

That's a saving of RM 484. The payable has been reduced by almost 20%.

Now, let's say his salary is RM 10,000.

Total Annual Earning	:	RM	120,000
Total Employer Contribution (12%)	:	RM	14,400
Total Taxable Income	:	RM	105,000
Total Tax Payable	:	RM	13,100

Total Annual Earning	:	RM	120,000
Total Employer Contribution (19%)	:	RM	21,458
Total Taxable Income	:	RM	97,941
Total Tax Payable	:	RM	11,467

Now, that's a saving of RM 1,632.

Your overall total salary including employer's contribution is still the same. Isn't this wonderful?

By adjusting your salary and increasing your employer's EPF contribution to 19%, you could reduce tax and increase your savings in EPF. You would see a bigger difference if you belongs to higher tax brackets.

Can employer's contribute more than 19%?
Yes, they can. But, it would be disadvantages to the employer as anything beyond 19% can't be deducted as expenses.

So, what are you waiting for? Go talk to your finance or HR now.
The only problem would be, they might not be aware of such things and would show their blur faces to you. Only very few companies are aware of this. Good luck negotiating with them.

POTENTIAL RETURN OF UP TO 1,000% - LOOKING FOR INVESTORS

I'm not kidding. I have a business which could give return between guaranteed 20% per month all the way up too 1,000% per year.

I just discovered an irresistable investment opportunity. It have the potential of getting guranteed 20% return per month.

Yes, no kidding. 20% per month with compounding interest, that's 290% per annum.

The best part is, if you are the primary investors, you can gain at least 1,000% per annum with no upper limit.

So, what is this amazing discovery which could give such return.

"PLEASE READ THE DISCLAIMER SOMEWHERE AT THE BOTTOM BEFORE YOU PROCEED TO INVEST IN IT"

It's the discovery of next generation energy source, C₁₈₈₈H₈₈₈O₈NS, or better known as the "SUPER COAL".

Why is this important? 40% of world's energy is generated by using coals. 69% of China's electricity comes from coals and 46% of electricity generated in the United States of America comes from coal. Every year, 8 billions of coals are used worldwide. And SUPER COAL is about to change the world's energy matrix.

Supercoal is more effecient and could produce energy 100 times the energy of a normal coal. This would help to reduce the overall cost of energy productions, by almost 80% of the cost. This was published in the Society of Energy Research & Development 2013 journal.

Super coal used to be very rare type of coal only, where for everyone 1,000,000 tonnes of coals mined, only 0.1 tonnes are super coal. Until recently, a huge deposit of Super Coal was found at Punjab, India. Yes, 90% of the coals are Super Coal.

So, all energy companies are rushing to use Super Coal instead of the normal coals. Even, the European Union is recommending the usage of Super Coal instead as it is more environmental friendly. Less carbon emission and footprint. The EU are in discussion to make it compulsary to use the Super Coal.

The good news is the Super Energy Pte Ltd (which I am part of it) have secured the Super Coal mining rights from the government of Punjab state and have leased the land for 20 years.

Here's the problem, we are short of fund and refused to collabrate with giant energy companies such as Shell and Chevron. As this giants would try to manipulate the markets and only the rich will get richer. Instead we would like to offer to the public to invest in us.

We are looking for 2 type of investor. The primary and secondary investors.

Primary Investors.

We will need an initial investment of USD 1 Million. This money will be mainly used for capital expenditures, such as mining machines and tools. This is where you will become our primary investors. The minimum investment for primary investors is USD 1 Million. Som we only need one primary investor. You, as the primary investor have the potential of earning 1,000% return in a year.

Secondary Investors.

Now, for the secondary investors, we need you for the day to day operational expenses in mining the supercoal. The cost of mining 1 tonne of Super Coal is USD 10. The minimum investment is USD 1,000. This will enable us  to mine 100 tonnes of Super Coal per month.

Yes, your money will be rolled back month to month as we already have buyers waiting for the Super Coal. So, we would be able to sell within a month. But, due to the extreme beaucratic nature of the India governement, we would be only able to release the profit once every 6 months. Your capital will be used to roll month to month mining and giving you at least 20% guaranteed return.

So, at the end of 6th month, you would be able to withdraw both your capital and profits of 120%. Or reinvest your money for 1 year which would give you an additional bonus of 20% at end of  every one year of investment.

You'll be a MILLIONAIRE within 5 YEARS!

You can also earn by introducing new members to invest with us. A very good incentives system has been created for bringing us new investments.

For each new members sign up under you, you'll get 25%. Yes, you'll get back 100% of your money just by signing up 4 people under you.

Not just that, you'll get 5% riding income up to 4 level depth not including the one under you.

Here's an example of potential earning from members recruitment:

(Click The Above Image To Enlarge)

Yes, you can earn thousand of US Dollar even passively whenver a new member joins under your network..

There are also another bonus called MEGA LEG BONUS. If one of your leg's total investment (not including re-investment) reach USD 100,000. We would reward you with USD 50,000. So, for every leg of USD 100,000, you will get USD 50,000. So, start bulding your network. Help your friends and family to build their network as well. Note: Terms and condition applies.

How we would be able to give such huge amount of returns? That's because the market price of Super Coal is USD 500 per tonne. The cost of producing it is only USD 10 per tonne, and that USD 10 is your money which you just invested. We still need to share the profits with our primary investors who trusted us to invest millions.

IT'S AN ONCE IN YOUR LIFETIME INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY!!!

Special Note for Primary Investors! Secondary Investors, PLEASE DONT READ!

You, the primary investor, just between us, there's no such thing as Super Coal. But, I promise the return potential of 1000% or even more. Our share deal would be 70:30, where 70% is yours.
Here's how we are going to earn money. Please refer to the table below (Click it to enlarge).

The final profit we could earn from secondary investors are massive. We would be paying those returns of 120% every 6th month.

But, afraid not. There would be 4 type of secondary investors.

1. They'll let the money to roll. (We love this type of people)
2. They'll withdraw the profit and let the principal to roll.
3. They'll withdraw everything.
4. They'll top-up more money. (Another people we love the most)

About 70% belongs to the 1st and 4th category. After deducting those payments given to Type 2 and Type 3, we could still bag in a profit of USD 800 Million, with 70% profit sharing, that would mean USD 560,000,000 for you.

That's a pure profit of 5600% in 3 to 5 years.

We expect this business will run for 3 - 5 years before it folds down. Your initial investment of 10 Million Dollar will be used to cover the initial return which need to be paid to the secondary investors. There would be many sceptical investors. Once they could see the profits can be withdrawn, they will have more confidence in us and starts to invest more and recruit more members.

So, primary investors, let's play the game. Welcome aboard!

-------------------------------------------------

DISCLAIMER: The above article is written to show people how scam works and how they could pay you a lot and yet they scammers could make hundreds of millions and even billions of US Dollar (Or Ringgit). I'm not looking for any investors to execute the plan above.

In the above article or illustration, the first 350,000 people would have gotten back their earning as long they manage to withdraw their money. It's the last 1 Million people's money which would be lost forever.

Please read: Scam 101: Big Devil vs Little Devils (For better understanding how some of the 1st 350,000 so called investors are very selfish people.)

The above plan could in fact last much longer than 5 years by adjusting the returns. For example, the Madoff scam lasted for almost 18 years, because his rate of return was on about 20% per year. The above is 20% per month.

Please read: 7 Things You Don't Know About Scam to understand more about scam.

The reason I'm writing a lot about scam is because so many innocent people are being cheated. I have even seen a lady who earns less than RM 1,000 got cheated of her RM 5000 life saving because she trusted someone and joined such scam. For her, saving RM 5,000 is a huge task. He blood and sweat went together with her savings.

And of course, I wouldn't want those conman to get away with hundreds of million dollar. Or even billions.

This is one of such scam, FX United CGAT system. Please read this for more info: SCAM ALERT: FX United Capital Guaranteed Auto Trading (CGAT). Please don't fall to such things.

Think of WIN-WIN situations. Think of those millions who would lose their money.

I hope, my article would have open up some people's mind.

My only worries with this article is someone might get inspired to start a brand new scam. If you do, please make me your partner. :p Just Kidding!