Justin’s note: Facebook is in hot water with regulators.
Its offense? “Mining” your personal data and pawning it off to the highest bidder.
As you might expect, this is a huge money-maker for Facebook… It’s not going down without a fight. Instead, it’s trying to save its own skin by – get this – launching its own cryptocurrency.
It’s an ingenious scheme, as our good friend Jeff Brown explains below. Jeff is the editor of The Near Future Report. He’s also a Silicon Valley insider who’s invested in 111 tech startups – and profited on 95.3% of them. He was also a high-ranking executive at Qualcomm and NXP Semiconductors.
That makes him the best person I know to speak on this subject. Read on for his insider insights on Facebook’s latest plans…
By Jeff Brown, editor, The Near Future Report
The news is out…
Social media giant Facebook plans to launch its new cryptocurrency during the first half of this year. Facebook is talking with several digital asset exchanges about listing FacebookCoin when it goes live.
Early intel suggests that Facebook is creating a stablecoin – a cryptocurrency that is pegged to an existing asset… most likely the U.S. dollar.
And because Facebook has a user base of over 2.5 billion people across several platforms (Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp), it is in an ideal position to launch its own digital currency.
With over 2.5 billion users already, FacebookCoin will certainly gain immediate adoption… creating a multibillion-dollar business for Facebook overnight, thanks to transaction fees.
But that’s not what this is about…
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Ethics Team
Simply put, Facebook is trying to save its own skin.
Recently, the company has been trying to distance itself from its actions. The evidence is everywhere.
For starters, rumors have it that Facebook is trying to raise $1 billion in venture capital (VC) to support its cryptocurrency project.
But why?
If you look at the books, Facebook is sitting on $41 billion in cash right now. It clearly doesn’t need the money.
But by getting VC firms involved with FacebookCoin, it will claim that the project is decentralized and not solely controlled by Facebook. It’s just a clever front to deflect scrutiny.
And this is consistent with Facebook’s action plan in response to the public backlash it has received.
Facebook already established an ethics team with independent members to deal with controversial issues. When issues arise going forward, the ethics team will make decisions about them… not Facebook.
And of course, Facebook can then deflect any backlash to the ethics team.
Facebook has been lobbying for additional government regulations on social media. That way, Facebook doesn’t have to self-police – it can simply follow orders. That also allows it to deflect public backlash.
If that doesn’t work, Facebook has one more play…
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Major Concession
As you likely know, Facebook is under immense regulatory scrutiny right now.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been lambasted in Washington, D.C., and in Brussels, where European Union officials meet. And news came out in March about a new federal investigation looking into Facebook’s deals with smartphone manufacturers.
Zuckerberg skillfully managed the last round of hearings on Capitol Hill. While techno-illiterate Congress didn’t take any action, Zuckerberg knows asking for more regulations and deflecting onto the ethics team might not be enough.
Facebook may need to make a major concession in the future to keep the feds from breaking up the business.
And what better way to pacify government bureaucrats than to “share” profits with users… And the easiest way for Facebook to do that is with its own currency.
That’s what FacebookCoin is all about.
The mainstream press will run stories that skim the surface… But make no mistake: Facebook is keeping itself several steps ahead of the regulators with this move.
Lifetime bureaucrats like Elizabeth Warren will continue to howl about breaking up Big Tech companies like Facebook. And the mainstream press will continue to run with those stories as far as they can… But it’s not going to happen.
In fact, I would argue that big governments prefer large depositories of extensive information on its citizens… What better way to “keep tabs” on everyone?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of Facebook’s business practices. But that doesn’t change the fact that Facebook is one of the best businesses in history. And it’s still growing… which isn’t going to change for a while.
The only thing that could threaten Facebook’s business is a blockchain-based social network with better privacy and better profit-sharing incentives via cryptocurrency. But that’s a story for another day…
For now, just know that Facebook is dead set on putting a buffer in between the company and the controversial issues it’s been dealing with.
That’s how the company hopes to come out of its PR crisis intact.
Regards,
Jeff Brown
Editor, The Near Future Report
P.S. One more thing before you go…
In February 2016, I gave a presentation to an exclusive group of investors. I recommended they buy chipmaker NVIDIA. I knew this stock was set to soar.
Plenty of attendees were skeptical. One guy left to go to the bathroom.
But NVIDIA went on to soar more than 1,000%. It was the No. 1 S&P 500 stock that year.
And tonight at 8 p.m. ET, I’m making another prediction.
I’ve never seen anything like this before. A world-changing technology is hitting the mainstream. It will start going “live” later this year.
And one technology company is at the center of this unstoppable trend. That’s why it’s my No. 1 technology stock recommendation of 2019.
There’s only a few hours left before the news gets out. Get all the details right here.
Justin’s note: If you read yesterday’s Dispatch, you know about master trader Jeff Clark’s success story… his uncanny ability to predict big market moves… and his track record for making his subscribers big money during times of crisis.
He has an urgent update that you don’t want to miss…
Market Insight: This Could Mean Big Trouble for Investors
By Jeff Clark, editor, Delta Report
There’s an ominous pattern taking shape in the stock market. And it could spell big trouble for investors later this year.
Take a look at this one-year chart of the S&P 500…
In technical terms, this is called a “double top” pattern, with the first top forming last September/October, and the second top forming this month. Typically, the two “tops” are separated by a decline of anywhere from 10% to 20%.
This is a bearish pattern that can indicate a reversal from a bull trend to a bear trend. It’s worth paying attention to.
Keep in mind, though, that until key support levels are broken to the downside, this pattern isn’t confirmed.
For example, if you look at the action since the market bottomed in December, you can see that every pullback in the S&P has formed a higher low on the chart. So the first step to confirm this double top pattern would be for the index to decline and make a lower low. That means we’ll need to see the S&P drop below the 2800 level or so.
The next step to confirm this pattern is for the index to make a lower high on the next rally attempt. If the S&P rallies above the recent high at about 2950, then that invalidates the pattern.
For the moment, it sure looks like a double top pattern is forming. But we need to see a lower low and a lower high on the index to be sure.
To understand why this is important, just take a look at this chart of the S&P 500 from 2007…
And here’s the S&P 500 chart from 2000…
It’s too early to say for sure if the pattern developing today will play out the same way as it did in 2000 and 2007. But if it does, then investors are going to be in for some pain later this year.
– Jeff Clark
P.S. It’s looking like 2019 may just be the year that this tired old bull ends. For investors, it could be catastrophic.
But traders don’t fear market crashes. In fact, we get excited for them.
Market crashes are a gold mine for trading profits… especially if you use my strategy.
On Wednesday, May 22 at 8 p.m. ET, I’ll reveal all the details… including the specific day I’m convinced the market will crash. Don’t wait – reserve your spot now.
Reader Mailbag
Do you think Facebook has gotten out of control? Should the social media giant be more strictly regulated? Let us know your thoughts at [email protected].