Do US Farmers Trust President Trump?
We will see. The “Phase One” trade deal between the United States and China will, once again supposedly, be signed today, the Ides of January. Despite previous reports that China has backed out of firm commitments to increase its purchases of US agricultural products, it now seems that somehow those commitments are back on the table and Trump is doubling down with his insistence that US farmers buy bigger tractors to fulfill the bigger orders. If they do take him seriously, John Deere (NYSE:DE) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) may get a bump.
SEE: Results of Pennsylvania Cannabis Study Show 99.62% of Patients Find Relief
Bitcoin Offshoot War Gets Price-Violent
Some minor earthquakes are happening in the Bitcoin (BTC-USD) space. “Minor” in comparison to the ultra-bubble mania at the end of 2017 that proved to be the bubble of all bubbles in human history (so far), but major compared to almost any other asset beyond $1 billion in market cap. Dr. Craig Wright, the extremely controversial Australian computer scientist who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin, now claims he has access to a cache of 1,100,111 bitcoins that were mined in the very early days of the cryptocurrency by Nakamoto, a pseudonym for who knows what or who yet. Thanks to a bonded courier that supposedly has given Wright access to this cache until now locked away in a “Tulip Trust,” (a possible homage to the Tulip bubble mania of 1637) Wright now, possibly, has the ability to conclusively prove that he is indeed the pseudonymous Nakamoto.
If he fails to follow through, it is likely that he and his Bitcoin-offshoot project known as Bitcoin SV, will be widely discredited. However, if he does follow through and unlock the enormous cache, he will then, according to his stated intentions, slowly sell off the Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash (BCH-USD) stash in pre-split coins in favor of Bitcoin SV.
Cryptocurrency traders have been front-running the assumption that Wright really does have access to this enormous cache in a manic buying wave over the last 4 days, with many possibly not aware of the intricacies of the case or what is even going on. The buying frenzy has rocketed both the market cap and price of Bitcoin SV past Bitcoin Cash, making Bitcoin SV the 4th largest cryptocurrency by market cap despite it being delisted by most major exchanges in what has been an ongoing crypto cat fight for reasons that only hardcore crypto geeks claim to understand.
The main difference between Bitcoin SV and Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash is that Bitcoin SV is designed to have no inherent limit on its block size, supposedly returning it to the original specifications of the original Bitcoin White Paper supposedly penned by Satoshi Nakamoto, who is supposedly Craig Wright, according to Craig Wright and his allies, or supposedly not, according to people who think Craig Wright is a liar. The point being that with Bitcoin SV, massive blocks of unlimited size can in theory be built on by businesses, which is not “supposedly” since this point, at least, is quantitatively verifiable as of the next hard fork and software upgrade taking place next month on the SV blockchain. Bitcoin has a block size limit of 1MB, and Bitcoin Cash 30MB.
Trump Upset Apple Doesn’t Roll Over On Belly, Open iPhones
Speaking of President Trump, he tweeted some choice words for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), as is his wont as the social media president. He was mad because the company declined the government’s request to unlock iPhones used by the Saudi Arabian shooter in Pensacola, Florida, even though if the federal government wanted to, it could unlock the phone easily without Apple’s help. The president’s tweet suggested something along the lines of the late presidential candidate Harry Browne, who famously stated that the government offers one a crutch after breaking one’s leg.
Specifically, he suggested that Apple help the government because Trump has helped Apple navigate the trade war with China, which hurts Apple, and which Trump himself started. Using CAPS intermittently, Trump wrote, closing with his MAGA mantra, “We are helping Apple all of the time on TRADE and so many other issues, and yet they refuse to unlock phones used by killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements. They will have to step up to the plate and help our great Country, NOW! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.” Apple responded that it was helping, but that it would not give the government a backdoor, which would enable them to hack into any iPhone at any time, which is what Trump was essentially requesting.
Cloudy With a Chance of Jet Fuel, Delta ‘Concerned’
Delta (NYSE:DAL) isn’t so ecstatic about the emergency dump of jet fuel on California schools, but it is unclear what the airliner in question was supposed to do considering the circumstances that necessitated it make an emergency landing in Los Angeles due to engine troubles. “The aircraft landed safely after a release of fuel, which was required as part of normal procedure to reach a safe landing weight. We are in touch with Los Angeles World Airports and the LA County Fire Department and share concerns regarding reported minor injuries to adults and children at a school in the area,” said a Delta spokesperson. Nobody was lit on fire as a result of the unexpected rain of jet fuel, thankfully.
