Blockchain Will Completely Revolutionize How We Mine Gold and Precious Metals

Last week, I had the pleasure to attend Consensus 2018 in New York, the premier gathering for the who's who in blockchain, Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies.

Attendance doubled from last year to an estimated 8,500 people, all of them packed in a Hilton built for only 3,000. Ticket sales alone pulled in a whopping $17 million, while event booths - the largest of which belonged to Microsoft and IBM - generated untold millions more.

The entire three-day conference, hosted by crypto news outlet CoinDesk, had the energy and flair of the world's greatest carnival. Sleek Lamborghinis sat outside the hotel, attracting all sorts of gawkers. Passersby also stopped and stared at the "Bankers Against Bitcoin" protest, conceived and funded by Genesis Mining, one of the largest Bitcoin mining companies.

The same money went to finance Bitcoin awareness billboards outside the Omaha office of Warren Buffett, who recently bashed the cryptocurrency, calling it "rat poison squared."

"Warren," the billboards read, "you said you were wrong about Google and Amazon. Maybe you're wrong about Bitcoin?"

But of course, that's not the most exciting thing that happened...

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Bringing #BitcoinAwareness to the Masses

That Buffett has a negative opinion of Bitcoin shouldn't surprise anyone. The "Oracle of Omaha" has famously been averse to emerging technology and tech stocks he doesn't fully understand, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and others.

But he's changed his mind in the past after he's seen the value these companies provide.

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I'm old enough to remember when Buffett was vehemently against airline stocks. The industry was a "death trap" for investors, he once said. Today, his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A), is one of the top holders of stock in the big four carriers - United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL), Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL), Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), and American Airlines Group Inc. (Nasdaq: AAL). He even told CNBC he "wouldn't rule out owning an entire airline."

Obviously there's a world of difference between airline stocks and Bitcoin - although blockchain, the technology that Bitcoin is built on, is already being used in aviation to increase transparency in aircraft manufacturing and maintenance.

All I'm saying is, I wouldn't rule out Bitcoin, or cryptocurrencies in general, just because Buffett isn't a fan. He doesn't like gold as an investment either, and that hasn't stopped it from being one of the most liquid assets on the planet.

The Future of Gold Mining (and Investing)

But back to Consensus. It wasn't all fun and games, and there were some serious discussions on how governments might one day use cryptocurrencies, the future of Bitcoin mining, and blockchain applications in finance, healthcare, insurance, energy, and more. As I explained recently, charitable giving is down because donors are increasingly concerned about fraud. Blockchain can help validate where your money is going.

I would include the mining industry on that list. Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize how gold and precious metals are manufactured and delivered.

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Consider the journey a gold nugget must take along its supply chain, from mine to end consumer - it cuts through several other industries and practices, including legal, regulatory, financial, manufacturing, and retail, each of which might have its own ledger system.

These ledgers are vulnerable to hacking, fraud, errors, and misinterpretations. They can be forged, for example, to conceal how the metal or mineral was sourced.

With blockchain technology, there's no hiding anything. Decentralization guarantees complete transparency, meaning anyone along the supply chain can see how, when, and where the metal was produced, and who was involved every step of the way.

This will give the industry a huge shot of trust, not to mention dramatically increase efficiency.

Many producers, tech firms, and entire jurisdictions have already adopted, or plan to adopt, blockchain technology for these very reasons. IAMGOLD, a Toronto-based producer, announced last month that it partnered with Tradewind Markets, a fintech firm that uses blockchain technology to facilitate digital gold trading. IBM just helped launch a diamond and jewelry blockchain consortium, TrustChain, which will track and authenticate diamonds, metals, and jewelry from all over the world. And sometime this year, the Democratic Republic of Congo will begin tracking cobalt supply from mines to ensure children were not involved.

With precious metals being used more widely in industrial applications, from smartphones to electric cars to Internet of Things (IoT) appliances, tracking metals across the supply chain has become increasingly more important to businesses and consumers. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), global sales of semiconductors - which contain various metals, including gold - crossed above $400 billion for the first time in 2017. Total sales were $412.2 billion, an increase of nearly 22% from the previous year.

That's a lot of metal and other materials that blockchain tech can help authenticate.

Blockchain Will Completely Revolutionize How We Mine Gold and Precious Metals

Before I get off this topic, I want to mention that blockchain is also bringing change to gold investment.

Consider Royal Mint Gold, which aims to provide the "performance of the London Gold Market with the transparency of an exchange-traded security." There's also the Perth Mint's InfiniGold, which issues digital certificates guaranteeing ownership of gold and silver in the mint's vault. A number of other platforms exist to help facilitate gold trading.

Should even one of these become hugely popular, it "could be as big a change to the gold markets as the development of ETFs, but with the added advantage of appealing to younger generations," according to the World Gold Council's Chief Strategist, John Reade.

The Cryptocurrency Everyone Else Will Regret Not Owning

Tom Gentile uses tough criteria, including extensive back-testing, to zero in on stock trades that have an extremely high probability of doubling - or better.

Well, he just told us that he's giving a big clear "Go" signal on a cryptocurrency trade.

Like stocks, there are thousands of "coins" out there, and some are much stronger than others. That's not something you're going to hear on the news; they're only focused on Bitcoin.

Tom believes that if he's right about this, as he thinks he is, a small investment today could leave traders with more than $40,000 in a couple of weeks.

He's recorded a video to walk you through how to place the trade he thinks will surge very soon. While you watch, bear in mind Tom's doing this in real time, with real money.

Click here to check out his walkthrough. It's completely free, and you get the name of the coin in the first three minutes, as well as the full trade recommendation during the presentation.

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