The War on Cash

Larry Edelson

The War on Cash

By Larry Edelson
September 29, 2016

Real Wealth Report

RWR-0123

Page 1

The War on Cash

Larry Edelson

The War on Cash

How to Fight Back and
Cash in on the $15 Trillion
Digital Payment Gold Rush
By Larry Edelson
Real Wealth Report
Introduction
Western governments, the worlds biggest banks and Internet billionaires are all doing their level
best to eliminate cash from the global economy and force all business transactions to be
conducted electronically with bank debit cards, Paypal, Google Wallet and Apple Pay, and other
electronic payment systems.
I and others call this the War on Cash. As usual, the U.S. government justifies this further attack
on citizens privacy and constitutional rights as a necessary part of the war on terror. But its
real purpose is clear: To enact a global system of total financial surveillance that is
unprecedented in its scope and ambition.
As the Wall Street Journal recently put it:
The real reason the war on cash is gearing up now is political: Politicians and central bankers
fear that holders of currency could undermine their brave new monetary world of negative
interest rates. Japan and Europe are already deep into negative territory, and U.S. Federal
Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said last week the U.S. should be prepared for the possibility.
Translation: Thats where the Fed is going in the next recession.
However, heres the delicious part of all this: The nefarious schemes of the government plotters
will actually backfire have the OPPOSITE result of what theyre planning and could make
you RICH in the process.
You see, some of the tiny tech companies pioneering the digital payment revolution are also the
very ones throwing monkey wrenches into the governments massive surveillance machines!
Just as Apple computer is now giving the NSA fits with its uncrackable end to end encryption
systems built into every iPhone on the planet so too are some digital payment companies
creating the technologies to keep the government from prying into your personal finances.
From the San Bernardino terrorist attack in 2015, we learned that the U.S. government is
powerless to access an ordinary iPhone locked with a password. After months of trying, it still
cant get into the phones!
In other words: The governments push to end the use of cash could end up actually making
your finances MORE private, not less! Bitcoin is just the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of
Page 2

The War on Cash

Larry Edelson

small, undiscovered companies out there that are giving the IRS and the Feds in general
NIGHTMARES.
These companies are creating technologies that let you buy products digitally AND keep your
finances private. The companies have no choice. The only way digital payment can work is
through encryption technologies that make it impossible for data thieves to steal peoples
financial information.
And these technologies are rapidly outpacing the ability of government snoops to overcome
them! And make no mistake, the potential profits from this massive, unstoppable shift to digital
payment are simply mind-boggling.
A cover story in Forbes magazine characterizes the
move from cash to digital payment systems as the
$15 trillion gold rush.
Thats actually a conservative estimate. The real
number is closer to $25 trillion.
Money is going mobile, and the race is on to
control the flow of bits and cash across a billion
smartphones and at millions of online and physical
locations
Research firm Gartner estimates that mobile
payments will top $720 billion a year by 2017, up
from $235 billion last year. The upside remains
enormous: Humans made $15 trillion worth of
retail transactions in 2013 alone!
And all those trillions of dollars flowing through
electronic pipelines are already sending digital payment and privacy stocks into the
stratosphere DESPITE the recent volatility in the market as a whole.
You might not think its a big deal when you see college kids pay for coffee with their iPhones at
Starbucks but its actually part of an elaborate plan to gradually eliminate the use of cash in
the global economy.
You see, governments everywhere HATE cash. Thats because cash transactions are private
and usually are difficult to tax. As a result, governments have decided to make cash transactions
increasingly inconvenient and then eventually illegal.
For years now, government bureaucrats, the big banks and Internet billionaires have been
secretly creating the infrastructure for what I call digital totalitarianism.
Each component of this infrastructure debit cards, mobile payment systems, digital currencies
seems harmless enough at first. The public has been told that these advances in digital
technology are convenient, totally safe and make the online economy possible. And yet, when
put together, these incremental advances have created a system of financial surveillance and
control that is truly terrifying and utterly unprecedented.
And now governments are finally beginning to show their hands:
The State of Louisiana recently made it a criminal offense to pay with cash for secondPage 3

The War on Cash

Larry Edelson

hand items, such as used books, at flea markets and garage sales
London buses no longer take cash of any kind
In both France and Italy, residents are now prohibited from making cash transactions of
more than 1,000 euros, down from the recent limit of 3,000 euros.
In Demark, the Danish Parliament recently proposed a law that would allow stores to
refuse to accept any cash payments in exchange for goods or services.
In many Central and South American countries, finger-printing is required by certain
stores and businesses if you pay in cash with $100 or more.
And in the United States, Internet tycoons such as Bill Gates and the big banks are now
actively lobbying the government to outlaw cash altogether.
As with NSA surveillance of ordinary citizens, the official reason given for this war on cash is to
fight terrorism, drug trafficking and tax evasion but the REAL reasons are far more sinister
Governments the world over are more desperate than ever. They need money like never before.
So how do they get it? They dont dare raise taxes enough to cover their huge shortfalls. Citizens
around the world would revolt. So they constantly sell huge amounts of debt, or bonds. Its the
only way they can satisfy their never-ending appetite for more and more spending.
They are saddled with unprecedented levels of DEBT. When all of its promised but unfunded
liabilities are totaled up, the U.S. government alone owes an estimated $58 trillion. Bankers
organize and sell all that government debt. They market it. They place, insure and offset it.
And there is a very real possibility of another tsunami of bank failures that will devastate the
global economy. But this time there is NOTHING the worlds central banks can to do stop it. The
banks have already cut interest rates to ZERO.
They cant force the worlds citizens to spend their hard-earned money so the governments can
tax it with hidden Value Added Taxes (VAT), sales taxes and income taxes.
But eliminating CASH transactions solves this problem. If cash is outlawed, then central banks
can implement negative interest rates and the only way citizens can avoid taking a financial hit
is to SPEND their money which governments can then TAX.
As the Freemans Weekly put it:
It would appear that the central banks, the IMF, the World Bank, the BIS, and all their backers,
see the elimination of cash as a central survival strategy.
The reason is simple: cash would allow people to escape from the one thing that could save
their larcenous currency system: negative interest rates.
To make this clear, I like to paraphrase a famous (and good) quote from Alan Greenspan, back
from 1966, during his Ayn Randian days: The financial policy of the welfare state requires that
there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves.
Even worse, in an emergency, governments can decide to use their own citizens savings to
bail out the big banks the way Cyprus did in 2012 in the so-called bail in. If all money is
electronic and cant be withdrawn or stored in cash, then with a click of a mouse government
bureaucrats could FREEZE all financial assets and gain instantaneous and total control of a
countrys people

How to Protect Yourself

Against the War on Cash
Page 4

The War on Cash

Larry Edelson

The U.S. government is obsessed with spying on its own people in general, but especially in
regard to peoples money. Fortunately, this blatantly unconstitutional invasion of privacy and
continual violation of the Fourth Amendment will backfire. First, its going to do exactly the
opposite of what the government intends. Its going to send more and more small-business
transactions underground and through barter mechanisms that the War on Cash cant touch.
Its also going to create more private digital currencies like Bitcoin. And its going to send more
money into hiding, to the extent possible these days. Second, its going to send more and more
money and assets offshore.
Yes, any money you place offshore, any gold or silver bullion, needs to be reported to the IRS.
But that wont stop money and precious metals from heading offshore. In the minds of most
investors, the further away from Washingtons reach your money and many of your assets are,
the better. Third, and most importantly, its going to have a mind-boggling effect on nearly all
financial markets. Namely, its going to drive capital in a way that is constantly seeking out what
I call portability and fungibility.
Portable wealth is money and alternative assets that can be easily transported and more easily
hidden from view. Examples: Artwork, diamonds, jewelry, gold and silver coins, numismatics,
collectibles, rare books and more. These kinds of assets not only hold their value for the superrich, but can be squirreled away, off the grid, from prying eyes and easily transported. But
portability does not stop there. Portability can also be assets that are deemed non-confiscatable,
such as stocks. Own a government bond and Washington knows you own it. Own a share in
Apple and its unlikely Washington will subpoena Apple for a record of your shares and equally
unlikely they will confiscate your Apple shares. Stocks and especially gold and silver are
also fungible. When you need cash, digital or otherwise, stocks and gold and silver are easily
converted back to a more easily used medium of exchange. Portability and fungibility will be
major forces behind the next bull leg
higher in gold and silver. Ditto for stocks.
Finally, you can make a fortune by investing in a handful of companies that are developing
technologies to STOP this new form of digital tyranny. These companies are part of the War on
Cash they are developing digital payment platforms that will make cash obsolete. But many of
these companies are also developing technologies that will make your finances MORE private,
not less.
The same thing happened with digital communications. The Feds funded the development of
email and social media technologies in the belief that they could then spy on everyones
communications but they didnt take into account human ingenuity and entrepreneurial drive.
The same companies developing digital communications were also inventing next-generation
encryption technologies to stop the Feds illegal and unconstitutional spying.
Now the genie is out of the bottle and there is nothing the NSA and FBI can do to stop it. As I
write these words, the FBI is locked in an epic court battle with Apple over the cracking of the
iPhone used in the San Bernardino terrorist attack. They are also engaged in a battle for public
opinion with current polls showing that 40 percent of the respondents are on Apples side and
50% are on the FBIs side. The Feds want Apple to write a special operating system just for this
one phone so they can then go ahead and try every conceivable password without the phone
self-destructing. At this point, we dont know how the courts will rule; but, however they rule,
its beside the point. The technology will quickly make the work-arounds the FBI is seeking
irrelevant. Apple is already working on operating systems that no one can crack, not even
Apple and there will be nothing a court order can do about it.
The same dynamic is happening with digital payment. Dozens of companies are going along
Page 5

The War on Cash

Larry Edelson

with the Feds War on Cash making digital payments the new standard but they are ALSO
secretly developing ways to make it impossible for anyone to monitor these payments. Thats
why I believe that investing in digital payment today is like investing in email and digital
communications twenty years ago. Its a growth sector in the tech niche and has already seen
eye-popping profits in just the past three to five years. Some of these companies have posted
average annual returns of 40% or more for five, six, even seven years running.
For example, take a look at Heartland Payment Systems (HPY). Its skyrocketed from $6 in 2009
to $90 a share today which works out to an average return of 47.2% a year for SEVEN years
running!
Do you know what 47% a year for seven years can do for your retirement account? Gains like
that can change your life. Gains like that can make the difference between running out of money
when you retire and living the life of your dreams. Its enough to turn

A modest $2,000 investment into $29,665

And just $20,000 into $296,650

And a $50,000 grubstake into $741,636

Now, these companies are obviously from the first phase of the War on Cash. Credit cards were
the entering wedge in the governments plan to track all financial transactions. The next wave of
mobile payment companies are including hard encryption technologies to make it virtually
impossible to hack the transactions by Internet thieves, the Feds or anyone!
And these stocks show you why the War on Cash has the potential to make you a lot of money.
And Im not the only one who says this, either.
Fortune Magazine says
Watch out, everyone: The worlds largest technology companies are waging a war over your
mobile wallet!
The Financial Times notes:
Digital wallets are set to become the most popular payment method in the world in the next few
years, overtaking credit and debit cards
Teletech says that
The shift to mobile payments represents the biggest opportunity for businesses to better serve
consumers since credit cards emerged decades ago
There are dozens of examples of digital payment stocks that have produced significant gains in
the past few years. Thats why its so important to take the bull by the horns and get ready to
cash in when the next phase of the digital payment revolution begins. Best of all, it doesnt take
a lot of cash to get started. Depending upon the stock, a $500 investment can grow into as much
as $6,000. Thats whats possible when trillions of dollars change hands when cash businesses
are forced by government edicts to use electronic payment systems like PayPal, Apple Pay and
Square. Small amounts of cash can grow into three-figure, even four-figure windfalls
So, which companies are leading the way in digital payment? Here are seven top performing
companies that are likely to do well in the coming months and years:

Page 6

The War on Cash

Larry Edelson

Company #1: Vantiv, Inc. (VNTV)

Vantiv is an up-and-coming mobile payment company, based in Cincinnati, with annual
revenues of $2.5 billion. Vantivs stock price shot up from $19.52 a share in November 2012 to
$52.59 a share just three years later. That represents a total return of 169.4% or an average
return of about 39.15% per year. With annual returns like that, a $10,000 flyer would grow into
$269,245 in a decade.

Vantivs stock has been gaining steadily in the past year. When the stock market has been flat or
even plunged recently, Vantiv is up 38% over the past 12 months. Its seen year over year
revenue growth of 22% more than 5 times that of the industry average. And fully 18 out of 24
analysts rate it a Buy or a Strong Buy.
Refer to the monthly issues of my Real Wealth Report and/or any flash alerts I issue as to when
to buy VNTY, and at what price.

Company #2: Global Payment (GPN)

Page 7

The War on Cash

Larry Edelson

The same is true of Global Payments (GPN), a high volume processor of electronic
transactions and payments. Its another digital payment processor that has seen staggering
growth in the last few years. GPNs shares were selling for just $20 in 2012 but have since done
a moon shot as digital payment revolution gathers steam worldwide. Recently, GPN has been
selling for around $65 a share which represents a total return of 225% over the past three
years. Thats roughly 11 times more than the S&P 500 has returned in the same period.
Refer to the monthly issues of my Real Wealth Report and/or any flash alerts I issue as to when
to buy GPN, and at what price.

Company #3: Total System Services (TSS)

Another mobile payment processor, Total System Services, Inc. (TSS), also has seen similar
gains that have left the overall market in the dust. It sold for around $14 a share in 2010 but has
been climbing steadily ever since. It hit its recent high in late 2015 at $52 a share an annual
return of 30% a year for five years running.
Refer to the monthly issues of my Real Wealth Report and/or any flash alerts I issue as to when
to buy TSS, and at what price.

Company #4: VeriFone Systems (PAY)

And then theres VeriFone Systems (PAY). VeriFone Systems went from $4 a share in 2009 to
$54 in about two years for a total return of 1,250%. A $10,000 investment in this digital
payment stock would have netted you a tidy $125,000, again in about two years.

Page 8

The War on Cash

Larry Edelson

Refer to the monthly issues of my Real Wealth Report and/or any flash alerts I issue as to when
to buy PAY, and at what price.

Company #5: Mitek Systems (MITK)

In 2010, the stock didnt look like much. Mitek Systems (MITK) produces global mobile
capture and identity verification technologies for thousands of financial services organizations
across the globe. The companys technology allows users to deposit checks, pay bills, transfer
credit card balances, open accounts, and get insurance quotes by taking photos of different
documents with their smartphones.

You could have picked up as many shares as you wanted in September 2010 for just 85 centers
a share. But then the first phase of the digital payment revolution kicked in and this stock just
kept going up and up. By late 2015, MITK was trading for $11.05 a share. Thats a return of
1,200%. Its enough to turn every $10,000 investment into $130,000.
Page 9

The War on Cash

Larry Edelson

Refer to the monthly issues of my Real Wealth Report and/or any flash alerts I issue as to when
to buy MITK, and at what price.

Company #6: NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI)

Another example is NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI). It makes the little chip theyre putting on
credit cards now, supposedly for greater security. In 2013, you could have picked up shares of
NXP Semiconductors for $15 each.
By last year, the stock was selling for $112 a share- a total return of 646.6%. If you had invested
$20,000 in NXPI and simply forgotten about it, you would have woken up last year with an
extra $129,200 sitting in your brokerage account. With this degree of upside potential, this is the
closest thing to a sure thing as is possible with stocks. The profits investors are making right this
minute simply boggle the imagination.

Refer to the monthly issues of my Real Wealth Report and/or any flash alerts I issue as to when
to buy NXPI, and at what price.

Company #7: Euronet Worldwide (EEFT)

Heres another example: Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (EEFT) is a digital payment processing
company based in Kansas that operates in Asia and Europe. Its shares have climbed from around
$16.50 in mid-2012 to $80 a share late last year. Thats a total return of 384.8% or an average of
69% a year. Again, gains like these grow small amounts of money into very large amounts fairly
quickly: $10,000 would become $137,858 in just five years at that rate!

Page 10

The War on Cash

Larry Edelson

Refer to the monthly issues of my Real Wealth Report and/or any flash alerts I issue as to when
to buy EEFT, and at what price.

Page 11