Today on The Janssen Report: international figureheads have been “caught cheating” as the so-called Panama Papers show. In what might turn out to be an enormous scandal, world leaders are named in a huge leak from Panama implicating them as tax evaders. I also address the recent announcement by several central banks that they are seriously considering developing their own cryptocurrency.

The Panama Papers Revelations

An investigation carried out by a consortium of journalists and a significant number of media partners reveals a vast network of hidden financial dealings. According to Suddeutsche Zeitung more than 200,000 companies, foundations and trusts are contained in the leak of information which came from a little-known but powerful law firm based in Panama called Mossack Fonseca, whose files include the offshore holdings of drug dealers, mafia members, corrupt politicians and other tax evaders (or avoiders?).

The leak reveals financial constructs used by at least 12 current and former world leaders and 128 more politicians and public officials around the world.

Some background on the Panama Papers project (from the eponymous source itself):

The Panama Papers is an unprecedented investigation that reveals the offshore links of some of the globe’s most prominent figures.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, together with the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other media partners, spent a year sifting through 11.5 million leaked files to expose the offshore holdings of world political leaders, links to global scandals, and details of the hidden financial dealings of fraudsters, drug traffickers, billionaires, celebrities, sports stars and more.

The trove of documents is likely the biggest leak of inside information in history. It includes nearly 40 years of data from a little-known but powerful law firm based in Panama. That firm, Mossack Fonseca, has offices in more than 35 locations around the globe, and is one of the world’s top creators of shell companies, corporate structures that can be used to hide ownership of assets.

But I ask aloud: what if these constructs are legal? The big accounting & legal firms all know how to use legal loopholes in setting up these schemes. The real deal will become apparent in the indictments to come, if any.

Central banks, blockchain technology & true money for the people

Also on my report today: central banks are increasingly coming out with plans to introduce their own version of a block chain currency. Maybe they feel threatened by Bitcoin and its peers? They seem to know that the fiat currencies around the globe will all fail sooner rather than later, which is only accelerating in their self-instigated currency wars.

In recent months, a growing number of central bank officials from around the world, particularly the Bank of England, have suggested that blockchain technology could be applied to create more centralized digital currencies. Yet the process of doing so, it has been argued, could have a lasting impact on the legacy banking system. The block chain is a technological breakthrough that pretty much obliterates the need for a financial sector to carry out, record and service our financial transactions. Surely this must be perceived as a threat, albeit mostly for the commercial banks who are currently providing these services.

In their latest annual report, published on March 16th, the Dutch Central Bank (“De Nederlandsche Bank”) stated that they are looking to create a prototype blockchain-based currency.

With all this hijacking of new forms of currency going on by the bankers, it is of utmost importance to continue to develop our own initiatives to be able to go back to a system of true “money for the people”. I share a little bit of information on the Florin (Talent) currency that our Foundation is introducing in the Dutch market this year. Interest-free money.

In an upcoming edition of the Janssen Report I will interview Anthony Migchels, the founder of the Florin (“Florijn” in Dutch).

Watch this episode of The Janssen Report in the video below:

Sources:

• The Panama Papers: https://panamapapers.icij.org/about.html
• The Guardian reporting on Iceland PM in offshore revelations: http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/iceland-pm-calls-snap-election-offshore-revelations
• About the Panama Papers (Suddeutsche Zeitung): http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56febff0a1bb8d3c3495adf4/
• ZeroHedge: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-03/unprecedented-leak-exposes-criminal-financial-dealings-some-worlds-wealthiest-people
• The Future of Money (by Charles Hugh Smith, oftwominds.com): http://www.oftwominds.com/blogapr16/future-of-money4-16.html
• Dutch Central Bank to Create Prototype Blockchain-Based Currency: http://www.coindesk.com/dutch-central-bank-to-create-dnbcoin-prototype/
• Oh and don’t forget to buy some gold bullion…: Gold Price Forecast: Fractal Analysis of US Dollar Index Suggests Massive Gold Rally Coming
• … or even better – buy silver bullion:  Buy Silver With Both Hands On This Manipulated Sell-Off
• More on The Florin (called Florijn in Dutch): https://realcurrencies.wordpress.com/2016/02/27/a-much-needed-update-on-the-talent-and-de-florijn/

Cheers,

Marco Janssen

The Janssen Report