Hi, all!

Apologies I've been away -- the day job, and all that. Also, this post probably doesn't deserve its own thread, but #1 is time sensitive and I wanted to make sure all the crypto folks I've met and liked here got a chance to see it before Tuesday.

There's 2 alts worth talking about this week:

1. Stellar Lumens (STR/XLM). On Tuesday, Stellar Lumens (STR at Poloniex, XLM on some other exchanges) is diluting its float by 13.4% by giving away 16 billion coins to any and all owners of Bitcoin, including you. If you own BTC, here's how you can get your free STR: https://www.stellar.org/blog/bitcoin-claim-lumens-2/

Obviously, if you own BTC, you might as well claim your free STR, but IMHO, the real money to be made on this publicity stunt is to go short on STR/XLM right effin' now (I shorted today at Poloniex at 3.6 cents a coin, but other platforms may have a better price). We can never be sure about anything in crypto, but my guess is lots of those new coins are going to go straight up for sale and the price will fall, possibly even tank, this week.

Chris's Crypto recommendation: A short term Short position on STR/XLM at its current price of 3.6 cents a coin, and hurry. The dilution event happens Tuesday. It (should) be a profitable week to be short STR.

2. IOTA. After hearing about this freakin' coin every day for months, IOTA finally went live at Bitfinex last week...to a disappointing $1.4 billion valuation. Some very smart traders at Reddit and 4Chan -- guys I respect -- were predicting $5-$10 billion.

What is IOTA? To hear its supporters tell it, it's the next generation in blockchain technology. Using code I tried, but failed, to get my brain around called the Tangle, IOTA is the first coin designed from the outset to be instantaneous and permanently free, irrespective of scaling, a word you're probably sick of if you own BTC. So it's basically a currency that can never be anything but instant to send and can never cost anyone a penny to use.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not one of those psycho disciples IOTA has on the boards who thinks it will eventually replace every other crypto, but I do admit it's the best coin I've ever undertaken due diligence on with regard to the inevitable scaling fights and problems. And it's priced cheaply, at least compared to what everyone (even me) expected when it came to market last week.

Chris's Crypto recommendation: Long Term Buy and Hold IOTA, currently priced at 48 cents a coin. This may stay level for a while, even a long while, but when it finally gets discovered by the non crypto investing community, it has the potential to go parabolic the same way Ethereum did last month and Ripple did the month before that.